Joseph Tatlow - Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland

J >> Joseph Tatlow >> Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland

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Mr. Littler was in great feather at our success. He entertained us
(_i.e_., his Midland clients) to lunch. Over coffee and cigars we
learned that he had not been in Ireland for over 20 years; so to equip
him the better for next year's fight we invited him over, promising that
I would be his faithful cicerone on a tour through the country. As soon
as Parliament rose he came, and he and I spent a fortnight together,
visiting Limerick, Waterford, Cork, Galway, Sligo and other places. It
was a sort of triumphal march, for our friends, and they were many,
warmly welcomed on Irish soil the great English Q.C. who had routed the
enemy. Littler enjoyed it immensely, and was charmed with Irish warmth
and Irish ways. Full of good humour and good nature himself, with a
lively wit, and an easy unaffected manner, he gained new friends to our
cause, and increased the zeal of old ones. He was a charming companion,
a keen observer and interested in everything he saw and everybody he met.

Before the next session arrived my company determined upon a bold course,
and decided to themselves lodge a Bill to acquire the Waterford and
Limerick line. There was much to be said for this. With the Waterford
and Limerick in our hands the competition, which the public loved, would
continue, whilst in the hands of the Great Southern monopoly would
prevail. That we would command much public support seemed certain. So
in the following year three Bills were presented to Parliament, viz.:--

Midland Great Western
Great Southern and Western and Waterford and Limerick
Great Southern and Western and Waterford and Central Ireland

That Parliament regarded these proposals as being of more than ordinary
importance is clear from the fact that it referred the three Bills to a
Joint Select Committee of both Houses--Lords and Commons--describing them
as "The Railways (Ireland) Amalgamation Bills." An experienced and able
chairman was appointed in the person of Lord Spencer.

On the 18th of May the proceedings opened. Day by day every inch of
ground was stubbornly fought, and on the 12th of July the decision of the
Committee was announced. After the presentation of the Great Southern
case our Bill was heard and all the opposition. One of the most
effective witnesses for the Great Southern was Sir George (then Mr.)
Gibb, general manager of the North-Eastern, the only big railway in the
country that enjoyed a district to itself. His _role_ was to persuade
the Committee that railway monopoly, contrary to accepted belief, was a
boon and a blessing, and well he fulfilled his part.

My examination did not take place until July 6th, after nearly all other
witnesses had been heard. Mr. Littler intentionally kept me back, which
was a great advantage to me, as when placed in the box I had practically
heard what everybody else had said, and the last word, as every woman
knows, is not to be despised. Littler took me through my "proof." I had
spent the whole of the previous Sunday with him at his house at Palmer's
Green and we had gone through it together most carefully. He attached
great importance to my direct evidence, and we underlined the parts I was
to be particularly strong upon. That I had taken great pains to prepare
complete and accurate evidence I need scarcely say, for, as I have stated
before, if there is any kind of work I have liked more than another, and
into which I have always put my heart and soul, it is this kind. After
we had got through I was cross-examined by eight opposing counsel,
including Pope, Pember, Balfour Browne and Seymour Bushe. One of the
very few things connected with my appearance in the case I have preserved
(and this I have kept from vanity, I suppose) is a newspaper cutting
which says, "In cross-examination Mr. Pope could not get a single point
out of Mr. Tatlow. On the contrary it actually made his case stronger.
His evidence from beginning to end was most masterly. It was the
evidence of a man who knew what he was talking about and who told the
truth. Mr. Pope, in the end, agreed with Mr. Tatlow's statement on
running powers." Mr. Pope was a big, generous-minded man. In the course
of his great speech on the case he paid me the very nice compliment of
saying that, "Mr. Tatlow went into the box and with a candour that did
him great credit at once admitted that they (the clauses) were the most
stringent that he knew of." This from opposing counsel was a compliment
indeed, and I was much complimented upon it. Mr. Pope greatly admired
candour, and indeed I found myself that candour always told with the
Committees. Littler loved Pope, and so did all the Parliamentary Bar, of
which he was the acknowledged leader and the respected father. Littler
said to me, "He is a wonderfully and variously gifted man, and had he
chosen the stage as a profession would have been a David Garrick." I
said, "What about his very substantial person?" for he was colossal in
figure. "I had forgotten that," said Littler. Littler told me a good
story of him which Pope, he said, was also fond of telling himself.

It was in the great man's biggest and busiest days. Influenza was rife.
Mr. Pope was a bachelor, and his valet inconsiderately took the "flu."
Mr. Pope's nephew said the valet must go away till he fully recovered, or
Mr. Pope would be sure to take it. "What shall I do?" said Mr. Pope, in
dismay. "Oh, I'll get you a good man for the time," said the nephew; and
so he did; a skilful, quiet, efficient, attentive man, whose usual duty
it was to attend on a rich old gentleman, who resided, on account of a
little mental derangement, in a certain pleasant private establishment.
Mr. Pope had not been told, nor had he inquired, where the excellent
valet, with whom he was well pleased, hailed from, nor had the valet
asked any questions concerning Mr. Pope. Both seemed to have jumped to
certain conclusions. After the valet had been there a week or more, one
day, when _downstairs_, he said to the servants: "Tell me, what is it
that is wrong with the master? He seems to me to be as sane as any of
us!"

Balfour Browne, in his book _Forty Years at the Bar_, says, "He" (Mr.
Pope) "had a broad equitable common sense, and never did anything mean or
little." He was certainly an orator, and displayed in his speeches much
dramatic power. His voice was fine, flexible and sonorous. In his later
years he must often have wished his "too too solid flesh would melt," for
it had become a heavy burden. He had to be wheeled from Committee Room
to Committee Room in a perambulating chair, and was allowed to remain
seated when addressing Committees. On the 12th of July Lord Spencer
announced that "the Great Southern Amalgamation Bill may proceed subject
to clauses as to running powers, etc." This meant that _our_ Bill was
gone, and that the Great Southern had gained possession of the Waterford
and Limerick, Ennis, the line to Collooney and running powers to Sligo.
Thus they had secured a monopoly in Munster and an effective competition
with us in poor Connaught. It was hard lines for the Midland, but all
was not yet lost. If only we could obtain running powers to Limerick and
carry them back to Ireland, we should have secured some of the spoil.
Another week was spent fighting over running powers, facilities, etc.,
and I was in the witness box again. Balfour Browne and Littler now
conducted the warfare on either side, and keenly they fought. The
Committee at one time seemed disposed to put us off with little or
nothing. In the box I know I waxed warm--"the Great Southern to get all
and we nothing--iniquitous," and then, "the public interest to count for
nought--Oh, monstrous!" Well, in the end, on the 19th of July, we were
awarded full running powers to Limerick, and--the curtain fell!

The Act came into operation on the 2nd of January, 1901, the 1st being a
Sunday. On the 8th we ran our first running power train, and the Joy
Bells rang in Limerick. The Great Southern threatened us with an
injunction because we began to exercise our powers before the terms of
payment, etc., were fixed between us; but we laughed at threats and went
gaily on our way. Limerick rewarded us by giving us their traffic.

In this last amalgamation year (1900) we were in the Committee Rooms also
in connection with another case--the Kingscourt, Keady and Armagh Railway
Bill; but, I will say no more about it than that we opposed the Bill for
the purpose of obtaining proper protection of Midland interests.

The year 1900 brought a general Act of some importance called the
_Railway Employment (Prevention of Accidents) Act_. It empowered the
Board of Trade to make rules with the object of reducing or removing the
dangers and risks incidental to certain operations connected with railway
working, such as braking of wagons, propping and tow roping, lighting of
stations, protection of point rods and signal wires, protection to
permanent way men, and other similar matters. It also empowered the
Board to employ persons for carrying the Act into effect.

Nineteen hundred, take it all in all, was a busy, interesting and
delightful year. Though we did not succeed in acquiring the Waterford
and Limerick Railway, which I may now say we scarcely expected, for
_compulsory_ railway amalgamation was then unheard of, yet our _bold
course_ was regarded with considerable success (as boldness often is) and
the running powers we had won were pecuniarily valuable as well as
strategically important. Sir Theodore Martin, our Parliamentary Agent,
and who had taken the keenest interest in the contest, wrote me: "After
all I do not much regret the issue of the fight the Midland have had. To
have got running powers to Limerick, and to have to give nothing for them
is a substantial triumph." So also thought my Chairman and Directors,
for on the 25th of July they passed the following Board minute:--

"Resolved unanimously, that having regard to the great exertions of Mr.
Tatlow in connection with the several Bills before Parliament, and the
Directors being of opinion that the favourable terms obtained by this
Company were due to the great care and attention given by him, they have
unanimously decided to raise Mr. Tatlow's salary 200 pounds a year on and
from the 1st inst."

Not a very great amount in these extravagant days, perhaps, but in
Ireland, nineteen years ago, it was thought quite a big thing; and it had
the additional charm of being altogether unexpected by its grateful
recipient.

Sir Theodore Martin, though 84 years of age, was full of intellectual and
physical vigour. He was a sound adviser, and enthusiastic in the
amalgamation business. Poet, biographer and translator, he kept up his
intellectuality till the last, and the end of his interesting life did
not come until he reached his 94th year. In 1905 he published a
translation of Leopardi's poems. Between us arose a much greater
intimacy than the ordinary intimacy of business, and his friendship,
through a long series of years, I enjoyed and highly valued.

[Sir Theodore Martin: martin.jpg]

Between the two periods of the Amalgamation control I sandwiched a
delightful holiday, and in the autumn of 1899, after the conclusion of
the great Ballinasloe Fair, travelled east as far as Constantinople. Were
this a book of travel (which it is not) a chapter might be devoted to
that trip. But the cobbler must stick to his last, though a word or two
may, perhaps, be allowed on the subject, if only by way of variety.

My companions on this interesting tour were my good friends F. K. and H.
H. We went by sea from Southampton to Genoa, where we stayed two days to
enjoy the sunshine and colour; its steep, picturesque and narrow streets,
and its beautiful old palaces. Then we visited Milan and Venice. At
Venice we spent several days, charmed with its beauty. From Trieste we
took an Austrian Lloyd steamer, the _Espero_, to Constantinople. At
Patras we left the steamer to rejoin it at Piraeus, wending our way by
rail along the Gulf of Corinth to Athens, in which classical city we
stayed the night. Messrs. Gaze and Sons had ordered their guide (or
dragoman as he was called) to meet us and devote himself to our service.
The next morning at 7 o'clock, he called for us at our hotel, and from
that hour till noon, under his guidance, we visited the temples and
monuments of ancient Athens, and inspected the modern city also. In the
afternoon we drove or rather ploughed our way from Athens to Piraeus
(five miles) along the worst road I ever traversed, not excepting the
streets of Constantinople. We found the harbour gay with music, flags
and bunting, in honour of a great Russian Admiral who was leaving his
ship to journey by ours to Constantinople. His officers bade him
respectful farewells on the deck of our steamer, and he ceremoniously
kissed them each and all.

On the twenty-second day after leaving home, at six o'clock in the
morning, we were aroused in our berths and informed that we had arrived
at Constantinople. The morning, unfortunately, was dull, and our first
view of the Ottoman city, therefore, a little obscured. All the same, it
was a great sight, with its minarets and towers, its Golden Horn and
crowded quays. Our dragoman kept at bay all the clamouring crowd of
porters, guides and nondescripts of all colours and races that besieged
us. It was 8.30 a.m. when we landed, but 3.30 p.m. by Turkish time. The
Moslem day is from sunset to sunset, and sunset is always reckoned 12
o'clock; an awkward arrangement which the reforming "Young Turk" perhaps
has since altered. The week we spent in Constantinople was all too
short. We stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel, and the first night after
dinner, in our innocence, strolled out. All was dark and dismal; no one
in the streets. We went as far as the quays, strolled back and on the
way called at a small cafe, the only inmate of which was a dwarf, as
remarkable looking as Velasquez's _Sebastian de Morra_. The hall porter
at our hotel was waiting our return with anxiety. "It was not safe to be
out at night," he said; "we had gold watches on us and money in our
purses, and knives were sharp." Murray's guide book, we afterwards
found, gave similar warning, without mentioning knives. Sir Nicholas
O'Connor was our Ambassador in Constantinople. He was an Irishman from
County Mayo, and I had a letter of introduction to him from my friend Sir
George Morris. Sir Nicholas invited me to lunch at Therapia, where the
Embassy was in residence in its summer quarters. He was exceedingly kind
and facilitated our sightseeing in the great city during our stay. We
witnessed the Selamlik ceremony of the Sultan's weekly visit for prayers
to the Mosque Hamedieh Jami, which stands adjacent to the grounds of
Yildiz Kiosk. It was worth seeing. There was a great gathering of
military in splendid uniforms and glittering decorations. Seven handsome
carriages contained his principal wives, or ladies of the harem (wives we
were told), and several of the Sultan's sons (mere youths) were there,
beautifully apparelled. We caught glimpses of the ladies through their
carriage windows, and being women (though veiled) I should be surprised
if they, on their part, did not get glimpses of us. There were eunuchs
too, black frock-coated--and the chief eunuch, an important personage who
ranks very high. Then came the Sultan (Abdul Hamid) himself in an open
carriage, closely surrounded and guarded by officers. He was an elderly,
careworn, bearded, sallow, melancholy looking man, whose features seemed
incapable of a smile. He entered the Mosque alone; his wives remaining
seated in their carriages outside. In the room in which we sat at an
open window to view the ceremony we were regaled with the Sultan's coffee
and cigarettes.

The streets and bazaars of Constantinople were absorbingly interesting.
The various nationalities that everywhere met the eye; the flowing
eastern costumes, the picturesque water carriers, the public letter
writers patiently seated at street corners and occupied with their
clients, the babel of voices, and yet an Oriental indolence pervading
all, crowds but no hurry; the sonorous and musical sound of the Muezzin
call to prayers from the minarets--all was new and strange; delightful
too, if you except the dogs that beset the streets and over which, as
they lay about, we stumbled at every step. They are now a thing of the
past. Poor brutes, they deserved a better fate than the cruel method of
extinction which Turkish rule administered.

Of course we visited Stamboul's greatest Mosque, S. Sophia. Many other
Mosques we saw, but none that approached the majesty of this. One, the
Church of the Monastery of the Chora, famous for its beautiful mosaics,
we did not see, although the German Emperor had driven specially to it on
his visit in 1898 to the Sultan. The only good road Constantinople
seemed to possess was this road to the church, which lies outside the
city, and this road, we were told, was constructed for the convenience of
His Imperial Majesty.

One day, on the bridge that spans the Golden Horn, we passed the Grand
Vizier in his carriage. It was the day on which we crossed the Bosphorus
by steamer to visit Scutari on the Asiatic shore. Scutari commands a
splendid view of the city, the Golden Horn, and the Bosphorus in its
winding beauty, right away to the Black Sea. What a city some day will
Constantinople be! The grandest perhaps on earth. In Scutari we heard
the Howling Dervishes at their devotions, and the following day, in
Constantinople, witnessed a _performance_ shall I call it? of the Dancing
Dervishes in their whirling, circling, toe-revolving exercise. The
object of both is said to be to produce the ecstatic state in which the
soul enters the world of dreams and becomes one with God. There is no
question as to the ecstatic, nay frenzied state many of them attained.

Our last day was the eve of the Ramadan Fast. At eight o'clock that
night we left by train to journey homeward overland, for time demanded
that we should go back much quicker than we came.

We broke our journey for two days at Buda-Pesth, and looked on the
Danube; at Vienna we stayed a little longer, and found that gay city hard
to leave. We drove and rode in the Prater, and horseback exercise in
such a place was, I need not say, delightful. We stopped at Frankfort,
enjoyed its opera and other things, then, _via_ Ostend, wended our way to
London.

CHAPTER XXVI.
A CONGRESS AT PARIS, THE PROGRESS OF IRISH LINES, EGYPT AND THE NILE

"Will you undertake to report on the subject of Light Railways for the
International Railway Congress at Paris?" This question was put to me in
the year 1899, and although I was busy enough, without shouldering
additional work, I at once said "Yes," and this was how I came to spend
part of my 1900 annual holiday in the beautiful but crowded capital of
France. Crowded it was almost to suffocation, for 1900 was the Great
Exhibition year, and all the world and his wife were there. The Railway
Congress took place in September. The business part of the proceedings
came first, and I did not stay for the festivities. When my Report was
made and discussed (a reporter was not allowed to read his paper, but was
required to speak from notes), I made, with three railway friends from
Dublin, tracks for Switzerland. It had been a strenuous year and
mountain air and exercise were needed to restore one's physical strength
and jaded faculties.

"_Means of developing light railways. What are the best means of
encouraging the building of light railways_?" This was the text for my
paper, as sent to me by the Congress, and my Report, I was told, should
be confined to the United Kingdom, Mr. W. M. Acworth having undertaken a
report on the subject for other countries.

In my Report I first disposed of Ireland, concerning which and its light
railways I have already written with some fullness in these pages; and my
readers, I am sure, will not be surprised to hear that, as regards that
country I answered the question remitted to me by saying that the only
practical means I could see of further encouraging the construction of
light railways in Ireland was by the wise expenditure of additional
Government Grants, while as regards England, I pointed out that she had
for long preferred to dispense with light railways, that, as forcibly
expressed in _The Times_, she alone of civilised countries had but one
standard for her railways, that is "the best that money could buy"; that
times had changed, and in 1894 and 1895 much discussion and investigation
on the subject had taken place, brought about chiefly, I thought, by
depression in agriculture; that the energy which France, Germany, Sweden,
Belgium and Italy had expended on their light railway systems, especially
in agricultural and rural districts, had helped to further concentrate
public opinion on the question; that a conference had been held at the
Board of Trade and a Committee appointed to investigate the subject; that
this Committee, after various sittings, had reported in favour of
legislation, and that the result had been that the _Light Railway Act_ of
1896 had come into being. My paper also dealt with this Act, explaining
its scope, its limitations and what its effect had been during the
comparatively short time (only four years) it had been in force; and my
conclusion was that in Great Britain no further facilities were at that
time required for encouraging the building of light railways, the best
policy in my judgment being, to give the Act a fair trial, as time only
could show to what extent the railways to be made in virtue of its
provisions would fulfil the objects for which it had been passed.

Mr. Acworth did not tackle the question as affecting other countries. He
reported that he had no special knowledge which would entitle him to say
how light railway enterprise could best be developed in countries other
than his own, and that as my Report "sufficiently set out the present
position of affairs in reference to light railways in the United
Kingdom," he thought the most useful contribution he could offer to the
discussion of the question would be "a short criticism of the working,
both from a legal or administrative and also from a practical point of
view, of our English Act of 1896."

The Act of 1896 was one of considerable importance to British Railways
and, therefore, merits a few words. It established three Commissioners
who were empowered to make Orders authorising the construction of Light
Railways, including powers for the compulsory acquisition of land;
authorised the granting of Government loans and, under special
circumstances, free grants of money. The Board of Trade might require
any project brought forward under the Act to be submitted to Parliament,
if they considered its magnitude, or the effect it might have on any
existing railway, demanded such a course. The Act simplified and
cheapened the process for the acquisition of land, and ordained that in
fixing the price the consequent betterment of other lands held by the
same owner should be taken into account. It imparted considerable power
to dispense with certain expensive conditions and regulations in working
railways constructed under its authority. Though it was intended
primarily to benefit agriculture, it was capable of an interpretation
wide enough to include all kinds of tramways, and it has been extensively
used for that purpose, sometimes, I fear, to the detriment of existing
railways.

According to an article in the Jubilee (1914) number of the _Railway
News_, by Mr. Welby Everard, up to the end of the year 1912 (since the
outbreak of the war figures are not obtainable) a total of 645
applications (including 111 applications for amending Orders) were made
to the Commissioners, the total mileage represented being 4,861 miles. Of
these applications 418 were passed, comprising 2,115 miles, of which,
1,415 miles were in class A, _i.e_. light railways to be constructed on
land acquired or "cross-country" lines, that is to say, lines which
legitimately fulfilled the purposes of the Act. But, up to October,
1913, only 45 of these lines, with a total length of 441 miles, had been
constructed and opened for traffic. The number of applications to the
Commissioners seemed to show a considerable demand for greater facilities
for transit in rural districts, but capital apparently was slow to
respond to that demand. Perhaps it will be different now, in these days
of change and reconstruction. The Government is pledged to tackle the
whole question of Transport, and Light Railways will, of course, not be
overlooked, though Motor Traction will run them a close race.

For ten years I had now been manager of the Midland Great Western
Railway, and busy and interesting years they were. In that period Irish
railways, considering that the population of the country was diminishing,
had made remarkable progress, and effected astonishing improvements.
Whilst the population of England during the decade had _increased_ by
9.13 per cent., and Scotland by 4.69, that of Ireland had _decreased_ by
4.29 per cent! Yet, notwithstanding this, the railway traffic in
Ireland, measured by receipts, had increased by 22 per cent., against
England 31 and Scotland 36. In the number of passengers carried the
increase in Ireland was 29 per cent. In the same period the increase in
the number of engines and vehicles in Ireland was 22, in England 30, and
Scotland 33 per cent., whilst the number of train miles run (which is the
real measure of the usefulness of railways to the public) had advanced 27
per cent. in Ireland, compared with 28 in England, and 30 in Scotland.

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