The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Chapter 20
CHAPTER XX.
TWO DEFUNCT PUBLIC BODIES.
SYNOPSIS: —Précis of the Markets Act (N.S.W.). —The Initiatory Meeting. —How Market Street was created. —First Market Election and its result. —First Meeting of the Commission. —Opening of the Markets. —Officers of the Commission. —Mr. James Dobson, ex-Commissioner. —Market Regulations. —District Council of Bourke. —Powers of Councils described. —Members of the first Nominee Council. —Unpopularity of the Council. —The Council's Finality.
The Market Commission.
THOUGH Melbourne had been created and gazetted a town in April, 1837, it possessed no properly established market until the close of 1841. At the commencement of this year the inhabitants resolved to bring their township under the operation of the Markets Act of New South Wales, and took measures accordingly. As the Market Commission was the first legally constituted electoral body in Port Phillip it is to be hoped that a brief précis of some of the provisions of the Legislative talisman by which it was called into existence, may not be uninteresting. It is a relic of the old Nominee Legislative Council of New South Wales, has long since become obsolete, and a copy of it is not now easily to be found in Victoria. The 3rd Vict. No. 19 (22nd October, 1839), is intituled "An Act to Authorise the Establishment of Markets in certain towns in New South Wales, and for the Appointment of Commissioners to manage same." By it twenty-five free householders could meet and adopt a resolution for the establishment of a Market. This was then communicated by the Police Magistrate to the Colonial Secretary, and if it obtained the approval of the Executive Council, a notification would appear in the New South Wales Government Gazette. The Governor was to fix the number of Commissioners, and where there were four thousand inhabitants, the town should be divided into not less than three Wards, with not less than two Commissioners for each. The Governor was to appoint a Returning Officer and three Scrutineers for each election, whether of Town or Ward. All Elections were confined to one day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Voters were to be householders or occupiers of houses of the annual value of £20, and proprietors, resident or non-resident, of land or buildings of the value of £200. The registration of electors was to be effected by every person desiring a vote, making and subscribing a declaration at the Court of Petty Sessions, twenty-one days before an election, that he was free, an inhabitant of the town, and a qualified occupier or proprietor; if the latter, he was to add — "That the property was bona fide, and not conveyed to him fraudulently, or with any secret understanding for the purpose of voting." He was entitled to a certificate of registration on paying one shilling to the Clerk of the Bench as Registering Officer. There did not appear to be any qualification for candidates. The voting was to be by ticket, having written on it the names of the persons to be voted for, and signed by the person presenting it. No person arriving in the Colony under sentence of transportation, unless free by servitude for at least three years, or the recipient of a free pardon, was entitled to vote, and a person might vote in as many Wards as he had qualified for.
On the close of the polling, the scrutineers were to have custody of the ticket-box, and to certify the Returns in writing within forty-eight hours to the Returning Officer, who was to make declaration of the poll by posting the result "upon the Police Office," but whether on door, floor, ceiling or chimney is not specified. The persons declared to be so elected were to form the Commission, with the Police Magistrate as an ex officio, and the tenure of seats was triennial. Periodical elections were to be held on the first Tuesday in July, without further notice than the publication of same (this time) "on the door of the Police Office," and advertising in a newspaper, if any should be printed in the town. Occasional vacancies were to befilledup by the Commissioners within fourteen days of their occurrence. T h e Commission was invested with the supreme control of the town markets, and could purchase, accept, take, receive, and hold any lands, messuages, tenements, hereditaments, & c , for the purposes of the Act. It could elect its Chairman, make bye-laws, and appoint and remove its Treasurer, Secretary, Clerk of Markets, Inspectors or any inferior officers, and pay them reasonable salaries. It could also fix the places for holding markets, and erect market-houses, shambles, stalls, and arrange the scale of charges for using same, & c , &c. ; and persons selling in other places than their o w n shops or dwellings, marketable commodities, except in markets, were liable to a ,£5 penalty. T h e Commission could also borrow on security of the market revenues a sum not exceeding ,£2000, and whenever it numbered more than seven members, a sub-committee of not less than three could be appointed, with power to exercise the functions of the whole, subject, however, to the approval of the general body, which was required to hold meetings at least once in every three months. T h e requisite initiatory meeting was held at the Melbourne Police Office on the 21st January, 1841, Mr. James Simpson presiding; and there yvas no difference of opinion as to the pressing want of market accommodation. T h e resolution affirming the propriety of making the necessary application to the Governor was agreed to, and it yvas also resolved to bring under His Excellency's notice an omission in the laying out of the town, viz, the non-existence of any street, from Collins to Flinders Streets, at the eastern side of the square space intended to form one of the market sites, and requesting the formation of a street. [This, as previously stated, yvas primarily suggested by Mr. Russell, when Clerk of Works, and being now renewed yvas endorsed by the Government, and Market Street was duly proclaimed as such.] T h e application was forwarded in due course to Sydney, but the Executive did not seem to be in a hurry in dealing with it, for the year was yvell advanced before the Gazette notice appeared. T h e Vice-regal approval was at length promulgated, the town was subdivided into four Districts or Wards, the 12th October, 1841, appointed for the electoral registration before the Petty Sessions Court, and the 2nd November as election day. Major St. John as Police Magistrate yvas to act as Returning Officer and Messrs. T h o m a s Wills, Skene Craig, and J. B. Were were nominated Scrutineers. There was very little excitement at the election, unless amongst the free and independent supporters of Mr. John Pascoe Fayvkner, one of the candidates, who kept open house for his retainers at an old one-storied tavern known by the patriotic designation of the William Tell, situated on " T h e Block" in Collins Street, close by the corner of Queen Street. The Fawknerites entered into the business with spirit, and, as their leader believed in producing a dramatic effect, he hoisted the blue colour as his cognisance, and his myrmidons, decked out in enormous blue rosettes, yvere to be seen shouting and jumping everywhere. A s for the irrepressible candidate himself, he was almost entirely encased in blue, and absolutely ubiquitous in his endeavours to rally those upon whose votes he calculated. At this time he yvas a light heeled, yviry, mercurial little m a n , and though Lonsdale Ward yvas in many places cut up by rut or ravine, Fawkner kept hopping about all day, clearing every obstacle with the agility of a yvallaby. Public curiosity was compelled to remain unsatisfied until the next day, when the names of the yvinners (without the numbers polled) were read by the Returning Officer, at the Police Court, as follows :— T h e north-west (now Bourke) Ward, Dr. F. M'Crae and Mr. John Stephen ; the south-yvest (now Lonsdale) Ward, Messrs. George Arden and J. P. Fawkner; the north-east (now Gipps) Ward, Messrs. James Simpson and James Dobson ; the south-east (now Latrobe) Ward, Messrs. George Porter and John J. Peers. O n e Candidate was defeated in each of the Wards, i.e., Mr. William Kerr (a journalist), for Bourke ; Mr. Francis Nodin (a merchant), for Lonsdale ; Mr. R e d m o n d Barry (barrister), for Gipps ; and Mr. W m . Locke (merchant), for Latrobe. It was said that Mr. Barry had been nominated without his consent or knowledge, and took no interest in the proceedings. O n the whole, a very good selection yvas made, and one of a tolerably representative character. T h e Commissioners held theirfirstmeeting at the Police Office on the 8th November, 1841, when Mr. Simpson was appointed Chairman, to the infinite dissatisfaction of Major St. John, who, as Police Magistrate, was an ex officio member, and in those days of official arrogance, he regarded the post as his almost by right; but he only scowled and sulked, and said nothing. T h e Commission proceeded to a consideration of the number of markets necessary, and decided on three, i.e., (1), A principal market for the sale of fruit, vegetables,fish,butchers' meat, and poultry (2), a cattle-market, and (3), a market for the disposal of hay and corn. For market No. i tyvo sites were approved, i.e. (a), what was then commonly called the Market Square (now Western Market), and (b), a portion of the vacant land between Swanston Street and Newtown (the now Eastern Market)—thefirst(or Western), to be immediately established, and the other (Eastern), to remain in abeyance. The second meeting was held on the nth November, at which yvas read a communication from the Superintendent, expressive of his yvillingness to recommend the reservation of the " Market Square," the Hay and Corn Market to be held on what yvas knoyvn as the Court-house reserve (now the site of St. Paul's Cathedral), and the Cattle Market in the northern part of the toyvn, near the Sydney Road. At a subsequent meeting the folloyving official staff was appointed :— Counsel, the Hon. J. Erskine Murray ; Solicitors, Messrs. Carrington and Clay ; Inspector of General Market, Mr. Charles Vaughan; Inspector of Hay and Corn Market, Mr. J. Hawkey ; Inspector of Cattle Market, Mr. Robert Ainslie; Market Keepers, Daniel Cummings and Thomas Manchester. Preparations yvere next made to put the Markets into something like working order. Three rude yvooden sheds were hurriedly patched up in the (Western) Market Square, and on the 15th December, 1841, the General Market was opened there. Towards the end of February, 1842, the Cattle Market yvas commenced in a roughly enclosed yard at the top of Elizabeth Street, where it is now intersected by Victoria Street. This place was then quite ayvay in the wild bush. The Market reserve blocked up the street, and in after years the Corporation exchanged it for another site, yvhen the Government had in contemplation the extension of the town northwards. About the same time the Hay and Corn Market started business in the north-east angle of the now Eastern Market (the junction of Bourke and Stephen Streets). This was only a temporary arrangement, and it was removed to the originally intended Market reserve at the north-east corner of Flinders and Syvanston Streets. The proceedings of the Commission did not trouble the people much, but the Commissioners tried to do their duty conscientiously, and, if their reign yvas not merry, it yvas a short one, for, on the incorporation of Melbourne, they were officially devoured by the Toyvn Council, and there yvas an end of them. T w o of them (Fawkner and Stephen) afterwards made their mark in the corporate history of Melbourne. Arden had great opportunities, but either abused or misused them. McCrae was thefirstof the party to die, and Simpson subsequently held the offices of Warden of the County of Bourke, Commissioner of Croyvn Lands, and Sheriff. St. John's career and fate are narrated in other chapters ; and Porter yvas a gentleman of much repute and yvealth. Though last, and certainly not the least useful, there was Dobson, the publican. After his election he became the victim of a harmless vanity, the source of much amusement at his expense. N o Mus. D o c , M . P , B.A, or LL.D. was ever half so proud of the abbreviated honours he yvas entitled to wear as Dobson yvas of his " M.C," yvhich he tacked on to his autograph whether publicly or privately used; and as the mystic symbols might mean " Member of Council," " M e m b e r of Congress," "Market Constable," "Market Caretaker," "Master of Ceremonies," or "Market Commissioner," much chaff was showered upon him. Yet he took it all in good part. H e either could not, or yvould not, see the point of the joke so often turned against him, and clung affectionately to his " M.C." affix. H e was, nevertheless, an enterprising, yvell-meaning man, one of the earliest landlords of the noyv extensive Albion Hotel in Bourke Street, and in his hands it was a spruce-looking, natty, little two-storied tavern, where good grog yvas served with a cleanliness and civility not too common in the Melbourne "pubs" ofthe present day. H e was also the projector of a wharf known by his name, and afterwards as "Raleigh's," yvhich yvas a great convenience in the days of our early commerce.
The Original Code of Market Regulations
Is a document, not only out of memory, but almost out of print, and an abstract of it as showing how the first Markets in Melbourne were managed may not be uninteresting.
The General Market was to commence by ring of bell at 6 a.m., from 1st September to last day of February, and at 8 a.m. from 1st March to 31st August. The selling or offering for sale in the Market of any article before the bell-ringing, entailed a ten-shilling fine. The Market was to be closed at sunset throughout the year. The Market-Inspector and his assistants were sworn constables. They were required to preserve order and regularity, and to apprehend and "carry" before the Sitting Magistrate any person making disturbance therein, or swearing or cursing, or using gross or indecent language, All scales, weights, and measures were to be examined by the Inspector, and fraudulent or defective ones seized. A fee of 3d. yvas payable for every weight and measure comparison, and 2d. per cwt. for any saleable article yveighed by the Inspector. All articles sold by hundredweight should be computed by the standard of 112 lbs, and persons selling articles deficient in weight by such standard incurred a forfeiture of from ios. to 20s. for every offence. Potatoes had to be disposed of by weight only, an infringement of which was folloyved by a fine of from ios. to 20s. Persons exposing articles for sale in other than the appointed places, or in the open spaces between the separate divisions, were liable to a similar fine. Stalls yvere rented for 5s. per yveek, and a "Stand" 2s. 6d. per day. A fine of ,£5 was incurred for exposing for sale other than in a house, shop, or other permanent building, articles chargeable with Market dues, and the damagers of posts and rails might be fined 20s.
The Hay and Corn Market was open on Wednesday and Thursday in each week from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Every load of articles intended for sale and brought within the boundaries of the town, had to be taken to the Market, except any conveyed direct to private stores ; and street-hawkers of such produce incurred a £5 fine. For every sack or dray-load of such articles so brought, one shilling was to be paid by the driver upon entry of same. T h e Inspector could order the placing of drays and carts; and the bullocks or horses attached to them had to be immediately taken outside the Market, if the Inspector so ordered. Disobedience of orders, or abusive or improper language, yvasfineablein not more than £ 1 ; and produce, if not disposed of on the Market day, might remain on payment of one shilling per diem until removed.
The Cattle Market was open in winter at daylight, in summer at 5 o'clock, and closed at 4 p.m. throughout the year. No cattle intended for sale to be allowed to enter the limits of the town south of the Market, on a line drayvn east and west, under a penalty of 40s. per head. Arrangements were m a d e for the occupation of the Cattle Yards at a charge of 3d. per night for each head of cattle and horses, 6d. for each score of sheep for thefirstfour nights of occupation, but no tax could be demanded for the three succeeding nights. Posts and rails yvere protected from injury by possible fines of 20s, exclusive of any damages recoverable in a civil suit.
District Council of Bourke.
By the 46th section ofthe Constitution Act, 5 and 6 Vict, c. 76, power was given to the Governor of Neyv South Wales to incorporate the inhabitants of every county, or part of a county, in the colony under the designation of a District Council. T h e members of such bodies were nominated by the Governor, and aftenvards elected in the following proportions :—Populations of less than 7000, members not to exceed 9; 7000 to less than 10,000, 12; from 10,000 to less than 20,000, 15 ; and 20,000 and upwards, not more than 21. T h e qualification for members and electors was the same as for the Legislative Council; the tenure of office yvas for three years, and the President or Warden, as he was styled, was to be appointed by the Governor. T h e powers of Councils were very extensive. They were charged with the making, maintaining or improving of any new or existing road, street, bridge, or other convenient communication throughout the district; or stop up, alter, or divert any road, street, or communication; could build, repair, and furnish public buildings; purchase any real or personal public property requisite for the use of the inhabitants ; sell such part of the real or personal public property of the district as might have ceased to be useful to the inhabitants; manage all property belonging to the district ; provide means for defraying the expenses ofthe administration of justice and police, and for the establishment and support of schools. For these purposes they could raise all necessary funds by the levy of tolls on public works, and rates and assessments on real and personal property, or in respect of such property, upon the owners and occupiers thereof by virtue of bye-laws, approved of by the Governor-in-Council. T h e only District Councils created in Port Phillip were those of the counties of Bourke, Grant, and Normanby. T h e first nominated Council in Bourke yvas in 1843, and its members w e r e — M r . James Simpson (Warden), Majors F. B. St. John and W . Firebrace, Drs. P. M'Arthur and F. M'Crae, Messrs. T h o m a s Wills, J. L. Foster, Joseph Hawdon, J. I). L. Campbell, Henry Dendy, and George S. Airey. Mr. Henry M o o r was appointed Solicitor, and Mr. James Smith, Treasurer. This Council seemed to be afraid of its responsibilities, and proceeded very sloyvly and hesitatingly. Though it nominally existed for years, it really never made any advance. It was unpopular, both in town and country; the Press were almost unanimous in protesting against its existence, and when its extraordinary powers yvere subjected to the analysis of calm and careful consideration, the yvonder was hoyv the Imperial Parliament could have enacted a measure so brimful of the impracticable. A n extremely objectionable, not to say unconstitutional, feature of the system was, that the initiation of taxation rested with a batch of irresponsible nominees. T h e legal status of the Council yvas, besides, impugned by the Press ; and there yvere not wanting members of the Bar to declare that the acts of the Council, if it did act, could, in m a n y respects, be successfully resisted in the Supreme Court. However, the Councillors occupied a position of masterly inactivity, and seemed reluctant to provoke hostility. So they held their presumed powers in abeyance, and never gave any actual effect to their functions beyond holding an occasional meeting. A s vacancies occurred they werefilledby going through the farce of an election, always uncontested, and sometimes attended by half-a-dozen persons, never more, but often less. A n d so our District Councils lived—or, rather, slept—on in a state of partial coma, n o w and then broken by a growl, as if to show they were still alive, until the hour arrived for their coup de grace, administered by the same agency that generated them.