"Mr. Hill's retirement will be felt by the Company and the public. Since he became chairman, the Brighton Railway has increased more than 50 per cent. in value, and the public accommodation on the line in all respects--cheapness, speed, punctuality, and a kind solicitude for the comfort of all passengers, from highest to lowest--may justly be said to have been raised quite to an equality with that of the best-managed line in the kingdom." Some months after the appearance of the paragraph quoted above, I received an application which gave me much pleasure from the South-Western Railway Company. I must premise that my intercourse with this corporation had been hitherto mainly of a hostile character, its contests with the Brighton Company having been both numerous and fierce. I was now informed, however, that this Company intended to appoint a manager at a high salary, then a rather novel measure, and I was requested to recommend a fit person for the duties. Upon my inquiring as to the precise amount of salary to be given, and the specific qualifications required, I was told that the former would be about £1,500 per annum, and for the latter, said the respondent, "Let them be as much like your own as possible." The meaning of this could not be misunderstood, but, of course, under the circumstances, could not be acted upon. Other eligible offers were made to me, but, with the Post Office in view, I could accept none. I had now passed nearly four years in the position of railway director, and though it was grief and bitterness to me to be so long kept aloof from my true work, yet, considering the close connection between railway companies and the Post Office, and the consequent importance of the knowledge I had been enabled to gain, I could not regard the time as ill-spent.