that the paper with our names, and those of the members of
the committee, was found in a good state of preservation. This Sergeant
Murray was a man of great dry humour and shrewdness.

One day I was speaking to him, when one of two partners in a racehorse
came up, and told us he and his partner had a dispute; the latter had
the horse in his possession, in Lynett's stable, the door of which was
secured with a padlock and trace chain. Murray asked him, "Why don't ye
lock him up?"

"Hang it all, the horse is locked up already; what is the good of my
locking him up?"

"Well, as your partner has the horse locked up you can't get him out,
and if you lock the horse up, then your partner can't get him out."

"Oh, I see," said the owner, and immediately bought the lock and chain.

This advice was so novel to us that we all visited the stables and were
amused to see two locks and trace chains to prevent the removal of the
horse by either partner. It proved a common sense way of settling the
dispute in a few hours, and the partners became better friends
afterwards.

On reaching Brisbane to attend the House, I interviewed Sir Thomas
McIlwraith, who, after congratulating me on my return, said:--"I intend
to put down an artesian bore at Winton." I asked if I might make use of
this. He replied, "Well, it rests on me and my party being returned to
office."

I felt certain that this would follow, so I wired to Winton that I had
been promised an artesian bore. The town was painted red on the news.

At the opening of Parliament, Sir Samuel Griffith, seeing 45 members to
his 27, resigned the Premiership, and Sir Thomas McIlwraith was sent for
by Sir Anthony Musgrave. On the House meeting again within a few days,
Mr. Albert Norton was unanimously elected speaker, and Sir Thomas
McIlwraith asked for two months to construct his ministry. This was
granted.

I returned to Winton, and on arrival was accorded a typical western
reception for obtaining the promise of an artesian bore for the town. At
this stage it was only a promise, but the residents had such faith in
McIlwraith that they accepted it as a fact. Parliament assembled in July
with Sir Thomas McIlwraith as Premier.

In the early part of the year a bush fire broke out on the road to
Ayrshire Downs, and parties were organised to extinguish it. The police
preceded us, and noticing fires springing up further on, decided to push
ahead to ascertain the cause. They saw a man nea