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K.C.M.G.'s.
The following have been created Knight
Commanders of the Order of St. Michael
and St. George:—
The Hon. Frederick William Holder.
Speaker of the Federal House of Represen-
tatives. He was born at Happy Valley,
South Australia, in May, 1850. His father
was a state school teacher, and Mr. Holder
was engaged in the same profession for
several years. His last school was at the
Burra, and he subsequently became proprie-
none Help
SIR F. W. HOLDER.
tor and editor of The Burra Record. After
having served the town as Mayor he was
elected in 1887 as one of the representatives
of the district in the House of Assembly.
In 1889 he was Treasurer in the Cockburn
Government. In 1891 he moved a motion
of no confidence against the Playford Go-
vernment, and although he was not suc-
cessful he established his position as Lea-
der of the Opposition, and in the
following July he ousted the Govern-
ment. Mr. Holder then formed a
Ministry, but only retained office for about
five months. In June, 1893, the Kingston-
Holder Government was formed, and Mr.
Holder was allotted the position of Com-
missioner of Public Works, but in 1894,
when Mr. Playford accepted the Agent-
Generalship, he was appointed to the Trea-
sury. The Ministry was defeated in De-
cember, 1899, bnt Mr. Holder only remain-
ed out of office for a little more than a
week. For a period of 15 months he
held the dual office of Premier and Trea-
surer. Mr. Holder was a prominent mem-
ber of the Federal Convention, and took
an active part in the work of framing the
financial clause of the Commonwealth Act.
He was elected to the Federal House of
Representatives in March, 1901, and was
selected for the Speakership in May of the
same year.
The Hon. N. E. Lewis, M.A. (Premier of
Tasmania). Sir Neil Elliott Lewis was
born on October 27, 1858. He is the son of
Mr. N. Lewis, a well known merchant of
Hobart. He was educated at Balliol Col-
lege, Oxford, and was called to the Bar in
London. He is also a member of the Tas-
manian Bar. He was first elected to the
Tasmanian Parliament on July 26, 1886.
From August 17, 1892, to April 14, 1894, he
held office as Attorney-General. When the
Government of which he was a member
was overthrown Mr. Lewis was chosen as
Leader of the Opposition, but relinquished
[BY SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.]
[Received June 27, 3.15 a.m.]
the post in November, 1897. When Sir
Edward Braddon's Ministry was defeated
in October, 1899, Mr. Lewis was called
upon to form a Cabinet. He was success-
ful, and has held office until the present
time. He held the rank of captain in the
Tasmanian Defence Force (Southern Tas-
manian Artillery) for several years. He
represented his colony in the Federal Coun-
cil of Australasia, and was a member of the
Federal Conventions which met at Ade-
laide and Sydney in 1897, and at Mel-
bourne, in 1898.
The Hon. John See succeeded Rp.
Sir William Lyne as Premier of New South
Wales last year. He entered the New
South Wales Parliament as member for the
District of Grafton in 1880, and has repre-
sented that constituency continuously until
the present time. Sir John See was born at
Yelling, Huntingdonshire, in 1845, and ar-
rived in New South Wales with his parents
in 1853. He entered into commercial pur-
suits, and had a successful career as a mer-
chant and shipowner. His great business
abilities caused his services to be in much
request on the directorates of public com-
panies. He had been a member of the
House of Assembly only five years when he
became Postmaster-General in the Dibbs
Ministry. Three months after he assumed
office, however, the Government was de-
feated. In 1891, on the resignation of the
Parkes Government, he accepted office as
Colonial Treasurer under Sir George
Dibbs, and carried the protectionist re-
venue tariff of 1892. Sir John See is highly
respected in the commercial community. He
has proved himself to be a capable admin-
istrator and a powerful debater. The offi-
cers of the Chief Secretary's Department in
Sydney waited upon Mr. See on Thursday,
and offered him their congratulations. A
similar compliment was paid to him by the
heads of the other state departments, mem-
bers of the local Parliament, and leading
citizens.
The Hon. A. J. Peacock, whose
Ministry was defeated on June 3,
succeeded the Right Hon. Sir George Tur-
ner as Premier of Victoria after the ad-
vent of federation. He is a native of the
Creswick district, and was President of the
board of directors of the A.N.A. in 1885,
1886, and 1893, and has been a member of
the executive committee of that body for
many years. He had a reputation for plat-
form-speaking before he entered Parlia-
ment, and on his election to the House of
Assembly in 1889 Mr. Deakin, the then
Chief Secretary, captured Mr. Peacock to
move the Address-in-repIy. But his attach-
ment to the Gillies-Deakin Ministry was
not lasting, and when Mr. Munro, who pro-
cured their defeat, formed a Cabinet in No-
vember, 1890, Mr. Peacock became an hon-
orary member of it, not getting office till
February, 1892, when he succeeded Sir
Frederick Sargood as Minister of Public
Instruction under Mr. Shiels. During his
12 months' tenure of office he initiated a
comprehensive scheme of retrenchment,
which was subsequently carried out by the
Patterson Government. He was a member
of Sir George Turner's first Cabinet, and
returned to office when that gentleman
formed his second Administration in 1900.
Sir Alexander Peacock was a member of
the conventions which drafted the Com-
monwealth Act.
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