Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/226

 200 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Conclusions to at once have a vote given them. This was considered so unsatisfactory that members turned round, and ousted the Solomon Ministry, but gained their point in saving the dissolution by supporting Mr. Holder, whose policy was that of a ^15 franchise with the vote to wives. This the Upper House also rejected, and further action is postponed till the result is known of the periodical Legislative Council election to be held in 1900. Mr. Holder's colleagues are the Hon. J. H. Gordon, and Messrs. J. G. Jenkins, L. O'Loughlin, R. W. Foster, and E. L. Batchelor. The inclusion of the latter marks the first Ministerial recognition of the Labor Party, Mr. Hatchelor having been its chairman since the decease of Mr. J. A. McPherson, its first leader. Consequent upon the time spent over this franchise question, the result of the. first session of the Sixteenth Parliament must be written down as barren. '^ A Vineyard Once more a series of unpropitious circumstances has to be referred to. While 1892 was an unfortunate year, it did not compare with 1893. Wheat, wool, copper, and silver depreciated in price. Breadstuffs valued at .1^1,074,583 were exported, and the total value of the products of the Province sent away was only ^3,295,475, in comparison with ;^4.685,3i3 in 1891. In the remote northern farming districts the returns were disheartening. The comparative, but temporary, unprofitableness of the grain and wool industries turned a proportion of energy into other channels. Dairying and wine- and fruit-growing were encouraged. A system of paying butter bonuses had been established by the Government a few years before, and there had been a consequent increase in the outputs. Practical encouragement was given to wine export. The Kingston Government established a depot in London where .South Australian wines of good (juality only were supplied to the British consumer, the depot being also used for other produce. The