THE TRUSTEESHIP OF THE PROPERTY.

The Congregation is indebted to the late Mr. D. H. Valantine for his trouble in obtaining the following memorandum from the Lands Department, a copy of which was ordered by the Board of Management to be placed on record in the Minute Book, on 29th August, 1878 :-

MEMORANDUM.

"Presbyterian Church Land, comprising two acres, viz., allotments 2, 3, 16 and 17 and 18, 19, 20 and 1 of Section 20 C in Queensberry Street, between Rathdown and Drummond Streets, Carlton. The early papers relating to the setting apart of this land have been mislaid; but it seems that the two acres were set apart in 1854 (one acre for the church and one for the manse), and the denomination has been in occupation of the whole two acres since that year.

"On the 5th September, 1856 (see Gazette, page 1479), Messrs. Robert Lawson, Alexander MacLean, George Gordon Cameron, James Robertson and David Matthew Watson were gazetted trustees for the land set apart at North Melbourne, at Carlton, as a site for Free Presbyterian Church purposes under the provisions of the Act 16 Vic. No. 28.

"In 1859 a Crown grant for one acre, being allotments 18, 19, 20 and 1, was prepared, signed by the Governor, and enrolled in the Titles Office, the trustees in this grant being those gazetted on the 5th September, 1856.

"On the 8th August, 1865, Kenneth Gunn, Peter (sic) MacLean, James Brown and John Ramsay were gazetted trustees of the land set apart for Presbyterian Church purposes at Carlton, in the room of Alexander Mac Lean, Gordon Cameron, Robert Lawson and David Watson, disqualified through non-residence.

"On the 5th June, 1870, Dugald Cameron and David Hood Valantine were gazetted trustees in the room of John Ramsay and James Brown, resigned.

"A Crown grant of the remaining one acre, being allotments 2, 3, 16 and 17, was in August 1871 issued to James Robertson, David Hood Valantine, Dugald Cameron, Kenneth Gunn and Patrick MacLean. This grant was for the manse site. The trustees have brought this one acre under the Act No. 391, and so far as this department is aware, there has been no alteration in the trustees.

"Office of Lands and Survey

" Melbourne, 26th August, 1878."

The above statement shows how the title to the property is held by the present trustees. The subsequent changes in the personnel of the trustees will be found in the list given in Appendix B.