“What causes 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; and, generally, by what methods the economical, efficient, and harmonious working of the Irish Railways can best be secured.”

As the newspapers said, the Irish Railway Companies were put upon their trial.  As soon as the Commission was appointed the Companies (19 in number) assembled at the Railway Clearing House in Dublin to discuss the situation, and decide upon a course of action.  Unanimously it was resolved to act together and to make a common defence.  A Committee, consisting of the Chairman and General Managers of the seven principal companies, was appointed and invested with full power to act in the interest of all, as they should find desirable.  The Right Honourable Sir William (then Sir William) Goulding, Baronet, Chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway, was appointed Chairman of the Committee.  I was appointed its Secretary, and Mr. Croker Barrington its Solicitor.  It was further decided that one general case for the associated railways should be prepared and presented to the Commission by one person, who should also (under the direction of the Committee) have charge of all proceedings connected with the Inquiry.  I, to my delight, was unanimously selected as that person, and to enable me to do the work properly, I was allowed to select three assistants.  My choice fell upon G. E. Smyth, John Quirey, and Joseph Ingram, and I could not have chosen better.  We were allotted an office in the Railway Clearing House; my assistants gave their whole time to the work, and I gravitated between Broadstone and Kildare Street, for of course I had to look after the Midland Great Western as well as the Commission business.  That I could not, like Sir Boyle Roche’s bird, be in two places at once, was my greatest disappointment.  I may record here that each of my assistants has since, to borrow an Americanism, “made good.”  Smyth is now Traffic Manager of the Great Southern and Western Railway; Quirey is Chief Accountant of the Midland Railway of England, and Ingram became Secretary of the Irish Clearing House, from which be has been recently promoted to 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.