The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-17 00:00:00

EXETER LINES.

The railroad question still maintains an unabated in-
terest in this good city. The county, both east and west,
has been seized on by the surveyors, and rumour is
active in preparing the public mind for an extraordinary
development of projects both broad and narrow, to
occupy the attention of the forthcoming session of Par-
liament. The Great Western Company are suddenly
enamoured of a short line, and claim a right to put the
hest gauge upon the shortest route. The South-Western
Company are prepared to meet them with a comprehen-
sive harrow gauge project, which shall study the requite-
naents of the whole western district of country. The
several companies which appeared in connexion with the
South-Western last year, are now to be merged into a
South-Western Extension Company, which will be iden-
tified with the South-Western itself, and the stock of
the old companies is probably to be exchanged for the
South-Western Extension stock. Negotiations to effect
this arrangement are, we understand, now pending.
The Great Western have been taught a severe lesson.
They hare learnt that a cathedral city is not to be so
easily extinguished as some of their flatterers imagined,
and that a community of some 40,000 souls possesses a
means of operating on public opinion (especially when it
has justice and common sense on its side) with a degree
of effectiveness and power which even a great compaey
cannot afford to despise. It is unnecessary now to ask
if a line of railway preferring the northern coast as much
as it well can on its road to Exeter, and thence crossing
to the south coast, and begging that from Exeter ti
Plymouth, and thence to, Falmouth, can be received as
the sole trunk line of the west ? Common sense answer::
that it cannot. The Great Western Company have a
right to indulge in a great roundabout prepensi y. They
hare a right to neutralise the merits of the it gauge by
the circuitousness of their route—they have a right to
clap ten miles of way upon the natural distance between
Exeter and Plymouth (considering perhaps that now our
good bishop talks of beginning to think about corvine
back to his palace a few years hence, the further these
two towns can be placed apart the better)—the great
company hare a right to outrage common sense, and to
set at nought public feeling, and to scorn L.cal advice,
and turn a deaf ear to local eppeals—but having neg-
lected to take the straight path, and to construct the
trunk line of the West of England, they have no right
to stand as obstructives in the way of persons ready and
willing to do the work which it is their fault that it now
remains to be done.

The trunk line must and will be made. The Great
Western people have decided that it is to be a narrow
gauge line, for they have steadfastly refused to make a
broad gauge trunk line. Circumstances render a narrow
gauge the best line, because the Legislature has deter-
mined to limit the extension of the broad gauge, and a
narrow gauge line restoring to Exeter, in the first place,
her old direct line of route to London, and the revival of
her connexions with the several towns thereon—and in
the second place connecting the great arsenals of the
empire together, and placing the western port of Fal-
mouth in junction with London, Manchester, and the
great marts of commerce, by an uninterrupted and un-
broken line of communication—all this, we say, will show
the citizens of Exeter, and the community at large, the
importance of supporting the direct line.
With respect to the speed of the two gauges, let it be
remembered that we are in the infancy of the atmos-
pheric system of traction, and that it is calculated that a
speed of 75 miles an hour may be obtained upon it ;
this rate of speed is frequently attained on the
Croydon line, although the machinery was made with
the imperfection necessarily attendant on inexperi-
ence. If the atmospheric succeed, the great
charm of the broad gauge is lost, and the expen-
siveness of its construction will alone remain. The
triumph of the atmospheric will be a tower of strength
to the narrows, and that triumph the broad gaugers are
doing their best to consummate. We are assured, on all
sides, that the atmospheric principle is daily surmount-
ing the difficulties which novelty and inexperience en-
tailed upon it, and that when the South Davon line is
opened with it, the locomotives will be banished.
We should entrust the South-Western wit atabsolute
power as reluetan ly as we should the Great Western.
But it is due to the South-Western to say, that they
have never outraged public opinion 8) offensively as the
Great Western have ; nor have they di•.regarded local
feeling so much ; whilst they have studied the feelings
and comforts of the poor third class passenger to a very
eminent degree. We do not want to prefer one com-
pany to the other, we want to prefer both to either—
give us the old direct road—and above all, give us cum •
petition. .

The success of the atmospheric will equalise the bpeed
of both the gaug..s.— Westem Timcs.

HOP INTELLIGENCE.

BECKLEY, SEPT. 12.—The hops are a little better than
last week; they average about 65 bushels to the cwt.
Duty estimated at 200,0001.

BURWASH, SEPT. 12.—Hopping goes on vigorously;
some planters, whose grounds have been cleared pretty
fast, will finish in a few days. Many plantations are be-
ginning now to indicate the necessity of proceeding with
the picking as fast as possible: a high temperature is pro-
ducing a rapid change in them. The weight of the hops
has improved a little during the past week. Opinions
here are against the present high estimate of duty. Ex-
perienced planters will keep tieir produce at present out
of the market, in the belief that better prices than those
now prevailing, will be realised.
EASTHOATHLT, SEPT. 12.—The hop-picking here-
abouts is proceeding rapidly. Ni vir was weather more
favourable for the pickers; in many instances their la-
bours have been brought to a close, and the poles stripped
and stacked, which gives to the gardens a very winterly
appearance. Many have still a fortnight's pi:king, but
we fear by that time the quality of the hop will be much
deteriorated. The weight in general about here will
come far short of what was at one time expected, but
the number of bushels grown doubtless far •:xceedi, that
of many years past, in some instances supassing the num-
ber of hills on which they. were grown.
GOODHURST, SEPT. 12.—We are progressing very
nicely with our hop-picking, getting more bushels than
we expected, but not any more in weight; some pieces
are going off very much in colour, in consequence of the
severe drought; there will be but very few more good
coloured samples. The duty is considered too high at
200,0001.

eIIESTLING, SEPT. 12.—The hops in this and the
neighbouring parishes are very large and plentiful. At
many places pickers are obliged to leave off before night,
in consequence of getting more hops than the oast can
take. Samples are very good, but require 70 to 73
bushels per cwt.
HOItSMONDEN, SEPT. 13.—We have a general com-
plaint that the hops do not weigh well, though the
number of bushels anticipated is in most cases realised.
There are some splendid t,amples produced in this parish.
but at present prices we trust our planters will not be so
insane as to part with their hops, as Irom the great
deficiency in their weight we think the duty very much
overset.

lIURSTOREEN. SEPT. 13.--The hop-picking is draw-
ing to a close in this parish, Salyhurst, and adjuining
parish, Etchinghatn; many of the farmers will finish this
week. The hops still continua very light-70 or 80
bushels to the cwt.; and the general opinion is that the
duty is estimated too high in London ; the set here is
about 185,000/.

IDEN, SEPT. 12.—The hops are a little improved since
my last report, as it does not require so many bushels to
the cwt. as they hitherto have done.
MAYFIELD, SEPT. 13.—The picking goes on rapidly.
The weather still favourable for the planter. Never
was there a finer season. Should the fine weather pre-
vail another week or ten days, it will be brought to a
close. In some instances the red rust has got bold of
the hop, but not sufficient to injure the samples; and
they weigh considerably better than at the commence-
ment of the hop picking. Do not consider the duty
over set.

NORTRIAM, SEPT. 12.—The hops weigh a trifle bet-
ter than they did at the commencement of the hop pick-
ing, but they are still light; we hear of none coining
under seventy bushels to the cwt. The picking will
pretty generally close this week. In many grounds the
hops are going off very fast.
WADRURST, SEPT. 13.—Hop•picking still goes on
most favourably, owing to the fineness of the weather,
but the hops do not weigh much better than last week.
One gentleman's hops run about 65, whilst others re-
quire 75 bushels to make a cwt. We have plenty of
pickers, and the consequence is they do not work long
days, as was the case last year, which makes than
rather dissatisfied, many of them coming froin a °rm•at
distance. Duty set at 195,0001., and many emiir. nt
planters think that. too high, as some of the hops w. re
picked before the condition had arrived at its maturity.
The mould makes sad havoc in some few instances
Sussex Advertiser.

The young Prince de Montfort, second son of
Jerome Buonaparte, and nephew of the King of
Wurtemburg, arrived in London on Saturday last. He
proceeded immediately to Bath, where he intends to
his cousin, Prince Napoleon Louis. It is known
that, by the death of Louis Buonaparte, ex-King of
Holland, the chief representa-tive of the Imperial family,
is now the ex-prisoner of Ham, Prince Napoleon Louis.
There is now' exhibiting at Valencia, says the
Espanol of Madrid of the sth. a child 14 months o!d, half
of whose body is black and half white, covered with ex-
traordinary marks. Its legs are deformed—one of its
arms is nearly in the natural state, but the other is like
that of a monkey..
Mohmi La! agd (Suite las arrived is Pails, en role
for &mils. • '