CLOSING YEARS
preference on British goods without asking for return concessions, that popular opinion in England was stirred to the point of requiring the abrogation of the objectionable treaties. Without the pioneer work of Gait and his colleagues, however, this result would not have been attained.
One of his last important public services was to act as Chairman of a Royal Commission appointed by the Dominion Government in 1888 to consider the question of state regulation of railways. The establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the United States in 1886 had brought to a head the demands from Canadian shippers for more effective supervision. The commissioners in their report noted the existence of many grievances for which they suggested specific remedies. As to the wider question, they recommended that until the British and American attempts at government regulation had had time to prove their worth or their weaknesses, it would be better to extend the powers of the Railway Committee of the Privy Council or Cabinet, rather than to establish an independent commission. When, eventually, a commission was established, the benefit of waiting was seen in the much more adequate powers and scope given it than the British or United States bodies enjoyed.
After 1890, his health began to fail rapidly. After an illness of many months, the end came on September 19, 1893, at his home on Mountain Street, Montreal. To a friend, Dr. Potts, who sat beside him a few weeks before the end, he wrote on the flyleaf of a book: "I have much to be thankful for, a long life with many blessings, and I try to accept God's will as my most supreme comfort. No one could have had greater blessings in his family than myself. I do not pray God to prolong my life, but only to support and strengthen me and to let my departure be tranquil."
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