Deeley says that whenever his company float a mine they have nothing more to do with it. They are merely a financial corporation. They employ about 400 men in Western Australia—numbers sufficiently large to convey an approximate idea of the extent of their resources. The directors in Western Australia are Sir George Shenton and Mr. C. G. Millar. One great success of the company is in the water scheme, which can at the present time pump 30,000 gallons per hour. Sir John Forrest rendered every assistance towards the completion of the scheme, and the company and Mr. Deeley speak of his disinterested services in terms of the greatest praise.
Several of Mr. Deeley's latest flotations are turning out well, such as Block 45, the Union Jack, and Southern Boulder. Perhaps the most important flotation executed in the whole of his representative career is the Menzies Alpha Leases, with a capital of £125,000, and now admitted to be one of the most valuable properties in Menzies. In these leases, which adjoin the Lady Shenton mine, 1,160 feet of cross-cutting have been completed. During all this time Mr. Deeley taxed his energies to their breaking point. He combined the offices of manager, representative, and overseer, hurrying from one point to the other in his endeavour to cover all. The strain was too much for brain and body, and the company obtained the expert services and experienced skill of Mr. George Armstrong, a well-known Bendigo mining engineer, and Mr. Eckburg, of Ballarat. These efficient and scientific men relieve Mr. Deeley of many of his former onerous duties. The company has good reason to be thankful to him, for its last dividend was 60 per cent. As a great traveller and experienced mineralogist in this colony his mature and well-balanced opinion of the colony will be authoritative and valuable. "In 1894," he says, "when I was in London, I had several interviews with Lord Rothschild, who asked me more than once for my opinion on the goldfields of Western Australia. I told him as my sincere and impartial conviction that these goldfields would eventually turn out the largest and richest goldfields in the world." These bold words were not without weight. Though the fields had many obstructions and obstacles at first, Sir John Forrest, Mr. Deeley admits in flattering terms, did everything in his power to remove them. The progressive policy of the Government has aided to an incalculable degree the development of the fields by the speedy removal of encumbrances and the granting of transit facilities. Mr. Deeley has not shrunk from perils and hardships. He is cool and logical; reasoning is solely responsible for his speculative success. He justified the step he took in leaving home, where, perhaps, had he remained, the lux famae would have been but a flickering flame, instead of attaining a full brilliancy.
HENRY STIRLING TRIGG, F.R.I.V.A.
SUCCESS in the professional world is not usually achieved by mere luck or good fortune. The successful man usually possesses qualities which have enabled him to overshadow his contemporaries and assume the responsibilities attached to the higher grades of his particular profession. In architecture as in other professions there are so many men who never rise above mediocrity, while others—few it is true—suddenly step out from the ranks, and become known by some lasting memorial. Such men are called lucky, and are envied by the dreamers who do not recognise that genius is largely persistency and capacity for hard work.
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Photo by HENRY STIRLING TRIGG, F.R.I.V.A. Barnard & Co. |
In the van of the army of the prosperous is Mr. Henry Stirling Trigg, F.R.I.V.A., one of the leading architects of the colony, and at the same time the only native born practising his profession. Mr. Trigg comes of the good old stock of pioneers. His grandfather on the paternal side was the pioneer of the Congregational Church in Perth, and his maternal grandfather, Edmund Stirling, was influentially associated with the Perth Inquirer, one of the first newspapers published in the colony. His forefathers were so closely allied to the two great powers, the Church and the Press, that it was fit and proper that Henry should distinguish himself. He was born in Perth in 1860, and is the son of Stephen Trigg. After leaving school, which he attended in his native city, young Trigg entered the office of Mr. T. H. J. Brown, architect, to whom he was articled. He gained a theoretical training at this office, and when his articles were completed he went to Sydney to practise for a couple of years. During his sojourn in the New South Wales capital he had the advantage of seeing some of the best architectural efforts in the Southern Hemisphere, and when he returned to Perth some twelve years ago he possessed a large knowledge of architecture. Perth of 1884 was widely different from the Perth of to-day, with her beautiful buildings and huge warehouses. The city proper had then to be built, and in this work Mr. Trigg has taken a prominent part.
