Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/309

Rh vested in land. Agricultural holdings, as you are aware, who own so many of them, have not been profitable for a number of years past, and Sir Phillip, who is a very hale, active, elderly gentleman, conceived the idea of plotting out a seaside town that might become a second Brighton, and so greatly benefit his descendants even if he himself reaped no immediate profit. The chief obstacle which he saw before him, however, was the fact that the nearest railway station, Oaklands, was fifteen miles distant from the site of his prospective town. He spent a good deal of time and money trying to induce the Great Southern Railway to run a branch from Oaklands station to the sea, offering the directors various inducements, such as free right of way through his own estate, and so forth, but they refused to entertain the idea. The indefatigable old gentleman then proceeded to form a local railway company, and endeavoured, with some success, to enlist the co-operation of various magnates in the southern counties. The capital stock was two hundred thousand pounds, and over half of this he himself subscribed, the rest of the shares being bought by various people all the way from Ramsgate to Brighton. Sir Phillip was now in his element. He himself, without fee, superintended the construction of this fifteen mile railway, and I may say that the line became a hobby with the old man that has cost him a pot of money."

"Is the line completed, then?"