CHAPTER XXV.. Railway Amalgamation and Constantinople

RAILWAY AMALGAMATION AND CONSTANTINOPLE

It would be tedious as well as tiresome to describe the many railway contests in the Committee Rooms at Westminster in which, during the remainder of my managerial career, it was my lot to be engaged; but one great case there was, in 1899 and 1900, which, by its importance to my company, and I may say, to the south and west of Ireland generally, should not pass unnoticed, and of it I propose to give a short account.

It was from the grasp of the Waterford and Limerick, as I have mentioned before, that in 1892 we (the Midland) sought, though unsuccessfully, to snatch possession of the Ennis line. Now the Waterford and Limerick were to lose, not only the Ennis line, but all their lines and their own identity as well. A great struggle ensued which, from the length of time it lasted, and the number of combatants engaged, was one of the biggest railway fights the Committee Rooms had for many a long year witnessed. For 106 days, from first to last, the battle raged. In it thirty-one companies and public bodies participated, most of them being represented by counsel. There was a famous Bar, including all the big-wigs of course, and some lesser wigs, and numbering more than twenty in all. The promoters were very strongly represented, but we had Littler for our leader, who, indeed, was our standing senior counsel. Their team consisted of Pope, Pember, Balfour Browne, Seymour Bushe, McInerny and two juniors; our, much smaller but well selected, of Littler, Blennerhassett and Vesy Knox; the last-named then a rising junior, but long since a senior, and for some time past a leader, is still to the front in the bustling, reckless, impatient world of to-day. Most of the others, alas, are no longer with us. Littler later on was knighted, but is beyond all earthly honours now, and so are Pope, Pember and Blennerhassett.

As I have said, the proceedings occupied two sessions. In the first, 1899, two Bills came before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, one promoted jointly by the Great Southern and Western and the Waterford and Limerick Companies, the other by the Great Southern and the Waterford and Central Ireland. But the Great Southern were the real promoters of both; they paid the piper and, therefore, called the tune. The Great Southern being the largest railway company in Ireland aspired to be greater still, nor need this be considered in the least surprising, for who in this world, great or small, is ever satisfied? The Waterford and Limerick, a line of 350 miles, then ranked fourth amongst the railways of Ireland, and its proposed absorption by the Great Southern and Western Company aroused no little interest. The Central Ireland, a small concern of 65 miles, running from Maryborough to Waterford, was a secondary affair altogether and I shall say little more about it. The Waterford and Limerick had its headquarters at Limerick, its southern terminus at Waterford, its northern at Sligo--a direct run from south to north of 223 miles, certain branch lines making up the rest of its mileage. Its access to Sligo was by means of the Athenry to Tuam, the Tuam to Claremorris and the Claremorris to Collooney lines, all of which it worked. The last-mentioned was one of the "Balfour" light railways (constructed on the ordinary Irish gauge of 5 feet 3 inches) and should have been given to the Midland Company, but by some unfortunate contretemps, when constructed, it passed into the hands of the Waterford and Limerick. From Collooney to Sligo (six miles) running powers were exercised by that company over the Midland line into Sligo. This Claremorris-Collooney line intersected the Midland system and in the hands of the Waterford and Limerick Company introduced a competition in Connaught which that poor district could ill afford to bear--a district in which one railway system alone, though it enjoyed the whole of the traffic, would scarcely earn a living. The Waterford and Limerick was not what would be called a prosperous line, nor was its physical condition anything to boast of, but it had latent possibilities, and was in active competition with the Great Southern. Such railway competition as existed in Ireland was dear to traders and the general public. In country towns in the sister Isle there is not (more the pity!) much afoot in the way of diversion, and to set the companies by the ears or get the better of either one or the other was looked upon as healthy and innocent amusement.

On the 7th of June the contest began, and this, the first engagement, lasted for 44 days, when the Chairman of the Committee announced that the Bills would not be passed. Great was our delight and that of our allies, though the cup of joy was a little dashed on learning that the Great Southern had determined to renew the struggle in the following year.

My company was the principal opponent, and bore the brunt of the fight, though the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway (now the Dublin and South- Eastern) were vigorous opponents too. A. G. Reid (from Scotland, who I have mentioned before) was general manager of the Dublin and Wicklow Railway. Like myself he is a pensioner now enjoying the evening of life. Living near each other in the pleasant Kingstown-Dalkey district, we meet not infrequently, and when we do our talk, as is natural, often glides into railway reminiscence. We fight our battles over again. We had many allies, prominent amongst them being the City and Harbour Authorities of Limerick. They were represented by good men who were hand and glove with us. Sir (then Mr.) Alexander Shaw, John F. Power and William Holliday were particularly conspicuous for their valuable assistance. Power (well named) was a host in himself. Strong, keen, clever, energetic, enthusiastic, yet cautious and wary, he was a splendid witness. I sometimes said he would have made a fine railway manager, had he been trained to the business. Could I give him higher praise?

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.

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.