306 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



Indeed, during the whole period under review, the local consump- 

 tion was never quite overtaken, and the import of bread-stuffs every 

 year ran into considerable figures. 



In the Metropolis and its immediate suburbs the population 

 increased during Mr. Latrobe's superintendency from 3,000 to 

 23,000, and although most of the public buildings which he saw 

 erected were a vast improvement on the makeshifts of the earlier 

 days, they were each in turn found to be too small and mean for 

 the part they were called upon to play in the colony's development. 

 With the exception of the gaol, they were all, sooner or later, 

 superseded. The erection of the gaol in Eussell Street, which was 

 completed in 1844, and took the place of a smaller one in Collins 

 Street West, was a source of considerable irritation to the Melbourne 

 public. It is true it was then upon the outskirts of the town, but 

 from the high land on which it reared its frowning walls, it seemed 

 like a dominating fortress " to threaten and command ". The con- 

 troller of the purse-strings in Sydney had blocked the way for 

 buildings which were much more desired, and for the improvement 

 of streets which were a disgrace to the town. Now it was alleged 

 the Government was spending 25,000 to erect a building which 

 the Mayor denounced as "a libel on the colony". Mr. Edward 

 Curr went further, and said, at a public meeting, that it could only 

 have been conceived on such a scale in a convict colony, where " it 

 was computed that a number of persons, equal to the whole num- 

 ber of the inhabitants, are passed through the gaols once every 

 three years ! " Unhappily, it has been necessary to enlarge it since, 

 more than once, and to build other gaols farther afield; but its 

 aggressive aspect is somewhat diminished by surrounding buildings 

 devoted to higher purposes, for it closely adjoins the Melbourne 

 Public Library and National Gallery, and is flanked by the hand- 

 some buildings of the Working Men's College. 



Perhaps one of the most striking instances of the tentative 

 way in which public improvements were undertaken is exhibited 

 by the manner in which the urgent demands for a bridge over the 

 Yarra were met. Until early in 1838 the only means of crossing 

 the river were by boat. In April of that year a man named 

 William Watts was licensed to establish a punt at a crossing-place 



