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

GROUP XXII.

This Committee met to•day at twelve o'clock in Room A;
Mr. Home Drummond in the chair.
NEWPORT, ABERGAVENNY, AND HERE-
FORD (EXTENSION TO TAFF VALE).

Evidence on behalf of the scheme was resumed.

Mr. Lewellyn4a mining engineer, was examined at some
length, with the object of showing the great mineral resources
of the district, and the advantages which the proposed exten-
sion would confer.

GROUP XXIII.
The Committee met at twelve; Mr. Mackinnon in the
chair.

SOUTH WALES.
The Committee were occupied for some time with the
clauses of the Bill.

GROUP XXVIII.

The Committee on this group, comprising Captain Harris,
the Earl of March, Sir R. Lopes, Lord Edwin Hill, with Mr.
T. D. Ackland in the chair, met this morning at twelve.
PETERBOROUGH AND POLICINGHAIVI
(EASTERN COUNTIES BRANCH).
The earlier part of the morning was occupied in a discus-
sion as to whether the counsel for the Ambergate and Great
Northern Companies should cross-examine generally as land-
owners, and it was at length decided that they should cross-
examine as competitors, but not as landowners.
The Committee then took the Eastern Counties Branch
from Folkingham to Peterborough.
Mr. TALBOT opened on behalf of the promoters. He said
that this was a line to run from Peterborough to Folking-
ham, which is a few miles from Grantham, and would be
about twenty-eight miles long, and would require 400,000/.
for its construction. It in fact occupied an intermediate
position between the loop and the main line of the London
and York Railway, and was intended to supply the country
for which those lines were incompetent, and would take up
the old road from Peterborough to Lincoln. The principal
place on the line would be Bourn, where, although a place
of not more than four or five thousand inhabitants, was yet
one of considerable importance, being a polling place for
the county, and the place where the quarter sessions for
Kesteven were held, There was also a considerable traffic
in agricultural produce, and a great requirement for manure
and fuel from the north-western counties. The opposition of
the competing companies he did not conceive to be of much
consequence; but the company had unfortunately incurred
that of Earl Fitzwilliam. The petitions from that nobleman,
and from his tenantry, were highly respectable; but there
were others which savoured too much of London and York
zeal, not to be looked upon with a little suspicion. On the
other side the promoters had the support of Sir Gilbert
Heathcote, and several of the most influential proprietors.
Mr. Nicholson a chemist and druggist, residing at Peter-
borough, testified to the transmission of a considerable
quantity of oil cake through the district which the line was
intended to traverse.
Sir John Trollops, M.P., stated that he resided near the
proposed line, and that this was a very rich agricultural
district, and that the line would just take a course whecreetoef
fen country met the high land. It was along the edge
course.
Bourn theyhe d e calriev i t yb
ot
thha t the
et
roowuns s
andan d
p villao pguel so u
s: are
beingm
placed,gand
t
with at every mile, or mile andah'df
Bourn is relatively a place of
considerableof its
importance,
but the market is at present a bad one in consequencethereis a water
navigation, of the
badness of the means of transit, for although
navigation, it was a bad one, and the inhabitants with rea-
son complained much of the expense of the carriage of their
e o is sur
produce. A north and south communication is, in his opi-
nion, absolutely necessary, au
to be made, for the loop line ofi the London and mae
York Rail-
e
way would be of no use to the district, but the nearest places
where stations would be made were the villages of Corby and
Bytham, which were the only places accessible by turnpike
roads from Bourn. The whole of that district is populous,
and the farmers are generally opulent and very considerable
graziers, so that they had a large quantity of wool sent from
about Bourn. The mail coach from Hull used to pass through
Bourn, and the inhabitant s of the place and neighbourhood
felt a great negation of the advantages which they used to
enjoy
To .
Mr. LINDsELL, who appeared for Earl Fitzwilliam, Sir
John Trollone said that Bourn would be about eight or nine
miles from Corby, and he believed that if the Ambergate
line were left out of the account there were several places
more than five miles from railway communication.