for twenty-three years was connected with Mr. H. Dangar's stations, of which he was ultimately general manager. In 1866 Mr. Palmer was returned to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Port Curtis, becoming Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works in the Mackenzie Government in August 1867. In September he took the additional portfolio of Secretary for Lands, and retired, with his colleagues, in Nov. 1868. In May 1870 he formed an Administration of which, in addition to the premiership, he was Colonial Secretary, and for the last year of its existence acted as Secretary for Lands. He resigned in Jan. 1874, and, leaving Port Curtis, for which he had sat for thirteen years, was elected for Brisbane. He was Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Instruction in the first McIlwraith Administration, from Jan. 1879 to Dec. 1881, when he was appointed President of the Legislative Council, a position he still holds. In the same year he was created K.C.M.G. He has on several occasions administered the government of Queensland during the absence of or in the case of a vacancy in the office of Governor, on each occasion for a longer period than is usual in such interim tenures in the self-governing colonies. Sir Arthur married, in 1865, Cecilia Jessie, daughter of the late Archibald Mossman, of Armidale, N.S.W., and sister of Lady McIlwraith. He is an honorary colonel in the Queensland Defence Force, a Trustee of the Queensland Museum, and a Director of the Queensland National Bank.
Palmer, Hon. Sir James Frederick, first President of the Legislative Council of Victoria, was the fourth son of the Rev. John Palmer, of Torrington, Devonshire, and Jane his wife, daughter of William Johnson. He was born in 1804, and married in 1832 Isabella, third daughter of John Gunning, C.B., Inspector-General of Hospitals. He was educated for the medical profession, and went in 1839 to Port Phillip, where he practised his profession for a time, and then went into business as a cordial manufacturer and subsequently as a wine merchant. In 1846 he was Mayor of Melbourne, and in 1848 was elected to the Legislative Council of New South Wales as one of the five representatives of Port Phillip. When the latter district was separated from New South Wales in 1851, Mr. Palmer was returned to the first Legislative Council, then the only chamber, as member for Normanby, Dundas, and Follet. In Dec. of the same year he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Council, and held that post till responsible government was conceded, and he was elected to the new Legislative Council in the bicameral Parliament for the Western Province in 1856. When Parliament met he was elected first President of the Legislative Council in Nov. 1856, and was re-elected in Oct. 1859, August 1861, Nov. 1864, Feb. 1866, and March 1868. In Oct. 1870 he resigned, and was succeeded by Sir W. H. F. Mitchell. He was knighted in 1857, and died on April 23rd, 1871.
Parata, Wiremu, a Maori member of the House of Representatives, was, with Wiremu Eatene, appointed a member of the Executive Council, and minister without portfolio in the Waterhouse Ministry, at the instance of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Donald McLean, who was anxious to give Maori members a voice in the councils of the country. He occupied this office from Dec. 1872 to Feb. 1876. Wiremu Parata, who has adopted the Maori name of Te Kakakura, is a half-caste by birth, his mother being a Ngatiawa woman of very high rank, He lives in English style at Waikanae, forty miles from Wellington, and occupies the island of Kapiti as a sheep run. He is a man of considerable ability and of oratorical power, habitually speaking in the Maori language, although he has a fair knowledge of English. Although himself always loyal to the Crown, he strongly sympathised with the tribes who suffered during the war, and he has made more than one attempt to get the validity of the proclamation confiscating their lands tested in the law-courts. He is still bent on raising the question in some constitutional form, and having it argued before the Privy Council. The local Government is of course opposed to the reopening of a question involving many millions of money.
Parker, Gilbert, was born in Canada in 1859. He was educated at the Normal School, Ottawa, and at Trinity College, Toronto. He held for some time a position as professor in the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Belleville, Canada. He took
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