s obliged to do as much as he can
do. A man is to have a part of his life to himself." I made the plunge
and have never since regretted it. It has given me more leisure for
pursuits I love, and time has never hung heavy on my hands. On the
contrary, I have found the days and hours all too short. Coincident with
this change came a piece of good fortune of which I could not have
availed myself had not this alteration in my circumstances taken place.
Whilst in Paris I heard that Mr. Lewis Harcourt (now Viscount Harcourt),
then Colonial Secretary, had expressed a wish to see me as I passed
through London, and on the 28th of October, I had an interview with him
at his office in the House of Commons. There was a vacancy, he informed
me, on the recently appointed Dominions' Royal Commission, occasioned by
the resignation of Sir Charles Owens, late General Manager of the London
and South-Western Railway, and a railway man was wanted to fill his
place. I had been mentioned to him; would I accept the position? It
involved, he said, a good deal of work and much travelling--voyages to
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Newfoundland. Two
years, he expected, would enable the whole of the work to be done, and
about twelve months' absence from England, perhaps rather more, but not
in continuous months, would be necessary. It was a great honor to be
asked, and I had no hesitation in telling him that as I was on the eve of
being freed from regular active work, I would be more than happy to
undertake the duty, but--"But what?" he inquired. I was but very
recently married, I said, and how could I leave my wife to go to the
other side of the globe alone? No need to do that, said he; your wife
can accompany you; other ladies are going too. Then I gratefully
accepted the offer, and with high delight, for would I not see more of
the great world, and accomplish useful public work at the same time. Duty
and pleasure would go hand in hand. I need not hide the fact that it was
one of my then Directors, now my colleague, and always my friend, Sir
Walter Nugent, Baronet (then a Member of Parliament), who, having been
spoken to on the subject, was the first to mention my name to Mr.
Harcourt.

Soon after my retirement from the position of Manager of the Midland, my
colleagues of the Irish railway service, joined by the Managers of
certain steamship companies that were closely associated with the
railways of Ireland, enter