Page:The founding of South Australia.djvu/90

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THE FOUNDING OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

purposes of building churches and clergymen's houses, and supporting clergymen in the colony."

"January 21st.—Saw Mills, and reported to him the state of the association, and begged him to allow advertisements to be inserted. lie clearly saw the desirableness of this, and promised to vote in favour of my views. Received a very warm letter from Currie in favour of the Church Society.

"Went to Elliot [of the Colonial Office] and told him exactly our present condition, the reasons for not applying to Government, and the fear we entertained of being thrown over if we went to Government without being fully prepared. After hearing and considering the matter fully, he decided in favour of going to Stanley immediately, and for this reason: that he knew Stanley's tone of mind to be such as to induce him to decide upon the thing itself, unswayed by the fact of having a body of colonists, or by the outcry they might make if he refused the measure. The general feeling in the Colonial Office was, that we should get the charter, and he mentioned as an important fact in our favour, that the Australian colonies had been, since our advertisement, removed from Mr. Hay's superintendence to Mr. Lefevre's. He recommended our sending in a paper containing the mere outline of the plan, and asking Stanley to fix a time for seeing a deputation,

"January 22nd.—It was rather a full meeting of the Provisional Committee, and everything went off pleasantly enough. It was decided that application should be immediately made to Government, and a sub-committee—consisting of Grote, Whitmore, Clay, Hawes, Pottinger, Hutt, Torrens, Gouger, M. D. Hill, Warburton, and G. W. Norman—was appointed for conducting the communication with Government. A committee was also appointed for examining the charter. Some alterations were made in the wording