Page:History of West Australia.djvu/457

 Mark's College, Chelsea. Graduating from the pupil stage he became head master of the College of Model Schools, and conducted those duties for three years. Thereupon he removed to that old endowed school, the Mottram Grammar School, of which he was head master for twelve years. For some time also he was a science lecturer in mathematics and theoretical mechanics at South Kensington.

When in the prime of manhood, in 1882, he came to Western Australia and established at Fremantle the Fremantle Grammar School, since become one o the chief educational institutions the colony possesses. His original complement of scholars numbered 29, but at present he has 120 under him, including 25 boarders. There he has been enabled to tutor many promising young colonials, and his curriculum falls little short of that at the best schools in England. By this means our youth have the undoubted advantage of an education similar to that given to their cousins in the old country. The experience gained by Mr. Briggs in the different and onerous positions he held previous to taking up his residence here makes him a citizen of uncommon recommendations.

In June, 1896, a writ was issued to fill a vacancy in the West Province of the Legislative Council caused by the resignation of Mr. E. W. Davies. A well-contested election was held on the 30th June, when prominent local candidates opposed each other. Mr. Briggs was among the number, and his election speeches made a strong impression on electors, as well for the common sense ideas he enunciated as their apparent suitability to the general requirements of the colony. On polling day Mr. Briggs was found to have a majority of 200 votes over the second candidate. At the 1896 session of Parliament, Mr. Briggs opened his Parliamentary career by moving the address in reply to the Governor's Speech, and has since, quietly but sedulously, made his influence felt on all momentous questions, and something is anticipated from his political career. Mr. Briggs was created a Justice of the Peace in 1895. He is a member of the Examining Board of the Education Department; and when the Chamber of Commerce was resuscitated in 1883 he became its first secretary. He occupied that important position until 1895. With Freemasonry Mr. Briggs has had an extended connection, He is a P.M. and P.Z. of the Fremantle Lodge 1033, E.C., and about 1885 took the preliminary steps in the creation of the Royal Arch Chapter of Freemasonry in Western Australia.

The foregoing is sufficient to show what position Mr. H. Briggs, M.L.C., holds among the teaching class of this colony. That he has made his individuality strongly felt in Western Australia goes without saying, and throughout Fremantle, where he is best known, he holds the confidence of all citizens. Light-hearted, and yet didactic, by nature, and of a generous temperament, he has the qualities which tend to make a man popular.

GEORGE RANDELL, J.P., M.L.C.

FIRST CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES.

HE pioneer Chairman of Committees in the first House of Assembly of Western Australia was Mr. George Randell. The duties of this office are not easy and demand attention and application in the more complex and difficult parts of Parliamentary business, greater even than from the occupant of the Speaker's chair. All the details of bills, the amendments and the perfecting of measures, are here undertaken, and the most onerous points have to be judged by the Chairman. He must have a knowledge of procedure, and a tact no less than that of the Speaker. The license in debate is great, and the questions involved. Mr. Randell, by past experience, and the respect with which he was viewed by all West Australians, received a distinctive compliment when he was chosen first Chairman of the House in Committee. He is of that valuable class of colonists who came from the old world, and piloted important and useful business concerns to stable permanency. As a pioneer of steam service up the Swan River as far as Guildford he greatly facilitated industrial interests, and as a leading business man, a municipal councillor and a politician, he has ever bestowed benefit on this young community. The utility of the energy and advice of such men under such conditions is far reaching.

George Randell J.P, M.L.C., was born in the town of Milton, South-west Hampshire, England, in 1830, and is the son of Mr. James Randell. Upon leaving school the lad learnt two trade, those of carpentering and engineering. When twenty years old he and his young wife came to Western Australia. The training could be well applied in this young colony, and the wisdom of the young man in emigrating here is at once apparent. At first he spent some time in Fremantle in different pursuits. Then he removed to Perth, where he laboured quietly until 1860. In that year he determined to carry out a project which he had long been considering.