Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Wednesday 24 August 1887, page 5


THE LATE MOX. W. MILES.

The announcement in our columns yesterday morning of the death on the previous evening at Toowoomba of the Minister for Works (Hon. W. Miles) was received on all hands with regret, and though the many holiday fixtures could not be cancelled, the flags which were hoisted flow half-mast high, and most of the shopkeepers in Queen-street who still retain the old wooden shutters had put some of them up as a token of respect to the deceased gentleman. For Mr. Miles was well known in Queen-street both in his capacity of politician and as a man of business, and it was his intention had he lived to have left Toowoomba, where he has resided recently, and to have taken up his abode in Brisbane. His ailment and his advancing years had made the air of the Downs too sharp for him, and the journey to and fro too wearisome, and he recently bought a house and ten acres of ground at Eagle Farm, near the Racecourse, and had started improvements on his newly-acquired property, where he meant to spend the last years of his life. From the further information which was available yesterday we learn that on his return to Toowoomba on Friday last he was suffering acute pain from the abscess in his ears, the agony having returned with increasing intensity after he left the Assembly Chamber on the previous evening. On Saturday he went into Toowoomba from Race-view, his residence, and saw his medical adviser, Dr. Roberts, who again enjoined complete rest on the hon. gentleman, and told him that he must no longer worry himself about public affairs. On Sunday he showed no signs of improvement, and towards evening got decidedly worse; on Monday morning exudation from the ears ceased, inflammation of the brain set in, and he became delirious from suffering. Dr. Roberts called in Dr. Sheaf to consult with him, as the position was evidently becoming critical ; but it was soon apparent that there was no hope of recovery. He never regained consciousness, but passed away peacefully at last at five minutes past 9 o'clock on Monday evening, in the presence of his wife. Mrs. Nicoll, one of his surviving daughters, arrived by train in the evening, but too late to see her father alive. Mrs. Herbert Hunter, his other daughter, was in Brisbane with her husband, and they left for Toowoomba by special train yesterday morning. It had been intended that the Premier and other friends of the deceased

who wished to attend the funeral should

have left by special train for Toowoomba yes terday morning, but if hon Mr Hunter arrived in town he explained that Mr Miles had some time prior loudly expressed a wish to be buried in the cemetery at Toowong, so that the other arrangement was cancelled At Mr Hunter s request, the Commissioner for Railways, Mr

Curnow, visited the cemetery yesterday morning, and selected a site for the last restingplace of the deceased gentleman The gun of will be on the hill in the neighbourhood of the monuments to Governor Blackall and Sir Joshua Peter Bell

An account of Mr Miles, she, the particulars of which were supplied to the Hon. W H Groom, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and proprietor of the Joouoomha C/uomelc,by Mr Miles himself about two months since, appeared Unit journal yesterday morning, and as it is, as it were, fresh from the deceased gentleman is one lips, no are only too glad to reproduce it as appropriate to the occasion -*' He was born near Edinburgh, in May, 1877, and in the latter part of 1837 when he had just entered on his 21st year Dr Dobbie, of the Royal Navy, was appointed by the New South Wales Government to proceed to Glasgow in the hope of inducing emigration to the colony Mr Miles is as poisuudLd to come to Australia on the overtures of the New South Wales Government in guaranteeing the emigrants employment in its service Mr Miles aimed in Sydney on 30th June, 1888, after a tedious passage extending overnoaily six months Offers of profitable employment were made to him, by private individuals, but as usual with all new comers, he is as advised not to enter the bush, but to wait until Boeing -w hat the Government would provide The Government, however, did literally nothing, and Mr Miles accordingly engaged with the late Mr W H Chapman to proceed to the Macleay River, the farthest northern settlement at that time, as a "general useful " at a salary of 12s per annum At the termination of the first year more favourable terms, were offered, with the result that Mr.

Miles continued in Mr Chapman's son week for six years, the last fires which he had charge of the cattle stations During that period, although the blacks were dangerously troublesome, he did not lose a single man's life nor had he a single head of cattle or sheep

stolen At the end of this service Mr Miles

joined Powell Creek station, a large run, which he managed for Captain Steele, for the blacks were murdering the shepherds and carrying off the flocks wholesale. Under Mr. Miles's management no lives were lost and the stock remained unmolested. Captain Steele suffered through financial difficulties, and Mr. Miles then entered the service of Mr. John Maclean, of New England, and remained there for some considerable time. Having obtained a knowledge of pastoral pursuits for a period of fifteen years, he entered into partnership with Mr. David Bell, with a view of taking stock from New South Wales to the Dawson River. He, however, found that under the then existing land laws the country was taken up for fully 300 miles beyond that occupied. They therefore disposed of the stock and dissolved partnership. Mr. Miles next rented a station from Messrs. Miller and Turnbull, on the Dawson River, for three years," and on the expiration of that term, as they wished to visit the old country, he purchased

and became the owner of a station Known as Dulacca, besides obtaining in the course of a few years, other stations in the Warrego district, and on the Leichhardt, Maranoa, and North Gregory. He entered the Queensland Parliament as member for the Maranoa

in 1868, and continued to represent that district until 1874, when Mr. (now Sir Thomas) M'Ilwraith contested the seat with, him, and after a severe struggle defeated Mr. Miles by fourteen votes. to 1870 he was elected for Carnarvon in the Liberal interest, and he declared on that occasion that he could no longer sit or vote with the squatters, whose desire was to monopolise all the public lands of the colony. He subsequently resigned his seat and went on a visit to the Philadelphia Exhibition. Shortly after his return he was elected for Northern Downs and joined the Douglas Ministry as Minister for Works, but on Mr. Douglas wishing him to be transferred from the Works to the Lands Department, he refused and resigned his portfolio. At the general election of 1878, he was defeated for Dalby by Mr. G. M. Simpson, but was immediately nominated for Darling Downs, and was returned at the head of the poll. He continued to represent that constituency until his death. In 1883, on the defeat of the M'Ilwraith Government, he joined the Griffith Administration as Minister for Works, and has literally died in harness."

In public life Mr. Miles was deservedly popular. Despite the extremely tenacious manner in which he held to what he believed to be light, and the pugnacious way in which he always endeavoured to force his opinions on the rest of the community, there was a certain charm in his roughness of style and speech for there was no mistaking the meaning of his outspoken

ness, and his straightforward honesty of purpose

was universally recognised even by his enemies. For, like all strong feeling men who severest tate to act upon their convictions, he had many enemies, and he himself was a good hater. At one time he was the closest political ally of Sir Thomas (then Mr.) M'Ilwraith, but in 1871 they quarrelled, and they never afterwards Bat on the same side of the House in Parliament, or took the same view of any question. When he sat on the Opposition cross-benches, in the time of the rule of the Macalister Government, he assumed the rôle of Joseph Hume as a severe critic of the Estimates, and was sometimes inclined to be very obstructive. It is well known, too, that it was the uncompromising attitude which Mr. Miles took up when he came to Brisbane, shortly before the late rupture in the Cabinet, that fanned the smouldering embers of dissent and discontent into the blaze which burnt the cords which had united his colleagues. Although a squatter, he never identified himself with the squatting party in any

y, but presented the unique spectacle of a

man holding large squatting properties still WOrking with the party which landed on the " and squatting ory, he himself being one

of the severest in his denunciations of the squatting class He took great pride in one measure which he was in the main instrumental in getting p leased by Parliament-the Stations' AAragos Act-an act which secured to servants on a station BIK months' wages, if the property were taken possession i of by mortgagees also believed that thousands of pounds were prior to the passing of this Act, lost to working men on stations, through the financial difficulties of their employers, and he saw in the Act the remedy for the wrong Another action he often referred to was his motion to declare the seat of Mr (aftcruatds Mr Justice) Pring vacant when that gentleman accepted the office of commissioner to report upon the goldfields of the colony Mr Miles held that this was an office of profit under the Crown, and a majority of the Assembly supporting him, Mr Pring's seat was declared vacant Another feature in his political career was the leading part which he took in the " steel rails" controversy, his own a name appearing as prosecutor in the celebrated case Miles v M Hwraith, a position owing to it Inch he was mulcted in costs which have been variously

stated at from £1000 to £7000 He was the first to di wilgo to the public the policy of the present Government in regard to the ten million loan It was at the banquet held at Emu Vale in honour of the opening of the line of railway to that place that Mr. Miles, in his speech, said that the late M'lhtruith Government might boast about their three million loans, but the Griffith Government would go one better than th it-they would give the country not three millions but three times three, and he called upon the audience to then and there give three times three cheers for the new loan How this idea developed into the ten million loan is a matter of history As Minister for Works Mr Miles had the honour of preparing the schedule of works to be carried out by the loan for the consideration of the Cabinet and P irlmuiont, and he has since presided over the expenditure already inclined It was at the Emu Vale banquet also that Mr Miles pledged himself to what has since been known as the 7 is Fiesta, a project which, in his death, will lose a firm friend and ally In debate Mr Miles was extremely useful as a combatant

when heavy work was about and things were getting serious, but he was not regarded as a safe advisors loader, lacking the cool head and the caution necessary to both Of late years his infirmities made him much less effects of and useful in the House, but he was always ready to defend his departments from attacks made upon them, as they have been with growing frequency year by year His last appearance in the House was marked by one of those displays of impatience which increased in frequency towards the last, but his appeal to the Chairman of Committees to protect his colleague the Attorney-General against the corruptions of the Opposition cross-benches met with no support from the House To deputations he was ever a juror, and it is obvious that his own last gun vance should have seen what was always a bugbear to buy us a

Minibtur.

In private life he showed much more kindli-ness of spirit and a gentle disposition In business he was enterprising and far-seeing, and as a sheep-farmer his practical know- lodge was of great service to him, and was the means of his many investments turning out so well

He would boast that it was by buying and selling that he made his money, and not by sticking to one position-that when settlement came too close, he always went out further west to non country-and he was wise enough to be quit of his properties before the bad times mine He was connected with many commercial speculations in the colony, has hold shares in newspapers much to his own advantage in money and in power, and was the founder and first chairman of the Royal Bank and of the Metropolitan Permanent Freehold Land and Building Society. He hold prominent positions on the Council of the Queensland National Association and in the Queensland Turf 61 rib, and generally took an interest in sporting and agricultural matters in the colony. He died a very wealthy man, and had the comfort of knowing that those most dear to him were well provided for

The body of the deceased gentleman will be brought down from Toowoomba to-day by special train, which leaves at 10 a in On receipt

yesterday morning of a telegram from Mr "

Herbert Hunter, son-in-law of the deceased, intimating that the funeral was to take place at Toowong on Wednesday, and asking Mr Curnow to make the necessary arrangements, it was deemed advisable by Mr Curnow, after consultation with the Premier, that the

funeral should start from the Roma-street

terminus as soon after 4 o'clock as possible One of the now convertible goods and passenger cars was specially prepared and sent up to Toowoomba last night to be used as a of useful car between there and the Brisbane station, thence to the Toowong Cemetery the arrangement will be in the care of Messrs. J. and J. HARROD. At the request of a number of friends of the deceased gentleman, residents of Toowoomba, a saloon carriage was sent up with the hoarse car last night, so that they may accompany it to Brisbane, and attend the funeral.

The Legislative Assembly will meet as usual at 3.30, and the adjournment to one bro members to attend the funeral will at once be moved by the Premier. The Legislative Council will meet at 1 o'clock, unless a quorum of members should assemble before that hour. The funeral cortège will, however, no doubt be delayed sufficiently long to enable members of the Upper House to arrive from their Chamber and fall into the place assigned to them in the procession.