Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/126

 ,00 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The Husbandmen administrations in South Africa ; his prompt assistance during the Indian Mutiny ; his subsequent briUiant career as a statesman in New Zealand ; his pathetic end in England on September 19, 1898 ; and his burial among the patriots in St. Paul's Cathedral, are so well known as to require no detailed description here. On October 14, 1845, Major Frederick Holt Robe, of the 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers, arrived to undertake the duties of Governor. On the 25th he took the oaths of office, and for " prudential reasons " was gazetted Lieutenant-Governor, so as " to protect Captain Grey from any i^roceedings that might be taken against him by the holders of certain dishonored bills drawn upon the British Government, and for which the parties refused to take debentures." Governor Grey had managed affairs so excellently that Governor Robe had very little to do. The Province continued to prosper on the lines laid down by Governor Grey ; and had it not been for his own want of tact, Governor Robe's term of office might have been as comfortable as the existence of an English squire supervising his estates. The choice of such a gentleman to succeed Governor Grey is inexplicable, except in the light of the old practice of appointing naal and military officers to the Governorship of colonies. Governor Robe had been Military Secretary at Mauritius and Gibraltar and was a competent soldier — those were his recommendations for the post. He was described by Levey as "a military gentleman of what is called the old school ; honorable and upright, but inclined to think that everything ought always to be as it had been." Hodder says he "knew nothing of the art of public speaking," and was "an undisguised advocate of High Church principles, and took no pains whatever to conceal his abhorrence of Nonconformity." Stow referred to him as " a bluff old soldier, of few words, hospitable and kindhearted, but of Tory principles and no civilian experience." Governor Robe was in difficulties from the first. He quickly rescinded certain resolutions for regulating the disposal of waste lands, and was called by a newspaper "principal land-jobber and auctioneer-in-chief (by appointment) to Her Majesty." He introduced to the Legislative Council a Lands Bill, which excited strenuous opposition, and when an amendment, moved by Mr. J. Morphett, that the Bill be read that day six months, was negatived, the non-official members walked out of the Chamber, thus leaving the House without a quorujn. Upon the initiative of Lord Stanley (a most unpopular administrator of colonial affairs in PLngland), clauses were introduced imposing a royalty or reservation on minerals raised. Colonists loudly protested against the proposal at an influential public meeting, and in a petition to Her Majesty. When receiving the latter. Governor Robe delivered a stern and impolitic address. A royalty was imposed by proclamation. An action was brought against the Lieutenant-Governor for refusing to allow Mr. Giles (South Australian Company) to exercise his right of selection of mineral .sections near the Montacute mine; and for "appearing, or permitting any officer of the Crown to appear, in the defence of the suit," Mr. W. E. Gladstone, the new Secretary of State for the Colonies, strongly reprimanded the Governor.