ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 299 I Hon. Sir Edwin T. Smith, K.C.M.G., M.L.C. SOUTH AUSTRALIA can boast of wealthy citizens who have, by virtue of unremittincj industry, raised themselves to an enviable point of affluence, and yet who, be it said to their honor, have utilised their abundance for the oeneral oood and welfare of the community. Perhaps in no place in the world does the famous saying of Aristotle, that '■ man is a social animal," find more practical application than in Australia. If Fortune chance to have raised the privileged receivers of her bounties to a position of power, they seldom forg'et that they are citizens with a duty to perform in a risin<r colony. Patriotism, with its components of generosity and altruism, impels to liberality ; and the Australian con- tinent can boast of none more liberal in the disbursement of pecuniary assistance to deserving causes than South Australia's popular and well-known citizen. Sir Edwin Smith. Sir Edwin was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, England, in 1831, and at the age of 22 arrived in .South Australia. His first intro- duction to colonial life was in the capacity of an importer. He afterwards turned his attention and industrious energy to brewing. To this latter business he tenaciously and advantageously I Hammer tjr^ Co., Fhoto clung for close on 35 years, during which period he led a life of unceasing and laborious activity, his industry being only equalled by his skill in his line of trade. He laid the nucleus of his fortune in the savings gleaned from his own physical exertions ; and these were subsequently directed into other profitable channels, his investments bespeaking a discretionary judgment as well as an exemplary display of thrift in his early years. Thus he was ultimately able to forego a measure of his active biisiness life, and devote himself to responsible but less continuously exacting public duties. Sir lulwin had early exhibited a decided leaning to politics. His proclivities were U2
