In previous pages I have spoken of the manner in which the railways of Ireland had long been abused. This abuse, as the years went on, instead of diminishing grew in strength if not in grace. The Companies were strangling the country, stifling industry, thwarting enterprise; were extortionate, grasping, greedy, inefficient. These were the things that were said of them, and this in face of what the railways were accomplishing, of which I have previously spoken. Politics were largely at the bottom of it all, I am sure, and certain newspapers joined in the noisy chorus. At length the House of Commons, during the Session of 1905, rewarded the agitators by adopting the following resolution:—
“That in the opinion of this House, excessive railway rates and defective transit facilities, generally, constitute a serious bar to the advancement of Ireland and should receive immediate attention from the Government with a view to providing a remedy therefor.”
This Resolution bore fruit, for in the ensuing year (1906), in the month of July, a Vice-Regal Commission was appointed to inquire into the subject, and the Terms of Reference to the Commission included these words:—
“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.
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.”