136 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



of the foundering of the steamer London in the Bay of Biscay with 

 the loss of 223 lives. A large number of the passengers were 

 returning Australians, and scores of households were suddenly 

 plunged into mourning. Amongst the lost was the eminent scholar 

 Dr. Woolley, of the Sydney University, the Eev. D. J. Draper, the 

 head of the Wesleyan body in Victoria, and G. V. Brooke, the 

 celebrated Shakespearian actor, who had been extremely popular 

 on the Melbourne stage. The deep regret universally felt at the 

 catastrophe was not without some sense of anger when the official 

 inquiry showed that the steamer was faulty in construction, that 

 her cargo, much hi excess of her proper carrying capacity, was badly 

 stowed, and that she was allowed to leave Plymouth with heavily 

 encumbered decks, and a freeboard that could only be regarded as 

 excusable in the calmest of seas. 



When Parliament was prorogued in June, the Ministry sent 

 their Treasurer, Mr. George Verdon, to England on an official 

 mission in connection with the defences of the colony. In extenua- 

 tion of an expenditure of some 1,700 for the expenses of the 

 ambassador and his staff, the Ministry put forward the plea that 

 Mr. Verdon would by his presence in London effect considerable 

 savings in the flotation of a loan about to be offered. In reality he 

 had nothing to do with placing the loan, which had been undertaken 

 by the associated banks, and it is certain that any interference by 

 him with the then recognised channels of borrowing would have 

 been likely to be injurious, rather than otherwise. But Mr. Verdon 

 was, in many respects, an excellent negotiator. He was well 

 educated, well connected, and possessed of an exceptionally suave 

 manner and address. His introductions were influential, and with 

 the assistance of Mr. Childers and others he so far won his way 

 with the authorities that he succeeded in obtaining 100,000 to- 

 wards the cost of the Cerberus, an ironclad for harbour defence 

 purposes, and the gift of an old man-of-war, the Nelson, for a 

 training ship. Happily no occasion has ever arisen for testing 

 their fighting qualities, but the generous gifts turned out expensive 

 toys. The training ship did not attract trainees, for the colonial 

 youth detests discipline. Much outlay was incurred in cutting it 

 about experimentally, and at length it became such a grotesque 



