rred his services to the office of auditor, and was succeeded
by Mr. Thomas Hayward.

III.

And so, with eager hearts, directors looked forward to a rosy future. It
is interesting to recall what, in their opinion, the financial prospects
of the line were. Larger schemes loomed in ambitious minds, but, even
confined to the local line along the Severn valley, the estimated revenue
was as follows:--

Passengers 2,350 pounds

Coal 750 pounds

Lead, Copper, and Barytes Ore 1,700 pounds

Timber (chiefly used in working the mines) 900 pounds

Iron, Powder, and other articles used by miners 75 pounds

Lime for Agricultural and other purposes 900 pounds

Corn, Flour, and other Agricultural Produce 600 pounds

Cattle, Sheep, and other animals 300 pounds

Wool and Woollen Manufactures 225 pounds

General Merchandise and Shop Goods 250 pounds

Building Stone, Tiles, Bricks, etc. 200 pounds

Total 8,250 pounds

Estimating working expenses at 50 per cent., that left a surplus of 4,125
pounds, being nearly 7 per cent. per annum on 60,000 pounds, the required
capital. With such a scheme the majority of the local owners readily
expressed their agreement, and arrangements were made for cutting of the
first sod, in a field which was to form the site of the Llanidloes
station, on October 3rd, 1855. Mrs. Owen, of Glansevern, was invited to
perform the ceremony, but, owing to what she regarded as a premature
announcement of the fact in the "Shrewsbury Chronicle," that lady sent an
advertisement to the journal announcing the postponement of the function.
Pages of the Company's minute book were devoted to expressions of the
Board's "utmost astonishment" and demands for explanations. Mrs. Owen
was at no loss for material to furnish equally voluminous reply, the pith
of which was that she was simply inspired by a desire to obtain time,
both to secure the attendance of her influential friends and to inform
herself of the financial position of the undertaking.

It was all a storm in a tea-cup, but it was a very severe storm while it
lasted; and Mr. Whalley had to cut the sod himself, in a deluge of rain,
taking occasion, however, in doing so, to express, in graceful terms, the
disappointment felt at the absence of one "who had done so much to
introduce improved means of communication through the county," a
reference equally gracefully acknowledged by letter from Glansevern a few
days later. "Up to the present period