Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/487

 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 461 T time Captain Inglis HE growth of England's maritime enterprise has necessitated a system of strict supervision, from which few shipping operations are exempt. In the rise of any national enterprise the wills of the originators are at first the only law ; but with and progress the necessity of restriction and systematic governance becomes apparent. And in equal proportion to England's maritime greatness is the strength, justice, and effective- ness of her shipping laws. In this respect the colonies follow the lead of the mother country, and thus it is that we have in South yustralia a Marine Board, with its strict enquiries, its numerous officials, and its admirable system of super- vision. Under that system, the most important officer is the Harbormaster, who combines a multiplicity of varying duties. Captain Alexander Inglis, the present occupant of the position, is, as his name signifies, a native of Scotland — a country which has produced a large proportion of the navigators tor whom Britain is famous. Captain Inglis was born at Eordyce, Banffshire, on January 26, 1845, receiving his preliminary instruction at the Eordyce Grammar School, and completing his education at the Cullen shipwright, principally on the India In 1864, on one of his voyages as Hammer &' Co., Photo Grammar School. Having mastered the trade of and China trade, at an early age he went to sea. first officer of the Alexander, of Kirkcaldy, he visited South Australia. Subsequently he joined the service (jf the Circular Saw Company, a New Zealand shipping proprietary, and engaged in the thjur trade with the west coast of America. After four years of this life, Captain Inglis voyaged to South Australia in his own vessel, the Planter. He sold the vessel to Mr. Henry .Simpson, and in 1878 took command of the Athena, a ship owned by the latter. In the following year he succeeded Captain Blanch as Fixaminer for masters' certificates, shipwrights' surveyor, etc., continuing in that position until the