Elizabeth Street near the river, and connected with it was to be a large filter composed as to three of its sides of wood, with the fourth (the next to the river) of iron. This receptacle was to be filled with gravel, and through this the water would filtrate into a capacious tank, which would communicate with six pumps under Corporation control, and thus would be supplied sufficient fresh water for the then requirements. This clumsy scheme was considered crude and unreliable, and sank into oblivion.
In 1849 there arrived in Melbourne a man whose name was, in after time, to be inseparably connected with the water supply of the City. He was Mr. James Blackburn, a civil engineer, possessed of considerable knowledge of hydraulics. Perceiving how Melbourne was fixed about its water, he associated with himself Mr. Frederick Cooper, a well-known druggist, and they resolved themselves into a private water partnership. The nature of their project will be best understood by the perusal of an extract from a Melbourne newspaper of the 28th July:—
"Water.—A gentleman named Blackburn, an engineer, lately arrived from Van Diemen's Land, is forming an establishment which will be of considerable advantage to the City, so far as a supply of pure water is concerned. Mr. Blackburn, having procured certain premises at the junction of Elizabeth Street with Flinders Street, and obtained the sanction of the Town Council to bring the water from the Yarra to the locality alluded to, has sunk a well in which the water is received; a two horse-power steam engine pumps the water into extensive reservoirs overhead, from which hoses are connected, and by which the water carts (seven at a time) will be supplied at the low figure of one penny per load. Independent of the wear and tear of the drays and horses in crossing Flinders Street, the drivers will be saved the labour of pumping, and in case of fire there will be no delay in procuring a supply of water. The best feature in the new arrangement is that all the water delivered at Mr. Blackburn's establishment passes through a large tank filled with charcoal and sand, and through which it is filtered from all impurities."
This water firm displayed such promptitude in perfecting their arrangements as to be able to commence the business of filtered water sellers on the 5th September, when they disposed of 100 loads on the first day. In obtaining the privilege of sinking pipes from the river they stipulated not to charge more than one penny per load for their purified fluid, but they coolly clapped on fifty per cent. a three half-penny rate--which was denounced by the water-carters and others interested in the old system, and the intervention of the City Council was sought to prevent such an imposition. Blackburn, in his defence, admitted the increase, pleading in extenuation that he had been forced into it by his partner; but in less than a month the objectionable half-penny was knocked off, and only the penny per load charged. Blackburn, having accepted the post of City Surveyor, withdrew from the firm, which still held on, and so far increased its business that in December the average sales were 700 loads per diem; but the undertaking did not bring a fortune, a large proportion of the community persisting in patronising the worse, in preference to the better, article. In this very unsatisfactory. manner was the water supply muddled until after the separation of the Province from New South Wales, when the Government could no longer shirk so vital a question, and the first extensive improvement in the water line was the erection of proper pumping machinery on the river at the extreme end of Spring Street, and corresponding works in that huge-looking square reservoir opposite Apsley Place. Some process of filtration was introduced, and the water distributed by the carriers until our present permanent water power was brought into play.
It is a fact worth mentioning that the steam engine of this establishment was worked by a Scotchman named W. H. Stevenson. He had been for more than a quarter of a century an employé in the department of the Legislative Council, and died in harness in 1882.
The Yan Yean.
In 1850 the sanitary condition of Melbourne engaged the attention of the City Council. Several nostrums had been from time to time propounded, and the newest project was that of a Mr. Rosson, C.E., to supply Melbourne with water from the Yarra above the Studley Park Falls. The Council had in its employ an officer than whom there was then no person in the Province more capable of giving practical advice in such an important emergency. He was accordingly commissioned to report generally on the
