Some time afterwards, having sold a property in Western Australia for £3,000, I agreed to join in a mercantile business with a gentleman connected with my family. On this becoming known to Mr. John Ellis, he very handsomely and spontaneously presented me with a letter of credit for £5,000 on the wealthy firm of Morrisson & Co., of London; and Mr. G. S. Walters, in a similar manner, introduced me to his father-in-law, Mr. Frederick Huth, of the great firm of Frederick Huth & Co., of London, who opened credits for the new firm with their several correspondents at Mauritius, Calcutta, Bombay, Ceylon, Singapore, and China, for £2,000 each. The business was thus commenced with a fair prospect, but not proving very successful after a trial of a few years, I retired from the firm. In the year 1855 the second mixed Legislative Council, of nominated and elected members, assembled. I had offered myself as a candidate to represent the District of Willunga, in this Council, but after a close contest was defeated. The Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, however, immediately offered to nominate me to a seat, at the same time stating that I was not to consider myself bound in the slightest degree to support any Government measure which I did not approve. I accepted this offer and took my seat in that Council, which elected me in the following November to the honourable position of Chairman of Committees. At this time the citizens of Adelaide obtained their supplies of water from the River Torrens, which was subject to pollution, and the cartage was inconvenient and expensive. Complaints were numerous, and the Government introduced a Bill for constructing water-works at a cost of £280,000. This amount was so large that the Council did not believe the Government was serious, and at the second reading the Chairman of Committees read some eighty clauses _seriatim_, with scarcely a remark from any members. The Bill was finally passed, and has proved a most beneficial measure. On the dissolution of this mixed Council (elective and nominated) on which had devolved the passing of the Constitution Act in 1857, I was elected to represent the District of Flinders, and took my seat in the Legislative Assembly, under the new responsible Government, consisting of five members,—namely, Chief Secretary, Attorney-General, Treasurer, Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Commissioner of Public Works.