James Smith (journalist)

Feeling the strain of overwork in 1863 he intended making a holiday visit to Europe, but was offered and accepted the post of librarian to the Victorian parliament.

The office was temporarily abolished in 1868, and Smith resumed his duties on The Argus, and continued to work for it until he retired in 1896 at the age of 76, perhaps pressured to do so on account of his "leaning towards spiritualism".

[1] Smith helped Louis Buvelot to gain recognition as an artist, and his favourable review of the work of the then unknown Tom Roberts in 1881 showed his ability to recognize potential talent.

[1] In addition to the works mentioned Smith was the author of From Melbourne to Melrose (1888), a collection of travel notes originally contributed to The Argus, and Junius Unveiled (London, 1909).

He contributed a large amount of the letterpress to The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, and edited The Cyclopedia of Victoria (1903), a piece of hack-work in which he could have taken little pleasure, but described in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature as "important".