Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/440

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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a leading part in public affairs as a Conservative and Free-trader, and was returned to the Legislative Assembly for St. Kilda in 1873. Four years later he was defeated at the General Election, which placed the Berry party in power, but was returned for Boroondara later in 1877, at the bye-election rendered necessary by the death of Mr. G. P. Smith. His opponent on this occasion was Mr. Knipe, an auctioneer in Melbourne, whom he defeated by a large majority. Mr. Smith had meantime been a partner in the mercantile firm of Turnbull, Smith & Co., and on retiring from the concern was for some years manager of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company's business in Melbourne. Mr. Murray Smith is a man of considerable literary taste, and has contributed to the Melbourne Review. He was also one of the trustees of the Argus newspaper nominated under the will of the late Edward Wilson. In 1881 Mr. Murray Smith, who had been associated with Mr. Francis in the joint leadership of the Conservative Opposition, took an active part in support of Sir Bryan O'Loghlen's motion of want of confidence in the third Berry Ministry, and when it was carried, and the Government retired, it was anticipated that he might assume the premiership. Ultimately, however, the O'Loghlen Ministry was formed, and Mr. Murray Smith did not take political office. The next year, however, he was appointed Agent-General of the colony of Victoria in London, and held the position until Feb. 1886, when his term was renewed at his own request for one year only. As Agent-General Mr. Murray Smith took a prominent part in the negotiations respecting the annexation of New Guinea, the influx of Recedivists into the islands of the Western Pacific, the Anglo-French control of the New Hebrides, and the passage through the Imperial Parliament of the Federal Council of Australasia Bill. Prior to his leaving England in the early part of 1886, he was entertained at a public banquet at the Freemasons' Tavern, presided over by the Duke of Cambridge and attended by all the leading colonists and persons connected with the Australasian colonies in London. Mr. Murray Smith has not re-entered Parliament since his return to Victoria. He married in 1858 Jane, daughter of the late Hon. J. F. Strachan, M.L.C. (q.v.). In 1884 he was created C.M.G.

Smith, Hon. Sydney, M.L.A., ex-Secretary for Mines, New South Wales, has represented the East Macquarie electorate in the Legislative Assembly of that colony since 1880. He held the post of Secretary for Mines, in the Parkes Government from March 1889 to Oct. 1892.

Smith, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. William Collard, youngest son of Wm. Smith, manager of a large cotton factory at Ballington, in Cheshire, was born there in 1830. He emigrated to Victoria in 1852, and ultimately settled at Ballarat, of which he has been Mayor. Identifying himself with the mining interest, he began to acquire that ascendency in the local politics of the goldfields' city, which he for many years maintained. He was first returned to the Assembly for Ballarat West, in conjunction with the ex-Premier of Victoria, Mr. Duncan Gillies, and after a brief retirement stood again in 1871, when he was returned, and represented the constituency without intermission till April 1892, when he was defeated. Lieut.-Colonel Smith, who holds that rank in the local forces, early identified himself with the volunteer movement, and distinguished himself in Parliament by his mastery of the Local Government question. He was Minister of Mines in Mr. (now Sir) Graham Berry's first Government from August to Oct. 1875, and held the same office in conjunction with that of Minister of Education in that gentleman's second Cabinet from May 1877 to March 1880. He also acted as Treasurer during his chief's absence in England on the famous "Embassy" from Dec. 1878 to Nov. 1879. In Mr. Berry's third Administration Colonel Smith was Minister of Education from August 1880 to July 1881. He was one of the delegates to the Federation Convention held in Sydney in March 1891, and the next year lost his seat for Ballarat.


Smith, William Jardine, was born at Stockwell, near London, and went in 1852 to Melbourne, where he attached himself to commercial pursuits. Subsequently, he became a contributor to the Melbourne Punch and ultimately editor. He was also prominently connected with two short-lived and long defunct journals

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