My brothers went to the parish school, one of the best in the county.

I had learned what wealth was, and a great deal about production and exchange for myself in the early history of South Australia - of the value of machinery, of roads and bridges, and of ports for transport and export.

After the break up of the municipality and the loss of his income my father lost health and spirits.

I count myself well educated, for the admirable woman at the head of the school which I attended from the age of four and a half till I was thirteen and a half, was a born teacher in advance of her own times.

Probably my mother's life was prolonged beyond that of a long-lived family by her coming to Australia in middle life; and if I ever had any tendency to consumption, the climate must have helped me.

The Town Clerkship, however, was the means of giving me a lesson in electoral methods.

There is nothing so costly to the state as a ruined life