the juniors was a wee recently-trousered imp of a boy only a few years old, though he is now a sedately good-humoured and well-to-do citizen, of the modern Antipodean Babylon, known as Melbourne, the centre-piece of a wide circle of friends and more profitable cordon of customers. H e drives a brisk and lucrative business in one of the busiest city thoroughfares, and of all the old colonists with w h o m I have conversed anent the by-gone incidents of lang syne, he is gifted with the most precise and tenacious of memories, giving, without reference to journal or diary, the date, day, hour, names and minute particulars of the most trifling occurrences of long ago. T o him I a m indebted for some amusing refreshers of ancient reminiscences—waifs, either forgotten or not known to m e , and of which no mention was to be found in the files of musty newspapers and manuscripts amongst which I have been wading for the past two or three years. Having consulted him on the subject of the foregone chapter, I was favoured with a written tract, which on perusal is so brimful of interesting trifles that I a m induced to append it, with an expression of regret that m y informant's inherent modesty is so strong that I a m prohibited by special request from disclosing his name.
" TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES."
" Associations for the promotion of Temperance were early formed in Melbourne. So early as the year 1842 meetings for this object were held in the Scots' Schoolroom, Collins Street East, at which Messrs. P. Heales, J.Wilson, and others were the speakers. T h e cause advanced, and eventually land was purchased in Russell Street (where one of the most commodious buildings in town n o w stands), and a comfortable Hall erected, in which weekly meetings were held. A s it was found to be advisable to provide attractions for the meetings, a band of music was formed in 1847, which numbered over twenty performers, and gave great satisfaction on itsfirstpublic appearance. O n each Tuesday evening, when the public meeting took place, the band paraded the streets for upwards of an hour, and attracted an audience which more than filled the hall. A m o n g the many speakers w h o took part in the meetings was a lady, Mrs. Dalgarno, wife of the captain of the ship " Lochnagar," who, when her husband was in port, invariably attended, and did all in her power to advance the cause of temperance. T h e "Lochnagar" was sailed as a temperance ship, and afforded m u c h gratification to passengers and crew. Mrs. Dalgarno is dead, but her husband, Captain Dalgarno, is (I believe) still (1888) living at Williamstown. "Richard Heales was a consistent advocate of temperance, and to him chiefly is the colony indebted. Another popular speaker was known as ' Teetotal Bill,' w h o had been a prize-fighter and navvy in England. His descriptions of his former life were most graphic. H e spoke in the Yorkshire vernacular, and his appearance at the meetings invariably drew a large attendance. T h e members of the band were unselfish, and gave the proceeds of their services to the Society for the purchase of new instruments and towards defraying the debt on the Hall. After a time, as Bandmaster Tickle became unsteady, an old Peninsular veteran named M ' K e e supplied his place until 1849, when the Messrs. Hore arrived in the colony. They were thefirstto introduce saxe-horns here. They formed a quartette, consisting of P. Hore, first horn; J. Hore, second; S. Hore, tenor; and R. Hore, Senr., bass. T h e Melbourne Total Abstinence Society was not the only one existing in Melbourne in the early time, for many of our Irish colonists had had vivid remembrances of the great Apostle of Temperance in the green Isle and formed a Fraternity Society bearing his name. S o m e will still remember the genial Dean Coffey, w h o often endeavoured to gain the adhesion of his fellow countrymen to the good cause. H e was of fine stalwart proportions, being a head and shoulders above the ordinary people (as Saul was among the Hebrews), and had a splendid voice. It was no ordinary treat to hear him sing, ' It was a Friar of Orders Gray.' It has often been remarked that a great feeling of kindliness as a rule prevailed in the olden times among the people of Melbourne, but which quite passed away after the gold discovery, when there was such an influx of strangers from all parts of the world that the old element was quite swamped. In 1840 the sole representatives of the three leading denominations (Rev. A. C. Thomson, Episcopalian Church; Rev. P. B. Geoghegan, R o m a n Catholic ; and Rev. Jas. Forbes, Presbyterian) might have been frequently seen arm in arm perambulating Collins Street, and they cordially united in all good works."
