no THE COACHING AGE. 



He was deputy-chairman of the South-Western 

 Eailway, and in the absence of Mr. Garnett, the 

 chairman, from the half-yearly meeting of the Com- 

 pany, in August, 1841, held at the then terminal 

 station at Vauxhall, it devolved upon him to take 

 the chair, when he 'craved the indulgence of the 

 meeting for himself in his first essay at chairmanship,' 

 and in the course of his speech with reference to the 

 mail -packets from Southampton, said he had had 

 experience in the transmission of her Majesty's mails, 

 and could assure the meeting that had it not been 

 that the conveyances were popular, very little beyond 

 empty honour would have been the result ; and 

 further, in the course of his speech touching on the 

 punctuality of the trains, he said : ' If they looked 

 at the pressure on particular trains, they would 

 not feel surprised that a good deal of time was 

 occasionally consumed on the road. The parties 

 who frequented the South-Western Eailway were not 

 principally commercial men, with their watches in 

 their hand, and punctual to a minute, but ladies with 

 children and bonnet - boxes, who required and, he 

 hoped, received every attention (a laugh), so that it 

 was really under such circumstances wonderful that 

 so little delay occurred,' which produced from the 

 meeting cries of ' Hear, hear.' 



A gentleman was sta5dng with him at his seat. 



