I offered myself as a candidate for the office of Speaker of the House of Assembly in the year 1857, but was unsuccessful. In the following month of September I was invited to join the Ministry of Mr. (now Sir) R. R. Torrens, and became Commissioner of Crown Lands. This Ministry lasted, however, but a short time, and was succeeded by that formed by the present Sir R. D. Hanson. The “Constitution Act” was passed during this session of Parliament. Some of its clauses were objected to by me, chiefly that relating to universal suffrage, on the ground that intelligent votes could not be given by those who could neither read or write. I succeeded, however, in introducing a clause requiring a fixed residence of six months (twelve months were proposed) to qualify for voting. In the year 1859 I was appointed as a Special Magistrate under the “Local Courts Act”—first, to preside in the Local Courts at Willunga and Morphett Vale, and afterwards at those in the Northern Districts, namely, at Redruth, Clare, Auburn, and Riverton. I continued to perform those duties for upwards of ten years, and on the amalgamation of two districts I retired, receiving the usual retiring allowance. On this occasion I was much gratified by receiving two flattering addresses, one from the members of the bar practising in the Northern Courts, the other signed by all the Magistrates of the District and numerous other residents. This last was beautifully illuminated and engrossed on vellum. Having served over twenty-two years in His Majesty’s army; six years farming in a new settlement (Western Australia); seventeen years as a Bank manager; three years as a merchant; four years in Parliament, during which I held office in the Ministry for a short time; and lastly, over ten years administering the laws in Local Courts—my career may be fairly considered as long and varied. Having arrived at an old age, I may now rest from my labours, trusting to the atoning merits of a merciful Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, for an eternal rest hereafter. MARSHALL MACDERMOTT. ------------------------------------ William Kyffin Thomas, Printer, Grenfell-street, Adelaide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Two errata were applied to the text. ▪ PAGE 5, line 28.–For “Gulf of Causo” read “Gut of Causo.” ▪ PAGE 16, line 2.–For “Montreal” read “Montreuil.” ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brief Sketch of the Long and Varied Career of Marshall MacDermott, Esq., , by Marshall MacDermott