Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/326

 300 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Hon. sir e. t. smith strenojthenecl with the acquisition of knowledge, and his aspirations matured on reaching that point where length of purse enables a man to pursue more enthusiastically the bent of his inclinations. In 187 1, therefore, Sir Edwin sought the suffrages of the electors of East Torrens, and he was returned to the House of Assembly. Time strengthened the bonds of sympathy between Sir Edwin and his constituents, and as often as he sought re-election at their hands, so often did they show their satisfaction with him by declaring in his favor. With the solitary excejition of one year (when he was on a visit to England in 1877) Sir Edwin .sat continuously for 21 years as the representative of East Torrens. His Parliamentary career has been characterised as one of genuine zeal for the advancement of the Province. He was a Progressionist, and whatever was moderately possible in the way of advancement received his hearty support. It is to the activity and intelligent regard of such men as Sir Edwin that South Australia owes in a great part her advanced Democratic and Liberal institutions. Ministerial office he never sought, often as it was pressed upon him, preferring to maintain his independence and to assist the work of legislation by giving a moderate support, wherever possible, to the Government of the day. The only occasion on which he was induced to break his rule was in 1884, when he occupied for a few months only the position of Minister of Education in the Bray Government. He now enjoys the comparative leisure of a seat in the Legislative Council, having been elected by an immense majority at the head of the poll for the Southern Division in 1894. It was but natural that a man like Sir Edwin should find considerable scope in the labors of municipal life. Perhaps in this utilitarian public department, more than in the hurly-burly of politics, a disinterested worker can confer immediate, if less extensive, good on the people of a town or city possessing municipal controlling machinery. Municipal life claimed Sir Edwin's attention first in 1867, when he was elected Mayor of the Kensington and Norwood Corporation. He continued in that capacity for three consecutive years. That he was a successful wearer of the mayoral robes may be gathered from the fact that in 187 1 and 1872 he was again called to the civic chair. He had rendered notable service to the suburban municipality by his active administration and wide knowledge of its requirements. Sir Edwin can look back with satisfaction on that period of his administration as one of undoubted progressive activity. During his mayoralty, gas and water mains were first introduced into the municipality, and the various creeks which run through the town were bridged wherever the streets cross them — a highly necessary but very expensive undertaking. He has been President of the Norwood Institute from its inception. In 1879 the citizens of Adelaide elected him as their Mayor. His past performances were known and appraised, and it was rightly judged that his worth would be proportionate on a wider stage. In 1880, and again in 1881, he proved himself highly qualified for the onerous duties of the chair by being elected Mayor. It would be impossible to enumerate the various administrative acts with which his name is closely associated during his tenure of the civic chair. Suffice it to .say, he advanced the best interests of the city. His popularity became commensurate with his municipal activity, and the time he spent in framing by-laws was amply repaid by the esteem which his labors won for him. It is a