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263
Specifically , Hall's activities in the early sixties were
exceptionally diverse , the detai ls of which revealed some interesting
aspects of contemporary life .
For instance, on March 6, 1861, he
participated in a very notable occasion , the Ceremony of Lying the
Foundation Stone of the Great Reservoir by Governor Young
. . • . What a blessing it will be if by that time (next summer)
we have baths , wash-houses , fountains and other appurtenances
of civilization wh ich - unlike the rest of the \'lorld - \'le have
been content to dispense with. 2
The main reservoir, in fact , was two and a half miles from the centre of
Hobarton , would cover seven acres and supply five hundred to six hundred
thousand gal lons a day .
Hall, who seconded Alderman Lipscombe's vote of
thanks to the Governor, gave a long and exuberant speech in wh ich he took
the opportunity to suggest that a fountain be associated with the proposed
monument to the memory of Sir John Franklin;
his suggestion \'las later
adopted by the Vice-Regal Commi ssion appointed to carry out this project.
Regularly each month with singular dedication he compiled the
mortality statistics and his health report based thereon , whi ch were read
at the Royal Society meetings and summari zed in the Mercury .
In the
first half of 1861 he also assisted Abb ott to compile 11an elaborate and
comprehensive" series of forty tables which gave the results of
meteorological observations for Hobart Town for twenty years , made at
the Royal Ob servatory , Ross Bank , from January , 1841, to December, 1854 ,
and at Abbott 's private observatory from January , 1855 , to December, 1860
inclusive.
Th ese , printed by the Government Printing Offices , together
\'lith Hall's Tables of Mortality for the three half years ending December
1860, _plus the last census returns, \'lere fon