o
an important position under the Ministry of Transport (Ireland).

The way in which the seven Companies worked together, and the success
they attained was, I think, something to be proud of. Sir William
Goulding was an excellent Chairman. There was just one little rift in
the lute. One of the seven Companies showed a disposition, at times, to
play off its own bat, but this was, after all, only a small matter, and
the general harmony, cohesion and unanimity that prevailed were
admirable, and unquestionably productive of good. We had as Counsel, to
guide and assist the Committee, and to represent the Companies before the
tribunal, Mr. Balfour Browne, K.C.; Mr. Jas. Campbell, K.C. (now the Rt.
Hon. Sir James Campbell, Baronet, Lord Chancellor of Ireland); Mr. T. M.
Healy, K.C.; Mr. Vesey Knox, K.C.; and Mr. G. Fitzgibbon. They served us
well, and were all required. During the proceedings, prolonged as they
were, each could not of course always appear, and it was important to
have Counsel invariably at hand.

Sir Charles Scotter was appointed Chairman of the Commission. He was
Chairman of the London and South Western Railway; had risen from the
ranks in the railway service; had been a general manager, and was
unquestionably a man of great ability; but he was handicapped by his age,
which even then exceeded the Psalmist's allotted span. His health
moreover was not good, and in less than six months after the completion
of the work of the Commission, he departed this life at the age of 75.

Mr. George Shanahan, Assistant Secretary of the Board of Works, was the
capable Secretary of the Commission. He had the advantage of being a
railwayman. From the service of the Great Northern Railway, Robertson
took him with him to the Board of Works in the year 1896.

Before the Commission began its public sittings it issued and freely
circulated a printed paper entitled "_Draft Heads of Evidence for
Traders, Industrial Associations, Commercial and Public Bodies, etc_."
This paper invited complaints under various set headings and concluded
with these words:--

"Whether there is any other question that might be usefully considered
in determining the _causes that have retarded the expansion of traffic
upon the Irish lines_, and their full utilization for the development
of the agricultural and industrial resources of the country."

The italics are mine. We, rightly or wrongly, looked upon this paragraph
as _assu