Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/106

 Chetham-Strode, Alfred Rowland, son of Admiral Sir Edward Chetham-Strode, K.C.B., K.C.H., of Southill, Somersetshire, was born on May 10th, 1823. In 1841 he went to New Zealand, when he settled at Wellington. Entering the Government service in 1846, Mr. Chetham-Strode was appointed Inspector of Armed Constabulary, of which body he had command. He also received a war medal for services rendered during encounters with natives at Horokiwi, Porirua, Wanganui, and other places. In 1849 he was appointed Resident Magistrate in Otago, and occupied the position from 1860 to 1862 of Sub-Treasurer of Otago; was Curator of Intestate Estates for some six years, and Sheriff and Commissioner of Native Reserves. He was also the first Returning Officer and Registration Officer after the Constitution Act was granted to New Zealand. Elected by the trustees, he was Vice-President of the Savings Bank from its formation. In 1865 Mr. Chetham-Strode was called to the Legislative Council, but resigned in 1868. In conjunction with the Hon. (now Sir), he was the means of establishing the Benevolent Asylum. Mr. Chetham-Strode was a member of Council of the University of Otago in 1869, and represented the Council at the tercentenary of the Edinburgh University in 1884. In 1873 Mr. Chetham-Strode resigned the duties of Resident Magistrate in Dunedin, and in 1882 he returned to England, and settled at Norwood, where he engaged in philanthropic works. He married, in 1851, Miss Emily Borton, and died on May 13th, 1890.

Childers, Right Hon. Hugh Culling Eardley, M.P., F.R.S., formerly a Minister of the Crown in Victoria, is the son of the late Rev. Eardley Childers, of Cantley, Yorkshire, by his marriage with Maria Charlotte, eldest daughter of Sir Culling Smith, Bart. He was born on June 25th, 1827, and educated at Cheam School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1850 (14th Senior Optime), and M.A. in 1857. He married in 1850, Emily, third daughter of G. J. A. Walker, of Norton, Worcestershire, and in the same year emigrated to Victoria, where he was for a short time a tally clerk on Cole's Wharf, Melbourne. Having introductions from the Colonial Office, and being well connected, he was soon looked after by the Government, and was appointed successively Secretary to a Denominational School Board, a member of the National Board of Education instituted in 1852, and subsequently Immigration Agent. On Oct. 26th, 1852, he succeeded Mr. in the far more important post of Auditor-General of Victoria. Under the inflation of the gold régime, extravagance was universal, and the Government had not escaped the contagion, if indeed it had not promoted it. It is charged against Mr. Childers by the historian of Australia, Mr., that by his device of an imprest system he removed the salutary checks on the extravagance of the public service, which it was the raison d'être of his office to supply. The effect was, at any rate, that unauthorised expenditure flourished apace, with the result that within eighteen months there was found to be a sum of £1,682,328 of unadjusted imprests, of which £283,745 were reported by an Expert Committee to be "wholly unaccounted for." In Dec. 1853 Mr. Childers first entered the Administration, being appointed Collector of Customs in Victoria, in succession to Mr. Cassells, and taking his seat in the Executive Council (Dec. 5th). In his official capacity he conducted the bill for the establishment of the Melbourne University through the Legislative Council, and ultimately aided in obtaining for it in 1859 a Royal Charter. It is a curious circumstance, that in 1855 he opposed the introduction of vote by ballot in parliamentary elections, but probably on grounds that were in a great measure local. After responsible government was conceded to Victoria, Mr. Childers was returned to the first Legislative Assembly in the district of Portland, and was a member of the first Ministry constituted under the new autonomous conditions. Mr. was Premier, and Mr. Childers held the office of Commissioner of Trade and Customs from Nov. 1855 to Feb. 1857, when he left Victoria, and returned to England as the first Agent-General of the Colony in London. He was also in the enjoyment of a colonist pension of £866 per annum, which he has drawn ever since, with the exception of the intervals during which he has had office in England. At the present time he has an ex-Cabinet Minister's pension in England, but the amount of his Victorian pension is first deducted, so that 90