it. In the meantime a Sergeant Stapleton, a strong .active member of the Police, was invoked to eject the hangman, who, in the midst of intense confusion, declared he should have the rest of the service gone through in his o w n way. Stapleton seized Harris by the neck, : nd after a smart tussle of cuffing and kicking, the scoundrel was dragged away, howling like a maimed gorilla, and .swearing that if he had his rope with him, " h e would strangle the whole lot of them, parson and all." T h e fellow, after a night in the lock-up, was brought before the Police Court next morning, where the presiding Magistrate happened to be Mr. Moor, the Chancellor. In addition to the foregoing, evidence was given of Harris being a ticket-of-leave prisoner of the Crown, and he was sentenced to six months' inprisonment with hard labour. Dr. Perry did not let the grass grow under his feet, and no m a n could have worked more unceasingly and energetically than he did. S o m e difficulty was experienced in settling the question of the maintenance of St. Peter's, and a " W a y s and M e a n s " meeting was held on 22nd July, presided over by Mr. James Simpson, when it was estimated that .£140 per annum for two years would solve the present difficulty, towards which a subscription list was opened, and names for a good proportion of the sum at once put down. O n the 6th August, St. Peter's was inaugurated as a church, on which occasion the Bishop preached a morning, and the Rev. M r . N e w h a m , an evening sermon. T h e Diocesan Society was established on the 12th September, 1848, at a numerously-attended meeting in the Temperance Hall, Russell Street. T h e Bishop, who was chairman, delivered a luminous address, in which he formulated the objects of the proposed institution. T h e other speakers were : — M r . Latrobe (the Superintendent), Messrs. J. L. P'oster, A. M'Kenzie, R e d m o n d Barry, Joseph Raleigh, E. E. Williams, William Hull, C. Campbell, the Revs, (now Dr.) Macartney, and A. C. Thompson. T h e principles of the society were settled, and it was declared to be organised for the following purposes : — T o promote the building of churches, maintenance of clergy, circulation of Bibles and prayer books, and the advancement of true religion, consistent with the discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland in the Diocese of Melbourne. A brief code of rules for its management was adopted, thefirstset of office-bearers elected, and ,£180 contributed in aid of the ends sought to be obtained. Geelong was constituted an Archdeaconry, with a jurisdiction over the entire Western District, and Dr. Macartney was appointed Archdeacon in October, 1848. A small section of Church of England worshippers, considering that the Rev. Mr. Collins, the first minister, had a preferent claim, were dissatisfied. Dr. Macartney was then fifty years of age or something over, and some of his opponents had the folly to insinuate that he was too old for the work. H e has already outlived every one of them by many years, has been working hard ever since, and is still in harness (1888), forty years after, an instructive commentary on the fallacy of the fashion now getting into vogue, of measuring ability by a rule of thumb, which beckons to a person thoroughly efficient to stand aside when he reaches a certain arbitrary maximum of years. Dr. Macartney, n o w the well-known Dean of Melbourne, was born in Dublin in 1799, and is aztate 89. H e is a son of Sir John Macartney, a m e m b e r of the Irish House of C o m m o n s , and a more untiring and conscientious minister never officiated in the colony. O n the 31st October, Bishop Perry administered confirmation to 82 persons at St. James', on which occasion the church was crammed to overflowing. In November the erection of a G r a m m a r School near St. Peter's, upon which ,£650 were to be expended, was commenced, and Mr. Budd, R . H , was to be the master. T h e Bishop's lengthy missionary tour through the Western District also took place. In January, 1849, a branch of the Diocesan Society was opened at Geelong, and promised to be an efficient ally of the parent body in Melbourne. T h e important district of Collingwood was without a place of worship, and as there was no land there available for a Government grant, the Bishop purchased from Mr. John Hodgson, a site whereon to erect a church (the now St. Mark's). Brighton, which already had a small building for religious uses, was now given a pastor to itself in the person of Mr. Brickwood, a private school teacher, w h o was about to take orders, and Mr. Bean (about to be ordained) was- assigned to Gippsland. T h e new school of St. Peter's, or, as it was afterwards designated, T h e Melbourne Diocesan School, was opened on the n t h April. It professed to give a sound scriptural and general education, and its terms were—Entrance fee, ,£2 2s. and ,£1 is. for every additional boy of the same family; annual fee,
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THE CHRONICLES OF EARLY MELBOURNE.
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