340 A HISTOKY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



to return him to the Melbourne City Council, and later on to ensure 

 his seat in the Legislature. The Argus opposed his election with 

 persistent denunciation, and coupled him with J. P. Fawkner as 

 a brace that must be kept out at all cost. But despite its vehemence 

 the opposition was futile in both cases, and it must have been an 

 unpleasant experience for Mr. J. S. Johnston to find himself lower 

 on the poll than the man against whom his paper had launched 

 its daily philippics. For at this time his name appeared on the 

 imprint of the Argus as joint proprietor with Mr. Wilson. Mr. 

 Johnston was a fairly fluent speaker, with rather a caustic tongue, 

 which often ruffled the temper of opponents on the frequent 

 occasions when he took part in public discussions. He owed his 

 elections largely to the solidarity of the Scottish vote, but he had 

 a fairly long Parliamentary career, and lived to serve as a Minister 

 of the Crown under the Premiership of the denounced O'Shanassy. 



Of the other seventeen elected members there is little to be 

 said. Few of them remained permanently in politics, or dis- 

 tinguished themselves while there. John Thomas Smith, the oft- 

 recurring Mayor of Melbourne, was returned for North Bourke; 

 Henry Miller, an early colonist who had amassed considerable 

 wealth by land dealing and money lending, represented South 

 Bourke ; Dr. J. F. Palmer, who had abandoned his profession for 

 the more lucrative one of wine merchant, sat for Normanby ; and 

 J. P. Fawkner, posing as the father of the colony, looked after the 

 interests of Talbot and its adjacent counties. 



To the twenty chosen of the people, the Lieutenant-Governor 

 proceeded to add the ten of whom the Crown had the right of nomin- 

 ation. The five ofiicial members constituting the Executive were : 

 William Foster Stawell, Attorney-General ; William Lonsdale, 

 Colonial Secretary ; Chas. Hotson Ebden, Audi tor- General ; Eed- 

 mond Barry, Solicitor-General ; Eobert W. Pohlman, Master-in- 

 Equity. The quota was completed by the appointment of five 

 non-official members, three of whom were squatters, one a barrister, 

 and one, William Clark Haines, a retired doctor engaged in 

 farming. 



The Executive was fairly strong, though its official leader in the 

 Council, the Colonial Secretary, had not the resolute resourcefulness 



