Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/446

 420 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Mr. Alexander George Downer THERE is in Adelaide a firm of lawyers which has helped considerably in the making of the history of the Province. For some decades past one or another member of the Downer family has figured prominently in the annals of the Province. In the le^al profession, all have pursued useful careers ; in the political arena they have fought with the best ; and in the pastoral and commercial pursuits they have been among the rulers of local destiny. The biography of Sir John Downer is given in another page of this book of South Australian memoirs, and this one is devoted to his brother and partner, Mr. A. G. Downer. This latter gentleman was born in Adelaide, and was principally educated at the establishment of Mr. F. Haire. He first began the study of Law, and was for some years with the firm of Bartley, Bakewell, & Stow ; but after a while he engaged in the more ready profession of journalism, which, though not so remunerative, has potent attractions for a young and ardent man. Mr. Downer's essays in this direction were in connection with, and as editor for a time of, the Telegraph, a newspaper which flourished for a period, and was then swallowed up and incorporated with a more jjowerful organ. Mr. Downer eventually returned to his law books, and was admitted to practice in 1868. His brother (now Sir John Downer) had just been admitted at that time, and the two young men went into partnership. Throughout all the intervening years they have been in practice together, and have attained and maintained an honorable name in connection with South Australian law. Their clients have represented leading colonists, and their cases have embraced many of those of supreme interest in local jurisprudence. Within their office problems of paramount im[)ortance to the Province have been studied and mastered. The partnership has in every respect been a happy one, and the two gentlemen form a very strong legal entity. They are two of the oldest members of the legal profession in South Australia. Sir John Downer entered the political arena, and became more than once Premier of South Australia. Mr. A. G. Downer has been content to serve the Province in other fields — principally in connection with pastoral, financial, and commercial pursuits. He early invested in pastoral stations, principally in the north. He has been associated with the management of large institutions, and is at present Chairman of the Bank of Adelaide, and of the China Traders Company, and is on the Board of several other important institutions. Of the Bank of Adelaide he has been a Director since 1 889, and of Elder, Smith, & Co., since 1892. In th(se responsible positions he has helped to determine business issues of wide-reaching influence. Mr. A. G. Downer has also been interested in the management of benevolent institutions. In characteristics, he is shrewd, cautious, and businesslike, excellent qualities for a lawyer. He well maintains his position in the Downer family, as well as in the capacity of a leader in various branches of South Australian industry and policy. His name, like that of his partner, will be remembered for many years.