1850. NEW YEAR'S DAY ! '. ! O L D W H I T E H A R T INN, GREAT BOURKE STREET. T H E
Lovers of the good old English merriment are invited to witness the different sports opposite the above Inn on
TUESDAY NEXT, consisting of G O A T RACING—PRIZE, A SUIT OF CLOTHES. CLIMBING T H E G R E A S Y POLE—PRIZE, H A T A N D GUN. A PIG R A C E W I T H G R E A S Y TAILS. QUOITING A N D SKITTLES. The whole to conclude with a
GRAND MATCH at the old English Game of FOOTBALL. Luncheon will be provided.
The great demonstration came off accordingly, though the programme was very considerably curtailed. At the time there was a splendid sweep of lightly timbered grassy land away northward— the Churches of St. Peter and St. Patrick (then in course of erection) being the only breaks, and here on the site of the Parliament Houses used to occur every sort of human amusement, from holiday jollification to a nocturnal sticking-up. By night it was the most villainous, and by day the most innocent of the public thoroughfares. To-day it may be said not to abound in either quality. If the villainy of the locale has vanished into the unsubstantial region of tradition, it may safely be averred that it has taken the innocence along with it. Many years ago a small chemist's shop was started near the Colonial Bank in Elizabeth Street, on the site of the pile of buildings now designated O'Connor's Chambers. The projector of the druggery was Dr. W . H. Campbell, who annually made a great Christmas spurt in the newspapers to provide a tobacco treat for the inmates of the Benevolent Asylum and Immigrants' H o m e — a laudable effort, which to the medico's credit be it said, invariably eventuated in the letting off of a considerable quantity of smoke. The pill factory passed in an early stage to Mr. Nicholas O'Connor, an obliging and skilful prescriptionist, who stuck to it until he made a fortune, and then retired to enjoy a well-deserved otium cum dig. in a suburban seclusion. AUCTION RHODOMONTADE.
The old Melbourne " Knights of the Hammer " were a long-winded fraternity, and it would be impossible for tongue or pen to puff in a more bombastically inflated style than they did, especially in the advertising columns of the newspapers. Since the initiation of auctioneering as a mode of pushing on in the world, "buncombe" in some form or other was an inseparable accompaniment to the operations of the hammer, and in its use it is no exaggeration to declare that the old Auctioneer here " beat Banagher." This style of blowing wares intended as a " tremendous sacrifice " upon the altar of Mammon, has been always more or less in vogue, and recent events tend to establish an increasing belief in its efficacy ; but no comparison can be instituted between the modern crowing and the sonorous cock-a-hooping with which auction sales used to be heralded in the olden time. The first two auctioneers who made themselves heard in Melbourne (A.D. 1838) were George Lilly and Charles 'Williams. In January, 1839, they were re-inforced by James Purves, who commenced business as an architect, building surveyor, and house and land agent. In March he was followed by Thomas H. Power, as an auctioneer and commission agent; and before another year had completed its cycle the number ran up to a dozen. Auction rooms of sufficient capacity were difficult
