of his handiwork and skill adorn the island towns. From contract to contract he went in accumulating successes, until the time came when the noble Maori sought to throw off the yoke of European oppression. Their lands—as great and lordly as themselves—had been theirs for centuries, and to regain them they, with sinister fierceness, occasionally visited the might of their arm on the white population. These frays became so numerous that retaliation was imperative. For successive years bloodshed was general, and many doughty deeds were done by white and black. Mr. Shaw went forth into the thickest of the fight, and did good service. In dangerous positions enough, he came through them unscathed, and his pluck and soldierly qualities were rewarded by a service medal. In 1866 the war was brought to a close.
For four subsequent years Mr. Shaw engaged in business in New Zealand, whereupon, in 1871, he took up his abode in Adelaide. There those excellent qualities which have since made him so popular were widely manifested. Adelaide was a thriving town, but a greater growth was soon to come. The increased development of the land resources of South Australia enhanced the importance of the capital. City land rose in value, and new and ornate buildings were erected on every side. Mr. Shaw launched out into large building contracts, and for some years his interests were immense, and he was one of the chief employers of labour in that colony. Many are the stories told in Adelaide of his munificence during these years. If one of the workmen accidentally met his death while in his employ, the family was well provided for by Mr. Shaw. Among the buildings he erected were the Houses of Parliament, than which no finer are to be found in Australia, new Government offices, Government workshops, large Bank buildings, the Australian Mutual Life Insurance buildings, and many others. These are the handsomest structures in the handsome city of Adelaide, and were carried out so carefully, and with such satisfaction, that the Belfast lad may well have been satisfied with his success. He had offers from different colonies to negotiate important works, but he had become so closely associated with the growth and aspirations of Adelaide that he did not care to leave that pretty city. During the years that these and other contracts were being negotiated Mr. Shaw attained popularity, not only among his workmen and their relatives, but throughout the city, and he was esteemed as one of the best loved men there. The first symbol of his popularity was denoted in his election to the City Council. Never listlessly entering any sphere, his great energy and disinterestedness were soon shown, and he devoted considerable time that he could ill spare to civic affairs. That best-drained, cleanest Australian city owes much of her glory to him. Throughout the thirteen years that he was a member of the Council, he was so zealous, and sincere, and charitable that his name became almost a household word. His chief characteristics are charity, solid common sense, intuition, and never-tiring energy. After rising to the dignity of an Alderman of Adelaide, in 1889 he was, with much acclamation, placed in the Mayoral chair. The manifold duties devolving on this position were performed by him to the satisfaction of all, and his hospitality in civic functions and liberality to the poor of the city won the most enviable admiration. His previous popularity was as nothing to what he now attained, and the genial springs of his nature circulated throughout the municipality. By his instrumentality, large departures were made by the Adelaide City Council, but, unfortunately, his constant thoughtful labour resulted in the breaking down of health. He left the colony for the New Zealand sulphur springs, and the regrets at his departure and ill-health, and the repeatedly expressed hopes for his speedy return, must have stirred his responsive nature, and thrilled him with that most delightful of all sensations—the consciousness of brotherhood, and public regard and love.
After a somewhat lengthened sojourn in New Zealand, Mr. Shaw returned to Adelaide, and again associated himself with her people. Soon, however, tidings reached him of the famous gold discoveries in Western Australia. Recent contracts had not been so remunerative as earlier ones, and the contagious germs of gold fever seized upon him until he decided to visit the West, and personally inspect the fields. In 1893 he left Adelaide, and arriving in this colony set out on his journey into the deserts. This was then no light undertaking, for the railway terminus was at Northam, from which the subsequent hundreds of miles had to be laboriously travelled in traps, on camels, on horses, or on foot. A few friends accompanied Mr. Shaw through the lonely bush, over the dreary deserts, for weary mile after weary mile. For days and days they proceeded in a trap, drawn by six horses, under a torrid, roasting sun, and at the end of nine days they reached Coolgardie. This mining camp, for there was no town there then, did not present the advantages to the tired travellers that it now possesses. Their long journey had been a serious strain on the body, but even yet their hardships were not at an end. Activity, and excitement, and dust, were the most notable features of Coolgardie, and day by day strangers were thronging into the locality. In order the better to understand the possibilities of the fields, Mr. Shaw made a thorough examination of the different mines, and, buoyed up with hope, invested considerable capital in them. Happily they were lucrative claims, and none will envy Mr. Shaw the wealth he has gained in them. From the first day he arrived in Coolgardie, he evinced a warm and glowing interest in her future. Quietly, and without ostentation, he began to make his influence felt, and supported and encouraged all movements which tended to her advancement. The residents viewed with pleasure this interest on his part, and particularly when he rendered assistance to the Progress Committee, a body which upheld the rights and claims of Coolgardie, and sought to establish some system in the camp. At that time Bayley Street was an augean stable, and the death-rate in the population was enormous. 8tumps hid beneath the dust of the principal thoroughfares, and the teamsters and camel trains camped almost in the heart of the centre. Near the Victoria Hotel the excrement was six inches and more in depth, and the place sadly needed some experienced governing hand. Mr. Shaw had gained so valuable an insight into municipal government in Adelaide, and so well knew of the advantages of cleanliness, he infused much spirit into the Progress Committee, which now strenuously advocated and petitioned the Government that a municipality be proclaimed. This, largely through the weight and influence of Mr. Shaw's advocacy, was finally granted. But rather than wait until the municipality could be formed, he had gratuitously and munificently caused many of the chief nuisances to be removed at his own expense, and had much other invaluable and necessary work done. He was elected among the first councillors, and received the greatly deserved honour of election to the pioneership of the Coolgardie mayoral office. No more suitable and harder working mayor could have been found. Day and night, for many months, did Mr. Shaw devote to the
