The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-18 00:00:00

GROUP XLIX.

The Committee met this morning at twelve o'clock (Mr.
Cripps in the chair), and proceeded to take evidence on the
~3Dfl 3 uILGB AND GLASGOW (AMEND-

MENTS, die.)

An objection was raised by Mr. Andrews to the admission
of the Scottish Central as petitioners against the Bill, but
the objection was overruled by the Committee.
Mr. Blackburn, chairman of the company, was examined.
. .

. -
The capital of the company was 420,0001., and besides the
amount intended to be sunk in this undertaking, they had
also purchased in other companies. Their present liabilities
were from 500,0001. to 600,0001.

Mr. Oppenshaw, a director, said that the value of the Edin-
burg. r:::d Glasgow Company's stock, &c., was 692,0001, and
the laxities were 950,000/., which left them a deficiency of
about 250,0001., and they came now to Parliament to get
powers to raise that sum.
Mr. TALBOT and Mr. Sergeant WRANGNAM addressed the
Committee, the former for the Monklands Mineral, and the
latter for the Sterling and Dunfermline Company, against
the preamble, and Mr. Hodges for the Edinburgh and Bath-
gate.
The Committee then adjourned till Thursday at twelve
o'clock.

COMMITTEES on PRIVATE BILLS.
(THIS DAY.)
LIVERPOOL WATERWORKS.

The Committee met this morning, at twelve o'clock, and
were occupied during the whole of the morning with the
consideration of clauses to protect the inhabitants of the
districts intermediate between the springs of supply and tho
t,wn of Liverpool.
CROYDON COMMERCIAL GAS.

The Committee met this morning (General Lygon in the
chair), and the Bill being unopposed, it was referred to Mr.
Greene, the Chairman of Parliamentary Committees.
SUNDERLAND IMPROVEMENT AND MARKET

with the opinions of the proprietary. at large, the directors
proceeded to call in the old scrip, giving to dissentient:; the
opportunity of receiving back the unexpended balaece3 of
their deposits; and it is a gratirvi „,.g f..., .h
of nearly 90,000 s:,a; iiviULio
withdraw, which number was subsequently reduced to 1;240
by parties asking permission to resume the shares they had
elected to resign.
"The unusual concurrence of opinion being ascertained,
the directors gave instructions to their engineers to have the
line resurveyed—firstly, with reference to certain alterations
either promised to landowners, or desirable with a view to
economy, or to the convenience of the towns passed through ;
and, secondly, in the hope that perfect accuracy in the plans
and sectiona4youid thereby be obtained. The first object
was se succeSsfUlly carried out as to reduce the estimate by
no less a sum than 140,000/. ; the latter purpose unfortunately
failed of accomplishment, undek circumstances the explana-
tion of which the directors have thought it would be most
satisfactory to the shareholders to learn from Mr. Stephenson
himself.

"The shareholders will of course, understand that the op-
position which has unfortunately checked the progress of the
undertaking, though conducted in the name of landowners,
had its origin with, and was paid for by, the Great Western
Company alone; the entire number of (nominally) opposing
landlords being fourteen, each of whom (with two excep-
tions) did not represent an average of two acres of ground,
whilst the majority of them, the directors have the best rea-
son to believe, had been induced incautiously to sign docu-
ments from which they afterwards felt themselves unable
(though in almost every instance when applied to they were
not-unwilling) to recede.
" Of bona fide landed opposition, grounded on actual
grievance, there was virtually none. The few cases still un-
settled at the close of the hest session, involving any sub-
stantial repugnance to the line by reason of real or sup •
posed annoyance, were all disposed of before the standing
order investigation commenced.
" The directors had come to a friendly understanding with
the South-WesteraCompany, which has since been embodied
in a formal agreemeta, bearing the ssal of that company, and
extending °vet the year 1848, by which nearly twenty-five
miles of the line promoted by this company will, in all pro-
bability, obtain legislative sanction in this session by means
of a Bill promoted by the South-Western Company, and will
become, as to the larger proportion of it, the joint property
of that company and the Manchester and Southampton Com-
pany. (This Bill has passed theComnions' Committee. )
" So complete and satisfactory indeed is the change of opi-
nion towards this railway, in the governing body of the
South Western Company, that, in the great contest now
pending between them and their broad gauge antagonists, for
possession of the country westward to Falmouth, the Man-
chester and Southampton line is placed in the foremost
rank of argument in favour of the narrow gauge series of
lines, on the ground of its affording a narrow gauge commu-
Mead= for the northern manufacturing districts to the
siouth and west.
a On the other hand, the Great Western Company, who
succeeded in obtaining the rejection of the Bill by a device
discreditable to themselves, and too easily adopted by a
Committee of the House of Lords--that device being no
other than the production, at the last moment, of a so-called
minute of their board, pledging themselves to lay down a
narrow gauge from Oxford—a pledge which they had dis-
tinctly refused to give in the House of Commons—that same
Great Western Company have not only failed to lay down a
single yard of rail in fulfilment of their promise, but they
have this year, through their leading Parliamentary Counsel,
denied that any such specific pledge (albeit recorded) was
given by them, thus evidencing the utter insufficiency of
the pretext upon which this measure was rejected by one
branch of the Legislature, after it had received the deliberate
sanction of another.
"Of the two companies who constituted the only real op-
ponents of this line, the one has become its supporter and ad-
vocate, and the other now seeks to escape from the fulfilment
of the conditions (unjust as they were) by which its tempo-
rary defeat was secured.
" The directors are accordingly prepared, after gathering
so far as has been practicable the opinions of their share-
holders in various parts of the country, unanimously to re-
commend a renewed application to Parliament, on the ground
that now to withdraw would be to cast away the advantages
secured by a great outlay—advantages which they unhesi-
tatingly assert would have secured the success of the Bill in
this session, if it had obtained a position in Committee.
"They recommended this course, however, to those only
who continue to share their confidence in the undertaking.
To other parties it will be just, as it is expedient, that op-
portunity should be afforde,, to withdraw, receiving back the
unexpended portion of their deposits, and accordingly steps
will be taken, by dissolution of the company or otherwise,
forthwith to accomplish this object.
" The amount remaining for distribution the directors can-
not now definitely fix. A very short time will enable them
to specify the sum to be returned, and to determine the form
and terms under which it will be expedient, for those who so
elect, to prosecute the undertaking."
The CIiAIRMAN expressed his deep regret, and the regret
of the directors, at the fate which the line had met with in
the Standing Orders Committee ; and also at the unavoid-
able absence of the chairman of the Company (Mr. John
Barker Mills) from indisposition ; and after adverting to the
different feelings under which they now met the shareholders
than on the last occasion, when the Bill had been rejected
by the House of Lords, he proceeded to say that if the share-
holders entertained the same enthusiastic feeling as they
did on that occasion, they had as much, if not
more, reason to entertain them now, as the Bill
had not been rejected on its merits, but simply
through a mishap. They had suffered shipwreck ; they were
like a vessel which had been stranded through the inac-
curacy of their charts; but with the aid of a strong resolu
lion, such as the one they adopted at the last meeting, it
was quite capable of being again launched into deep water,
and by their enterprise conveyed safely into port.—(Hear.)
The expressions of feeling in favour of proceeding with the
Bill in the ensuing session had surprised himself and the di-
rectors, as letters had come in to this effect from various parts
of the country. The Honourable Gentleman then
read a number of letters. The first was from
Lord Duneannon, the son of the late Lord Lieu-
tenant, dated before his lamented father's death, and the
others were from Mr. Burt, of Manchester, from shareholders
in Glasgow, and from a number of shareholders holding 650,
500, 300, and from 100 to 200 shares. The directors had
therefore come to the resolution to recommend the share-
holders to proceed with the Bill. Mr. Croskey, the Consul at
Southampton for the United States, stated in a letter, which
was read by the Chairman, that the American trade with
Southampton would shortly be materially increased, and
urging the shareholders to proceed. They were aware that
they had always considered it a desideratum to enter

into a friendly alliance with the South-Western
Company, they had entered into an arrangement with
that company, which he believed had received its common
seal, which would in all human probability secure to the
Manchester and Southampton upwards of twenty-five miles
of the line which they had proposed to construct—namely,
from Andover to Southampton (in connexion with the Dor-
chester, the Bishopstoke, and Basingstoke lines), which had
received the sanction of a Committee of the House of Com-
mons. The South-Western proposed this Bill with
the best faith—they were anxious to promote the object
which they had in view, but it was understood that it should
only be proceeded with in the event of the Manchester and
Southampton failing—(Hear)—and the whole line north of
Romsey would be held as joint property between the Man-
chester and Southampton, if it should go on, and
the London and South Western Company. They
had also made arrangements to run over a portion
of the Dorche3ter line at an equal mileage rate, and to have
the free use of the stations of the Company, and every other
accommodation which they could afford. These arrange-
ments, at least, found that the directors had not neglected
the interests of the shareholders, as that they had already
secured a portion of their line, which he trusted would uhi-
mately be carried out to its destination.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. ROBSILT STHEPIIENSOM, the engineer, stated that the
surveys of such an extensive line as the Manchester and
Southampton had been entrusted to a number of persons,
ancl, that unless they all worked in unity and with ac-
curacy, the final plans stood a chance of being in-
correct ; this, he regretted to say, had been the
case in the present instance, as the assistants had not worked
in unison, and consequently mistakes had occurred, which
had caused the defeat of the Bill in the Standing
Orders Committee. It would be unnecessary for
him to enter into the details, as he feared that
he could not make them comprehensive to the meeting.
He would state, however, that he was a large shareholder,
and that he still entertained the opinion that the line was as
legitimate a one as had ever been brought forward—(Lond
cheers)—because the country through which it passed
must have a railway.—(Hear, hear.) It must not
simply be regrrded as a local, but as a national line
having its termini in Southampton and in Lancashire--
(Cheers)—and any line achieving that in the best possible
manner, and economically, as this line would, must be sue..
cessful.—(Hear. ) With the view, therefore, of redeeming
what had taken place to the utmost of his power, he had pro•
posed to the directors to forego all engineering expenses for
the future survey of that line—(Loud cheers)—and also, at
his own cost, to reinstate the line in the position it should
have occupied this session, by carrying the Bill through the
standing orders next year, without any further expense.
The report was then received and adopted, and resolutions
were passed desiring the directors to proceed with the Bill
next-session, but allowing any one to withdraw who might
think proper to do so; also thanking the directors for their
exertions during the past and present year.
In reply to questions,
The CHAIRMAN stated that a small additional deposit
would be necessary, but that it would not exceed ss. or 6s.
All the accounts had not been sent in, but those who
thought proper to withdraw could receive the amount to
which they were entitled as soon as possible, and
the remainder at no very distant day, he could not, however,
state the exact amount.

A vote of thanks having been passed to the chairman and
directors, the meeting (which was the most numerous one we
ever attended) broke up.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE.
(From the London New Price Current of May 18.)
SUGAR.—The home-trade ware desirous to do business in
most sorts to-day, whilst some parcels were taken by the
brewers and distillers. On the part of exporters, however,
little desire was shown to operate. Importers of West India
Muscovade evinced firmness, and insisted upon prices equal
to those of Friday for all kinds, and at which a good business
was transacted.
REFINED.--To• day refined goods were in excellent request
by the home trade, and prices ruled firm. Bonded Crushed
Sugar sells freely for exportation.
EAST INDIA.—This afternoon Bengal Sugar did not meet
with much attention, and the parcels offered at public sale,
amounting to 4,175 bags and 76 casks, went at a fall on for-
mer rates of Gd. Madras met with little demand, and 3,031
bags were only in part sold.
MAumnes.—This afternoon there was a good demand for
Mauritius Sugar for the use of refiners and grocers, whilst
1 the brewers and distillers were buyers to a fair extent. The
parcels offered at public sale amounting to 11,238 bags 500
casks were nearly all disposed of, but merchants were com-
pelled to submit to a reduction on the rates of Friday of Gd
to is per cwt.
FOREIGN.—This afternoon at auction 416 hhds, 79 boxes,
11 trcs, 61 brls Cuba were offered, but a part only sold at
barely the former value.
CorFEE.—This afternoon the quantity of Ceylon Coffee
submitted to public competition amounted to 1,206 bags; the
Plantation was only in limited demand, and prices declined 2s
to 3s per cwt, but the Native was in excellent request, and
went at a rise on the rates of the last auction of is Gd to 2s
per cwt; the whole offered soh!.
CocaA.—This afternoon West India was not much in re-
quest ; and 664 bags Trinidad at auction were only partly
sold, but full rates were insisted upon.
TEA.—To-day at public sale 620 pkgs Assom Tea were all
sold, and at prices above what the proprietors expected to
obtain ; Pekoe fetching Is 10d to 3s I lid. Congou 94d to
Is 3id. Souchong is 2d to 2s Id, and a faw chests of Im-
p:ineutrdtiliaeal Ilyson and Young Ilyson Is llid to 35 Gd.
Rica=-.To-day there was only a limited demand for East
ilicien.essAdtopnleibilnic
asnalek2i,n4dl4obfaßgsicoef. Manilla were sold,
but at attakiaenthienr, louwterthreatedsa.maOgfedl,BB6o4ldb.agrsrßiveantgelayl: tthheerseowunads
SAtrp-daY, at public sale 228 boxes of Pearl Sago sold
at red rates.
1