Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/270

 244 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Hon sir R C, Baker In 1877, Sir Richard first stood as a candidate for the Legislative Council, for which he was elected on April 1, 1877. At that time, and up to 1884, the whole Province of South Australia was one constituency so far as the Council was concerned. When in 1884, for the sake of convenience, the Province was divided into four electoral divisions for the Legislative Council, Sir Richard chose as his constituency the Southern Division, which he has ever since rejiresented. In May, 1897, he was returned at the head of the poll by the greatest number of votes ever obtained by any member of the Council since the division of the Province into electoral districts, polling nearly 1,000 votes more than the second, and nearly 2,000 more than the third candidate. Sir Richard's present K^rm of membership does not expire until 1906. When the Colton Government went into office in June, 1884, Sir Richard became Minister of Education and leader of the Legislative Council, resigning, however, with his colleagues in the following June. It was while holding the office of Minister of Elducation that events shaped their course to permit of Sir Richard's obtaining a somewhat inadequate recognition by the British (iovernnient of his services and position. Up to that date the system of the division ot the postage receipts and payment of the postal subsidies to steamship companies between Great Britain and the Australian Colonies was of a most complicated and unsatisfactory nature, based on no principles, and varying according to each particular line of steamers carrying mail matter. .Separate colonies, or groups of colonies, had made separate arrangements with the P. & O. and Orient .Steamship Companies, and with Great Britain ; and in certain ca.ses sub-arrangements had l)een made between colonies not parties to the original contracts. This complicated state of affairs rendered it exceedingly difficult for anyone to understand the position. .Sir Richard grasped the situation, and having been given a free hand, he entered into a contract with the Orient Company, and then proceeded, in his capacity as Minister of Post and Telegraphs, to Sydney and Melbourne to di.scuss with their respective Governments the whole question of a joint mail service between Great Britain and the Australian Colonies, also of a simple and equitable division between the colonies and Great Britain of the postages received at each end. He succeeded in persuading the Governments of Victoria and New .South Wales to accede to his ideas, and drew up an agreement (which is in existence to this day, and is commonly called the " Baker Agreement "), which was executed by the Governments of Victoria, New .South Wales, and -South Australia. The Governments of Western Australia and Tasmania afterwards concurred. The Government of Queensland, although it never formally executed the agreement, has adopted it by jjayment and practice. Although in June, 1885, the Colton Government went out of office, in recognition of his services the new Government commissioned -Sir Richard- (and in this commission the Governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and Western Australia concurred) — to proceed to England as the accredited representative of the Australian Governments to negotiate a joint contract with reference to the new mail tenders, and to win the adherence of the British Government to the postal contract with the colonies which he had negotiated, as well as to conclude the arrangement regarding the division of the postal receipts between Great Britain and the colonies. He was also appointed a Commissioner for South Australia for the Indian