Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/349

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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Parliament, Mr. Morgan has conducted a vigorous crusade against the antiquated system of gold mining royalties by which in England the working of auriferous deposits is hampered and strangled, Very considerable concessions have in consequence been wrung from the Government, though Mr. Morgan himself has been heavily mulcted by the exactions of the Treasury in his plucky attempt to exploit the auriferous resources or his native Wales. In 1891 Mr. Morgan took up the question of Welsh disestablishment, and made a very able and exhaustive speech in bringing the subject under the notice of the House of Commons. He also intervened with the weight of local knowledge in the discussion on the proposed renewal of the importation of Kanaka labourers into Queensland, defending the policy of the Griffith Government At the general election in July 1892 Mr. Morgan was again returned for Merthyr.

Morphett, Sir John, son of Nathaniel Morphett, of London, solicitor, was born in the Metropolis on May 4th, 1809. He emigrated to South Australia in one of the South Australian Company's pioneer ships, the Cygnet, arriving at Kangaroo Island in Sept. 1836. The next year when the Company removed their headquarters to Port Adelaide, Mr. Morphett also took up his residence on the mainland. In June 1843 he was appointed one of the seven members of the first Legislative Council of South Australia, and in 1851 he was nominated to the mixed council established under the new Constitution Act. He was also chosen Speaker. In 1857, at the first election held under responsible government, he was returned to the existing Legislative Council, and in March 1865 succeeded Sir J. H. Fisher as President of that body, a post which, having been thrice re-elected, he held till Feb. 1875, when his seat becoming vacant by effluxion of time, he did not seek re-election. He was knighted in 1870. Sir John was Chief Secretary in the two succeeding Reynolds Ministries, from Feb. to Oct. 1861. He married, in 1838, Elizabeth, daughter of the late Sir James Hurtle Fisher.

Morrah, Arthur, Commissioner of Audit, Victoria, is the second son of the late Robert Morrah, a surgeon in practice at Chelsea, London, and was born at Clapham in 1833. He emigrated to Victoria in 1853, and was appointed a clerk in the Survey Department under Captain (now Sir Andrew) Clarke. Subsequently he served successively as accountant, chief clerk, and inspector in the Lands Department; and in June 1878 was appointed Secretary for Lands. In 1890 he exchanged this position for that of Commissioner of Audit.

Morris, Edward Ellis, M.A., the son of the late John Carnac Morris, of the Madras Civil Service, and grandson of John Morris, for many years director, and for some years chairman, of the Hon. East India Company. He was born at Madras on Dec. 25th, 1843, and educated at Temple Grove, East Sheen, and at Victoria College, Jersey. He was also at Rugby under Dr. Temple, and was an exhibitioner of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1862, second class in classics (Final school) in June 1866, and second class in law and modern history in the following November. He was assistant master of St. Peter's College, Badley, and afterwards at Haileybury, near Hertford. Between these two appointments he was for a short time at the University of Berlin. In 1871 he was elected head master of the Bedfordshire Middle-Class Public School; at Easter 1875 he became head master of the Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne; and in Jan. 1884 was appointed Professor of English, French, and German Languages and Literature at the Melbourne University, a position he still holds. Professor Morris is the projector and original editor of "Epochs of Modern History," a series of school histories published by Messrs. Longmans & Co., of London; author of "The Age of Anne" and "The Early Hanoverians" in that series, besides some small editions of English authors for school use. He was also editor of Cassell's "Picturesque Australasia." The Melbourne Shakespeare Society and the Melbourne Charity Organisation Society owe their origin to his suggestions. He married a daughter of Mr. George Higinbotham, Chief Justice of Victoria.

Morris, Henry Thomas, J.P., was born in 1823, at Gravesend, England, and accompanied his uncle, Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir John) Hindmarsh, to South Australia, being present when the colony was proclaimed on Dec. 28th, 1836. After

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