The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-05 00:00:00

GROUP LI.

CALEDONIAN RAILWAY AND BRANCHES.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)

The formal proofs were then put in.

The Caledonian estimates were—

The Canobie branch ...... £106,8'4 9 2
The Langholm branch
16,505 19 0
The connecting branches near Longtown 15,714 7 6
8,428 10 0
7,143 0 0

Total £268,100 2 0
Being for a distance of 18 miles, 6 furlongs, and WA chains.
The branch from Arckdyke to Longtown £ 51,169 12 11
Annan branch 111,539 7 .6
Kelhead branch 22,020 17 6

Showing for the last branches a total 0f..... £133,560 5 0
The Dalmakedder branch . ..... 132,758 11 1

Or a total for these of £585,588 11 0
The Longtown and Milton
Stations, &c

Grand total 0f...... .. ... £850,000 0 0
This would give between 15,0001. and 16,0001. as the cost
per mile.
Cross-examined by Mr. BtrxxE—Taking the Brampton
Branch throughout he did net think there was any great
difference in point of gradient. The "step" at Brampton
was six chains, which would be of advantage in starting the
train. He could not surmount a gradient of one in sixty-
three with the same ease as one in seventy-five, all other
things being equal. The branch contemplated by the
Nithsdale Company effected a junction with the Caledonian,
and would meet no stoppage in the through traffic with
Ireland and the west of Scotland. The Dumfries
or Nithsdale Company would require only to construct the
same amount of railway as the Caledonian, in order to ac-
as_o_ would
bt
he
ac-
commodate Canobie, Longtown, and Brampton. Longtown
eeqcuaailedlyoancicarmloideateexdpboyottehde Dumfries
oCcomanpoahniye
had communiiiicap.,lrsefwu
ilthfotrhecorokeuikneg.
c ill would be
of The
Buo o
iCe
oa Caledonian
oni
uponsn
the subject.
prefer the North (:race, for some reason or other, seemed to
projected by the Caledoniansschemes. The Brampton branch,
pets with the branch w Company, was intended to coin-
He had no hesitation in cured by the Nithsdale Company.
Hey
the Cameaux—licaultng it a defensive measure.
branch, he should never l':a°vtelle; company had laid out the
to do so. The only stipulation the:onrnended his company
Lancaster and Carlisle was to secure
Caledonian had with the
mile. The Caledonian Company had equal rates, mile Per
present before the Commons for the unopposed Bill at
purpose of accommo-
dating the ; mineral traffic of the districtsaround
Lesmahaew, Lanark, and Hamilton, by givingthe
a communication with Glasgow. He could not say that this
would preclude all opposition in that country. .The Clyde,.
dale Junction was purchased by the Caledoniau Company.

In fact, it formed part of their original scheme, although
from difficulties in the money market it had been completed
by another company. The Garnkirk Railway was also u p r -
chased by the Caledonian. These railways were necessary
for the development of the traffic, and the Caledonian Rail-
way guaranteed the Clydesdale 6 per cent. and the Garnkirk,
what they had been already dividing. He did not know
whether that was 8 per cent. However profitable these
schemes might be to the holders in these companies, he did
not know that they were so profitable to the Caledonian. He
did not know that the Caledonian were trying to get possessed
of tho Wilsontown and Morningside Railway.
The CHainaLlN said that he did not see how this course
of examination bore upon the subject before the Committee.
Mr. BußKE—Only in so far as it showed that this com-
pany, which cried out "poverty," was:in fact trying to pos-
sess itself of the whole country.
Examination continued—He believed there was an agree-
ment entered into with the Wishaw 'and Celtness and the
Barrhead Railway. The latter might be made a corn•
peting line with the Glasgow and Ayr, but he
understood that the negotiations necessary for the comple-
tion of this system were broken off. The Caledonian had
become possessed of the Glasgow and Greenock and the
Polioc and Govan Railways. The precise object, as he un-
derstood, which the Caledonian had in view in asking for
the branch from Springfield to Annan, was to prevent com-
petition, which could lead to no good, to disembarrass their
Carlisle station, and to receive a fair portion of the profits on
what was properly a portion of their own line. He thought
that the Dumfries Company might enter themselves as a
competing line with the Caledonian by giving an in-
creased speed of perhaps five miles an hour, which
would, in the whole distance from Glasgow to Car-
lisle, counterbalance the advantage which the Caledo-
nian Company held of the shorter line (24 miles). He did
not think this increased speed would be of advantage to the
public. Unless some protection were afforded to the Caledo-
nian, he thought the Dumfries Company (still preserving
this difference of 24 miles) could afford a communication
from Glasgow' to London by Thirsk and York, of equal dis-
tance with the Caledonian, the Lancaster and Carlisle, and
the London and North-Western, to and from the same points.
The London and North-Western, the Lancaster and the
Carlisle, and the Caledonian, were on amicable terms,
and he believed that there was some arrangement
concluded for leasing the Scottish Central and the Dundee
and Perth Railways. The London and North-Western Rail-
way would be interested so far that they could then ran their
carriages, without any necessity for changing, from London
to Forfar in Scotland. He understood that the London and
North-Western guaranteed the Scottish Central 7 per cent.,
provided the local traffic would repay that; and, therefore,
they were interested in preserving the traffic in the channel
which would best remunerate them.
By Mr. PATON, on the part of the North British Com-
pany—Mr. Locke in laving out the scheme proposed to go
round by Annan, instead of proceeding directly from Carlisle
to Lockerby, as was afterwards done in conformity with the
wishes of the Commissioners. At that time it was not pro-
posed to go to Edinburgh. He did not know that a por-
tion of the, North British was granted before the Caledo-
nian came forward. In 1845 there came before Parliament
a scheme for extending the North British from Edinburgh to
Carlisle by Hawick, and the Caledonian in the same year
brought forward their schemes in opposition. He knew that
there was no railway communication at present existing be-
tween Hawick and Carlisle, but he did not therefore propose
that a person who desired to reach Carlisle should
travel back to Edinburgh, there take the Caledonian line
and so proceed to Carlisle, or that he should take the East
Coast from Edinburgh to Newcastle, and so to Carlisle.
What he did propose was that the traveller should take the
coach over the barren district between Ilawich and
Langholm (which would support no other communication),
and there take the Caledonian branch to Carlisle.
Mr. AUSTIN, for the Duke of Buccleuch, was proceeding to
question the witness, when
The CHAIRMAN intimated that the Committee had deter-
mined at the outset to allow no cross-examination by a
Counsel who had not been present at the examination in
chief
Mr. LMDELL in consequence asked the questions. The line
between Canobie and Langholm proceeded through the
Valley of the Esk, and included within its limits of deviation
Johnnie Armstrong's tower of Gilnockie. The Caledonian
Company had no design of any kind upon Johnnie Arm-
strong's tower.—(Laughter.) The valley in question was
pre-eminent for its romantic beauty. He did not know that
the Duke opposed them because he thought that they de-
stroyed the beauty of the valley. He did not know that the
North British had changed the course of their line in defe-
rence to the opinion of his Grace, but it might be, as they
certainly had not chosen the best line.
Re-examined by Mr. Sergeant WRANGHAM.
Mr. TOLLEMACHE thought the same objection which had
been urged against Mr. Austin applied equally to Mr. Ser-
geant Wrangham. He was not present during the exami-
nation in chief.
The Learned Sergeant was, however, permitted to pro-
ceed,
The CHAIRMAN intimating at the same time that in con-
sequence of the absence of leading counsel on both sides, the
time of the Committee had been, in a great measure, thrown
away. Mr. Errington's evidence might, he thought, have
been compressed into the first ten minutes.
The further evidence was merely confirmatory of the
examination in chief. _

The Committee then adjourned till to-morrow.

COMMITTEE on PRIVATE BILLS,

LIVERPOOL WATERWORKS.

The Committee met this morning', Sir J. Johnstone in the
&ask, when Mr. Hawkesley's examination was resumed on
the general principles of hydraulics, and the way in which
they were likely to operate in the supply of Liverpool with
water from the natural,reservoirs of the town in the upland
districts.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
ROLL S COURT, May 4.

ANDREWS r. BOUSFIELD.
His LORDSEUP decided against the defendant, and
decreed that the fund in court should be carried over to the
credit of the plaintiffs, all parties paying their own costs.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, May 4.
(Sittings in Banco.)
After a few unimportant motions had been disposed of, the
Court took up the new trial paper.