Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/584

 558 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Mr. H.Thomas had then attained the post of assistant accountant in the Adelaide office of the Commercial Bank of Australia, but he resigned that position and joined his father. On the death of Mr. William Thomas, sen., which occurred a few months later, the son stepped into his place in the partnership. The milling business with which he thus became associated had a history of rapid progress behind it. Established on a limited scale in Leadenhall Street, Port Adelaide, in the year 1879, it so flourished and expanded that in 1887 the partners found it necessary to erect new premises and purchase new plant, with the result that the present roller-mills were erected. The facilities devised in connection with the mills to e.pedite delivery of wheat and tlour are almost unique in the Province. Besides having railway connection from the mills with all parts of the Province, Messrs. Thomas & Co. are well equipped for maritime dispatch. A canal, connecting with the Port River, has been e.xcavated to the premises, giving facilities for loading and unloading the lighters, which come right up to the mill-doors. Their mills are capable of an outturn of 3,000 sacks per week, but even at this rate they have had the utmost difficulty in keeping pace with the orders for the well-known "Standard Roller" Brand. They have shipped several thousands of tons to Africa since the Twentieth Century began, and are working their mills day and night continuously, Sundays excepted, to supply their customers. In almost every port in Queensland and Western Australia their Hour has established itself, and regular shipments are made to Java, Ceylon, and Fiji, the tlour being especially adapted for trying climates. Although Mr. Thomas has been an extremely busy man for many years, he has played a useful part in a modest way in those matters which call for the private efforts of citizenship. Eor some years he was Secretary of the Australian Natives' Association. He has also been a member of committee of the Port Adelaide Institute for several years, and has followed the example of his father in his liberal support to the Wesleyan Church, of which he is a member. He has been Chairman of the Corn Trade Section in the Adelaide Chamber of Commerce, and was recently elected President of the Millowners' Association of South Australia. Mr. Thomas is possessed of a generous heart and a ready purse, and his name is known for charity throughout the district. Mr. Thomas was united in marriage in 1899 with Miss Davey, elder daughter of Mr. Edwin Davey, founder of the well-known firm of Messrs. ¥.. Davey & Sons, flourmill owners in South Australia, and Sydney, New South Wales. Professor' Archibald Watson, M.D., F.R.C.S., etc. TARATTA, New South Wales, was the birthplace in 1850 of Professor A. Watson. He studied medicine in the large continental schools under such noted masters as Hente, Krausse, Meissner, Von Brunn, Kohler, Weber, Pappez, Faraheuf, Charcot, and Drola. He passed through the London Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital, and Moorrtelds High Hospital. Having taken the M.D. and F.R.C.S. degrees, he became Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Charing Cross Medical School, and in 1885 Elder Professor of Anatomy at the University of Adelaide, Lecturer on Pathological Anatomy, and Teacher of Operative Surgery. In 1900 he rendered much surgical service to the wounded in South Africa. J