Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/268

 242 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Hon. sir R. C. Baker late Hon. John Baker was pre-eminent for his enterprise and pubHc spirit. He was the first Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and amongst the many other public offices which he held, was for many years President of the Royal Aj^ricultural Society, a Director of the Botanic Gardens, and a member of the Savings Bank Board. He was one of the founders, and chairman, of the Adelaide Club. He was also an ardent supporter of sport, having been for many years the Chairman of the South Australian Jockey Club. But perhaps the greatest debt of gratitude this Province owes to the deceased gentleman is that when on the first establishment of the present form of representative and responsible government a most serious and dangerous difficulty arose on the very threshold of the proceedings between the two Houses of Parliament, the Hon. John Baker formed a Government, replacing the officials (who had been, as a matter of course, appointed the first advisers of His P2xcellency the Governor) by the first real responsible Ministry of South Australia, in order to settle that difficulty. In this he succeeded, and what is commonly called the "Compact of 1857" has been ever since. and still is, the modus vivcndi between the two Houses on that ever-fruitful source of misunderstandings and quarrels between two elected Legislative bodies all over the world, viz., their relative powers and functions in reference to what are vaguely called Money Bills. This "Compact" was an entirely novel development of political science and practice, but it has worked well, and has now become part of the Constitution of .South Australia, and there are signs of its becoming a constitutional practice throughout the British dominions. The great Federal Conventions of 1891 and 1897 both adopted the principle of this "Compact" as part of the proposed P''ederal Constitution of Australia. Sir Richard Baker cannot but be touched with feelings of pride in remembrance of the notable career of his father. As Minister, as member, as citizen, the Hon. John Baker fulfilled a mission useful in its objects, varied and comprehensive in its reach. This reference to Sir Richard's father may be in one sense digressional, but it demonstrates the fibre and blood from which the son was born, and the heritage and e.xample that were bequeathed to him to follow and emulate. How far Sir Richard succeeded, and how truthfully he caused the adage of " A worthy son of a worthy sire " to be applied to him, may be gathered from the sequence of his life. Sir Richard Baker received his early instruction at the famous PLnglish school of Eton. Passing through the curriculum of that classic institution, he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he chiefly distinguished himself as a first-class oarsman. It may here be mentioned that one of his principal friends, both at school and college, was John Richard Selwyn, afterwards Bishop of Melanesia. Sir Richard took his B.A. degree in 1864, and his M.A. in 1870. Having decided to enter the legal j^rofession, upon leaving the University Sir Richard was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in June, 1864, and returned to Adelaide •n the same year. He started practice, at first in partnership with the late Charles P>nn, who at one time had the largest practice in Adelaide ; after the death of Mr. Fenn on his own account, and subsequently in partnership with Dr. Barlow. But his ambition was not bounded by the limits of his i)rofession. The logic and training of law was to him a .school for the study of the principles of politics, and for the acquirement of those qualifications which are .serviceable in the higher walks (jf legislatit^n.