ities of becoming soldiers themselves. Yet have you
ever known or heard of any British settlement, no matter how small, which
did not elect a mayor and raise a volunteer force? When the time came for
the British Government to remove the regular garrison, the South
Australian volunteer force was established. This took place on the
conclusion of the Maori War, which was followed by the peaceful
settlement of the native question in the north island of New Zealand. The
British Government decided to withdraw all regular troops from New
Zealand and Australia then, feeling assured that the colonists, who had
already given the best and strongest evidence and proof of their capacity
to direct the affairs and develop the resources of the immense
territories entrusted into their hands, were more than capable of raising
and organizing military units on lines best adapted to their own economic
and political requirements. Thus it was that at the time the regulars
were withdrawn fairly efficient volunteer forces had come into
existence.

The South Australian Government retained the services of some of the
regular non-commissioned officers as instructors, and of some of the
officers for staff duties. At the time I joined the staff some of these
were still going healthy and strong. Well I remember Major Williams, our
staff quartermaster, Captain Powell, our cavalry instructor,
Sergeant-Majors Ryan and Connell, infantry instructors, two of the best.
They were with me then, they were under me for years; they never wavered
in their zeal, nor had I once, in our long association together, ever to
find fault with them or their work, not even in later days, when the
holders of the public purse set the pruning knives clicking and the
military vote suffered so severely as to necessitate much extra work on
the part of those who remained on the staff.

The growth of the colony steadily continued, never halting, though
occasionally bad seasons checked its progress. In the 'seventies South
Australia was fully established. Adelaide was becoming a rich and
populous city, the capital of a great territory. A stupendous pioneer
work, the overland telegraph right through the continent from Adelaide in
the south to Port Darwin in the north, had been completed, some 2,000
miles through unoccupied country. The Burra-Burra copper mines had given
forth their store of the copper. The Moonta and Wallaroo district was
still richer in that precious metal. Even no