Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/632

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6o6 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Tke Ad^^ertlser The post of editor was next offered to the Rev. Dr. Jefferis, who was a valued contributor to the paper, but he declined the position, his loyal objection being that so long as he was able it was his duty to devote himself to his clerical duties. The appointment was given to Mr. Jeffi^rson Pickman Stow, son of the Rev. T. O. Stow, whose memory in Adelaide is perpetuated by the Stow Memorial Congregational Church. Mr. Jeffeison Stow arrived in .Adelaide with his father in 1837, and his education and journalistic training were both colonial. As everybody knows, he is an able man, and comes of a distinguished family, for his eldest brother, after a most successful career at the Bar and in politics, became a judge of the .Supreme Court, while a younger brother at one time held (office as Chief Secretary of the Provmce. Mr. Jefferson Stow himself has had a stirring life. In 1864 he went to the Northern Territory, and he was one of a party of six who in a small ship's boat, appropriately named the Forlorn Hope, made the hazardous voyage of 2,000 miles round the north-western coast of Australia, from Adam Bay to Champion Bay, 300 miles from Fremantle. He wrote an account of this adventure for The Advei'tiser, and this led to his joining the staff shortly after his return. In 1884 he accepted an appointment as a stipendiary magistrate, which he still holds. Mr. Stow, like Mr. Harcus, has written an e.xcellent handbook on South Australia. .Sir Langdon Bonython, M.H.R., who from 1893 to the present date has been the sole proprietor of The Advertiser and its associated papers, and, since Mr. Stow's departure, has taken the entire editorial responsibility in connection with them, speaks with enthusiasm of his predecessors, and of the excellence of the training which he received from his beau id^al of an editor, the founder of the paper. As already stated, the paper was started under the auspices of a company, of which Mr. Barrow was editor and manager, .Sir Henry Ayers, Mr. G. C. Hawker, M.P., Captain Scott, and Mr. J. H. Kearn being directors, while Mr. Thomas King was connected with the commercial department. In 1864 The Advertiser, the Chronicle, and the Express were taken over by a syndicate of eight persons (Messrs. J. H. Barrow, Thomas King, C. H. Goode, T. Graves, J. Counsell, W. Parkin, R. Stuckey, and G. W. Chinner), and it was in this year that Sir Langdon Bonython left school to join the staff. The guiding hand of Mr. Barrow governed through these changes, and in 1871 he and Mr. King acquired the proprietorship. Three years later Mr. Barrow died, and after an interregnum, during which Mrs. Barrow held her late husband's share of the business, Mr. King purchased her interest, and took into partnership Mrs. Barrow's son, Mr. Y. B. Burden, and Sir Langdon Bonython. This was in 1879, and the papers passed into the hands of the two last-named when Mr. King retired in September, 1884. Mr. King was connected with the company which started 'Jlte Advertiser, and it was in recognition of his able management that he was admitted as one of the proprietary who purchased the paper. His enterpri.se and business foresight were great, as was also his faith in the future of his journal. He took much interest in public affairs, and his genial nature made him very popular, so that when .Sir .Samuel Way accepted office as Chief Justice in 1876 Mr. King had no difficulty in winning a .seat for the Sturt, in which district he lived. His personal influence caused his rapid accession to Cabinet rank, and he was Minister of Education with Sir William Morgan from October 7, 1878, to March 10, 1881, when he resigned