Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/272

 246 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Hon. sir R. C. Baker subject as the* Hon. Edmund Barton, in his great speech in the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1897, stated that Sir Richard Baker "knew more of this matter than he did." It is not surprising, therefore, that his extensive conversance with this great (]uestion should have been recognised by his appointment to the very responsible office of Chairman of Committees of the Eederal Convention, which was opened in Adelaide in 1897, and was continued in Melbourne and Sydney, and which framed the Commonwealth Bill in its accepted form. By those who sat and acted under his supervising guidance he has been described as an ideal chairman ; and the Sydney Morniiig Herald referred to his performance of his duties on these all-important occasions in the following terms : — " The most arduous position in the Convention was that of Chairman of Committees ; Sir Richard Baker sinijjly makes an ideal chairman. His knowledge of Parliamentary law, his profound acquaintance with the whole subject of Federation, his wide knowledge on ordinary questions, his firmness, his strict impartiality, his readiness to afford assistance outside the technical duties of his office, rendered him a striking success in the most trying office that could have been conferred on any delegate." At the close of the sitting in Melbourne in 1898 the Hon. Edmund Barton, the leader of the Convention, moved, and the Hon. Alfred Deakin seconded, a vote of thanks to .Sir Richard for his services in the chair. The mover said : — " Sir Richard Baker had no ordinary task. He had to de.d with a very large number of amendments suggested by the Parliaments of the various colonies. On the part of Sir Richard Baker was required not merely a knowledge of the place these amendments occupied in the Bill, but a knowledge of Parliamentary procedure such as few men possess. His work Sir Richard Baker had accomplished with marked ability. In addition to all that ability, Sir Richard Baker had shown a very strong and ardent attachment to the federal cause. The tact and judgment exhibited by the chairman often saved the Committee from entanglements amongst those numerous amendments which anyone, however .skilled, but with less skill and judgment than Sir Richard Baker, might have allowed the Committee to drift into. In that way the Convention was deeply indebted to .Sir Richard Baker. It might not only be said fairly of him that he had brought to this labor the skill of a practi.sed Parliamentarian — not only the tact of a naturally able man, but that that skill and that tact had been directed by a devotion to the cause which has enabled both to be exercised with special point and effect." Similar expressions of appreciation from other delegates followed. In May, 1895, .Sir Richard was selected for a special mark of his Sovereign's approval -the Knighthood of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. But Sir Richard Baker has some unique honors outside of the titular world. He was the first native-born South Australian ever elected to the House of As.sembly, and the first to sit in the Legislative Council. He was the first man born in the Colony sworn in as a Minister of the Crown, the first son of a former member of the Cabinet to be included in a Cabinet, and the first man of South Australian birth to receive honors from the Queen. Lasdy, Sir Richard wfLs the first native-born South Australian to be chosen as President of the Legislative Council. I')llowing in his father's footstep.s, he has been for over 20 years Chairman of lh<; Adelaide Club, and for over 12 years Chairman of the South Australian Jockey Club. It may truly be said of .Sir Richard Baker, in conclusion, that his fields of labor have been many, but h(has tilled with uniform success.