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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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