28 A HISTOKY OF THE COLONY OF VICTOKIA 



might ensue". Under these comprehensive powers the police 

 set about searching for some prominent figures amongst the in- 

 cendiaries, and in a few days they had arrested three men, named 

 Mclntyre, Fletcher and Westerby. Many persons came forward 

 to declare that Mclntyre made himself conspicuous by his effort, 

 to dissuade the mob from violence, and another contingent averred 

 that Fletcher was not present at the fire at all. A meeting was 

 readily convened, at which the perjured testimony of the police was 

 lavishly denounced, and one or two irrepressibles urged a general 

 attack on the Camp to release the unfortunate trio. Finally, a 

 committee was appointed to wait on the Camp officials and tender 

 bail for the release of the prisoners. The request was at first 

 refused, but the refusal was taken in such bad part by the angry 

 throng surging around the Camp gates that discretion tempered 

 zeal, and though the Commissioner fixed the amount of bail at 

 2,000, the volunteer bondsmen were promptly accepted without 

 inquiry. The result of the subsequent magisterial inquiry was 

 the committal of the three accused men to take their trial in Mel- 

 bourne on the 20th of November. 



Before the trial came off, however, Sir Charles Hotham, much 

 perturbed by the current stories of official venality and the pre- 

 valence of bribery in the public service, determined upon an 

 inquiry by a special Board, consisting of two Metropolitan Police 

 Magistrates and the Chief Medical Officer of the colony. In advising 

 Earl Grey of this somewhat unusual proceeding, Sir Charles said 

 he felt it imperative " to investigate the charges, which poured in 

 from all quarters, of general corruption on the part of the authorities 

 of the Ballaarat goldfield ". The Board met at Ballaarat on the 2nd 

 of November, and took the evidence of a number of miners and 

 other residents. Their report, submitted a few days later, confirmed 

 many of the rumours which had disturbed the Governor. Its con- 

 clusions involved the dismissal of Dewes, the Police Magistrate, 

 and the senior sergeant of police at the Camp, and other drastic 

 changes. The rearrest of Bentley, together with his wife and two 

 male accomplices, on a charge of murder followed, and they were 

 held for trial at the same sessions to which the alleged incendiaries 

 had been committed. Bentley and his male associates were con- 



