1 88 HIGH IV AYS AND HORSES. 



in place of the mail-coaches. At one time the coach 

 proprietors were his great opponents ; but, no sooner 

 had he shown people that it was possible to succeed 

 with his cars, than there sprang up plenty of persons 

 anxious to do the same thing ; but none of these had 

 the power of organisation such as was possessed by 

 Bianconi. Consequently they one after another failed 

 in their efforts to compete with him. He exercised a 

 very strict discipline over his drivers, yet he never 

 failed to reward those who deserved it. He promoted 

 the younger men to better positions according to their 

 respective merits and whenever there were vacant 

 berths. He provided for all who were injured or 

 incapacitated by age or sickness. The con- 

 sequence was that he was literally worshipped by 

 those he employed ; his men were always sober ; 

 if any of his car-drivers were found to be drunk they 

 were dismissed. When in conversation with any of 

 his men, he had a very charming way of making them 

 feel that they conferred a greater benefit on him when 

 serving him than he did when paying them their wages. 

 When railroads were established in Ireland they broke 

 up Bianconi's long-established system of car communi- 

 cation. He had to take a thousand horses off the 

 road and thirty-seven cars, and yet he was not dis- 

 heartened, but remodelled his entire system so as to 

 run his cars between the railway stations and the 

 towns and villaQ^es at a distance from them. After 

 this he went further afield, and directed his attention 

 to those remoter parts of Ireland which had not 

 hitherto had the advantage of public conveyances. In 

 1 86 1 he employed nine hundred horses travelling 

 over four thousand miles daily; but in 1866, when 

 he resigned his business, owing to ill-health, he was 



