The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY coAnurrEES,

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-(YESTERDAY.)

GROUP V.
IMPORTANT DECISIONS.
The Committee met at twelve o'clock; Lord Harry Vane
the chair.

ViTINDSONG.
Evidence was continued against this railway from Slough
,o Windsor.
Mr. HOPE, on the case being closed, then addressed the
Committee against the Bill.
Mr. AusTiti replied on behalf of the Great Western Com-
pany, the promoters of the Bill.
The room was then cleared for the consideration of the
preambles cf the following Bills :
Great Western (Branches to West London Railway, &c.)
Great Western (Branches to Egham, Staines, &c.)
Windsor Railway.
Windsor, Staines, and South-Western (Richmond to

Windsor).
Windsor, Staines, and South-Western (otaines to Ascot, &c).
The CHAIRMAN, when parties were re-admitted, said the
Committee had unanimously decided that the preamble of
the Great Western (Branches to West London, &c.) was
proved; the preamble of the Great Western (Branches to
Egham, Staines, &c.) was not proved ; the preamble of the
Windsor Railway not proved; the preamble of the Windsor,
Staines, and South-Western (Richmond to Windsor) was
proved; the preamble of the Windsor, Staines, and South-
Western (Staines to Ascot, &c.), proved only for the Staines
and Egham and Farnborough branch, acd not proved for the
Wok ingham branch.
The Committee then adjourned till to-morrow.

GROUP VI.
EXETER, 'YEOVIL, AND DOnCII73STER.
The Committee was occupied during the whole of the day
n the cross-examination of Mr. Locke.

GROUP XVIII.
CELEZTENHANZ AND 'RING.

The Committee on this group met this morning at twelve
o'clock ; the Earl of Lincoln in the chair.
Before proceeding to the business of the day,
The CIIAIRISIAN intimated that it was the impression of
the Committee that an unnecessary number of witnesses had
been adduced on the Cheltenham and Oxford branch, and,
on reference to his book, he found that not less than ninety-
seven witnesses were engaged for both sides of the question.
Without meaning in the slightest degree to interfere with
the mode in which the counsel might think proper to con-
duct their case, he, however, thought that a greater discri-
mination might be used in the selection of the witnesses.
Mr. lIILDYARD, who appears for the narrow gauge line,
said that, whilst not forgetting the intimation which had
been thrown out by his Lordship, he should be careful to do
his duty to his clients. He would first make a few observa-
tions on the line which had lately been submitted to the
Committee, and then state the merits of the Cheltenham and
Icing line; and he would first remark that Gloucester was
the real point from which the traflic would start, although
the Bill before the Committee only sought powers to make a
line from Cheltenham. The first object worthy of the notice
of the Committee was the different summits which had to
be reached by the Great Western line and the proposed line
of that company. According to Mr. Brunel's statement the
summit of the new line would be at least two hundred feet

higher than the other, while the gradients, as compared with
the project of the North-Western Company, would be very
materially heavier. The new line was intended to separate
from the existing line at Swindon, and again met it at Glou-
cester, and, in the course of its progress, it would have to
surmount one of one in sixty, and which would continue
it four miles, and another, of one in a hundred, which con-
tinued for two miles. On the other hand, upon the Chelten-
ham and Tring line the maximum gradient would be
only one in sixty, which was only about three-quarters
of a mils in length, and there were only two others
of any consequence, one which was one in seventy, and the
other one in seventy-five. Now, he was prepared to show that
the summit to be surmounted on the Cheltenham and Oxford
line would be not 200, bat 217 feet above the summit of the
old line. The only meiit which the Great Western Com-
pany therefore assumed for their project, was that the dis-
tance between Gloucester and London would be shortened
by five miles, but this, he thought, would be fairly met by
the greater facility which the line of the North-Western
Company afforded. And, even did he not possess that argu-
ment, he might still cite the evidence of Mr. Brunel himself,
given in IS':35, when the Birmingham and Gloucester Com-
pany obtained their Act, and from that evidence it was seen
that it was Mr. Brunel's opinion that the passengers from
Gloucester would still find their way to London by Tring,
and not by Oxford. In addition to that, there would be the
great difficulty of crowding a traffic on a line to which it did
not legitimately belong, and the further disadvantage of a
bad terminus in London ; while, on the other hand, there
would be on the Cheltenham and Trirg line a freer transit
and an admirable terminus. Then it would be recollected
that there were grave considerations with regard to Chelten-
ham, though upon that he would not touch except just to
refer to it, for counsel had been specially instructed by the
inhabitants of the town to show the detriment which would
be suffered from bringing the railway quite through the heart
of it. With respect to the plea that the Great Western
Company would be enabled to furnish accommodation to the
people a the district at a lower rate, by the Railway
Consolidation Act, there was already a power given to that
effect ; so that, in fact, one million of money would be spent
for no earthly benefit whatever. Mr. Talbot, in opening for

the other side,had stated that the Great Western line was the
better line of the two, but on what ground he could make
such a assertion hel(Mr. Hildyard) could not possibly con-
ceive, for the real truth was that the two opposing lines
would accommodate the country much in the same way ; and,
in truth, if the Great Western were to consult their own in-
terest, they would never construct this line at all. They had
been enabled to extend their main lines down to the Land's
End, and up as far as Fishguard, why, then, if it was their
interest to construct this line, had they not made it before?
Mr. Brunel had, in 1836 and 1837, allowed that railway ac-
commodation was
_much needed between Cheltenham and

Oxford, and yet he left it until 1845 before he took any
steps to provide it, and then he allowed that he was
only prompted to devise a line by other parties
being in the field. On the contrary, if the Great
Western Company had no interest whatever, the North
Western Company had every interest; for it so fell in with
the whole of the property already established that they had
every inducement, not only to make the line, but to work it
efficiently, for it was fully intended to lay down a double line

of rails to Rockwall all the way from Euston-square; so
that in fact the whole of London would be opened
up to the traffic of the western counties. Counsel,
witnesses, and very possibly Committees also, had been too
much in the habit of looking upon London as a point, but it
should be recollected that London was a vast district which
contained upwards of 2,000,000 of inhabitants, and a district
which might be split up into eight or ten towns, each of
which would be larger than the largest city be-
side in this country. Now, leaving out a portion of the
town about Paddington, with its five hundred thousand
inhabitants, was it to be supposed that the remainder
should be left to the inconvenience of having a terminus two
miles further off than was necessary ? He did not wish to
put a toll-bar across the railway at Swindon, but what
would be said if the Manchester Railway were to stop five
miles short of its destination? As to the allegation that the
Cheltenham and Tring line was longer, he would show by
evidence that this was felt practically to be no inconvenience,
for it was a fact that the Peterborough traffic, which mas
conveyed to London pretty equally by the Eastern Counties
and the Midland Counties lines, although the latter was ten
miles and a half further, for that distance sunk into insigni-
ficance when the convenience of the London terminus came
into consideration. Then as to the fares for the 109 miles,
which would be the distance by the North-Western project,
the Great Western Company had, by their Bill, a power to
charge for a first-class passenger 11. Ils. *l., and they did
really charge for that distance 1/. 4s. 11d. ; while the
charges, according to the North-Western rates, for the
first class would be 195., and by the second class 14s. 3Ad.;
while on the second-class fares of the Great Western
company there was no limit in their Act. After recapitulat-
ing the several points, the Learned Counsel adduced the
evidence of Mr. Brunel and Mr. Saunders to show that such
a healthy competition would be brought about by the con-
struction of the narrow gauge line as must prove advanta-
geous for the public. The decision of the Commissioners ap-
pointed to ascertain the merits of the two gauges had pointed
out the whole of the district of Wales as being appropriated
to the narrow gauge, but the Act was so ambiguous in its
terms that it was easy to say that a broad gauge line might
be made there, but the Ni hole spirit of the Act was in reality
opposed to that construction.
The Learned Counsel then went through the peculiar fea-
tures of the line, but as they are to be brought out specifi-
cally by the witnesses, it would be useless to slate them
hers.