than her share) of light railway legislation, with its
accompanying doles in the shape of easy loans and free gifts, whilst
England and Scotland had been left in the cold. It was their turn now;
but as this Act, and the subject of light railways generally, formed the
substance of a paper which I prepared and read in 1900 before the
International Railway Congress at Paris, and of which I shall speak later
on, I will pass it now without more comment.

At Robertson's request I appeared as a witness this year for the Great
Northern Railway, before Committees of both Houses of Parliament, in
connection with a Bill which sought powers to construct an extension of
the Donegal railway from Strabane to Londonderry. Robertson himself did
not give evidence in the case. Before the Committees sat he had left the
Great Northern for the Board of Works, and Henry Plews, his successor,
represented the Great Northern Railway. The proposed line was in direct
competition with the Great Northern, and they sought my aid in opposing
it. Certainly there was no need for two railways, but Parliament thought
otherwise and passed the Bill. Indeed Parliament is not free from blame
for many unnecessary duplicated lines throughout the kingdom.
_Competition_ was for long its fetish; now it is _unification_, and
(blessed word!) _co-ordination_. Strange how men are taken with fine
words and phrases, and what slaves they are to shibboleths! Before the
House of Commons Committee which sat on this Bill I had the pleasure, for
the first time, of being examined by Balfour Browne. He was leader in
the case for the Great Northern, and I met him also in consultations
which took place. Since then I have crossed swords with him too, and
always I must confess with keen enjoyment. His knowledge of railway
matters was so remarkable, his mind so practiced, alert, and luminous,
that it was rare excitement to undergo cross-examination at his hands. In
his book, _Forty Years at the Bar_, he himself says: "I have not had many
opportunities of giving evidence, but I confess that when I have been
called as a witness I have enjoyed myself." Well, I can say that I have
had many such opportunities, and can truthfully declare that I have
enjoyed them all.

A few weeks holiday in Holland, Cologne, the Rhine and Frankfort, with
some days on the homeward journey in Brussels, all in company of my dear
delightful friend, Walter Bailey, complete the annals of this year