CHAPTER XXII.
A RAILWAY CONTEST, THE PARCEL POST, AND THE BOARD OF TRADE
The long-looked for fight in the Committee Rooms at Westminster came at
last, as most things that are eagerly looked and longed for do. In May,
1892, a Bill, promoted jointly by the Midland Great-Western and Athenry
and Ennis Railway Companies, was considered by a Select Committee of the
House of Lords. It was a Bill for the acquisition by the Midland of the
Ennis Railway (a line from Athenry to Ennis, 36 miles long), worked but
not owned by the Waterford and Limerick Railway Company. The Midland
were anxious to buy and the Ennis were willing to sell, but Parliament
alone could legalise the bargain. To the Waterford and Limerick, the
bare idea of giving up possession of the fair Ennis to their rival the
Midland was gall and wormwood; and so they opposed the project with might
and main, and they were assisted in their opposition by certain public
bodies, some thought as much for the excitement of a skirmish in the
Committee Rooms as anything else. The working agreement between the
Waterford and Limerick and the Ennis Companies, which had lasted for ten
years or so, was expiring; the Ennis Company had grown tired of the
union; the Midland had held out to her certain glowing prospects, which
had captivated her maiden fancy, and so she was a consenting party to the
Midland scheme.
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