208 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Conclusions colonies but Western Australia during 1899. The closing year of the century will, therefore, be memorable as the Federation year, which witnessed the birth of a strong and self-reliant nation under the Southern Cross. The construction of railways has not been pursued with the vigor significant of the previous decade. The only lines laid down and opened up to December, 1897, were Glanville and Largs Bay (1891), Woodville and Henley Beach (1893), Peake and Angle Pole (1891), and Blyth and Gladstone, with a branch to Snowtown (1894). On June 30, 1899, there were open for traffic (exclusive of a line in the Northern Territory) 1,723 miles 54 chains of railway, built at a total cost of ^12,886,359, or £-],a^']6 per mile. In December, 1899, the Government purchased the Glenelg Railways; and have thus become ix)ssessed of all locomotive railways in the Province. On April 10, 1895, the Earl of Kintore relinquished office, and was succeeded as Governor by Sir Thomas Powell Buxton, Bart., K.C.M.G. This gentleman took office on October 29, 1895, and retired in December, 1898. He was a grandson of Thomas bo well Buxton, the first baronet, who was distinguished for his advocacy of the abolition of slavery, and of the liberal- ising of the Penal code. Born in January, 1837, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1858. He entered the House of Commons in 1865, was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1876, and was a familiar figure at Elxeter Hall. Philanthropic like his ancestor, the retiring Governor was also unostentatious, and was most kindly disposed towards local religious institutions. The Chief Justice, the Right Hon. S. J. Way, P.C, was administrator during the interregnum. His varied and great services to the Province were appropriately recognised in 1899 by his receiving the title of baronet. No South Australian stands, or deserves to stand, in higher esteem than Sir Samuel Way. The announcement that Lord Tennyson had been chosen to succeed Sir Powell Buxton caused great and general satisfaction. As a son of the late poet laureate, he bore a popular name, while his ability as a literary man and in other respects, secured for him a cordial welcome on his own account. Though he had no previous experience of official Botanic Gardens
