Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/502

 476 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Hon. J. Martin agricultural lands of the North were opened up. Mr. Martin bid with resourcefulness and perseverance for the consequent business in supplying farming implements, and, by facility of invention and a comprehensive study of the wants of farmers, he obtained the most of it. "Although," says the chronicler, "Mr. Martin was not a blacksmith, he frequently took anvil work, and made many a professed smith look foolish by the dexterity and skill of his amateur hand. In busv times he has toiled at the fire from 6 o'clock in the morningf till 1 1 o'clock at night for weeks at a stretch." The firm was decidedly happy in inventing machinery suitable to the environment of agricultural pursuits in the Province, and led the way in improvements which revolutionised the industry. Wherever farms were established — in the remote north or in the far south — its reaping machines and ploughs were seen at work. The cost of production was made cheaper to the farmers, and the implements were gradually reduced in price. The first stripper manufactured by Mr. Martin was sold for .1^150; to-day he sells a better machine for less than ^50. He was the first to use the thimble-comb and the clutch motion on the reaper ; and in his workshops the stump-jumping plough was invented. He first manufactured iron from local ores. His conquests in agricultural and mining machinery could not be enumerated here. "It is estimated," continues the Observer, " that Messrs. Martin & Co. have constructed more than 15.000 reaping machines. A large portion of their present output is for export. A few months ago they dispatched in one day 39 trucks of machinery, weighing more than 200 tons, and having a value of upwards of ^10,000. Mr. Martin had very little capital when he started ; it now takes ^150,000 to run the business." The firm has manufactured locomotives and carriages to the order of the South Australian Government, and in this has fulfilled a beneficial purpose by keeping capital and labor within the Province. It can be said that there is no more pretentious and useful business house of the kind in South Australia, and certainly none which has conferred such substantial advantages upon the inhabitants. To come now to the more personal aspect of Mr. Martin's career, as relating to his .services to municipal and political government. By means of his extensive enterprise he was largely the maker of the town of Gawler— the principal means of its growth. Though his busine.ss demanded much of him, he found time to help nearly every public movement with which the townspeople have been connected. After the municipality was founded, he was elected an Alderman. Three years later he became Mayor of the town, being the first to occupy that position after the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act. For eight years from that time he occupied the mayoral chair, and was only once opposed, that occasion being when he first offered his services. He was enabled to greatly improve the city and to devise by-laws and su[)i)ort measures to ensure health and comfort to the ratepayers. Thus, in a double sense, he was as a parent to Gawler. " It is related that on one occasion, being very busy at the anvil at the time of the declaration of the poll, he appeared in his shirt-sleeves straight from the fire, returned thanks, and hurried back to his work. Conventionality, in his career, always had to give way to nece.ssity." In still other respects Mr. Martin was a useful support to Gawler. He was one of the founders of the local Institute, gave a portion of the land on which the building stands, and supplied the plans for the structure. He was the first Treasurer of the Institute, and was also a trustee. He rendered great assistance to the Gawler Agricultural Society, and was for several years Captain of the local Volunteers,