20 people to the square mile, was thickly populated and Ireland with 135
sparsely; that population meant trains and traffic; that in England
railway traffic amounted to about 7,000 pounds per mile per annum and in
Ireland a little over 1,000 pounds; that in Ireland on many lines not
more than five or six trains ran each way daily, and on others only three
or four, whilst in England, on most lines, the _hourly_ number exceeded
these. When the Committee rose Sir Michael engaged me, informally, in
conversation for a little while. He was curious concerning some of the
facts I had adduced, particularly as to the Midland line and the country
it served.

In their report the Committee stated they had confined their inquiry to
the hours of duty of those classes of railway servants that were engaged
in working traffic, viz., drivers, firemen, guards, signalmen, shunters,
platelayers and porters, and had not dealt with other classes; a wise
distinction I thought. It was much easier, they said, to regulate the
hours of persons occupying fixed posts of duty within reasonable limits,
than those of the running staff on railways, on account of the variety in
the nature of the work. They reported also that they were unable to
recommend a "legal day," as they considered it would be found
impracticable owing to the number of cases which must necessarily be
admitted as exceptions to any fixed limit of hours, adding that the hours
of railway servants engaged in working traffic cannot be regulated like
those in a factory, which, I may add, experience has abundantly shown. I
believe, and have always believed, in reasonable working hours, and have
often worked unreasonably long hours myself in endeavouring to arrange
them for others; and more than once when I have re-arranged a rota for
drivers, firemen and guards, to my own satisfaction, I have been begged
by the men concerned not to make any change and to let well alone; not,
of course, because the new rota gave shorter hours, but because it
prevented the men from getting to their homes or interfered with
something else that suited them. Sometimes I gave way to the men and
sometimes I stuck to my revised rota. Every case varied and required
special consideration. The Committee also said: "It is universally
admitted that the railway service is very popular under existing
conditions; and several railway servants who appeared as witnesses
protested vigorously against any interference by