MELBOURNE'S HISTORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21253, 5 August 1932, Page 16

MELBOURNE'S HISTORY

"GROWING-PAIN" PERIODS EARLY PRICES OF LAND Melbourne has more than once suffered the growing pains of "boom-and-burst" periods. Such a one was described recently at a Melbourne Legacy Club luncheon by Dr. W. A. Sanderson. After convict transportation had been discontinued and free migration had sent the aspirations of early Melbourne soaring, there was a boom in real estate. The crash came in the "forties"; a fall in the price of wool accentuated it, and the newly-fledged Town Council was unable to collect its rates. "Something like moderri times," said the speaker, with a rueful smile. ' The city was named, Dr. Sanderson went on, after the then Prime Minister of England, Lord Melbourne, for it was intended merely as a suburb of the busy port round the Bay, which, the wise-: acres said, would one day bo a great city. This port, the hub of all activities, was loyally designated Williamstown, after the reigning King, William IV. Dr. Sanderson repeated tho story of the first land sale held in Melbourne; The top price for a block was £95, the bid of a speculator who took a chance on half an acre of land at the corner of William and Collins Streets. A progenitor of a present wealthy family recklessly bid £lB for the half-acre which now contains the Collins Street "Block." Dr. Sanderson did not attempt to assess the value of that half-acre to-day, but more than one of his hearers sighed with envy of the luck of some people in choosing their. ; progenitprs. v . r c : . r-. ~ r