200 DICKSON 0:i THE PKOFITS OF 



merchants of my old native city, as well as the nobility 

 and gentry attending the show yard. I think it too bad 

 that my exertions to gratify them have been lost by the 

 inattention, neglect, and incompetency of the railway official ; 

 or, if competent, by his total neglect of duty. There were 

 three cards on the cases, with instructions to send them on 

 direct, without delay, to Mr. Harkness, Secretary, Show 

 Yard, Armagh, ' no matter at what cost.' Under the cir- 

 cumstances I think that I am justified in trailing on the 

 Ulster railway directors to investigate the cause of this 

 palpable neglect, and if the official be found to have been 

 amusing himself in the show yard from the 9th to the llth, 

 \vith the idea in his unbusiness-like brain that mine and other 

 people's property 'would keep' until a more convenient 

 time I say, if such can be made out, the second in command 

 under him should take his place, being first sent to London 

 for a season, there to be drilled before his installation into 

 office. The public may then rely upon their goods, large 

 and small, being sent on to their destination as directed, 

 without remaining two days, to the great loss, disappointment, 

 and injury of the senders, as well as those that expect them, 

 especially in cases of emergency such as the present. By 

 giving this a place in your journal, as a warning to the 

 servants of the public to perform their duty, you will oblige, 



" Your obedient servant, 



"J. H. DICKSON. 

 " British and Foreign Flax Works, 



"Deptford, London, 26th August, 1854." 



The above letter was written with a view of effecting a 

 cure of the evil, by imparting a lesson on the attention re- 

 quired of public servants, that would not be so soon forgotten 

 as a private reprimand from one or more of the railway 

 directors. It was a coup de grace for neglect of duty. 



In placing before the reader the profits which the Irish 



