The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-09 00:00:00

Total from Manchester, via Shrewsbury to
Portdynllaen

..... 216 0

It is obvious that the advantage is in this instance in
favour of the Chester line, whether Holyhead or Port.
dynllaen should become the packet station.
After a careful review of all the bearings of the case, we
feel bound to state that the route by Chester, Bangor, and
Caernarvon, is, under present circumst:nces, the preferable
one for a railway communication to Porrd)nllaen.
It is now necessary to advert to the Report of the Officers
of the Royal Navy, who were directed, in pursuance of the
address of the House of Commons of the 12th August, to
give their opinion as to the relative merits of the three
ports therein specified, namely, Holyhead, Portdynllaen,
and Ortue's Head.

In that Report, dated the 14th January, 1840, which has
been officially con m •n'cated to us, we find that they con.
sider the fo-roatiou of a packet station at Orrne's Head
wholly out of the question ; it therefore is unnecessary for
us to make any further remark on that project.
Is the Naval Committee were of opinion that the har-
bours of Portdynllaen and Holyhead could be rendered
equally suitable for the station of the Doblin packets, it
would be necessary fur us to enter into the most minute
and searching examination of all the properties of the two
lines from Bangor, in order to ascertain to which the rare-
ence might be due. Li this case we should require the
advocates of these competing lines to lay before us detailed
estimates and drawings of every part of the work that their
respective projects would involve, with other information,
to which it is now superfluouS to advert.
The Report of the Naval Committee is so decidedly
in favour of Holyhead, that it is unnecessary to put
the parties in question to the expense of preparing the
drawings, &c. we hate alluded to, because, a'thoegh wo
are, for want of this minute information, not in a situation
to state which of the two lines would be preferred seeing
that the advantages and disadvantages are nearly balanced i
—we vet are enabled distinctly to say that there is no me-
chanical
or statistical superiority, in one line over the other,
that could turn the scale against eith,r harbour that might
be considered the most advantageous for the packet station. 1
We have now to state, that in obedience to the order if
the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, dated the 12th
of February last, we have carefully considered the ar-
rangement submitted to their Lordships by the Naval
Committee, far the proposed extension t.f the harbour at
Hulylioad ; and we have to report, that so far as we are
competent to judge of this matter, it aiy,ars to us that the i
project in qu,stion is well adapted for efr.eting the cla-
ject which these officers represent to be necessary.
A. table follows, snowieg that even if the harbours of I
lie:yhead and P.,rtdynllaen had ben erinally favcnuab`e
for a packet station, still a little time would be gained b
seleepg the firmer place as tl-e point of departure of the !
Dul)lin packets, and a note is subioined to this effect;— I
",No allowance is made for the effect of prevailine winds,
as we do not observe any imp:;rtant difference in the are.
rage time of the voyages between Liverpool and Kings-
town performed by the first-class Government packets
mentioned in the heading, whether in going to or returning
from Irelane.

The result of our inquiries may now be briefly summed up,
fl,lyhead being selected as the port for the Dublin
packets, we are of opinion that the best line of railway for
C i Cal communication between London and Dublin s that
proposed by Mr. Ge,4:ge Stephenson, namely, by Chrter
awl Bangor to Holyhead.
If Portdynllaen had been considered the preferable sta
tion for the pickets we should have recommended that
the railway should be formed from Chester by Bangor and
Criarvon to Portdynila,o. In either case the line of
railway might be completed in about three years from the
period of its commrnecmer t.
We cannot close this Report without observing that

* See Mr. Vignolcs' diagram suction on his Map of North
Wales, published with the Report on Trish Railways.
- It has ben remarked, own ingniry ap: ears to
confirm the fact, that a circle described
Manchester as a centre, embracs of
70
miles radius fr mi
population as an
eval circle dcseribed from Londonasasluargceeantre, and as .the
former population is almost entirel
manufactures,
great degie,
and a large portion of the workingycfasngseasgeill • in
must neon-
dependent on Irish agricultural importations,l;h a
sarily be a very extensive intercourse between Ireerleand and these
northern counties,
would pass by Liverpool although we are aware that heavy articles
.
t This distance is derived, as in all other cases, by taktn• tb
shortest existing line, or lines in progress; but it his bee esZe
gested by Aft. Vignoles, in his Report to the Irish Railway
Conuniasionera (p. 36), that a line might be made from Chtt;-
ter to Chit*, or Llangollen, to join the Shrewsbury and Bala
line. This would essentially shorten the line of railway com-
p, urneetion bistvreen Manchester and Portdynllaen, but, at the
nail, it *Ollll inestme the silent of the new lice to be:mut

from the favourable nature of the country for a railway
from the Great Western at Dudcot to Oxford, and thence
to Worcester, and from the skilful manner in which it is
proposed to extend the line to the last named city, we
are of opinion that at no distant period this project will
be carried into effect.
This line would take from Oxford nearly a central
course between the Birmingham and Great Western
lines, and afford railway accommodation to a distance
which cannot derive much advantage from ony other line.
LI This convenience would extend even to Worcester, not-
f withstanding that the Birmingham and Gloucester Rail-
way will pass at no great distance; for the length of the
journey from London round by Birmingham will be at
least 138 miles, whereas by the projected line through
Oxford to Worcester, it would only be 118 dit.
ference of 20 miles in favour of the latter; and taking into
account the greater average speed of the Great Western,
there can be no doubt that at least one hour in time would
he gained between London and Worcester, and the travel-
ler would save from 53. to 61. in his fare.
In cases of emergency alsi, a much higher speed is, un.
questionably, attainable on lines of this construction, than
on those of the more usual gauge.
In conclusion, we h,ve only to state that the continua.
tion of the railway to Tenbury and Ludlow would not be
prevented by any difficulties of construction, and if future
researcher; should lead to the discovery of an easy passage
through the mountains, the line may be eventually ex.
tended to the Welch coast.
We have, &c.,
FREDERIC S 111TH. Lieu', Col. Itlyal Eogineers,
PETER BARLOW. F. R.S.
HENRY AMSINCK, Secretary, Lieut., R N.
To Robert Gord n, Egg., M. P., Secretary, Treasury,
NAVAL INTELLIG!:;NCE.

(From the Plymouth► Journal )
The Herald arrived at Sydney, (N. S. W.) from Hobart
Town, 28th Nov.
The Racehorse arrived at Maranham from Para, 16th
February.

The Swale, tender, sailed on Thursday, with stores for
the Packets at Faimouth.

The She!drake, packet, was taken out of duck on Thurs-
day, and sailed on Monday for Falmluth.

The Merlin, steam-vessel, saEed for Liverpool on
Thursday.
The Drake, lighter, arrived on Friday. with stores frum
Portsmouth, and is now bolding f.-4. Pembroke.

The tErna, smiled with stores for the fleet on the north
coast of Spain on S.iturday.

The Aid, lighter, sailed on Saturday with stores for
Pembroke.

The Impregnable, 104, guard-ship was paid wages on
Monday.
MALTA.—The Blazer was sent away with despatches
to Corfu on Monday last, which no doubt must be im-
portant, since the regular mail day was forty-eight hours
after. The Gorgon war steamer end Daphne corvette,
were stationed at Alexandria to protect British interests.
The Talbot, Weazle, and Zebra arc at Corfu and Zante.
The Asia, Belleisle, Ganges, Hastings, Powerful, Castor,
and Rhadamanthus, at Vourla and Smyrna; the Dido, at
Constantinople ; the Carysfort, Scorpion, and Hazard on
the Coast of Spain; and the Wasp at Gibraltar. The
Beacon► and Magpie left this far Athens and the Archipe-
lago on the Bth inst.
The Megtera arrived yesterday with the mail of the
lonian lilabds and Greece. The Royal Yacht Club
schnoncr Menai, E. Smith, Esq., arrived yesterday from
Naples ; the surveying vessels, Beacon and Magpie, sailed
on the Bth for the Levant.

In Port—Princess Charlotte, 104 (bearing the !la. of
Admiral the Hon. Sir R. Stnpford, G. C. 8., G. C. NI7G.)
Benbow, 72, Implacable, 7Z Tyne, 26, Ceylon, 6,
steamers Pheen;x, Confiance, Alecto, Prorne:hens, Me-
gaera, and the French steamers Sesostris and Dante.
Ordcrs were on Wednesday received at Woolwich dock-
yard to lay down a large 90-gun ship, and the operations
for her building to be immediately commenced. A 14-
gun brig, called the Siren, will be hunched in the course
of the ensuing month. Last Saturday, Lord Minto, the
First Lord of the Admiralty, visited the dock-yard, in com-
pany with several fcientific gentlemen, and inspected the
line-of.battle ship the Trafalgar, 120 guns, which is
nearly ready to be laulelftd.
Remaining in Hamoahe—lmpregnable, San Jtsef, Rod-
ney, Nautilus, Sylph, Carron steamer, Drake lighter.
In the Sound— Thunderer, Camtridge, Inconstant.