together for over twelve months, when Mr. Speed started practice on his own account, and was alone for about three years. Recently he took Mr. Durston into partnership with him, as the practice he had acquired was rather too large for him to cope with single-handed. His many excellent legal qualifications have won for him an ever-expanding circle of clients, who have benefited by his legal knowledge.
In public matters Mr. Speed has always been most outspoken, both in the press and on the platform. He has broken many a lance with the champions of Protection, and in the columns of the papers of the day he has "written down" the food duties in forcible English, and never has he resorted to the custom of expressing views under the ambush of a nom de plume. Mr. Speed has several times been asked to stand for Parliament, but pressure of business has caused him to decline the honour. In June, 1897, he was elected as senior representative of the South Ward in the Perth City Council.
Mr. Speed is pleasantly intellectual, whether as philosopher, logician, or as the man of worldly wisdom.
GEORGE PARKER.
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Photo by GEORGE PARKER. Greenham & Evans. |
RUSKIN defines the functions of a lawyer in a community as one who should enforce justice. A keen appreciation of the high duties pertaining to the position is, therefore, necessary to the aspirant for legal honours if he wishes to win the enconiums paid to the most respected of the professions by the appellation, "an honest lawyer." But integrity is not alone sufficient. He must also possess the steadfastness of purpose which will enable him to devote years of labour to the hard reading necessary to become versed in the numerous technicalities of law. A quick perception of the most trivial omissions in the strict rules of the law of evidence will enable him to the more carefully and honestly guard the interests of his clients, to whose welfare, for the time being, the "honest" lawyer must make his own interests a secondary consideration.
In Western Australia, as in other parts of the world, there are certain families who have a predilection for the legal profession, and whose sons have made for themselves a name and place in the community. In legal circles there is no better known, more respected name than that of Parker and Parker, the principals of which firm are sons of one of the colony's oldest residents, Mr. S. S. Parker, whose biography appears elsewhere.
George Parker, with whom we now deal, was born at York, Western Australia, in 1852, and was educated at that old seat of local learning, Bishop's School. At the age of sixteen years he entered the office of his brother, the Hon. S. H. Parker, Q.C., M.L.C., who was then practising his profession in Perth. After completing his articles, Mr. George Parker left his brother and started practice in Fremantle, where he remained until 1881. He then returned to Perth, and entered into partnership with his brother, the firm becoming Parker and Parker. Since the brothers joined in business the affairs of the firm have prospered to a remarkable degree, and it is now one of the leading firms of solicitors in the colony. Several important law cases have been successfully contested by them, and in all matters where abstruse points of law have to be decided, their opinion is considered in valuable.
In addition to taking an important part in the conduct of this large business, Mr. George Parker occupies important positions in the sporting world. In his youth he was an athlete of no small powers. When only fifteen years of age he was such a prominent cricketer that he was selected to play for the senior teams of his native town, and since then has wielded the "willow" for the Fremantle and metropolitan clubs. He was the first scorer of a century in Western Australia, which distinction he achieved in a match played at Fremantle in February, 1895, in which he obtained 108 runs in one innings. For eleven years, prior to 1894, he was captain of the Metropolitan Club, and is now captain of the Perth Cricket Club. He is also a trustee and chairman of committee of the Western Australian Cricket Association.
Mr. Parker was instrumental in forming the Western Australian Amateur Athletic Club, and took a keen interest in foot-racing. In 1883 he ran in all the principal events, and carried off the 100 yards, the 150 yards, 440 yards and mile flat races, and 120 yards hurdle race. As a hundred yards "sprinter" he has not been beaten. In addition to his other honorary offices, Mr. Parker is president of the Swan River Football Club, and president of the Lacrosse Club. Few men have taken more interest in all descriptions of sport than this worthy lawyer. As could only be expected from one whose sportsmanlike proclivities are so strong, Mr. Parker is a prominent figure in the racing world, and has done as much probably to further the sport of kings as any man in the colony.
