264 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



breeze ! " With much similarly feeble fault-finding, it however 

 clinched its arguments by demanding the immediate creation of 

 a municipal council to supply the town with "proper civic con- 

 veniences ". The result of the agitation was the passing of an Act, 

 constituting as a corporation the mayor, aldermen, councillors and 

 burgesses of the town of Melbourne, having perpetual succession 

 and enjoying certain well-defined rights, by the Legislative Council 

 in Sydney, on the 12th of August, 1842. It should be noted here 

 that the body which passed this Act was not a representative legis- 

 lature, as the term is understood to-day. The members consisted 

 of the chief Government officials appointed by warrant of the 

 Crown, and their proceedings were subject to the veto of the 

 Governor, who invariably presided, and by whom all legislation 

 was initiated. Its functions were much like those of the more 

 modern Executive Council, except that the members were called 

 into existence by, and owed their allegiance to, the Governor, in- 

 stead of, as at present, to Parliament. 



The Melbourne Corporation Act, emanating from this body 

 (Victoria, No. 7, New South Wales), is of historical interest, for it 

 raised the " settlement on the Yarra " to the dignity of the town 

 of Melbourne, which was to consist of the " parish " of North 

 Melbourne and the " suburb " of Newtown, otherwise called Colling- 

 wood, the boundaries being vaguely set out in the first schedule of 

 the Act. The word " parish," thus used, must not be confounded 

 with its English equivalent, being merely a geographical expres- 

 sion, and as such has been applied extensively in later divisions of 

 the territory, without any reference to parochial usages. Also the 

 definition " North Melbourne " did not mean what it afterwards 

 came to signify, but included all the houses on the north side of 

 the Yarra, leaving out only the few scattered habitations in the 

 districts where Emerald Hill, Prahran, and St. Kilda subsequently 

 developed. The town was divided into four wards by lines drawn 

 down the centres of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, each ward 

 returning three councillors. The chosen twelve having been duly 

 installed proceeded to elect four aldermen, one for each ward. In 

 the selection they were not limited by the Act to their own body, 

 but in practice they never went outside. On the same day and at 



