The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-30 00:00:00

TIIP SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 30, 1847.

further margin of 40,0001. In addition to this, there was a
power to borrow 217,0001. There would be several bridges, and
that over the Trent at Newark he laid at 10,000/. more, al-
though, if the alteration were made which he designed, it
might possibly cost 3,0001. or 4,0001. more, but this was
provided for in the sum allowed for contingencies. They
intended to pass the Great Northern line at the distance of
two miles and a furlong south of Newark. He had given no
instructions to the land valuers to take the land required for
stations; that was to come out of the contingencies. For
land and stations the estimate was about 1,0001. a mile, but
this was exclusive of the land for the vtations. The Great
Northern estimate was 420,0002., whicd' included the land
for the stations, and that was to be set against the 62,000/.
of his ewn line. 4"
To the CHAIRMAN'S intimation, that there ought to be
some convenience provided for the farmers of Lincoln's Heath,
Mr. Borthwick replied that the station there would be near
the spot where the Rottergate-road crosses the line at right
angles, at about 26% miles from Spalding. This he would
I do even at the expense of making the necessary roads for
asP r
o '
lowoa h.
as notod i Captain ll
beffi ciunAl taRRIS
yill the witness replied that he appre-
hendedst
cutting,a r t i na ga d trainshe
cited
a
edthe site which
Euston-square
station as an instance.

On Mr. ADA3IS'S further cross-examination, it appeared that
this Rottergate-road was nothing more than a bridle road,
but he would construct a road from the spot where the
balance level fell to the highway. He would, however, have
another station at Byard's leap, about a mile further on.
To Captain HARRIS, Mr. Borthwick replied that he thought
about three stations between Newark and Sleaford for pas-
sengers beside three additional ones for goods. The other
side would have about the same number.

-- --- ----- -.......
Mr. Smyth was re-examined on the point of the station
in the cutting, and after some further evidence the case of
the promoters was closed, and the Committee adjourned.

have an independent connexion with the south and east of
En gland.
Cross-examined by Mr. Cccnnuax—He seriously believed
that the Kilmarnock traffic could be forced round by
Glasgow, if the Caledonian Company threw impediments
in the way of the Dumfries and Carlisle Rail-
way, by working the southern branch at Spring-
field. They could also interfere with the traffic at
Annan by altering the,hours of their train. He would not, if
the position of things were different, recommend the Com-
pany for which he acted to do so. He did not know what
the directors of the Caledonian might de. He imputed no-
thing to the engineers of that company. The matter was,
he believed, altogether in the hands of the directors.
As between Glasgow and Carlisle, he believed that
with the same engine power and the same load
(that was, the engines at present employed) the Cale-
donian could not master their gradient of one in seventy-five
at all. With engines suitable to that stiffer gradient the
Caledonian would arrive at Glasgow in that shorter time,
which might be represented by twenty-four miles of distance.
Re-examined by Mr. TALBOT—He considered that the
possession of the power of passing under the main line of
the Caledonian at Springfield would materially influence
the interests of the Dumfries Company in respect to the
southern traffic. The possession of this power would be a
safety-valve—if he might use the expression—for the protec-
tion of the public interests.
Mr. Hawkshaw, C.E., examined by Mr. TALBOT—Had
examined the relative lines before the Committee, and engi-
neeringly considered there was no great difference between
them. He was engineer of the Manchester and Leeds
Company, and he had observed the effect of compe-
tition in that district, which was covered by many
rival interests. He thought that the public would be better
served if the country were in possession of the Dumfries
Company, and he could see no object the Caledonian Com-
pany had in asking for this branch (especially as they
already effected a junction with the Newcastle and Carlisle
Railway at Carlisle), unless for the purpose of placing an
effectual lock upon the operations of the Dumfries Company.
Cross-examined by Mr. COCKBURN—Had no interest in
any Scotch lines, and was retained to go down to Scotland
to give evidence in favour of this line if he could do so.—
(Laughter.) He had before been retained for several com-
panies, and refused to give evidence in their favour. He
did not think it fair to state those lines. He had lived long
enough in the country traversed by these lines to see that the
Dumfries was the superior line. He had been employed and
was then employed, as acting and consulting engineer by dif-
ferent railways, not mere offshoots of the Manchester and Leeds
Railway. He had not been examined in all the different
Committees in this House last year. He had been examined
in many, as other engineers had been.
Re-examined by Mr. TALricrr—die knew many cases in
which an opposition line had been half-ruined by the restric-
tions placed upon them by rival lines, which then pur-
chased them at half the cost of construction. The Bolton
and Preston was one in point. He kad invariably met I,lr.
Stephenson, Mr. Locke, Mr. Brunel and other eminent
engineers, in all the Committee-rooms that he had attended,
and they were retained in the same way that he was.
By Mr. TOLLEMACIIE—He considered that it would be de-
cidedly for the interest of the public that this line should be
made to Brampton.
This closed the case for the promoters.
Mr. COCKBURN requested that he might not be desired to
open his case that evening, and
The Committee, therefore, adjourned till twelve o'clock
to-morrow.

allotted to him, and which he still retained, having paid the
deposit, &c. It was afterwards proposed that he should be the
chairman of the new company, but this he declined. on account
of his Parlianien Lary engagoeuen ts ; but he niiimately c,n,ented
to accept the office, provided Mr. Shaw was appointed the
vice-chairman, and undertook to discharge the duties of that
office. Prospectuses were subsequently issued, and a provi-
sional committee appointed. Me capital proposed to be
raised was 600,000/., in shares of 20/. each, upon which a
deposit of two guineas a share was to be paid. The shares
were duly allotted, and the amount paid up upon them
was 52,000/., which was paid into the bands of the
bankers. The necessary arrangements were then made
for obtaining an Act of Parliament to establish the corn-
pany. The Bill was thrown out owing to the opposition
of two rival lines, whereupon it was resolved that 1/. a
share should be returned to the subscribers, the accounts
investigated, and the whole concern wound up. On the
28th of November an article was published in the Rail-
way Mmes, designating the whole scheme as a bubble, and
stating Mr. Muntz to have been the chairman of a most
disgraceful scheme ; and in a subsequent number of that
journal it was stated that the: Members for Birmingham
had been most unfortunate in their railway speculations,
and had not been particularly scrupulous in their pro-
ceedings, which had stamped their characters with indelible
disgrace. Mr. Muntz had placed his name at the head of
a bubble company, and which had induced other parties to
join it. Mr. Muntz in his affidavit denied that the company
in question was a bubble one, and said that it was formed
bond fide; and also denied the material allegations contained
in the libel.
Mr. Justice COLIRIDGE said he doubted whether the facts
were sufficient to call for such an interference, but would,
nevertheless, grant a rule, as it might lead to some explana-
tion or disavowal by the defendants.
Rule to show cause granted.
THE QUEEN V. PHILIP HENRY NIUNTZ AND OTHERA.
Mr. COCKBURN said he was instructed on the part of cer-
tain shareholders of the Birmingham and Oxford Junction
Railway Company to apply to his Lordship for a rule, calling
upon the defendants, and the directors generally of the
above company, to show cause why a writ of mandamus
should not issue commanding them to elect by ballot four of
their number who were to retire from the direction, and also
convene a general meeting of the shareholders of the com-
pany to elect four other persons to supply their places. The
Learned Counsel proceeded to state that the case was one
that had already undergone very considerable argument in
the Court of Chancery, the result of which was that the
parties were directed to apply to a court of common law
for the relief which they sought. He then detailed at great
length the proceedings that have taken place in the Court
of Chancery, the particulars of wl;ich have so recently been
published that a recapitulation of them is unnecessary on
the;present occasion.
L'is LORDSHIP grantea a rule to show cause.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
LIVERPOOL, Arm' 29.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sale; are—Birmingham and Dud-
ley, 5 p.—Birmingham and Oxford, p.—Chester and
Birkenhead, 441/2—Eastern Counties, York Extension, 11/t
dis.—East Lancashire (late B. and P.), 1% dis.—Ditto, New
(scrip),par—Edinburgh and Glasgow, Quarters,l7l/2—Liver -
pool, Crosby, and Southport, 1 p.—London and North-
Western, 171%—London, Manchester, and Birmingham,
Quarters (C), 47/8 p.—London, Brighton, and South Coast,
5114—Manchester and Leeds, Fifths, 4% p.—Ditto, 321.
Shares (late Extensions), 1/2 p.—Ditto, Fifths (late West
Riding Union), p.—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln-
shire, Eighths, 214 dis.—Manchester and Southampton, 114
dis.—Midland Stock, 115—Ditto, New, 2 p.—Newcastle and
Berwick, New, 1% p.—North Staffordshire, 1% p.—North-
Western, 2 dis.—Preston and Wyre, Halves (A). 3% p.
Shrewsbury and Hereford, 112 dis.—Shrewsbury and Chester
(late N.W.M.), New, 21 p.—Shrewsbury and Birmingham
(B), 1/2 dis.—South-Eastern, 3614—Ditto, New, No. 4, ls.
3d. dis.

MANCHESTER, APRIL 29.
STOCK' EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Ambergate, Notting-
ham, and Boston, PA dis.—Birmingham and Oxford Junc-
tion, 7% p.—Eastern Counties, York Extension, 114 dis.—
East Lancashire (late B. and P.), New, I%—Ditto, New
(scrip). 1/8 dis.—East Lincolnshire, I%—Fleetwood, Preston,
and West Riding Junction, 1% dis.—Leeds and Thirsk,
514 dis.—Ditto, Preferentials, p.—Leeds, Dewsbury, and
Manchester, par—Ditto, Branches, Halves, 1 dis.—London
and North-Western, New, 9% p.—Ely and Huntingdoa,
New, par—Manchester and Leeds, Halves (H. and S.), ixs
p.—Ditto, 321. Shares (late Extension), 5-16
.p.—Ditto,
Fifths (late West Riding Union), 14 p-----North Stafford-
shire, 9-16—Oldham Alliance, 14 dis.—Preston and Wyre,
Halves (A), 3% p. ropsh int Union, I%—South-Eastern
and Dover, 36—Ditto, No. 4, 3-16 dis.
LEEDS, Aram 29.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Ambergate, Notting-
ham, and Boston, 114 dis.—East Lancashire, New, 1% dis.
—Ditto, New Scrip, ls. dis.—East and West Yorkshire,
16s. dis.—East Lincolnshire, 1% p.—Great .Northern, I tg dis.
—Leeds and Bradford, 421 p.—Leeds and Thirsk, dis.
—Ditto, Preference, 7s. p.—London, Brighton, and South
Coast, Fifteenths, 2s. p.—Malton and Driflield Junction,
10s. dis.—Manchester and Leeds, Halves (late Hud. and
Sheff.), 10s. p.—Ditto, 321. Shares (late Extensions), 10s.
6d. p.—Ditto, West Riding Union, 9s. n. p.—Midland, Pre-
ference, 1% p.—Newcastle and Berwick, New, 1% p.—
North British, Thirds, 114 p.—Ditto, Quarters (late Carlisle
Branch), 15s. p.—Ditto, Extension (scrip), 7s. p.—North
Staffordshire, 325. p.—Northern Counties Union, 2% n. dis.
—North-Western, 305. dis.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, APRIL 29.

STOCK EXCHANGIC.—The sales are—Caledonian, New, lls.
Gd. dis.—Eastern Counties, York Extension, 14 dis.—New-
castle and Berwick, 5 p.—Ditto (North Shields Purchase),
2934—North British, 31.
SHEFFIELD, Armr. 29.

STOCK EXCIIANGE.—The sales are—East Lincolnshire, 11,4
p.—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire (Sheffield and
Lincoln), 3113 dis.—North Staffordshire, p.—North-
Western, 395. c. dis.
EDINBURGH, APRIL 28.

STOCK EXCIIANGE.—The sales are—Ayr and Galloway,
398. 6d.—Caledonian, New, 378. 6d.—Dundee and Norther❑

Junction, 30s.—East Lothian Central, 395. 6d.—Edinburgh,
Leith, and Granton, Quarters, 11s.—Edinburgh and North-
ern, 17%—Ditto, New, 565. 6d.—Ditto, Newport, 6%—Ditto,
New, 35s.—Edinburgh and Perth, 395. Ditto, Halves, 12s.
3d.—Great Northern, 52s.—North British, Quarters, 82s.—
Ditto, New Quarters (scrip), 19s.—Ditto, Thirds, 48s.—
Scottish Central, 24,4—East Indian, 3e.

GLASGOW, APRIL 28.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Caledonian, New, 375.
6d —East Indian, 2s. 9d.—East Lothian Central, 395. 6d.
Edinburgh and Glasgow, 701.—Edinburgh arid Perth (New
Co.), 39s.—Ditto, Halves, 12s.—Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and
Ayr, 581.—Ditto, Halves, No. 2, 61. ls.—Glasgow, Dumfries,
and Carlisle, 51.—Glasgow and Greenock, 151/2—Kilmarnock
and Ayr Direct, 275. 6d.—Manchester and Southampton, 16s.
—North British, Thirds, 48s. 6d.—Ditto New Quarters (scrip),
18s. 6d.—Paisley, Barrhead, and Hurlet, 525. 6d.—York and
Newcastle, New, 1311—Ditto, Preference, 6%—Glasgow and
Garnkirk, 391.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE NEAR
EXETER.

giving information of
EXETEEt, Amin. 28.—0 n Tuesday afternoon a messenger
out in the village of
stybn'out four miles distant,
sarrived
t Canon,
thelnaor alarming fire
h-ificrhe officeshisavisnitnttughaitbserdockei
close to the Bristol and Exeter Ralway . The firemen and
engines immediately hastened to the scene, to render all the
assistance in their power; and bEsides the very efficient
corps of the West of England and Sun Offices, the engine of
Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., M.P., of Killerton Park, scarcely
two miles from Stoke, was in attendance. From inquiries
made on the spot, we find that thirty-two houses have been
completely gutted. Stoke Canon h a small village, contain.
ing (in the parish) about 500 inhabitants, and sixty dwel-
lings; the destruction, therefore, of more than half the
dwellings, and the making houseless the majority of the
poor and uninsured residents, is a calamity which we are
justified in designating as awful in the extreme. The train
which leaves Paddington at half-past seven in the morning
passes at the back of Stoke about ten minutes after
three is the afternoon, and reaches Exeter at twenty
minutes past three. A cinder fromthe engine propelling
this
dire event, train‘evhast„
for,soon
it is generall) supposed, the cause of
this afterr the train had passed,
the thatch of a linhay, belonginG, to a person named
Barris, not a land yard from the was discovered to be in
flames. It was soon extinguished, but not soon enough to
prevent its communicating with a house occupied by a Mr.
Hunt, who was confined to his bed, and was with difficulty
saved from a painful and horrible death. The wind was
blowing hard from the south-west, and the fire extended in
two directions, the one being easterly towards the main
street, and the other northerly towards the Brampford Spike
road, which crosses the line of railway a little nearer to the
Hele station. At the corner of that road stands a house
occupied by Mr. Greenslade, a cattle dealer, which seems to
have escaped in a most singular manner, encompassed
as it must have been by the destroying element, which,
spreading diagonally, reached the main street, and caught
the houses on the opposite side. Tae New Inn. the tithe
barn, school-house, and other building; extending to the
church, were soon in a blaze, including the dwelling-house
of Mr. Haycroft.
In Mr. Ha croft's house 100 packs of wool were totally
consumed. In the easterly direction simultaneously, the
flames were doing equal damage, destroying most rapidly
the King's Arms, ten or a dozen cottages, the house of the
Rev. Mr. Knight; that of a lady named Craig, who keeps a
seminary ; the vicarage occupied by the Rev. W. T. Naple-
ton Penoyre (whose furniture was consumed, together with
the communion plate, which had only been removed there
from the church the previous evening, " for safety,") and
finally the outhouse of the rector, the Rev. Mr. Bond, where
they were at length subdued.
Notwithstanding the vast amount of misery which must
inevitably attend this severe visitation, there is one abundant
source of thankfulness and congratulation in the fact, that
not one life has fallen a sacrifice to !the conflagration, which,
breaking out at so early an hour, found the inhabitants more
prepared than if it had come upon them in the waste and
dead of night. Half-past three o'clock in the afternoon is
said to be the time when it commenced, and it was not got
under till nine in the evening. This morning, when we saw
the ruins, they were still smoking, and in some parts burn-
ing, and every now and then the fall of a wall, from the
violence of the wind, showed the temerity of venturing too
near their unsupported, gaunt, and threatening heights. The
engines were on the spot, and playing on the fire within an
hour of the outbreak, with a plentiful supply of water from
the river Esse, which runs close by; but the roofs being with-
out exception of thatch, and the wind very high and gusty,
the check was only slight, and their influence for a very long
time unperceivable. The damage is estimated at 1,500/. The
property in fee belongs chiefly to the Dean and Chapter, and
was mostly insured by the lessees, though a heavy loss will
unquestionably fall on the poor people whose goods have been
either damaged or burnt.

ENTERTAINMENT AT THE MANSION-HOUSE.—On
Wednesday the Lord Mayor gave a grand' entertainment to
her Majesty's Judges. Amongst the guests' were the Lord
Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Mr. Baron Alderson,
Mr. Baron Rolfe, Mr. Justice Erle, Mr. Justice Williams;
the Attorney-General, Sergeants Manning, Lawes, Shoe,
Allen, Bain, Wilkins, Sir H./ Nicolas; Aldermen Sirj C. S.
Hunter, Lucas, Thompson, Sir P. Laurie, Johnson, Wood,
Hooper, Sir J. Duke, Musgrove, W. Hunter, H. Hughes,
Sidney, Moon; the Sheriffs of London and their ladies; the
Chamberlain, Mr. Common Pleader Lock, the City Solicitor,
Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Ballantine, &c.
THE MONEY CRISIS.—BIRMINGHAM, THURSDAY.
—A meeting of the bankers, merchants, manufacturers, and
traders of the town, convened by advertisement, signed
" Thomas Clutton Salt," is appointed to be held in the large
committee-room of the Town Hall, to-morrow night, " for
the purpose of advising on the present derangement of our
monetary system, and on the best means of averting the
calamities which have invariably been the consequences of
such a state of affairs." The attendance, there is no doubt,
will be extremely numerous.
It has been announced in the City that a public
meeting of merchants, manufacturers, and others will beheld
at an early day to consider the present monetary condition
of the country and the operation of the Bank Charter
Bill.
Late arrivals from the United States bring intel-
ligence of the death of Mrs. Davis, of Boston, mother of Mrs.
Bancroft, the wife of the American Minister.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS. April 29.
7.-..;up CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Vt Vui
sack at Five o'clock.
MESSAGE FROM THE COMMONS.
Messengers from the Commons brought up certain
Bills.
GOVERNMENT PLAN OF EDUCATION.
Earl FITZ WILLIAM presented a number of peti-
tions from Rotherham, York, Doncaster, Thirsk, and
numerous other places, in favour of the Government
plan of education.
HEALTH OF TOWNS.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition, signed by
several medical gentlemen, in favour of the Health of
Towns Bill.