The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-16 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

NEWCASTLE AND EDINBURGH AND
DIRECT GLASGOW JUNCTION.

The Committee met to-day at eleven o'clock, when the cross-exa

mination of Mr. Green *as resumed. Mr. John Miller, Mr. Taylor,
Mr. Bell, and other witnesses were examined as to the estimates,
price of land, &c.
Mr. Marshall, of Leith, was examined as to the traffic on

the route of the proposed line, which appears to be rapidly in-
creasing, as was also the trade of the manufacturing district
around Galashiels and Hawick. The gross income from the
various sources of traffic he estimated at 28,3621. He described
the direction in which the traffic to and from the mauufac-

tuning district was now carried. That it was carriedpartiibyßerWci
and partly by Leith, the two principal seaports through
which goods were forwarded to and from England. That a circle
with a radius of seven or eight miles embraced the whole of the
manufacturing towns, such as Galashiels, Selkirk, Melrose, and
Hawick, with other towns, such as Jedburgh and Roxburgh, and
that from the centre of the same district the distance to Newcastle
would be about forty miles shorter by the route of the present line
than by way of Kelso and Berwick. The witness then entered into
details of the population, showing that the rate of increase was
actually greater at Galashiels and Hawick than in the
manufacturing towns of Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow.
That while the population of the first-mentioned
towns had increased 35 and 40 per cent, since 1831, the in-
crease at Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow, was respecLively
23, 30, and 35 per cent. He next proved &um the value
of the manufactured goods, and from the amounts col-
lected at the toll-bars, that the traffic was doubling itself
about every five or six years. The value of the goods manufactured
in Hawick had increased from 140,0001. In 1839 to 270,0001. In 1845.
He considered the extension of the line to Jedburgh an object of
the greatest importance to Hawick. Galashiels,
his
alashiels,croasnsd_exoatmheirnamtioan-
nufacturing towns, as the trade with England was ra-
pidly and steadily increasing.
I
witness entered into additional details, show ing that the
rate
passengerthan traffic was in almost
every 150 per cent. ; that in districts in
oifeetianacereas
Instance
mach
eueihn
grtheaeter
Scotland similar to the one that the proposed line would intersect,
the rate of increase was so high as 400 or 500 per cent. The cross-
examination of this witness was continued on some other points,
but nothing was elicited to affect the evidence which he had pre-
viously given.
The Committee then adjourned till twelve to-morrow, when Mr.
Stephenson, civil engineer, will be examined.

GROUP H.
CORNWALL.

The Committee met at the usual hour, Viscount Morpeth, chairman.
Mr. Bidder was examined this morning. His evidence was merely
corroborative of the statements of Mr. Locke, with reference to the
difficult nature of the curves and gradients, and the superior advan-
tages afforded by the central districts of the country for the con-
struction of a railway.
Captain Beaufort, the hydrographer of the Admiralty, considered
that the bridge over the Admiralty ground should be at least 100 feet
clear in the headway.