nd. The question is certainly one for the English working man. If
he wishes to avoid the competition of armies of Irish labourers and
artisans he must throw out the bill. And this is how it will work--

"All the railways I have constructed in Ireland have been built on
county guarantees assisted by special grants from the Imperial
Treasury. Without these special grants the work could never have been
undertaken at all. If Home Rule becomes law those special grants from
the Imperial Treasury will be no longer available; and what will be
the result? Clearly that the work will not be undertaken; that the
building of railways will come to an end, and that the Irish peasants
who have devoted themselves to railway work will go to England and try
to find employment there. Once a railway navvy, always a railway
navvy, is a well-known and very true saying.

"For my own part I shall be compelled to compete in England, having
nothing to do in Ireland, and I shall of course transport my staff and
labourers across the Channel.

"The railways of Ireland, fostered by English capital, resting on
England's security, have given vast employment to my countrymen. But
they would do so no longer. Let us give an example to prove my point.

"Before the introduction of the Home Rule Bill the railway stock to
which I have referred stood at a premium of 27 per cent. Since the
bill became public and has been the subject of popular discussion, I
brought out the Ballinrobe and Claremorris Railway--with what result?
Not one-seventh of the sum required has been subscribed, although in
the absence of the bill the amount would certainly have been
subscribed four times over, at a premium of 20 per cent. What does
this prove?

"Simply this--that the farmers and small shopkeepers who invest in
this class of security will not trust their savings in the hands of
the proposed Irish Legislature. The bill, therefore, stops progress,
retards enterprise, drives away capital, and the workers must follow
the money. That seems clear enough. Everybody here concedes so much.
More than this. I can say from my own experience, and from the reports
of my agents and engineers in the South and West of Ireland, that the
Nationalists do not want this bill. I do not speak of Home Rule, but
of this bill only. All condemn its provisions, and universally concur
in the opinion that once it were passed it would be succeeded by a
more violent agitation than anything we have yet