Note 101 — 1852.

Was formerly in the sappers, from which he was discharged a corporal in January, 1838, on a pension of 1s. 7d. a-day, after a service of twenty-three years. Most of his military career was spent on the survey of Ireland, in which he was found a zealous and correct surveyor. Soon after quitting the corps he emigrated to South Australia, and was hired by the Commissioners for the colony as a draughtsman in the land office. He was one of the first race of surveyors in the settlement, and his duties, carried on through an unexplored intricate wilderness, were extremely toilsome and trying. At one time the survey department was thrown into great difficulty by the resignation of the original survey staff, which was the more embarrassing as emigrants were pouring into the colony by thousands, and land was rapidly purchased. In this extremity corporal McLaren, to meet the great and pressing wants of the colonists, exerted himself with untiring energy. The Governor, Colonel Gawler, in writing of his services (‘Times,’ November 7, 1846), said, “Corporal McLaren was a fine fellow, who would have answered all my purposes if I could have cut him up into ten or twenty living portions, but who, unhappily for me, was not thus divisible.” He was afterwards attached to the department of the surveyor-general, and ultimately, by his commendable labours, his experience, and valuable co-operation, received the appointment of deputy surveyor-general, which he now fills. His income is about 700l. a-year. A report by him (‘Times,’ September 20, 1852), on the overland route from Adelaide to Mount Alexander, is a fair specimen of his literary attainments and business-like habits.