MANUFACTURES.
Gold medals to Mr. Robert Stratford, for the best article of furniture ; Mr. Marsh, the best saddle ; and Mr. AVilliam Turner, colonial tobacco. Large silver medals to M r . Gundry, for best colonial made pottery ; and the Messrs. Drysdale and N e w c o m e for superior samples of linseed and cayenne pepper. S o m e very excellent samples of vegetables were shown by Mr. Lewis, but they were overlooked for prizes in the programme. GUNPOWDER EXPLOSIONS, AND THE FIRST POWDER MAGAZINE.—THE FIRST EXPLOSION.
AVhen Fawkner vacated his original " groggery," pitched at the rear of the Custom House, off Flinders Street, the wooden materials of yvhich it was constructed yvere re-erected at the eastern side of the Market Reserve, facing what is now Market Street, which had not then an existence. In 1839 Fayvkner's second hotel, at the south-east corner of Collins Street, and the same embryo Market Street, was occupied as the Melbourne Club House, and at a distance of some yards South of it, with only a narroyv right-of-yvay intervening, stood the ex-Fawknerian hostelry, recently furbished with a profusion of painting, and known as " T h e Sporting Emporium." It was kept by a Mr. John Blanch, the only gun and ammunition dealer in the town. Next door resided John Macecknie, a recently arrived Scotch emigrant, the first regular tobacconist. O n the 17th December, 1839, "The Sporting Emporium" blew up yvith a terrible loss of life, and though I have searched in every possible yvay for any printed narrative of the shocking occurrence, I have been unsuccessful. I have conversed, however, with half-a-dozen individuals, some of w h o m actually yvitnessed the explosion, and all were on the ground immediately after the occurrence, and from these I have obtained such irreconcilable versions of the calamity as induce m e to thoroughly sympathise yvith Sir Walter Raleigh's idea as to the impossibility of writing history under even the most favourable circumstances. T h e following, however, will, I believe, present a substantially correct version of the disaster : — T w o brothers named Griffin arrived as immigrants, per the " AVestminster," from England, and put up at one of the town hotels. It was their intention to start for the bush, but they thought it desirable to supply themselves with firearms and ammunition. T h e waiter at the hotel accompanied them to Blanch's. Accordingly, the three started on their mission, tyvo of them little dreaming that it would be their last walk upon earth. Blanch was in the shop, whilst his wife was in an adjoining room, and sitting near a cupboard in which was stored a quantity of poyvder. In one corner of the shop also there was a bag of powder and some open powder on the counter. T h e tobacconist had just stepped in to have a friendly cigar and chat with his neighbour, and during the process of puffing and talking, the Griffins and their cicerone, yvho was simply known as " Charles," entered. T h e intending bushmen were inspecting a particular piece which Blanch was strongly recommending, and one of the Griffin's placed a cap on the nipple and pulled the trigger, when an explosion followed very different from what was expected, for the whole establishment was sent with a tremendous detonation into the air. The cap in exploding, it was thought, had ignited some of the loose poyvder on the counter, and it is supposed that in the immediate consequences, the bag of powder in the shop was included, and hence one of the most shocking events that ever happened in Melbourne. AVhen the smoke cleared away, Blanch and his wife were found shockingly mutilated amongst the ruins, the two strangers were propelled into the Market Square, and the tobacconist and the waiter lay close by the dismantled house. A crowd quickly gathered, and amongst thefirstto render assistance were M r . T. F. Hamilton (now residing in Scotland), Lieutenant D. Vignolles, and Ensign M'Cormick, connected with a military detachment then in Melbourne. Captain Benjamin Baxter (still in the Colony) was riding into town, and on reaching the croyvn of a not very passable hill, near the late site of the statue of Burke and Wills, in Collins Street, he heard the explosion, and quickening his pace was also in time to lend a helping hand. Dr. Cussen, the Colonial Surgeon, and Mr. D. J. Thomas, a well-known medical practitioner, were promptly in attendance; but very little could be done. Blanch and his wife yvere shattered and partially dismembered, and were removed by wrapping them in a quantity of wadding and tar. Unfortunately, there was no public Hospital then in town, and all the poor creatures had to be taken to places in the neighbourhood. Blanch was carried to a druggist's shop kept by Dr. Barry Cotter, at the North-east corner
