career was brief and active, and devoted to democratic progress. His bold and fiery speeches will be remembered by those who had the pleasure of hearing them at the hustings and in Parliament. The outspoken declamations that hit hard and straight caused a sensational flutter in the House. Unsparing in his invectives against colonial conservatism and autocratic exclusiveness, he rendered special service by giving Reason precedence of Authority. When the general elections were held in 1889 he again contested the seat. This time, however, four candidates entered the arena, the other three being Dr. Scott, E. Keane, and W. Traylen. The contest resulted in Mr. Horgan, who was first favourite, losing the seat by three votes, through the overconfidence of some of his supporters, who split their votes with other candidates. The fickleness of public opinion is sufficient at times to reject one who could be its greatest benefactor. Evidently, at all events, the wind of popular favour had veered for some unaccountable reason. Suspecting duplicity, however, in the election, he lodged a petition against the return, but was unsuccessful in his suit, the expenses of which he had to pay to a well-nigh ruinous extent. In connection with this election a clever sheet descriptive of Mr. Horgan was issued, setting forth that he was a man of deeds, not words. He was sued by the late Geo. Walpole Leake for slander, and after two trials, occupying eight days, he was mulcted in heavy damages and costs.
His professional duties are now extensive and arduous. Besides his own private business he is a number of the Barristers' Admission Board. Various mines obtain his directorship, the chief one being the Stockyard Creek Gold Mining Company. He is a prominent member of the Margaret River Syndicate. When Golden Valley was first discovered, with all its immediate excitement and fascination, he was one of the original claimholders.
Mr. Horgan has conducted most of the causes célèbre, in conjunction with the present Mr. Justice Hensman, while practising at the Bar. His practice is an old-established and successful one. It was he who was originator of he now famous phrase, "the six families," and he applied it in a sarcastic sense, intending to convey that that sextet dominated the whole of Western Australia. The name still lingers, but change of time and circumstances is rendering any such stigma impossible.
EDMUND GILYARD LACEY.
HER great jarrah forests have been an invaluable source of wealth to Western Australia. Rearing their tall heads on the ironstone ridges of the high hills, standing as a huge phalanx on the long plains, and affording a delightful shelter from the powerful rays of the sun in the cool valleys, these mahogany monarchs have very materially helped to enrich colonists. Hardy and tenacious, they are the enemies of decay, and as articles of commercial utility will compare with any hardwood in the whole world. Numerous are the fortunes which have been made out of the umbrageous woods, and the one-time solemn sylvan scenes now resound with the jarring of saws and the sharp thud of many axes. Man has made many gaps in the woodland ranks, and the noble fronts have been serried by his onslaughts.
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Photo by EDMUND GILYARD LACEY. Greenham & Evans. |
Mr. Lacey supplies a typical example of the beneficence of the jarrah forests. Edmund Gilyard Lacey was born in Yorkshire in 1843. The alluvial gold discoveries in Victoria were the cause of his father, Mr. James Lacey, leaving the old country and coming to Australia. The latter gentleman had heard of the great fortunes which were being found in Victoria, and every Australian mail brought news of a more and more startling nature of the golden wonders which adorned hilltop and valley and plain at Bendigo and Ballarat. Those who could possibly get away crowded the many sailing vessels, and each month landed on Victorian shores thousands of strong-minded and bodied men, eager to fight Nature and make her yield forth her wealth. Thus the first great influx of population to Australia took place, and the best stuff to develop and establish the colonies was secured. The father came out alone in 1854, but in 1855 his wife and youngest daughter followed him, while in 1857 the two remaining daughters and one son left England, and four months later stepped on the old jetty at Sandridge (Port Melbourne). Mr. James Lacey possessed at this time a farm at Templestowe, near Melbourne, where he subsequently spent many peaceful years. Mr. E.G. Lacey remained under the paternal roof until his twenty-first birthday. That herald of legal manhood saw him enter the commercial arena on his own account, to gain a place among the successful, or to shrink back among the unknown. He began as a carrier on the roads between Hoddle's Creek and Wood's Point, and for nine years pursued this avocation and made money by it.
