found £8, which yvas forthwith confiscated. T w o writing desks belonging to the Dispenser and the Matron were removed to the yard, where they were pick-locked and emptied of their contents. S o m e process of sorting was gone through, for the boxes with most of what they contained were throyvn aside, and a selection of scraps and m e m o s of no value was carried off. Noises had been heard during the night by the Matron and some of the inmates, but they did not disturb themselves, under the impression that the Apothecary yvas taking some pedestrian exercise in his room, either somnambulistically or otherwise. N o clue was ever obtained to the pilferers, or the abducted bank notes. U p to September there was no fencing put round the building; it looked like a red-rookery perched in the centre of a waste of bush, with large, half-charred tree-trunks here and there. T h e Court-house and gaol were the only indications of civilization beyond, and on the other sides whatever few tenements were to be seen, yvere nothing more than clumps of wooden and brick-made cabins, with a twopenny-halfpenny huxter's shop at every dozen yards, and three or four fourth-rate "groggeries" in the vista. So unprotected was the situation, and so strong were the temptation and facilities afforded, that such ofthe inmates as could m o v e about, frequently moved too far away, were picked up by friends w h o stood treat, and the hospitallers sometimes came h o m e very drunk of an evening. Impositions though not so m a n y proportionately then as noyv, yvere not unknoyvn, and any knaves detected in this shameful sort of fraud were sent adrift with scant ceremony. T h e Hospital site atfirstwas about one-fourth its present dimensions, and the east and west portions, with the grounds of the Public Library, were intended as a place for public recreation. T h e Committee, however, thought proper to make application for the extension of the Hospital allotment to Russell Street, to which the Superintendent saw no objection, leaving the City Council, as the supposed custodian of the public interests, to give or keep it ad libitum. T h e Corporation authorities were privately sounded on the subject, and as the claim was likely to provoke hostility if brought up at the Council table, it was yvithdrawn for the time. In future years the Charity obtained it. T h e original building is almost lost amidst the mass of additions. It faced Syvanston Street, and now forms the east wing of the new main building which was thefirstaddition on the central block. Next was attached the west wing, and subsequently tyvo pavilions on the east side of the reserve. T h e old structure was capped with a curious sort of cupola formed of lead-covered wood, a style of finishing head-gear to which Mr. Samuel Jackson, the architect of several of the old buildings in toyvn, was partial. T h efirstsite granted for the purpose of an Hospital was the centre of the present large enclosure, and there was an oblique short cut from the Syvanston and Lonsdale Streets corner, close past the old door of the Hospital. T h e Annual Meeting in January 1850 came round yvhen only the following citizen subscribers were present, viz. : — T h e Revs. Dean Coffey, A. M . Ramsay and Doyvning ; Messrs. E. B. Greene, M . Lynch, T. Lane, J. F. Palmer, J. O'Shanassy and E. E. Williams. Though nine tailors are said to m a k e a man, nine m e n could not m a k e a legal quorum, and as the tenth unit was nowhere, the event had to be adjourned for a week. From the Annual Report submitted, it appeared that on the 1st January, 1849, there were 14 In-patients, and 183 had been admitted during the year following. O f this 197, 33 were w o m e n , 3 children, 46 died, 73 were cured, 32 relieved, 33 remained, 2 .were incurable, 2 discharged, and 9 left of their o w n accord. O n the roll of Out-patients, there were at date 123, viz, 95 men, 21 w o m e n , and 7 children. T h e subscriptions for the year amounted to ^ 3 8 5 is. 4d, obtained from Melbourne and its vicinity, whilst the country co-operation yielded only ^ 3 7 15s. 9d, although it was well-known that the preponderance of cases came from that quarter. Mr. E. Westby having resigned office as Treasurer in February, a special meeting yvas held to appoint a successor, when tyvo very unquestionable candidates were nominated, and a contested election ensued. T h e gentlemen proposed were both well-known, and held in high esteem, viz, Messrs. C. H . Ebden, and Frederick Cooper. Though the former polled two to one, the victory was not m u c h to be proud of, for the voting was — E b d e n six, and Cooper three. It was agreed to wrap a Secretary, Collector, and Accountant into one and the same h u m a n form, which was to be unmarried, and its remuneration to be ,£40 a year, with board and lodging. Out of thirty-three applicants only thirteen were considered to be in any way eligible for the billet, and on the 27th March, it was given to a Mr. Edward J. Abraham, a recent comer from Sydney. After he had been inducted a couple of weeks, it was discovered he was a Benedict, and had to resign, when the appointment was conferred upon a Mr. or rather, Rev.
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THE CHRONICLES OF EARLY MELBOURNE.
239
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