In 1858 came an important period in this man's life.   So far he had not found a resting place for his feet in any of those vocations in which he was engaged.   From a sense of duty he stood in his store selling needles and pins, or in his mill weighing out grists to backwoodsmen.   He now aspired to that God-given function of being a leader of men.   This he attained, and how well he has done his duty there is no lack of testimony in the old records of this county.   In 1858 he was elected to the council in Elma, but resigned.   During 1859 he was employed to purchase and distribute seed amongst the settlers.   He was again chosen reeve in 1860, holding that position until a separation between Listowel and Elma for municipal purposes was effected.   Subsequent to this event he was chosen reeve of Listowel, holding that position for a number of years.

During 1858 he succeeded in carrying out his first great work.   It was made a provision in the Act of Settlement that of all lands sold in Elma and Wallace a certain proportion of the funds received should be returned by government to be expended in improvement of highways.   This grant was further made subject to Orders-in- Council; but so far had not been carried out.   Several petitions had been presented to government, but were unsuccessful.   Mr. Hay, therefore, organized a committee to interview the authorities and press their claims for adjustment.   This interview resulted in some nice expressions from the Minister of Crown Lands, and the kindly advice that they should return home, where they would be communicated with.   The deputation returned crest-fallen, but not so Mr. Hay.   He remained, and so persistently applied his arguments in favour of immediate adjustment, that he returned with a full settlement of his demands.   From this period until 1867 this fund was promptly paid, and by its judicious distribution soon became apparent an improvement in roads.   Subsequent to that year, however, payments were again allowed to lapse, but under Mr. Blake's government in Ontario, chiefly through Mr. Robert Cleland's efforts (who was then reeve of Elma), were again restored.

From the time when he first became a member of the county council a very brief period elapsed before he stood in the front rank of its most prominent and influential members.   He was for years chairman of its most important committees, at a time when subjects of vital interest were under consideration preparatory to equitable adjustment.   Some of his reports on record during those years are characterized by great breadth of view and intelligent grasp of detail.   He was chairman for years of the committee on county indebtedness, then an important and grave question; chairman of the house of refuge committee, and reported on toll gate abolition.   This latter is an exhaustive paper, and was adopted, without altering a single word, sounding the death-knell of a contemptible impost on a free people.

In promoting gravel road extension he was without doubt the moving power, and the northern townships in this county are under great obligations to him for his persistent efforts in their behalf.   His contention was that this county had expended large sums in aid of railroads, gravel roads, and other improvements in the south, while not one dollar had been laid out for any purpose in the north. but to which the latter were now compelled to contribute large sums in their liquidation, those obligations still amounting to over $280,000.   This was undoubtedly true, and as unjust as it was true.   There is no part of this man's career where his character and his work stands more clearly revealed than in that long, and for a time hopeless, struggle he maintained for the rights of his constituents.   From reports we have seen in our public records he had relinquished all hope of redress, and on more than one occasion had formulated schemes of relief in other directions.   Although he was baffled often, he was never subdued, returning again and again to the battle with a bold front and renewed energy, till the justice of his claims was recognised and partially, at least, satisfied, thereby leading to a unification in this county which at no former period ever existed.

Previous to constructing the Northern Gravel road, access to markets on our main lines of railway from the northern townships could hardly be said to exist.   It is difficult to understand, even at this later day, how the county council should have shown such utter disregard of those claims well established by northern public men as to abandon, in an incomplete condition, some of their roads after large obligations had been incurred.   During 1863 a by-law was passed by the county council, on a close majority of one, granting $19,000 for gravel road construction.   This by-law, on appeal, was quashed, and the main road leading from Mitchell to Listowel, on which Logan spent altogether nearly S100,000, completed only to Newry, was abandoned. Mr. Hay, fully realizing the importance of this great work to Listowel and the back municipalities, advanced $4,500 of his own private funds, completing construction to Listowel.   Wallace also contributed a large sum, and this road was extended to Palmerston.   It is gratifying to know that the county council adopted a more liberal policy subsequently, and Mr Hay was recouped for his outlay.

In 1870 and 1871 he was the moving spirit in securing the southern extension of the W., G. & B. railroad by way of Listowel.   At an interview with the directors and officials of the G. W. railroad the claims of Wroxeter and Harriston were urged by their delegations.   Mr Hay was able to keep Listowel to the front, and received private assurance before his return that Listowel would get the road.   He subsequently rendered effective service in carrying bonuses for constructing the new work.   He was also appointed to interview Sir Thomas Dakin, president of the G. W. R., and, with Col. McGivern, consulted Sandfield Macdonald for government aid.   In 1867 he contested North Perth, but was defeated by the late Andrew Monteith.   During 1873 he was employed by government as special immigration agent to Great Britain, and was engaged for a time in revising and circulating immigration literature.   He also lectured in Scotland on the advantages of Ontario, and its resources as a desirable place for the emigrant.   He also had charge of immigrant parties to Quebec, and thence to their destination in this province.   This work was not congenial to his taste, however; the routine of official life was but ill suited to a restless mind, which found pleasure only in activity.   He, therefore, resigned his position, much against the wishes of the Government, and in 1874 was returned for the North Riding, defeating the late Mr. T. M. Daly.   At the next contest he was again elected, defeating Mr. John McDermott, of Wallace, but was defeated in 1882.   In a short time he was again employed by the Government, lecturing in Scotland, and endeavouring to secure immigrants of the tenant farmer class.

During 1873 a by-law was passed by the county council of Perth granting $80,000 to aid in the construction of a railway from Stratford to Lake Huron.

At the request of the Stratford Board of Trade Mr. Hay took charge of the railway delegation and the canvass for this by-law in the county, and, as the result in a large measure of his clever advocacy of the railway question and its advantages, the by-law was carried by a good majority.

During 1876 the road was being extended to Wiarton.   Local by-laws in aid of this extension were submitted in Perth and northward along the line to Wiarton, amounting in all to over half a million dollars ($550,000), and successfully carried.

In conjunction with Colonel Tisdale, president, and Mr. S. S. Fuller, vice-president of the road, Mr. Hay spent months in the promotion and passing of those by-laws, and it goes without saying that he rendered vitally important assistance in the discussion and advocacy of the scheme.   Col. Tisdale is in evidence anent the value of his services in his own County of Perth, which will apply with about equal force to those services along the line to Wiarton.

In Parliament Mr. Hay rendered invaluable aid in securing Government assistance for the road.   He was chairman of a delegation numbering some 450 members, representing municipalities on the line and others interested in its construction.   Such a delegation had never before or since waited on any government.   Their application for aid was granted without delay, the road shortly thereafter being built and in operation to Wiarton.   Mr. Peter Watson, of Stratford, secretary of the company, did excellent service in the successful submission by the local councils of the bonus by-laws, which was accomplished without a single hitch along the whole line.

Before dismissing this important part of the subject I may be permitted to insert an extract from a letter in my possession from Col. Tisdale, late president of the company, as a mark of appreciation of Mr Hay's servlces :-   "I hardly know how to put in short space an account of the services you rendered to the County of Perth in connection with the construction of the railways. I can only say that, in my opinion, without your assistance I am quite sure the municipal bonuses in the County of Perth could never have been carried.   Your intimate knowledge, able and persuasive way of putting the benefits which the railway would confer upon the locality were most effective in satisfying the people, and contributed more than any other factor I know of in convincing them it was to their interest to contribute the large sums they voted to the scheme.   Your unselfishness, not only in reference to your personal position, but even when, as it did at times, endanger your political position, I have not seen equalled.   Without personal interest, without any desire of personal profit, without compensation, and with a regard only to local and public benefit by the completion of the project, you devoted weeks and months of your time, and submitted to personal exertion, displaying an amount of knowledge and ability in connection with the subject to which any words of mine can hardly give to others the full appreciation your actions deserve, and of the great assistance you rendered.   I think it, therefore, but small justice to your unselfish efforts to say that no single man did more than yourself to achieve success, and without your assistance I doubt if the work could have been accomplished.''

During his second term in the Legislature he had the honour of moving the address in reply to the speech from the Throne, and being an effective and convincing platform speaker, his services were always in demand by the party with which he was associated.

Mr. Hay was brought up as a Presbyterian, but as the outcome of careful study of divine truth, he embraced the doctrine of a conditional immortality and an abiding faith in the pre-millennial advent of Christ, which doctrine he still retains.   In 1851 he married Jane Rogerson, of Innisfil, in the County of Simcoe.   The issue of this union was five sons and four daughters, all of whom survive except two.   Mrs. Hay died some years ago, and Mr. Hay is now in feeble health, wandering among the foothills of life alone.

Mr. Hay is a man of high poetic temperament, strong convictions, firm moral principles, conscientious, and truthful.   If he accomplished much for the people whom he represented, it was done by no other method than constant honest toil.   Nature designed him for literary rather than commercial pursuits.   His numerous reports in the public records all indicate a literary mind. On more than one occasion in these reports he has sacrificed strength and vigour of expression to a pleasing and well-rounded sentence.   He was a man of broad public spirit, and would make, and did make, great sacrifices in the interest of the people without hope of pecuniary reward.   To the sordid and mean his conduct was often inexplicable, but to those who understood him his actions on all occasions arose from a desire to advance the material interest of those whom he was chosen to serve.   He was a good public speaker, not eloquent, but clear and convincing.   The history of this man's life is inseparable from the early history of a large portion of the County of Perth.