Dundalk knew him as agent for a year and liked him, but the canny Galtonians got better acquainted during a longer stay. In Galt they were not averse to sandwiching a little Irish with their Scotch and the ingredients were mixed with success. Mr. Lanigan was accepted at par as a sterling neighbor, a good churchman and a valuable municipal asset. He did much to band the business men together by encouraging and arranging the most pleasant rail outings for merchants and manufacturers which the city ever participated in. He took part with several leading citizens in weekly talkfests on various topics, extending his general knowledge and debating powers and was founder of the Toadstool Club in the days when Bob Scott, Robert Ferrah, Martin Todd, the malster, and others gathered with him to receive John Strachan and Malcolm MacGregor of the “Erie,” John Hunter of Allan Line, Joe Hickson of N.Y.C. & H.R.R., with Jimmie Duthie and Miles Overend of Dominion Line. When he was agent at Galt the Canadian Pacific Railway opened their depot at London, Ont., with a banquet in the new building to commemorate the event. Officials who had arranged the function requested W. B. Lanigan to respond to one of the principal toasts. He acquitted himself so well in his presentation of the subject then and on another occasion at the Imperial Hotel in Galt, when his name was coupled with the district agricultural interests, that General Manager David McNicol felt convinced that the young man could be better used in more important work and he was soon assigned to the duties of Traveling Freight Agent ensuring gradual advancement and prominence. On one occasion during the period that Mr. Lanigan was City Freight Agent at Toronto, when cautious agents had to figure four different combinations to obtain the best quotation to British Columbia, the writer, in competition with “C.P.R.”, submitted a shipper an accurate rate but not the current minimum weight, which also fluctuated. Mr. Lanigan soon accidentally stumbled on this error in the course of his day’s rounds and came without delay, only to myself, about the matter, discussing the inadvertent oversight in a quiet, most friendly and gentlemanly way and the incident, which could have been magnified, was heard of no more. This is a sample of one of his traits of character and training that prompts men to say “He pours oil on the troubled waters” and smooths the ripples that inevitably arise between his employers and their host of patrons.