tained me to a farewell dinner. Mr. James
Cowie, Secretary and Manager of the Belfast and Northern Counties Section
of the Midland Railway of England (Edward John Cotton's old line),
presided at the banquet, which took place in Dublin on the 9th of
January, 1913. It was a large gathering, a happy occasion, though tinged
inevitably with regrets. Warm-hearted friends surrounded me, glad that
one of their number, having elected to retire, should be able to do so in
health and strength, and with such a smiling prospect before him.

When I became a Midland Director, Mr. Nugent was no longer Chairman of
the Board. He had been called hence, after only a few days' illness at
the Company's Hotel at Mallaranny, near Achill Island, where, in January,
1912, he had gone for a change. In him the company lost a faithful
guardian and I a valued friend. He was succeeded by Major H. C. Cusack
(the Deputy Chairman), who is still the Chairman of the Company. A
country gentleman of simple tastes and studious habits, Major Cusack,
though fond of country life, devotes the greater part of his time to
business, especially to the affairs of the Midland and of an important
Bank of which he is the Deputy-Chairman. The happy possessor of an
equable temperament and great assiduity he accomplishes a considerable
amount of work with remarkable ease. For his many estimable qualities he
is greatly liked.

On the 14th of November I made my _debut_ as a Dominions' Royal
Commissioner, at the then headquarters of the Commission, Scotland House,
Westminster. Soon the Commissioners were to start on their travels, and
were at that time holding public sittings and taking evidence.

This is a narrative of railway life at home, not of Imperial matters
abroad, and it is therefore clearly my duty not to wander too far from my
theme; nevertheless my readers will perhaps forgive me if in my next
chapter I give some account of the Commission and its doings. The fact
that I was placed on the Commission chiefly because I was a railway man
is, after all, some excuse for my doing so.

CHAPTER XXXI.
THE DOMINIONS' ROYAL COMMISSION, THE RAILWAYS OF THE DOMINIONS AND EMPIRE
DEVELOPMENT

For the first time in the history of the British Empire a Royal
Commission was appointed on which sat representatives of the United
Kingdom side by side with representatives of the self-governing
Dominions. This Commission consisted of eleven members--six representing