The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-01 00:00:00

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SUSPENSION of RAI IL
WAI
MANCHESTER, THURSDAY.— I his aftitimot .
compliance with a requisition to the MayoWligillicbMaN-
, by 300 persons and firms, consi-ting of the principal
bankers, merchants, manufacturers, and sharebrokere,
a public meeting was held at the Town-hall, in King-
street, to take into consideration the present extent of
railway ex; enditure, it being the opinion of the re-
quisitionists that the mercantile affairs of the country
hare been seriously deranged by the heavy calls made
for railway purposes, thereby rendering it expedient
that bankers, merchants, traders, and others interested
should consider any and what steps can be taken to
limit the drain thus created and occasioned upon the
floating capital of the nation, so as to diminish the
pressure so injuriously affecting- the trade of the dis-
trict and country generally.
The large room of the Town-hall, calculated to ac-
commodate between 1,000 and 2,000, was filled by
about half-past eleven o'clock, at which hour the
Mayor, Mr. E. Armitage, took the chair. On the
platform we observed Mr. J. B. Smith, M.P. f,r
Stirling; Mr. Alderman Bancroft, Mr. Ahierrn;n
Kershaw, Mr. Alderman Shuttle..vorrh, Mr. G.
Grounds, chairman of the West London Railway,
Mr. Rawson, a director of different Lanca,Llre rail-
ways, and the following large manufai.eurers—Mr.
T. Bazeley, Mr. L. Wiliyams, Mr. Johnson, chair-
man of the Manchester Stock Exchange, Mr. D.
:'rice, Mr. Greig, Mr. Metcalfe, and the representa-
tives of numerous other firms.
Before the proceedings commenced the entrance of
a body of Chartists excited some observation, hilt
they tool; no part in the proceedings, and offered no
obstruction.

Mr. T. BiZELEY, a large cotton manufacturer, of
the firm of Bazeley and Brothers, proposed the first
resolution, to the effect that, " owing to the failure • f
the potato crop, and the general deficiency of our
harvest in 1846, causing an extreme drain upon our
resources fur the purchase of food from other coun-
tries, our available capital is insufficient to carry on
the necessary business of the country, and to meet the
demands now being made upon it fur railway pur-
poses." Though he had been allured, like many
others, by the temptation of making investments in
railways, he had never, excepting in the capacity of
an executor end trustee, possessed a single railway
share ; and it might, therefere, fairly be presumed
that he had no sinister or self-interested motive
in coming forward on the present occasion.—
(Loud applause.) Though not identified with the
railway movement he was not insensible to the dis-
tresses it was inflicting on the mercantile communities
of this country, in conjunction with the various cir-
cumstances that had led to the present embarrassed
state of things ; for though railway evils stood pro-
minently forward, he did not think that they were
justified in exclusively confining the injuries they
were sustaining, and the losses they had experienced,
entirely to railway operations and investment.—
(llear.) Unquestionably the deficient harvest of
1846 was the primary cause of their inability to em
ploy capital in two directions. They could not em-
ploy their capital in making purchases of foreign food
for the people, and at the same time invest it in rail-
ways.—(Hear, hear.) The great evil they contended
with was the necessity of transfixing capital—taking
it from a floating to a permanently fixed and invested
purpose. The failure of the harvest accelerated the
necessity of withdrawing floating capital from the
general manufactures and commerce of the coun-
try, and capital at. the same time was lately
called for by the railway directors to invest it
in the- various projects then before the coun-
try. He could not omit calling attention to
the proceedings of public journals and public
bodies in reference to the conduct of railway di-
rectors and proprietors during the last two years.
The editor of the Times had done himself great
honour, and the country great service, by treating
the subject as it had, by its constant and unqualified
condemnation of wild, speculative, and ill-digested
schemes. The public press generally had warned
them that they were about to fall into a national di-
lemma, and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
prophetically, a year and a half ago, petitioned the
House of Commons to take the whole subject into
consideration ; but this was attended by no result.
They afterwards, in July, 1846, petitioned the Board
of Trade, stating, " That, considering Parliament had
granted Railway Bills throughout the session without
reference to the aggregate amount of capital which
they thereby authorised the directors to collect, and
which could not be so collected by individual agency,
transfer
t frola t t
from
a floating ,)a
ticoas
gl
to Parliament
afi x,d
capitalla
is
as
na nacctoioonued
amount
which it is impossible for the country to supply,--
believing that in many of the projects, the Bills for
which if pushed to completion could not be carried
out, the subscribers to them would now be most
gladly relieved of responsibility, and foreseeing great
misery and loss of employment in the manufac-
turing districts, your memorialists earnestly pray
before the session expires that your Lordships may
cause some general measure to he proposed which
may apply to all bills passed, which may have the
effect of fully testing the power of subscribers to each
individual project to carry out the object proposed,
which shall grant facilities to companies to dissolve
themselves, and which may in every case limit the
power of the directors to make calls, under such pro-
visions as your Lordships may consider the least pre-
judicial to the general interest or within the probable
power of the country to supply." Had this judicious
advice of the directors of the Chamber been acted on,
the country would have been saved much misery and
incalculable loss.—(Applause.) They might, how-
ever, by an expression of public opinion, induce the
directors of railway companies not to expend capital
to an inconvenient amount. It might be unwise,
probably, totally to suspend operations connected with
the extension of some particular lines, or it might be
unwise to suspend all operations in connexien with
new lines, for there would he thrown out of employ-
ment such a mass of physical power that, in all pro-
bability, the peace of the country might be disturbed,
and in having to contend with one evil we should
take care to avoid raising another by too suddenly
suspending operations in connexion with the evil their
were new contending with.—(Applause.) The Legisla-
ture, he apprehended, would not interfere with the
Acts that had already been granted, but the rectifying
principle of public opinion should be called into ex-
ercise, for the purpose of mitigating the evil.--
(Hear.) Railway proprietors, like all other people,
naturally pursued their own interest, and he believed
it would be exceedingly difficult to obtain pledges
from any directors to cease their operations. Like
other men of business, they would follow their own
interest and ideas—ideas, he feared, very frequently
crudely conceived, and prejudicial alike to the pro-
prietors and the public.—(Hear, hear.) He per-
ceived in one of the Manchester papers that during
the present year the outlays on fifty principal rail-
ways had amounted to 13,000,0001., and it was found
by computing the total market value of these fifty
' lines from the commencement of the present year to
the present period that they stood at a less marketable
value by 15,000,000/. sterling, even after the addi-
tion to their capital of 13,000,0001. sterling.—(llear,
hear.) Here was a glaring deficiency of 28,000,0001.
sterling—a sum that might as well have been sunk
in the sea as employed in a manner so prejudicial
to the community.—(Applause.) If railway pro.
prietors did not see that by paying further calls they
were depreciating their own property, they must
be totally without the comprehension of men of
business. The meeting of this day would have an
effect on many well-intending directors and pro-
prietors. He believed that, as a body, they were ex-
ceedingly anxious to consult the public on the sub-
ject, and when public opinion was unmistakably
expressed, a salutary influence would be effected.—
(Applause.) These works ought to be curtailed.
They could not have capital to carry on large indus-
trial operations connected with manufactures and
commerce, and at the same time have precisely the,
es.„a reel ineestca :le
until this common sense idea was acted on, they
would continue to be seriously inconvenienced. Ths
feelingsdnt 1.1( not
that
w`
leading t i)hei o.
so
hnu
o rthat'oihtr hte
ah°dneu.ie, •
existing state of things could
id,
h
lcouldeairn.gnAottol
dceionrnentrleeatannspeilidaEtdeßi
dread.—(Loud applaussfliNeiNi..e)iAut
sueast
e
having made engagements with railway
not possess a single share, he yet sympathigsed with
those who,
companies, now found them to be oppressive. Al.
was‘h%aidt h
ab
ourec o
wordten commercial
becoming
se
armyq
aas
against
successni ps to r
at a ; npa trn
one,anent
da pshrocuotdnheonnuetcgethextd:
must admit that the railway traffic of this country
proper
eenmro
tension of railways —( Applause.) But,owing to a de.
ficient harvest, the drain on the national resources had
been such that they could no longer carry on the bu-
siness of the country and pay their railwat
calls; and the question therefore was, whethe•
the commercial engag:eeinents and manufacturin
projects of the nation were to give place t
these immense demands.—(Cheers.) Railway call
might be suspended without any large measure (
inconvenience to the country, but their manufacture
and commerce could not be perplexed by the grey
monetary matters connected with them without tb
entire nation, rich and poor, participating in the di,
astrons consequences.—(Applause.) What was th
effect of it? What was the price of money ? Wht
the difficulty of obtaining money to carry on commer
cial operations? What were they to think of tt
failures that were literally stunning them day by dai
They naturally asked what would be the end of then
things, and as reasonable and wise men he trusted a
parties would unite in devising a mode for protectin
the interests of each.—(Applause.) Directors migl
continue to make calls, but he could not see how tlx
were to be met ; but if they were met, it was only ;
pay a large amount of mein for railway purpose
with the absolute certainty of reducing railway pri
perty to the extent of these payments. The measur
which they now asked railway directors and propri,
tors to talioi wore equally ciA-sclucive to their own is