The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-16 00:00:00

%WE BZIGUTON MID ZENT SCHEME.

Mr. Waud, a landholder near Bromley, Sir John Lubbock,
who is the proprietor of an extensive estate near Farnbo-
rough ; Lord Stanhope whose country residence is in the
neighbourhood, and Colonel Austen, M.P. for the Southern
Division of Kent, gave general evidence in favour of this
scheme, and proved that the majority of the inhabitants in
their respective aeighbourhooda preferred the Brighton to the
South-Eastern scheme.
Mr. John Thorp, silk-merchant of Bromley' • the Rev.
Thomas Curtis, incumbent of Sevenoaks ; Mr. Atkins, High
Sheriff of Kent ; Mr. Glendenning, of Ash-grove, Seven-
oaks; Capt. Horthey, of Sevenoaks ; Mr. Burton, builder, of
Sevenoaks ; Mr. John Sewell, manufacturer, of Sevenoaks ;
Mr. Benjamin Pawley, innkeeper of Sevenoaks; Mr. John
Howard, miller and corn dealer, of Westerham, and others,
gave corroborative testimony.
The Committee then adjourned till Monday.

GROUP VI.
1101:728APZETZSIZir AND 0N,E6.111 WESTERN
;sosSmistEsi.
The Committee, consisting of Mr. Deedes (Chairman), Mr.
C. G• Round, Sir S. Glynne, and Colonel Fer-
Wrightson4Mr. •
n, met for the first time this, morning, in Room 21, at
twelve o'clock.
The Bills contained in this Group are the following:_
Bristol and Exeter (Bragch from Bleadon to Wells and Glas-
lonbar9)-
Brtstol and Exeter (Taunton and Castle Cary Branch.
Great Western (Extension of the Berks and Hants Railway,
)
Yeovil, Bridport, and Exeter, with Branches.
Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth Amendment (N 0.1.)
Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth Amendment (No. 2.)
Chard Canal and Railway Company.
Southampton and Dorchester (Blandford Branch).
Salisbury_ and Yeovil.
Exeter, Yeovil, and Dorchester Railway and Branches.
Exeter and Eianonth Railway Act Amendment.
Blandford and Bruton.
Great Western (Amendment and Extension.
There was a most formidable array of counsel present, -in-
eludatg, besides those who were retained by the promoters of
the Bills in this Group last session, a considerable number of
treat' juniors. The outer room was also crowded to excess by
strangers.
The usual formal requirements having been complied with,
The CHAIRMAN said that the Committee had received the
report of the Commissioners upon six only of the Bills com-
prised in the Group. Those Bills were, the
Chard Canal and Railway.
Salisbury and Yeovil Railway.
Southampton and Dorchester (Blandford Branch).
Exeter, Yeovil, and Dorchester Railway.
Exeter and Exmouth Railway. And the
Blandford and Biuton Railway.
The Committee could not enter into the consideration of the
other Bills until the report upon them was received from the
Railway Commissioners, and the Committee would have to
decide which of those six Bills should be proceeded with.
Mr. Sergeant KINGLAKE said, that he appeared for the
Bristol and Exeter Railway, and hoped that the Committee
would allow him to have precedence of the other schemes
when the report of the Commissioners should have been re-
ceived by the Committee.
Mr. TALBOT, Q.C., on the part of the Great Western Com-
pany, opposed the application. He thought that the Com-
mittee should not give any pledge upon a subject which
might come before the Committee under circumstances that
would prevent the Committee from fulfilling that pledge.
Mr. Cociumnx, Q.C., said that on the part of the South-
Western Company, whose Bills had been reported on by the
Railway Commissioners, he was quite prepared to proceed
with his case, should the Committee so decide.
The room was then ordered to be cleared. Upon our
re-admission,
Til4l CHAIRMAN said that with respect to the subject pro-
posed by Mr. Sergeant Binglake the Committee had come
to the conclusion to decline giving any pledges as to the
precedence of any Bills until such time as those Bills came
before them in their regular coarse. The Committee had
also agreed to act upon the principle adopted in other
Committees, viz., that of not allowing any counsel to cross-
examine a witness who was not present at the examination
in chief. The Chairman also said that the Committee had
resolved to hear Mr. Cockburn on behalf of those Bills
which had been reported upon, and for which he appeared,
and called upon that gentleman to select any of those Bills
which he thought best.
Mr. Cocxatlits proposed that the same course should be
adopted with respect to the schemes of the Seuth-Western
Railway as was adopted last session, and allow the two
Bills—the Salisbury and Yeovil and the Yeovil and Exeter
Railways—to be treated as one integral scheme.
After a few words from Mr. Slade, the Committee de-
cided on the adoption of that course.
SAZ.ZSEITAY AND YEOVIL.

21111QVIL, MUTER, AND DORCHZSTZ2.
Mr. CocLUUZN then proceeded to state that the two bills
now before the Committee were brought forward for the pur-
pose of completing the line of connexion between :Salisbury
and Exeter. They bad arisen out of a very strongly ex-
pressed feeling in their favour by persons in the West of
England.: The ;railway connexion% between the city of
Exeter and the metropolis was at present a very circuitous
one, being as much as 21 miles in length more than the obt
coach road between those two termini. The consequence of
the construction of this railway was, that seine of the most
populous towns, and the most fertile districts of Devon and
Dorset were now left without any means of communication,
the coaches having been taken off the roads some time since.
The Learned Gentleman then went at considerable length
into the details of the rise and progress of these schemes,
commencing with the year 1844, down to the present time.
The Bill hat passed successfully through the House of Com-
mons, but was thrown out in the Committee of the Lords, in
• insequence:of several sin the plan ; bnt Lord Beau-
mont, who was the Chairman of that Committee, stated in
the House of Lords, in answee to a question put to him by
the Marquis cq. Westminster, that the Committee had refused
their sanction to the scheme on those grounds alone; and he
stated that, in the next session of Parliament, when the com-
pany should come forward with improved plans in these re-
spects, that their Lordships would feel disposed to give their
sanction to the measure. The proposed line would leave
Salisbury, and proceed by Wilton and Gillingham, and con-
nect Shaftesbury by a branch. The rival scheme of the Great
Western proposed to go to ShafLesbury from Salisbury, but he
contended that the South-Western had adopted the better
course, by taking in the town of Gillingham, which was a
rising town, and contained upwards of 3,600 inhabitants,
whereas the population of Shaftesbury was only 3,100. By
going to Gillingham, the company also saved a distance cf
two miles, accommodated a more fertile di.trict, the vale of
Blackmoor, and did less residential injury than the rival
scheme, which was strongly opposed by the Marquis of
Westminster. The two lines then united at or near to Sher-
borne, and diverged near Yeovil, by which divergence the
Great Western schemes lost at least three miles of distance.
The Great Western, however, contended that they would, by
adopting this course, give better accommodation to the town
"(Yeovil by placing it upon the wain line. This, however,
he denied, for by the present schemes accommodation
would be afforded to Yeovil of a much better cha-
racter.thanithat afforded by the Great Western scheme. The
branch which would connect Yeovil with the main line was
about one mile and a half in length, and the competition
which would exist between the two companies would effec-
tually prevent the occurrences of any of the evils which arose
from placing large towns upon branch lines. From Yeovil
the line proceeded to the towns of Crewkerne and of Chard,
near which two branches were thrown off to the: east and
to the west, running down to the sea coast, giving
Bridport and Leigh communication with the main line.
The western branch was about fourteen miles in
length, and the eastern one about six miles. From
Crewkerne there was also a branch going northward to
ilminster, and along the whole of these branches the Great
Western Company ran side by side. From Chard the line
proceeded to Axminster, near which, by a bend to the south,
the, avoided a tunnel of 1,000 yards in length, through
which their rivals proposed to run, at an expense of not less
then 75,0001. From Axminster the line proceeded to Honitoo,
near woicta a branch was thrown off accommodating the port
of Sidmouth. From Honiton the line would proceed to Exeter

I:;y7ine;nSo7aliiiefo; which a Bil. had been obtained in the
last session, but was at present in abeyance in conse-
quence of one of the provisions of the Act, that the
line should not be made until a through line from Exeter .0
the metropolis was obtained. From the eastern part of
Exeter a branch connected the main line with the important
ports
of Topsham and Exmouth. Then, with respect to
vir a most
excellent station in 1.2,1een-street in that city in
the most eligible situation. Then with respect
to the station in the metropolis, the South-Western seherne
provided much better accommodation than could be given by
the Great Western Company, at their station at Paddington,
for an Act bad been obtained last session for extending the
South-Western Railway from Nine Elms to liungetford,
Waterloo, and London Bridges, the works of which were in a
considerable degree of forwardness. The South. Western
scheme was looked upon with the greatest favour by the in-
habitants of Exeter and of ali the towns which the

railway proposed to accommodate. The South-Western
Company also proposed extensions of the line from Exeter
through the county of Cornwall, and accommodating the
towns of Plymouth, Falmouth, and Penzance. The north
of Devon would also be accommodated by means of the con-
nexion of the Taw Vale Railway with the proposed Corn-
wall and Devon Central Railway. The construction of these
railways weuld also give the means of direct communication
:it:ethie, whole of the district between Exeter and Basing-
Reigat Railway
of the rosed Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate aliway
on the South- with the county of Kent, and the various p..rts
Euternacoasts of that county. The con tinua ti. eia
of these linesm
weaonu,ldof also afford an unbroken line of commu-
nication by
proposed Manchester and South-
ampton Railway, whirl; leave the South-Western
line at Andover, between the western districts and the whole
saanuta,turing districts of
highly
esimsphoortulacintb,e i
constructed,n hae nnaot,irnorth
same
ftfPoint
England.
gi Fa( 31; i tehwle'ty twdhi ald
,
theseals
by a continuity of the
broken communication between the gauge, an UL-
senals of the country. Then it was desirable port, and ar-
petition should exist, and that the Greethat a corn-
Company should not be allowed to monop,,
,i.isact
the whole
traffic of the west; and that competition could e 7v"hie,
brought about by means of a narrow gauge line, sucloin - --
South-West..m, between which and the Great Western'
Company there would not be the slightest chance or possi-
bility of an amalgamation of interests. With respect to the
alleged superiority of the broad over the narrow gauge, it was
a notorious fact that the avenge speed of the South-Western
was considerably higher than that of the Great Western ; and,
what was of greater importance, the fares were considerabiy
lower. In the west the broad gauge railway had been de-
nominated the " rich man's railway," and the narrow gauge
the " poor man's railway."
In consequence of an application of Mr. COCKBURN, the
Committee then adjourned till Monday next.

GROUP X.XI.
The Committee to whom the following Bills have been re-
fined met this day. shortly after half-paid twelve o'cloc, :
aroPshir• Union Railway and Canal (Lease to the Loilk on
sad North-Western).
Birmingham. Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley (No.
London and North-Western (Be.cot aLd Wolverhampton).
London and -North-Western (Portobello and Wolie:bamp-
ton, Branch, &c.).
Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley (No. 2).
Birmingham, Wolverhampton. and Dudley Act (:tour-
tvidge sad West Bromwich, 4kc,),