nstruct such a hotel, at such a cost, was
a plucky venture for a railway possessing only 80 miles of line, but the
County Down was always a plucky company, and the Right Honourable Thomas
Andrews, its Chairman, to whom its inception and completion is chiefly
due, was a bold, adventurous and successful man.

Another experience somewhat removed from ordinary railway affairs that
helped to enliven the latter part of my time on the County Down, and
added variety to the work imposed by the Railway and Canal Traffic Act
and the revision of Rates and Charges, was a project in which I became
engaged connected with the Isle of Man.

Joseph Mylchreest was a Manxman, a rough diamond but a man of sterling
worth. He left home when young and worked first as a ship's carpenter.
An adventurous spirit led him to seek his fortune in various parts of the
world--in the goldfields of California and Australia and in the silver
mines of Peru and Chili. Later on he went to South Africa, where in the
diamond mines he met with great success and made a large fortune. His
property there he disposed of to Cecil Rhodes, and it now, I am told,
forms part of the De Beers Consolidated Company's assets. In the late
eighties he returned to his native island, settled at Peel, and became a
magnate there.

One afternoon early in the year 1889 two gentlemen from the Isle of Man
called upon me at my office. They were Mr. Mylchreest (the "_Diamond
King_") and a lawyer friend whose name I forget, but I remember they
informed me they were both members of the House of Keys. Mr. Mylchreest
was anxious to do something to develop the little port of Peel, his
native town, and a steamboat service between Peel and Belfast, Bangor or
Donaghadee, seemed to him and his friends a promising project. What did
the County Down think? Would either Bangor or Donaghadee be better than
Belfast? If so, would my company join in and to what extent? We had no
power to expend money in steamboat enterprise, but I assured them we
would do all we could to help in other ways, and that Bangor was the port
to select. My directors heartily approved and other interviews followed.
Once, I had hurriedly to go over to Peel to meet Mr. Mylchreest and his
lawyer, on a certain day, as some hitch had arisen, and by this time I
was desperately keen on getting the steamboat service started. The only
way of reaching Peel in time was by a collier steamer, belonging to the
East Downshire Coa