The following notice from Stephen's Immigrants' Almanack for 1842, in reference to the early Port Philip steam communication, is well worth reprinting, and cannot fail to be perused with interest at the present period of quick and frequent passages and low fares :— S T E A M VESSELS.—Steam communication between Sydney, Port Phillip, and Launceston. In order to afford every facility to passengers between the above Ports, the following arrangements will be as nearly as possible observed:— The "Sea Horse" will leave Sydney, 8th, Melbourne, 15th, Sydney, 24th, Melbourne, 31st, of each month. T o agree with the above, the "Corsair" will leave Melbourne, 15th, Launceston, 22nd, Melbourne, 31st, Launceston, 7th, of each month. F A R E S :—" Corsair "—Cabin passage, exclusive of wines, spirits, & c , £6; Steerage passage, exclusive of wines, spirits, & c , ,£3. "Sea Horse "—Cabin passage, exclusive of wines, spirits, & c , _£i2 17s Steerage passage, exclusive of provisions, ,£5. The "Aphrasia" starts for Geelong every Wednesday and Saturday, at 9 a.m. Leaves Geelong every Monday and Thursday, at 9 a.m. FARES.—Cabin, exclusive of refreshments, £1 ; Steerage, exclusive of refreshments, 10s. "The Governor Arthur" quits the Queen's Wharf daily at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and Williamstown at 12 noon and 5 p.m. FARES.—Abaft the funnel, 3s. 6d. ; Before the funnel, 2s. 6d. A pleasurable incident happened on nth June, 1842, when Mr. Benjamin Boyd, an eminent Sydney merchant, arrived from England in his pleasure yacht, the "Wanderer," 180 tons. She anchored off Sandridge, and many went from town to see her. The owner came ashore, and was made much of, and feasted and feted by the then Melbourne Club. Boyd's Australian career was brief and brilliant. Of large means and no small enterprise, his intentions in various ways were broad and venturesome, and amongst his projects was the settlement of the territory known as Twofold Bay, where a few ruins, the remains of what was once known as Boyd Town, perpetuate his otherwise forgotten name. In 1850, Mr. Boyd and his "Wanderer" wandered away to California, then giving incipient symptoms of its famed golden eruption, but the master never returned. O n the voyage back, the vessel touched at the Solomon Islands, and Boyd's evil destiny prompted him to go ashore on a shooting excursion, attended by a black boy, but nothing after was heard of either of them. They were supposed to have been murdered by the natives, and after futilely waiting for a considerable time and receiving no tidings from the island, the " Wanderer" put to sea and sailed to Sydney. Subsequently, a human scull, declared to be Boyd's, was obtained by a ship-master calling at the island ; it was taken to Sydney, where on examination it was conclusively ascertained to be the head-piece of an Aborigine.
WHARF IMPROVEMENTS.
The disgracefully neglected, or rather untouched north bank of the Yarra, was one of the earliest grievances, and so far back as the nth May, 1839, a public meeting was held, at which a deputation consisting of Messrs. P. W . Welsh, S. J. Brown, and John Hodgson, was delegated to represent to the Police Magistrate (Captain Lonsdale) the absolute necessity for doing something towards rendering the wharf even partially available for landing cargo ; and though he promised to do all in his power (which was but little), nothing came from the remonstrance, until the authorities began to feel so much ashamed that a commencement was made in the way of some slight improvement, and in September a few piles were driven as a small beginning. Some trifling change for the better was very reluctantly and tediously effected; but, in 1842, private enterprise endeavoured to remedy, in a small degree, Executive neglect, by Captain Cole and Mr. James Dobson starting the construction of private wharves on purchased land off south west Flinders Street. A somewhat rare cargo of live stock arrived in the Bay in October, per the "Georgiana," barque, from Rotty and Timor. She started with a freight of 112 ponies, but no less than 78 were lost during the passage.
