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OR, COLONISTS—PAST AND PRESENT.
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secretary and then manager of the South Australian Cattle Company, in which he held shares. He went to reside at the station near Echunga, in 1839, and commenced farming on his own account. In 1840 he took a farm on the Bald Hills, near Nairne, where he continued until 1847. He gave from 21s. to 25s. per bushel for his first seed wheat, and after the harvest sold it at 12s., which was of course ruinous. In after years he as well as other settlers had to dispose of their produce at 2s. 6d. per bushel, and in order to effect a sale had sometimes to take part of it out in black sugar and coarse tea. In October 1847 the Governor, Major Robe, was visiting the district, and Mr. Shepherdson was asked to take the clerkship of the Mount Barker Bench, with the promise of promotion as soon as possible; on this understanding he accepted the office, and was appointed on the 1st November in that year. In 1850, the first Local Court Act was passed, and he received the additional appointment of clerk of the Local Court. In 1858 he published a book on the "Practice of the Local Courts," which he dedicated by permission to His Excellency, Sir Richard Graves McDonnell It was favorably reviewed by the Press, and considered a useful text book for the legal profession. On March 6, 1861, Mr. Shepherdson was made a Justice of the Peace, and appointed a Special and Stipendiary Magistrate at Wallaroo. The other offices he has held or now holds are:—Commissioner for taking Affidavits in the Supreme Court; a Commissioner for taking the Acknowledgements of Married Women; Visiting Justice of the Wallaroo Gaol; Chairman of the Auxiliary Destitute Board at Wallaroo; Acting Commissioner of the Moonta Insolvency Court, in addition to being Special Magistrate of the Local Courts of Wallaroo, Kadina, Moonta, Port Wakefield, Balaklava, and Snowtown; Returning Officer of the Electoral District of Wallaroo, and Chairman of the Peninsula Licensing Bench. At his advanced age it is really wonderful that he can so