The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-02 00:00:00

The Metropolitan Railway Schemes,

sorption of a large portion of the omnibus and cab
traffic, the completion of the inner circuit of rail-
ways is desirable.
"It was estimated by the evidenea lefore the
committee that great additional accolnaodation,
especially for the labouring classes, is WtEy becoming
more necessary, while there is no proFpect of the
present ordinary means of conveyance being at all
adequate to future wants, and they
are of opinion
that the following schemes which contribute
towards the formation of such a circuit
may pro.
perly be proceeded with.

The report of the joint committee of both Houses
of Parliament appointed to consider the beat method
of dealing with the railway schemes proposed to be
sanctioned within the limits of the metropolis states
that :

" The railway schemes that have been referred
for the consideration of the joint-committee are of
extraordinary magnitude for so limited an area as
the metropolitan railway district, extending over a
length of 174 mites in the aggregate, involving the
raising a capital of nearly £33,000,000 in shares
and of £11,000,000 by loan, creating alarm among
the holders of a vast amount of property, and in-
terfering, during the construction of the proposed
works, with many important public thoroughfares.
They include the construction of not less than four
new railway bridges across the Thames, two of
them of gigantic size below London-bridge. It is
stated by the surveyor to the Commis3ioners of
Sewers of the city of London that the lands and
buildings scheduled in the city of London for the
proposed railway schemes comprise about one-fourth
of the:entire area of the city.
" The committee are of opinion that thelollowing
bills or parts of bills should not be proceeded with
during the present session :—Victoria Station and
Thames Embankment, Oxford-street and City,
London Main Trunk, Underground Metropolitan
Grand Union (the portion south of Thames-street),
Charing-cross (Northern), Charing-cross (Western),
London Union, Aletropolitan District (a portion
forming the outer circuit), Tottenham and Far.
ringdon-street.
" The committee recommend that the fees which
have been incurred in respect of the said bills be
remitted. _ _ _

The two first•-named of these lines are proposed
to be worked. on the pneumatic principle—a prin-
ciple hitherto untried as applied to railway passen-
ger carriages, and it seems undesirable that the
experiment should first be made in an important
public thoroughfare. They are passenger railways,
and are intended to relieve the streets of omnibus
and cab traffic. The necessity for any such lines has
been to some extent lessened, supposing the rail-
ways forming the inner circuit scheme referred to
in a subsequent part of this report be sanctioned.
" The London Main Trunk Underground Rail-
way proposes to provide a more central station for
the Great Eastern, an object which is also sought
to be accomplished by the Great Eastern itself by
the Great Eastern Metropolitan Station and Rail-
way Bill. The Select Committee of the House of
Lords on metropolitan railway communication of
last Session recommended that the Great Eastern
should be allowed to establish a more central sta-
tion than it has at present.
" The portion of the Metropolitan Grand Union
south of Thames-street which the committee recom-
mend should not be proceeded with involves a high-
level bridge over the river below London-bridge.
The connexion between the railways north and
soath of the river at the end of the metropolis might,
it appears to the committee, be better effected by
the East London through the Thames Tunnel and
the proposed abandonment approved by the pro-
moters, and the committee recommend that they
should be allowed to amend their estimate, and be
Permitted to withdraw a portion of their deposit.
" Three schemes on this list, the Chariag•cross
(Western), the London Union, and the portions of
the metropolitan district railways proposed to be
postponed, in addition to other objections, require
the construction of bridges across the Thames, one
of them being a high level bridge below London-
bridge.

" Metropolitan District Railways (the portion
forming the inner circuit 32, 33, 34, and junctions
7,8, and 9).
" Metropolitan Railway (Trinity. square, Exten-
sion).

"Metropolitan Railway (Notting-hill and
Brompton Extension).
‘, Metropolitan Grand Union (portion north of
the Thames).
The committee are also of opinion that the
following schemes—viz., the East London, Great
Eastern (Metropolitan stations and railways),
Great Eastern (junction No. 8), North London
(Kingsland and 'Tottenham line), Walthamstow,
Clapton, and City may be properly proceeded with,
and as these schemes more or less enter into com-
munication, or compete or conflict in levels with
the schemes above referred to, as designed to form
the inner circuit, and with each other, the committee
are of opinion that all the above schemes may with
advantage be grouped together, and be referred to
the same select committee.
"In making these recommendations the committee
are of opinion that the greatest accommodation to
the public will not be secured by treating the two
schemes which pursue almost the same line from
Kensington to Brompton to the City merely as com-
peting schemes, one of which is to be preferred to
the exclusion of the other. The committee are of
opinion that the promoters of these schemes should
be recommended to communicate together and with
the surveyors of the City and Metropolitan Board
of Works, and devise the most perfect line which
their several plans will admit of. By a relaxation
of the standing orders such revised plan may be
embodied in one Bill. The Metropolitan Railway
(Trinity-square Extension) and the Western
branches of the East London Railway should also
be part of the proposed consultation. By sueb a
course much useless expenditure would be saved,
and the interests of the Metropolis far better secured
than by taking the chance of selection of one among
the competing lines.
The committee observe with regret that two of
the schemes which they have recommended should
be allowed to proceed pass throagh Finsbury-circus
in open cutting. They are, however, informed that
the promoters of both are willing to substitute a
covered way for the open cutting. In the event of
the select committee finding it desirable to adopt
either of those lines in preference to those which do
not interfere with the Circus, the committee recom-
mend that effectual provision shall be made by which
the time to elapse between the breaking up of any
part of the garden and the completion of the works
there and the proper restoration of the enclosure
shall be as short as possible.
"Although the committee have recommended
that those portions of the metropolitan district rail-
ways scheme which are designed to form the outer
circuit shall not be proceeded with, they concur
with the House of Lords Committee of last Session
in thinking an outer circuit desirable, and they are
of opinion that this object might be accomplished
by uniting the existing railways on the eastern side
of the metropolis with one another, and connecting
those of them which are situate on the north side of
the Thames with the railways on the south side,
making use for this purpose of the Thames Tunnel.
For this purpose it would be necessary for the East
London to be in connection with the North London,
the Great Eastern, and London and Blackwell
Railways. This combination, taken in connection
with the existing lines on the west and south of the
metropolis, ES suggested by the secretary of the
London and North-Western Railway Company in
his evidence before the committee, would complete
the outer circuit, but it -would be further necessary
that mutual facilities to be secured by legislative
enactment should be afforded by the several com-
panies for interchange of traffic.
" In order to give the public the full extent of the
system of intercommunication such as that which
has been suggested, it would be desirable that the
select committee to whom the metropolitan schemes
in question may be referred should require that such
modifications may be made in the schemes that may
be sanctioned as may be necessary for effecting the
proposed combination, and also that a clause should
be inserted in the bills of all railway companies
having termini within the metropolitan district,
for securing a mutual interchange of facilities
for working the traffic upon railways in that
districts on equitable terms among themselves,
and without any undue preference, the terms
to be settled in case of difference by the Board
of Trade, or an arbitrator to be appointed by that
department. A clause should also, they think, be
inserted in each of the bills providing that railways
having their termini within the metropolis shall be
subject to the provisions of any Act to be passed in
the present or any future session for the regulation
of railways within the metropolis.
" The committee are of opinion that some of the
prooisions of the Railway Clauses Consolidation
Act, ISIS, require provisions in relation to the
metropolitan arrangements, and they recommend
the introduction of a bill for that purpose. They
desire also to direct attention to a suggestion of
Colonel Yolland's report to the Board of Trade as to
the expediency of requiring all places for railways
within the Metropolitan Railway district being
drawn to the same datum line.
"The committee are of opinion that in the pre-
sent session such of the bills proposing to sanction
railway communication within the limits of the
metropolis as are to be proceeded with should com-
mence in the House of Commons."
The report concludes by stating that a map,
showing the existing and proposed railways in the
metropolis, accompanies the report, and that the
committee have directed the minutes of evidence
taken before them, together with the appendix, to
be reported.

"It is further to be observed with reference to
these schemes that railway communication between
the lines north and south of the Thames already
exists on the Westminster side of the metropolis by
means of the West London and West London ex-
tensions railways, and another line is in course of
construction through the centre of London by the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, which when
completed will unite their south London system
with the Metropolitan Railway at Farringdon-
street, thereby giving them a communication with
the Great Northern line, and thus of necessity con-
necting the Charing-cross and South Eastern Rail-
ways at Charing-cross with any of the main lines
to the north, as proposed by any of the last-men-
tioned schemes is not urgent.
"The Tottenham and Farringdon-street Railway,
by which it is proposed to connect the Cambridge
line of the Great Eastern with the station at Far-
ringdon-street is open to the same objection urged
against the Charing-cross (Northern), and the
Tottenham and Hampstead (extension to Charing-
cross) iu that it tends to create a great central
station, inasmuch as the Great Northern, the Mid-
land, and the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-
way, are already brought in direct station commu-
nication with the Metropolitan Railway at Far-
ringdon-street. As the Great Eastern Railway is
another scheme for an approved station, which the
committee recommend should proceed, it appears
desirable that this bill should be postponed, at all
events until it can be known by experience whether
any inconvenient amount of traffic will be concen-
trated at Farringdon-street by the lines already to
meet there.
" The estimated capital required for the construes
tion of the schemes above proposed to be postponed
amounts to ,E 18,500,000 in the aggregate, exclusive
of what was proposed to be raised by loan for the
purpose of the undertaking. The remainder of the
sum of estimated expenditure above referred to may
be expected to be reduced by the rejection of some
of the schemes allowed to proceed.
" Without expressing any opinion as to the merits
of the following bills, the committee recommend
the they should be proceeded with in the ordinary
course, being only improvements of existing lines or
works connecting links of a very limited extent, for
enlargement of ,stations in no way conflicting with
any comprehensive system of metropolitan railways
—viz., Great Northern and Victoria Station, Lon-
don and Blackwell (Extension) ; London, Brighton,
and South Ccast (new lines in Battersea) ; Great
Northern (No. 1, Barnet branch) ; London and
North Western (additional powers): London and
south 'Western (additional works) ; North London
(additional powers); London, Chatham, and Dover
(No. 2); Great Eastern (junctions, except junction
No. 3) ; Midland and St. Pancras branch ; Metro-
politan (additional powers).
"The committee also recommended that the Me-
tropolitan and St. John's Wood should be allowed
to Proceed, as it is a line that passes through a not
very populous but increasing district without inter-
fering:with much property, and in no way compet-
ing with any other scheme. The committee might
here remark that it is proposed to be constructed as
a single line only.
" The committee also recommend that the Ham-
mersmith, Midland, and North Western, and Cha-
ring-cross Junction shall be allowed to
proceed.
This scheme is in some degree open to an objection
already referred to, that it tends to create a central
station at Charing cross. It, however, pro
poses an
addition to the railway, which is to be constructed
wholly in tunnel, to form three new streets, one of
them of a very important character, in continuation
of Tottenham-court-road from Oxford-street, in a
direct line to St. Martin's-lane, near Aldridge's Re-
pository, and from thence to the Thames Embank-
ment, near Charing-cross Railway Station. This
new thoroughfare would be a substitute for the pre-
sent objectionable road through Seven-dials and
High-street, St. Giles, and be a great public im-
provement. The combination of new streets in
crowded parts of the metropolis, with the construc-
tion of new railways, was recommended in the re-
port of the Lords' Committee last session. The com-
mittee are of opinion that if the select committee to
which the bill for these schemes may be referred
should see fit to sanction the scheme they should do
so only on condition that the new streets above
referred to should be constructed cotemporaneously
with the railway, and that provision should be made
in the bill for insuring its completion.
" The committee concur in the opinion expressed
by the select committee of the House of Lords on
metropolitan railway communication last session in
their third report, that, with a view to the dibtri-
bution of passenger traffic arriving by the main
lines of railway coming within the metropolis, and
:also the relieving the crowded streets by the 4b-

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 2, 1864.

RAILWAY INTEL ':,IGENCE,

HAMMERSMITH AND CITY.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Monday at the London Tavern--Mr. J. Parson in the chair.
'1 he rei,ort was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN said he had taken the chair on that occa •
sion at the rcquest of his colleagues, but intended to resign
at the conclusion of the business. He then explained the
various paragraphs in the report. The permanent working
agreement with the Great Western Company would be for
10 years, and would commence from the opening of the I:ne
in July or August next. The great difficulty in respect of
forming the junctions with the Great Western had been to
accommodate the suburban traffic without interfering with
the long and express traffic on that company's main line.
The Hammersmith Company was to pay £25,000 towards
the expense of constructing these junctions by the Great
Western, and a rental of £6OO a year. He thought it a ju-
dicious arrangement for both companies. Then there was a
difficulty to be overcome in respect to working the trains
from the Hammersmith line to the Metropolitan line so that
they should be enabled to run without delay at the junction
into the heart of the city. The liabilities of the company
were estimated at £90,000. The net cost of the land for rail-
way would be £72,000, the estimated cost of the land by the
contractor was £16,500, to be paid for partly in shares and
partly in debentures, equivalent to £lO,OOO in cash. The
land for the railway had cost £BO,OOO, which was double the
estimate. The contractor had paid £15,000 to be relieved
from the land portion of his contract, and the company h 7.1
to pay £25,000, including £4,210 for the portion of the Tal-
bot estate, making together the extra £40,000. The com-
pany had a bill in Parliament for an extension from Ham-
mersmith to Richmond. They now proposed to raise £60,000
on preference shares ; but Mr. Rummens, who had taken
17,000 out of the 18,600 shares of the capital of the com-
pany, had power to object to raising money on preference
shares before the opening of the line, lest it should damage
his interests in any way. Mr. Blake had resigned his seat
at the board, and he (the chairman) would also resign.
Mr. SURGEY seconded the motion for the adoption of the
report, and it wrs carried.
The directors were authorised to consolidate the IS,OOO
ordinary £lO shares into stock, Mr, G. C. Taylor was elected
a director in the room of Mr. Blake, and Mr. G. C. Taylor
was elected auditor.

The meeting was then made special for the purpose of
raising £60,000 by the issue of 5 per cent, preference shares,
with a view to pay off the debts of the company ; but as
Mr. Rummens, the contractor, objected to give his assent
for two months, no resolution on the subject could be
adopted.

Mr. J. Parson then resigned his seat at the board, and
left the chair.

A special meeting, convened by a requisition from the
shareholders, was then held, and Mr. T. Eyre Foakes, a
director, was called to the chair.
A long discussion ensued regarding the proceedings in the
recent case of " Parson v. Surgey," in which Mr. Parson,
Mr. Surgey, Colonel 'Ward, Mr. W. A. Wilkinson, Mr.
Foakes, and ether proprietors, took part, freely expressing
their views on the subject of the recent trial as affecting the
interests of the company.
On the motion of Mr. M. S. TATHAM ; seconded by Mr.
A. 0. WriairssoN, the following resolution was adopted :
" That the shareholders retain the opinion expressed in the
resolution passed at a former meeting, and cannot allow
Messrs. Parson and Blake to retire without recording their
entire concurrence in the comments of the Lord Chief Justice
on the impropriety of directors speculating in land through
which their railway ie intended to pass."
On the motion of Mr. G. SCLATER-BOOTII, M.P., se-
conded by Mr. T. Cum.'s, the following resolution was
unanimously passed :

" That this meeting desires very cordially to thank Mr.
Surgey for his unremitting attention to the interests of the
company, and to assure him that in defending on public
grounds the action recently brought against him, he has
rendered essential service not only to this company but to
the public at large."
It was understood that the directors at their first meeting
would elect Colonel Ward to the vacant seat at the board.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.