The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-11 00:00:00

there was anything in the report by which irnprovemeata
in the construction of the line might be adopted, the Coin-
piny would of course avail themselves of it. They had.
before them the experiments which had been tried in va-
rious parts of the kingdom upon Railways, and however im-
portant. those of Mr. Wood might be, they could not be
more so than those which had been already tried on

the "'various great Railways throughout the country;
where a constant and enormous outlay was required.
—(Hear, hear.) He anticipated next to nothing from
any future reports, but it was right of the Directors to re-
ceive them, and to avail themselves of any improvements
which they might suggest. Every thin.- which could con-
duce to the superiority of their grand experimental line
should be adopted. They bad commenced upon a system
which, the more he viewed it, the. more be considered it
marked by prospects of wisdom. When they had met in
that room a few years ago,. he told them, that if they did
not establish a Railway, they would allow Liverpool to
carry away all their traffic, and if there was any thing to
v,:hich Bristol owed its renovated spirit, it was to that
Railway. He and the other inhabitants of Bristol were as
deeply and zealously interested in its success, as the gen-
tlemen from the North. The Directors were placed in an
extremely awkward position arising from the attacks
that had been made upon them on all sides, and it
was time now to allow them to go on calmly with the
works, the progress of which had been suspended. He ap-
pealed to the gentlimea from the North as men who kid
the interests of the Company at heart, and who, he
believed, were consciously concerned in its success, to pass
the report, and give the Directors an opportunity of
proceeding efficiently with the works. He had resisted the
appointment of a Committee on the last occasion because
he would not devolve upon any set of men the responsibility,
which was that of every individual Proprietor.(Hear,
hear.) He had come to the conclusion that the broad.
gage on the continuous timber bearings were the two gnat
principles of their line, and should not be deviated from.
Notwithstanding some scientific engineers had objected
to the plan, it was the one which must eventually
be adopted on all great railways which had any re-
earl for prospective improvement and increased speed.
—(Loud cheering.) Since the last meeting he had himself
travelled upon the Great Western line, and he knew of no
Railway which could compare with it in precision of move-
ment. He sat with his eye bearing upon the edge of the
window rail, and be had found the motion perfectly
p nagel, nod presenting the appearance of a single line of
silver.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) Another gentleman
who had travelled by the Railway had read standing up,
with the greatest ease. Dr. Carpenter then alluded to the
difficulty of throwing the carriages off the line, which lie
contended could not be done unlss by design, thereby en-
suring the greatest possible security to passengers.. He had
,io objection to any experiment being tried, by which irn-
p7ovements might be effected. Mr. Brunel wns not wedded
ti his tys cm, and provided f ey Ali, re Ito the broad gag.,
and the t rifer beirin.s, they might adopt auymodifications
they thought proper. The Directorshad very properly availed
themselves of all the improvements which experience suggest-
ed, and had conferred a lasting benefit upon the Shareholders
and the public at large. With these views, he could not
Iresitatc to recommend the adoption of the report which

:-Pid been suspended at the last meeting, but it ought to be
cle,.rly understood that they did not pledge, themselves to
ny thing for the future. Such being his convictions, he
liad no hesitation in proposing that the report of the Direc-
tors presented at the half yearly meeting on the 15th of
August last be now received and adopted.
Mr. CASTLE entirely concurred in the sentiments of the
last speaker. It was impossible in any new undertaking to
expect perfection at once. There was no doubt that the
continuous timber bearers gave greater ease and safety in
travelling, and he had been informed by a gentleman who
travelled upon the part of the Lonilon and Birmingham
line recently opened, that it was so dreadfully rough he
could hardly keep his seat.—(Laughter, and hear, hear.)
lie was aware that the Great Western line was in a simi-
lar state when first opened, but no line could compete with
it for smoothness and comfort since the repairs had been
effected. Complaints had been made that the estimates
had been nearly doubled, and that the .`2l- millions had
been raised to 4,730,0001.; but they ought to recollect that
the L3mlon and Birmingham line had already cost 5,000,000/.
,:nd it was generally anticipated that another half million
would be required. If a line which was shorter by five
miles cost 750,000/. more than theirs, they really could not
coinpki;n of the expense of the Great Western line. For
these reasons he cordially seconded the motion of Dr, Car-

penter.
Mr. HEYWORTLI felt the position in which he was placed
at the prescnt moment a most onerous one ; hut he was
hound to do his duty to a great number of Shareholders.
ills course was the more painful, because a special meeting
had been proposed to take the reports of Mr. Wood and
Mr. Hawkshawe into consideration. He was bound to say,
irom what he knew of the report, that, if it had been read
:o the meeting, the Proprlotors would not have hesitated
to adjourn again. He was obliged to refer to the report of
expenditure as given by Mr. Brun& and also to
the report itself, in which he stated his views and
rrinciplcs of action. Several items of expenditure as
contrasted with other lines, appeared very great. For in-
stance, is the engineering and surveyiag .d-parttnent ; and
before he commented on the items, he would surmise that
it had ham often said that the engineering department was
very def,ctively fulfilled, not by the head engineer, but
from the want of assistants. It fo!lowed, that having a
smaller number they should not have been burdened with a
larLer amount of cots. Tile whole amount expended on
the London and Birmingham line, up to its completion, was
81,000/. for engineering. The same item on the Grand
Junction Railway, where they had for a time two most
cm neat engineers, was 24,0004, while on the Great Wes-
t-cit.' :ine, where only one-half their capital was expended,
and only one-fifth of the work completed—(Cries of" No")
—the same item was 61,000/. which would give. 122,000/.
for the entire, aganst 81,000/. for the London and Bir-
mingham, and 24,0001. for the Grand Junction. He did
not want to cast any stigma on the Directors, but they had
not the practical experience of the Northern gentlemen,
,nd they could not be supposed to be able to control the
engineer in his operations. On these grounds he was in-
.

elined to move in amendment on the motion of Dr. Car-
pe..ter. Other amounts were equally exorbitant. For
thee expenses London and Birmingham charge was 34,0001.,
the Grand Junction was 7,6001., and the Great Western,
up to the .30th of June, was 19,0001. He called on the
Pioprietors to look at these items ; and if such charges
have been made on these matters, how great must
have been the expense unnecessarily incurred on the
great works of the line.—(Hear, hear.) He would
again repeat that he did not mean to cast any reflection
on the Directors, but he was not surprised that
eh an enormous expense should have been incurred, when

he looked at the sentiments expressed by their engineer.
fie knew nothing of Mr. Brunel but as a gentleman who
had been lately brought forward as an eminent engineer,
hut he would read to them a passage to show that under
his direction there would be no limit to the amount of ex-
penditurel7—" In the tunnels exists the greatest difference.
On the London and Birmingham Railway, which I refer
to as being the best and most analogous case to that of the
Great Western Railway, the tunnels are 24 feet wide. On
the Great Western Railway the constant width of 30 feet
is maintained, more with a %leis of diminishing the objec-
tions to tunnels, and maintaining the same minimum space
which hereafter may form a limit to the size and form of
everything carried on the Railway, than from such a width

being absolutely necessary." Now, if they had an
experienced engineer, he would have known what
was absolutely necessary, and he would have limited
his amount to that. If such a course of pro-
ccedin; was carried on, their Railway might as well cost ten
unAlions as five millions But that was not an isolated
ease, the whole report bore the same character. They
were nil aware the nearer the gradient approximated to
a horizontal level, the more complete the Railway would
be. That was his opinion, but there was one point at
which when they arrived—say, 1 in .528, all additional ex-
pense would be, as regarded the.Shareholders'money,thrown
away. Gentlemen placed their property in the hands of
an engineer, trusting that not a farthing would be ex-
pended beyond what was necessary to bring in an income.
Mr. Brunel had not followed up that system in the econo-
mical way a man of business ought, and it appeared that
the Directors themselves were inoculated with his vievvsr.
Under these circumstances he was compelled to come for-
ward most reluctantly, and move an amendment. He trz!,
ready to afford the greatest latitude to Mr. Brunel, and it
1: in a
was not until the matter had been presented t0._0.m.: t_
palpable manner that he had seen the
them by
bly"
which their engineer bad involved them I,
He would
settin; at nought all principles of ecottom
wYc.re two lines
new refer to the Kyanizing, and the re
_
with which he could contrast
it
andc the
_
Birmingham and Glou,es..
tcr,w• _
' hsictB
hi The Manchester,
Bolton, and Bury one, which co
cO/. 0 u
Idperbemillee't
by
Great Western cost 607/.
per mile. He would
tract for 3201. a-mile,
wh:veo theo
to the formation of tanks,
premising that one
n
e of those lines was 10 miles long, and
the other 23.
the Bristol and Gloucester the gross
amount for tanks was 1,5251•, while the Great Western
cost 12,000/• He asked, under these circumstances,
was not justified in the course he had adopted ?
h'tem was the formation of the permanent way
c
•ch en the 80l yton and Bur cost 5,2801., and on the
whether er he
`shit
Great Western 10,200/., being nearly double the amount.
Ile would not offer any further observations, except to ask
Mr. Brunel one question, with respect to a paragraph
The difference in the quantity of land required is under
half an acre to a mite. On the whole the increased dimensions
10 feet to 12 will not cause any average increased
expense in the construction of the' works, and purchase of
land, of above 7 per cent.-8 per cent. baying originally