DR. CREED'S RECOLLECTIONS.* IN the course of his Recollections Dr.
Creed, a prominent member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, has many interesting things to relate as to social and political life and thought in the Commonwealth generally and his own Colony in particular. But in our opinion by far the most attractive part of the book is that which deals with the beginnings of his career, both as doctor and politician. He has no stirring adventures to recount, but none the less his experiences, set forth in simple yet vigorous language, are far more entertaining than many a novel of the bush. Dr. Creed is a native of Gloucestershire. At the age of sixteen he was articled to a London surgeon. Three years later, when his father decided to emigrate, the son cancelled his articles and went to Australia with the family. For some months Dr. Creed worked in a vineyard and on a sheep farm, and then came back to England to complete his medical studies. Though encouraged to start work in this country, he tells us, in a characteristic sentence, that his "temperament was not suited to the long years of tame subservience which are necessary to the success of a young practitioner without influence in that great wilderness of London." He therefore took passage as a ship's doctor and returned to Australia. After medical work in Melbourne and Sydney, he had the good fortune to be appointed surgeon in charge of an exploring expedition sent by the Government of South Australia into the Northern Territory in search of suitable country for holders of land warrants, and the account of his travels provides capital reading. When the expedition had finished its work, he visited Scone, in the Hunter River District, where once again fortune favoured him. "In a few days, almost in spite of myself, I found that I was in the active and very lucrative practice of, my profession."
It was at Scone that Dr. Creed commenced his political work. After four years in that town he was elected to Parlia- ment as representative of the Upper Hunter District, a constituency fifty miles by a hundred and twenty miles in extent. Electioneering in the bush over fifty years ago was, he tells us, an arduous task. Another characteristic extract may be quoted :— " On one day, with relays of horses, I rode ninety miles, and addressed four meetings. The fortnight's work nearly 'knocked me out,' for in that short time I went down from 11 stone 5 lbs. to 10 stone 5 lbs. I also 'lost loather.' I was, therefore, justified in telling the electors in my hustings speech that though I was not going to assert, as rasher men might, that I was willing to spend my blood on their behalf, I could truly say that I had shed fourteen pounds of fat and four square inches of skin in their cause."
On the dissolution of Parliament two years later Dr. Creed did not seek re-election, but finr eight years devoted himself to his professional work. He has many amusing and inter- esting incidents to tell of the life of a bush doctor. After fourteen years in Scone, Dr. Creed started practice in Sydney, and three years later was summoned by the Crown to the Legislative Council.
It is noteworthy that whatever branch of work Dr. Creed took up, he pursued it with vigour and boldness. He was all for enterprise and never afraid of taking the initiative. His position in the Legislative Council was used at once to bring forward reforms which his medical experiences had suggested. Thus we find him advocating measures in favour of vaccina- tion, for the regulation of cremation, and the control of inebriates. Re was successful in passing a Bill to bring about the last-named reform, but has to admit that little has been done so far to give it effect. Dr. Creed's views on liquor reform generally, on home defence, Free Trade, Federation, Labour unrest, &c., are well worth reading, but the record of his Parliamentary life will be more attractive perhaps to the student of politics than to the ordinary reader. Of more general interest are the chapters on " The Romance of Mining in Australia" and " Some Characters Have Met." In the former we are given the early history of Broken Hill and other famous mines. Incidentally Dr. Creed states that • My Recollections. By the lion, John Mildred Creed. Loudon Herbert Jenkins. [1.6*. net.] "to trustworthy men of genuine mining and metallurgical skill Australia probably presents a better field for enterprise than any other part of the world." He adds, however, that, "except for men of such qualifications, mining is a mere lottery and should be carefully shunned." In the latter chapter an incident is related which throws an amusing side- light on Dr. Creed's medical methods. A man subject to fits of drinking was in the habit of coming to the doctor for aid :— " On these occasions he would say : ' Please, Doctor, will you blackguard me ? ' I always promptly replied with his request, and indulged him with five or ten minutes of the most abusive epithets under which he would writhe. On my saying: 'Is that enough ? ' he would often exclaim : 'Give me a little more.' This treatment appeared to give him the moral stamina necessary to pull himself together, and with other psychic and, if necessary, drug treatment, ensured a long period of strict sobriety."
The book abounds in anecdotes and amusing stories, the humour of which is genial if not very profound. It is written in simple and straightforward style, and gives the impression of a remarkably vigorous and independent personality.
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