Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/340

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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Trade and Customs, and was sworn of the Executive Council, and elected to the Legislative Council for the Western province. In July 1866 he joined the first MᶜCulloch Ministry as Commissioner of Railways, but on going before his constituents he was defeated, and resigned office in Jan. 1867, retiring thenceforward from public life. Mr. Miller was a most successful speculator in Melbourne property, and having conducted his investments with marvellous prudence, died on Feb. 7th, 1888, leaving enormous wealth.

Miller, Hon. Henry John, M.L.C. New Zealand, an old settler in Oamaru, Otago, has been a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand for twenty-five years. Mr. Miller held office in the Fox Ministry as a member of the Executive Council from July to Sept 1872.

Miller, Hon. Maxwell, third son of Serjeant Miller, Judge of the Leicestershire County Court, was born in London in the year 1832. He was educated at St. Paul's School, whence he went up with a scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford. Here he gained the Fitzgerald scholarship, which transferred him to Queen's College. In 1852, at the instance of his elder brother William, who had emigrated to Victoria, he sailed for Melbourne. Soon after his arrival, Dr. Perry, the then Bishop of Melbourne, offered him the appointment of Secretary to the Diocese. This office he held until he obtained one of the two Inspectorships of Education for Victoria, the other Inspector being Mr. (now the Right Hon.) H. C. E. Childers. He resigned this office to become one of the sub-editors of the Argus newspaper, and shortly after his brother William and he received an invitation to conduct a newspaper in Hobart, which was being started in the Liberal interest. The Tasmanian Daily News was the result, a paper which, though creditable for its literary matter and effective as a political weapon, ended in heavy pecuniary loss after two or three years' existence. On the introduction of responsible government in 1856, Mr. Miller was returned to the House of Assembly as a member for Hobart, and soon made his mark as a debater. In conjunction with Mr. (now Sir F.) Smith, he introduced the scheme of Superior Education and endowed Tasmanian scholarships, which remained in force in the colony for some twenty-five years until the recent establishment of the Tasmanian University. Mr. Miller held office without portfolio in the short-lived ministry of Mr. Gregson, from Feb. 26th to April 1857. In 1863 Mr. Miller resigned his seat, and accepted the appointment of assistant-clerk to the House, an office which he held until within a short time of his death, which took place at Hobart, April 10th, 1867. Mr. Miller was a brother of Mr. Robert Byron Miller (q.v.). He was the author of "The Tasmanian House of Assembly: A Metrical Catalogue" (Hobart, 1860), a trenchant political satire.

Miller, Hon. Robert Byron, eldest son of Serjeant Miller and brother of above, entered as a student at the Middle Temple in April 1843, and was called to the bar in Jan. 1848. Emigrating to Tasmania, he was admitted to the bar of that colony in August 1855. Having entered Parliament, he was Attorney-General in the Whyte Ministry from Jan. 1863 to Nov. 1866, and was sworn of the Executive Council. He married, on April 11th, 1855, Emily, third daughter of George Berkeley Harrison, of London.

Mills, James, M.H.R., son of William Mills, formerly Collector of Customs at Christchurch, N.Z., was born in 1848. In 1869 he was left managing trustee of the properties of the late Mr. John Jones, mainly situate in Otago, and carried on business as a steamship owner from that year till 1875, when he started the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand, of which he has been managing director since its formation. Mr. Mills entered the House of Representatives as member for Port Chalmers in April 1887, on the death of Mr. Macandrew, and was re-elected on the dissolution in October of that year; as also in Dec. 1890.

Milne, Hon. Sir William, the son of the late William Milne, of Glasgow, merchant, was born in 1822, and educated at the High School, Glasgow. He was one of the pioneer settlers of South Australia, and was engaged in business at Adelaide from 1839 to 1857, when he was returned to the Legislative Assembly for Onkaparinga. This constituency he represented till 1868, and was returned to the Legislative Council in the following year. He was Commissioner of Crown Lands in

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