A LITTLE MORE STREET HISTORY.
I have before me an old photo, showing the corner of Government and
Yates Streets, as also Yates Street to Wharf Street. It is so faded
it is difficult to make out anything very distinctly. All the
buildings look as if built of wood. We know there were three brick
buildings then, which have been written of in my last article on "The
First Victoria Directory." So I will here only mention the corner
building, afterwards known as the Adelphi. Up to 1860 the treasury
and other public offices did business in and about this corner; the
whole block, Mr. Higgins states, was government buildings to the
corner on which stands Moore & Co.'s drug store. It is of the
treasury in 1859 I am going to speak now. The official staff at that
time consisted of Captain Gossett, treasurer; John Cooper, chief
clerk; John Graham, bookkeeper, and E. Evans, clerk. John Graham, of
Simcoe Street, after many years' good work for the government and
people, has retired. Young Evans, who was the only son of Rev. Doctor
Evans, one of the two pioneer clergymen of the Methodist Church at
that time, came to a tragic end while a young man. One day in the
depth of winter, the ground covered with snow, young Evans went out
shooting, and while walking along the beach near Clover Point, shot
at a drove of ducks. Finding that he had shot one, and not being able
to get it any other way, he stripped off his clothes and swam off
for it. This in the month of December was a hazardous undertaking,
and so it proved, for the young fellow took the cramp and was
drowned. It was a very sad sight, so I am told by those who saw it,
the old father walking up and down the beach all night calling for
his son by name. In the morning the son was seen through the clear
cold water lying on the bottom, and the body recovered. I remember
his funeral, and to-day may be seen the granite shaft that marks his
resting-place in the south-west corner of the Quadra Street Cemetery.
In 1860 the staff of the treasury was sent to New Westminster, where
they remained until 1868, when the union of the island and mainland
took place. Some time subsequent to this removal a lot of vouchers
and valuable papers disappeared from the treasury, having been put
temporarily on top of the big safe. Search was made all over the
premises, and the loss caused Captain Gossett much anxiety up to the
time of their departure. Mr. Graham stayed behind to finish up some
business and see to the removal of the big safe, and during the
removal the mystery of the lost documents was solved by their
being found behind the safe. Some time after removing to New
Westminster, a Mr. Franks, who may be remembered by some as a very
insignificant-looking little man, succeeded Captain Gossett as
treasurer, and through his unpopularity with the staff, John Cooper,
the chief clerk, resigned and went to Australia. Mr. Graham became
chief clerk, and subsequently was appointed "officer in charge of
the treasury." After Confederation he was appointed by the Dominion
Government Assistant Receiver-General. I cannot do better here than
give verbatim Mr. Graham's remarks on the subject:
"88 Simcoe St., April 20, 1904.
"Dear Mr. Fawcett:--I send you these few lines to complete my rather
disrupted memory _re_ the Victoria Treasury office. Mr.
Alexander Calder, an ex-R. E. sergeant and a British Government
pensioner, joined in 1860. Robert Ker was also employed for a certain
time as clerk, but was removed to the audit office, and afterwards
became auditor-general. Gordon was appointed treasurer of Vancouver
Island on the exodus of the B. C. officials going to New Westminster;
he did not continue long in the office--the truth is, there was
something the matter with the 'chest,' and he took French leave. Mr.
Watson succeeded him; he was clever but not very popular. In 1867 the
island and mainland were united in one province; the officials at New
Westminster were all sent down to Victoria. At that time I was
'officer in charge of the treasury.' A Savings Bank Act was passed by
the Legislature. I received from the executive council a mandate to
establish the bank, with the head office in Victoria, and four
branches, one each at Nanaimo, New Westminster, Yale and Cariboo. The
bank was under commissioners, Mr. Roscoe and Mr. Langley being
nominated to that office; their services were purely gratuitous. The
head office of the bank was in the Treasury, but to accommodate
working men, an office was opened at Government Street, not very far
from Sehl's furniture store, for, I think, two hours two days in the
week.
"I do not know if I mentioned the fact that the Dominion virtually
bought out all the depositors in the British Columbia bank. A small
temporary office was opened at the foot of Fort Street, next to what
was Mitchell & Johnston's feed store, which was in use until the new
Post Office building was built; the savings bank, as you are aware,
is now located in the grand new building at the foot of Government
Street. If it would not be considered far-fetched I would like to
send you a word or two on the origin of savings banks. The first
ideas of thrift were promulgated by Daniel Defoe in 1697; it was a
happy Socialistic discovery. In 1797 Jeremy Bentham taught the
principles of thrift. In 1799 the first savings bank was started at
Windover in Buckinghamshire, by the Rev. Joseph Smith. The Rev. Dr.
Henry Duncan opened in Ruthwell, Dumfrieshire, the first savings bank
in Scotland in 1810. Thrift is the keystone that supports the arch
of the savings bank. The stormy petrel riding in safety on the crest
of the wave in instinctive security, symbolizes the security of a
depositor in a government savings bank. I do not know that I can say
any more at present.
"John Graham."
[Illustration: Theatre Royal on Government St.]
This little photo shows the west side of Government Street, from Fort
to Yates Street, as it appeared in 1863. The corner store was A.
Rickman's grocery, then Jones' Bazaar (toys and fancy goods), then
McNiff's saloon, next Payne's barber shop. Before going on I might,
with Mr. Payne's permission, give a little joke on that gentleman at
the time. The Mechanics' Institute gave an entertainment for, I
think, the benefit of the library, and prizes were offered for the
two best conundrums. The best was at the expense of Mr. Payne's name,
and was "Easy Shaving by Pain" (Payne). I don't think Mr. Payne took
the money. Then Norris & Wylly, notaries public and estate
agents,--Mr. Wylly is still a resident of the city; Messrs. Lush and
Zinkie, milliners; Shakespeare, photographer; Gentile, photographer
(over the theatre), then Theatre Royal.
The north-west corner of Government and Bastion Streets was the brick
building built by Mayor Harris as a residence, and afterwards turned
into the Bank of British Columbia. Next the bank was the _Daily
Standard_ building, built and owned by Mr. De Cosmos; then T. L.
Fawcett & Co., upholsterers; then T. C. Nuttall, Phoenix insurance;
William Heathorn, bootmaker; next comes the post-office, a single
story frame structure with a wooden awning in front, as were all
stores in those times. Mr. Wootton was postmaster. One of the few
brick buildings on Government Street comes next, built for and
occupied by William Burlington Smith, and containing a public hall
upstairs. It was in this hall that the British Columbia Pioneer
Society was organized on the evening of April 28th, 1871, the writer
being secretary of the meeting. Since died. William P. Sayward, who
resides in San Francisco, and myself are the only two remaining of
those pioneers who met in Smith's Hall that night and formed the
first society of British Columbia Pioneers. Next we have the Adelphi
saloon, on the site of the Government offices of 1860. This is as far
as the photo shows, and so I must close.