with Lord Knutsford's concurrence, to give evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons, to which, early in the session of 1890, the Constitution Bill was referred. The whole facts of the case were most fully explained to the select committee by Sir Frederick Broome and the other witnesses, the blue book containing the report of the evidence being a complete compendium of information respecting Western Australia. The commission reported, much to the surprise of the London press, in favour of the bill and of the transfer of all lands to the colony. Opposition was at length overcome, or nearly so. The Government stood firm, and had the support of the front Opposition bench; and after some applications of the closure, Sir Frederick Broome had the satisfaction of witnessing the passage of the bill through committee with all restrictions erased, the whole of the lands of the vast territory—1,060,000 square miles in extent—being freely handed over to the Legislature of Western Australia, which thus obtained its new constitution on the same basis as the other colonies of the continent, there being no opposition to the bill in the House of Lords. On quitting Western Australia, in Dec. 1889, for the mission to England in connection with the Constitution Bill, Sir Frederick and Lady Broome received many proofs of the esteem and regard of the colonists. Sir Frederick's tenure of the government of Western Australia came to an end with his mission to England, and finally ceased in Sept 1890. In July 1891 he was appointed Governor of Trinidad.
Broome, Mary Anne, Lady, the wife of Sir Frederick Napier Broome, K.C.M.G., the late Governor of Western Australia, was the eldest daughter of Hon. Walter G. Stewart, Island Secretary of Jamaica. She was sent to England to be educated when two years old, and returned to Jamaica in 1850. She married first, in 1852, Colonel Sir George Barker, B.A., K.C.B., an officer distinguished for his Crimean and Indian services, who died at Simla in 1861. She married secondly, June 21st, 1865, Sir (then Mr.) Frederick Napier Broome, whom she accompanied to New Zealand the same year. Returning with her husband to England in 1869, Lady Barker, as she was then styled, became well known as a successful authoress. She has published "Station Life in New Zealand" (1870), followed by "Stories About," "Ribbon Stories," "A Christmas Cake," "A Year's Housekeeping in Natal," "Letters to Guy," descriptive of life in Western Australia, and other works. She published a useful manual in 1874, entitled "First Principles of Cookery," and was appointed Lady Superintendent of the National School of Cookery at South Kensington, a post she relinquished on accompanying her husband to Natal in 1875. Her next home was in Mauritius, 1878-83, when she organised a fund for the relief of the sick and wounded in the Zulu war. For this service she received a special official acknowledgment in a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies. A movement in favour of the higher education of women was also initiated by her in Mauritius.
Broughton, Vernon Delves, son of the late Rev. Thomas Delves Broughton (grandson of the 6th baronet of this name, of Broughton, Staffordshire) by his marriage with Frances, daughter of Lewis Corkran, was born in Dec. 1834, at Bletchley in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Marlborough School and at Magdalen College, Oxford. Having entered the Civil Service whilst still an undergraduate, he was employed in the Treasury from 1855 to 1877, acting in the interval as private secretary to Lord Lingen, when Secretary to the Treasury, and to Lord Sherbrooke when Chancellor of the Exchequer. In Nov. 1877 Mr. Broughton was appointed Deputy-Master of the Mint, and Chief Officer of the Melbourne Branch, a position which he retained till a short time before his death in 1886. Mr. Broughton married in 1861 Augusta, eldest daughter of George Arbuthnot, Auditor of the Civil List.
Brown, Gilbert Wilson, M. A., Clerk of the Executive Council, Victoria, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which he was scholar in 1852, and graduated B.A. (Mathematical Tripos) in 1855, and M.A. in 1881. He went to Victoria, and took up the position of Assistant Master in the Scotch College, Melbourne, in April 1857. In Jan. 1858 he was appointed Head Master of the National Grammar School at Geelong, and Organising Master and Inspector of National Schools in May 1859. In Sept.
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