Before many of the railway companies became steam-ship owners they made working arrangements with existing steam-ship lines. This method of dealing with the passenger, coasting, and over-sea traffic was due, not to any lack of initiative on the part of those responsible for the management of the railways, but to the uncompromising antagonism of the steam-ship companies, who objected to the railway companies being permitted to own steamers. A Bill empowering the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company to purchase and work steamboats was brought before Parliament in 1848, but was strongly opposed by the steam-ship companies on the ground that it would create undue competition and would interfere with their existing rights, and further, that over-sea competition was outside the legitimate sphere of a railway company’s operations. The directors and large shareholders of the Chester and Holyhead Company retaliated by forming themselves into a small independent firm to run steamboats between Holyhead and Ireland. The necessary capital was subscribed, and four new iron passenger steamers, the _Anglia_, _Cambria_, _Hibernia_, and _Scotia_, were built. They were each of 589 tons gross, and were 207 feet long, 26 feet beam, and 14 feet in depth, having a draught of 8 feet 10 inches. Each carried 535 passengers. Parliament was thus placed in a difficult position, because even if the Bill were thrown out, the boats were advertised to run on August 1, 1848, and as they belonged to a private firm the Legislature and the opposition companies were powerless to interfere. A month later, at the half-yearly meeting of the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company, the directors reported that their Bill had been successfully passed, and that the boats had commenced running on the advertised date. These boats were able to attain a speed of from 14 to 15 knots per hour. The opposition of the steam-ship companies, although not entirely killed, was less effective than formerly. The battle was won by the railway companies, and steam-ship owning by railway companies is now regarded as a matter of course. [Illustration: THE TURBINE STEAMER “MARYLEBONE” (G.C. RAILWAY).] [Illustration: THE “CAMBRIA” (L. & N.W. RAILWAY).]