He next travelled to South Australia and secured a position with The Border Watch of Mount Gambier, and was sent by proprietors A. F. Laurie and J. Watson to Naracoorte to work on The Narracoorte Herald, which they owned.
[1] It is worth noting that Ash had consistently fought against dummyism: one of his first editorials, in 1881, inveighed against the practice, and was read and praised in the House of Assembly.
[2] Hutchison won the case through J. H. Symon, Q C.'s highly technical attack, in which he managed to have most of Ash's evidence, including Hansard and the Government Gazette ruled inadmissible.
Ash, who conducted his own defence, received a great deal of sympathy, particularly among small farmers, and was elected to the seat of Albert in the South Australian House of Assembly, serving from April 1890 with Andrew Dods Handyside as colleague, until his final illness.
A teetotaler, non-smoker and diligent Member with an immense capacity for hard work, he was a regular visitor to the insane asylums, and fought for separate facilities for children, leading to the establishment of Minda Home.