beaten slowly. The general tidal-wave that bore in its flood many fortune-mongers, received Mr. Backhouse on its crest and left him high and dry in Western Australia. This was his second Argonautic expedition to the land of the "Golden Fleece." In August, 1893, immediately after his arrival, he started practice in Perth as mining and consulting engineer. His scientific reputation was the means of his obtaining a considerable practice. His counsel and opinion were sought for continually in mining matters, and he gradually gained a business connection with leading mining companies.
The West Australian Goldfields, Limited, was absolutely the pioneer of English companies in Coolgardie. Its directors had just entered into some large mining transactions, and invited Mr. Backhouse to accept the managership of their mines; they acted with discretion in their choice. Since his appointment the company has flourished and been paying goodly dividends, due to the managerial ability. This company, which was floated on the London market by the Hon. H. J. Saunders, M.L.C., a few years ago, is now accredited with the possession of extensive real estate and various properties which necessitate Mr. Backhouse's travelling over large portions of the colony. In his twin capacity of manager and overseer, he inspects and takes accurate bearings and measurements of all the different properties. A series of flotations by the company early took place in rapid succession; the White Feather Reward Mine, Mount Jackson Gold Mine, Mount Margaret Reward Claim, the Princess Alice, the Quartz Hill Reward, and the Yerilla Gold mines. The subsidiary companies now owning these have invested large capital in them, and add the degree of "limited" after their names. As offshoots from the parent stem, it behoves Mr. Backhouse to carefully look to the young twigs and tender branches. Any advice, scientific or mechanical, is to be tendered to them.
Acute and observant, his reports and scientific accounts of the physical features of the country he has traversed, which includes all the gold fields of the interior, must be regarded as stamped with authority, especially in view of his extensive geological and chemical knowledge. He was the first mining engineer in Coolgardie to perform the journey from Coolgardie to Lake Way through the Murchison Goldfields to Geraldton. It was considered a great feat to accomplish. And such a luke-warm epithet does not in any way compensate for the fatigue and many harassing discomforts of the march. His trip was undertaken for a purely scientific purpose, namely, exploration.
In 1895 he was elected a councillor in the Coolgardie municipality. Various corporate bodies in their collective capacity claim his active services. He holds (1896) the honorary position of vice-president of the Chamber of Mines and Commerce. The utility of this body of mining men in standing by and seeing that justice is wrought is now beginning to be more widely recognised. Athletics is natural in the Australian citizen, and with all Mr. Backhouse's flood of business he finds time for patronising various kinds of sport. The Rugby Football Club of Coolgardie may think itself honoured by the presence of his name on the syllabus as vice-president. Similar sporting clubs enrol his name as patron or honorary office-bearer. The very surface of this sketch shows a rich outcrop of energy. That wealth of scientific experience, which is a mechanical mixture of theory and practice, serves well its twofold purpose in Coolgardie. The student of promise in the University has not belied the propitious prophecy. His alma mater has every reason to be proud of one of the ablest of her sons, whose name will long be associated with scientific progress in the gold mining industry of Coolgardie.
WILLIAM MUMME.
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Photo by WILLIAM MUMME. Greenham & Evans. |
THE evolutionary ideal of pure altruism has not yet reconciled itself to the world of commerce. From the satiety of "commercial egoism" flows a subsequent and secondary spirit of philanthropy. In the race for life there are many "watery kindnesses." The zeal and zest of each individual's energy is awakened and quickened to the consideration of the narrow region of self, and by very slow degrees to the region of not-self.
In reviewing the several stages of the life of pioneers, we cannot but take into consideration the many hardships and difficulties of their lot. William Mumme is a living proof of the theory that the universe of commerce demands rigid laws of her own. Till these are obeyed there is no high-water mark of success. Mr. Mumme was born in Hamburg in 1838. He left school at an early age, and became engaged in a brewery in Wohldorf, near Hamburg. He subsequently transferred his services to the Poppenbuttel Brewery. After acquiring complete knowledge of the art of brewing, he resolved to go to a field where there would be sufficient scope for his energies. In 1857 he sailed to South Australia, and found employment at
