Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/71

 The Builders ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 45 was conveyed to the townspeople in specially-constructed vehicles, or was dragged by the people themselves. The latter adopted an ingenious device : a screw was fixed in each end of a barrel, to which a line was attached, and the barrel was trundled u]) and down the hill. The water was execrable, what with tadpoles and other living creatures ; the longer it rested the worse it became, and it was expensive as well. After the advent of drays and wagons the streets were reduced to a dreadful condition. In Hindley Street, in winter, these vehicles sank to the axle, and the animals drawing them buried their legs in the mire. In the depressed bits of soil where the water lodged huge bog holes were made. Clay stuck to the boots of foot passengers, the footpaths were in little better order than the middle of the streets, and at flood time the water ran into the houses. In the southern part of the town cattle roamed where they would ; for there were few houses at this time in the neighborhood of South Terrace. Early residents could not always divest themselves of the usages of old cities. " On one of the first acres which were taken possession of and occupied, two brick pillars, imposing by their ugliness, had been erected to form a gateway through which to approach a wooden shanty of two or three rooms, and on one of the pillars was a board giving notice that 'any person found trespassing on these grounds {i.e., a bare acre) will be prosecuted with the utmost rigor of the law ' " — J. W. Bull. Adelaide, with its rude houses and its fallen trees, resembled the outposts of civilisation built in the forests of America in the early days. Between the houses there were many bare allotments overgrown with grass, and in spring every corner and all the thoroughfares, except parts of Hindley, King William, and Rundle Streets, presented a pretty green coverlet. To-day a stony cru.st almost completely covers the original site of the city. Besides building houses on city acres the pioneers did little in 1837 towards developing or improving their possessions. The quarrel of Governor Hindmarsh with Colonel Light was only part of the discord which injured the Province. Lack of authority and of good management promised to bring disaster to the colonising principles of Wakefield. As already recorded, the constitution embraced some of the features of a Crown colony and some of a chartered colony. The Governor was principally answerable to the Crown, and the Resident Commissioner, who was really Minister of Crown Lands, to the Colonising Commissioners. The title of Crown Lands was given by the Resident Commissioner on behalf of the Colonising Commissioners in London. Substantially the Government of the Province was confided to a Governor and a council of leading men, but the administration of the lands was in important respects wholly vested in the Resident Commissioner. Then the Surveyor-General had extensive powers, and in the discharge of the respective duties, without an authoritative head to settle disputes, collision and trouble were to be expected. While yet on the Buffalo, during the voyage to the Province, Captain Hindmarsh and Mr. J. H. F"isher managed to disagree, and, when South Australia was reached, their