was an event of importance.

In the year 1875 the Board of the County Down, after an investigation of
its affairs by a Committee of Shareholders, was reorganised, and it was
then that Mr. Richard Woods Kelly became Chairman, and Lord (then Mr.)
Pirrie a Director. The latter has more than once since told me that the
County Down shares were one of his best investments.

Mr. Kelly merits more than a passing word. Before I joined the County
Down I was told he was a "terror," and that I ran foolish risk in leaving
a service like the Glasgow and South-Western for a position in which I
might find it impossible to please. But fears like that never disturbed
me. To wrongdoers Mr. Kelly could certainly be "a terror," and
wrongdoers there were, I believe, in the service in the early days of his
chairmanship. He was a mild-mannered man, tall, rather pale, with
refined features and a low-toned pleasant voice. But beneath this smooth
and gentle exterior resided great firmness. He would smile and smile
with wonderful imperturbability and, in the quietest tones and the
blandest way, say severe and cutting things. Economy was his strong
point and he observed it in his public and private life with meritorious
consistency. Impervious to cold, as to most other human weaknesses, in
winter or summer he never wore an overcoat. His smooth face and tall
slight figure seemed as indifferent to the angry elements as bronze or
stone. By man or Nature I never saw him ruffled or in the least degree
disturbed. But he had his human side, as all men have, and in time I
discovered it and grew to like him. He was not at heart so cold as he
seemed. Though he could not write a page without mis-spelling some of
the words, his letters were always concise and very much to the point.
But it was only in spelling he was deficient. He spoke well, was a
shrewd judge of men, had a keen sense of humour, a clear perception of
facts, and was quick to detect and discard everything irrelevant.

Lord Pirrie and Mr. Kelly, in connection with the County Down, were hand
and glove, and it was no small part they played in its transformation
from dark and dismal poverty to smiling prosperity.

My assistant was James Pinion, afterwards my successor, and later on
Manager of the Cheshire Lines Committee at Liverpool. Being a capable
fellow and a hard worker, it was only natural that he felt disappointed
at not being made general manager of the County Down instea