Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/220

 •94 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The Jubilee Soon after the Twelfth Parliament met in June, 1887, Mr. Thomas Playford, one of the most reliable and shrewd of South Australian legislators, carried a motion of want of confidence in the Downer Government before the Premier had returned from England. The new Ministry, comprising Messrs. C. C. Kingston, J. G. Ramsay, J. Coles, Alfred Catt, and J. C. F. Johnson, grappled with the question of tariff reform, and heavy protective duties were passed by both Houses. Payment of members at the rate of .^200 per annum was decided on, and a long debate took place on the subject of payment for improvements to pastoral lessees. A measure to hand over the control of the railways to a non-political board was carried; also a Bill to authorise the issue of Treasury Bills for Beetaloo Reservoir ^i.ooo,cxDO, and an Electoral Bill adding two new members to the Assembly, by declaring the Northern Territory an electoral district. This was the last session of Parliament under the administration of Sir William Robinson. On March 5, 1889, he left South Australia for Victoria, and was the recipient of many cordial addresses. His encouragement of educational institutions, and his assistance m securing the success of the Jubilee Exhibition, hid made for him many admirers. Because the greatest problems were solved, exploration did not now excite the