The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-11 00:00:00

ii.WENING EDITION

MANCHESTER and MR.7.3IINGTTAM
EXTENSION RAILWAY.

1 ~........._
On Tuesday last a numerous and highly influent' al
meeting of the Bankers, Merchants, Traders, and oth rr
inhabitants of Manchester, convened in compliance wi Ft r
a requisition presented to the Boroughrcevu at. til 1
Constables, was held at the Town Hall of that Boron;;; a, I
for the purpose of taking into consideration the beL at
mode of giving effect to certain resolutions passed at .R/
general meeting of the inhabitants, held on the 26t1.1 I
of April last, pledging the town of Manchester to give
its support to an Act to authorise the construction of
the Manchester and Birmingham Extension Railway.
The requisition bore nearly 400 signatures, represent-
ing nearly every firm of wealth and respectability in i
Manchester. At half-past ten o'clock,
TnomAs EVANS, Esq. the Boroughreeve, was called
to the
,elii.ir, and after reading the reenitition by
which the meeting had been convened, said, alt.hou3-it i
fully aware of tile great importance to the town of t
Manchester of the question to be brought before them, I

he was not so conversant with its actajls as other
gentlem,Yn who were present, and therefore he should
call upon some other gentleman connected with the
Extern:Ann Line to explain the subject to the meeting.
EDWARD TOOTAL, Esq., one of the 'Directors of
the Manchester and BirminghLin Ext,ensin Company,
in responding to the call of the Chairman, lugged to
submit to the meeting some circumstances connected
with that undertaking. PerhapS, he observed, the
strongest proofs which he could urge of the advauLgcs,
which it held out, would be by referring to the saving
of distance: of the line, and the facilities of communi-,
cation which it opened to the various towns upon its
route. He would, in the first place, allude to the
London and Birniingham Railway. By the turnpike
road the distance between these places was 110 mites ;
by the railway 11241; by a direct line it was 98A-
therefore the circuit taken by the railway w-as
mile* over a direct line. Now, the turnpike road Crow
Manchester to London was 186 miles, the distance by
railway 179 miles, and by a bird's fTght the distance
was 163 miles, being an increase on the direct line of

16 miles. Now, of these 16 miles only 3,1 miles were
lost by the deviations of the Manchester and BirrniaJmun
and Extension Itn.ilway,whereas 131 miles were lost by t i;e
present routa to London. Thus, while they gave every
town lying between Stone and Rugby the benefit of
railway communication, they lost only the compara-
tively small distance of 21 miles. He would also show,
in reference to the Grand Junction Company, that the
distance between Liverpool and Birmingham by railway
was 973- miles, and by bird's night only 77 miles, being
alass of 20k miles, in addition to -13 i miles lest in
going from Dirrnineitm to Londum, In proof or the
judiciousress of the route which had beef; selected for
the Extension Line, be might refer to the 11,opot made
by Mr. Telford in 1826, to the Postrwser- Genord,
that gentleman having been requested to survey and
lay out the shortest and best main route ta Liverpool,
and the one he selected, commencing at Rugby, was
by Nuneaton, Atherstone, Tamwertb, Lichfield, and

ugely, every town, and almost elery yard of land
adopted by the present Company.• By the existing, line
of railway, as he had shown, the distaece between
Manchester and London was 209 miles, while, by a
bird's fl:ght, it was 163 miles, thus compelling them to
ake a round of 46 miles in every journey they made
o. London ; should they however, succeed in obtaining
c Extension Line, this distance would be reduced to 18
In the distance he had given, he had said ac-
ing in respect of gradients ; although this was de-
bateable matter, he had no hesitation in stating, that a
distance equal to 15 miles, at least, would be saved, in
addition to what he had stated by the superior gra-
dient of the Extension Line as . far as Rugby. Mr.
'Foetal here referred to the circumstances under
which the meeting in April last had been called to-
gether, and stated that if the measure bad nut obtained
the cordial concurrence of their fellow townsmen on that
occasion, the Directors would never have made apidiea-
tion to Parliament to carry out the undertaLing before
them ; and he now called upon the present assembly to
give effect to the resolution which they then came to.
He should have been glad, if time permitted, to give a
sketch of the nature of the opposition which they had
to encounter, but he would content himself by noticing
one or two of the allegations which had. been brought
against them by their opponents. Mr.Teotal here re-

miles.

Crred to the case of the Stafford Charities, in which the,
Company were called upon to prove the right of owner-
ship of certain property at present before the House of
Lords on appeal. He next referred to the case or the
parish clerk of Stafford, already published, and adverted
to she means used by one it.flucntial landowner on the
line, who had instructed his tenantry to throw every
impediment in their power to prevent correct plans-and
sections, and books of reference being made in respect
of their lands., in compliance with the requirements of
the Standing Orders of the House of Commons—and
would is be credited that this very gentleman hes
called upon the House to visit upon this Company the
consequences of errors which he took every possible
means to cause them to fall into, and actually, in person,
attended the Committee on Petitions for nearly twenty
dayS; A considerable portion of the land had, hoacvcr,
been arranged for with the proprietors on the line, sub-
ject to the passing of the Act, in many instances on
very fasourable terms, and he did not hesitate to say
that, if necessary, in the course of one week the land
for the whole of the line could be contract° I for e
the exception of perhaps some six or even miles. Mr.
Toots? next alluded to the disgraceful attempt which
wds being made by their opponents while their B;11 was,
between .twneommittees, to weaken their Parliamentary
influence by
whichgett they
betting up t
a li.ccuoufrainia,evrbyb'
net Valley,kneiv id
and concluded by observing that he for one would uever
cease to endevvour to obtain for his adopted town a
.
good, direct, and independent line of railway, stult as
he
conceived the importance and vast manufacturing
inte-
rests of Manchester were fully entitled to.
SAMUEL FLETCHER, Esq., of Manchester, in rnevin-r
the first resolution (for which we reLr to anoti,er
column), said he felt it to be unnecessary to occupy
their time in dwelling on the great importance of se-
curing to Manchester, and the adjoining d:strict, a t
and independent line of railway communication to Cie
metropolis. The
.magi itude of their manufectur:ree
operations, the capital invested therein, and the vast
amount of their plapnlatien, all powerfully pleaded
every facility should be afforded for bringing Man-
che;:er within as short a distance as possible of London.
The Nianches• er and Birmingham Eetension Railway
proposed to effect this important object by a line to free
•from natural difficulties, and so little interfering-
with existing railway interests, that at the public meet-
ing held here twelve months ego, it wls confidently an-
ticipated that, the consent of the landowners being
tabled, no just or reasonable opposition could be made
to this Bill. The Grand Junction Company had 9er-
tainly affsrdcd them a communication, which though
circuitous, yet, as compared with the ancient turnpike,
was desirable, and as a better communication than the
one they had hitherto enjoyed, they were willing to avail
themselves of it. But they felt at that time, and still
more at the present moment, that the wealth and com-
mercial importance of this district required that they
should have an independent Bill. It would have been
well, perhaps, if they had come to this conclusion earlier.
Their wealthy and speculative brethren in Liverpool
sew the importance of such a communication, and they
were now reaping their advantages. He for one did
not envy them their legitimate gains ; but he contended
that in doing what they were now endeavouring to ac-
complish, they were only exercising a perfect and indis-
potable right, and neglecting which they would be ne-
glecting their own interests, the interests of the great
community in which they lived, and of the generations
which were to follow them. They contended, then,
that there existed a necessity for the Exten,ion Line,
which no attempt that had hitherto been made disproved ;
and that by this line they gained important advantages
in distance, in time, and in speed. They had been told
by Mr. Tootal that the decrease in the distance be-
tween Manchester and London would be upwards of
thirty miles. It was also known that the delay at Bir-
mingham was upwards of an hour, and the obviation of
this difficulty wculd be real gain ; in addition to this
the gradients were so favourable, that they mightbcaltchus-
late on a considerable increase of speed, and
etty_y
oi f
means also they should gain. Now, independently tl
necessity
these advantages, he contended their.et:.r.
secure a more
for another competing line,' in order
merchandise. As
lis, as a transit for passengers complete and perfect communicaatniodn with the metropo-
lis,
and scltish
to suffer all the inconvenience ob
respected the conveyance of prods, they already be‘gan
a,ngalreadv made upon
monopoly. An exposure had
weight there. Under
doubt it would have its proper
_al
to
this subject before the House of Commons, and no
advert to the op-
these circumstances, it was paint...
to the character of
progress—it was painful to alluae
position making to this line evenira the first stage of its
this opposition, and the quarter from whence it profrivolous and vexa-
ceeded. To say that
..
In its extent it was un-
precedented by any opposition
tious would be saying liitttle,wasf r it had assumed a
novel and an odious character.
own in the entias of
Parliamentary warfare. They ,
en tne.
did not
right oe
en to .they had perverted the
cuss the merits of the line, or
Manchester to obtain it ; but
Standingo rdcrs of the House of Commons . to uses both
arbitrary and oppressive. Their aimseas, I>y objections
of mere form, and by an enormous cost of time and
-*on. This essimoney to prevent the progress of the Bill through the
House, at least for the present S
opposi-
tion did not spring, from the land owners along the he,
but from a combination of Railway and CanalCompaniss,
and orfrom one Railway Company, who,
havinmgfa especiallyailedtosecure a monopoly of this very line for
themselves, were now moving heaven and earth to ob-
struct its progress. But injustice always defeated it-
self, and he did feel confident that the House of Ccm-
mons would vindicate its character for discernment and
rectitude, and by the justice of its deeis:on would at
once and for ever put down this attempt at railway ma.
nopoly. •
RICHARD MALEY, Esq., in seconding the resolution,
said that he perfectly concurred in all that bad fallen
from Mr. Fletcher in moving its adoption. There WS