Page:Australia and the Empire.djvu/308



" so many successful colonists, Mr. Service is a North Briton, to which circumstance may be traced his sound practical education, his acute commercial instincts, his deep Liberal proclivities, and his utter absence of that too common weakness of the middle-class Englishman—snobbishness. This combination of strong qualities, and freedom from weak ones, has led to the establishment of the great intercolonial firm of "James Service & Co.," and to its chief having been twice Prime Minister of the colony of Victoria, Mr. Service's political career in Victoria has been a long and honourable one. It dates from the time when he acted as chairman to the Committee of the electors who returned Captain, now Major-General, Sir Andrew Clarke to the first Parliament of Victoria under responsible government. That was in 1856; and in 1857—more than thirty years ago