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charge of by John Batman, and kept until called for at his house on Batman's Hill. His brother Henry, for a short time in charge of a police force, which could hardly be said to have an existence, then took to looking after the letters until the end of 1836, when this little more than nominal duty was transferred to a person named Foster. At that time a row of small huts extended, at intervals of a few yards, along the ridge in front of the n o w Scott's Hotel, in West Collins Street, eastward in direction of Queen Street, and one of these—bark-formed, bark-covered, and with a m u d chimney, was occupied as the Post Office, and so matters remained for about a year. In December, 1837, an arrangement was entered into between the authorities in Sydney, and Mr. Benjamin Baxter, to undertake the duties of Postmaster, and the office was forthwith transferred to a brick-nogged, shingle-roofed, two-roomed cottage, rented from M r . J. P. Fawkner, and situated off the line of Flinders Street, eastward of the n o w Royal Highlander Lane. Baxter received ,£150 a year for so doing, out of which he had to pay the landlord's rent; and there he not only kept the Post Office, but resided also with his wife. W h e n it is taken into account that the whole postage income for the following year (1838) averaged only ,£8 per month for thefirsthalf, and ,£17 per month during the remainder, or in all .£150—just the s u m paid to Baxter—it will be admitted that the Post Office began to be a non-self-supporting establishment at an early period. T h e brick-nogged cabin was embedded in a dense ti-tree scrub, with a narrow approach, half cleared in front, and this thoroughfare was in a chronic state of m u d or water. In wet weather it was unapproachable, unless over a rough causeway of stumps, on which one had to tread warily as if crossing a stream by uneven stepping-stones, and if you looked either to the right or the left, you risked a possible dislocation or a dipping. T h e Postmaster was an ex-Captain of the 50th Regiment, a smart, gay, good-looking fellow, more at h o m e in the club-room, on the race-course, or running private theatricals, than in the Post Office hole, and the sorting and delivery business consequently, in the main, devolved upon his wife, w h o was m u c h more complaisant and civil-tongued to her window visitors than some of our young lady hands are said to be now-a-days. T h e hours of attendance were four per diem, viz., from 10 to 12 and 3 to 5, and Mrs. Baxter (who is still alive) got through the work pleasantly enough. It was she w h o despatched thefirstmail direct from Port Phillip to England in the " T h o m a s Laurie," the first wool-laden ship which sailed from the port for London, in January, 1839. A person m a y form some notion of the postal inconvenience of the period when it is stated that, in 1838, the settlers located in and about the Geelong country, used to be sometimes two months, and longer, before receiving a letter or newspaper from Melbourne, in consequence of " the uncertain and dilatory passage by water" ; and to provide, in a partial degree, against such an inconvenience, the proprietors of the Port Phillip Gazette offered, if they gotfiftysubscribers from the complaining district, to forward their journal, by express, once a month, or fortnightly if the stipulated number increased to one hundred. T h e offer was not accepted, and no facilities for inter-communication were presented until the following year ; for though I have read that a Government conveyance was put upon the overland route in 1838, there is such a confusion of dates as places m e in considerable doubt about it. In the March of 1839 the Baxters resigned, and the Government prevailed upon Mr. Skene Craig, a merchant, to undertake the Post Office business, and he did so, though it is said he had no relish for the post. It was thereupon moved to Skene's premises, in Collins Street west, at the corner of King Street. At this period the postage of a letter to Sydney was is. 3d., and as it was three weeks going, and the answer as many returning, the course of post between Melbourne and Sydney was between six and seven weeks, as compared with our two days now. T h e first overland mail contractor was Mr. Joseph H a w d o n , w h o (1st January, 1838) commenced to convey it fortnightly between Melbourne and Yass. It was carried on horseback to and from Melbourne and Howlong by his stockman, John Bourke, w h o for some time acted as mailman, and anxious and miserable times he must have had in his solitary canterings up and down the north-eastern route, in a day when " iron horses," travelling post offices, and itinerant letter-sorters were undreamed of. Bourke's mail reminiscences could recount m a n y a hair-breadth escape by flood and field while riding on H e r Majesty's service. H e had to camp out at night, swim flooded rivers and creeks, wade saddle-deep through marshes, and, travelling through a hostile