at the loom of Clotho. His services in this regard inaugurate a new era in the history of his life. To him the doctrine of goldfields' casualty applies, for chance may make a Crœsus' or a Lazarus of each of the devotees of fortune on the great speculative sea of gold fields' contingency. Chance, too, or luck, is with miners a divinity that shapes their ends, and is cursed or blessed according to its actions. Accepting their philosophy, we must conclude that this impersonal deity favoured Mr. Cutbush.
Mr. Cutbush was born in Sydney in 1866, and was educated at the Grammar School in that city. As a youth he figured prominently at cycle meetings, and on several occasions showed his calibre by carrying off certain special prizes. In the acme of his cycling power he created a long-distance record for New South Wales. His capabilities on the wheel, though lucrative from the point of view of competitive sports, were of more practical value to him on his prospecting journeys through the sandy deserts of Western Australia. His attachment to this form of athletic exercise, and others of a more or less kindred nature, has been conspicuously shown by the supreme interest he has taken in sporting matters on the Western Australian fields.
In 1893 Mr. Cutbush arrived in Coolgardie. Making this his headquarters, he set out on various expeditions in search of gold. His returns from these extensive tours were not a full compensation for the time and trouble expended in the attempt to reach some golden grotto. When the great rush to Kurnalpi took place, Mr. Cutbush was among the first to arrive. The balance of fortune swung more pleasantly in his favour, and hopes of future aggrandisement were restored. From this excited vicinity, where hundreds of miners still groped among the alluvial for grains and slugs, Mr. Cutbush, satisfied that the place was exhaustively worked, left for Hannan's. On reaching there in 1894, he took a look round the neighbourhood, and pleased with its aspect, determined to settle down in the township and start business. He became a partner of Mr. J. W. Fimister in a most profitable venture.
When material affairs began to prosper, Mr. Cutbush resolved to take an active part in municipal life. A Progress Committee was soon formed for the purpose of taking precautions for the security and welfare of the citizens. Although this corporation had no legal existence, its aims and objects are practically the same as those of a municipal council, and the difference, which is everything, consists in the process of executing those aims. A Progress Committee is like a lay-preacher, unpolished, practical, ready, and not over disposed to be eclectic and dignified. This committee was formed, its drastic constitution was drawn up, and Mr. Cutbush was appointed first secretary, being returned at the head of the poll. He discharged the duties incumbent on the office with praiseworthy efficiency.
At a later period, when Kalgoorlie had assumed more definitely the appearances of a thriving town, a hospital was erected, and a committee chosen to superintend its management and interests. Mr. Cutbush was elected to the honourable position of chairman of committee, and was highly successful in this directing capacity. He has also held the secretaryship of the Hannan's Racing Club for two years.
As one of its municipal pioneers, and most useful citizens, Mr. Cutbush is entitled to the respect of Hannan's. He contributed his skill and energy towards forming the protocol of the municipality, and though many of the early enactments and provisions have suffered amendment, modification, and abrogation, as environments expanded and circumstances changed, he and his fellows did yeomanlike service for the era for which they were intended and devised. Mr. Cutbush has many traits of character which have created friendships and elicited the good opinion of his fellow men, in a land where honesty of purpose and other ethical virtues are extolled.
THE HON. GEORGE THROSSELL, J.P., M L A.
COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS.
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Photo by THE HON. GEORGE THROSSELL, J.P., M.L.A. Greenham & Evans. |
THE most thoughtful and best read of the public men of Western Australia have sedulously aimed at settling the lands of the colony, recognising that younger communities in other parts of Australasia, with a smaller territory, but not many idle acres, had made rapid progress by developing their productive resources, which are the source of national wealth and the foundation of the prosperity of the people. It was mainly the intense cultivation of her vineyards, the "close settlement" of her peasant proprietors of "garden blocks," that enabled France to so readily pay Germany's war indemnity in 1870; the immense export of locally grown food supplies adds much to the greatness and the stability of the United States. In Western
