The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1864-11-01 00:00:00

"INDIGNATION' MA ILW A Y MEETING AT
PORTLAND.

On Wednesday evening, the 26th October, a public
meeting was held at Seriatim's Royal Hotel, for the pur-
pose of considsrsog the best means to be adopted for
obtaining the openinF of the Weymouth and Portland
Railway. The inhabttants t.l the island spent to bare
lost all patience at the non-opening of the line, henoe
the preoe.t meeting. CobSiderable Mistreat was
manifested ia the proceedings. about 25,1 being
present, many of whom were influential persons. The
Rev. H. Jenour waa ao.ed to the chair. Amongst those
present wire the Reeds. T. Greer and J. elsitton ; J.
Jennings Ball, /lir Majesty's Harbour Master of
Portland; Me.srs. G. Andrews, J. Angel, see. , A.
Scriaest, J. J. Short, J. Angel, jun., H. Russell, H.
Gil.b., C. J. Greenwood, C. White, R. Cornben, H.
J 011,60, W. B. Serlven, li. !feriae's, J. Street, H. Stone,
B rialto., E, Corulreu, J. I.:.'.iusben, H. Smith, J.
Stone, k.c. . .

The emetic", in opening the business of the
meeting, said all who were precut were exceedioydy
anxious to hear the whistle of theuginnand se• the train
ren,and so far as be understood the oblict of this meeting
It was to use every means In order that they might have
the railway worked so soon as possible. Ile trusted
that tbe mewing mi.tlit be inatrumental in effecting that
purpose, and that they would noon bane the pleaasre of
• eing the line opened for traffi,, no Le IVan e.rhkin that
it w tar be iutrumental in promoting the proaper try of
thi oland, a great scommoodarion to all. and in venous
ways beireet the country at large, for he believed tip,
wall V en have viothrs (ro.n all .aria and he was
very a on t•at the op, niog of the line bad been delayed
re I erg )
Mn Hew %eh 5...1 the gratification it afforded
lute .4 bears preeent, and remarked that I e ought to
tell the uo e log that it afford•d him mach it tone at
-reins th.• line made. It was • wed-known feet that
wherever a radway lied • termrsiiia, great advantages
accrued to that pie. , and they isnot not he afraid that
honog ohe at Portland, at could he taken away
(L.ughter.) They had h.d • 'fleet numb. r cd vi•itore
to the i.land, butt ere would be far greater ourebers
•100, the line of rail sy rus opened. Ho ttoudth there
wirsotor thing upon .hl h the inhabit.nr• of the island
were agreed on—teat the Weiler the Hee wes Drained
the req.r it would he for sll ord the sooner the
quicker. (Hear, her) This bad, howeaer, been
Aelayea ; but as thee, eras a nu.- for everything, he
thought he stionid lite to ~et at the rumen why the
line bad not then op •ued. Per that purpose b• waited
open Welles whore Melee it WY nonoenwary to
motion now. and uked the reason. They kaid, "the
contractor had Ikt-hod his work. it had been p need by
the Government inspector, and there was nothing to
prevent the line being ntenel with this ezorptioo—that
it a two railway eminent s jut. ndad to work it betwer n
them. h tt there ••• souls disagreement about the en•
peent.." Whilst they wrru disagreeing be bad no
Indtation in saying that the island wan coffering.
IR, ar, hear.) He asked the parties he had referred to
if thy amid not august airy mum by *biota the
matt • r could be ca..ediatech They replied, "that
Portland people loomid V. be quite indifferent as to
whether the line was roamed or not." He said it was
not er. t they were mod. anti •tis to have it opened u it
would ben great benelit to thu ploe, and were ready
to do anything in their power to further that obieet.
(Loud cheers.) The probes "IS thou) the
the sooner th y have a rautiag the better, to that was
the best &titivation Off ceaLl take for having the
line speedily opened. He than waited upon several
gentlthise lb tbe island, and everyoss• expressed his
reechoes, to do all in lin power to get the line opened,
•o 4 if • public meeting was called for that purpose
'hey wool 1 gin. it their countthanoe sad support He
then alluded to the abseere of two gent, men, Captain
Maiming, who wished the °bigot at the meeting every
nieces, and the Rey. 11. Hagar* who, in a letter,
stated that be was prevented from attending owing to
his minitherial &diet. Resolutions had been drawn up
foe the aPProeld of the sautieg, the loth of which be
sadl ito : —" That the hue of the Weymouth Portland Railway haring bean completed tome
time, this meeting is twoch stipend sail disappointed
at the delay of its Wag opined tot pablis trade."
There WM as doubt the railtrity companies had some
reason why the line should not be opened, Probe*
they thought that Is the winter menthe the reseipta
would not peon so setisfactory to in the lii•Mee one"
If however, it could be shown then that parties in the
Inland had made arraegimmiate fog Its egesipelipt4t=
ought to try and meet the wishes of the
open it for their benefit Wherever • railway had
hien brought into • pleas the lest thing the company
did was to will • meeting of the inhabitants.
and endeavour to get them with them, and he felt
assured that the resolutions whieb were aarried toniglit
would have greet weight with the parties in autbonty.
(Rear, hear.) It was necessary for him to teke up their
their time by speaking of the ocoatructioe of the line;
but his own private idea was that Portland was only in
Its infancy, sad that it bad sad would teaks rapid
Progress. (Hear, heir.) There wa• • tins, when it
was said that the sebooinnoter ought to be in Portlaad,
hat they could now my that they Iliad • sakoolmoseer in
the Weymouth Unto. from Poetised. (ILlthairs.)
There were advantages ie Portland whisk thold eth be
kVA is any other place. Where guild perils* pet tie
eee brooms so pure es at Portland. Parties in • neigh-
bouring lowa dial net leek to pleased, as they should
upon the lies belec opened. They isomplaised of their
tansies". /oil% destroyed, and did tiet like for the rail.
war to he opeect ; in fast were pleased to sea it was
aftli whotentr plies • railway was brewed late

contact the piddle there nude rapid progress. Fie had
seen cosh to be the came in many places, and the mine
would be the result here. (Cheers.) After a few
further remark. respecting the astonishment whine the
foiefathers of the inbabitanta would txperiene- eould
they be allowed t 0.,. the great dunces which bad
taken place in the bland, Mr. Howard pot his resolu-
tion to the meeting
Mr. Wllrri seconded the recolution, which mu carried
with seclamation.

Mr. BEL/sins &aired'', alter stating that when he
enier,d tie room he did not think he should be called
on to make • speech, remarked that whenever the '
benefit of the inhabitant. of Portland Val concerned, he •
was alwaya ready to take part, and befit a pleasure,
though quits unprepared to address snob a meeting, In
having the honour to propoee the rmoluil,ll3 *blab had
been planet in his hands. The resolution was as
follow.: "That it la of the utmost importance to the
Inhabitants of this island that the railway should imam-
diaiely be used for public traffic." (Cheers.) He
thought no one would disapprove of such • resolution as
that. He had long been waiting to see the line opened.
H. concurred with what had Wen from Mr. Howard in
proposing the firrt remlution, that whereeer a railway
terminus was situated it always proved a benefit to the
town, and he had no doubt that it would prove so in
many ways to Portland. (Cheers ) The opening of Um line
would be • general benefit to one and all—even the
labouring population of the island, as well as those in
better circumstances. in oonclueion, he joitnd in the
chairman's wish, that soon he should have the pleasure
of bearing the whstle and seeing tie engine run.
(Cheer...)
Mr. Jouff Snrwr seconded the resolution. He also
expressed his delight at seeing the railway quickly
opened, but wanted to know the reason why it had not
been opened before. He did not believe this meeting
would be the means of doing any good, so far as the
' opening of the line west:aroma-nod ; but at the same time
it would show that the inhabitante of the place were
1.11110111 to have Rommel. The question, however, was,
how wu it ti at the line had not been opened before?
It was oompleted and passed; but the only information
that could be obtained at its non-opening was, that there
was • little litigation going on between the Gnat
Western and South-Western Railway C,ompanies, and
he wasted to know which was is fault. II the fault
wits on the South-Western there was no repremntetive
of that company present to explain matters, and U on
the Great Western they had not sent any one.
111 r. HORAID explained that he had endeavoured to
find out who was in fault, but had been unable to do so;
be only knew there was some differetes between the
two companies as to the working of the line. mit
meeting was therefor. for the purpose of memorialising
the 001/Ipll/liO4 to settle them, and to show the necessity
there was for the line being immediately opened; and
the more neees-ity there could be shown for this being
done, the greater was the necessity for the difference*
between the railway oompanies being settled, and
making them open the line quicker. (Hear, hear.)
There was no litigation between the companies, but
they coold not maks their florets jog along topethi r.
Ile could not say the opening of the line would be the
result of this meeting; but it we, the only thing they
ovoid do, and show*, hey were alive to the itstereatt of
the place.
. . . . _

. -
The CHAIUI j considered Mr. Howard had adopted
the bet means powibls in promoting the object in view.
It Wu impossible to explain more clearly than be had
doe the best way to get the railway opened, and they
could not use any other better WIWI than be had cog-
jpsted.
. _

In reply to a further question from Mr. Street, Mr.
HOWARD said thee.. eras a piopo,ition to memorialise
the three railway comp-an:es.
The resolution was then put and carried.
J. JIINNIXO. BALL, Esq., Her Ma,h-sty's Harbour
Ila,.ter of Poitland, moved the followipg resolution:
"That the Weymouth and Portland itsilway, end the
()rest We-tern Railway, and the London and South.
W. stern Railway Company, be earneytly request d to
can. the her to be f'pen•d without fattier delay." Mr.
Hall rahl he bad H tot. sat on the subject, especially
after the able speech tow(' by Me. Howard ; but he had
i•ften being asked by ornoers in the Channel Fleet when
the hue was puns to be opened, and he wits folly aware
that when it wee opened it would be a great advantage
to aIL (He r, Mar.)
Mr. B. Comber seconded the resolution, and in the
sour. Of his 1.F...eh remarked that some persona said
this meeting would do no good, whilst others and the
rover,.; what're. r the result might he it was only half
an hour spePt, and if any good resulted from their
meeting together they would be amply paid for their
troohle.

The resolution was carried nem cese.
The CHAIR)! en mid the opening .4 the line vapid be
of the gmatat advantage to Portland. lie knew of
mar,y families wilt would reside in the place if the r. -
way Ida opened, and as there wee • terminal the
ereetaerity of the Inhabitants of the island would not
terratnate.
_(Laughter.)
. . _

Mr. H. &roam moved, and Mr. Joan Anon, mar.,
etaand-d, "That eopiea of them rraolntioo• be for.
warded to the Weymouth and Portland Reilway Com-
pany, the London and B.dtth•Wretarn Railway Cosa-
pasy. and tht ar.-at Western Railway Company."
The reaolut•on uss oarrnmt.

Some Aisen.sion thou eniued, brought forward by Mr.
A. &riven, quite forvign to that for which the emoting
wag oiled, namely the eublie lighting of the island, and
proctiling bathing machines for tho •iaitors.

Mr. HOWARD ;marked that the itaple trade of the
Wand wee the stone quarries They had proved of
great value to the plus ; and although it was true that
there were no diamonds on the surface if the island,
&monde had been found beneath. He explained that
• plan wee being prepared for carrying the tailway into
the quarry district.. ; • @chum which, if carried out,
would prove of the greatest benefit, for anything which
inereaaed the staple trade of • place was sure to be of
great value to it, inhabitant.. The extension of the
staple trade of • town was tbe Weans of great prosperity,
for the greater the exports the greater was its wealth.
(Hear, hepr.) Thle Meeting was of the utmost im-
portents-, for in places where similar meetings had been
held, lit which there were lees people than at the
present. they had had great effect upon the railway
authorities. (Hear, hear.) After • few further remarks
he proposed a vote of thank, to the chairman. It tem
;dewing to know, he amid, that those gentlemen who
were connected with the mark' offices of religion also
took an active interest in thou measures which were for
the welfare of the place I and he coniddered that their
chairman, filling the position he now did, would hare
great weight with the railway companies, and show
them that the opening of the railway was a matter of
great importance to the island.
The Rev. T. 011tAR seconded the proposition.
In responding the Cliallltiß thanked the meeting
for their kindmas, and express. d • hope that., althusigis
he wee 71 year. of age, he might yet live to see the
bisects lighted with gas, and bathing machine. provided,
the iehabitants improved in things temporal sod
spiritual, that they might have the greatest Joy in meet-
ing together, and congratulating themselves upon the
ropiness of God. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. JOHN ARGIL, jun., proposed • vote of thanks to
R. N. Howard, Rel., guardian sl the island of Portland,
for the great intense} he took In the prosperity and web
fare of the plate. The inhabitanls were mush indebted
to Mtn, and hoped be did not lose sight a hia guardian-
ship, for they expected great thing. from him, after
the enoti• they had made to place him in that position.
Mr. Howard had stated that wh e there sag • rail.
way terminus that lilac* was beip-fitte I, but in some
•fter remarks be gave them to on& r- tand that the rail-
way would be earned further. No doubt it would be •
benefit to the plate, but the "under-hill people" would
hegin to feel nervous if the railway was carried further,
for there might be a %ermines at the light-houses, and if
that wile no, there wao plenty of space ground for
building villas and terraces, and the " under-hill "
people would he in the same prisitien oath. Weymouth
on.. would be next bummer. (Lasrlster.)
Mr. Ulmer Jot urea a. comb d the preposition.
Mr. DIVARD, in responding, sagl the reason why he
took such an intere.t in the railway matter sees for
their good, and hoped that in ',anything which wu for
the good of the island, the day would be far distant
when he should Iso toned back ar.rl in naming forward.