THE CONSTITUTION STATUTE OF 1842 293 



allow themselves to be nominated for re-election. They had some 

 difficulty in getting unanimity on the subject, but after much nego- 

 tiation it was agreed locally to refrain from nominating any person 

 for the five vacancies, without whom a House could not be legally 

 formed. When, therefore, on the 20th of July the returning officer, 

 Mr. R. W. Pohlman (afterwards judge), demanded the names of 

 the candidates, he was met by a great outcry of " No election," 

 and had to return his writ endorsed to that effect. As any two 

 persons could nominate a candidate, and any six demand a poll, 

 it indicated considerable unanimity, though there were many who 

 doubted the judiciousness of this extreme step. But the election 

 for Melbourne was yet to come, five days later, and in the interval 

 many citizens, having pondered the matter, were unwilling to con- 

 tinue what was practically a "game of bluff". The party in 

 favour of non-election having failed to secure unanimity, the meet- 

 ing for nomination on the 25th of July was a very lively one. 

 The Mayor presided, and the first speaker was Dr. Greeves, who 

 strongly urged the meeting to follow the example of the electors 

 for the district, and told them that if they would not do so he would 

 not allow the election to go by default, but would nominate Earl 

 Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, so that the non-election 

 party should have an opportunity of showing their strength. He 

 was supported by Edward Curr and John P. Fawkner, but their 

 appeals were not successful. Mr. A. F. Mollison proposed and Mr. 

 John Duerdin seconded the return of Mr. John F. L. Foster, who 

 had represented the district in the late Council. Thereupon Earl 

 Grey was duly proposed by Thomas McCombie and seconded by 

 J. P. Fawkner, and a show of hands was overwhelmingly in favour 

 of the nobleman. But six Conservative electors, of whom half were 

 lawyers, arose and demanded a poll, which was fixed for the follow- 

 ing day. Presumably the non-election party were confident, for 

 the whip was not extensively applied. Only a little over one-third 

 of the electors on the roll took the trouble to record their votes, 

 but the figures were 295 for Earl Grey and 193 for Foster. At 

 the declaration of the poll the Mayor was confronted with formal 

 legal protests against the validity of the election on various grounds. 

 Earl Grey was a member of the House of Peers, and could not 



