His load had saved his life, and he warily resumed
the wig.
The quality of the early settlers in South Australia, gave Sir George
Grey great trust in the new Anglo-Saxondom to be built up in the south.
Many of them were Nonconformists, which suggested to him the Puritan
founding of New England. As a body they had a worth, a sincerity, a true
ring which could not fail of fine records. That knowledge helped him, in
the difficult task of setting South Australia on its feet. His policy of
severe economy made shoes pinch, but he held on, ever ready with the
courteous word for those who most assailed him.
He could contrast Adelaide, when town sites went at auction for about
five pounds an acre, with the Adelaide of our day. 'If you had yourself,'
somebody put it to him, 'invested in a few of these sites, you would be
rich instead of poor?' The remark bore partly upon the enormously
enhanced value of city lands all over Australia, partly upon Sir George's
simple unconcern for wealth, his disregard of mere money. He was almost
inclined to pity millionaires, as being among the afflicted. The tinkle
of gold was never in his golden dreams.
'Yes,' he answered, 'the land which sold for five pounds in Adelaide,
might, at the present moment, be worth nearer five thousand.
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