The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-02-28 00:00:00

KENTISH RAILWAY.

A Very numerous meeting of landowners In the county of Ken
was held yesterday at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in pursuant
of the following requisition :
" Proposed Kentish Railway.—By desire of several proprietors
of land through which it is proposed that the above railway should
pass, in its course from the neighbourhood of London to Rochester.l
hereby convene a meeting of persons interested in opposing the
measure, to be held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the
Strand, on Monday next, the 27th February inst. at twelve o'clock.
(Signed) " WILI.TAX Gnomic."
The Eat! of DanWLEY was called to the Chair. The Noble
Earl opened the business of the meeting by saying. that they were'
convened fm the purpose of taking such steps as should prevent the
passing of a hill now about to be brought Into Parliament. In the
early par; of the last year the subject had been drat suggested to his
Lordship by Lieutenant-Colonel Torrent; but It seemed so ex-
tremely absurd, that he never imagined it would have been per-
severed in. Of all the projects proposed at that period—a period,
fruitful as it was in the prodnction of visionary epeeulations and
stock -jobbing bubbles—there was none more contemptible than
this, as it did not hold out even a shadow of public utility, and
must of necessity be extremely prejudicial to the property of those
gentlemen through which it was intended to pass. Ile knew that
the general feeling of the landed proprietors was decidedly adverse
to it, and their opinion had a right to the first consideration. The
only argument advanced by the proposers of it was that it would
facilitate the intercourse between London and Rochester; hut every
one who knew anything of the country must be perfectly aware that
there was very little trade carried on at Rochester, with the excep-
tion of large importations of French eggs. However unwilling he
would be to oppose any great public work, yet so firmly convinced
was he of the utter absurdity of making a railroad in any part
of the county of Kent, that he would pledge himself to oppose it
both in and out of Parliament.
Sir EDWARD KW ATritritlLL, Batt. (the County
II Mernbefl said
that lie had bebeetapplied to by the Solicitors to the 11111, eesra.
Wilks and Verbeke, to bring the subject before Parliament, but,
being personally opposed to it, he declined doing so; at the same
lime, &elfin! that ho could not consistently do so without giving it
a fair chance, he got it presented through another Member, mere-
ling to himself the privilege of speaking on it when brought for.
ward ; hut he certainly was not inclined to think that it would have
been attempted. With respect to the measure itself, he gave it as
his decided opinion that it would be attended with the most ruin-
ous consequences to the different landowners through whose estates
it was intended to pass, and .0 that account he 'Mould give it
every opposition, and, in doing so, he only discharged his public
duty.
IVELLtast GROOM, Esq., of Russell.square, said, that in con-
sequence of instructions he had received from some of the principal
landowners who were hostile to the measure, he had been induced
to call this meeting, with a view of ascertaining the public feeling
upon it. Since that time he had applied at the Private Bill Office,
acid had obtained a copy of the petition which had been put in, and
had tweeted the plan that accompanied it, descriptive of the line
of route. (Here Mr. Groom read some extracts from the petition).
He bed also examined the book of proprietors, and was enabled to
say that it contained nothing but dissentients, with a very few ex-
ceptions; in the hat of occupiers there were more assents, but in
the list of subscribers he could only find the name of one gentleman
having any property Of other interest in the county ; the rest were
principally members of the Stock Exchange, resident in London,
and, of course, the presumption was that it had been got up in the
same mariner, mid alifi the same views, that various other wild-
goose schemes had been started during the I..st year, and from
which the country was now suffering so severely.
. . .

The Noble CHATUNAN relterjed his former opinion, that
the petition would not be pressed in defiance of the acnse of the
county.
Mr. (loom then read a letter from Lord Sydney, in whltir his
-••• • • • •

,
Lordship expressed his intention to oppose the measure by every
means in his power. 51r. groom then suggested the propriety of
appointing a Committee, with power to oppose the Bill, should it
be brought forward in Parliament ; and of course it would be
necessary to raise a trifling subscription to defray the contingent
expenses. _ _

Mr. DR tNKALL thought that opposition would be the very thing
that the Solicitors to the Bill would wish, because then it would go
into a Committee of the House of Commons, and of course the
lawyers' bills would be proportionably increased. He was confi-
dent that the feeling of the landed proprietors had been grossly mis.
represented.
Ste EDWARD KNATCHBOLL observed that the Honourable
Gentleman need have no fear on that head, as, if any misrepresent-
ations had been made, that fact would furnish the strongest grounds
for opposing the Bill with effect. tie conceived that the extreme
absurdity of the thing would be its own death-warrant. The Ho-
nourable Baronet assured the meeting that he should sedulously
watch its progress, and do all in his power to prevent its being
passed.
Earl DARNLEY then left the Chair, and the Very Reverend
Archdeacon GODDARD was called thereto. . .

A Committee of seven gentlemen was appointed, to take such
steps u circumstances shituld regime.
Thanks were voted to the Earl of Darnley, Sir E. Knatchbull,
&c., and the meeting broke up.

POLICE.

MARLBOROUpIi-STREET..

Fuuioue Ha tvisto..Yesterday Henry Lands, the driver of
the hackney chariot No. 1138, appeared upon a summons before P.
A. Roe, Esq. charged with furious driving, and endangering the
lives of lion. Arthur P. Upton and Sir Henry Torrens.
General Upton deposed that on the 224 inst. he and Sir Henry
Torrens were proceeding through Regeot.street, and had crossed
between Regent-street and Oxford-street, when their progress wan
impeded by a coal wagon. Vhilet he and Sir Henry Torrens were
standing upon the crossing, the defendant drove up his chariot at a
rapid rate, and came between them and the pavetnent, and had he
not put out his umbrella against the fore horse belonging to the
wagon, the fellow would have driven over them, and which cer-
tainly would have been the case had an infirm person been in their
situation. The defendant, however, appeared to take very little
notice of the jeopardy in which he had placed theii lives, u upon
passing them he began flogging his horses on, and he had to run
some distance before he could overtake him.

In answer to a question from the Magistrate, General-Upton said
that in his opinion the defendant had driven wantonly past Sir
Henry Torrens and himself.
The Magistrate cmvicted the coachman in the penalty of Ids.
and costs, and in default of payment he was committed to the
House of Correction for 14 days.

PRICES OF HAY, STRAW, AND CLOVER.
ST. J4llllllOll. lIIIITIONAPRI,
Flay 661 04 to 105 v Od Hay.......... ND Od to 9k vd.
Clover Rs Od to 1051 Od Clover
Straw 391 Od to 45a Od Straw We Od to 46i Od