scheme of incorporation was extended to the town of Geelong in the year 1850 by the 13 Vic. No. 40, and most of the alterations in the Melbourne scheme include that of Geelong also. The importance of the corporation of Melbourne in Victorian history has been great. It is by far the oldest surviving institution of any magnitude. Created on a very advanced model at a time when everything around it was in a most primitive condition, it must have exercised a great effect on the political ideas of the community. Its existence served emphatically to affirm the principle that Victoria is a country developed through the towns. The practical success of the corporation of Melbourne would contrast markedly with the failure of the ambitious Local Government scheme of 1842, and on that account would serve as a model for future efforts. There can be little doubt that the predominance of town-life in Victoria is pregnant with the germs of grave social danger, but it is easy to see how that predominance has arisen. CHAPTER VII GENERAL CONDITION OF PORT PHILLIP IN 1842 THIS book does not profess to give a general history of Victoria. It deals only with the history of government. Nevertheless, to prevent our study being too abstract, we shall do well to glance occasionally at the general condition of the colony. And this course will also enable us to form some estimate of the merits of the scheme of government for the time being. Political machinery is largely a matter of accordance with environment. From the estimates submitted by the Governor to the Legislative Council of New South Wales in the year 1842,1 we find that the official staff at Port Phillip then consisted of the following functionaries— 1. The Superintendent (with clerks and messengers). 2. The Sub-Treasurer (with clerks and messengers). 3. The Customs staff (two sub-collectors at Melbourne and Portland, one landing-surveyor, two landing-waiters, three clerks, two lockers, one coast-waiter and five tide-waiters, a revenue cutter, and four Customs boats at Melbourne, Williamstown, Geelong, and Portland). 4. The Postmaster and staff (the latter consisting of two clerks and two letter-carriers). 5. The survey staff (including two surveyors, five assistant-surveyors, and two draftsmen). 6. The Clerk of Public Works and four overseers. 7. The ecclesiastical staff 2 (one clergyman of the Church of England, two Presbyterian ministers, one Wesleyan minister, and one Roman Catholic clergyman). 8. The medical staff 2 (two assistant-surgeons). 9. The judicial and legal staff, consisting of— a. The Resident Judge. 1 To be found in Votes and Proceedings (N. S. W.), 1842, p. 345. 2 At this time maintained by the central government. b. The Clerk of the Crown. c. The Crown Solicitor and Clerk of the Peace. d. The Deputy-Registrar. e. The Deputy-Sheriff. f. Two Commissioners of Requests (Melbourne and Geelong). h. Subordinate officials. 10. Police establishments :: a. Melbourne. (In hands of corporation, under 6 Vic. No 7.) i. Water Police. (Superintendent, clerk, inspector, four constables, two coxswains, and crew of six men.) j. Mounted Police. (Two sergeants, two corporals, eighteen mounted and two dismounted troopers.) k. Border Police.1 (Four Commissioners,2 two sergeants, two constables, and four corporals.) 7. Native Police. (Superintendent, assistant, and sergeant.) 11. The Gaol. (Gaoler, clerk, three turnkeys, and messenger.) The estimated total cost of these establishments at Port Phillip for the year 1843 was £74,237:16: 3, which included the sums to be granted to the corporation of Melbourne in aid of the Police Rate and Town Fund.3 Of this total sum £16,000 (odd) was appropriated to the police establishments, about £5000 to the administration of justice, and about £1700 to the gaol, making a sum of about £23,000, or nearly one-third of the total expenses of Port Phillip, to be spent upon the maintenance of order and the settlement of disputes. The estimates for 1843 were far less than the actual expenditure of 1842, which had amounted to £85,000.* 1 Under the 2 Vic. No. 27 (cf. ante, p. 46), amended by the 5 Vic. No. 1. 2 Two of these were only occasional. 3 Under the 6 Vic. No 7, ante. These and the following figures are from the returns submitted by the governor on the 22d August 1843 to the Legislative Council, in pursuance of an Address of the 17th August previous. (See Votes and Proceedings (N. S. W.), 1842, p. 461.) CHAP. VII GENERAL STATISTICS 65 Against these expenses the revenue from all sources for the same year (1842), except the great source of the sale of Crown lands, had been something over £84,000, or a deficit of about £1000 on the expenditure. On the other hand, in the year 1841 the revenue had considerably exceeded the expenses. On the whole, however, from its foundation in 1836 to the 24th April 1843 the settlement cost about £32,000 above its ordinary revenue. But this deficiency was counterbalanced by the fact that the proceeds of the sale of Port Phillip lands during the same period had amounted to very nearly £400,000, of which only about £200,000 had been spent in assisting emigration to the settlement, whilst its public works had been provided for by the ordinary expenditure. Thus the community starts on its second period of existence with a balance of nearly £200,000 to its credit. Passing beyond the statistics of government, we find that at the close of the year 1842 the population of Port Phillip District amounted to 23,799,2 of whom 15,691 were males and 8108 females, while of the total number about 50003 were dispersed in the squatting districts beyond the boundaries of location, principally in the districts of Monaroo, Murray, Western Port, and Murrumbidgee (which was then included in Port Phillip). The only counties proclaimed were those of Bourke, Grant, Normanby, and Auckland, the latter now belonging to New South Wales. The amount of Crown lands which had been alienated was 226,632 acres, but of this only 8124 acres were under cultivation. Of the cultivated area 2432 acres were in wheat, yielding 55,360 bushels; about the same quantity in oats, yielding 66,100 bushels; 761 acres in barley, yielding 20,025 bushels; 68 acres in maize, yielding 1360 bushels; and 1419 acres in potatoes, yielding just 6000 tons. The remainder grew hay, producing 2300 tons. The 1 Votes and Proceedings (N. S. W.), 1843, p. 463. 2 The following figures (unless otherwise stated) are taken from the Victorian Year-Book 1886-87, by the Victorian government statist, Mr. H. H. Hayter, C.M.G. 3 Cf. map of squatting districts, Sess. Papers (H. of Lords), 1845, vol. vi. pt. i. p. 398. 4 Most of this appears to have been in the Barrabool country, on the Yarrow and Moorarbool rivers, and north of Melbourne, on the Yarra, and the Merri and Darebin creeks. Cf. map in Sessional Papers (H. L.), 1841, vol. v. F year 1841 had grown 1440 cwt. of tobacco, but the experiment seems to have been given up in 1842. The community possessed about a million and a half head of live stock, divided thus: horses, 4605,1 cattle, 100,792, pigs, 3041, and sheep, 1,404,333. Of this stock by far the largest portion, amounting to 1,300,000 head, were in the squatting districts.2 The shipping in the ports during the year 1842 had been about 230 vessels, with a gross tonnage of about 40,000. The exports for the year had amounted to the value of £198,783, the principal being: wool (2,828,784 lbs., value £151,446), tallow (78,400 lbs., value £975), and hides (value £801). The imports, principally of bread-stuffs, amounted in value to £277,427. The capital invested during the year in mortgages and loans was £113,262. Along the road between Sydney and Melbourne, by the Yass plains and Gippsland, villages had been laid out and police stations formed.3 1 The Year-Book says 4065, but this is probably a misprint. returns in Votes and Proceedings (N. S. W.), 1843, p. 473. Cf. the original 2 Ibid. 3 Sess. Papers (H. L.), 1841, vol. v. p. 8. |