Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/486

 46o ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Mr. w. a. Horn He gradually grew in favor in the House, and his legislative merits invoked appreciable comment from both parties. He refused the offer of the portfolio of Treasurer in the Cockburn Government, preferring to remain independent in his political attitude. His capabilities would, however, in general estimation, have fitted him for any Ministerial post. He was possessed of a rich fund of humor, and a gift of keen satire, with a capacity for epigrammatic expression and telling repartee which often delighted the House. But it is more particularly in connection with exploration work that Mr. Horn's name will be remembered. He personally bore the heavy expense of the Horn Exploration Party, which went through Central Australia for scientific purposes. The services of the eminent naturalist and scientist. Professor Baldwin Spencer, were secured for this expedition. and the success of the exploration has well repaid Mr. Horn's patriotic open-handedness. In 1894 the party started on its arduous journeying into the desert and bush, and reached Larapinta Land, which they examined in an exhaustive fashion. The discoveries and observations of this expedition are preserved in a work of four volumes, the perusal of which shows the richness of the copious information gleaned. Geological, biological, botanical, and ethnological matters are extensively dealt with, and form an interesting and very valuable addition to the knowledge of the little-known districts of the great central deserts of the Austral continent. Mr. Horn's speculative connections seem to have endless ramifications. He is deeply interested in the Great Western Railway in Tasmania, which acquired rights from the Government to build a direct railway from Mount Lyell to the capital. -A.s a concession, the company received half a million acres. Mr. Horn retired, however, from all his official positions on his departure for England in 1898. But, though absent himself, his name will ever remain in close association with the colonies, and especially with South Australia. He has added greatly to the welfare of this Province during the many years he has .sojourned in this part, and has not failed to assist in any cau.se for the improvement and promotion of his fellow-colonists. He has thus earned the goodwill and kindly esteem of all who can admire disinterested and useful devotion to the common good. His devotion tacked clo.sely on to his keen scientific ardor, and a corresponding love for its advance, has made him a national benefactor. His name brings with it the respect which it is entitled to, and will remain as that of one of the most generous public men in the treasured annals of South Australian history. Many gifts have been bequeathed by him to the city of Adelaide. The Museum received from him 11,000 coins, dating back to the earliest times of the Roman.s, and comprising one of the most valuable collections in the world. The statues of Venus Canova and the Farnese Hercules were the gifts of Mr. Horn to the municipality. Thirty years ago, Mr. Horn was appointed a Justice of the Peace. He is a member of the Junior Carlton Club and New Universities Club in London, and of the Melbourne and Adelaide Clubs. His kindly disposition has won him many friends, while his sincere .straightforwardness and his sympathetic regard for all promotive movements have singled him out as a citizen and colonist exalted in type and truly useful in many spheres.