The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-04 00:00:00

No. 16,991. LON DON, THURSDAY EVENV rNG

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
COLCHESTER, STOUR VALLEY, SUDBURY, AND
HALSTEAD RAILWAY.
(Abridged from the Ipswich Express,)
The half-yearly meeting of the above company was held on
Friday, at the offices, High-street, Colchester; T. L. Ewen,
Esq., presided.
Mr. G. BANYTIME, the secretary, read the directors' report,
which stated that the balance• sheet exhibited a total receipt
from call and deposits of 33,365/. The expenditure left a
balance of 22.514/. 6s. Dd. The engineer's report declared
that the greatest amount of public benefit will be realised
by the construction of the line, and that this will be effected
at an unusually small cost ; that there are now engaged
upon the works about 300 men, and 30 horses, which will be
materially increased as the season advances for their advan-
tageous employment.
The report was adopted, with resolutions carrying out its
recommendations; and a vote of thanks having been passed
to the chairman, the meeting separated.

MALDON, WITHAM, AND BRAINTREE RAILWAY'
On Saturday last the second general meeting of this com-
pany was held at the White Hart Inn, Witham.
Mr. BLOOD, the solicitor to the company, read the report
of the directors, which stated that the line from Maldon
to Braintree had been set out by the Eastern Counties
Railway Company. The notices for the purchase of the
land had been served, and the works will be commenced
immediately.
The following gentlemen have been elected directors, to fill
up vacancies which have occurred :—George Hudson, Esq.,
M.P., and David Waddington, Esq.
The report was unanimously adopted, and the meeting
broke up.

CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.
(Abridged from the Glasgow Herald.)
On Saturday last a meeting of the shareholders of this
company was held in Gibb's Royal Hotel, Edinburgh •, Mr.
Hope Johnstone," of Airnapdale, the chairman of the
directors, in the chair.
A report was read, from which we make the folowing
extracts :
" The directors have much pleasure in laying before the
proprietors the engineer's report as to the progress of the
works ; from which it will be seen that they are in such a
state of forwardness as to justify the expectation that the
whole line from Carlisle to Edinburgh and to Glasgow, and
to the junction with the Scottish Central Line at Castlecarry,
will be completed within the next twelve months ; and that
the portion of it from Carlisle to Beattock, a distance of
forty miles, will be opened for the autumn traffic of the pre-
sent year.
" After the severe contest which this company maintained
in the last session of Parliament, and of which the result
was detailed to the shareholders at the meeting in August,
the directors hoped that they should now have been able to
concentrate their attention upon the ordinary business of the
company, unmolested by further opposition. In conse-
quence, however, of certain proceedings on the part of other
railway companies, the directors wt re obliged to prepare once
more for a Parliamentary contest, in order to defend the le-
gitimate interests of the shareholders.
"The Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Company obtained
their Bill last session, under repeated prof.:*ions that it au-
thorised a line required for local accomno:dation alone, and
was neither intended nor adapted to abstract any of the
traffic to which the Caledonian line w ts properly entitled to
look for its success. But there have since been proposed, in
connexion with the Glasgow, Dumfries, aid Carlisle or Niths-
dale line, and with the assent and approbation of the Ayr-
shire Company, several branches, which, it:Aler the pretence
of maintaining possession of the country that belongs to
the Nithsdale line,' would tend directly to divert a consider-
able amount of the traffic which the. Caledonian Company
have always considered themselves peculiarly entitled to ac-
commodate. Thus it was distinctly stated in the reports of
the directors of both these companies that, by means of one
of these lines communicating with the Crawick branch of
the Nithsdale Railway, ' a new route will be afforded be-
tween Carlisle, Glasgow, and the north of Scotland, only
about four miles longer than by the Caledonian Railway, and
presenting gradients of an infinitely superior character to
that line.'

availing themselves, in lieu of such dividend, of the dividend
which may be paid by the amalgamated company. It has
however, been intimated by the directors of the Kilmarnock
and Ardrossan Company, that "it is their opinion that the
proposed terms of amalgamation will not be ratified by the
shareholders of that company."
The CHAIRMAN moved that the directors be authorised to
conclude au arrangement on the terms formerly offered. They
were not prepared to recommend a fixed guarantee.

. .
This was agreed to.
The motion of which Mr. Bridges had given notice, viz.,
that " there be a total cessation of traffic on this railway on
the Lord's day," was postponed.
A SHAREHOLDER inquired if any offer of a lease had been
made to the Caledonian itself, or was likely to take place.
The CHAIRMAN replied that no offer of a lease had been
made. This was not a point which the directors bad at all
pressed forward. The proper time had not yet arrived for
offering a transfer of this great concern ; and they con-
ceived it would be better to show what the real magnitude
of the traffic would be before they entered into any arrange-
ment of this kind.
The meeting then separated.