that in 1841, the three Melbourne newspapers were not far apart, as the Herald circulated about 700 copies, the Gazette, 650; and the Patriot, 600. This was then deemed quite a paying state of business, as the expense of bringing out a paper was small from the fewness of hands and moderate rate of pay. A considerable proportion of the incomings resulted from advertisements, especially the auctioneers, who were then masters of the situation, and were, on the whole, liberal and impartial enough to the three so-called organs of public opinion. I may state that until the era of the goldfields there was no such thing as a street-hawking of papers, nor bellowing boys running about like roaring demons through the streets, yelling out the latest edition of so-and-so; and even no town agents. Each office had attached to it a staff of urchins paid by the week, who attended every morning, and took out their rounds, delivering the papers only at subscribers' houses, and doing it with the taciturnity, but not the speed, of our modern letter-carriers. Papers were also hardly ever sold over the office counter, certainly never in any number worth mentioning.
In July, 1841, Arden and Strode dissolved partnership, the former becoming sole proprietor, and he contrived to keep aboard until 1842, in the September of which year he was wrecked amidst a squall of writs and executions, too potent to be withstood. There was first a composition with creditors, and next an absolute sequestration of estate. The creditors appointed Dr. Greeves as Editor, but the back of the paper was broken, and though it continued to live, it lost all its animated smartness, and was not of much account. Mr. Thomas M'Combie afterwards acquired some share in the shaky concern, and in October, 1844, he purchased the sole copyright for £85. It is to be regretted that there are no complete files of the three old Melbourne newspapers in existence. Three volumes of the Gazette (from 27th October, 1838, to December, 1841), were sold for £50 by Mr. Strode, in 1874, to the British Museum, whither they were transmitted. They were previously offered to Sir Redmond Barry for the Melbourne Public Library, but declined for the price, which was a mistake. So far as Victoria is concerned, there is no such thing as regards Gazette, Patriot, or Herald. In the Public and Parliamentary Libraries there are files of the Herald, commencing with the first number, but at every few numbers there is a hiatus, either the nip-out of a paragraph or an advertisement, or a half-column or column, and so going on to a whole issue, and sometimes more. Considering the present status of our colonial Press, it is to be regretted that the humble, but not unpretentious pioneers from which it has sprung, should in their entirety, have no resting place on the shelves of any of our literary institutions.
In addition to the papers before enumerated, there were others, small, uninfluential weaklings, merc ephemerals. The first of this fry was the Weekly Free Press, a professedly Roman Catholic organ, a puny hebdomadal, started 1st July, 1841, by a Mr. James Shanley. It was supposed to be edited by Dr. Greeves, and subsequently by a Mr. Adam Murray, but after a miserable existence of three months it died, and its remains, consisting of the smallest of plants and a nominal copyright, were bought by Mr. Thomas M'Combie for £90. In April, 1842, the Times was started by Mr. Ryland J. Howard, the ex-publisher of the Herald, and, published every Saturday, ran for two years, expiring in 1844. Its motto was "The Welfare of the People is the First Great Law." It was a well-conducted paper, in consequence no doubt of its management having for a time fallen into the hands of Mr. Osborne after he broke with the Herald.
The Standard, a bi-weekly journal, was started in 1844 by Mr. George D. Boursiquot and amalgamated with the Patriot, 1st October, 1845. It was clever, pungent, and sparkling during its brief existence.
On 6th January, 1845, Mr. Samuel Goode started the bi-weekly Courier, and in June, Mr. W. Kerr assumed the Editorship, and promised to achieve wonderful results. It was the most libellous publication ever issued in the colony and was never out of trouble. Kerr was twice publicly pummelled in the streets for the insertion of scurrilous personal paragraphs. It managed to survive little more than a year, when Kerr was driven into the Insolvent Court.
In December, 1847, Goode was again taken with a newspaper mania, which ended more disastrously than his Courier venture. He established the Albion, a filthy weekly rag. It was supposed to be written by Kerr and Curtis, the Editor and Reporter of the Argus, and in
