calamity, when he was unfortunately present, and was one of those who perished in the burst-up. There was a great disparity of the sexes, and "servantgalism" was at a high premium. Though Collins Street had not yet inaugurated its "block," marriageable young ladies were rapidly picked up, yet not so rapidly as they expected. One of the fair sex, who had evidently been left "wall-flowering" longer than she expected, thus vents her virtuous displeasure upon the presumed selfishness of the lords of creation in a letter to the newspapers. She writes:— "If the gentlemen will leave off for a time counting their pounds, shillings, and pence, and mingle a little among the ladies, they would find themselves well rewarded."
Nevertheless we find advertisements from bachelors languishing to get married; and in the same newspaper columns there is a Thomas Coombes "cautioning the public against allowing his wife, Mary Anne, to go 'on tick,' as he will not be responsible," and a Mr. John Connell crying down the credit of his wife "because she left her home without any just cause or provocation." To the late Hon. James F. Strachan, afterwards of Geelong, is to be accorded the honour of having had erected the firstbusiness brick building in Melbourne—a store at the south-east corner of Collins and Queen Streets. Mr. John Hodgson had a house built where the Port Phillip Club Hotel now stands, in Flinders Street, and it was so big for the times that it was known as "Hodgson's folly." Its date was 1838, and there was nothing at all to approach it as a private residence. When Mr. Latrobe arrived, as Superintendent, in 1839, there were in Melbourne, three breweries, two fellmongeries, one tan-yard, some 70 shops, and 500 houses, about half of which had stone foundations. The population was about 3000, and the property was roughly estimated at £112,000: yet, singular to say, in the commencement of this same year, the police protection of Melbourne consisted of only four constables! This is a strong indication of the people's respect for law and order, which one would scarcely expect in a community where such a large proportion of the settlers were expirees from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales.
In January 1839, the minimum price of country Crown lands was raised from 5s. to 12s. per acre, and during 1838 and 1839, some seventy-seven thousand acres were sold, realising nearly £105,000. A portion of this amount was applied by the Home Government in promoting what was termed a system of "Bounty Emigration," and the immigrants so "assisted" began to pour into the country. There was a large admixture of great and small capitalists amongst the general mass of the new-comers; and, at the close of 1839, the population numbered 5822, which doubled the next year, and quadrupled the year after. Hotels and other places of entertainment had now sprung up, newspapers were established, and clergymen, doctors, and stray sheep from other learned professions (a rather mixed black and white flock taken in globo) were daily coming to the front. Commercial enterprise began to quicken, and considerable intercolonial and home trade was at work. On the last day of the year, Melbourne could boast of possessing a military band consisting of a drum only. There was also a Temperance Society, a Benefit Society, an Insurance Company, three Banks, Racing and Cricket Associations, one Steam-boat, two Newspapers, a "Melbourne" Club, a Wharf Preacher, and five Religious Denominations. Through the courtesy of Mr. Skene (Surveyor-General) I have received a sketch of Melbourne at this period; and its history is a peculiar one. It was made by a Mr. J. Adamson, familiarly known amongst his friends as "Deaf Adamson." He was a squatter in a small way, as most squatters were in those pristine days, in the immediate neighbourhood of Melbourne. The sketch was engraved in copper and published by Mr. R. Clint, of Sydney. The original copper-plate had disappeared, and was for many years lost and utterly forgotten, until it was found recently in the Melbourne Lands office, stowed away in old boxes. A copy was then taken from the old plate, a photograph obtained from that copy and transferred to the lithograph stone. Though I did not arrive in the colony until the middle of 1841, notwithstanding the material interim changes which had taken place, I can vouch from personal recollection for the general accuracy of this remanent of "Deaf Adamson." In some points of perspective it is defective, for it makes Batman's Hill too small, blocks it up too much to the north, representing the Flagstaff Hill higher and larger than it ever was; but in other respects, it is a tolerably faithful picture of things as they then were. In it one can plainly trace the couple of brick stores on the wharf, the old Collins Street gaol then advancing to completion, the as yet unroofed walls of St. James' Church, the police office and lock-up in the market reserve, Batman's large brick house at the south-west corner of Collins and Williams Streets, known as Williams' auction room, where Mr. Latrobe assumed office as Superintendent, and Fawkner's Hotel opposite, with its quaint, pyramidal roof, bearing
