The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-27 00:00:00

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

SE, JUNE 25.
ENTERED INWARDSCUSTOM-HO
.—TheU Lady Berriedale, from Ant-
werp ; Triton, Memel ; Lyna, Dram ; Emanuel, Fohr ;
Trent, Dantzic ; Trine Marie, Skive ; Africanus, Cape
Coast Castle ; Susanna, Dram ; Maria, Dantzic ; Tolletta,
Colding • Cornelia Johanna, Neuharlingerseil ; Wilhelm
von Flotow, Havannah and Matanzas ; Jason, Dantzic ;
Twende Brodro, Krageroe ; Otello, Memel ; Seine (s), Bou-
logne ; Dronning Maria, Uddewalla ; Konegen, Calcutta' •
'
Comorn, Stettin • Charlotte, Hamburgh • Motto Elizabeth,
Nykeobing • Panther, Ostend ; Ranger, Bremen ; Johann
Wilhelm, imden.

ENTERED OUTWARDS FOR LOADING.—The Catharina,
for Hamburgh ; Wheatsheaf, Antwerp ; Lady Berriedale,
Antwerp ; Friends, Rouen ; Concordia, Rotterdam „Cale-
donia, Hamburgh ; Rhine' Antwerp ; John Ravenel, New
York ; Esperanza, Punta Arenas ; Lord George Bentinck,
Singapore ; City of Rotterdam, Dunkirk ; City of Bou-
logne, Boulogne ; Richard Frances, Amsterdam ; Tinan-
dra, Singapore Fannechienna, Dantzic ; Latmechina, Am-
sterdam.

CLEARED OUTWARDS WITH CARGO.—The North Star,
for Hong Kong ; Claude, San Francisco ; Zeldenrust,
Konigsberg ; Yldefonsa, Bilboa ; Pallas, St. John's, New-
foundland ; Adela, do. ; Union-, Gibraltar and Cadiz ;
Islena, Teneriffe ; Ipswich Lass, Genoa; Janet MeWil-
ham, Dantzig ; Fidele, Buenos Ayres; James Cruikshank,
Hobart Town ; Friends Rouen ; Fantome, Jamaica ; 'City
of Rotterdam, Dunkirk ; ' Albion, Boulogne ; Soho,
Havre ; Farl of Auckland, Rotterdam ; Baron Osy,. Ant-
werp ; Batavier, Rotterdam ; Glory, Copenhagen ; Emma
Eugenie, Cape of Cood Hope and Ceylon ; Laura, Deme-
rara ; Foyle, Jersey and Guernsey; Alice, Valparaiso ;
Ballarat, Port Philip ; Lannen, Geelong and Melbourne.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN.

On Saturday a special general meeting of the share-
holders of the London and North-Western Railway Com-
pany was held at the Euston-square terminus, Major
General Anson in the chair, for the purpose of having
submitted to them, in accordance with the standing
orders of the House of Lords, copies of the following
bills
" A bill to enable the London and North-Western Rail-
way Company to make a railway to connect the Bucking-
hamshire Railway wAh the Oxford, Worcester, and Wol-
verhamptoß Railway, and to confer certain other powers
with respeot to the last-mentioned railway!'
" A bill to enable the London and North-Western Rail-
way Company to construct a railway from near Tring to
Oxford, with a branch at Oxford, and for other purposes."

"A bill to enable the London And North-Western Rail-
way Company to construct branch railways to St. Albans,
and for other purposes."
" A bill to enable the London and_North-Western Rail-
way Company to construct a railway from Northampton to
Market Harborough, with a branch therefrom, all in the
county of Northampton, and fox' other purposes."
" A bill to enable the London and North-Western Rail-
way Company to construct branches to Stourbridge, and
to form a junction with the Oxford, Worcester, and Wol-
verhampton Railway, in the township of Upper Swinford,
in the county of Worcester, and for other purposes."
" A bill to enable the London and North-Western Rail-
way Company to construct a railway.from near Wellington
to Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge, with a branch to the
Hadley station of the Shropshire Union Railway, all in
the county of Salop, and for other purposes."
" A bill for enabling the London and North-Western
Railway Company to construct a railway from Crewe to
Shrewsbury, and other works in connection with their
undertaking, and for other purposes relating thereto."
" A bill for conferring additional powers on the London
and North-Western Railway Company with reference to
the construction of their Oldham branch, and for making
an alteration in such branches, and for other purposes."
" A bill for making a railway from the London and
North-Western Railway at Willesden, to the East and
West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway, with
a branch to the North and South-Western Junction Rail-
way, to be called The North and...South-Western, Hamp-
stead, and City Junction Railway,' and for other purposes.
" A bill for making a railway from Worcester to Here-
ford, with certain branches therefrom, for making arrange-
ments with the Midland and London and North-Western
Railway Companies, and for other purposes."
" A bill for making a railway from the London and
North-Western Railway, in the parish of Milverton, in the
county of Warwick, to Stratford-upon-Avon, in the same
county, with branches, to be called the Leamington, War-
wick, and Stratford-upon-Avon Railway."
The advertisement by which the meeting had been con-
vened having been read by the secretary, Mr. C. E.
Stewart,

The eItAIRMAN said—Gentlemen, you have been called,
together to-day for the purpose of having submitted to
you the bills for the various projects which the directors
of this company have thought it their duty to prosecute
in Parliament, with a view of extending and promoting
the interests of this great company, and which projects
have now passed through the ordeal of an examination
in the House of Commons. When I last had the plea-
sure of meeting you, I told you that I hoped, on the
occasion of another meeting, I should be able to give
you • some information respecting the course which
the select committee of the House of Commons had
recommended on the subject of the 'future railway
legislation of the country. In that hope I have been
disappointed. We are still in the dark with respect to
their views as to the past legislation on railway matters,
and we are also still in the dark as to their views and
opinions of the present system, or of the mode in which
it should be amended—that is, providing it has been
proved before them in evidence that the system hitherto
pursued has been objectionable. The consequence of
this state of uncertainty has been that we have been
Obliged to go on as we have heretofore proceeded—we
have been compelled to endeavour to fortify ourselves as
well as we can—to protect the property that we possess
to the utmost extent that the ingenuity of lawyers and
the professional skill of engineers would enable us to do.
I confess to you that I regret this state of things, for I
should have been glad to tell you now that some more
definite course of legislation had been chalked out for us
by Parliament. I am ready to admit that the directors
of this company are fully sensible of the strong dissatis-
faction that may be, and no doubt is, felt by many pro-
prietors at the prospect of any large additional expendi-
ture of capital by this company ; but I can assure you
that the directors have not been regardless of such a
feeling. • On the contrary, they have been exceedingly
anxious to consider all the projects originally brought
forward this year, in the hope that some of them might
be abandoned. But I assured you at the last meeting
that the directors had examined them calmly and
deliberately, and that they found it impossible to appear
in this room and to recommend to the proprietors that
any of them in that stage of their existence, should be
abandoned. In the interim that has elapsed the directors
have not had their anxiety in any way diminished in
reference to these bills ; they have watched with sedulous
care their progress through the House of Commons, and
have waited to see whether the select committee would do
anything to guide railway companies in their future course;
but, as I have stated, the select committee have, as yet,
not chalked out any course for us to pursue, and we
therefore now appear before you having reconsidered
all those projects, and the result is, that we are
satisfied we should not be fulfilling our duty to the
great company whose interests are placed in our hands if
we did not recommend you, on this occasion, to give
your unqualified, and, I hope, your unanimous sanction
to the measures named in the circular that has been for-
warded to each proprietor. I should be sorry to occupy
your time with preliminary observations to-day particu-
larly as we have a good many of these bills before us ;
but as honourable proprietors may have some objections
against, or be desirous to offer some observations upon
them, I will proceed to name the different projects as
they are' offered to 'you in the circular. I think you
will remember that at the last meeting, held in the
month of April, I stated the number of projects involv-
ing an expenditure of capital was nine ; they are now
reduced to six, three having fallen victims to the in-
quiries in the House of Commons ; and ,the amount of
money required to complete them is also reduced by
750,0001., leaving the estimated outlay at 1,400,0001.
This certainly lightens the task which is before me to-
day, and I hope that you will be satisfied in giving your
sanction to the amount that we shall have to ask for.
The first of these bills is to enable the London and
North-Western Railway Company to make a railway
to connect the Buckinghamshire Railway with the Ox-
ford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, and to
confer certain 'other powers with respect to the last-
named railway. Now this was explained to you before
as being a very short branch to connect our Bucking.
hamshire system with the Oxford, 'Worcester, and Wol-
verhampton Railway, and which is in point of fact a
continuance of the narrow-guage system from South
Wales to the east of England, and I think it closes a
gap of very great importance. The east of England will
now be open to the mineral products of South Wales
and I think that the traffic, passing through our
,dis-
trict, as it must, will be found extremely beneficial to
us. The estimated outlay 'for these works is 36,0001.
The line is two miles in length, but it is in the
neighbourhood of Oxford, and the land is of course
of considerably higher value than land generally
is in agricultural districts. The next bill is to
enable the London and North-Western Railway,
Company to construct a railway from near Tring to Ox-
ford, with a branch at Oxford, and for other purposes.
Now, gentleman, this is one of the projects the pro-
priety of which was rather disputed by many gentlemen,
who thought the district through which it is proposed•te
be carried an unprofitable one for a railway. But allow
me to say there are other considerations connected with
this, and which, I think, will satisfy you that the line is,
at this moment, considering what passed in the House
of Commons, one of the most important brought for-
ward for your consideration. There was the Mid-
Western line projected by a separate company, and it
was to form a continuous line, I may say, with the Ox-
ford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, into the
South Wales district. That scheme was considered for
many days by a committee of the House of Commons,
and they decided unanimously, I believe, that our line
was the preferable one. (Hear.) I dare say that one
of the considerations which induced them to come to
their decision was the larger amount of capital required
for the proposed Mid-Western line. The committee
expressly stated that they thought it most desirable that
a narrow-gauge communication between the South
Wales district and London should be carried out by this
projected extension from Tring to O xford. I think this
is a most satisfactory conclusion for us—(hear)—and the
committee were satisfied that this line would afford not
only the best through communication, but that it would
also give the largest amount of local accommodation in
that district of country. lam afraid that some of the
landed proprietors of the district are disappointed at
the loss of the Mid-Western project, but I think the
line of country is so completely within our system that
you will at some future time give your sanction to
provide for the whole of the accommodation proposed
to be given by the Mid-Western scheme, for I am
satisfied it will entirely answer all our purposes and
be remunerative. We •cannot expect that any por-
tion of the district should remain satisfied without
having the railway accommodation required, and I- think
the affording such accommodation to all the great towns
in England is in some degree a question of time. I my-
self fully anticipate that, at some future day, the whole
of England will be a network of railways, so that there
will be hardly a town without railway conveniences.
The length of the Tring and Oxford line is 31 miles, and
the estimated outlay is 400,0001. ; but we have reason
to believe that this is rather an excessive estimate, and I
think the revised estimate will give it at about 381,0001.,
for which the works will be completed.

It was here suggested that the chairman should put
to the sanction of the shareholders each bill immediately
after he had made his observations upon its object.
The CHAIRMAN said he was anxious to carry out the
wishes of the proprietors, and at once put the bills for
the branch to connect the Buckinghamshire and Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railways, and for the
Tring and Oxford line.
The bills were unanimously approved of.
The CHAIRMAN said—The next bill is one to enable
the London and North-Western Railway Company to
construct a branch railway to St. Alban's, and for other
purposes. I think the object of this bill was explained
to you at the last meeting. It is for a short branch
which will be a considerable feeder to our main line. St.
Alban's is placed in rather a peculiarposition with refer-
ence to its being a certain distance from the Great
Northern Railway. If we do not accommodate the in-
habitants they will obtain it from another company ; and
although I do not wish to express any great jealousy at
the increase of traffic upon other lines, I must yet ob-
serve that we are necessitated to give accomodation in
districts which legitimately belong to our system of
railways. I think the projected branch will be bene•
ficial to us. The length is eight miles, and the esti-

mated cost 70,000/., and I have no doubt it will be com-
pleted within the estimate. The Amershim branch which
was included in this bill when I last had tlie'pleasure
of meeting you, has not been granted by the committee
of the House of. Commons.

A PROPRIETOR.—What was the original estimate
under this bill ?

The CHAIRMAN.—It was 152,0001. for the whole of
the project.
The bill was unanimously approved of.
The CHAIRMAN.—The next bill which I have to intro-
duce to your notice is to enable the London and North-
Western Railway Company to construct a railway from
Northampton to Market Harborough, with a branch
therefrom, and for other purposes. I dare say it may
be in the recollection of some of the proprietors of this
company, that there was in the year 1846 a scheme
called the South Midland carried through the House of
Commons. The project before you is a portion of that
line. The Midland Counties have the other portion of
the line, viz., the, portion from Market Harborough to
Leicester. Therefore, if it was desirable in the year
1846 that this system of railways should be constructed
throughout the country, the thing is just in the same
position as it was then, except that we have the country
from Northampton to Harborough, and the Midland
Counties from Leicester to Harborough, [II have •no
doubt as to the remuneration for the expenditure to be
incurred for the construction of the proposed works. It
is almost impossible for anybody to calculate what may
be the result of opening out the resources of a new dis-
trict by means of railway accommodation. We are told
there will be a large mineral traffic through the district,
and I think there will be enough to pay the interest of
the money to be expended for the construction of the
proposed works ; but it is also one of those lines very
much demanded by local parties ; and in'our position I
do not think we should be justified, if there were even to
be a slight loss to the company, in refusing to give the
accommodation required by the local parties in these
districts. The line is 18 miles long, and the •estimated
cost 250,0001.

Considerable opposition was offered to this bill, and
Mr. PUNCHER moved that it be not approved of.
The motion having been seconded, was put to the
vote, when there were for the approval of the bill, 46
hands held up, and against it 22. •
A poll was demanded, and
Mr. PUNCHER asked if the board was unanimous in
recommending this bill to the shareholders for adoption.
The CHAIRMAN answered in the affirmative, and Mr.
Puncher withdrew his opposition.
The bill was then unanimously approved of.

The CHAIRMAN—The next bill iito enable the London
and North-Western Company to construct, branches to
Stour bridge, and to .form a junction with the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, in the town-
ship of Upper Swinford, in the county of Worcester, and
for other purposes. NoW, gentlemen, I explained to
you at our last meeting that this is a short line, eight
miles and a. half in length, and that it will be a very ex-
pensive one to make. The estimated cost is 300,0001.,
or 33,0001. per mile ; but we have already been in the
country, and know the difficulties we shall have to con-
tend with. We have had experience in the construction
of the Stour Valley Railway, running through the dis-
trict ; and I have not a doubt that the line will pay the
proprietors a handsome profit. This bill his passed the
House of Commons, not in the manner in which we
hoped and proposed that it should do. The committee
of the House of Commons have thought it right to give
what they call facility clauses to the Oxford, Worcester,
and Wolverhampton Company, which means that they
may have the power of carrying their traffic over this
line and the Stour Valley Railway ; that is, to force us
to carry their traffic on the Stour Valley line to Bir-
mingham, and make use of our station. We do not
think that we can agree to this, and I cannot think
that the House of Lords will agree to the clauses.
There has been a very great discussion in the committees
of the House of 'Commons as to running powers, and
there have been various proposals of other descriptions to
meet, not the views of parties, but to give facilities for
carrying the traffic through upon the different lines of
the country. Now, I think these facility , clauses are
more objectionable than the running powers asked for by
other companies. It would be a large business to dis-
cuss that question now, and, in point of fact, it would
require a person to have paid a great deal of attention
to the subject to enable him to explain it to you pro-
perly ; 'but you can perfectly understand that it would
be much against the interests of our company to carry
traffic at tolls to be fixed by other companies, and I am
not prepared to say we shall go on with this bill if the
House of Lords allow these claims to be retained in it.
If, on the Contrary, they strike them out, we shall then
have the bill as presented to the House of Commons,
and the line will be, I believe, a very remunerative one
to our system of railways in that part of the country.
The bill was unanimously approved of.

The CHAIRDLAN—The next bill is to enable the London
and North-Western Railway Company to construct a
railway from near Wellington to Coalbrookdale and
Ironbridge, with a branch to the Hadley station of the
Shropshire Union Railway, and for other purposes.
This was proposed to be, and it was thought very desir-
able that it should be, in connection with our Shropshire
line. We had a right to suppose that it would be a pro-
fitable line, as there were a great many parties in the
field contending for it, but the committee of the House
of Commons have rejected our bill, and have granted it
in, I believe a sort of mutilated state. Tart of the new
line has been given to the Severn Valley Railway Com-
pany. I believe it has been given in such a shape that
neither company will be grateful to the committee
for what it has received ; and whether the line will
be made or hot Ido not know. The estimated expense
was 160,0001. The next bill is for enabling the London
and North-Western Railway Company to construct a
railivay from Crewe to Shrewsbury, and other works
in connection with their undertaking, and for other pur-
poses relating thereto. This is for a line from Crewe
to Shrewsbury, 33 miles long, and the estimated expense
of which is 350,000/. It will be made at a very cheap
rate-10, 6001. per mile. It will be of easy construc-
tion, and be made, I think, within the estimated cost.
This would appear to be a competing line with the
Cheshire and Lancashire. In projecting this line we
have not had any intention to interfere with that com-
pany, or of loosening the ties of friendship that bind
us together. We are still on terms of friendship with
that company, and hope we shall remain so. The pro-
posed line is in the centre of our system, and it is abso-
lutely for the purpose of carrying the Lancashire and
Yorksl}ire manufactures down into South Wales, and
vice versa bringing the mineral products of South Wales
into Lancashire and Yorkshire. I think it will be a
useful line, and will pay the expense of making it.
The bill was unanimously approved of.

The CHAIRMAN—These are all the bills that involve
any expenditure of capital, or any outlay of money, on
our parts ; and the whole amount required to complete
the projected lines is 1,417,0001. The next upon the
list is a bill for conferring additional powers on the
London and North-Western Railw.ay Company, with
reference to the construction of their Oldham branch,
and for making an alteration in such branch, and for
other purposes. The matter was explained to you at
the last meeting as an old project which we are obliged
to make.

The.bill was unanimously approved of.
The CHAIRMAN—The next bill is for making a railway
from the Loudon and North-Western Railway at Wil-
lesden to the East and West India Docks and Birming-
ham Junction Railway, with a branch to the North and
South-Western Junction Railway, to be called the
North and South-Western Hampstead and City Junc-
tion Railway, and for other purposes. This is a bill
promoted by independent parties, the capital is 250,000/.,
and we apply for power to subscribe 150,0001. to it—
permissive power.
This bill was also unanimously approved of.
The CHAIRMAN said, the next bill& for making a rail-
way from Worcester to Hereford, with certain branches
therefroin ; for making arrangements with the Midland
and London and North-Western Railways, and for other
purposes. This is a very important line. We do not
subscribe any capital to it, but still have permissive
power to do so. I repeat that this is a very important
line for the completion of the narrow gauge system in
that part of the country. There have been discussions,
of great length, before the House of Commons, on the
question of the mixed gauge. The committee rejected
the project of the Great Western, and Oxford, Worces-
ter, and Wolverhampton Companies, and unanimously
objected to the extension of the mixed gauge. I think
the question one of the most important of those that
have been discussed before the committees, in reference
to the railway system of the country, and that we should
congratulate ourselves on the result of the inquiry. I
think the mixed gauge impracticable, and if you remeii;
ber I told you at the last meeting I hoped and trusted
that the broad gauge would never be intermixed With
the narrow gauge to Liverpool. We have to congratu-
late ourselves also on the rejection of the Great Western
bills in reference to the Shrewsbury line, and I trust
that Parliament will have the good sense not to allow
the broad gauge to be extended, notwithstanding the
expectation of the Chairman of the Great Western, who
speaks of its extension to Liverpool. I feel that the
more the broad gauge is permitted to be extended the
more difficult will it .be to reconcile those conflicting
railway differences with which it is connected ; and I
cannot indeed hope, so long as the broad gauge is
allowed to intrude itself into the districts served by our
system of railways, to see an end to conflicts that have'
been so embarrassing to us: •
The clause affecting the London and North-Western.
Railway Company was then read, and the bill unani-
mously approved of.
The CHAIRMAN—The next bill is for making a railway
from the London and North-Western Railway, in the
parish of Milverton, in the county of Warwick, to Strat-
ford-upon-Avon, in the same county, with branches, to
be called the Leamington,Warwick, and Stratford-upon-
Avon Railway. We do not subscribe any of the capital
required for this project, but it is in connection with our
system, and we are therefore obliged to ask the consent
of the proprietors to do it. •
The bill was unanimously approved of..
The CitAißmAN—There is one more 'resolution which
I shall have to submit to you. He then proposed a re-
solution approving of a bill.to enable 'the London and
North-Western Company to hold certain lands and
buildings near the Haydon-square Station on the Black-
wall Railway.
The resolution was carried nem. con.

• A cordial vote of thanks was given to the chairman
and directors of the company, for the zeal and ability
with which they have promoted the interests of the un-
dertaking. •
The CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, expressed the
regret he felt at his approaching disconnection with the
company. In a short time he would be far away in
another country; but wherever he might be, he should
always feel the greatest interest in the prosperity of the
company. He paid a warm tribute of praise to the able
services rendered to the undertaking by the general
manager, the secretary, and solicitors of the company,

and thanked the shareholders for he confidence they
had reposed in him.
The meeting then broke up.

YORK, NEWCASTLE, AND BERWICK
RAILWAY.

YORK, SATURDAY.

A special general meeting of this company was held
here to-day—Mr. Pulleine, chairman of the company,
presiding. -The object was to consider a scheme for in-
corporating•the Bedale and Leyburn Railway Company,
working their line, &c.

The CHAIRMAN moved a resolution expressive of ap-
proval on the part of the meeting of the bill, and it was
carried unanimously.

WEST LONDON.

On Saturday a special meeting of this company took
place at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-s treet, to con-
firm the terms of an arrangement agreed upon between
the directors and the London and North-Western Com-
pany, by which the latter were to take the line of the
West London Railway at a fixed price or annual rental,
and also to purchase the Kensington Canal and any
other property belonging to that company—Mr. Bird in
the chair. It was agreed that an application should be
made to Parliament for a bill to sanction the proposed
arrangement, and a resolution confirming the same was
proposed by Mr. Lovelace, and seconded by Mr. Cam-
pion, and unanimously adopted.
•
The meeting then separated.