The Jubilee ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 187 Mr. S. J. Way, the Chief Justice, acted as Governor between the departure of Sir Anthony Musgrave and the arrival of Sir W. W. Cairns, K.C.M.G. The latter, who had just vacated the Governorship of Queensland, was sworn in on March 24, 1877, but his tenure of office was exceedingly short. After associating himself with the aspirations of the people, and making himself popular by the interest he took in their institutions, ill health compelled him to resign, and he left the Province on May 17, less than two months after his arrival. Mr. Way again acted as administrator. Sir W. F". D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., was the next Governor, and on October 2 he assumed office. His appointment was popular ; rumors of war in the old world caused Australians to have a very natural fear that they would be defenceless against an enemy. Meetings were held in several parts of South Australia, and hundreds of men applied for enrolment in the local volunteer force. The Imperial Government commissioned Sir William Jervois and Colonel Scratchley to report on Australian defences. The former, born in Victor Harbor 1821, had seen active service among the Boers and Kaffirs, and in 1857, became Secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Defence of the Itmpire. While investigating the question of colonial defence, he received instructions to succeed Sir W. W. Cairns in South Australia. All Australians were pleased that a military officer so competent should remain in their midst for some time, and in Adelaide he was welcomed by a larger crowd than had previously assembled to greet a new Governor. While Sir William may have been useful to Australia in a military sense, in .South Australia his duties were happily chiefly of an official and social character. He was logical in argument and sound in judgment, and so closely identified himself with local interests that he became as one of the colonists. He invested money in station property, and his interest in South Australia did not cease with his departure from it. When he arrived, a constitutional struggle was in progress. The works for new Parliamentary buildings had been begun without the Legislative Council being consulted as to the site, although the project had been .sanctioned by both Houses. The Council took this as
