The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1839.

traffic will not allow that competition among car-
riers, which is produced when rival establishments
convey goods upon canals or common roads.
Upon this subject the opinions of Mr. Bax-
endale, Mr. Rathbone, Mr. Bury, Mr. Plummer,
and Mr. H. Earle, are peculiarly deserving of
attention.

In this branch of the inquiry it will be most con-
venient to distinguish between goods comprising the
general merchandise of the country and those lighter
articles requiring more rapid transmission, techni-
cally called coach parcels ; since it appears that
these last are in almost every instance conveyed
under the management and responsibility of the
Railway Companies, while, as regards the former,
various systems have been adopted.
In respect to merchandise, the London and Bir-
mingham Company have adopted the system of
open competition, and supplying the locomotive
power and waggons, have, since the completion of
their arrangements, allowed all carriers, under cer-
tain regulations, to convey goods over their line of
road.

On the other hand, the Grand Junction Com-
pany appear to have haen desirous of following a
i
contrary system; but n consequence of the regula-
tions adopted by the London and Birmingham,
they have admitted private carriers engaged in the
London trade upon their line, but have retained to
themselves the conveyance of all Birmingham and
Lancashire goods.
The Liverpool and Manchester Company have
always been the exclusive carriers on their line

The Bolton and Leigh Railway, communicating
with the Liverpool and Manchester, is let to a single
carrier.

The North Union professes to follow the exam-
ple of the London and Birmingham, but as yet only
one carrier has established himself upon the line,
and, as he is the lessee of the Bolton and Leigh, it
is conjectured that his wealth and influence may
virtually enable him to retain the entire carriage of
goods upon these two lines.

The Newcastle and Carlisle are the sole carriers
on their line.

The Stockton and Darlington are carriers on
their line ; but there are also other parties, using
horse power, who carry goods on this railway.
The Leeds and Selby Company are the sole
carriers on their line.

The railroads that are only partially opened do
not as yet carry goods to any great extent, but the
companies have in general retained the conveyance
in their own hands.

Although your Committee have directed their
particular attention to this important subject, and
have collected a great variety of evidence, as well
from the gentlemen to whom they have above al-
luded, as from others ; nevertheless, they feel in
competent to offer an opinion to the House until
further experience shall more fully develope the com-
parative inconvenience and advantage of either
system ; indeed, until the great lines of communica-
tion between distant parts of the country shall he
more generally completed, and the public wants and
demands for the conveyance of goods and parcels
more extensively known, it would be difficult to
decide in what way the interests of the public can
be best protected, under the practical monopoly
which will be then established.

In regard to the conveyance of parcels different
considerations will arrise ; speed and security are in
this case, points of more importance than the actual
cost of the transmission ; whereas, with regard to
goods and heavier merchandise, economy must be
also a main object of consideration.
It has been suggested to your Committee that
although it might be impracticable to open a rail-
way to general competition, yet it might be, under
certain circumstances, advisable that a facility
should be afforded for the engines and trains of one
company to pass over the line of a connecting rail-
way.

Any company, as has been already stated, can
at present virtually prevent other companies from
passing over their line of road, not only by charging
them the maximum toll, but by depriving them of
all the necessary accommodations. In some
cases, however, agreements have been entered
into between different companies, by which the
engines and trains of one company are per-
mitted to travel over the road of another company.
This has been allowed on the Liverpool and Man-
chester, where, amongst others, the trains of the
Grand Junction are allowed to travel over the
whole line. These two railways, are, however,
chiefly under the direction of the same persons, by
which much of the inconvenience which would
otherwise arise from this arrangement is obviated.
Some witnesses state it as their belief that this
liberty might be granted with safety upon railroads
in general, under the restriction that the locomotive
power should be subject to the immediate control of
the company on whose line it is used.
Intimately connected with the preceding question
is the propriety of allowing a terminus to be com-
mon to more than one railway. Upon the first
establishment of railways it was deemed an advan-
tage, especially as regarded the approaches to Lon-
don, that one main line should lead to the common
terminus of several railroads, nor was it even consi-
dered necessary that there should be separate and
distinct lines of rail net apart for each branch of the
intercourse. It may be said that no inconvenience
has attended the Grand Junction Railway, and the
Liverpool and Manchester having a common ter-
aiinus at Liverpool ; there, however, a distinct station
for passengers, and another for goods, hac been esta-
lAished. An Act of the present Session has al-
.owed the Northern and Eastern Railway to aban-
don their intended terminus and to make use of a
nortion of the line and of the terminus of the
Eastern Counties Railway. After making every
inquiry upon this subject, your Committee feel
;sound to state it as their opinion, that where the
same line of rails is to receive trains arriving from
,wo or more separate lines of communication the
risk of accidents is greatly increased. Wherever
such junctions are permitted the safety of the pas-
sengers requires that all the circumstances of the
case should be carefully investigated. The points
to be specially ascertained are the length of line
which is common to more than one rai way, the
peculiarities of the curves and gradients at the
point of junction, and the anticipated frequency of
the departure and of the arrival of the trains.

This subject has been more especially brought
under the notice of your Committee by an exami
nation into the proposed arrangements of the Green-
wich Railway, to which your Committee request the
,zerious attention of the House. It will be seen from
the evidence that one mile and three-quarters of the
Greenwich Railway is intended eventually to be
made common to four different lines of communica-
.tion—namely, to the Greenwich, the Croydon, the
Brighton, and the Dover. These two last railway
,:ompanies have made arrangements to travel over a
.;neat portion of the Croydon Railway, employing,
however, their own locomotive power, and thus the
traffic of the four railroads will have in common the
above-mentioned portion of the Greenwich line,
where it further appears there are only two lines of
rails, and where, without an extension of the arches
on which the road is laid down, it will be imprac-
ticable to increase the number. The trains on the
Greenwich line are despatched every quarter of an
hour from each terminus ; and in holiday time, or
when any circumstance renders more frequent trans
, . „
aestratne, they are started at shorter intervals. The
intercourse with Croydon will, it is stated, require
a frequent despatch of trains. The arrangement,
also, by which the terminus, with its necessary
buildings, is situated on the northern side of the
railway, so that the traffic conveyed along the
Croydon Railroad must necessarily cross the south-
ern line of the Greenwich Railway, increases the
chances of collision, and consequently enhances the
danger to the passengers.
It is but just, however, to the companies to ob-
serve, that the directors, by the erection of a light-
house at the junction of the two railways, by the
establishment of a code of signals, and by other
means, have endeavoured to obviate the dangers and
inconveniences of the proposed arrangements.
Your Committee feel that they should neglect
their duty if they did not express a decided disap-
probation of these arrangements, by which they are
inclined to believe the safety of passengers will be
exposed to considerable hazard. The Directors
of the four railways have expressed a willingness
to adopt some remedy which might be satisfactory
to the Committee, and have proposed three different
schemes for approval. The first is a plan for
doubling the width of the Greenwich Railway as
far the point of junction, by adding to the arches,
and substituting four lines of rail, instead of the
two lines at present in use. The second plan is to
make a new line, deviating at a certain point from
the Croydon, so as to separate the communication