Project Gutenberg Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership

BROWSE the site for other works by this author (and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and Converting files) or SEARCH the entire site with Google Site Search

Title: The History of South Australia Volume II.
Author: Edwin Hodder.
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 1303951h.html
Language: English
Date first posted: July 2013
Date most recently July 2013

Produced by: Ned Overton.

Project Gutenberg Australia eBooks are created from printed editions
which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice
is included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particular
paper edition.

Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this
file.

This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg Australia Licence which may be viewed online.

GO TO Project Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGE

Production Notes:

Some aspects of the punctuation have been modernised; a small number of misprints (except names) have been corrected. The text font size of the Appendices has not been reduced. The single map accompanying this volume has been included. (The other map mentioned on the title page accompanies Volume I.)

The various administrations have been added to the Chrological Summary chapter in the Table of Contents.

THE HISTORY

OF

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

THE HISTORY

OF

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO THE

YEAR OF ITS JUBILEE.

WITH A

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY

OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF INTEREST

UP TO DATE.

BY

EDWIN HODDER,

AUTHOR OF

"MEMORIES OF NEW ZEALAND LIFE," "CITIES OF THE WORLD,"

"GEORGE FIFE ANGAS, FATHER AND FOUNDER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA," ETC.

WITH TWO MAPS.


VOL. II.

LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY
LIMITED,
St. Dunstan's House,
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1893.

(All rights reserved.)

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

THE HISTORY

OF

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

{Page 1}

CHAPTER XII.

INTERIM ADMINISTRATION OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL HAMLEY.

FEBRUARY 20TH, 1868—FEBRUARY 16TH, 1869.

Dissolution.—Reform and Protection.—Troublous Times.—The Northern Territory.—Public Finances.—Crisis-mongering.—The "St. George of the Land Reformers."—The "Battle of the Areas."—Review.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL Francis Gilbert Hamley, senior officer in command of her Majesty's forces (50th—Queen's Own—Regiment) in the colony at the time of Sir Dominick Daly's death, was sworn in as acting Governor on the 20th of February, 1868, and on the 20th of March he dissolved the House of Assembly by proclamation. Writs for the election of new members were issued immediately afterwards, and the elections were divided into four batches, extending from the 6th of April to the 7th of May, thus giving candidates defeated in one district ample time to seek the suffrages of another.

The two leading questions before the electors were Land Reform and Protection. As regarded the former there were so many schemes and theories afloat, and such diversity of interpretation of them, that it was extremely difficult for electors to form an opinion as to the relative merits of any particular one. Those in favour of deferred payments for land were believed to constitute the majority, although Dutch auction, tender, and other modes met with advocates, while a few were in favour of allowing the land question to remain in statu quo. The protection party, though not numerically strong, was very active and determined, but it only succeeded in returning one or two of its advocates.

The total number of candidates to fill the thirty-six places was fifty-six, twenty in excess of the number required.

The first session of the fifth Parliament was opened by the acting Governor on the 31st of July, 1868, and in his inaugural speech touching references were made to the late "good and impartial" Governor, and also to the attempt on the life of the Duke of Edinburgh at Sydney. Then followed a comprehensive sketch of the state of the colony and of the duties devolving upon the new Parliament.

The sketch included special reference to the temporary depression affecting so many of the sources of industry; to the excellent services rendered by the Committee appointed to inquire into the red rust in wheat, so disastrous to the last harvest; to Captain Cadell's roseate-hued reports of the Northern Territory, and the responsibility of Parliament in respect of the contracts entered into with the holders of land orders for the sale of land in that Territory. Of land reform he spoke but briefly, merely intimating that some modification of the existing system of disposing of waste lands would be submitted to Parliament, whereby greater facilities would be afforded to purchasers for bona-fide occupation. Then followed a long list of other measures of public utility.

In due course Mr. G.S. Kingston was again unanimously elected Speaker, the reply to the Address was carried in both Houses without a division, and, so far, everything promised well. But it soon became apparent that the session would not, like the previous one, pass without a change of Ministry. Within six days an attempt was made by Mr. Carr to carry a vote of censure against the Ministry on the state of affairs relating to laud in the Northern Territory, but it was unsuccessful.

A number of resolutions relating to the Northern Territory were introduced by the Treasurer a few days later, dealing with—

(1) Extension of time for selection of laud.

(2) An increased area of land (240 acres for 160) in compensation for the loss of time incurred.

(3) A still further increase of 320 acres instead of 160 in cases where land-order holders would survey land, not yet surveyed, at their own expense at any time within fifteen years.

(4) Land-order holders of 160 acres to be at liberty to purchase an additional 240 acres of surveyed country land at five shillings per acre, to be selected within five years, or 320 acres of unsurveyed country laud at three shillings and ninepence per acre, to be surveyed at their own cost within ten years.

(5) Repayment of the sum originally paid to any land-order holder unwilling to accept any of the foregoing offers.

The House of Assembly agreed to the extension of time, to an increased area being given, and that steps should be taken to survey the laud without any unnecessary delay.

On the 3rd of September the Treasurer in his budget speech drew rather a gloomy picture of the state of public finances, the deficiency in the revenue for the previous three years amounting to £500,000, which deficiency was ascribed mainly to the drought in the north, the red rust in wheat, and the consequent falling off in the sales of land and in the customs receipts.

A fortnight later Mr. Glyde, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, introduced the Government scheme for the reform of the land system generally.

"Land Reform", now in the fourth year of its existence, was a kind of reaction from the Squatting Agitation of 1864. It is not necessary to chronicle the details of the Government scheme as, the resolutions in which they were couched being rejected, the Ministry resigned. Mr. Alexander Hay and Mr. William Townsend both failing to form a Cabinet, the task was undertaken by Mr. John Hart, who succeeded. The new Ministry met on the 6th of October, and resigned on the 8th, when the Hon. H. Ayers had an innings. But it only lasted till the 23rd. Then the acting Governor was advised to prorogue Parliament with a view to an immediate dissolution of the House of Assembly. This catastrophe was, however, averted, and a new Ministry was formed by the Hon. H.B.T. Strangways, who attempted the task of reconciling the rival parties and stamping out the mass of confusion which would soon have overwhelmed not only land reform but all other legislation.

There had been six weeks of "crisis-mongering", and the real work of the country had again been trifled with by party strife. Each Ministry had propounded a Land Bill, no two of which were in any respect identical, and in each debate the difficulty of the situation had become more and more complicated. But on the 5th of November, Mr. Strangways—"the St. George of the Land Reformers", as the Register dubbed him—announced to the House of Assembly the Policy of the new Ministry. With regard to the Northern Territory, it was similar to that of its predecessors; it was their intention to raise £40,000 for the purpose of continuing the survey of that country, and for the carrying out of the provisions of the Northern Territory Act. On the land question he stated that the proposed plan was to sell land by auction as at present, but that the payment might be made in cash, or partly cash, and credit for the remainder. In the latter case, the deposit was to be twenty per cent., which was to be considered as four years' interest paid in advance, and four years more was to be allowed for the payment of the principal. The area taken up by any one person was not to exceed 640 acres, and the transfer of the land was not to be allowed except in cases of death or insolvency. Certain improvements were to be made upon the land, and provision was made as to its occupation. The price was not to be lower than £1 per acre, and land put up at a higher price would be reduced month by month until it came down to £1 per acre, and if not taken up at that price it would be sold by auction. Safeguards were to be adopted to prevent fraud in the auction-room, and means adopted to enable bona-fide purchasers to obtain the land. In the event of there being more than one applicant the matter was to be decided by lot. Agricultural areas were to be proclaimed from time to time after a plan of such areas had been laid before both Houses of Parliament for fourteen days.

The plan propounded met with fairly general approval in the House of Assembly, and a Committee was appointed to prepare a New Waste Lands Bill embodying the scheme.

This Bill occupied much attention, and "the Battle of the Areas" was warmly contested, but after the reassembling of Parliament on the 8th of January, 1869, the Bill was specially sent up to the Council. There, twenty-eight amendments were made and sent down to the House of Assembly. Two of them affected the vital principle of the Bill, and the Assembly, accepting the twenty-six, stood firm with regard to the other two. A deadlock again seemed inevitable, but it was averted by a conference appointed by both Houses.

The Land Bill was finally disposed of on the 29th of January, 1869, and on the 30th Parliament was prorogued, the session closing without the dissolution which more than once threatened the House of Assembly.

In less than a month after Parliament was prorogued, the new Governor, Sir James Fergusson, arrived, and relieved Colonel Hamley of his onerous duties.

Without aiming at anything beyond his sphere, Colonel Hamley did much in the colony by which he will be long remembered. His term of office was marked by many serious difficulties successfully overcome, and by grave dangers wisely averted.

In a review of his administration it was said, "The patient sincerity and ingenuousness of the man preserved him from the wiles and snares of statecraft. The independence and dignity of the soldier supplied the place of Colonial Office reputation. In spite of all the drawbacks at the outset of his administration. Colonel Hamley soon produced the impression that he desired to thoroughly understand and to faithfully discharge his functions. He showed that he wished to do his duty without overdoing it. His limited political experience was not, as it might have been in the case of less sterling men, cloaked by any false dignity. He honestly accepted the position his predecessor bequeathed to him. He frankly adopted the constitutional advice which circumstances had provided for him. Genuine and unpretending, his twelve months' yule can be commended without suspicion of flattery. Nor has it been an uneventful administration. It comprised all the most important vice-regal functions. It gave us a new parliament; it brought us safely through three ministerial crises; it opened and closed one of the most remarkable sessions in the annals of our legislation; it added to our statute-book some vital measures; it witnessed the commencement of a recovery from severe commercial depression; it maintained, without any ostentation or false pretence, a cheerful social tone in the community; it drew around its personal centre a circle of friends which will break up in sorrow, and be long held in grateful remembrance."

{Page 7}

CHAPTER XIII.

ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JAMES FERGUSSON, BART.

FEBRUARY 16TH, 1869—DECEMBER, 1872.

Brilliant Career.—Second Visit of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh.—Arrival of New Governor.—Palmerston, the New Settlement in Northern Territory.—Mr. G.W. Goyder and his Survey Party.—Appeal to the Privy Council.—Parliamentary Procedure in Adelaide.—Elections.—A Land Bill.—Dissolution.—Education and Bible Reading.—A Question of Precedence.—Finances.—Public Debt of the Colony.—The Transcontinental Telegraph.—Mr. C. Todd.—A Gigantic Undertaking.—Horse Expresses.—Completion of Telegraph from Port Darwin to Port Augusta.—Bonuses and Banquets.—Honours.—Speeches. "Disintegration of the Empire."—Gold Mining in Northern Territory.—Explorations.—Mr. John Forrest.—Colonel Warburton.—Gosse.—Giles.—Higher Education.—Prince Alfred Sailors' Home.—Bushmen's Club.—New Industries.—Progress in Buildings.—Valedictory Address of Governor.

SIR JAMES FERGUSSON, Bart., of Kilkerran, in Ayrshire, son of Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, was born in Edinburgh in 1832. His mother was a daughter of the Right Hon. David Boyle, Lord Justice General of Scotland.

Sir James was educated at Rugby and Oxford, and was destined for a military career. His first commission was lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and his first active service was in the Crimean War. He was present at the Battle of the Alma, and at Inkerman narrowly escaped with his life. Ordered in the thick of the fight to drive back some Russians who were trying to take the Grenadier Guards' sand-bag battery, he successfully carried out the order, but was shot in the wrist in the course of the engagement. The wound did not prevent him from continuing to perform his duties. When the news of the death at Inkerman of Colonel Hunter Blair, M.P. for Ayrshire, was received the Ayrshire friends of Sir James gave him a peculiar proof of their regard by returning him in his stead.

Next year he returned home a captain and M.P. Having decided for St. Stephen's, he sold out, and entered Parliament as a Conservative. He received the Crimean medal with three clasps, as well as the Turkish medal. After two years' experience, Lord Palmerston sent him back to his constituents on the famous Conspiracy Bill. The general election of 1857 was a decisive struggle between the new Conservatives and the new Liberals, between Derby and Palmerston. It took a Liberal turn in Ayrshire, and Sir James Fergusson lost his seat. He was already a deputy-lieutenant of the county, and when the Earl of Eglinton became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1858 he appointed Sir James one of the Special Commission of Lieutenancy for Ayrshire and lieutenant-colonel of the Ayrshire Militia. Towards the end of 1859 he had another chance of contesting his old seat, and won it. In 1866 Lord Derby recognized his talents by giving him the Under Secretaryship for India, and in the following year he was transferred to the Home Office, a good beginning on the official ladder for a comparatively young politician. He left the Home Office in 1868 to rule in South Australia.

Monday, the 15th of February, 1869, was one of the most notable days in the annals of the colony, as it witnessed the arrival of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh on a second visit, of Sir James Fergusson the now Governor, and of the English mail—the latter always an important event notwithstanding its frequent recurrence.

Early in the morning the West Terrace signal station announced the arrival of the Galatea, and, as if by magic, the streets were gay with flags and other decorations long before business men came into the city. It was a quiet and simple reception, though none the less hearty, that was given to the Prince, the emphatic injunctions of the Home Secretary that no public demonstration should take place, being strictly respected. At twelve o'clock the Prince, accompanied by the acting Governor, Colonel Hamley, drove up to Government House, an immense crowd, for South Australia, having assembled in the streets to give him welcome.

Only a few hours after the Prince had taken up his quarters at Government House, a steamer was signalled coming up the Gulf, which proved to be the English mail steamer, with Sir James and Lady Edith Fergusson on board. Again excitement burst forth; telegrams were flashed to all the suburbs, and towards evening thousands assembled to welcome the new Governor.

Next day a grand function was held in the Town Hall, when Colonel Hamley retired from the interim administration of the Government, the new Governor took the usual oaths, and the Duke of Edinburgh graced the proceedings with his presence. Never before had a swearing-in created so much excitement in South Australia. Thousands of citizens and hundreds of ladies were able to witness the whole of the proceedings without inconvenience, and the really splendid Town Hall in which the ceremony took place presented to the Governor one of the best evidences of civic progress. Enthusiasm reached its height when the Duke of Edinburgh and Sir James Fergusson entered in company, and were received by the Mayor, the acting Governor, and the "officers of state." The formalities were gone through amid much cheering.

The Prince only remained in the colony for five or six days, during which time he laid the foundation stone of the Prince Alfred Sailors' Home at Port Adelaide, and attended a ball, the races, and other diversions of royalty, and did not appear to enjoy himself any the less on account of state ceremonial being dispensed with. On the 20th of February the Galatea steamed down the Gulf on her way to Melbourne.

At the time when Sir James Fergusson entered upon his duties, many important events occupied the public mind.

After the recall of Mr. B.T. Finniss, Government Resident, from the Northern Territory * and the rosy-hued report of Captain Cadell as to sites for settlement in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Carpentaria, it became urgently necessary to take strong and active meaures to fix upon a site and to complete the surveys. Already the London "selectors" of land were in league together, and were making demands upon the South Australian Government for the return of their money.

[* See vol. i. p. 380.]

Early in 1869, therefore, Mr. G.W. Goyder, Surveyor-General of the province, was sent out by the Government with a strong and well-appointed party, to complete the survey with all possible despatch, and to select a site for the first township. His instructions were elastic, and absolute confidence was reposed in him. No better man could possibly have been selected for the task. Difficulties which had baffled his predecessors vanished before him; he and the whole of his staff worked together with hearty good will and without dissension of any kind, and it was generally acknowledged that "had Mr. Goyder been sent out in the first instance the colony would have been saved the shameful disasters which attended the first attempts to settle the Northern Territory, and the large sums of moneys which they cost, and which were extravagantly wasted in the most reckless way."

In November, 1869, Mr. Goyder returned to Adelaide after completing the survey of the required quantity of land within the stipulated time. He reporteil the discovery of a tract of country containing about a million acres of fair average quality, most of it suited to the growth of tropical products, and the whole well grassed and watered. He had surveyed 665,866 acres of land, being 165,000 acres more than the original quantity ordered. He reported the healthiness of the place, having lost only one of his party through sickness.

In addition to the principal township (Palmerston) at Port Darwin, containing 999 half-acre allotments, Mr. Goyder laid out three other towns, in sizes varying from 207 to 335 half-acre allotments.

When the land was surveyed a number of the English land-order holders declined to make their selections, and subsequently brought an action against the Government for the return of the purchase-money and interest thereon. They obtained a verdict in their favour in the Supreme Court of the colony on the plea that the Government had failed to fulfil the contract within the time specified in the regulations for the sale of the land. The Government considered that inasmuch as the delay had been mainly occasioned by the land-order holders themselves, who disapproved of the locality first selected, and at whose request another site had been selected to meet their wishes, the case should be submitted to the Privy Council. To the surprise of the colonists, when the case came on for hearing, upon appeal to this high tribunal, the judgment of the Supreme Court was upheld, and the colony sustained a serious loss in having to refund the purchase money with interest.**

[** See p. 51.]

In March, 1870, Captain Bloomfield Douglas, R.N., was appointed Government Resident in the Northern Territory, and in May of the same year the first ballot for land took place, although, of course, those who had decided to take legal proceedings for the return of the purchase-money did not exercise their right on this occasion.

The history of Parliamentary procedure during the administration of Sir James Fergusson is, to a large extent, a repetition of the same kind of scenes, incidents, crises, and changes of Ministry which had marked previous administrations. It will be well perhaps in this place to glance at the whole period covered, and to chronicle some of its leading characteristics.

On the 30th of July, 1869, the second session of the fifth Parliament met. In his opening speech the new Governor said—

"It is with deep interest and satisfaction that I meet you for the first time in Parliament since my assumption of the Government of this important province, to which her Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint me. I desire to assure you that I shall cordially co-operate with you, the representatives of the people, in devising measures calculated to increase the prosperity of the colony, and to promote the welfare of all classes of the community."

He then proceeded to touch upon the main topics of the times—the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in restored health; the opening for traffic of the Strathalbyn and Middleton Railway, and the state of the railway works in progress; the communication he had made to the Governor of India, pointing out the facilities afforded by the new settlement in the north for providing suitable horses for the Indian army; the reduction of tariff in telegraph charges; the discovery of gold in the North, etc. The address was well received, and the reply to it was carried in both Houses without a division, and strange to say, with scarcely any expressions of hostility to the Strangways Ministry. This augured well for the session, but the hopes thus created were short-lived. On the 21st of September the Treasurer's budget dealt with retrenchment and increased taxation, and after that ministerial crises and threatenings of crises came thick and fast. There was a strong feeling against additional taxation both in and out of Parliament, and, considering the depressed state of commerce in the colony at that time, it was highly inexpedient that the suggestion should have been made. The course the Government was prepared to adopt was to retrench as far as possible, and only to increase taxation if it became absolutely necessary to meet the public expenditure after this retrenchment hud taken place.

But the Ministry found it exceedingly difficult to carry their estimates; the Opposition insisting on repeated alterations, the greater part of the items had to be contested line by line, and in many instances the members of the Government found themselves in a minority. Such an unsatisfactory mode of conducting the business of the country, involving an inordinate waste of time, came at length to be regarded as a burlesque on responsible government.

It was in vain that all the members of the House of Assembly, except the Ministry and the Speaker, held meetings to discuss the situation. Nothing practical was done throughout the session, and on the 21st of December the House adjourned.

The reassembling of Parliament on the 4th of January, 1870, was signalized by a vote of censure on the Government, which was lost; but a renewed attempt was made to dislodge the Ministry on the 25th of January, and at length the Governor was informed by his Ministers that they "desired to appeal from the Parliament to the people", and begged that, so soon as the state of business would allow, his Excellency would dissolve Parliament for the purpose of remitting to the constituents the questions that had been at issue.

This announcement called forth some very strong expressions of disapprobation from two or three leading members of the Opposition, and especially from the Hon. T. Reynolds, who considered, with others, that a chance should have been given to members of the existing Parliament to form another Ministry before resorting to the extreme measure of dissolution. The members of the Legislative Council gave expression to their disapproval in a strong resolution, which was carried by a majority of eight.

But Sir James Fergusson was not to be moved, and he determined to dissolve the Parliament in accordance with the recommendation of his advisers. The whole session had been wasted in petty squabbling and place-hunting, and in proroguing Parliament on the 25th of February with a view to dissolution, he said he took this step "to enable the people to express in the mode presented by the Constitution their opinion upon the state of public affairs, a step rendered necessary by the difficulties experienced in carrying on the public business of the country, as indicated by the fact that within a period of less than a year and a half four successive administrations had failed to retain the confidence of the House of Assembly."

The financial policy of the Government had been of such an unsatisfactory character, that not only had the Ministry to go into their brief recess without an Appropriation Bill, but even a Supply Bill could not be obtained, which would carry them on beyond the end of March.

Shortly after the prorogation Sir James Fergusson left the colony on a visit to Victoria, but returned to Adelaide early in May, Colonel James Harwood Rocke, 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment, having been sworn in as Administrator of the Government during his absence.

At the elections about sixty candidates offered themselves, being twenty-four in excess of the number required. When the results were announced, lovers of change were gratified to know that a very material alteration had taken place in the personnel of the new Parliament, thus giving hope of a better state of things by breaking up the parties who had worked either with or against the Ministry. But to the horror of the constituencies, it was found that when the new Ministry was formed, it was so constituted that it could not stand for a week, much less for a session. It was thought by many that the wire-pullers had been guilty of a practical joke, so incongruous were the selections.

When the new Parliament met for business on the 27th of May, the Governor, in his opening speech, alluded to the most important topics engaging public attention; touched upon the serious falling off in the revenue, owing to bad harvests and slowness of the sale of waste lands; the prospect of telegraphic communication with Europe at an early date; the intelligence that certain holders of land orders in England had instituted proceedings in the courts of law for the recovery of sums of money paid by them in respect of land in the Northern Territory, which action the South Australian Government had taken steps to defend.

The programme for the session presented by the Ministry was by no means lacking in measures, but it was more than doubtful whether, in the late elections, the people had returned the right men to carry them out.

On the first day of the session it became evident that the Council was no more in favour of the new than of the old Ministry, while in the House of Assembly an emphatic vote settled the question.

This crushing defeat the Premier (Mr. Strangways) partly anticipated, and stated that he understood "that at a caucus meeting held the day before, twenty-four or twenty-five members had arranged to eject the Ministry without any knowledge of what measures they proposed to submit. A fixed determination was arrived at entirely irrespective of the public questions the Government intended submitting, and such a course of action was entirely without precedent."

So the Strangways Ministry resigned (May 28th), and on the 31st the new occupants of the Treasury Bench shadowed forth their policy.

The first decisive action of the Hart Ministry was with reference to the construction of the overland telegraph to Port Darwin—an action, as we shall see hereafter, fraught with far-reaching consequences, and which stands out in the history of the colony as among the most important in the proceedings of Parliament. But it must always be remembered that it was to their predecessors—the Strangways Ministry—that the honour of initiating the scheme is due.

The next large question was the amendment of the Land Laws—a rock upon which many Ministries had split. The Government put forth a series of propositions, upon which several amendments were moved in committee, but they were ultimately carried, and a Bill based upon them was in due course introduced, but after much discussion, many amendments, and about a hundred and fifty divisions, it was thrown out in the Assembly by the casting vote of the Speaker.

So soon as the fate of the Land Bill was finally sealed, a short Bill was introduced to amend Strangways' Act in two or three important particulars. The new Bill provided that ten per cent., instead of twenty per cent., should be payable at the time of making the purchase; at the end of three years a further payment of ten per cent., and these two payments together were to be deemed a complete compliance with the terms of the Act so far as regarded the payment of interest. Another clause dispensed with the laying of a description of agricultural areas before Parliament fourteen days prior to the proclamation of the said areas, and another clause provided that, in lieu of the periods of not less than one month nor more than three months during which the lands were to be open for selection, the periods should be seven days and one month respectively.

This Bill was passed through all its stages in the Assembly on the 12th of January, 1871, in less than an hour and a half, and on the next day the Council passed it, without any alteration, just prior to the prorogation.

No fewer than nineteen Bills were introduced during this fruitless session and not passed. Retrenchment in the expenses of Government occupied much of the time and attention of Parliament to little effect, but the consideration given to fiscal matters led to several alterations in the tariff. That an increase in the revenue was absolutely necessary may be inferred from the fact that Parliament reluctantly sanctioned a loan of £100,000 to meet current expenditure.

In February, 1871, the Hon. H.B.T. Strangways, who for several years had occupied a prominent place in the Legislature, and had been responsible for many of the changes in the Ministry, bade farewell to the colony.

When the second session of the sixth Parliament was opened by the Governor on the 28th of July, the Land Bill furnished material for animated discussion during several weeks.

Shortly after it was taken out of committee in the House of Assembly Mr. J.P. Boucaut moved "that this House is dissatisfied with the present Ministry." Whereupon Mr. Hart and his colleagues tendered their resignations, and Mr. Boucaut was sent for; but as he declined to accept the responsibility, Mr. H. Ayers, and afterwards Mr. A. Blyth, were communicated with. They found that it was impossible, with parties almost equally balanced, to form a strong Government, and the Governor was advised to dissolve the Parliament—advice which he accepted.

Again an appeal was made to him by both Houses not to dissolve Parliament, but to dismiss his advisers, and again the appeal was refused, and on the 23rd of November Parliament was prorogued with a view to dissolution.

Not only was the Land Bill again sacrificed, but the onward progress of an important Education Bill was stopped by the dissolution. It provided for a new board of nine members to be empowered to establish and support three classes of schools. Normal, National, and District; to provide sound secular instruction based on the Christian religion and morals, apart from all theological and controversial difficulties on discipline or doctrine. No denominational catechism was to be used, nor any attempt made to influence or disturb the tenets of any religious sect, but the school-houses might be used for religious instruction before or after the usual school hours.

The Bill had only passed through its preliminary stages in the House of Assembly, when an attempt was made to exclude the reading of the Bible in the Board schools, and, strange as it appeared to many, the movement was supported by a considerable number of ministers of religion. The great mass of the people, however, considered that the Bible was not to be banished by legislative enactment, and a monster meeting was held at White's Rooms to discuss the matter. Resolutions were passed in favour of retaining the reading of the Bible in the public schools, and petitions in accordance with the resolutions were signed by upwards of 25,000 persons, and presented to both Houses of the Legislature. The secular party, of course, organized a counter meeting, their petition for the exclusion of the Bible only being signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting. It was in some respects fortunate for the Ministry that a dissolution was at hand, for at that time the religious difficulty would have taxed their utmost ingenuity to surmount.

A small matter in itself, but one that seemed to call for settlement, was under discussion about this time. A question of precedence arose in the days when Sir Richard MacDonnell was Governor, and when the people were still smarting from the effects of the great Church and State controversy. The matter was referred to the Duke of Newcastle, who replied that the Governor "ought to determine questions of precedence, and should proceed by analogy to the rules in the mother country." There the matter dropped, but it was revived again in 1871, during the administration of Sir James Fergusson, who gave the place to the Anglican Bishop prescribed by the regulations.

"The two Houses disapproved of such recognition of ecclesiastical functionaries, and passed a Bill 'to provide for the regulation of precedency in South Australia', which the Governor reserved. Lord Kimberley announced that it could not be allowed, inasmuch as it encroached upon prerogative, and that the Queen could not be advised to deprive individuals, such as the dignitaries excluded by the Bill, of any precedence to which they were entitled. An address prayed the Queen (1872) to remove the grievance felt by the inhabitants at the precedence over ministers of other denominations ascribed to the two bishops. Meantime, the bishop of the Church of England, Dr. Short, offered to give up the precedency to which he was entitled. The Secretary of State promised that in future no dignitary of any religious persuasion should have precedence assigned to him in the colony by the Crown, and directed the Governor to inform the bishop that her Majesty fully appreciated his disinterested conduct in offering to waive the precedency attributed to him." * It must not be supposed that because of obstruction in Parliament the progress of the colony was at a standstill. On the contrary there were many important movements brought to a successful issue. For example, in September, 1871, representatives were sent from South Australia to attend the Intercolonial Conference at Melbourne, at which the border duties and the ocean postal question were to form leading subjects for consideration. A satisfactory arrangement was made with regard to river-borne goods to New South Wales, and it was agreed that ocean steamers should call at Glenelg on their outward and inward passages to take and land the South Australian mails to and from Europe. This secured the long-sought-for right of having letters delivered at the door without extra cost; it provided means of sending duplicate despatches via San Francisco, and would thus in all probability anticipate the arrival of the following Suez mail by nearly, if not fully, a week; it kept the colony clear of complications with the Cape and Torres Straits routes, and all these advantages were gained for a sum considerably less than had been previously paid. As a matter of fact it ensured increased facilities for the transmission not only of news and letters, but of passengers and merchandise, and at the same time effected a saving of £6000 or £7000 a year.

[* Rusden's "History of Australia", vol. iii.]

At the time of the dissolution the financial position of the colony was in anything but a satisfactory state, the Treasurer, in his budget of the 17th of October, having reported that there was an estimated deficiency of from £70,000 to £80,000. It is true the year had commenced with a deficit of £100,000, but it was anticipated that not only would this be cleared off, but the annual expenditure kept within the revenue. The fact was becoming apparent that the evil effects of large loans were being felt—the amount of the bonded debt to be redeemed during the year being £34,000, and the year's interest on the debt no less than £113,958. But for this extra expenditure of about £148,000, which had yielded little to the revenue, though most of the loans were for professedly reproductive public works, the financial position of the colony would have been decidedly healthy.

The elections took place in December, and on the 19th of January, 1872, the seventh Parliament was opened by Sir James Fergusson, Sir G-. S. Kingston being for the fifth time appointed Speaker of the House of Assembly without opposition.

The session commenced stormily; each House expressed strong dissatisfaction at the recent unnecessary dissolution of the House of Assembly, which had greatly delayed the despatch of public business. The Ministry interpreting this as a direct censure on themselves, of course sent in their resignations forthwith (January 24).

A new Ministry was soon in office, and from the reception they met with in both Houses, it was patent that the arrangements made had not given satisfaction. They dragged on for a week or two in a half-hearted fashion, and then came the inevitable "want of confidence" motion, and so the "intolerable nonsense"—as a Minister of the day expressed it— went on.

On the 5th of March both Houses adjourned, and by this temporary respite from hostilities another series of crises, if not another dissolution, was averted.

Parliament reassembled on the 9th of April, apparently in better humour. Even the Treasurer's financial statement was well received, although he announced that the deficiency at the end of the year was estimated at over £94,000, and he proposed to issue £100,000 worth of exchequer bills, bearing four and a half per cent. interest, which he considered preferable to floating a loan for the amount.

A Land bill, a Scrub Lands Bill, and a Northern Territory Bill were introduced, and met with varying success until August, when both Houses adjourned until September, the Governor in the mean time paying a second visit to Melbourne.

A few days after the reassembling of Parliament, the Treasurer (Hon. J.H. Barrow) delivered his financial statement for the year 1873, which did not show a very satisfactory state of things. The total estimated income (including proceeds of land sales, £170,000) was only £749,150, and the total of expenditure (including the redemption of £3400 of bonds) was £752,827.

The Treasurer's speech was followed by a scheme for consolidating the public debt of the colony, and a Bill was introduced to raise £3,000,000 at four per cent., in addition to funding the £2,000,000 of bonds already issued, but as the assumed price of the new four per cent, bonds was £90, the actual indebtedness of the colony would be considerably in excess of the amount nominally borrowed. The matter was referred to a select committee, who recommended a postponement of its consideration.

The labours of another long and fruitless session came to a close on the 30th of November, when a curious incident occurred. When the Sergeant-at-Arms appeared at the Bar of the House of Assembly and intimated that the Governor was awaiting the attendance of the members of that House, the Speaker was not in receipt of certain Bills affecting the revenue which should have been sent in usual course, and which he considered it his duty to present, whereupon a discussion ensued, and lasted long after the Sergeant had given his call. After waiting some time in the Council Chamber the Governor withdrew, and in the mean time a very lively scene occurred in the Assembly. On the motion of one of the members the doors were locked to signify that the Sergeant-at-Arms was not to be received till the Assembly was ready to attend to his message. Some members then loudly asserted and insisted on the rights and privileges of Mr. Speaker being upheld, while others suggested that the matter should be dealt with when the House again met. Finding that the discussion was likely to be prolonged, some members proceeded to the Council Chamber before the Speaker, instead of accompanying him, and one or two, as if to complete the fiasco, returned and forced one of the doors that was locked, scattering the glass in fragments on the floor. They were understood to hold that the Speaker should have taken the sense of the House before ordering the doors to be locked in the face of the Governor's messenger. The whole matter was a question of privilege, but it was an awkward time to discuss it, as it presented the appearance of an act of discourtesy Although the Governor was kept waiting some considerable time, he delivered his prorogation speech with perfect equanimity, as though nothing unusual had happened.

During the long session thus brought to a close, no fewer than twenty-five Bills that were introduced were either not proceeded with or were rejected at various stages. The barrenness of the protracted session was solely due to the struggle for possession of the ministerial benches, the absence of a strong Government and a well-organized Opposition favouring the general scramble.

The most eventful circumstance connected with the administration of Sir James Fergusson was, undoubtedly, the construction of the telegraph across the Continent, which, in conjunction with the submarine cable, was the means of opening up direct telegraphic communication with Europe and nearly all parts of the world. From first to last Sir James took an absorbing interest in the matter, and it was greatly owing to his warm and ready support that the gigantic scheme was brought to a successful issue.

The first decisive action of the Legislature was taken in 1870, when a telegram, dated May 9th, was received from the Agent-General in England. It ran thus:—

"British Australian Telegraph Company will relinquish Burke Town line if South Australia guarantees to connect and maintain line between Torts Darwin and Augusta free of cost to Company, and to be open for traffic thirty-first December, seventy-one. Rates for cable message not exceeding average of Australian rates for time being. Your formal and binding acceptance of this offer must be sent by June mail for approval of shareholders. Pending negotiations with you, the Company will not conclude arrangements with other Australian Governments. Send me telegram in advance of June mail in reply."

A similar telegram to the foregoing was sent to Commander Noel Osborn, the agent for the Cable Company, who had been sent to the colony by the Company, and he at once addressed a letter to the Chief Secretary as follows:—

Under these circumstances the Ministry was bound to take immediate action if it was considered desirable to accept the offer of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. Mr. H.B.T. Strangways, then at the head of the Government, took the matter up with enthusiasm, and a Bill was accordingly introduced and speedily passed through all its stages in both Houses, only encountering some slight opposition during its passage.

The race between Queensland and South Australia for the honour of accomplishing this great undertaking was a close one, and nothing but the promptitude of the Government of the latter colony in accepting the terms of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company would have secured the desired priority. The honour, however, was purchased at a high price.

The estimated cost of the overland portion of this telegraph line from Port Augusta to Port Darwin was £80 per mile, or £120,000 for the entire distance, and it was to be completed by the 31st of December, 1871. The actual cost of this great undertaking was nearly three times the amount of the original estimate, and in consequence of various unlooked-for obstacles and difficulties, the time for opening the line was delayed for several months.

Steps were immediately taken by the Government to push on the work, and to procure the wire and other materials from England. The through line was to be divided into sections, and it was decided to call for tenders for a large portion of the southern and northern ends of the work, the Government undertaking the central portion. The entire supervision of the construction was entrusted, with almost unlimited powers, to Mr. C. Todd, the Postmaster-General and Superintendent of Telegraphs, who had from the first taken a warm interest in the scheme, and who at once devoted his best energies to the gigantic task. Even so early as 1857, Mr. Todd had entertained the idea of connecting Australia with the old world by wire, and immediately upon the return of Stuart in 1859, he brought the matter officially before the Governor, Sir R.G. MacDonnell. Then it rested for ten years, but was energetically revived in 1869.

On the 20th of August, 1870, the first expedition left Port Adelaide for the Northern Territory in the steamer Omeo, the party having been engaged by Messrs. Darwent and Dalwood, contractors for the northern portion of the line. The supervision of this part of the work was entrusted by the Government to Mr. W. McMinn, with power to take it out of the hands of the contractors in the event of the work not being carried out to his satisfaction. It was arranged that the central portion of the line should be constructed by the Government, and the expedition for the accomplishment of this, the most arduous and difficult task of all, left Adelaide for the interior on the 29th of August. The contract for the southern part of the line was undertaken by Mr. E.M. Bagot, and the contract for the northern portion by Messrs. Darwent and Dalwood, who at once took the necessary steps for pushing forward the work as quickly as possible. The first pole was planted in the Northern Territory by Miss Douglas on the 15th of September, 1870, the inhabitants of the little township of Port Darwin making the occasion one of great rejoicing.

The first great check to the work was that the section undertaken by Messrs. Darwent and Dalwood was not proceeding satisfactorily, and in consequence Mr. McMinn took it out of their hands, a step involving great delay and increase of cost.

The work was then placed in the hands of Mr. R.C. Patterson, who, with a staff of eighty persons, left Port Adelaide on the 27th of July, 1871. Two or three sailing vessels were also despatched about the same time with live stock and provisions. Port Darwin was selected as the port of debarkation, although there is little doubt that all stores should have been sent up the river Roper.

On arrival Mr. Patterson was long delayed by the flooded and swampy state of the country, and, on hearing this, Mr. Todd went to his aid with large reinforcements, choosing the Roper River route; but in vain—the floods stood in the way of the leader of the expedition as much as in that of his subordinates. This was irritating, and the irritation was enhanced by the intelligence that the ocean cable had been laid between Java and Port Darwin on the 20th of November. Moreover, the South Australian Government had agreed to pay five per cent. on the capital expended by the British and Australian Telegraph Construction Company in the event of the overland line not being completed by the 31st of December, 1871, and this naturally led the Government to urge on the completion of the work at all costs.

The next important stage in the work was the establishment of a horse-express between existing gaps, by which means the distance was gradually lessened until such time as the wire was stretched across from end to end. From the early part of 1872 good news of progress was received in Adelaide from the managers of the various sections of the work, and on the 20th of June the first telegram was received from Mr. Todd, despatched from Port Darwin on the 22nd of May. It took nearly a month in transmission across the continent by wire and horse-express. Further experiments were made as the work advanced.

On the 22nd of August, 1872, the first through message was received at Adelaide from Port Darwin. Merrily rang the Town Hall bells, flags were hoisted. Government offices were closed, the day was generally devoted to rejoicing, and hearty congratulations were sent to Mr. Todd, who was then at Central Mount Stuart, on the successful and satisfactory completion of his gigantic and important undertaking.

Strange to say, before the overland line was ready an interruption occurred in the submarine cable, which prevented messages being sent to Europe. But on the 20th of October the cable between Java and Port Darwin was repaired, and on the 22nd the first through message was sent from London to Adelaide, and this was speedily followed by congratulatory telegrams from all parts of the world.

On the 30th of October Mr. Todd arrived in Adelaide and reported that the overland line, which he had inspected the entire distance from Port Darwin to Port Augusta, was constructed in a substantial manner, and only required iron poles in places where timber was scarce, or where it was liable to be destroyed by white ants or bush-fires.

A great demonstration was given in his honour on November 15th in the Exhibition Buildings on the Park-lands. At the banquet the Governor, Sir James Fergusson, presided, and announced that her Majesty had conferred certain honours upon gentlemen connected with the Ministry and Civil Service.

In the course of his speech, in response to the toast of the evening, Mr. Todd gave some interesting particulars of the work which had been done in a little less than two years in constructing the two thousand miles of telegraph through an almost unknown country, and uninhabited except by aborigines. He said, "The first pole was planted at Port Darwin about the 20th of September, 1870, and at Port Augusta about the beginning of October in the same year. On the 22nd of August, 1872, notwithstanding all the serious delays and difficulties in the Northern Territory, the line was opened, so that in the interval of one year and eleven months, besides the explorations from sea to sea, we had to cut, prepare, and cart about 36,000 telegraph poles, weighing 5000 tons, carting them an average distance of eight or ten miles, and a maximum distance of 350 miles; a larger number of iron poles, imported from England, being carted an average distance of 400 miles, and a maximum distance of 560 miles. Besides this, we had to transport some 2000 tons of other materials to the interior, and drive several thousand sheep and cattle distances averaging 500 miles, and extending to 1300 miles north from Port Augusta; to cut and clear tracts fifty feet wide, through some 500 miles of forest and scrub; to cart building materials, instruments, batteries, and other stores for stations; to build a stone station of twenty-two rooms at Port Darwin, stone or wooden stations of seven or eight rooms at eight other places; to sink wells, establish depots, and a variety of other things involving great labour and thought. . . . In addition to what has thus been attained a fine but almost unknown river (the Roper) has been navigated by large ocean steamers like the Omeo and Tararua for ninety miles from its bar."

Bonuses to the amount of £7500 were granted by the Government to Mr. Todd and his party.

An action was brought by Messrs. Darwent and Dalwood against the Government for loss sustained through the suspension of their contract, and after pending for several years, it was finally compromised by the payment to them of £11,000.

On the 15th of November—the same day that the banquet was given in Adelaide—two other banquets were given in celebration of the same event, one at Sydney, and the other at the Cannon Street Hotel, London, organized by the Royal Colonial Institute, and presided over by the Earl of Kimberley, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Before sitting down to dinner,* he sent telegrams to the Governors of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania, in these words: "The company at the Australian Telegraph dinner joins me in drinking prosperity to the colonies and in rejoicing at this fresh bond of union between the different members of the Empire." While the after-dinner speeches were being made, reply telegrams poured in from each of the Australian colonies, besides others of great interest from all parts of the world. To insure this, "the directors, managers, and secretaries of the Eastern Telegraph Company, of the British Indian Extension, and of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company gave their best assistance, as well as the Postmaster-General and the manager of the Telegraphic Department of the Post-office, Mr. Cyrus Field, and the American Embassy, Through their good services the lines were 'joined up' from Australia to England on the one hand, and from San Francisco to England on the other, and were brought into contact within the hall itself, so that an unbroken electric girdle was for the first time put round the world, from the Pacific on the west to the same ocean where it washes the eastern shores of Australia; and the Secretary for the Colonies was for the first time enabled, not only to speak instantaneously to the remotest possessions of the Crown, but to place the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada in almost instantaneous communication with the Governors of the Australian colonies, their reciprocal messages being repeated in the hall in transit." **

[* The festivities in South Australia were being brought to a close just as those in London were commencing, owing to the difference of longitude, which makes Adelaide time about ten hours in advance of Greenwich time.]

[** From an admirable account of the "Proceedings at the Banquet", compiled by Mr. C.W. Eddy, at that time Honorary Secretary of the Royal Colonial Institute.]

In proposing the toast of the evening, "Telegraphic Enterprise", Lord Kimberley read a telegram from South Australia in these words: "The grand work of the completion of telegraphic communication between Adelaide and Europe has been celebrated by a national demonstration here to-day. There have been popular festivities during the day and a banquet in the Town Hall in the evening under the presidency of the Governor, Sir James Fergusson, who announced the honours which had been conferred by her Majesty. Weather extremely hot, but great joy manifested."

The honours referred to in the telegram were—be it said with all due loyalty and respect to the gracious Lady who conferred them—wretchedly meagre in comparison with the enormous value to the whole world of the services rendered. They were as follows:—To Mr. H. Ayers, Prime Minister of South Australia, the appointment of the second class of the Order of St. Michael and St. George; to Mr. F.S. Dutton, Agent-General for South Australia, the appointment of the third class of the same order; and to the gallant Charles Todd, Superintendent of Telegraphs in South Australia, who had carried the grand work to completion, the same third class order.*

[* "In Algiers there used to be a Foreign Legion sot apart and exclusive—not French, not Algerian; neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. Are we not making a Foreign Legation of the Order of St. Michael and St. George? Why should not an Australian who has obtained sufficient fame in his own country, a portion of our community, though not within fifty miles of London, he entitled to aspire to admission into a colonial division of the Order of the Bath, and, if he comes to England, find men wearing the same kind of Order here as a reward for good work done in this part of the community. It would in reality only be altering the colour of a ribbon, and yet tend to greater utility."—Lord Carrington, in a paper read at the Royal Colonial Institute, January 26th, 1891, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in the chair.]

In a brilliant speech, received by the vast audience—representing every phase of colonial life—with great enthusiasm, Lord Kimberley said that it would be invidious in him to attempt to apportion the merit of those who had taken part in the undertaking, but he must first mention the South Australian Government. When he considered how small the population of that colony was, with not more than 200,000 inhabitants, how recently it had been settled—only thirty-seven years ago— and when he considered the enormous task of carrying the telegraph 2200 miles from north to south over a continent which was almost a pathless desert, he could not help saying that such an achievement was proof of the greatest energy, perseverance, and pluck of which he had ever heard, and there was no man in England who did not feel proud of being a fellow subject with those South Australians who had done so marvellous a work.

While Lord Kimberley was at the height of his eulogy, by a curious coincidence a reply telegram from Sir James Fergusson, to one despatched two and a half hours before dinner, was placed in his hands. He thereupon announced that he had the greatest satisfaction in mentioning that Sir James Fergusson had thoroughly assisted and co-operated in the undertaking, and it had given him the most sincere pleasure to promote him to—the Governorship of New Zealand!

Then Mr. F.S. Dutton took up his parable, and said that the page of history, which would outlive them all, would permanently record to generations yet unborn how South Australia undertook, single-handed and without assistance, to carry the wire through the continent, and how well she had succeeded. He then proceeded to explain how unexpected difficulties caused by tropical climatic influences had interposed vexatious delays in finishing the undertaking for a few months beyond the stipulated time. The science of making and laying submarine cables, he said, had been brought to such a state of perfection that one could calculate to a day when a cable could be laid between two points, let these points be one, two, or even three thousand miles away, and thus the submarine cable from Java to Port Darwin was laid with the most perfect success towards the end of 1871. But they were not ready with their land line to meet it. Unusually heavy and long-continued tropical rains in North Australia put an entire stop to all possibility of transport for three or four months, and, although everybody's patience was sorely tried, there was nothing that the working parties could do but to wait for the monsoon rains to cease. Then, when they had so far progressed with the land line as to be able to bridge over the unfinished gap by means of horse-expresses, another totally unlooked-for disappointment occurred. The Java-Darwin cable, which had up to that time worked splendidly, became suddenly afflicted with submarine influenza, and completely lost its voice. Meanwhile the land line was completed and in perfect order some weeks before the cable could be repaired, so that South Australia and the British Australian Telegraph Company were placed at that time, in regard to each other, much in the same position as the well-known epigram ascribes to Sir Richard Strachan and the Earl of Chatham. At length came one of the great red-letter days in the history of South Australia, October 21st, 1872, when, the cable again in working order, it flashed its first telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Mr. Dutton added that he was in a position to state that, having triumphantly finished the land line, South Australia would, for the future, maintain it in the most perfect working order, no matter what the cost might be.

Perhaps the most interesting moment in that memorable evening was when Mr. Dutton rose to propose the toast of "The officers and men engaged in erecting the Overland Line of Telegraph", coupling with it the name of Mr. Todd—a name received with vociferous cheering. It was one thing, he said in effect, for a country to plan great works, it was quite another to be certain of having sturdy and courageous men to carry them out, and intelligent brains to organize the thousand and one necessary details. In Mr. Todd they had a man of admirable judgment and great ability, under whose supervising care all difficulties were surmounted and success ensured. He was, as a matter of fact, the sole originator of the whole scheme—a scheme he had advocated ever since Stuart's first memorable exploration. To him alone belonged the credit of having convinced the Government of South Australia of the feasibility of this grand work, and to no man more than to himself was the credit due of having so thoroughly organized the details as to make ultimate success a certainty.

Many of the speakers on that memorable evening dwelt upon the wonders of this great undertaking, and the probabilities of what might in the near future he accomplished, and many old Australians, who well remembered the nine weary months it took for parents to communicate with children, and lovers with lovers, and friends with friends, contrasted it with the present, when, by a last triumph of science, that distance of time and space was bridged over by the electric wire, 80 that, as had been demonstrated in their presence that evening, friends could talk with friends in the space of two short hours.

At the time when this meeting was held, there had been much controversy in Parliament and in the public press upon the question of colonial independence leading to disintegration of the Empire. Lord Kimberley dissipated any fears that might have been entertained as to the policy of the Imperial Government in this matter, while Mr. F.S. Dutton, speaking on behalf of the colony of South Australia, said that, "although whispers and insinuations had been lately heard of politicians in England advocating the separation of the colonies from the mother country, he believed he was expressing the views of all Australians when he said they did not intend to allow themselves to be so separated, but that, on the contrary, they would stick to the grand old ship so long as two of her timbers stuck together!" This patriotic and hearty declaration was received with a furore of acclamation, which was renewed when, later in the evening, Mr. Knatchbull-Hugesson, in proposing "Prosperity to our colonies", said, "May that prosperity be evinced by the development of internal resources, the increase of colonial commerce, the extension of colonial trade, and the continual progressive improvement of the different races which own, and are proud to own, the British flag! And may it be accomplished by a steady and unswerving affection between colonies and mother country, so that they may remain one united and mighty empire, bound together by bonds of a texture too soft to gall, but too strong to be broken—an empire based upon the strong foundation of mutual sympathy, as well as mutual interest, and having for the main end and object of its policy—aye, and its very existence—the gradual development of the resources of the world, and the peaceful, progressive improvement of mankind!"

Towards the end of 1872 reports of the existence of rich gold reefs in the Northern Territory led to the formation of several prospecting and gold-mining companies in Adelaide and other towns in the southern part of the colony. The opening up of the overland line of telegraph to Port Darwin afforded facilities for the formation of any number of mushroom companies, which sprang into existence on the receipt of telegrams announcing that certain claims had been secured; but while many of those who took out the claims made large sums of money for their supposed valuable rights, the greater number of those who took shares and paid calls while the gold-fever was at its height sustained serious losses, as well as vexation and disappointment. This gold-mining mania attained its greatest height at a period some time subsequent to that of which we are now writing, and a further notice of it will be more appropriate in a later chapter.

The work of exploration in the interior of the colony made some progress during the administration of Sir James Fergusson, the establishment of permanent stations along the overland line of telegraph route affording great facilities for parties to make one or other of these a starting-point, a place of retreat, or a resting-place to recruit.

On the 30th of March, 1870, Mr. John Forrest, with a party consisting of his brother, Mr. Alexander Forrest, surveyor, as second in command, H. MacLarty, police-constable, W. Osborne, smith and farrier, and two aborigines, Tommy Windick and Billy Noongale, left Perth, in Western Australia, on an expedition to Adelaide, round the Great Bight and through the desolate territory known as No Man's Land, the route traversed with 80 much difficulty and danger by Mr. Eyre.

On the 11th of July they reached the boundary post between South and Western Australia, placed there by Lieutenant Douglas, and on the following day erected a flagstaff, on which they left the Union Jack flying. Leaving Eucla on the 14th, and carrying about thirty gallons of water, the party reached the head of the Bight on the 17th, where they found abundance of water by digging in the sandhills. On the 27th of July Fowler's Bay was reached, after passing many millions of acres of grassy country entirely destitute of permanent water, and on the 27th of August the gallant travellers, who in five months had accomplished the journey which took Mr. Eyre more than twelve months to make, arrived in Adelaide. Of course they had the advantage of his experiences to guide them, and they were able to confirm and supplement his observations.

On the 23rd of August, 1872, Mr. Ernest Giles, accompanied by Mr. Carmichael, a friendly volunteer, and an attendant named Alexander Robinson, set out from Chambers' Pillar in the hope of penetrating westward to the source of the river Murchison. They were sent from Victoria under the auspices of Baron von Mueller. The district through which they passed was almost identical in its main features to that met with by Stuart in the same latitude, but further towards the west "scrub and sandhills alternated with good feed and luxurious grassy flats; mulga and oak trees in abundance; ranges of hills, with here and there creeks of fresh water; wild ducks, pigeons, emus, kangaroos, and tribes of natives "—all these were encountered by Mr. Giles's expedition, as they had been previously by other explorers. Two important discoveries, however, were made, viz. the existence of a high mountain in about lat. 25° 30' S., long. 130° 10' E., and of a large salt lake about thirty miles north of it." Unfortunately, this salt lake was the occasion of the return of Mr. Giles and his party. It interposed an obstacle to their progress so great as to necessitate dispensing with the services of Robinson if they would pursue their journey to the end, as provisions would not hold out if all three remained. Mr. Carmichael objected, and, as Giles could not continue alone, the party returned to Adelaide without accomplishing the purpose of their journey.*

[* For full account of this expedition see "South Australia Twice Traversed", by Ernest Giles. (Sampson Low & Co., London.)]

A scheme that had for some time been under consideration was matured in October, for sending out parties to explore the country lying to the westward of the overland telegraph. For this important work two separate expeditions were organized: one, under the leadership of Colonel Warburton, and fitted out at the sole expense of the Hon. Thomas Elder and Mr. W.W. Hughes, was to make Central Mount Stuart the starting-place, and thence to proceed, in as direct a course as possible, to Fremantle. The second expedition, under the leadership of Mr. W.C. Gosse, son of Dr. Gosse, of Adelaide, was to make the river Finke, some hundreds of miles to the southward of the Central Mount, its starting-place, and to proceed in as straight a course as possible to Perth, in Western Australia. By this means a line of entirely different country to that traversed by Colonel Warburton would be explored. This second expedition, although equipped at the joint cost of Mr. Elder and of the State, was, to all intents and purposes, a Government one. The country to be explored was almost limitless, as there were to the southward of the parallel of Central Mount Stuart, and to the westward of the overland telegraph, scores of millions of acres of land the nature of which remained practically unknown.

The explorers in these latter expeditions did not fairly set out until after Sir James Fergusson had left the colony. How they fared and what they accomplished will be told in the next chapter.

One or two events of great importance to the future of South Australia marked the closing year of the administration of Sir James Fergusson.

Lack of means for the higher education of young men, especially those intended for the Christian ministry, had long been recognized by leading men as a distinct want in the colony. Young men had to journey to England to fit themselves for professional pursuits, and colonial pulpits had to be filled at great expense from the home country, because there were no facilities for training young ministers in the colony. Accordingly, a number of Protestant ministers, belonging to the non-Episcopalian denominations, founded a theological institution known as "Union College", in which students could be trained for the ministry. Among those who took a prominent part in this work were the Rev. James Jefferis, LLB. (Congregationalist), J. Davidson and J. Lyall (Presbyterians), and S. Mead, M.A., LL.B. (Baptist). Mr. W.W. Hughes was waited upon to ask for assistance in providing an endowment fund. He very favourably entertained the request, and subsequently expressed his willingness to give the munificent sum of £20,000. The Committee of Union College, with great patriotism, decided to ask Mr. Hughes to devote this gift to the establishment of a university. To this proposal Mr. Hughes gave his consent, and the project was warmly taken up by all who desired that the means for obtaining a liberal education in the colony should be provided.

A meeting was held in Adelaide on the 17th of September, 1872, to discuss the whole question, at which Bishop Short presided, and all the leading ministers and men of influence in the city were present. It was decided that Union College should be retained as a Theological Institution, and the Adelaide University Association was established for the purpose of taking all necessary steps to found a university. Some years were to elapse before the university could be opened, but Mr. Hughes signed a deed of gift of £20,000 in ten years, with interest at five per cent. till paid.

With the increasing prosperity of the colony, many admirable institutions of a philanthropic nature came into existence, in all of which the Governor took a strong personal interest and aided influentially. Among them was the Prince Alfred Sailors' Home at Port Adelaide, to improve the condition and add to the comfort of sailors.

Another admirable philanthropic institution, placed upon a permanent basis about this time, was the Bushmen's Club. A movement was set on foot in 1856 to supply to some extent the want of religious services to the scattered inhabitants of the remote country districts, by means of an association called the "South Australian Bush Mission." Contributions were raised, and the services of two agents were engaged to travel from station to station to deliver tracts, and conduct religious services wherever and whenever practicable.

In founding and sustaining this mission, which did most excellent work, both Mr. G.F. Angas and his son, Mr. J.H. Angas, took an active part. But their services were still more valuable in connection with the foundation of the Bushmen's Club.

It came about on this wise:—William M. Hugo, a connection of the celebrated Victor Hugo, was for many years a bush missionary, of whom nothing was known save that he was engaged in evangelical work, travelling from station to station all over the Australian colonies, depending for food entirely upon the hospitality of those he visited, declining all pecuniary aid, and doing many kindly acts of charity for the lonely shepherds with whom he came in contact. He called himself "William", and was known by no other name. In 1866, while in South Australia viewing with pain the debaucheries of bushmen when making their periodical visits to the city, it struck him that there was no class of the community more needing protection against themselves and friendly help, and he conceived the idea of establishing a retreat for them somewhat similar to Sailors' Homes. He accordingly named his project to Mr. J.H. Angas, who put the matter before his father, representing that the habits of bushmen made them, like sailors, victims to every adventurer to prey upon their weaknesses. Mr. Angas and several other friends took up the matter warmly, and became large contributors to a fund for establishing a Bushmen's Club. A house in Whitmore Square, Adelaide, formerly occupied by Sir Charles Cooper, one of the early judges of the colony, was secured, together with the ample grounds, and on the 20th of May, 1870, the Bushmen's Home, with "William" as honorary superintendent, was formally opened by Sir James Fergusson. The payment of a small entrance fee entitled the members to the freedom of the Home, where they could at once take up their residence and be much more comfortable, at only a fraction of the expense and with none of the temptation of a public-house. Since its foundation, the premises of the club have received extensive additions and alterations (Mr. J.H. Angas contributing £1000 to the building fund), and this interesting institution is one of the most deservedly popular in the city, and the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Yet another excellent institution, in the foundation of which the Governor took a strong interest, was the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb Asylum. It was Mr. William Townsend, a man who, like many others, rose from humble rank to be one of the most influential and well-known men of the colony; a king of auctioneers, an inimitable lecturer, a large-hearted and open-handed mayor, and a judicious minister of the State—this Mr. Townsend originated the idea of the asylum, and for many years laboured hard to make it an accomplished fact, although it was not for a long time after Sir James Fergusson gave the scheme his support that the institution, which has been an inestimable boon, was formally opened at Brighton.

Towards the close of the administration of Sir James Fergusson there was, in addition to these philanthropic movements, a remarkable spirit of enterprise abroad. It manifested itself in a variety of ways, and not least in the origin of many new industries which rose rapidly into prominence, such, for example, as the manufacture of tobacco, advocated in the Chamber of Manufactures by Dr. Schomburgk, the leaf of which at that time was imported as a temporary expedient Another industry was the manufacture of cordials by Messrs. A.M. Bickford and Sons, who, in one month, sent out six hundred dozen of their produce, consisting of lime-juice cordial, raspberry vinegar, raspberry balm, and such like; while another firm took up the running and manufactured an excellent chow-chow and other pure condiments unaided by chemicals. At Lobethal the manufacture of flannels and blankets was commenced, and in many ways and places new sources of wealth were originated. Perhaps the most important was the meat-preserving industry. It had hitherto been carried on in a desultory manner since 1869, but now, under the auspices of the Adelaide Meat-preserving Company, it began to assume proper proportions. From September, 1870, to April, 1871, 55,427 sheep and 131 head of cattle were turned into tinned meats and tallow.

In nothing, however, was this spirit of enterprise more clearly shown than in building operations. With the exception of the time when Governor Gawler, in order to find work for the many unemployed who were dependent on Government aid, undertook the construction of public edifices, there had been no period in the history of the colony when the question of building improvements occupied so much public attention as in the years 1872-73. Unoccupied acres were filled up with handsome dwelling-houses, more particularly in the eastern, southern, and northern portions of the city, and in its main streets there arose the new Post-office, one of the finest buildings in the southern hemisphere, and the Police and Customs Offices. Alterations and additions were made to the new Law Courts and Government House, to prisons and to schools, while churches, chapels, institutes, and halls rose in all parts of the country, notable amongst them being St. Peter's Cathedral.

In the last session of Parliament under the rule of Sir James Fergusson an important matter was settled. The question of payment of members was decided in the House of Assembly by a majority of seventeen to eleven. The motion was brought forward by Mr. T. Play ford, who advocated a payment of twenty-one shillings per day for every day when the House met for business, limiting such payment, however, to a maximum of eighty guineas for each session, and deducting a guinea for each day a member was absent, except from illness. He further suggested a fee of one shilling per mile for the distance a member had to travel from his home, to be paid once for each session. In opposition to this, Mr. Townsend proposed the payment of a round sum of £200 per annum, and this eventually came into operation.

On the 30th of November, 1872, when proroguing Parliament, the Governor concluded his speech in these words:—

"Her Majesty has been pleased to appoint me to the Governorship of New Zealand, and my official connection with the colony will shortly terminate. It is a source of deep gratification to me to observe the prosperity which at the time of my departure attends all our main producing interests, and the general contentment and well-being of the people. I look back with much pleasure upon the cordial and harmonious relations which have subsisted between myself and the Parliament and the community at large. I shall ever retain a deep interest in this colony, in which I have resided for nearly four years, and earnestly hope that it may greatly flourish and prosper under the favour of Divine Providence."

A few days after the close of the session a banquet was given to the Governor prior to his leaving the colony. One hundred and eighty gentlemen attended. In responding to the toast of the evening he referred to the great calamity that had cast its deep shadow over his domestic life—the death of his wife. Lady Edith Christian, daughter of the Marquis of Dalhousie.

"In the four years to which my office has been limited," he said, "I have had times of Fore trial which have prevented me from mixing with you as much as was my desire, and from travelling into many districts which I hoped to have visited. But, gentlemen, I have still seen a great deal of the colony, and I think I have learned to know and appreciate many phases of your national character. I am not unaware of the struggles of those who take up new land and occupy the much-coveted position of owners of the soil. I know how hard is the life they have to lead before they attain that independence which is so honourable, and which they enjoy so greatly. I have watched with interest the vicissitudes of trade and the eminence to which many of your professional men have attained; in fact, gentlemen, while the institutions of Parliamentary government were early bestowed upon the colony, I believe, although many believed they came too soon, that they have tended to make you grow up to them. The idea I formed of the colony before I came to it was that it was like an English county which I had never seen before, but that it had to work without the natural leaders which in an English county give the tone to society. Well, I think thirty years have raised an upper class in the colony of which any county in the old country might be proud. . . ."

Whatever view may be taken of some phases of the career of Sir James Fergusson as Governor of South Australia, it is indisputable that he rendered most important service to the colony in innumerable ways, and notably in attempting to open up trade relations with India, in energetically promoting the establishment of telegraphic communication with Europe, and in the strong and practical interest he took in the formation of educational and philanthropical institutions.

On December the 4th Sir James Fergusson held a farewell levée, when valedictory addresses were presented. A subscription was set on foot for his portrait to be painted by a London artist with a view to placing it in the Legislative Council Chamber, and a duplicate in Sir James's family mansion at Kilkerran.

He left South Australia on the 5th of December for England before entering upon his new sphere of duty in New Zealand, bearing with him the good wishes of all classes of the community.*

[* Shortly before leaving the colony, Sir James engaged himself to marry a young colonial lady, Miss Olive Richman, daughter of the late John Richman, of Warbunga, sister-in-law of Sir Walter Hughes, the discoverer and promoter of some of tho great copper mines of South Australia. This lady, to whom Sir James was married in March, 1873, and who was possessed of great beauty and of a charming character, died of cholera during his subsequent administration of Bombay, tho niece of Lady Fergusson, Miss Alice Richman, falling a victim at the same time to that terrible disease.]

{Page 43}

CHAPTER XIV.

ADMINISTRATION OF SIR ANTHONY MUSGRAVE.

JUNE, 1873— JANUARY, 1877.

Sir Richard Hanson Acting Governor.—Antecedents of Mr. A. Musgrave.—Policy with regard to Northern Territory.—Gold Companies.—Visit of Mr. Reynolds to Palmerston.—Coolie Labour.—Mr. G.B. Scott Government Resident.—Port Darwin declared a Free Port.—Action of the North Australian Land Company.—Free and Assisted Immigration.—Condition of the Working Classes.—Free, Secular, and Compulsory Education.—Parliamentary "Standing Dishes."—Project of a Trans-continental Railway.—New Roads.—The Murray Railway Scheme.—New Industries.—Silk Culture.—Explorations of Mr. Gosse.—Colonel Warburton.—Mr Ernest Giles.—Mr. John Forrest.—Bridging the Murray.—Wreck of the Gothenburg.—Opening of Adelaide University.—Union College.—Magnificent Gifts.—Governor's Farewell Address.

ON the 6th of December, 1872, the Rangatira steamed down the gulf, bearing Sir James Fergusson to other shores. On the following day Sir Richard Hanson, the Chief Justice, was sworn in as acting Governor, and South Australians were gratified that this honour had fallen to an old colonist who had long been prominent in local politics, and had in various ways proved his warm interest in the welfare and progress of the province.

During his brief administration of six months Sir Richard was not called upon to take any very prominent part beyond the ordinary routine duties of his office—duties he discharged with promptness and efficiency. In February an official telegram announced that the Colonial Office had chosen Mr. (afterwards Sir) Anthony Musgrave to the Governorship of the province.

Mr. Musgrave was in the prime of life, and well qualified by long experience for the high appointment now conferred upon him. He was familiar with the details of administration in Crown colonies, and also with the practical working of political institutions similar to those of South Australia. He entered the public service in 1850, and was for a short time private secretary to Mr. Mackintosh, Governor-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands. But we find him next year pursuing his studies at the Inner Temple. His second appointment, as Treasury Accountant in Antigua, was also relinquished for the further prosecution of his legal studies. These, however, were definitely abandoned on his appointment as Colonial Secretary at Antigua. He was promoted in 1860 to be Administrator of Nevis, and was thus provided with a small working model for the practical study of viceregal functions, for Nevis (now joined to St. Christopher) had then an Executive, a nominee Legislative Council, and a Representative Assembly to rule over its twenty square miles of territory and its ten thousand inhabitants. He was next transferred to St. "Vincent, which enjoyed a similar constitution. After governing this island for three quiet years, Mr. Musgrave succeeded Sir Alexander Bannerman as Governor of Newfoundland, where for five years he had the opportunity of studying a constitution very similar to that to which he was afterwards to be introduced in South Australia.

His next charge was British Columbia, where the local head of the State is entrusted with immense powers, and is expected to visit frequently the widely separated parts of his vast dominion. After brief service here Mr. Musgrave was sent to Natal, carrying with him a new charter, which, however, the inhabitants stoutly resisted, as they considered it sought to infringe their rights of local self-government In spite of the friction that arose on this point, Mr. Musgrave's wise policy, and the liberal and progressive character of his actions and speeches, appear to have secured for him the general approbation of the people of Natal.

From Natal he was sent early in 1873 to be the ninth Governor of South Australia. He arrived at Port Adelaide on Sunday, June 8th, about three days earlier than was thought possible, thus somewhat marring the formalities of the reception. The intended address was not presented, nor the intended salute fired, but the people cheered loyally as the representative of their Queen landed and proceeded to Government House, accompanied by Mrs. Musgrave (niece of the well-known Cyrus Field) and their children.

Next morning, after the usual swearing-in, an address was presented from the municipality of Adelaide, congratulating the Governor on his arrival at an opportune time in the history of the province, when the agriculturists had been blessed with an abundant harvest and the mineral and other resources were being greatly developed.

Two days later, six hundred of the leading colonists attended the Governor's first levée.

On the 25th of July his Excellency opened his first Parliament, for which the elections had taken place earlier in the year, but the Ministers who had held office at the close of his predecessor's rule were no longer in power. A week before Parliament opened, the Hon. Thomas Reynolds, who had just returned from a trip to the Northern Territory, resigned the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands. For twenty years he had opposed the expenditure of the State revenue for immigration, and knowing that the Cabinet were about to ask Parliament for a grant for this purpose, he felt compelled to retire. Sir Henry Ayers and his colleagues found it impossible to fill up this gap in their ranks, and the result was the formation of a new Ministry with the Hon. Arthur Blyth, M.P., as Chief Secretary.

After a short recess, Parliament met on the 12th of August to hear the statement of the new Ministry as to their policy with reference to the Northern Territory, immigration and other subjects demanding immediate attention. Their explanations were followed by long and remarkably outspoken debates in both Houses. Before referring to the new measures proposed by the Government in connection with the first of these questions, a little explanation is desirable as to the state of the Territory and its recent history.

The discovery of gold and the frequent favourable reports sent to Adelaide by those who were working claims had roused a large share of excited interest. Many ardent young colonists had left their situations and gone prospecting, while many more eagerly took shares in the numerous gold companies that were started.

Early in 1873 fifty or sixty companies were holding claims in the Northern Territory, and there was an expectation of a rush of adventurers from other colonies. Meanwhile the Government were doing what they could to facilitate the steady settlement of the fertile parts of the Territory. In January they had issued new waste land regulations as to the survey and sale of land on liberal terms. But in connection with the gold seekers difficulties were arising. In February Mr. Reynolds, Commissioner of Crown Lands, set out on a personal tour of observation. He first visited Ceylon and other colonies, to study the methods that had been found successful there in the employment of labour, and also to endeavour to attract capitalists to develop the resources of the Northern Territory. He also wished to study the coolie question, as it was evident that a large supply of labour of a character suited to a tropical climate would be needed.

Mr. Reynolds entered the capacious harbour of Port Darwin on May 17th, and proceeded to the line site that had been chosen for Palmerston, the metropolis of the Territory. He found matters in a shameful state of disorganization, and the rules and regulations as to mining claims and other matters very much disregarded. Nearly the whole of the official staff had been allowed to take up miners' rights, and on the strength of those rights to take up claims, and in some instances had been allowed leave of absence to look after their gold reefs. Mr. Reynolds spent two or three arduous weeks in restoring order, settling grievances, ordering surveys, and investigating financial mysteries. He made great changes in the staff, and was only precluded from doing more by his inability to fill up vacancies. He did not forget to note the mineral and other resources of the country, of which he reported very favourably.

Immediately after his return to Adelaide, Mr. Reynolds was waited on by an important deputation of chairman and directors of companies engaged in working the gold reefs. They strongly urged upon the Government the issue of improved regulations and ample protection for the retention and undisturbed working of claims. Mr. Reynolds fully concurred in their views, but three days afterwards he had resigned office, and the task of adjustment was left to his successors.

Accordingly, on the 12th of August the Ministry laid before Parliament the report of Mr. Reynolds, with its revelations of almost hopeless muddle, and stated their intentions as to the future government of the settlement and the appointment of competent officials. Mr. Commissioner Downer was to be judge of the Supreme Court to be established at Palmerston, and also for a few months to act as Government Resident, till that office could be permanently filled up. He was to rank as a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, but with extra emoluments, making his salary £1700, besides other allowances. Subordinate offices were filled up, and police reinforcements were ready to start at a moment's notice. Ministers intended to settle the mining question in a separate Bill, providing for twenty-one years' leases, establishing a local tribunal, and invalidating all acts performed by Government officers up to a certain date. A new code of regulations would be issued subject to amendment by the aforesaid tribunal. Another Bill was also promised defining the duties and powers of the Government Resident.

The Northern Territory Supreme Court Bill met with opposition so firm and uncompromising that Ministers were obliged to modify several of its provisions. As finally passed by the Assembly it enacted that the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory should be considered as entirely distinct from the same tribunal in Adelaide, and that it should only exist for twelve months, at which date all suits still pending should be transferred to Adelaide. The judge was in no way to be considered a member of the chief court bench. But even in this modified form the Legislative Council refused to pass the measure, notwithstanding the reports which continually arrived as to the deplorable condition of affairs in regard to the administration of justice.

The Ministry, defeated on the measure they had so carefully prepared to meet the exigencies of the case, saw that it was nevertheless needful to do something. They sent a reinforcement of police to Palmerston, and also an experienced special magistrate and clerk. They furthermore appointed as Government Resident Mr. George Byng Scott, who had resided for thirty years in the colony, and who for nearly twenty years had been acquiring administrative experience in various positions. Accompanied by the chief warden of the gold-fields and numerous private settlers, Mr. Scott readied Port Darwin on the 1st of November, Amongst those who had resolved to settle in the Territory and aid in the development of its resources was the Hon. Thomas Reynolds, who had resigned his sent in parliament in order to reside at Palmerston as a general commission agent. Another of the new settlers was Mr. K. Wells, J.P., who brought with him the requisite staff and plant for the establishment of a newspaper at Port Darwin.

The new Government Resident came armed with full powers for the restoration of order and public confidence. His instructions delegated to him the entire control of all the official establishments in the Territory, and he was advised that, subject to Parliamentary sanction, he would be entrusted with the administration of the Crown lands, the charge of the police, and the general promotion of peace, order, and good government.

Before the year 1873 reached its close, it had become evident that the Northern Territory was not to be, as some had imagined, "a nation born in a day", but, like most other colonies, would have to be gradually and laboriously developed.

The population was satisfactorily increasing, but the prospect of a great rush of immigrants had passed away. Many of the speculative companies were now finding that the gold claims they had purchased so eagerly had proved utterly worthless. At the same time other properties rich in precious metal were being advantageously worked, especially when, in December, some of the companies got machinery to the reefs and began crushing the quartz in a systematic manner. The excitement in Adelaide cooled down, a number of the rotten companies were wound up, and the eyes of the South Australian public became opened to the fact that the real riches of the vast territory they had elected to develop would depend upon wisely directed perseverance and steady industry. Of the three measures promised by the Government with reference to the Northern Territory, only the Gold Mining Bill became law. Of this Act it may be said (in brief) that it confirmed existing rights, provided means for adjudication on new or disputed claims, and enacted a code of regulations to be strictly enforced wherever gold-mining operations were carried on.

The affairs of the Northern Territory were the main subjects engaging public attention when Governor Musgrave arrived. They were not much improved when he left. Trouble was brewing there. One by one the bright dreams that had been indulged in for a time, faded away. In everything and everywhere there was mismanagement; on the one hand, the people of Adelaide had been cruelly deluded as to the value of the gold claims, and on the other the Northerners complained that the South Australian authorities had blundered in themselves and in their representatives. One of the aggrieved settlers wrote: "Nature has given a grand and safe harbour, but man has not made even a landing-place for a small boat; Nature has given a fair tropical climate where men can live fairly well if they adapt themselves to the country and climate, but South Australia and her rulers have decreed that her officials shall try and dwell in places where one would not put a horse; "and he proceeds to describe Government House, on which thousands had been spent, as "like a dirty barn with fowl-houses jutting out around it . . . and the Court House worse."

But the great drawback to prosperity was the lack of cheap and effective labour, and although in March, 1874, the leading residents forwarded a petition to Parliament praying for self-government and the introduction of coolie or Chinese labour, many a year was to elapse before a solution should be found to the difficult questions of what would be the best kind of labour, and how it was to be supplied.

As regarded the much-vaunted gold claims, the results of experiments in crushing were most disappointing, the yield being on an average only from 23 to 28 dwts. of gold to the ton—a result that at once caused a collapse in the share market so far as gold stock was concerned.

In August, 1874, the first importation of coolies was reported. In March, 1875, business was stagnant, the population decreasing, and the spirit of enterprise dead; the local Government was in debt, and the inhabitants were refusing to pay the necessary taxes. More cheerful accounts, however, arrived a little later. But still it was reported in January, 1870, that dilatoriness and red-tape officialism pervaded the land department, and the administration of justice was so unsatisfactory that men accused of criminal offences were kept as long as eight months in cells before being brought to trial. To reawaken commercial enterprise Parliament passed, in 1875, an Act abolishing all customs duties on goods entering the territory, and declared Port Darwin a free port. But of the effects of these and other reformative and amelioratory measures we shall have to speak in another chapter.

Before leaving for the present the subject of the Northern Territory it should be recorded that the important appeal from the Supreme Court of South Australia was heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, and on the 13th of November, 1873, Lord Penzance gave judgment The appeal was in respect of several judgments by which the colonial Government was held to be liable to the North Australian Land Company, Limited, for £33,818 12s. 3d., including £19,741 10s. for the purchase of land from the Government, for which the company held land orders.

His lordship, in giving judgment, said that the respondents, under the provisions of the Northern Territory Act, in 1864, paid large sums for land orders entitling them to a portion of the 500,000 acres annexed to the colony. Certain regulations were made and published, and were the conditions upon which the Company paid the money for the land. The statute provided that within five years the land was to be surveyed by the Government, and should be allotted to the holders of the land orders, and the holders were to make their selection. Within the prescribed five years no selection could be made, and the purchasers were not able to obtain the land. At the close of 1868, before the five years had expired, a second Act of Parliament on the subject of the Northern Territory was passed, under which fresh regulations were to be made, and of a different character as to the quantity of the land. The respondents alleged that they could not make a selection as they had stipulated under the first Act, and could not obtain the land which they had a right to expect. The substantial question then arose on the merits. Were the respondents bound to come in under the second Act? If not, their right to recover the money they had paid was clear. After dwelling on this question and also on the claim for interest, Lord Penzance said that the conclusion, at which their lordships had arrived was, that there was a positive contract that the land should be surveyed within five years, and that the selection could then be made. The committee would advise her Majesty that the judgment of the court below be affirmed with costs. The colonial Government would have to pay the £33,000 and costs, and the Company would of course surrender their land orders.

Immigration was a subject which, in 1873, again caused considerable discussion in the colony, and, after wrecking the Ayers Ministry, claimed some immediate notice from Parliament. The splendid harvest of 1872-73 had proved conclusively that there was an alarming deficiency in the supply of labour, and it was seen that if high-class farming was to be extended, this deficiency would be increasingly felt. Accordingly, on March 19, an influential meeting at the Chamber of Commerce appealed to the Government to bring in a Bill providing for a liberal and comprehensive scheme of immigration.

In the following month a very valuable handbook for emigrants proceeding to South Australia, by W. Harcus, J.P., and others, treating fully of the colony and its resources, was published in Adelaide, and afterwards republished in London, and extensively circulated.

Public sentiment in the colony was, however, greatly divided as to the respective values of free or assisted immigration, and whilst there were some who counselled that both these methods should be adopted, others declared that the assisted immigrant would hold himself to be a superior person to the free immigrant; the labour market would be tainted with caste or class feeling, and evils would arise of which free immigration was the only preventive.

Seeing the divided state of public feeling, Ministers moved cautiously, and when Parliament met in August they stated their intention of only spending on immigration during the current year the £9000 already voted, but would put down in the estimates the sum of £35,000 to be spent in 1874. A fortnight after, a public meeting, held in the Town Hall and presided over by the Mayor, recorded its uncompromising protest against free immigration in all its forms. It condemned as unconstitutional and improper the action of the Government in having already sent to England for two shiploads of labourers to supply the immediate needs of the labour market, and denounced free immigration as opposed to sound principles of political economy and injurious to all classes of the community. Finally, it declared that the only safe method of increasing the population was to liberalize the land laws and so induce voluntary immigration.

It was manifest that the supporters of free immigration were few in number in comparison with those who advocated the other system, and when, towards the close of the session, the estimates came on for consideration. Parliament voted £15,000 for assisted and £5000 for free immigration, to be expended during the first half of 1874 Although the plan was adopted as a compromise, great doubt was expressed as to the two methods being found to work harmoniously together, and after the first vote had been passed readily, the second was only obtained by a majority of one.

During the session of 1874, the Assembly refused, by a majority of three, to entirely discontinue free immigration, although large meetings at the Adelaide Town Hall and other places passed resolutions against the system. In July, 1874, Parliament voted £30,000 for assisted and £5000 for free immigration for twelve months, and a similar policy was maintained during the remainder of the period now under notice.

The neglected condition of the working classes in South Australia had for years been recognized as demanding Parliamentary action. At election after election candidates had been helped to win seats in Parliament by their promises to do something in the matter of free education. But so formidable had been the difficulties to be encountered, that hitherto nothing had been done to cure the acknowledged defects of the existing system. The new Ministry made a resolute attempt to solve the question, and on August 12 declared that nothing short of a complete system of free, secular, and compulsory education would suffice, and a Bill on that basis was, on August 14, read a first time. The question had been one of the test points at elections for nearly ten years past.

The new Education Bill defined elementary education to be reading, writing, and arithmetic for boys, and for girls the same subjects, with the addition of sewing and plain needlework. It proposed to create, in lieu of the old Board of Education, an Educational Department, consisting of a responsible Minister, a superintendent, inspectors, teachers, etc., all of whom were to be appointed or removed at the discretion of the Governor. By other provisions of the Bill all school property was vested in the Minister of Education; school districts were created, and all teachers were to qualify at the Adelaide Training School before appointment. Sections 11 to 14 were the radical points of the measure, for they directed that the four hours' daily attendance should be devoted to secular instruction only, attendance being voluntary at any Bible reading or religious instruction after school hours; that all fees should be abolished except for extra subjects after hours; that all children between the ages of seven and fifteen should attend at least sixty days in each half-year, unless efficiently instructed elsewhere, or already up to the required standard, or prevented by sickness, or by residing more than two miles from any school; and that failure in compliance would involve punishment in the shape of fines or imprisonment.

Other sections of the Bill provided for certificates of attainment to required standards; supply of school materials, school sites, the selling a part of "school lands" to provide funds for salaries and other expenditure; and the promulgation by the Executive of rules and regulations for the carrying out of all details.

In the debate the ground was contested inch by inch, until by a majority of four the Bill passed its third reading, and was sent up to the Legislative Council. There, on the 2nd of December, its second reading was moved, and the debate, again and again adjourned, resulted in the Bill being lost by a majority of three. There is no doubt that the most powerful motive underlying all the opposition to the Bill was the fear lest the £90,000 required for the first year's operations would prove too great a burden on the colony.

In the session of 1875, however, the Boucaut Ministry brought in an Education Bill, which skilfully embodied the views of the majority of the community. It substituted for the Central Board of Education a Council with a responsible Minister as President, a salaried Vice-President, a Secretary, and a full staff of Inspectors. Compulsion was to be exercised in districts proclaimed by the Governor, when sufficient school accommodation should be provided. Provision was made for Bible reading during the quarter of an hour preceding secular instruction; but the schoolrooms were to be closed against all denominational teaching at any time. Education was to be free to all unable to pay fees.

During its passage through the Lower House the salient features of this measure were affirmed by overwhelming majorities. An amendment was, however, carried against the Government for allowing the schoolrooms to be used for religious or denominational purposes after the classes were dismissed. It was also decided that the Minister of Education should be quite independent of the Council, which should have its own salaried President. Provision was also made for secondary schools, and for raising the stipends of teachers. The Bill was materially liberalized in another important point, namely, the land endowment for educational purposes. Government had proposed to set aside about 6000 acres annually, but the House decided that 100,000 acres should be at once reserved, and power taken to set aside an additional 20,000 acres every year.

Certain "standing dishes" came before Parliament session after session, and in 1873 several of them were vigorously cut at, or altogether demolished. The privilege question, to wit, which at the close of the previous session had assumed formidable proportions, was set at rest by the Chief Secretary submitting a motion, "That the privileges of this House in regard to the initiation, custody, and presentation for her Majesty's assent, of money Bills are identical with those held and enjoyed by the House of Commons, and that the Speaker be requested to make arrangements for the due observance on all occasions of such privileges." There was a brief and quiet debate on the subject, and then the motion was agreed to without further demur.

In like manner a Constitution Act Amendment Bill, almost identical with a measure introduced by the previous Government, was again brought forward. Its three chief points were that the Attorney-General should not necessarily be a member of Parliament; that provision should be made for the appointment of a Minister of Education; that the sums payable to members of the Cabinet should be altered. This Bill passed the Lower House easily, but encountered difficulties in the Legislative Council on the schedule of salaries to Ministers. Sir Henry Ayers proposed that Ministers should serve without salaries, but this proposal met with no support, as it would virtually exclude from office all but wealthy men. The Bill was ultimately passed, equalizing the salaries of the six Ministers at £1000.

The oft-mooted subject of a Trans-Continental Railway was brought before the Assembly on August 22nd by the Chief Secretary, and a Bill was brought in "for the formation of a railway to Port Darwin." It was proposed to grant a quantity of land in alternate blocks of not exceeding ten miles, laid out upon a chess-board system. The line would be open to tender, and the tenderer required to deposit £10,000, and the successful tenderer a further sum of £20,000. The line would have to be constructed in fourteen years, and at the rate of not less than one hundred miles a year; and a train would be required to start from each end of the line at least once a week.

Eloquent pictures were drawn on the one hand of the advantages that would result to the Australian colonies from the proposed railway, in the opening up of waste lands and the settlement of tens of thousands of "good, sound, healthy" workers upon them; while, on the other hand, the Bill was vigorously denounced by Messrs. Carr, Solomon, and Hughes, who condemned the introduction of "miserable Asiatics" and the "tender" system, and uttered gloomy prophecies of the disasters that would result from granting the fee simple of one hundred million acres to the constructors of the railway. The whole scheme was regarded as a trap for unwary capitalists, and an encouragement to swindling promoters of bubble companies.

The debate was resumed from time to time, but there was evidently no real desire to push the matter forward, and the session closed without the question having come to a vote on the second reading.

One other specimen of a Parliamentary "standing dish" will close the series for the present.

An agitation had, as we have seen, been going on for years with reference to the formation of new roads, the crucial point being, of course, who was to pay for them. Mr. Hannaford, the President of the District Chairmen's Association, and his supporters wanted practically to tax the squatters, and to leave the farmers to enjoy benefits to which they had not specially contributed. They proposed to construct roads out of the proceeds of the land sales, and to maintain them in good condition out of the general revenue. The apathy of legislators on this question was astonishing. For at least eight years it had been a "burning question" at the hustings, and yet nothing had been done. Again and again Bills had been brought in, debated upon, and then rejected. Many members had notoriously changed their advocacy of this or that method, according to whether they were in or out of office. The Bill now brought before the Assembly by the Blyth Ministry ordained that new main roads should be constructed out of the general revenue, but that the districts benefited should bear a special share of the burden of maintenance. Some half-hearted discussions took place on the measure, which was eventually shelved once more by its rejection on the second reading.

The month of October marked a new era in the history of the civil service in South Australia. Hitherto no test as to the capabilities of applicants for junior positions was demanded, the Ministers of the day selecting the candidates. From this date, however, examinations, not necessarily severe, but sufficient to test educational proficiency, had to be passed by each candidate before entering the service—a system which was found to be beneficial both to the service and the State.

The seventh Parliament of South Australia under the Constitution Act came to a close on the 18th of December, with the usual congratulatory speech from the Governor on the benefits to be expected from the "many important measures that had been enacted."

Having indicated some of the principal topics exercising the minds of leaders in the political world during the first year of the administration of Governor Musgrave, it will be well in this place to glance at Parliamentary matters generally until his term of office ceased.

The Blyth Ministry, having experienced many reverses and accomplished comparatively little, was thrown out by a vote of no confidence on the 29th of May, 1875, and was replaced by a cabinet led by Mr. J.P. Boucaut.

There had been great agitation throughout the colony for some time with reference to a proposed railway to connect the river Murray with Adelaide; in fact, the project had been more or less before the public for twenty years. In 1873-74 it took a foremost place as a political question, the object being, not only to prevent the Riverina trade from being entirely absorbed by the adjacent colonies, but also to form a grand trunk line, and thus place Adelaide in direct communication with the railway system of Victoria and New South Wales. The debatable point was the question of route—northern members strongly opposing a direct line eastward to the Victorian frontier. The result was the postponement of the measure, but the whole question of the railway system of South Australia soon came up as a matter of imperative importance, and Ministry after Ministry had to grapple with it as best they could.

On the 28th of September, 1875, the Chief Secretary expounded the public works policy of the new Government. They proposed a loan of three millions sterling, to be expended during the next three or four years in undertakings of a reproductive and national character. Of this amount, £2,290,000 were to be appropriated to the construction of 550 miles of railway, intended to open up the far north; tap the Murray river at the Northwest Bend; form the first section in a line connecting Adelaide and Sydney by way of the mineral country beyond the Burra and the pasture lands of the Barrier ranges; complete the means of communication with the seaboard required by residents in the rich agricultural areas under cultivation in the north, and furnish the people of Mount Gambier, in the south-eastern district, with proper facilities for reaching a port available in all weathers. The remainder of the loan was to be devoted to harbours, jetties, school-houses, and other necessary works.

But unfortunately, oil the very day that this comprehensive scheme was put before the House, the Legislative Council had thrown out a Stamp Duties Bill with which the Government had proposed to secure the means of paying the interest on the loan, and also of making up an estimated deficiency in the year's account. In this dilemma Ministers resolved to prorogue Parliament, in order that during a short recess the feeling of the public on the question might be ascertained.

Parliament reassembled on the 10th of November, the colony having in the mean time unmistakably shown its approval of the ministerial policy by resolutions and memorials. On the 12th of November the Government laid four Bills before the House—a Stamp Duties Bill, and three referring to railways and public works. The Stamp Bill passed the Assembly almost without a division, but in the Council was thrown out by a majority of one. Much popular indignation was expressed at eight men being thus able to defy the wish of the colony, and proposals were heard that the term of service of members of the Upper House should be shortened. Ministers at once abandoned their Railways and Public Works Bills, and on the 30th of November Parliament was prorogued.

During this prematurely closed session of 1875, the Education Bill (already referred to) and a few other useful measures were passed, including the Intercolonial Free Trade Bill, facilitating the interchange of products of the soil between the colonies; a Bill for the planting and conservancy of forests; a Bill to prevent lotteries and gaming; and a Rabbit Bill.

But Mr. Boucaut's Ministry could not carry out the main projects they had in view. As time went on, the Cabinet showed various signs of weakness, and in March, 1876, Mr. Boucaut formed a coalition Ministry, and a policy was announced of enlarged public works and extended immigration; but the alliance of former opponents was viewed with great distrust, and on the 1st of June, soon after the meeting of Parliament, a vote of no confidence was passed by the House of Assembly. On the 6th of June a new Ministry was formed, with Sir Henry Ayers, K.C.M.G., as Chief Secretary. The greater part of the public works policy of this Cabinet was borrowed from their predecessors, and by working on these lines a considerable amount of business was transacted. Five or six new railways and some other public works were authorized. The tariff was revised and duties abolished on about three hundred items, and two loans, amounting in the aggregate to nearly £3,000,000, were voted. To aid in supplying the required interest, the House agreed to the imposition of probate and succession duties.

Several useful additions were made to the statute book during this session. Amongst these were a valuable measure for consolidating and amending the criminal law of the colony; a District Councils Act; a Post-Office Act, harmonizing the postal system with that of other countries; a Trades Union Act; a Distillation Act, and several others. The Licensed Victuallers' Act was hailed with great satisfaction by the teetotallers, as they naturally regarded the legislative sanction of the permissive principle as the thin edge of the wedge and as the forerunner of more comprehensive legislation in the same direction.

We turn now from political questions to those of a more general, and perhaps more interesting character. In all the Australian colonies the subject that, above all others, commands the interest of every settler is the English mail service. Each has a personal interest in it, for it comes from the mother country, where friends and kindred dwell, and brings its great budget of tidings of good and ill. In South Australia this feeling was accentuated, for the people had a long and deep-seated grievance. For thirteen years the colony had received very shabby treatment from the British postal authorities, who persistently ignored her importance and geographical position, and refused to recognize her in connection with ocean mail contracts, all ocean steamers passing her by on their inward and outward journeys. As a standing protest against this attempt to force her into a subordinate position to the other colonies, South Australia, ever since 1860, had spent a sum of money, not less than £13,000 per annum, to keep up, by arrangement with the Australian Steam Navigation Company, a regular branch mail service between Adelaide and King George's Sound, from which place the English mails were received and despatched. From time to time strong protests were made against the inconvenience of this course, and when the transmission of mails between Great Britain and Australia by way of Suez was under discussion these protests were persistently renewed, and taking a firm stand on the ground of gross injustice done to her, South Australia gained not only the sympathy, but the practical help of the neighbouring colonies, with the result that when a new contract with the P. and O. Company was entered into it was a part of that contract that the ocean steamers should call at Glenelg. In January, 1874, the presence in Holdfast Bay of the Pera, the pioneer steamer of the new line, marked for South Australia the achievement of a national triumph which was duly celebrated by banquets and fêtes.

When Governor Musgrave arrived, the colony was passing through a period of unprecedented prosperity. Every branch of local industry was declared to be in a flourishing state; the chairman of the Adelaide Destitute Board publicly stated that there was not an able-bodied pauper in the colony; labour was finding ready and remunerative employment, and the public treasury was full to overflowing. Nor was this all; everything augured well for the future. Production, particularly as regarded the leading staples, wheat, wool, and copper, was being well maintained, and a steady stream of immigration had set in, giving hope that the partial paralysis of Government undertakings owing to the previous scarcity of labour would cease.

One of the most significant of the prosperous signs of the times was the energy and persistency with which colonial industries were either originated or developed, and the eagerness displayed in introducing now sources of wealth. For example, silk culture, although not made the subject of an Act of Parliament, was prominently before the public during the early days of Governor Musgrave's administration. About the beginning of September, 1873, Mr. S. Davenport, who had long shown an interest in the question, read, before the Adelaide Chamber of Manufactures, a paper entitled "Should Silk Culture be encouraged?" About the same time a number of gentlemen waited on the Chief Secretary to ask aid for a Silk Association which had already laid out a plantation with the best kind of mulberry trees. They asked for a State grant of £400 a year for the salary of an experienced sericulturist, and for other purposes. They also desired that bonuses might be given for samples of colonial silk. The result of a long correspondence between the Government and the Chamber of Manufactures on the topic was that the Parliament eventually voted £500 for the encouragement of silk culture. Governor Musgrave had the pleasure of seeing this, amongst many other efforts at commercial development, warmly taken up by some of the leading men in the colony, and some benefit resulted from the Government bonuses annually distributed by the Chamber of Commerce, but silk culture did not immediately become a prominent feature of South Australian industries.

About this time an enterprising firm had in little more than a year manufactured half a million of pure Havana cigars, two hundred thousand of which had been sold in Adelaide at a good price. Men of a scientific turn of mind were discussing the probabilities of finding petroleum or coal; borings had already been made about six miles from the Coorong, and a substance found from which very good kerosene was manufactured. In the district of Hindmarsh—where several extensive industries were in existence, which not only enabled many hundreds of families to secure comfortable livelihoods, but materially helped to promote the general prosperity of the province,—Messrs. Taylor Brothers started a new wool-washing machine at Thebarton, which went through the whole process of cleaning, scouring, and preparing the wool for exportation, thus carrying the wool through all its stages, and making it ready for shipment in less than two hours, at the rate of fifteen bales per day with one machine.

Another industry which promised to become remunerative was the introduction of the necessary appliances for practically testing the value of the iron ores which were known to exist in great abundance in the colony. To this end the South Australian Iron and Steel Company, Limited, was established for the purpose of smelting the rich magnetite and hematite iron ores in the neighbourhood of Mount Cone, about fifteen miles inland from Victor Harbour.

Perhaps there was no more striking instance of the prosperity of the colony during the administration of Governor Musgrave than was shown in the number of Institutes opened or projected, to all of which he lent his aid and co-operation. This was, no doubt, partly due to the action taken in Adelaide with regard to the parent Institute in that city. A Commission of Inquiry was appointed to investigate the actual working of that institution, and the Commissioners unanimously recommended that the scope and organization of the Institute should practically remain intact; that is to say, it should foster the objects of the Society of Arts, the Philosophical Society, and kindred institutions; and that it should act as the parent society to country Institutes. But in the report it was urged that scientific as well as more popular lectures should be extended; that the Museum space should be enlarged, and the formation of an Art Gallery commenced; further, that a Free Reference Library, similar in character to the Public Library in Melbourne, should be at once established. To carry out these arrangements a sum of £25,000 was required, and so favourably were these recommendations received that there appeared to be little doubt the large scheme would be carried out to a successful completion.

As regards exploration many important additions to geographical knowledge were made during the administration of Governor Musgrave. The first was an effort to track out a westerly overland route to Perth, the capital of Western Australia. On April 21, 1873, Mr. W.C. Gosse and an exploring party left the overland telegraph at a point within the tropics about fifty miles south of Central Mount Stuart. They traced the Reynolds Range for forty-five miles, and then, finding it impossible to proceed, took a southerly course, and came upon Lake Amadeus. Rounding this, they proceeded almost due south for a hundred and fifty miles, and discovered a huge mass of rock of honeycombed granite from six to seven miles in girth at the base, and about eleven hundred feet in height. To this huge mass they gave the name of Ayers' Rock, and after crossing a stream which flowed from the very centre of the vast monolith, continued journeying southward till they reached some well-watered land on the border of the Northern Territory. Hence they travelled towards the west, and, after penetrating two degrees beyond the boundary of West Australia, were, after enduring many privations, compelled to return, chiefly through lack of water.

An expedition under Colonel Warburton presented an entirely new feature in South Australian exploration. Hitherto the working bullock and the horse had formed an important part of the travelling cortege, but in this expedition a flock of camels, seventeen in all, belonging to Mr. Elder, were placed at the service of the Government. At Alice Springs, a journey of some eleven hundred miles, Colonel Warburton was detained for some time by tropical rains, and was not able to leave for the westward until the 15th of April, 1873. All went well until the party got clear of the MacDonnell ranges; then "the water failed, the grass turned into the detestable spinifex, and the soil changed to sand", Out of forty-nine desperate attempts to find water by sinking only one was successful. The camels had to be killed one by one to supply food until seven were destroyed; the route was through scorching deserts infested by countless billions of irritating ants. Then death stared them in the face, and nothing remained but to make a rush to the Oakover River, a hundred and seventy miles distant. This was successfully accomplished, but at a tremendous cost of heroic suffering; only three camels were left, and of these one was unfit for work. For the whole of the party to attempt to return together would have been the height of madness. Some, therefore, were left at Oakover River, perchance to be cruelly starved to death, while others pushed on to the nearest station. Right gallantly the little party acted; they obtained horses and provisions in abundance, returned to the river in time to succour their starving leader and his men, and after a while all reached Adelaide in safety, and received an enthusiastic reception. At a banquet given in their honour Colonel Warburton highly eulogized the public spirit of the Hon. T. Elder and Mr. W.W. Hughes, who had organized and sent out the expedition, and Sir Henry Ayers commented on the prominent position South Australia had taken in exploring the continent, and on the fact that some of the most important discoveries had been made, and some of the most difficult explorations undertaken, at the cost of enterprising private colonists. Parliament subsequently voted £1000 to Colonel Warburton and £500 to his companions.

In July, 1874, Mr. Ernest Giles, who had been exploring in the territory west of the overland telegraph, and had reached the Charlotte Waters, reported the discovery of some splendid country, but he was eventually driven back by the difficulties he encountered. Another expedition sent out about this time under the charge of Mr. John Ross, at the cost of the Hon. T. Elder, to explore the westerly parts of the continent, was also unsuccessful, chiefly on account of the scarcity of water.

In September, 1874, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Forrest completed an arduous and adventurous journey from the west coast to the overland telegraph, passing through the heart of the only extensive region in Australia that still remained unexplored. The party travelled two thousand miles, keeping close to the twenty-sixth parallel of south latitude. For six hundred miles they traversed a desert very scantily supplied with water. A magnificent reception was accorded to the explorers at Adelaide and other towns on their return.

Equally successful in accomplishing the object in view was the expedition sent out by the South Australian Government to explore Lake Eyre. Mr. Lewis and party spent some months in examining and mapping a block of country, about two hundred miles by two hundred and fifty, between the overland telegraph line and Sturt's stony desert. The shores of Lake Eyre were now completely defined.

In May, 1875, the Hon. Thomas Elder sent out another exploring party under Mr. Ernest Giles, and they succeeded in journeying from the overland telegraph through barren country to Perth, in Western Australia.

The long-talked-of scheme of bridging the Murray River was definitely commenced on November 7th (1873) by the Governor laying the foundation-stone. Ever since 1864 the legislature had been discussing the question, and the bridge had actually been procured from England in 1867-68, but had been lying over four years at a railway station! It was now to be placed, as originally intended, at Edwards's Crossing, four miles above Swanport.

Five spans of 121 ft. 5 ins. each were to unite the river banks, and the 1017 tons of ironwork were, of course, to be supported by suitable foundations and abutments. As yet no road ran to the site of the bridge, but it was hoped that eventually there would be one, and that a railway connecting Adelaide and Victoria would cross it.

The Governor set out at five in the morning, and, accompanied by various Ministers and officials in coaches, drove through numerous townships under triumphal arches and past rows of singing schoolchildren, until they reached Edwards's Crossing at two in the afternoon.

In the midst of a grand display of bunting the Governor "well and truly laid" the corner-stone, a splendid block of granite weighing four tons. He also gave a reception to Queen Monart and about twenty of the Murray natives.

The regal representative of a vanishing race is reported to have said, "Well, Gubnur, what you gib me? My ole man dead. You take away this country and build bridge. My people want you give 'em boats and food." It was a brief but striking speech, and the trained and practised Governor parried it by saying, "I will consider about it, and consult with my advisers and see what can be done for you", a reply which gave less satisfaction than the "collection" which followed it.

On the 25th of February, 1875, an event occurred which in its intensity and mournfulness exceeded all other tragic incidents in the history of the colony. It was the wreck of the steamship Gothenburg, on her passage from Port Darwin to Adelaide. In populous countries such as England, a shipwreck, however terrible, makes but a passing impression, but in a colony like South Australia, where nearly every passenger was a South Australian, and many amongst them known and esteemed in their public capacity throughout the whole province, it is impossible to exaggerate the terrible excitement which was caused when the startling intelligence was received that ninety-nine of their fellow-colonists had perished in the wreck; and when the list was published it was found that there was scarcely a family in South Australia that had not a relation or friend on board. The Gothenburg left Port Darwin in stormy weather, but in charge of a thoroughly competent captain. During a cyclone on the eastern coast she ran on a reef at Flinders' Passage, and under the most distressing circumstances the whole of the passengers (99) and the crew (38) perished, save twenty-two who escaped in the boats. Never since the wreck of the Admella—the first terrible disaster of the kind that ever occurred in the colony—had such a blow fallen upon the people.

Among those who perished were the Hon. Thomas Reynolds and his wile, who were amongst the earliest, colonists. Mr. Reynolds came to the colony in 1840. At first an active Methodist worker and preacher, he left them on the "State aid" question, and joined the Congregationalists. He was an energetic man of business and a fervent temperance advocate; after brief service in municipal affairs he entered Parliament in 1854, and took a prominent part in the passage of the Constitution Act of 1855, He entered the Hanson Ministry as Commissioner of Public Works in 1857. Nine months afterwards he resigned, and went into opposition. He was returned for Adelaide City at the head of the poll in 1860. He overthrew the Government by a vote of no confidence, and formed a Ministry in which he took the part of Treasurer. He subsequently held office under Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Dutton, and Sir Henry Ayers. The Ministry of Sir H. Ayers was broken up in 1873 through the sudden resignation by Mr. Reynolds of his position as Commissioner of Crown Lands just after a visit to the Northern Territory. He also resigned his seat in the House, where he had acquired a high reputation as a brilliant financier and a powerful debater, and settled in the Northern Territory. Here he met with reverses, and was returning to Adelaide a disappointed man when the calamity took place.

Another who perished was Judge Wearing, an excellent lawyer, a fluent speaker, a facile and effective writer, who was returning from the Northern Territory after presiding over the first Circuit Court at Palmerston. He succeeded Mr. Justice Boothby as third Judge of the Supreme Court.

Among other public men who lost their lives in the catastrophe were Mr. Lionel Pelham, Judge's Associate and Clerk of Arraigns; Mr. Joseph James Whitby, acting Crown solicitor; Mr. Richard Wells, a colonist of some twenty years' standing and a well-known journalist; Dr. Millner, also a colonist of twenty years; Mr. William Shoebridge, an active member of the North Adelaide Young Men's Society, Sunday School, and other philanthropic institutions; Mr. Otto Peters, a retired merchant.

For some days, owing to the stormy weather; apprehensions for the safety of the Gothenburg were felt; but, as she had weathered so many rough passages, hopes were entertained that she might be somewhere in safety, until the terrible tidings were announced.

A relief fund was at once initiated, and in the course of a few weeks a sum of nearly £10,000 was raised and distributed among the suffering relatives of the victims.

One of the most striking events of the last year of Governor Musgrave's official residence in South Australia was the opening of the Adelaide University on the 25th of April, 1876. Allusion has been made in a previous chapter to the origin of the University scheme and to the munificent gift of £20,000 made by Mr. W.W. Hughes.

The progress of the new scheme was very slow, and not until October, 1874, after various negotiations, was an Act of Parliament passed incorporating the new University, granting to the Council, to be nominated by the Governor, the power of conferring degrees in various faculties, and endowing the new institution with 50,000 acres of ground in fee simple, also a piece of land of five acres in extent as a site for building purposes, and guaranteeing a grant of five per cent. on funds invested by the Council. A few days after the Act was passed the Hon. Thomas Elder gave the splendid sum of £20,000 in furtherance of the project. A Council was appointed, and Sir H.D. Hanson was the first Chancellor.

In March, 1876, Mr. J.H. Angas gave a sum of money to found a scholarship of the value of £200 per annum, to assist students wishing to devote themselves to engineering after graduating at the University.* About this time the two professors appointed by Mr. W.W. Hughes arrived from England, and efforts were made to gut the University into something like working order. Rooms in the New Training School were obtained, and all the professors began regular courses of lectures. Although the number of students was as yet very small it was decided to hold an opening ceremony, which might serve to stamp the institution as one of national importance.

[* See Appendix.]

Accordingly, on the 25th of April, 1876, the Town Hall was crowded with an assembly of all the leading personages of the colony, under the presidency of the Governor, who reminded his audience that "as wealth increases the social necessity and the leisure arrive for cultivating the elegancies of literature and art, and for the pursuit of science for its own sake apart from utility," and warned them of the error of supposing "that education is valueless which does not immediately lead to money-making or earning a livelihood."

The Bishop of Adelaide (who had been elected Chancellor in place of the late Sir R.D. Hanson) then delivered the inaugural address. Of the University thus started it will be necessary to say more in connection with its further progress and the erection of suitable buildings during another Governor's tenure of office.

By the English mail reaching Adelaide in December, 1876, Sir Anthony Musgrave received official information of his appointment to the Governorship of Jamaica, and left for that island on the 37th of January, 1877. On the 23rd of January he attended a farewell Parliamentary dinner, and delivered a parting address to the colonists, in the course of which he spoke of the period of his sojourn amongst them as one of the pleasantest in his varied life. "On a recent occasion," he said, "I referred to the satisfaction which I felt that the period of my connection with the colony was marked by the development of railways and other public works. But it is also distinguished by other features not less marked and not less important. It has been a period of prosperity unexampled in the annals of the colony. Between 1872 and 1877 the expansion of all your staple industries has been most striking, the area of cultivation has been greatly extended, pastoral occupation has been pushed to the centre of the continent, and the steady stream of immigration which has been set going promises yet further development in the immediate future. This period, too, has seen for the first time the successful exploration of our borders westward to the sea, first by Warburton, and then by Forrest, and by Giles. Among Useful measures of legislation stands prominent what has been done for the cause of popular education, and the edifice has been crowned by the establishment of the University, the opening of which last year must form an epoch in the history of the colony. Though I can claim no personal merit on any of these scores, I shall feel proud of the fact that these things were done 'Consule Planco', Musgrave being Governor."

Sir Anthony took this opportunity to point out the evils resulting from frequent changes in the Ministry, which he characterized as "a great blemish in Australian political systems", and to express the hope that a wise public policy would discountenance these constant changes.* On other details of administration he offered advice, and especially urged the importance of opening out the navigation of the river Murray to the sea. He considered that "even two millions might be well spent in making Goolwa the New Orleans of Australia." He avowed himself a warm confederationist, and stated his belief that the confederation of the Australian colonies was only a question of time, the advantages likely to arise from it being facilities for defence, postal and telegraph communication, development of trade, and other matters. He thought, moreover, that it would give free traders the cheap products for the consumer which they desired, and it would give protectionists the favourable market for local industries which they needed. He concluded an admirable farewell speech by saying, "I have passed three years of happiness among you—happiness, indeed, not without the shadow of a deep grief; but even round this, tender recollections will cling of much kindly sympathy shown to Lady Musgrave and myself in our affliction, and the memory of these years will remain with us as green as were the plains of Adelaide when first we saw them in June, 1873."

[* In thirty-six years ending November, 1892, there had been forty-one Ministries, or less than an average duration of twelve months. See Appendix.]

It was the general opinion that Sir Anthony Musgrave during his tenure of office had shown great tact and judgment. He gave no occasion for censure by undue interference in public affairs, nor, on the other hand, could he be charged with showing a lack of interest in the social and national life of the colony. He cordially accepted invitations to public gatherings, and availed himself of these opportunities to give sound practical advice and evince his deep and intelligent interest in the welfare of the agriculturist and of the colonists generally. In connection with the Philadelphia Commission he rendered most valuable assistance, and was warmly interested in the efforts of the colony to be well represented at the Exhibition. Whilst Governor Musgrave won the good opinion of all by his frank and courteous demeanour, and inspired respect for his office and personal esteem for himself, the active part taken by Lady Musgrave in several philanthropic institutions is well worthy of record. In the welfare of the Servants' Home and Orphans' Home she showed the warmest interest, and also took an active part in the work of the Boarding-out Committee, and of the organization for establishing a children's hospital. She not merely extended her patronage to these and other objects, but regularly attended the meetings, and by her sound advice rendered valuable aid.

{Page 74}

CHAPTER XV.

ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL SIR WILLIAM F.D. JERVOIS, G.C.M.G.

OCTOBER, 1877— JANUARY, 1883.

Mr. Justice Way, Acting Governor.—Arrival of Sir W.W. Cairns.—A Short Administration.—Mr. Justice Way again Acting Governor.—Arrival of Sir William Jervois.—Colonial Defence.—A Parliamentary Deadlock.—A Land and Property Tax Bill.—Financial Affairs.—Sunday Opening of Institutes.—Intercolonial Conference.—Sir George Kingston.—Reform of the Upper House.—The Crown Lands Department.—Law Reforms.—The Northern Territory and Chinese Immigration.—The Sugar Cultivation Act.—Indian Coolie Immigrants.—Explorations.—Mr. Favenc.—The Census.—Visit of Prince Albeit Victor and Prince George of Wales.—A Day at Collingrove, Angaston.—The Adelaide Exhibition.—The Torrens Lake.—Drought and Agricultural Distress.—Charter of Adelaide University.—Governor's Farewell Speech.—South Australian Loans.

Interim Administration of Mr. Justice Way.

January 29, 1877—March 24, 1877.

ON the departure of Sir Anthony Musgrave, Mr. Samuel James Way, the Chief Justice, was sworn in as acting Governor. The son of the Rev. James Way, a highly respected Bible Christian minister, who arrived in Adelaide in 1850, Mr. S.J. Way came to the colony three years later, and soon made his mark. In 1861 he was called to the South Australian Bar, and in 1871 appointed Queen's Counsel. From that time forth he made rapid progress in public estimation, and among the offices to which he was promoted were the following:—Member of Education Board, Member of Council of Adelaide University, and afterwards Vice-Chancellor, Member of House of Assembly for district of Sturt, Attorney-General, Chief Justice.

The interim administration of Mr. Justice Way was not of long duration, but it was more than sufficient to prove his capacity for that post of honour.

Administration of Sir W.W. Cairns, K.C.M.G.

On the 24th of March the new Governor, Mr. W.W. Cairns, C.M.G., arrived in the colony, and on the following day he received a telegram from London informing him that he had been created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. By the manner in which he at once identified himself with the interests of the community, and took a prominent part in promoting the welfare of various local institutions, the new Governor speedily became popular. But his stay in Australia was destined to be remarkably brief Within four weeks of his arrival at Adelaide it was publicly announced that, in consequence of ill health, he had found it necessary to telegraph to the Secretary of State for the Colonies resigning his office. Lord Carnarvon accepted the resignation "with much regret", and in that regret the people of South Australia cordially shared, for it was universally acknowledged that, short as his Excellency's residence in South Australia had been, he had amply proved his appreciation of its many national advantages, his warm interest in its institutions, and his capacity to discharge with zeal and intelligence the important duties devolving upon him. He inspected the principal Government and philanthropic institutions near Adelaide, and in his public addresses was careful to explain that ill health alone was the cause of his retirement. He left the colony on the 17th of May, and for a short time, namely, from the 17th of May to the 2nd of October, 1877, the Chief Justice, Mr. S.J. Way, again assumed the acting Governorship.

Administration of Sir William Jervois, G.C.M.G.

South Australia, in common with her sister colonies, had for many years lamented from time to time her utterly defenceless condition in case of invasion. When the news arrived from England, early in 1877, of fresh complications with regard to the Eastern Question, and that Russia and Turkey were at war, the subject of colonial defence was discussed with renewed fervour. A great meeting in Adelaide Town Hall, presided over by the Mayor, was followed by similar gatherings in most centres of population. Hundreds sent in their names to be enrolled in the infantry, cavalry, or artillery branches of a local corps; a supply of Martini-Henry rifles was applied for to be sent from England, and the Duke of Cambridge consented to select the required officers.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Government was considering the question of colonial defences, and Sir William Jervois and Colonel Scratchley had been appointed to investigate and report. Whilst engaged in this service, Sir William Jervois received the intelligence of his appointment to be Governor of South Australia. The news was received in Adelaide with great satisfaction, for the work in which he was already engaged was highly appreciated, and his antecedents Were such as to lead the colonists to believe that he was pre-eminently the kind of man they required at that juncture. Born in 1821, he had received from boyhood a military training, and had seen considerable active service amongst Boers and Kaffirs. In 1852 he began his long experience in fortification, and after proving his capacity in several minor appointments he became, in 1857, Secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Defence of the Empire. This office he retained till 1875, during which time he not only took a prominent part in designing and carrying on defence works in Great Britain, but also visited various colonies and dependencies for similar purposes. In 1875 he entered on a new field, as Governor of the Straits Settlements. At Singapore for two years he displayed conspicuous ability as an administrator, and by mingled firmness and conciliation restored order to a troubled district. His next appointment was to inspect and report on the requirements of the Australian colonies as to defences, and, as we have said, it was while so engaged that the message came to him from England to take up the position vacated by Sir W.W. Cairns.

After some necessary delay in order to complete his labours in New South Wales and Queensland, Sir W. Jervois reached his seat of government on October 2nd. He was sworn in at the Town Hall the same afternoon, in the midst of a larger crowd than had ever assembled on a similar occasion. Parliament was in session and a constitutional struggle was in progress. The Legislative Council had taken umbrage in consequence of works for new Parliament buildings having been begun without their having been consulted as to site or accommodation, although the project as a whole had previously been sanctioned by both Houses. The Council demanded the designation of the Chief Secretary, Sir Henry Ayers; but the Colton Cabinet declined to sacrifice him, and declared that they would stand or fall together. Whereupon for a few weeks the Upper House refused to transact any business, and government came practically to a deadlock. The Council sent a long address to the new Governor, setting forth the stages of the dispute, and praying him to take such steps as he might deem expedient. But while such action was pending, the Assembly, on October 10, brought matters to a crisis by passing a vote of censure on the Colton Ministry, who forthwith resigned office, and a new Cabinet was formed, with Mr. Boucaut as Premier and Treasurer.

In spite of a Parliamentary deadlock, a ministerial crisis, and other hindrances, several useful measures were passed during the session of 1877. Conspicuous among these was the Crown Lands Consolidation Bill, which comprehended much that was useful of thirty-three Acts previously passed on this subject; it also liberalized the previously existing laws, and gave valuable concessions to the farmers and to the pastoral and mineral tenants. In pursuance of the public works policy already referred to, various Bills pertaining to railways, water supply, breakwater, and similar matters were passed, and a loan of £1,036,600 to carry these works forward was authorized. The railways included in this Loan Bill were Hamley Bridge to Balaclava, Kadina to Wallaroo, and Barunga Extension. The breakwater was at Victor Harbour. The Parliament expired in the early part of the year, and a General Election took place in April.

It may be well in this place to glance at the whole Parliamentary history of the colony during the administration of Sir William Jervois.

In order to provide against an anticipated deficit, the Boucaut Ministry, in the early part of the session of 1878, proposed resolutions in the House of Assembly in favour of a property tax and an income tax. The latter was not agreed to, but a property tax of threepence in the pound, with £300 as a limit of exemption, was assented to by the Assembly, after much time had been spent in debate.

In consequence of the death of Mr. Justice Stow and the transfer of Mr. Boucaut to the vacant judgeship, a new Ministry was, on September 27th, formed under the Hon. W. Morgan, who became Premier and Chief Secretary; Mr. C. Mann, Treasurer; Mr. G.C. Hawker, Commissioner of Public Works; Mr. W.H. Bundey, Attorney-General; Mr. T. Playford, Commissioner of Crown Lands; and Mr. R. Rees, Minister of Education. Mr. Rees retired after a few days of office, and Mr. T. King was appointed to the vacant portfolio.

The new Ministry brought in a Land and Property Tax Bill in accordance with the resolutions of the House, already referred to, and in due course it was passed by the Assembly. Public opinion generally was in favour of this measure, as it was agreed it would relieve the tariff and prevent the incidence of taxation from falling so heavily on persons with small incomes. The numerous public works in process of being carried out were greatly enhancing the value of property, and therefore it was agreed owners of property should contribute a larger share of the cost. But the Council rejected the measure by ten to two.

The Legislative Council also brought upon itself considerable obloquy during this session, by throwing out two or three very useful Railway Bills and other measures generally desired. A Land Bill amending the Act of the previous year and a Real Property Act Amendment Bill were, however, with some difficulty, passed through both Houses. The Bill for the formation of a Permanent Military Force passed through the Assembly by a large majority, but was only carried in the Council by the casting vote of the President. A Loan Bill was passed for £2,058,000 for railways, jetties, bridges, military defences, and other public works; but a special amount of £290,180 for an Outer Harbour at Largs Bay to accommodate ocean steamers, was, through the opposition of the Council, struck out, and this greatly desired scheme was deferred.*

[* Other Acts passed in the session of 1878 provided for the simplification of the practice of the Supreme Court; for the drainage of Adelaide, for the destruction of rabbits, the eradication of diseases in vines, and for other useful purposes.]

The railways included in this Loan Bill were Adelaide to Nairne, Hallett to Terowie, Moonta to Moonta Bay, and Terowie to Pichirichi, with a branch to Jamestown. The amount authorized for the deep drainage of Adelaide was £200,000. Further amounts of £110,000 in 1884 and £100,800 were borrowed. Adelaide is the only city in Australia which has a deep drainage system. The cost has been very great, but from the health point of view the results justify the expenditure. Adelaide is the cleanest and healthiest city in Australia. In connection with the drainage a Sewage Farm has been established, which has been fairly successful financially.

The Morgan Ministry remained in office during the Parliamentary session of 1879, although they had repeatedly to face considerable opposition. An attempt was made to eject them as soon as the session opened, because they had realized for the four per cent. bonds of the new loan £9 less than in 1877. It was shown that the Government, by neglect and delay, were compelled to put out the loan at an unfavourable time; but they had a strong personal following, and delayed the printing of the papers connected with the loans, and the House by a large majority refused to censure them.

The financial affairs of the colony were now claiming serious attention. The budget showed a cash deficit of £61,383 to start with; the general expenditure was annually increasing; and large liabilities had been incurred for public works. A deficit of £234,722 was to be anticipated on June 30, 1880. The House set itself to the work of retrenchment, and in various ways reduced the estimates by £60,000. Ministers again, brought forward their Property and Income Tax Bill, but it was shelved after the second reading.

Great public interest was excited by the motion of Mr. Hugh Fraser, M.P., in favour of the opening of Institutes on Sundays. A section of the community earnestly protested against the proposal as an encroachment on the Day of Rest, but at the public meetings which were held the wisdom of the motion was generally affirmed. The Assembly decided that the museums and reading-rooms of the Adelaide and Port Adelaide Institutes should be opened from one to six on Sundays, and left the committees of other Institutes to decide for themselves. The Adelaide Institute, Museum, and Art Gallery were opened for the first time on Sunday, August 24th, and were visited by about six hundred persons. A motion to open the Post-office for an hour on Sundays, whenever the English mail arrived during the previous night, was defeated by a large, majority.

A determined effort was made to strike off the votes the £50,000 devoted to immigration, and the Government was compelled to reduce it to £25,000. As the result of pressure put upon them. Ministers also consented to insert a proviso in their contracts against the employment of Chinese on public works.

The Parliamentary session of 1880 was, for the most part, a time of political quietude, and a considerable amount of useful business was transacted. The colony was making steady progress, and year by year the population, products, exports, and revenues showed a marked increase. But it was seen with some apprehension that the national expenditure was growing at a still more rapid rate. The alarm excited on this question found its mouthpiece in Mr. J.C. Bray, who, on August 26th, moved an amendment to the formal motion for going into Committee of Supply, to the effect that the House declined to proceed with the estimates until the Government submitted proposals for an adjustment of the revenue to the expenditure. In the debate that ensued Ministers triumphantly defended their financial policy, and urged the necessity for the extensive public works which they were engaged in constructing, with the result that the contest terminated in the complete defeat of the Opposition.

Among the most noticeable of the measures passed during this session was the Act extending the jurisdiction of the Local Courts. These tribunals were now given jurisdiction in cases where the amount did not exceed £400, with a power of appeal on the law, but not on the facts. The Public Trustee Act was another very necessary enactment providing for the care and management of the estates of deceased persons, and the protection of the interests of their widows and children, whilst the Settled Estates Act afforded means for dealing with entailed land, which was found to be in many cases lying vacant and unproductive through inability to grant leases or to give good titles to purchasers. The latter Act was based upon the Imperial statute, which it closely follows. Another legal measure made provision for retiring allowances to such of the Judges of the Supreme Court as might become unfit for their duties after serving on the Bench for a period of twenty years. The objectionable system of appeals in individual cases was thus got rid of. Not the least important of these legal reforms was the Act which the Governor referred to in his speech as "an important and long-promised reform in the law with respect to insolvent debtors, abolishing imprisonment for debt, placing the management of estates in the hands of the creditors, protecting the honest, and providing for the punishment of fraudulent debtors."

It should be mentioned that during the session of 1880 the laws relating to licensed victuallers and to municipal corporations were amended and consolidated. The former subject was the occasion of considerable excitement and agitation in the colony, as the Total Abstinence party, led in Parliament by Mr. John Colton, endeavoured to close public-houses all day on Sunday, and to impose various other stringent restrictions on the trade. But the opposition to these views was equally strong, the result being of the nature of a compromise on the main points of the question.

A special session of Parliament was opened by the Governor on the 4th of January, 1881, in consequence of the International Conference that had recently been held in Melbourne, to consider the question of the trade between South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales, and other matters upon which united action was desirable. It was needful for the Government to obtain legislative sanction for the increased duties on various articles imposed in accordance with the decisions of the Convention. The increased duties were 2s, per gallon on spirits, 1s. 9d. per gallon on methylated spirits, 4s. per gallon on sparkling wines. 1s. per gallon on other wines, and 9d. per pound on unmanufactured tobacco. New South Wales, which had withdrawn from the previous River Murray Customs Convention, was willing to renew conditionally on the imposition of the duties referred to, and an annual payment of £47,500 from South Australia. Between the latter colony and Victoria the collection of border duties was waived, and trade was to be carried on by a system of permits.

The first duty of the House of Assembly was to elect a Speaker in place of the late lamented Sir George Kingston, who for many years had ably fulfilled the duties of that office. The choice of the Assembly fell upon Mr. R.D. Ross, a retired officer of the Imperial Commissariat Department, one of the members for Wallaroo, whose high qualifications were warmly acknowledged by speakers on both sides of the House. Several members also spoke of the valuable services rendered to the colony by Sir George Kingston, and especially the excellent tone which he gave to Parliamentary deliberations by his tact, impartiality, and dignity as Speaker. The House then proceeded to consider the special business for which it had been called together. The necessary Bill was speedily passed through both Houses, and on January 6th the Parliament was prorogued.

The ordinary session of 1881 was opened by the Governor on the 2nd of June, and his opening speech promised reform of the Legislative Council, curtailment of State expenditure, fair taxation of the propertied classes, amendment of the tariff, and many other beneficent measures. The Hon. W. Morgan was still Chief Secretary, though at the head of a new Ministry formed in the recess. But on June 21st private circumstances compelled Mr. Morgan to resign, and his colleagues consequently retired. The Hon. G.C. Hawker tried to form a Ministry, but was unsuccessful, and Mr. Colton was next appealed to, but ill health compelled him to decline. A Cabinet was then formed by Mr. J.C. Bray, who became Premier and Chief Secretary; the Hon. L. Glyde, Treasurer; Mr. J.W. Downer, Q.C., Attorney-General; the Hon. J.G. Ramsay, Commissioner of Public Works; Mr. A. Cust, Commissioner of Crown Lands; and Mr. J.L. Parsons, Minister of Education.

Among the chief measures passed in this session was one dealing with the oft-mooted question of the reform of the Legislative Council. By this Act the number of Councillors was increased to twenty-four. The maximum tenure of a seat in the Council was reduced from twelve to nine years, and the intervals between the general elections of a third of the members from four to three years. If a Bill were passed in two sessions by the Assembly, and each time rejected by the Council, a General Election having taken place between the two sessions, the Governor was to be at liberty to dissolve both Houses, or instead, he might issue writs for the election of two members for each district of the Legislative Council, Either both Houses might be sent to the country, or there might be a special appeal to the Upper House constituency. A Mining Companies Act was passed, which, by its "no liability" provisions, tended greatly to advance genuine mining industry. Parliament also sanctioned the expenditure of £250,000 in developing the country, by boring for water and minerals, and a Loan Bill was passed for raising the sum of £1,287,608 for the carrying on of various public works.

During the Parliamentary session of 1882 no change took place in the personnel of Mr. Bray's Ministry, and a considerable amount of business was satisfactorily transacted. Fifty-two Bills were passed, fourteen being private Bills chiefly concerning tramways. The Railway Bills passed were Nairne to the Victorian border and Gladstone to Laura. Another important Bill was for Port Augusta Wharves. It was decided to devote £100,000 to an Exhibition at Adelaide, in 1886, the year of the colony's jubilee, and to complete before that time a railway to the Victorian border. The purchase of a warship was also resolved upon, and some legislation took place for increasing the effectiveness of the volunteer forces.

It was in connection with the Crown Lands Department that the great work of the session was accomplished. After numerous protracted debates in both Houses, a measure was passed, which, though of course it did not meet the views of every one, was acknowledged to be advantageous to the selectors. It enabled those who had discovered, by bitter experience, that they had given too much for their holdings, and those who had found their selections to be ill suited for agriculture, to surrender their agreements with a view to selecting elsewhere. It also provided the granting of certain concessions to selectors who, during three successive seasons, had had the misfortune to reap poor crops. It introduced, moreover, a new system of sale on credit to persons who were prepared to take up land on the conditions of personal residence. All of this class were to pay annual instalments of five per cent. of the purchase-money for twenty years, when, if they had kept up their payments, the fee simple was to be handed to them. Brands for identifying the ownership of cattle, horses, and sheep, vermin destruction, ostrich forming, forest trees, and bush-fires, all connected with the agricultural interest, were the subjects of useful measures passed during the session.

The Attorney-General (Mr. Downer) energetically endeavoured to carry several law reforms, and was very successful. Although his Bill for amending the law relating to the property of married women was sacrificed, and his exertions in the direction of conferring greater privileges upon the press were nullified by the Council, still he succeeded in carrying Bills for allowing accused persons to give evidence upon oath; for the amendment of the Insolvency Act, and the Marriage Act; and a Life Assurance Companies Bill; all of which were valuable contributions to the legislation of the country.

The Treasurer (Mr. Glyde) lost his Bill for providing the additional taxation which was every year becoming more and more imperatively needful, but he carried measures for the more effective audit of the public accounts, and also one for the inscription of the Public Loans—an Act which was expected to raise the value of South Australian stocks in the London markets.

The acquisition of the Northern Territory as an appanage of South Australia had from the first, as we have seen, been regarded by a large portion of the community as a very doubtful boon, and as the years went on they had little reason to alter their opinion. It could not be otherwise than that this vast territory, situate to a great extent in a tropical climate, and at an immense distance from the seat of government, should be the source of much trouble and anxiety, and throughout the administration of Sir William Jervois important questions with regard to it were continually cropping up. One of these, in 1878 and onwards, was Chinese immigration. The matter was brought prominently forward when intelligence reached Adelaide of a large influx into the Northern Territory, and a majority of candidates were returned to the Assembly pledged to support a poll-tax on the obnoxious Celestials entering South Australia proper. But no poll-tax was ever levied on Chinese landing in the Northern Territory. Popular excitement was further aroused on the question by the news of the seamen's strike in Sydney, and on the 9th of December a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at the Town Hall, when resolutions were passed declaring it necessary to place stringent restrictions on the introduction of Chinese, and expressing sympathy "with our fellow-countrymen who have been supplanted by Chinese in Queensland and Sydney." A subscription was set on foot for the Seamen's Union, and a large amount contributed. But no active steps were at that time taken with regard to the poll-tax, and early in the following year, 1879, there arrived in the Northern Territory 555 Chinese from Hong Kong. During the year further importations of Asiatics placed the white population of the Territory in a still greater minority. For a time this circumstance was a cause of uneasiness, and special arrangements were made to prevent mischief. But in spite of prejudice the claims of humanity were not disregarded, when, in March, distress and sickness were prevalent among the Chinese. The Government were compelled to come to their help, and relief works were at once set on foot.

During the Parliamentary session of 1879, among Bills passed in relation to the Northern Territory, was a skeleton measure for the introduction and protection of Indian coolie immigrants, for extending the period during which land might be taken up for plantation purposes, and for encouraging settlement upon small blocks of ground on the gold-fields.

In this session the Territory was granted electoral representation in the South Australian Parliament by allowing registered electors to vote in the district of Flinders. This way of meeting a long-delayed right gave very little satisfaction. An Act was also paased with the special object of encouraging the cultivation of sugar and other tropical products in the Northern Territory, This Act was known as the Sugar Cultivation Act. It provided for the dedication of 100,000 acres of land in localities to be selected. The conditions were, that on each 10,000-acre block £10,000 was to be expended, 500 tons of merchantable sugar were to be produced within six years, certain cultivating and fencing conditions were to be complied with, whereupon the grantees would receive the fee simple. A memorandum of agreement was made a schedule to the Act. On the day fixed for opening the applications it was found that the whole area was applied for, 70,000 acres being on Douglas Peninsula, 20,000 acres on the Daly River, and 10,000 acres on the Adelaide River. The Adelaide Dedissa Ale Company and several others selected on Douglas Peninsula, where the land proved to be quite unsuitable for sugar growing. Messrs. Spence and Owston selected on the Daly River, and Messrs. Fisher and Lyons on the Adelaide River, where, though the land was suitable, planting was abandoned after tentative experiments, during which fine cane was grown.

In 1880 the hopes that were once entertained of rapid population and progress were far from being realized. Port Darwin as a free port had proved a failure, and the expected increase of shipping and commerce had not been realized as anticipated. Population was diminishing; scarcely anything was produced but gold; the Territory was burdened with debt, and adding year by year to its liabilities. It was now decided that its two thousand Chinese and four hundred white inhabitants should bear a share of the burdens of the State, and the easiest way of achieving this was by imposing Customs duties. A duty of twenty shillings per pound on opium headed the list; the other articles taxed were rice, salt fish, sugar, spirits, tobacco, cigars, snuff, wine, beer, and tea. All gold exported was to pay two and sixpence an ounce. A proposal from Mr. West-Erskine to tax all flour sent to the Territory, except from South Australia, was favoured by Ministers, but was so strongly opposed that the motion was withdrawn.

In the recess of 1882 a Parliamentary party, consisting of the Minister of Education (Mr. J.L. Parsons), Messrs. H.E. Bright, L.L. Furner, J.H. Bagster, M.P.'s, and accompanied by Professor Tate of the Adelaide University, visited the Northern Territory. They reached as far south as Pine Creek, and visited all the known gold and mineral fields, and obtained much useful information concerning the soil and resources of the Northern Territory. A valuable report by Professor Tate was laid before Parliament. About the same time Major Fergusson, R.E., was despatched to India to settle with the Governor-General and Council the terms of an Act for the introduction of Indian coolies for plantations and other works.

Following upon these visits, a Northern Territory Lands Consolidation Act, in which the price of land was raised to twelve shillings and sixpence per acre, and with liberal provisions to encourage pastoral, mineral, and agricultural development, was prepared and passed the following session. An Indian Immigration Act, based upon the Act in force in British Guiana, was also placed upon the statute book.

The Government also decided to recommend Parliament to construct a jetty and line of railway from Port Darwin to Pine Creek. But before entering upon these works Ministers forwarded a memorandum to the Governor, for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord Derby), directing attention to the efforts made by South Australia for the development of the Territory; to the terms upon which it was held by the Letters Patent, and requesting that the Territory might be formally and fully annexed to South Australia, Lord Derby replied warmly eulogizing the public spirit displayed by South Australia, stated there was no probability of the existing tenure being disturbed, but considered it expedient that if in the future it should be desired by both South Australia and the Northern Territory that a separation upon equitable financial grounds should take place, the means by which this could be accomplished should exist, and the Letters Patent had better remain unaltered.

How subsequent affairs in the Territory, which towards the close of Sir William Jervois' administration seemed to be converging towards a crisis, were dealt with will be shown in a future chapter. Meanwhile, it will be pleasant to turn to some of the progressive movements stirring the life of Adelaide at this time.

Important steps were taken during the year 1878 for the more efficient defence of the province. The volunteer force was organized and steadily drilled, and forts were built at the Semaphore. Heavy guns, rifles, and ammunition were brought from England, and the Southern Fort (for which Mr. John Robb's tender of £15,893 had been accepted) was vigorously proceeded with upon the plans of Colonel Scratchley. The Permanent Defence Force Bill (though strongly opposed by some members of the Legislature) authorized a permanent force of men to work the fort guns, while the formation of rifle companies to act as auxiliary forces was encouraged by the Rifle Companies Act, which ordered the gratuitous supply of arms and ammunition to the various companies.

There were two or three exploring expeditions during the year 1879. One, organized by the Queenslander newspaper to explore the country between Queensland and the Northern Territory, finished their labours early in the year, and reported the discovery of some excellent country, but large tracts over which they passed were badly watered. Mr. Favenc, a Queensland explorer, on returning to Brisbane, reported that the proposed route for a Queensland railway to the Gulf of Carpentaria was easy for construction purposes. In the course of his explorations he discovered a considerable area of fine pastoral country. Later in the year Mr. Alexander Forrest, leader of the Western Australia exploring expedition, arrived safely at a point fifty miles north-east of the Katherine Telegraph Station. To the westward of that station his party discovered some magnificent country with an abundance of water.

On the night of Sunday, April 3rd, 1881, the official census of South Australia was taken. The total population was found to be 279,865, thus exceeding the estimate of the Registrar-General by about 8000; and the rate of increase during the previous ten years had been from 185,626 in 1871 to 279,865 in 1881. The rate of increase in New South Wales was 48 per cent., and that of the adjoining colony of Victoria 17 per cent. This growth of the population was rightly regarded as a convincing proof that South Australia was in a generally prosperous condition. The large public works which had been started, and the more favourable character of her tariff, had tended to draw population from across the border, whilst at the same time the general prosperity and advancement of the colony had attracted many men of capital.

South Australians have always been conspicuous for their loyalty, and have gladly availed themselves of any suitable opportunity to give it expression. Such an occasion arose in June, 1881, when their Royal Highnesses Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales, in the course of their educational cruise on board the Bacchante, paid a visit of some days' duration to Adelaide. They were duly fêted, and appeared to highly enjoy their reception and to appreciate the efforts made for their entertainment. One of the special red-letter days of their visit was the 16th of June, when, accompanied by the Governor, the Rev. J.N. Dalton, their tutor, and Mr. S.C. Snow, A.D.C., they left town by special train for Freeling, en route to Mr. J.H. Angas' residence at Collingrove, near Angaston. They were met at Freeling by Mr. Angas, and were driven under triumphal arches and amid floral decorations through Angaston to Collingrove. On arriving there they joined a shooting party over the estate, and were entertained at dinner in the evening. The following morning was spent in riding and driving, the station and the stud farm at Hatton Vale being visited. After lunch they returned to the city to attend a dinner by the Speaker, and the Mayor's ball, given in their honour. On leaving Adelaide, the Princes journeyed overland to Melbourne, being entertained on the way by Mr. T.R. Bowman at Campbell House, his beautiful estate on the shore of Lake Albert, where they enjoyed a kangaroo hunt and a native corrobboree.

A month later Adelaide was gay with a new excitement, at which it was hoped the Princes might have been present, namely, the opening of the Adelaide Exhibition, a speculation of two gentlemen, Mr. J. Joubert and Mr. R.E.N. Twopenny, unassisted by Government subsidy. The Exhibition was opened by the Governor on the 21st of July, and was visited the same day by 17,254 persons. The enterprise was in every respect a success, and gave unqualified satisfaction to all who visited it.

On the day that the Exhibition was opened Sir William Jervois officially dedicated to public use the Torrens Lake. This great work, accomplished during the mayoralty of Mr. E.T. Smith, was a most beneficial improvement to the metropolis. Year after year the city had been growing more beautiful; but the one thing it lacked was a sheet of water, and that was now supplied. Only two months before the bed of the Torrens had been an eyesore, but now the grand stretch of water, from near Thebarton eastward beyond the metropolitan limits, was a thing of beauty, pleasant for the eye to dwell upon. The opening ceremony was one of the most attractive and brilliant spectacles ever witnessed in Adelaide. Upwards of 40,000 people lined the banks of the Torrens as the procession of boats passed from the Weir up to the landing-stage near the Exhibition grounds, and back to the starting-place. His Excellency, in an appropriate speech, declared the name of the waters to be the Torrens Lake; and, on the invitation of the Mayor, a large company assembled in a marquee erected in the reserve, to drink toasts and make speeches suitable to the occasion.

Early in 1882 there was great distress amongst the agriculturists of the Northern district, in consequence of an extraordinarily dry season. The drought was 80 severe that the land for a time was too hard to plough, and Government was compelled to ship water for human consumption from Port Adelaide to some townships. At the end of March South Australia was being vigorously canvassed for subscriptions to supply the distressed farmers with seed wheat. Government declined to ask Parliament for aid, but agreed to carry the wheat free of cost on all their lines of railway. In Adelaide, and in the various towns of the colony, many well-known merchants and leading public men subscribed liberally, and the Farmers' Association, by means of its local branches, carried out the work of distribution. Welcome rains fell throughout the colony at the end of March, but there was another anxious fortnight before the drought fairly broke up. Meanwhile, the harvest reports were very discouraging. The average yield of wheat per acre was only four bushels thirty-six pounds, or two and a half bushels less than had been expected only three months before, so that the surplus of wheat for exportation had fallen short by 120,000 tons, worth, in round figures, £1,200,000.

The year 1882 saw Adelaide University settled in the handsome building erected for its accommodation at a cost of £31,000, and on April 5th, in the presence of a large representative gathering of about 400 persons, the building was formally opened by Sir William Jervois, who, in a stirring speech, eulogized the benevolent men who had so liberally aided in the growth and development of the University, and congratulated South Australia upon having received from her Majesty the Queen a charter "willing and ordaining that Degrees in Arts, Medicine, Law, Science, and Music conferred by the University of Adelaide upon any person, male or female, should be recognized as academical distinctions and rewards of merit, and be entitled to rank, precedence, and consideration in her Majesty's United Kingdom and her Colonies and Possessions throughout the world, as fully as if the said Degrees had been granted by any University of her United Kingdom." The Vice-chancellor (Chief Justice S.J. Way), in the course of an eloquent speech, also alluded to the fact that "Adelaide University had received privileges unknown to the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney, in being permitted to grant Degrees in Science and Degrees to women." *

[* See Appendix.]

Towards the end of 1882 it became known that Sir William Jervois was about to close his term of office in South Australia, and that he had been appointed to the Governorship of New Zealand. The prospect of losing his valued services in the colony was universally regretted. The Adelaide Observer wrote with reference to the coming change: "We shall be sorry to lose Sir William Jervois. He has been a successful Governor in every sense of the word. The colony has made great progress during his régime, and not a little of it is due to his enterprising spirit, which quickened our laggard energies, and led us to push on works of progress and development more expeditiously than we otherwise should have thought of doing."

There was a large attendance on January 5th, 1883, at the farewell luncheon to Sir William Jervois, who took the opportunity to deliver an able speech on the public questions specially affecting the colony. In reviewing the progress made during his term of office he pointed out that population had increased rapidly, especially in Adelaide and its suburbs; that tramways (of which he laid the first rail in 1877) had been largely extended, while railways had increased from 321 miles in 1876 to 946 miles, and 276 miles in addition were about to be constructed. Exports had increased considerably, although, on the other hand, imports were £600,000 in excess. Revenue had gone on increasing, but the public debt had risen from £5,217,000 to £11,369,300. Forty new primary schools had been opened since his first South Australian public speech at the opening of Willunga school in 1877, and several model schools had also come into being. The Institute had developed from its primitive state into something of national importance, and was located in a handsome new building that had cost £40,000, with an Art Gallery, a Public Library, a Museum and School of Art and Design. The University had received its charter, and had entered upon its career of usefulness in a fitting building and under the most favourable circumstances. The defence of the colony from invasion was in a more satisfactory state than it had ever been before; and the patriotic offer of three hundred volunteers to serve in South Africa with the Imperial forces after the disaster at Majuba Hill, had met with grateful recognition from the Queen through Lord Kimberley.

In concluding his speech the Governor made some excellent critical remarks on the financial policy of the colony. £556,812 to be paid on loans for works that were producing a net return of less than £180,000 required to be looked at seriously. If the colony borrowed at the same rate for another seven years, their annual payment for interest would be about £800,000. "I still advocate progress," he said; "I still advocate railways, and I think the colony is thoroughly well able to pay for them; but I do not advocate such a system of finance as will not enable you to pay the interest on the money you borrow." * Payment would not be possible unless measures were taken to develop the pastoral, agricultural, and mineral resources of the country to the utmost, and so increase the exports and the revenue. Immigration on a large scale should be encouraged, and some increased taxation was absolutely needful for paying the interest on the debt. New industries, such as ostrich-farming and jam-making, should be developed. Dairy produce was imported to the value of £60,000, all which should be raised in the colony, and facilities should also be given for large capitalists to develop stock-farming in South Australia on the same scale as in the adjoining colonies.

[* See Appendix. "The Security for the Bonded Debt of the Colony."]

On the 9th of January his Excellency (having held a farewell levée on the previous day) embarked at Glenelg on board the Clyde, with his family and suite, for New Zealand, and Chief Justice Way was sworn in as Administrator of the Government pending the arrival of the new Governor.

{Page 96}

CHAPTER XVI.

ADMINISTRATION OF SIR WILLIAM C.F. ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.

FEBRUARY 17, 1883— MARCH 5, 1889.

Antecedents of Sir William Robinson.—Formation of Old Colonists' Association.—The Bray Ministry.—Colonial Federation.—New Electoral Act.—A Scheme of Taxation.—The Pastoral Land Act. —The March of Progress.—Explorations.—Mr. A.N. Chambers.—Mr. Charles Winnecke.—Mr. W. Whitfield Mills.—Defence of the Colony.—Movements in the Northern Territory.—The Jubilee of the Colony—State of the Times.—Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London.—Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Foundation Day.—Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition.—A Silver Mining Boom.—Chinese Immigration.—Harvests.—Departure of Sir William Robinson.—Arrival of the Earl of Kintore.—Adelaide in 1889.—Railways.—The Playford Government.—Local Option.—Staple Trades and Industries.—Wheat—Wool.—Mining.—Wines.—Water Conservation and Irrigation.—Forest Culture.—Fruit Growing.—Other Industries.—Conclusion.

THE appointment of Sir W.C.F. Robinson, K.C.M.G., the Governor of Western Australia, as successor to Sir William Jervois, gave great satisfaction to the colonists, who were well aware of the new Governor's record as a successful and able administrator. His varied attainments and extensive experience had gained him the high esteem of the residents in the Crown colony of Western Australia. A brother of Sir Hercules Robinson, the late popular Governor of New South Wales, he began his official career in 1855 as Secretary to Sir Hercules, first in the Government of St. Kitts, and afterwards in that of Hong Kong; in 1862 he was appointed President of Montserrat, and three years afterwards he administered the Government of Dominica. In the next year he was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Falkland Islands. From 1870 to 1873 he was administering the affairs of Prince Edward Island, and a year later saw him for a few mouths Governor of the Leeward Islands. The scene of his next Governorship was Western Australia, which province he left to succeed Sir William Jervois in the control of the Straits Settlements. Whilst there he went to Bangkok on a special mission for the purpose of investing the King of Siam with the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. The ceremony was duly performed, and in acknowledgment his Majesty conferred upon Sir William the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Siam. He returned to Western Australia in 1880, where he remained till his appointment to the Governorship of South Australia. Whilst at Perth he had discharged his duties with ability and success, and had done much for the development of the country. Railways and other public works had been constructed under his auspices, millions of acres of land had been taken up, and the financial condition of the colony had been brought to a more prosperous condition than ever before. With such antecedents in his favour it was no marvel that South Australia gladly welcomed him as Governor. He arrived in the colony by the steamship Nizam on the 17th of February, 1883.

As soon as the formalities of taking office were over. Sir William Robinson at once began his career of active work by visiting numerous public institutions. On the 1st of March he opened the autumn show of the Gawler Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and declared himself favourably impressed by his first fortnight's experience of the country and the signs of prosperity he had seen. It was not long before the Governor was making longer excursions in various directions, and winning for himself general esteem by his keen interest in all that appertained to the welfare of the colony and the development of its resources.

Shortly after his arrival the Old Colonists' Association was formed, the Chief Justice presiding at the inaugural meeting on the 20th of February. Its objects were declared to be to establish homes for, and to assist necessitous "pioneers" and "old colonists" and their descendants by loan or otherwise; to promulgate facts relative to the early history of the colony; to promote the advancement of native-born South Australians, and to encourage a friendly recognition between the members. All colonists were eligible for membership, and were to be divided into three grades: "pioneers", or those who came out before the 28th of December, 1846; "old colonists", or those who arrived during the next ten years; and simply "colonists" who came to South Australia since 1856.

On the 31st of May Sir William Robinson opened the session of Parliament. The debate on the Governor's speech was interrupted by an amendment from Mr. Coles, expressing dissatisfaction with the land administration, and charging the Government with having exercised no discretion as to permission to surrender land. They had, he alleged, allowed any (often wealthy persons) to surrender at pleasure and re-select land at less than its real value. A no-confidence debate ensued, but the amendment was negatived without a division. The Government then brought in a new Land Bill, allowing all persona holding land under conditions of personal residence to surrender.

Mr. Glyde's budget of June, 1883, showed a probable deficit of £254,000 at the close of the financial year 1883-84. To meet this deficiency he proposed a duty of one penny in the pound on the actual value of all real and personal property in the colony, excepting all below £500. The proposal was severely criticised by Mr. Rounsevell, Mr. J. Colton, and others, and it was agreed that the tax should be a halfpenny in the pound instead of a penny. But the arrangement was upset at a subsequent stage, and then Government brought in a Bill for a new taxation scheme of a halfpenny in the pound, sixpence in the pound on incomes derived from invested capital, and threepence in the pound from trade and professional incomes.

Failure attended some of the efforts of the long-lived Bray Ministry during the last year of its existence. They essayed a New Education Bill, doubling fees in the case of scholars who had passed the compulsory standard, and granting to private schools one pound for every child that passed the compulsory standard on being examined by a State School Inspector. They also tried a Pastoral Leases Bill, offering all unoccupied lands on twenty-eight year leases, with a re-valuation every seven years; the lessees to put on the land a certain amount of stock. Both these measures were lost, but they succeeded in passing a Jubilee Exhibition Bill; the expenditure on this projected scheme being estimated at £212,000, of which £140,000 was to be spent on the building.

The proceedings of Parliament were temporarily suspended for three months to allow the Chief Secretary and Attorney-General to attend the Convention at Sydney, at which representatives from the different colonies were to discuss the subjects of annexation and federation—subjects that had now come prominently to the front in Australian politics. On the 22nd of November the Houses were adjourned till the 5th of February.

When Parliament reassembled the Legislative Council (in the interests of the richer class) threw out the Income and Property Taxation Bill, and in the same spirit added an amendment to the Land Bill giving to substituted residence-selectors, land speculators, or rich capitalists in Adelaide the same concessions as to bona-fide personal residence-selectors. This amendment the Assembly would not accept, and the Bill was accordingly abandoned.

The subject of Colonial Federation occupied some time in both Houses towards the end of the session. The proposal of the Government was "That an address be presented to her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, praying that her Majesty may be pleased to cause a measure to be submitted to the Imperial Parliament for the purpose of constituting a Federal Council of Australia, upon the basis of the draft Bill adopted at the Intercolonial Convention held at Sydney in November and December, 1883." The Legislative Council affirmed the proposal after a long debate, in which the almost unanimous tendency was approval. In the Assembly the majority seemed anxious that the Federal Council should be constituted upon the basis of resolutions to be approved of only by the Legislatures of the colonies of Australia possessing representative governments. The debate was again and again adjourned, and ultimately ended in a count out. A resolution of similar purport was, however, adopted in a subsequent Parliament. The tenth Parliament of South Australia was shortly afterwards prorogued and dissolved.

The next Parliament was the first under the new Electoral Act, so that the Assembly numbered fifty-two members. The Ministry (still under the leadership of Mr. Bray) had been reconstructed, and about twenty new members had been elected to the Assembly. On the second day of the session the Hon. John Colton proposed to add to the address the words, "We desire to express to your Excellency our distrust of your present advisers, and our want of confidence in them." The result was that, after a smart debate, the Bray Ministry, which, with some modifications, had been in office close upon three years, was defeated by a majority of six.

The new Cabinet, formed with Mr. Colton as Premier, Mr. W.B. Rounsevell Treasurer, Mr. C.C. Kingston Attorney-General, Mr. J. Coles Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. T. Playford Commissioner of Public Works, and the Hon. K.C. Baker Minister of Justice and Education, found itself called upon to face a deficit of £436,658. They at once announced a Land and Income Tax Bill; amendment of the land laws; and a comprehensive scheme of public works jealously guarding against extravagant or unproductive outlay. They also proposed to repeal the Jubilee Exhibition Bill on account of the low financial condition of the colony, and promised a number of other measures. A good session's work was accomplished, and one of the measures carried was the Agricultural Crown Laud Act, allowing further concessions to selectors, and providing, amongst other things, that all payments of interest should go as part of the purchase-money. The Public Health Act was a useful measure providing means for dealing with cholera, small-pox, and other epidemic or contagious diseases.

The ministerial scheme of taxation, as being a new departure in the financial history of the colony, was perhaps the most important measure of the session. Early in September the Treasurer moved that the House resolve that a tax of one halfpenny in the pound be levied on all land in the colony, not including the value of the improvements upon it; threepence in the pound on all trade or professional incomes, and sixpence in the pound on incomes derived from any other source. In supporting his proposal the Treasurer gave some interesting statistics as to the value of land in the capital. The total estimated value of Adelaide was £14,000,000, out of the £65,000,000 for all the land in the colony not in the hands of Government. Frontages in King William Street were set down at £325 a foot; in Hindley Street. £125; in Grenfell, Currie, and Waymouth Streets, £100; in Gouger Street, £50; and in Gillies and Gilbert Streets, £15. The resolutions above named were agreed to, and a Bill embodying the proposals was subsequently introduced and passed. It was resolved, however, to exempt from the operation of the land-tax all land used for religious, charitable, and institute purposes, and the income of friendly societies from the operation of the income tax.

A Bill for repealing the Exhibition Act was, after warm debate, passed through both Houses, but much to the regret of a large number of colonists, who felt that the abandonment of the project would not redound to the honour of the colony. A movement (to which we shall refer presently) was, however, set on foot to carry out the scheme privately.

The Pastoral Land Act—another of the successes of the Colton Ministry during this session—divided all the pastoral lands into three great classes. The first class embraced land held under leases expiring in 1888, This was to be put up in blocks of convenient size, with the view of establishing upon the margin of agricultural settlements a number of lessees holding some five hundred square miles or less. The Commissioner, assisted in his labours by a Board of practical men, was to finally decide on the size and shape of these blocks. The leases were to be for twenty-one years, and the annual upset rent was to be fixed by valuation, without any provision for revaluation at stated intervals. So that the holder (unless resumption supervened by the State giving three years' notice) would retain the land for twenty-one years at the rent he first undertook to pay. The second class embraced land held upon leases not expiring in 1888. To these a term of twenty-one years was granted by the new Act, at an annual rental to be determined at auction, the upset rate being fixed by valuation. The third class comprehended all the unleased pastoral country, respecting which it was enacted that the term of lease should be for thirty-five years. The payment for the first fourteen years was to be at the rate of two and sixpence per square mile, and thereafter at a rate to be fixed by valuation to be made every seven years. There were also clauses relating to stocking and to improvements in lieu of stocking. As regards all these classes the principle of paying the full value of the improvements upon the expiration of the leases was recognized, whilst in the event of the resumption by the State in Classes II. and III. compensation for loss consequent upon the resumption was to be granted. It was considered that this measure was by far the most liberal one that had ever been passed upon the subject in South Australia, and it was expected to have a marked effect in promoting pastoral settlements.

Another effort to free the colony from the pest of rabbits and other vermin was made in the Vermin Destruction Act of this session. When supporting it the Commissioners of Crown Lands stated that since June, 1879, the destruction of vermin (including rabbits) had cost the colony over £139,000.*

[* There were numerous other Bills passed during the same session; amongst them were measures referring to coroners, bills of exchange, dog registry, distillation, general tramways, employers' liabilities, and roads.]

When Parliament met on the 4th of June, 1885, Mr. Downer, Q.C., in the course of the usual debate on the address, attacked the Government on several points, including their offer to send troops to the Soudan without consulting Parliament. After three days' debate a hostile vote was passed; the Colton Ministry resigned, and a new Cabinet was formed by Mr. Downer. The Downer Ministry consisted of Mr. Downer, Premier and Attorney-General; Mr. J.B. Spence, Chief Secretary; Mr. S. Newland, Treasurer; Mr. J. Darling, Commissioner of Public Works; Mr. J.H. Howe, Commissioner of Crown Lands; and Dr. J.A. Cockburn, Minister of Education.

The session that ensued lasted until December, and was generally regarded as one of the most unsatisfactory on record. It is true that much time was occupied with financial matters, the discussion on the new tariff extending over several weeks, and that thirty-five Bills were passed, although few were of special importance. There was of course a Customs Act to give the force of law to the new tariff; and this was significant, inasmuch as it was the first deliberate advance of South Australia towards a policy of Protection. The Crown Lands Bill was an amending and composite measure, chiefly noticeable for providing small holdings for the working classes. The Exhibition Bill gave Parliamentary sanction for the Jubilee Exhibition project, which under private management was bidding fair to be a success. Government was only to dedicate land and provide a permanent building estimated to cost £32,000. A Loan Bill for Public Purposes of £1,332,400 was passed, which included £537,400 for Railways, and £530,000 for Waterworks. It included also amounts for Defence, Telegraph, and Telephone Extension, and Harbour Improvements.

In the following year (1886) Mr. Downer's Cabinet may be said to have struggled through its session by permitting the House to shape its policy for it. When Parliament was opened on the 27th of May a vote of no confidence, moved by Mr. Jenkin Coles, was, after a three days' debate, defeated; but, nevertheless, Mr. Downer's Cabinet was completely reconstructed a few days afterwards. There was an unprecedented amount of financial discussion, but the only practical outcome was the Stamps Act. Concerning general matters, about thirty Bills were passed, amongst which were a Land Bill, a Real Property Act, and Bills dealing with the Destitute Department, with Water Conservation, and with Gold Mining. A Loan Bill for £850,000 was passed, making a provision of £120,000 for the Beetaloo Waterworks, £200,000 for Water Conservation, and £450,000 for payment for Improvements on Pastoral Leases under Crown Lands Acts. In this year one of the greatest financial calamities that has ever befallen South Australia occurred. The Commercial Bank, the shareholders of which were for the most part South Australians, closed its doors. Widespread distress and ruin were occasioned. The manager, Mr. Crooks, and the accountant, Mr. Wilson, were prosecuted, and sentenced to long terms of penal servitude.

During the administration of Sir William Robinson, South Australia made very considerable advances in general prosperity. Year by year, as the various institutions of national life became more settled, and the natural development of every branch of enterprise spread in all quarters, the gulf which at one time had separated the colonists from the great centres of thought and action in the world had become bridged over, and Adelaide had assumed the position and taken on the responsibilities of a large capital. Let us turn now to notice some of the steps in the march of progress that marked the régime of Sir William Robinson, and then to glance at the main characteristics of the fifty years of the colony's history brought to a close during his administration.

Some important additions were made to geographical knowledge during the period of which we now write. About the 18th of March, 1883, Mr. A.N. Chambers, of the Survey Department, with Mr. E. Coates, left Denial Bay with a party to select a travelling route to the Warburton ranges and the country beyond. They found a very fair track to the ranges and lake Phillipson, but had to depend for water on the rock-holes and clay-pans. The exploration was continued to the Everard ranges across country abounding in bush, but very suitable for pastoral purposes. The Ferdinand River was traced, and Mr. Bell's report of its termination in some large sandhills confirmed. Mr. Chambers was away four months, and reported favourably as to the probability of water being found in many places by sinking. The blacks met with were friendly, dwelling in twos and threes by the larger rock-holes (which often supply water for two or three months), whilst they hunted kangaroos and wallabies in the vicinity.

In December an exploring party, with camels and horses, under Mr. Charles Winnecke, completed a successful journey through a large portion of the interior. They started from Cowrie Station on the Warburton River in latitude 28°, traversed the country to the north as far as latitude 22°, and reached Mr. Winnecke's previous explorations near Goyder's Pillars. A few days after leaving Cowrie Station they covered between two and three hundred miles of the highest sand-ridges in Australia before water could be obtained. Several other stages of from one to two hundred miles without water were accomplished. Two large rivers and an extensive range were discovered near the Queensland boundary, and altogether Mr. Winnecke succeeded in mapping about 40,000 square miles of hitherto unexplored country.

In the same year (1883) Mr. W. Whitfield Mills journeyed across the centre of the Australian continent from Beltana to Northampton in Western Australia. The party suffered great hardships, and places reported by preceding explorers as furnishing good supplies of water were now quite dry. They travelled 1600 miles, and all along the route there were only three sources of water to be relied upon in a dry season as affording a permanent supply. Mr. Mills found some fine grass country and a desert of spinifex between the Warburton Range and the Blyth watershed, which (if the spinifex were burnt) would form "one of the most magnificent pastoral districts in the world." But the lack of water spoilt everything. The camels had but one drink in twenty-one days, and staggered along too thirsty to eat. Had the expedition been attempted with horses instead of camels the bones of Mr. Mills and his company would no doubt, like the bones of many other brave explorers, have been left to bleach on some desolate sand-ridge or in some nameless gully.

Towards the end of 1884 Mr. C. Winnecke again conducted an exploring party, which started from Parakylia Station. He was accompanied by four other Europeans, an Afghan, and a number of camels. The explorers spent several weeks in wandering over a large extent of country, and suffered occasional hardships. But the journey was devoid of incident, and little was seen but vast tracts of scrub. Now and then the party made their way to outlying stations, and then sot out again on their surveys. They travelled over three thousand miles of country, most of which was reported as good for pastoral pursuits.

In the matter of the defence of the colony, the gunboat Protector, 1000 tons (the nucleus of the South Australian navy), purchased and manned in England, arrived on September 30th (1884). The Union Jack was, of course, run up at the Semaphore, and Forts Glanville and Largs also showed the orthodox bunting. Her comparatively small size caused much disappointment, but a nearer inspection of her formidable battery was reassuring. On October 3rd she steamed up to Port Adelaide, and was inspected by members of the Ministry, the Mayor, and Corporation.

The early part of the year 1885 found the colony considerably agitated on the question of its defences, in consequence of the war news from Europe. The Chief Secretary returned from an extended tour, during which he had consulted with the Prime Ministers of other colonies on this and cognate topics, and the Government at once entered with vigour into the question of defence. It was decided to push forward the military road between the Semaphore and Glenelg; to erect a fort at Glenelg, armed with long-range Whitworth guns; and to patrol the Gulf of St. Vincent. These preparations did much to allay public anxiety. The colony had now two thousand disciplined men under arms, and three thousand auxiliaries could be armed in case of an emergency. An experimental call to arms one night in April resulted in the assembly of a considerable portion of this force in a very short time.

Throughout the period under review, the Northern Territory was alternately the cause of hope and of disappointment. The difficulties common to the planting of all new settlements were experienced there in a more than ordinary degree—climate, a mixed population, financial troubles, and dependence upon a Government so far away, were inherent drawbacks to prosperity. Nevertheless, progress was made, and every year gave fresh hope of future possibilities. In the year 1884 the Hon. J.L. Parsons was appointed Government Resident, and Mr. T.K. Pater Judge of the Northern Territory. Tin, copper, and galena had been discovered, and promised, in conjunction with gold mining, to make the Northern Territory one of the greatest mineral-producing countries in the world. Towards the close of 1883, large deposits of pearl-shell were found in Port Darwin Harbour, and a considerable fleet of vessels came from Thursday Island to try the newly discovered shell-grounds. The tides, however, were so strong, and the waters in consequence so muddy, that, after some months' diving for pearl-shell, it was abandoned. One thing that retarded the advancement of the Territory was the delay in commencing the railway. The Act for its construction was passed in 1883, the money was borrowed in 1884, but the railway was not begun until 1886. The disastrous result of the bad selection of land for the De Lissaville Plantation, and the squandering of about £30,000 in consequence, inflicted a heavy blow upon the prospects of tropical agriculture. Another subject that about this time gave cause for considerable anxiety in Adelaide was the treatment of the natives in the Northern Territory. In September, 1884, the blacks attacked and killed a number of whites on the Daly River, and made hostile demonstrations at Rum Jungle, where two of them were shot. Parties were sent out to capture the murderers, one composed of the police and commanded by Corporal Montague. The police report of the matter, ordered by the House, did not make its appearance till the end of 1885. This report gave ground for a suspicion that there had been outrageous and indiscriminate slaughter of the blacks without due regard to innocence or guilt. The public demanded an official investigation, and a board of inquiry was appointed. Corporal Montague declared that his first report was an exaggeration, and the result of the inquiry was that the police were exonerated from the charge of undue severity.

In many respects the year 1886 was among the most important in the annals of the colony. It began with great depression. There was drought throughout the country, and financial troubles, public and private; besides which, confidence was shaken by the discovery of a series of frauds and breaches of trust. On the other hand, much benefit resulted from the rise in the price of wool, and the last quarter of the year brought bountiful rains, followed by a fair harvest. At the same time came the new gold discoveries at Teetulpa, and for a time it was a byword that "Teetulpa had saved the colony."

Alluding to this period in particular, and in general to the financial state of the country during the earlier years of Sir William Robinson's administration, a local historian wrote—

"Our colony's troubles thickened. The deficit in the State accounts was beginning to increase, owing chiefly to the temporary depreciation in our staples. Wool went down almost beneath paying price, and the wheat yield was scanty, while the rates were very low. Copper quotations receded so much that the mineral, though so abundant and so easily raised, was hardly worth mining for. In 1883 and the year immediately following, there was an alarming frequency of incendiary fires, causing a public loss directly and indirectly of hundreds of thousands of pounds. So serious was the danger that panic seized scores of property owners. The reputed incendiary was after a while arrested, and then the scourge ceased. During most of this time insolvency courts were beset with work. The papers were full of assignments, and it seemed as though our commerce were utterly unstable. Quarter by quarter the revenue returns were decreasing, and the public deficit was growing with equal rapidity. But, as we all know now, these ominous clouds, which quite bedimmed the sun of our prosperity, were big with blessings. The land mania taught wholesome lessons of caution and prudence. Some of the farmers learnt out of their distress, where that distress was avoidable, the necessity of better methods of cultivation. The accumulated indebtedness forced upon the wealthy classes a direct taxation which had hitherto been successfully resisted. . . . Across the darkest time in our history the discovery of Silverton flashed with a ray of hope. An unexpected rise in wool made life more tolerable to the squatter; accumulating proofs of the existence of gold in quantity in many parts of South Australia, and the more recent disclosure of golden treasure at Teetulpa, heartened every one, and the general hopefulness grew as the reaper garnered for the farmers a fair harvest where an absolute dearth was dolefully predicted. Is it too much to say, then, that our fiftieth year comes with every reason for believing that, with prudence and courage amongst the people and intelligence in the Parliament, we shall all soon exchange sad forebodings for assured prosperity, and realize the happy time when the voice of the croaker shall no more be heard in the land."

While these things were going on in the colony, South Australia was being represented in the mother country in a manner it had never been before. It was the year of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, and a description of the South Australian Court, admitted on all hands to have been one of the great successes of the Exhibition, will not be considered out of place here, as it furnishes an illustration of the progress and capabilities of the colony. It was no mere assemblage of show cases, but, as was acknowledged at the time, "the ideal of an exhibition of the country, its natural products and its manufactures, its whole fascination lying in its perfect taste and harmony, not one thing derogating from the attractiveness of another." Sir Samuel Davenport deservedly won high praise by his efficient management. The entrance to the Court was by an archway of rustic but beautifully carpentered unbarked wood, except where at the extreme side two large pieces of varnished Northern Territory timber had been let in beneath open spaces, filled respectively by an emu and a kangaroo. The hollow pillars of the arch were filled with ferns and grass-trees, while their bases were flanked with fodder, plants, and grasses on one side, and on the other with specimens of stone. Above the arch were numerous flags, and bright birds were displayed in natural positions here and there on the rough timber. The coup d'œil of the upper court was very impressive. At the further end was the celebrated natural history scene, one of the triumphs of the Colonial Exhibition, occupying nearly one-third of the space. The view was delicately broken by a high and shapely combination of polished specimens of wood, and a little further on a barrier of turned timber. Upon the side walls of the court hung photographs, and also a number of original water-colour drawings, showing the Burra-Burra, Kapunda, Moonta, Wallaroo, and other mines, and various early scenes of South Australia. The two printed engravings of "Adelaide as it was" and "Adelaide as it is" attracted much attention. Along the right-hand side of the court were cases of fossils, rocks, stones, and minerals, and other geological specimens, moulded weights of Wallaroo copper arching a side way. On the left of the court a beautiful exhibit gave a vivid idea of South Australia's wealth of fruits. This was a display of wax models of fruit grouped according to tropical growth and colour. Massive silver jewellery, rich furs and skins, South Australian saddlery and leather work, specimens of carved hard wood. Dr. Schomburgk's herbarium, and Mr. G.C. Hawker's collection of seaweeds were other objects of interest in this court, while in side cases made of Northern Territory wood were silk cocoons, goatskins, wool, skulls, bones, emu and ostrich eggs, the paintings on the walls by South Australian artists serving to contrast the culture of the new dwellers in the land with the manners of the half-naked aborigines shown in effigy close by.

Upon a table of polished red gum lay the large pictorial work on the colony written and illustrated by the late Mr. George French Angas, and near by, upon a pedestal, a bust of Sir Charles Sturt. The "Murray scene" was an effective and elaborate production. In the centre was seen the wurley with its native inhabitants. On the left the black fellow floated in his canoe on a sheet of water; the sandy margin was fringed with flags, and populated with aquatic birds, as well as with iguanas and other crawling things. Among the bushes and trees were bright-winged parroquets and cockatoos, and the more soberly clad wattle-bird. Opossums with their young; a laughing jackass darting after a falling snake; an eagle with a young wallaby in its talons; and emus with their young, wombats, wallabies, kangaroos, and so forth were all appropriately grouped. Seals and sea-birds were prominent in the side painting of coast scenery.

Standing on the steps beside the stream of running water that fell by a rocky way to the lower courts, the visitor saw below him other varied aspects of colonial life. For instance, the pioneer hut was there, of bark and rough wood, with saddle rest outside for the boundary rider. Not far off two old men kangaroos were seen engaged in a desperate fight. Beyond the hut a number of hurdles enclosed a small flock of stuffed sheep. The interest of the lower courts was mostly pastoral and agricultural. Here were samples of wheat and other cereals; Professor Custance's herbarium of grasses; cordials, essences, and olive oils; a selection of fresh fruit from the supply kept on sale at the Exhibition market; the wine trophy and numerous other exhibits representative of the produce or manufactures of South Australia. Among the most important were six parallel rows of cases containing wool exhibits, all the chief wool-growers being represented. Sir Thomas Elder sent specimens from his extensive stations in the northern and dry interior; Mr. J.H. Angas not only exhibited a tine collection of fleeces, but also a pen of stuffed sheep of the merino and Lincoln breeds from his Hill River and Collingrove properties. Mr. Anderson, of Port Lincoln, worthily represented the western districts; while from still further west Messrs. Smith and Swan, of Fowler's Bay, sent two magnificent merino fleeces. Mr. Edmund Bowman and Messrs. E. and C. Bowman from the northern districts, and Mr. A. Crozier from the Murray; Messrs. Hogarth and Warren from the neighbourhood of Strangways Spring; S. Saunders, James and Company from Canowie; Mr. Riddoch from Mount Gambier, and Mr. G.C. Hawker are some of the representative names.

The business interests of the colony were well looked after at the Exhibition. Sir S. Davenport and his coadjutors made evident to all comers that with labour, time, capital, and skill, there was a boundless future before the colony in all fruit resources and wine-producing capacities; that it had already a large wool trade; that its agricultural resources had made it a land of golden grain; and that a host of trades might spring up, enriching the inhabitants, if the whole of the laud were only properly utilized.

It is a noteworthy fact that Mr. Jacob Montefiore, one of the eleven Commissioners appointed by King William IV. in 1834 for the colonization of South Australia, and the only surviving member of that Board of which Colonel Torrens was chairman, was also, on behalf of South Australia, an honorary Commissioner of the Colonial Exhibition. His portrait adorns the Adelaide Art Gallery. He was at this time residing in Hyde Park Square, and was in his eighty-eighth year.

Although it had been decided to commemorate the Jubilee of the Colony by an International Exhibition at Adelaide in 1887, yet (as might be supposed) it was with special rejoicings that the colony celebrated on December 28, 1886, the fiftieth anniversary of its proclamation. The colonists remembered with pride that in 1836 Adelaide was a finely grassed and tree-covered plain, Glenelg all waste land, swamps, and sandhills, whilst Port Adelaide bore the suggestive name of Port Misery. The pioneers dwelt in structures of mud, reeds, or canvas, and food was scarce. Now Adelaide, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, was linked by 1200 miles of railway with other parts of the colony, and 3,000,000 acres of land produced annually hundreds of thousands of tons of the best wheat in the world. "This is England with marked improvements", was now the frequent verdict of men who came to criticise but remained to applaud.

Glenelg, on the shore of Holdfast Bay, was of course the centre of the popular rejoicings, which, however, were enthusiastically kept up all through the colony. But to Glenelg, steamers, boats, trains, and vehicles brought a vast concourse of people. Old pioneers were there who had heard the first proclamation read beneath the historic gum tree, but scarce a feature of the scene could they recognize save those two venerable, rusty, wide-throated Buffalo guns enjoying a dignified and borrowed repose on the Colley Reserve.

The Old Colonists' celebration took place on the 27th of December, Arrangements had been made for bringing together as many as possible of the surviving pioneers of the colony. They were received in the afternoon at the Governor's "At Home", and men who had shaken hands with Governor Hindmarsh in 1837 shook hands with Governor Robinson in 1887. Strange were the stories told of the early days when, if a man wore a blue serge shirt, a decent pair of moleskin trousers, a good pair of boots, and a pair of spurs he might consider himself well dressed. In those days six men had come to a Governor's levée with one dress coat between them, each slipping it on in turn to step into the big wattle-and-daub-hut, and pay his respects to the representative of royalty.

In the evening there was a crowded meeting of pioneers and old colonists at the Town Hall, when speeches were delivered by Sir Henry Ayers, the Governor, and others, and the chief events in the colony's history were depicted in a series of tableaux. Meanwhile in the banqueting-room an interesting exhibition of colonist relics was on view. Most of these consisted of old newspapers, books, and sketches. Colonel Light's sword was shown; a piece of the tree under which Burke and Wills died; Stuart's original diary, and various other curiosities. But the original sketches representing various spots as the earliest settlers saw them, formed the most interesting feature of the collection.

The year 1887 was on the whole an encouraging one. A favourable season, a rise in prices, the increased production of gold, and the development of the mineral resources of the Barrier ranges, all contributed to the benefit of the colony.

This year marked one of the most notable events in the history of the colony, namely, the opening of the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition. After the repeal of the Act for the Adelaide Exhibition by the Colton Government, a number of gentlemen determined that the jubilee of the colony's existence should not pass without an attempt to carry out the scheme for holding an Exhibition. Mr. E.T. Smith, M.P., took the most prominent part in this great national enterprise. A meeting was held in the Town Hall on July 31st, 1885, when a committee was appointed "to formulate a scheme for holding, in the year 1887, an Exhibition of Arts, Agriculture, and Manufactures, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the province." * A memorial embodying the proposals of the committee providing for the erection of buildings, and the laying out of grounds on North Terrace, was submitted to the Government. The Government were requested to grant the necessary area of ground, and to place on the estimates an amount not exceeding £32,000 during two years.**

[* The committee was composed as follows:—Mr. E.T. Smith, Sir S. Davenport, K.C.M.G., Hon. J.H. Angas, A.M. Simpson, J.C. Bray, Messrs. W. Bundey, A. Adamson, F. Rymill, T. Hardy, C. Sabine, T. Hack, and J. Duncan.]

[** The South Australian Royal Commission consisted of His Excellency Sir W.C.F. Robinson, G.C.M.G.; Sir S. Davenport, K.C.M.G.; the Hon. Sir R.D. Ross, Kt., M.P., Speaker of the House of Assembly; Sir J.W. Downer, K.C.M.G., Q.C., M.P., Attorney-General; the Hon. D. Murray, M.L.C., Chief Secretary; the Hon. J.G. Ramsay, M.L.C.; A. Catt, Esq., M.P.; Hon. J.H. Angas, M.L.C.; H.C.E. Muecke, Esq., J.P. The London Commission consisted of nineteen, the chairman being the Duke of Manchester, K.P. There were fifty-seven promoters, the chairman being E.T. Smith, Esq., M.P. They were also guarantors for amounts ranging from £100 to £5000 respectively. Mr. E.T. Smith guaranteed £5000; Sir T. Elder, G.C.M.G., and J.H. Angas, Esq., £1000 each. Among the guarantors for £250 was Lord Brassey, who visited the colony in the Jubilee year. The patrons were their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, K.G., Prince Albert Victor, K.G., and Prince George, K.G., of Wales. The vice-patrons were the Governors of the Australasian Colonies and his highness tho Sultan of Johore, G.C.M.G., K.C.S.L. The trustees were Sir S. Davenport, Hon. J.C. Bray, Mr. K.T. Smith, Hon. J. H. Angas, F. Rymill, Esq. Sixteen sectional committees were appointed, composed of leading colonists. Mr. J.F. Conigrave, J.P., acted as general secretary. Thirty-five juries were appointed.]

The Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition opened on June 21, 1887, and closed on January 7, 1888. It was visited by over three-quarters of a million persons. It stood on 18½ acres of ground, and the permanent building had a floor space of 85,600 feet, to which were attached various annexes. It was a grand success as an Exhibition, containing as it did valuable exhibits from the colonies and other parts of the world. It was opened by the Governor with all due ceremony and military display, and in his speech Sir William Robinson paid a high compliment to Mr. E.T. Smith, M.P., the Mayor of Adelaide, to whose energy and perseverance was due, "not only the inception, but also the success of this great undertaking." Sir Samuel Davenport shared with Mr. Smith the chief honours of the day, and amidst a scene of great enthusiasm handed to the Governor the costly golden master key of all the locks in the building. From the platform a message was sent off direct to the Queen of England. It left Adelaide about one o'clock p.m., and she received it at sunrise!

The Jubilee celebrations were the chief feature of the year, especially so as falling concurrently with the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Jubilee week was a time of unusual rejoicings. The large gathering of 13,000 school children on the North Park-lands was witnessed by about 30,000 spectators, and was a sight not soon to be forgotten. A unique feature of the festival was the presence of the Chinese Commissioners who were making a tour of the Australian colonies. Special religious services were held in the Anglican Cathedral, in the Pirie Street Wesleyan Church, and in other places. Meetings of the intercolonial council of the Young Men's Christian Association were held in the Exhibition buildings in July. The Intercolonial Chess Congress was opened in August, and the championship was gained by Mr. H. Charlick, a South Australian well known amongst chess-players. The Intercolonial Medical Congress was held in the same month, under the presidency of Dr. Verco, a native-born South Australian. An international Temperance Convention was held in September, and in the following month the first Intercolonial Conference of the Australasian Chambers of Manufactures was opened in Adelaide. The year was also one of unusual activity among some of the religious bodies. Perhaps most noticeable were the jubilee celebrations of the Congregationalists, which were attended by Dr. Dale as one of the special representatives of English Congregationalism. The Roman Catholics held special services in connection with the investiture of Archbishop Reynolds with the pallium, attended by Cardinal Moran and the bishops of most of the Australian colonies. The Church of England, Baptists, and other denominations also held successful jubilee demonstrations.

Early in 1887 the first Colonial Conference was held in London. The representatives of South Australia were the Premier, Mr. J.W. Downer, and Sir Arthur Blyth, K.C.M.G., the Agent-General. Much dissatisfaction was expressed at the absence of the Premier at the time of the General Election.

The political history of the year was of an exceptional character. On the hustings there was a strong expression of opinion in favour of taking measures to place the finances on a sound basis, and in spite of the Ministerial programme, which approved a property tax, there was an overwhelming demand for increasing the revenue by a modification of the existing land and income taxes. A large majority of the successful candidates were also in favour of Protection. When the House met the Ministry were defeated, and Mr. Playford became Premier. The Playford Ministry consisted of Mr. Playford, Premier and Treasurer; Attorney-General, Mr. C.C. Kingston; Chief Secretary, the Hon. J.G. Ramsay; Mr. J. Coles, Commissioner of Crown Lands; Mr. A. Catt, Commissioner of Public Works; and Mr. J.C.F. Johnson, Minister of Education. Mr. Bray, the acting-Premier, had been in favour of referring the question of Protection to a Commission, but the new Ministry intimated their intention of dealing with it at once. One of the first acts of the new Parliament was to give the needful legislative ratification to the agreement into which the late Ministry had entered with Messrs. Chaffey Brothers for establishing an Irrigation Colony on the banks of the Murray. It was confidently anticipated that this undertaking would give a wonderful impetus to the production of fruits and crops by means of irrigation, and thus add both to the resources and the population of the colony.

The tariff was next taken in hand, and, after long and animated discussions, a list of heavily protective duties was passed by both Houses. Payment of members at the rate of £200 per annum was carried, and ordered to come into operation at the end of May, 1888. The long-debated subject of the amount to be paid for improvements in connection with the 1888 leases was disposed of by a Bill setting out the bases upon which the valuation was to be made. For the third time a measure for handing over the management of the railways to a non-political board of three Commissioners was discussed, and this year it was carried. The question of local government as regards the country districts was settled by the passing of the District Councils Act, which provided for a complete system of local government, and threw upon the local bodies many duties and liabilities hitherto undertaken by the State. The Legislature passed the necessary measure for securing from South Australia her share of the cost of the Naval Defence scheme proposed by the Colonial Conference, namely, an auxiliary squadron, to the maintenance of which each colony agreed to contribute. A bill for authorizing the issue of Treasury bills for £1,000,000 was also carried. The proceeds of these bills were to go to pay off the deficit, and when matured, they were to be met by the sale of land. No new loan was authorized, so that this was the first session for many years that had not witnessed an addition to the permanent national debt of South Australia.

The task we set ourselves of tracing the history of South Australia from its foundation to the year of its Jubilee has now been accomplished, but it would be unsatisfactory to break off abruptly in the narrative at this fixed point, and we propose, therefore, to glance at some of the events that marked the later years of the administration of Sir William Robinson, to record the appointment of his successor, and then to call attention to the general resources of the colony, and the steps that are being taken to develop them.

The year 1888 opened with a great silver mining boom consequent upon discoveries in the Barrier Ranges district, within the boundary of New South Wales, especially at Broken Hill. Expectations ran so high that almost everybody had some investment. Unfortunately many of the shares bought at a few pounds, were sold for so many shillings, if at all, and many companies that held out brilliant promises were only heard of again at the wind-up. The phenomenal wealth of the Broken Hill mines is now a matter of history. A systematic inquiry into the whole question of the mineral wealth of South Australia, and how to deal with it, led to the successful establishment of a School of Mines, and the appointment of an Inspector of Mines, while the passing of the "Mining on Private Property Act, 1888", gave the right to mine on private property, and furnished an impetus to discovery, especially on auriferous lands.

The harvest was not a good one, although not such a complete failure as many imagined it would be, owing to the prolonged droughts, nor, from the same cause, was the yield of wool up to the average; nevertheless, although these reverses seriously affected the staple trades, business generally continued in a fairly sound and satisfactory state.

In the early part of the year public opinion was divided on the discussion of the rabbit pest and the theories of M. Pasteur and other doctrinaire professors on the eradication of rabbits by disease, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of Chinese immigration in the Northern Territory—which threatened to be another prolific pest—and whether, as a poll-tax was imposed on all Chinese coming into South Australia Proper, the payment of a similar tax should not be required from all Celestials landing at Port Darwin. The difficulty was that if the tax were levied it would be impossible for many of the Chinese to pay it, and if it were not levied, instead of staying in the Northern Territory, where their services could be utilized, they would make off to other parts of South Australia, or to Queensland. Eventually (March 1, 1888) the poll-tax was proclaimed, £10 upon every Chinaman arriving in the Territory after a given date, and a similar amount on every Chinaman then in the Territory and leaving for any part of the colony more than two hundred miles south of Port Darwin. The threat of this poll-tax stopped Chinese immigration, and subsequently it was made illegal under heavy penalties for any steamer to carry more than one Chinese passenger for every 500 tons register.

In Parliament the death of Sir R.D. Ross caused a vacancy in the Speakership of the House of Assembly, to which the Hon. J.C. Bray was elected on the 31st of May—the first native-born Australian to hold that office. The principal measures passed in the Legislature were the Chinese Immigration Act and the Federal Council Adopting Act—both of an intercolonial character—and the Consolidating Crown Lands Act, a measure of more distinctive local interest. The financial year closed with a substantial surplus.

A Centennial Exhibition and great public rejoicings in Melbourne, commemorating the first colonization of "New Holland", drew many South Australians to the sister colony. The cordial welcome afforded them, the fact that the South Australian Parliament had decided to take part, subject to certain reservations, in the Federal Council, and the completion, save for a small gap soon to be bridged over, of the railway chain binding all the capitals in the Australasian colonies together, were significant signs of advancement towards Federation.

As the harvest again drew near continued drought gave rise to a renewal of great anxiety, and unhappily the fears were not groundless, and the failure of the crops caused much distress. One of the leading topics, therefore, under discussion in the early part of 1889, was an attempt to induce the Government to make advances of seed wheat to distressed farmers. But the Ministry stood firm and would not yield to this, whereupon private funds were raised, which was, perhaps, a better course, and relief was given, in greater or lesser degree, to almost every deserving case. Fortunately, during the year the rainfall was greater than in any previous year since the register had been kept, and a good harvest was the result, as well as a replenishment of all tanks and reservoirs, so that in starting the new year, 1890, the colonists aroused themselves from the settled gloom into which the drought of successive years had thrown them.

Another threatened source of trouble in 1889 was the partial collapse of the copper market, causing the mining industry to fall back very considerably from its previous records. The seriousness of this would have been much more severely felt—as operations were materially restricted at the mines, and few new ventures were started—had it not been that the Proprietary Mines in the Barrier district brought a very large amount of traffic and new trade to the colony.

One matter that created a good deal of soreness, inasmuch as it appeared to many to reflect upon the credit of the colony, was in relation to a proposed Loan. On the 29th of January, 1889, a prospectus was issued for a new South Australian Loan for £1,317,880, authorized by an Act passed in the previous session of Parliament, for expenditure upon railways, waterworks, drainage, telegraph and telephone extension, buildings, harbours, improvements, construction of roads and defences. Interest was fixed at 3½ per cent., and the minimum at £98 per £100. The last loan (£850,000, May, 1887) was also the last of the 4 per cents., and quotations had represented a satisfactory advance; the proposed new loan was the first of the colony's practical dealings with 3½ per cent. stock, and it was argued that "it was better for a borrowing Government to get 3½ per cent., even at a small discount, than 4 per cent. with a good premium." But financial brokers on 'Change were not at first very favourably disposed to this new loan, and it was somewhat humiliating to the colony that when the £1,317,880 was offered, only £541,000 was in the first instance tendered for, and that the scheme resulted in a partial failure.

Notwithstanding losses and fears of losses, the year 1889 was one of quiet, steady progress, and the Savings Bank Department—an unfailing barometer of the rise and fall in the incomes of the wage-earning classes—showed an exceptionally large increase in the amount of its deposits.

Towards the end of 1888, as the time for the administration of Sir William Robinson to cease drew near, many rumours were afloat as to who would be his successor, and at least half a dozen well-known and improbable names were mentioned, none of which turned out to be right. On the 5th of March, 1889, after six years' invaluable service as Governor, Sir William Robinson left South Australia to administer the Government of Victoria during the absence in England of Sir Henry Loch. As the Government of Victoria is recognized as one of the plums of the viceregal service, a transfer there, even as locum tenens, was regarded as promotion of a very gratifying character; it was, at least, a recognition of his capacity as a Governor. Before leaving Adelaide Sir William Robinson received many cordial addresses, thanking him for his hospitality and for the lively interest he had taken in the progress of the colony, and for his public conduct generally. He greatly helped in the establishment of a Chair of Music in the University; took a deep interest in all literary societies, unions, and educational institutions; was indefatigable in furthering the Jubilee Exhibition, and entertained more people at Government House than any previous Governor. He was an excellent speaker, a good all-round man, and hearty regret was expressed at his departure.

Intelligence of the appointment of the Earl of Kintore as Governor of South Australia, in succession to Sir William Robinson, was received in the colony on the 24th of December, 1888, at a time when there was considerable irritation felt throughout Australia on the general question of these appointments, the colonists contending that they should not be kept in ignorance of who was to be head of their society and the representative of Majesty among them, and that some intimation should be made to the Prime Minister of each colony before the appointment of a Governor was actually made, in the event of any one being selected who might be distasteful to the majority. There was no fear of this in the present selection, which gave universal Satisfaction, and the only anxiety expressed in any quarter was whether, as Lord Kintore had never taken a prominent place in the House of Lords, nor had held any office in a Conservative Administration, except that of a lord-in-waiting, and had no experience whatever of the colonial service, he would be the right man to stand at the head of a rising young colony—apprehensions which were soon proved to be utterly groundless.

Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, ninth Earl of Kintore, was born in 1852, and married in 1873 Lady Sydney Charlotte Montagu, second daughter of the sixth Duke of Manchester, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. Lord Kintore, who succeeded to the title (which dates back to the year 1677) on the death of his father in 1880, is G.C.M.G., an M.A. of Cambridge, was Captain of her Majesty's Bodyguard in 1886, and in the same year was sworn in as a Privy Councillor, J.P., and Deputy-Lieutenant for Aberdeen and Kincardineshire. He is also Lord Falconer of Halkerton (1647) and Lord Keith of Inverurie (1677) in the Scottish peerage.

When Lord Kintore arrived in the colony on the 11th of April, 1889, he was welcomed with demonstrations of an unprecedented kind, and with a display which must have greatly astonished some of the old pioneers, still hale and hearty, who witnessed the arrival of the first Governor, Captain Hindmarsh, and heard the proclamation read under the historic gum-tree. Everything combined to make the enthusiastic reception a success, and it was accepted as an augury of good to cover the whole period of his administration.

Lord Kintore found in Adelaide a model city, beautiful for situation, and marvellously developed. Its cathedrals and churches, handsome public buildings, palatial banks, colossal warehouses, noble structures in stone, brick, and even marble; its network of tramways running through all the main streets of the city, and to all the outlying townships, as well as from one township to another; its streets equal in width to any in Europe; some of its terraces, streets, and roads planted with the beautiful evergreen Moreton Bay fig-trees, plane, and other ornamental trees; its suburbs with houses surrounded by verandahs, and standing in the midst of luxuriant vegetation;—all these were startling when it was remembered that a little more than fifty years before the site was a nameless wilderness.

He found not only everything stimulating to national prosperity, but everything adapted to minister to good taste and to the intellectual life of the people. The Botanical Gardens in the Park-lands close to the city, beautifully laid out and kept in admirable order, displayed every variety of Australian tree and plant, while in the Zoological Gardens specimens of all the native and a large number of foreign animals, reptiles, and birds were to be found. In the Museum—a noble building, and, unlike many museums, much frequented—was a fine collection of native weapons and implements, of natural history, and of geological specimens. The city boasted a Public Art Gallery, with good specimens from the studios of English and Continental artists and sculptors, a Free Public Library, and, above till, a University which could hold its own in comparison with any other in the colonies.

As regarded the intellectual life of the community, there was in miniature a reproduction of all the best institutions of the mother country, literary, scientific, social, and philanthropic, from the Royal Society to the City Mission; and to record the doings of these, no less than to tell day by day of the great world beyond, there were two ably conducted morning and two evening penny newspapers, besides one fourpenny and one sixpenny weekly paper, as well as a threepenny comic paper, illustrated.

In the matter of railways the system was found to be exceptionally good. There were, in 1891, 1666 miles open, the net revenue of which was £606,820. Among the railways, one crosses the Mount Lofty Range by a well-devised series of curves of varying gradients, an excellent example of engineering. In the lovely valleys and forest-clad slopes of the range are many charming villas, whither in the hot weather many citizens of Adelaide resort in preference to the seaside. But what had been accomplished was as nothing to that which the State proposed, namely, that of bridging the continent with a line of railway, a scheme so vast that politicians in other colonies had gravely questioned its wisdom. But South Australia holds that "the railway forms an integral part of the scheme of public works which must be carried on to open up the central districts of Australia, the trade of which belongs geographically to either Port Augusta or Port Darwin." From this trunk railway it was proposed that branch lines should in course of time be pushed out to Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia, and thus be the means of bringing into occupation vast tracts of grazing territory which must otherwise remain unutilized.

In the political world the Playford Government was in power, although in a very few months it was to be defeated by Dr. Cockburn and advanced Protectionists. "The Playford Government had been attacked upon almost every conceivable question; upon the property tax; for pretended injudicious representation of the colony by the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General at the Federal Council; for arbitrary treatment of selectors, and also for illiberal dealing with squatters by the Commissioner of Crown Lands; for Mr. Playford's refusal to grant seed wheat; for wasteful expenditure in water conservation works, and, on the other hand, for insufficient energy in the prosecution of the public works property; for charging income tax on money invested in other colonies and paying taxes there; and for other matters without number."

There was also to be found, what was not in any way peculiar, however, to South Australia, a good deal of place-seeking and a strong feeling of opposition to the intrusion of outsiders, a kind of Australia for the Australians policy, very perceptibly developing. One question that had for some years caused considerable difficulty between the two Houses had been satisfactorily settled, namely, the question of payment of members. For three years in succession (1884-86) the Assembly had passed a measure on this subject, which had been rejected in each year by the Council; but in 1887 the Bill became law, and a salary of £200 per annum was fixed for all members of the Legislature, both in the Upper and Lower Houses.

In the matter of crime there was less in proportion to the population than in any of the other colonies, and the largo majority of cases dealt with had their origin in drunkenness. There was at that time considerable discussion on the question of Local Option. Already a law was in force that no licence could be granted if two-thirds of the inhabitants of a neighbourhood memorialized against the grant; but in 1889 the Cockburn Ministry endeavoured to bring in a much more stringent measure, and was unsuccessful. One peculiarity of the existing law is that "no liquor can be supplied to any person whose relatives declare before a magistrate that he is wasting his means or interfering with the happiness of his family by drinking. This extraordinary provision, which exists also, although in slightly varied form, in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Tasmania, and New Zealand, as well as in some parts of the United States, would undoubtedly be made use of in England for purposes of annoyance, but, by general admission, it is not so used in South Australia."

More important in many respects, and especially as affecting the future of South Australia, than any of the other subjects which claimed the attention of Lord Kintore on his arrival in the colony, was the revival that had taken place in trade and business generally, and the spirit of enterprise and alertness that was manifested in every quarter. Industries that had been practically left to take care of themselves were being looked after with eager carefulness; new sources of wealth were being discovered, and new public works for their development were being originated.

It will be well for us to take a glance at some of the principal industries and staple sources of revenue then in a well-established state, and also at some which, although in their infancy, showed promise of large and important growth.

The quantity of wheat exported in 1890 was 7,775,805 bushels; of flour, 66,632 tons. In 1888 the wheat exported reached 8,630,760 bushels; and flour, 74,091 tons.

The prospects of wool production were more favourable than in many previous years, and the hearts of the pastoralists were made glad. It was true that drought had played sad havoc with the flocks, thinning their ranks enormously, on some of the stations as many as 40,000 sheep perishing in a few weeks for want of water and food; and it was also true that a long-threatened source of danger was more nearly approaching, namely, the rabbit pest, which had spread to such an extent that on one run that had hitherto produced some thousands of bales of wool, only 700 bales were forthcoming, the rabbits preventing the run from carrying the usual number of sheep; nevertheless, the general outlook was better than for many years. The opening rates at the London wool sales were of a most cheering character; and these prices, as is well known, fix the standard of value for wool in all parts of the world. But the pastoralists believed that an important change was at hand, and that in a short time the business centre of the wool industry would be, not the British capital, but the place where the bulk of the wool is grown, and that this revolution in the system of disposing of the produce of the sheep station would have the hearty approval of large English and foreign buyers. It was a noteworthy fact that in 1888 and 1889 one-half of the yield of Australian wool was disposed of locally. The advantages of this were recognized alike by buyers and sellers. By going direct to the source of supply instead of depending upon middlemen, buyers found that, besides saving commission, the condition of the wool as delivered to them was better, and that they gained also in the matter of weight, and the opinion was generally expressed that it would be a recognized tiling for local sales to increase and for London sales to decrease—to the gain of the colony, but to the discomfiture of the salesmen of the mother country.

Moreover, it was a fact that many countries hitherto exporters of wool were now becoming importers, and that America, the great rival of Australia, appeared to have reached its maximum production while its consumption was increasing rapidly, and would in consequence soon become a large importing country, many Americans having already become big buyers in South Australia. The explanation for this altered state of affairs was given in the annual review of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, as follows:—"It is shown that as population increases, not only does the area for sheep decrease, but the demand for the staple is larger, while in the more thickly populated countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Continent, and the United States, the necessity of breeding for carcases places the culture of wool in a subsidiary position, and drives the latter to the larger pastures of Australia and the River Plate. The primary interest of the meat trade in the United States is one of the factors which has induced the American buyers to operate largely in our market."

In 1890 the quantity of wool exported was 53,593,168 lbs. In 1889 it reached 63,331,639 lbs. In 1888 it fell to 50,596,901 lbs.; but in 1887 it was 62,075,113 lbs.

It is of course impossible to sum up the mineral wealth of South Australia; but, speaking generally, it may be said that almost two-thirds of the settled portions of the vast territory consist of geological formations which may be regarded as metal-bearing. There have always been drawbacks to its development. The enormous area; inexperience in mining matters; a disposition to start companies and float shares, rather than to survey the land and to educate the people up to an appreciation of their possessions; a lack of interest on the part of the Government, who have trusted too implicitly to "private enterprise", by which means worthless properties have been extolled and only brokers have been benefited—these have been the bane of the mining interest. Nevertheless the exported minerals of the colony—chiefly copper—up to 1889 represented a total aggregate value of twenty millions sterling. About that time a general revival of interest in mining took place; the Government awoke to the conviction that the desultory and ineffective way in which the pursuit, had hitherto been carried on should cease, and one of the first important steps taken was the establishment of a School of Mines in Adelaide, an educational centre for the whole community, where scientific training might be had for posts of trust in the management of mines, and such knowledge obtained as should lead to practical methods for conducting mining operations on a scientific basis. In January, 1889, an Inspector of Mines was appointed, and in the Legislature the laws affecting mining were liberalized, and disabilities which had stood in the way of the progress of the industry were removed, while, at the same time, the extension of the railway system opened up prospects of cheapening the expenses of transit.

Experts have expressed their belief that untold wealth lies at the very doors of the citizens of Adelaide; that the hundreds of properties opened, at one time and another, and abandoned, are still valuable, and may be made payable, while there is an almost unlimited field for further experiment. It is to gold, however, that practical miners now look, and such auriferous areas as Echunga, Barossa, Woodside, Wankaringa, and Teetulpa appear to them to be capable of much larger development, while in the far North, where the Government geologist has discovered some very excellent specimens of gold-bearing quartz, the sphere is practically illimitable.

What is wanted is adequate capital, deep sinking, economical methods, honest, persistent development, and practical knowledge. Let these be forthcoming, and the gold industry in South Australia will probably assume immense importance. Miners have hitherto spent their time too much in scraping and washing the surface, and when the shallow alluvial has been exhausted, a rich gold district like Teetulpa has sunk back into an obscurity almost as deep as that which characterized it before the gold rush brought it into notice. Apropos to this we may quote a remark of Mr. H.Y.L. Brown, Government geologist, in 1890 * :—

[* "A Record of tho Mines of South Australia", by Henry Y.L. Brown, F.G.S., Government geologist.]

"There yet remains one great difficulty to be overcome in the fact that the gold found in this province is usually very fine, and disseminated in such minute particles as to make its complete extraction from the matrix and associated ores, principally pyrites, a matter of apparent impossibility. This, of course, results at present in great loss, and there will be a new era of prosperity secured to gold mining, when cheap and effective appliances are invented, which will make bulk treatment produce the precious metal in quantities approximating to the percentages obtained by assays of mere samples. This technical difficulty overcome, it may fairly be assumed that South Australia and our Northern Territory will rank high among the gold-producing countries of the world, and that their prosperous future will be assured."

It will be remembered that at one period of crisis in the history of the colony, the invention of Ridley's reaping machine revolutionized the whole cost of wheat production and prospects of the province; may it not be that, in like manner, some enterprising colonist will solve the present problem by the invention "of cheap and effective appliances", and so cause these golden dreams to come true?

"With the wonderful climate of Australia," says Dr. Taylor, "with its volcanic and other weathered soils full of potash, iron, and other vine-food, with sound and educated vine-stocks from Germany and France—stocks on which there has been bestowed more than a hundred generations of careful culture—it would be surprising, indeed, if Australia were not supplying the world with 'wine that maketh glad the heart of man' long after the worn-out vineyards of the Old World have succumbed to horticultural starvation and entomological ravages."

We have from time to time in the course of this work referred to the progress and prospects of the wine trade, and therefore confine our remarks now to one or two of the later phases only. A great impetus was given to the industry by the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, held in London, when general attention was drawn to the Australian vintages. Notice was taken of them by connoisseurs, and practical advantages ensued. The absolute purity of the wine was established; the most exhaustive tests were applied, and every sample came out exactly what it professed to be—the pure juice of the grape. Of course there were some complaints, although the general testimony was that they compared favourably with the best German hocks and the best French sauternes and clarets, and it was seen that as the wine trade of South Australia, yet in its infancy, was capable of producing such good results, every year would make improvements, and that soon the great European desideratum would be found of a cheap, pure, and wholesome wine. Since that time the enterprising managers of the various "Stores" in London have pushed forward the sale of the wine, and have succeeded in breaking up former monopolies. The establishment of a regular market for the wines outside the Australian colonies has been another important result. Hitherto much that had been sold under the name of Tintara and Highercombe had never emanated from Australia at all; others had been blended with Spanish wine, and sold under various names. Now Australian wine is being increasingly valued as Australian wine, and there is in all quarters a growing demand for it. At present the whole produce of Australasia per annum is stated to be barely sufficient to meet the consumption in London for three months, and the share of South Australia in this produce does not amount to much more than one-fifth, and a large portion of this is consumed in the colony.

Here, then, is a wide field for future industry, and since the date of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition rapid strides have been made in its development. The eyes of the South Australians were opened to the necessity of procuring from the wine districts of the European Continent men theoretically and practically acquainted with the business of vine-growing and wine-making, and there is no doubt that, with the assistance of these specialists, every year will show better results in the production of uniformly good wine.

In 1888 an expert visited South Australia to examine and report. His verdict was that the diversity of climates—the climates of Spain, Italy, and Sicily—was invaluable, and that he had never seen grapes produced elsewhere in such perfection; the returns per acre were more than double those in the most carefully cultivated vineyard in the world, the Chateau Lafite Estate; and, moreover, he saw no reason why the cognac industry should not be established, and become one of the greatest sources of wealth to the colony.

Soon after this visit, that is to say, in May, 1888, a Company was formed in South Australia, with a view to establish upon a broad and strong basis the wine, fruit, olive oil, wattle, and other producing interests of the colony, and of doing so on a sufficiently large scale to sensibly influence the English and other markets, and thereby secure and develop a steady and profitable trade. This was what was wanted—united action and skilled labour, and in making the start arrangements were completed for at once leasing or purchasing the produce of such well-known properties as Beaumont, Tanunda, and Moorooroo. Already the effect of this combination has been felt, and the future will, it is believed, more fully demonstrate the soundness of the principle upon which it has been established.

It is impossible to lay too much stress on the importance and manifold advantages of Water Conservation and Irrigation to South Australia. In his admirable work, "Problems of Greater Britain", Sir Charles Dilke says—

"If the periodical droughts from which South Australia suffers can be dealt with by irrigation and by conservation of water, or by boring, very different use will be made of this vast territory, and irrigation is already beginning to tell its story in the parts of South Australia which border on Northern Victoria and Southwestern New South Wales, The country is so dry that its wheat-growing district yields but a small crop. In those districts which can be irrigated, either from the Murray or by boring, the farms will be reduced in size from the grain farms of two or three hundred acres to fruit and vine and vegetable farms of twenty acres, and an enormously increased population living in comfort will be the result."

We will endeavour in this place to sketch briefly what has been done and is doing to expedite this happy augury.

Mr. G.W. Goyder, C.M.G., to whom the colony is indebted for the prosecution of many important schemes, was the first to be entrusted with any active work in connection with water conservation. This was somewhere about 1874. Under his superintendence wells were sunk, reservoirs, tanks, and dams constructed, in various places, not only in the settled districts near Adelaide, but also in the far north. The first attempt to tap the subterranean waters by means of artesian borings was in 1878-79, and proved successful. But for these aids to the usual water supply, the stock routes to the various markets would have been impassable in time of drought. Up to this time the expenses were voted under "Expenditure from Revenue", but in 1881-82 a further step was taken by providing from loan money, under the headings of "Conservation of Water" and "Development of the Interior", for the whole expenditure for water supply, first for supplying water within proclaimed districts, and next for developing outside country, so as to promote settlement and attract stock from other colonies. In more recent years these two objects have been comprehended under the one heading of "Water Conservation."

From 1882 the work in this department has been perpetual, north, south, east, and west—work involving, in many instances, enormous difficulty and responsibility, but with the result that facilities have been afforded on most of the main routes for watering travelling stock, for assisting struggling farmers in newly opened hundreds to commence work, and for enabling travellers and explorers to reach almost any part of the colony. The expenditure on Government works for water conservation from January 1, 1874, to June 30, 1883, was £142,912.

In 1883 it was deemed expedient to establish a separate department for carrying on and extending this work, and Mr. J.W. Jones, at that time Deputy Surveyor-General, was appointed Conservator of Water, and the personal superintendence of the Surveyor-General then ceased. Mr. Jones had acquired an intimate knowledge of the geography of the colony by explorations, and by his field experience as Deputy Surveyor, and his services were very valuable. The Water Conservation Act passed in this year was concerned with two classes of undertakings—fresh water for stock and other purposes, and next, water for irrigation. To enumerate in barest outline the enormous number of borings, of wells, tanks, and reservoirs constructed, would only be wearisome. This necessary work, involving very heavy expenditure, was prosecuted with most commendable energy, and was accomplished with varying success.

In 1887 the attention of South Australians was directed with great eagerness to the action of the Victorian Government with regard to the establishment of Irrigation Colonies, or water trusts, on their side of the river Murray. In May of that year Victoria entered into a contract with the world-known firm of Chaffey Brothers to found an Irrigation Colony at Mildura.

Exactly a year from that date, namely, on the 30th of May, 1888, Messrs. Chaffey Brothers covenanted with the South Australian Government to establish an Irrigation Colony at Renmark, on their side of the Murray. The Government agreed to grant them a licence for the immediate occupation of 30,000 acres of land, the firm at any period during a term of twenty years from the date of the licence being allowed to apply to the Government from time to time for the fee simple, without payment to the State, of portions of the land at the rate of an acre for every £4 spent, and on their complying with other general conditions, no such grant to be less than 500 acres. They could also apply during the twenty years for a licence for an additional area of 10,000 acres on the same condition, and they were pledged to spend on land under licence, or on other portions of it, before the expiry of the twenty years, a sum of £300,000. The agreement likewise included an extra area of 310,000 acres, which Messrs. Chaffey could obtain upon the payment of £1 per acre to the Government, and on laying out an expenditure of £1 per acre. They were also licensed to take from the river Murray, so far as the Government could give such licence, equal to twenty-four inches of water per acre per year over the area actually under irrigation culture.

The site selected for the first South Australian Irrigation Colony was Renmark, 170 miles from Morgan by the river, or 180 miles in a direction east-northeasterly from Adelaide, and in the electoral district of the Burra. It is a fine piece of country, as level as the Adelaide Park-lands, and standing above the high-water mark several miles beyond Lake Bonney.

Water was not laid on for irrigation until June, 1888, but early in 1889 the population was 270, with 60 or 70 habitations, the majority being tents. At that date Chaffey's Foundry, stores, works, and numberless other buildings and appliances were in course of construction. The town of Renmark was surveyed into 500 acres, town and villa allotments, and laid out on the same lines as the Victorian town, Mildura, viz. town allotments one-eighth of an acre each, disposed of at £20 per lot; villa allotments of two and a half acres, £100 per lot; and agricultural and horticultural lauds from £15 to £20 per acre, selling either for cash or credit. All lands were sold with water rights running with the titles at the same rate per acre as the rights secured by the Government to the firm of Chaffey Brothers. To each purchaser of land there was issued one paid-up share in the Renmark (or Mildura) Irrigation Company, Limited, for each acre held by him, such share representing the proportion of the property of the general irrigation works acquired with each acre purchased. Each share entitled the holder to one vote in the control of the management of the irrigation works, and was issued "as appurtenant to and transferred with each acre of land."

To each of the religious denominations Messrs. Chaffey Brothers presented a block of land on which to erect a church, although at that time the ubiquitous Salvation Army was the only body that had put up anything in the nature of a permanent structure.

Such was the start of the first South Australian Irrigation Colony, and the question of its success the future must decide. It was gratifying to find that before the end of May, 1889, the land irrigated and on which settlers had commenced operations embraced 2000 acres, all of which had been taken up by sixty persons, principally South Australians.

One of the most profitable State enterprises of the colony, and of which South Australia is justly proud, is forestry. As early as 1873, Mr. Krichauff, M.P., initiated a scheme. A Bill was passed to give it effect, and during subsequent years great strides have been made in arboriculture. Of the 180,000 acres held by the Forest Department in 1888, 40,000 represented natural forests, 8000 had been planted, and 132,000 were reserves on which sheep and cattle were allowed to run. Six million trees had been planted in the various reserves within a period of ten or eleven years, and two and a half million trees had been given away by the Government to farmers, landed proprietors, and others.

Figures and reports are as a rule dull reading, but in this instance an extract or two from the report of Mr. J.E. Brown, the Conservator of Forests in 1888, will put the matter in a nutshell. Up to that date the Forest Department had expended £60,000 and received £70,000, or a profit of £10,000. Timber-cutting of native growth had been going on for, six years, and 500,000 sleepers for the railways had been turned out, exclusive of timber for other purposes. South Australia had hitherto been annually importing timber to the value of £200,000, but in a few years the Conservator thought the resources of the colony would be sufficient to meet its own demand. And this was his idea of the prospective value of one plantation:—" If required," he said, "I can cut a plantation planted eleven years ago at Bundaleer and send the timber to the Barrier mines. We could realize £15,000 for that timber, which is an enormous sum when you consider that the forest only cost the Government £300 for labour in planting. But I would hesitate as to clearing the forest just now, for I am of opinion that if the trees are left for another four or five years they will realize double the £15,000."

Apart from the question of profit to the State, and of benefit to the colony in finding profitable employment for many hundreds of men in forest culture, and of beauty in such places as, say, the Ninety Mile Desert, or even such districts as Jamestown, Gladstone, Kapunda, Gawler, or Quorn, all of which have their pleasant and picturesque plantations, it must be borne in mind that indigenous timber was dying out and being destroyed by clearings to an alarming extent, and in a country subject to drought experience has proved that a treeless area always has less rain than one covered with forests. In a sense, therefore, the future welfare of the timber trade and all kindred industries turns upon the development of forest culture. This has been wisely recognized, and is being taught practically to the rising generation, for, on the 20th of June, 1889, the American institution of "Arbor Day" was established in Adelaide, when the children in the State Schools went forth, amid the braying of "trumpets and shawms" and the sweet singing of bands of vocalists, to plant 760 trees on the Adelaide Park-lands, and so help to cover the waste places with planes, oaks, pines, or whatever trees were considered best adapted to the conditions. The scheme has spread into all the principal townships, and if it succeeds in proportion as it has succeeded in Nebraska, where, on their first Arbor Day, 12,000,000 trees were planted, and in the course of seventeen years 600,000,000 trees were flourishing, or indeed if it succeeds as in any of the thirty-four States in the Union where Arbor Day is observed, much will have been done by the young people of South Australia to adorn the land of their birth, to modify its climate, and to increase its industries.

Serious attention has in late years been directed to the necessity of securing a market for South Australian fruit in London. Formerly this would have been an impossibility, but now the quick passages of steamers, fitted up with excellent appliances for the preservation of fruit, brings the colony within reach of "the great world-centre." Moreover, the season of production in the colony and of demand in England tit in to a nicety.

In August, 1888, a trial shipment was made, and it arrived in the market in a fairly good state. It resulted in the laying down of the following conditions:—that only the very best fruit should be sent; that it should be gathered when barely ripe, so as to mature on the voyage; and that it should be most carefully packed.

Since then a considerable amount of trade has been done in this industry, and the "fruit colony" has been the result. One incident will explain. In July, 1890, Messrs. G. and I. Riddoch, well-known landed proprietors in the south-east, resolved to convert 1000 acres of their estate into a fruit-producing colony, cutting it up into ten-acre blocks at £10 per acre payable in ten years, with interest at five per cent. The estate is five miles from the Penola railway station, and one mile from a railway siding; unlimited water can be obtained by sinking ten feet, and the soil and climate are in all respects satisfactory for fruit-growing. It is an excellent idea, and if the scheme succeeds it will doubtless be largely extended.

There are many other important industries of the colony, to which reference has been made in some of the preceding chapters, that have been long established on a permanent basis and need only be mentioned here. Meat-preserving—a fluctuating trade dependent on the price of sheep—has made considerable progress; also the manufacture of soap, candles, and leather, as skins and hides are plentiful and tanneries numerous. This, again, has given rise to the establishment of boot and shoe factories, producing articles equal, if not superior to those imported. The abundance of wool in the colony has directed attention to the manufacture of tweeds, blankets, and other woollen fabrics, which in the future should become a much more important industry than it has been in the past.

Under the auspices of a most valuable society, the Chamber of Manufactures, the cultivation of native industries has been advocated and developed in a most praiseworthy manner. Among them the planting of olives for the manufacture of olive oil, and the growth of mulberry trees for sericulture. Sir Samuel Davenport was the pioneer in this latter industry, and his nephew. Dr. Cleland, followed his lead, and made persistent efforts, extending over a long series of years, to place it upon a sound and satisfactory basis.

In like manner the Agricultural Bureau has done good and useful work in introducing dairy factories; the application of scientific principles to ordinary farming; the cultivation of fodder plants, which grow freely in South Australia when once established, for the purposes of fattening live stock, the making of ensilage, and other valuable industries.

Time would fail to tell of the almost endless possibilities and sources of wealth in the future to South Australia, but among them will probably be mining for coal, silver, and precious stones, pearl-fisheries, bee-farming, poultry-farming, flower-culture for making perfumes, and ostrich-farming. Of the last two it may be interesting to note one or two points.

Everything grows luxuriantly, the climate is most dependable, and flower-fanning—the cultivation of lavender fields, the distillation and manufacture of essential oils and perfumes, the preparation of disinfectants from the one hundred and forty species of gum-trees, all with aromatic leaves—should form a most important and lucrative industry.

Ostrich farming may, and probably will, be one of the successes of the future. The experiment has been tried at Gawler and elsewhere with excellent results. At Mr. Malcolm's farm at Gawler, about a hundred adult ostriches were kept enclosed in twenty-six paddocks separated by wire fencing, the ground being left in its natural and uncleared state of bush. Some of the breeding birds for this farm cost as much as £100 each. When the young birds are only eight months old, some of their feathers may be taken. As they get older the feathers are plucked every eight or nine months, and as many as weigh one pound and three-quarters or more are not unfrequently taken from a single bird."

There is also the South Australian Ostrich Company with a flourishing farm at Port Augusta, where in 1889 530 birds were in stock, 263 of which had been reared during the previous three breeding seasons. This company is now the largest establishment of the kind in the world, there being in 1890 700 birds on the farm, at which time an "electric automatic self-regulating incubator" was about to be tried.

There can be little doubt that the future of South Australia will be one of wealth and usefulness. It has passed through reverses and successes, and it has had to bear the heavy burden of debt, but all along there has been steady progress. It is absurd to speak of South Australia as poor. She has an area, roughly speaking, equal to that of New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, Germany, and France combined. But of her nearly six hundred million acres, only seven million acres have been sold in fee simple, nine hundred thousand acres partly paid for, four millions on lease with right of purchase, and three and a half millions held on perpetual lease.

All the vast extent of land which is not under settlement has a prospective value, increasing in worth with every mile of railway extending into it. For all the money that South Australia has borrowed she can offer as security, not only her magnificent railway system, but this enormous extent of unalienated land, hundreds of thousands of square miles, including pastoral and arable lands, hillsides covered with valuable forest trees, while some are deep veined with gold, silver, copper, and lead, sources of wealth practically illimitable.

[For further information on some of the subjects referred to in this chapter, see Appendix at end of volume.]

{Page 143}

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS

FROM THE

FOUNDATION OF THE COLONY.

ADMINISTRATION OF CAPTAIN HINDMARSH, R.N.

{Page 143}