si^"Ayers ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 289 after Sir Henry had been deprived of it. Reviewing his Ministerial career, it will be seen that from July 4, 1863, to October 26, 1877, Sir Henry was connected with 11 Ministries — six of which were successive. While he was leader of the Legislative Council he held the portfolio of Chief Secretary. His colleagues in the various Cabinets were the late Judges Andrews and Stow, Sir A. Blyth, Sir R. I). Ross, Sir J. C. Bray, Sir W. Milne, and the Hons. J. H. Barrow, E. H. Derrington, F. S. Dutton, L. Clyde, J. Hart, T. Reynolds, H. K. Hughes, J. G. Ramsay, P. Santo, Cj. J. W. Stevenson, and Wentworth Cavenagh. Of those who were his fellow-Ministers, the survivors are .Sir )ames i'enn Boucaut, the Hon. Sir John Colton, the Hons. H. B. T. Strangways, J. Carr, and I{. Ward. Sir Henry Ayers' appointment to the Presidentship of the Council in i88r was not his first experience of the Chair. In 1879 he acted as Deputy President during the absence of the then President, Sir William Milne. On the assembling of Parliament in 1881, Sir Henry was elected President; and in 1888 was re-elected. He stayed in the Presidential Chair till December 19, 1893, when he resigned his seat in the Council. On that occasion the Council recorded in its proceedings " its sen.se of the long and distinguished services of the hon. gentleman to the colony of South Australia." The Hon. J. H. Gordon, leading the Upper House, in moving the resolution, said that with the resignation of Sir Henry Ayers they "lost not only a member of ability and distinction, not only a President under whom every member of the Council had found it a pleasure to sit, but a kindly and sagacious friend, whose ripe experience and wise counsel were always at the service of those who sought them. His political career was unique in its uninterrupted length of service and in prominence." As an intercolonial delegate, Sir Henry was on more than one occasion an able representative of the Province's interests. Together with the late Sir Arthur Blyth and the late Hon. Lavington Glyde, he attended, in 1863, the first Intercolonial Conference. The main [)urpose of this gathering was for the consideration of the subject of uniform tariffs and Customs duties and their distribution. .Sir Henry Ayers and Sir Arthur Blyth also represented South Australia at the Intercolonial Conference held in Melbourne in December, 1864, in reference to the transportation of criminals from the United Kingdom. An address had formerly been adopted and submitted to the Oueen opposing transportation to any of the Australian Colonies, and urging that the transportation of convicts to Western Australia should cease. The Conference made such an effectual remonstrance that the Imperial authorities were later induced to abandon a projected resumption, and the transi)ortation to Western Australia ceased. In 1867 Sir Henry represented South Australia at an Intercolonial Conference in Melbourne on the ocean postal question. Early in 1873 another Intercolonial Conference was held at Sydney, and the matters set down for deliberation related to the Suez mail contract, Border duties, and others of some importance. The delegates from this Province were Sir Henry Ayers and the late Hon. J. H. Barrow. This Conference advised that the ocean mail steamers .should call at Glenelg to receive and deliver mails; it settled the terms of a Border Duties Convention with New .South W^ales ; abolished the system of collecting Customs duties on the Murray River, and substituted the payment of lump sums to be arranged on an equitable basis by the colonies more immediately concerned. When the delegates returned, they were specially thanked
