The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUILIC JOURNALS,
L TIMES.—When Mr. Russell, the chairman of the
Great Western Railway Company, was addressed
by Mr. Glyn, the chairman of the North-Western,
on the subject of the grand amalgamation, he replied
in a tone which showed his perfect appreciation of
the real nature of the proposal. Mr. Glyn had
plausibly appealed to the "interests of the public,"
and the " convenience " of travellers, es constituting
subjects of veritable consideration in the eyes of his
board, but Mr. Russell took a far more correct
view of the scheme before him. "It is," said he,
speaking for himself and his colleagues at Pad-
dington, "our deliberate opinion that it would not be
deemed consistent with the policy of the present times
to commit to the hands of one large company such an
undivided control and power over the public traffic
of nearly one-half of England, while the growing re-
quirements of the trade of this country necessitate
en extension rather than the limitation of means of
accommodation upon existing railways." It is per-
fectly clear from the tenour of this assumption—an
assumption which Mr. Glyn did not attempt to
correct—that the amalgamation proposal was to in-
volve a diminution of the railway accommodation
at present experienced. Mr. Russell knew as
much; he knew that it was a proposition for in-
demnifying shareholders at the expense of the
public, and he very reasonably entertained a "con-
viction" that the Legislature would object to the
bargain. To all the other points made by the Great
Western Board Mr. Glyn offered very elaborate re-
plies, but the general assumption that the public was
to be victimized" for the benefit of the companies
he did not pretend to contradict. In so far as the
amalgamation scheme would put a stop to territorial
rivalry and Parliamentary expenditure, it would
doubtless improve the prospects of proprietaries with-
, out prejudice to any class except those loag-robed
gentry whom we consign without any kind of reluct-
ance to Mr. Glyn's discretion. But the views of the
chairmen are evidently not limited to these legitimate
savings. They plainly purpose to curtail the present
extent of accommodation—talking of " two trains
being run where one would serve the public equally
well." But who is to be judge of this " equality?"
If a town has two stations and two communications
with London, and two trains are started together,
one on each line, at eight o'clock
sin the morning,
it may be very possible that
answer all train would
purposes, and that one set ofg
cearriages would
accommodate all the passengers who were desirous of
taking that particular trip at that particular time.
But if one of these trains started
tatebnefit of the
eight,e and the
the
other at ten, it is absurd to deny b
double convenience. No town can be
worse
for these two strings to its bow ; but the truth is
that the argument is an exact exemplification of the
system under which these things have been managed.
A certain town has a railway communication with the
metropolis, and is supposed to provide a remunerative
amount of traffic. This traffic catches the eyes of
clever speculators, who determine to have a share of
it, and Company No. 2 appears before Parliament ac-
cordingly with convincing proofs that a duplicate line,
with duplicate stations, would be of the greatest and
most evident service to the town and country in ques-
tion. In due course the new line is constructed, and
Company No. 2 enters upon its functions, but, instead
of creating any province of its own, or developing
any fresh traffic, it directs its whole undivided ener-
gies to the object of ousting and superseding Company
No. 1. It starts its trains at the same hours, offers
the same attractions, and maintains at every point a
systematic and unscrupulous opposition to its rival.
No doubt, under these conditions, it may be repre-
sented that " two trains are run where one would
serve the public equally well," but these were not the
conditions on which a second company was permitted
to spring up. The whole case is so plain that nobody
can fail to see through it. If one train is as good as
two, then one company was as good as two, and half
the parties now negotiating for " amalgamation "
never ought to have had any existence at all. And
this duplicate staff of companies is not simply unne-
cessary, but is extravagant and ruinous too. Amal-
gamation implies that one company out of the two
has been found superfluous; but the result is that two
proprietaries, instead of one, are quartered upon the
public. A company with a capital of 30,000,000/.
amalgamates with a second whose stock is 20,000,000/. ;
they propose to serve the public " equally well " by
abolishing one moiety of their joint performances, but
the fares will be regulated for returns upon the ag-
gregate 50,000,000/. of stock. Work is to be single,
but wages double. A certain amount of money has
been invested in providing the country with railway
communication. It is now discovered that this amount
is greater by half than it need have been ; that is to
say, that one line out of two need never have been
constructed; but, though it is intended accordingly
to run a single train in the place of two,
it is not intended to relieve the public from one-
half of its contributions. A company may be use-
less, by its own confession, in providing accommo-
dation for the community, but it saddles the commu-
nity, nevertheless, with annual interest upon its
capital. The main point of the question is, not the
manufacture of an enormous stock, nor the accumu-
lation of corresponding powers without competition
or control. These points are deserving, indeed, of
consideration, but they are of inferior importance to
that illustrated above. Perhaps it is desirable that
two capital stocks, of many millions each, should not
be amalgamated, and that "one-half of England"
' should not be handed over to a single monopolist
company, but the most objectiona"ble feature is th
dead weight thus created. The non-effective ser-
e
vices" of our railway proprietaries will be as burden-
some as tbose of the army and navy estimates, and
much more disagreeable to provide for, since, in the
latter case, there has really been value received, where-
as, in the former, no benefit has ever been forthcoming.h
The railway authorities themselves declare thatt ey
have been fighting and "competing to no purposenblic
at all except that of common damage. payand
forp that
inconvenience, and they now ask us,. t
competition which they themselves forcoeinto being,
It is but which they can carry on no longer.anponies" over
pre-
cisely the case of the "great water c
again. In the struggle for promisingbee investments
would have
six proprietaries were started where t
sufficed. The first stage of the proceedingr was com-
petition—a frantic and desperate effort onthe art of
each to grasp all. When this had pr.oducped its
natural consequences of depression and„rum they re-
sorted to a virtual " amalgamation, and relieved
themselves of their merited liabilities by a common
agreement to visit them equitably on the public.
The result is well known. From that time to this
we have had bad service and extortionate rates, and
though the Legislature has confessed its duty of in-
terfering for the public protection, we have as yet
made little advance towards amendment. Now, the
railway companies stand in exactly the same relation
to Great Britain that the water companies occupied
in regard to London, and we trust the country will
see the moral of the story in time.

EXPECTED VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO
BIRMINGHAM.
It is with great pleasure we are enabled to an.
pounce to our fellow-townsmen that they will in the
course of a few days have the honour of a Visit,
although only
a passing one, from her Most Gracious
Majesty the Queen, her Royal Consort, and their
children. The letter of our correspondent from
Gloucester, received last night, thus announces this
gratifying intelligence :
.. Her Majesty has determined to travel by the
route from Osborne to Balmoral, on the occasion same
forthcoming visit to Scotland, as she took intheauotfuhmenr
Railway, passing
early on
of 1849 on her journey from Scotland,
Birmingham.Midla n d and Great
Her
MajestyW estenwßillail namely, by the
passing through
Monday morning next, August 30,. and having landed atn
Gosport, will proceed thenceiihe by the South-Western
car-
riages, and proceed by
Railway to Basingstoke.
theth lieresahte
Wwiellstecrbnanßigromen;:pogo.
Gloucester, and thence by
that night, proceeding yo'nwhe
eidhlandli
ham, and so on to Derb Majestyn line
to
wi1141002
Gloucester, where the break of gusge occurs, the Queen
-
neorrthwearrds next day. ..e's
will again change carriages • and on Saturday ;01: It',
ing of the Gloucester Town 'Council was held/. recap-
purpose of making arrangements for the PosPie,„a an-
tion of her Majesty by the authorities•
eireiequence of
tiful addresses will be presented, but !alloy,' party at
the inconvenience experienced by !Jill, kept clear on
Gloucester in 1849, the platform wm;vw only remain a
her Majesty's arrival. Her Majesty
0o.”
few minutes at the Gloucester "
of the Midland Corn-
In addition to the
the necessary ar-
Sanders, the general ruausglaaking
erwat: understand that Mr.
parry, is now at Gloucestercption of her Majesty, and we
rangements for the teu
t;rities of this town will be ere
have no doubt hot at present, in possession of such
long, above,
if they sre ill enable them to make suitable pre-
information as
I:
reception of the royal party, and
paratlons for the
afford to the inhabitants an opportunity of testifying
and attachment to their Sovereign. It
their 1099-D'" recollection of our readers that in the
'n the
will be 19 her Majesty paid a similar visit to this
Year 184
she
was received at the station in Dud-
tc'wv' when b s h
destoo-row yS. T crnton, Esq., the Mayor, and the
members of the corporation. The weather was most
unpropitious, and the short conversation with which
the Mayor was honoured by his Royal Highness
Prince Albert was carried on under torrents of rain.
The state carriage remained only a few minutes at
the station after its arrival, and comparatively few of
the thousands who had assembled along the line had
the pleasure of seeing her Majesty. We hope, how.
ever, for a more favourable result on Monday next,
and shall be happy to have it in our power to record
a gratifying visit and most enthusiastic reception.—
Birmingham Ga:ette.

Captain John Edward Walcott (1824) M.P. for
Christchurch, one of the most distinguished, but neglected,
senior officers of the navy, has received at the hands of the
Duke of Northumberland the gold-service pension of Oa
per annum.