The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-18 00:00:00

Room D.

5 GLASGOW, DUMFRIES, AND CARLISLE.
The Committee on the merits of this Bill met to-i',av at
eleven o'clock, Earl St. Germans in the chair. All the other
members of the Committee present.
The examination of witnesses for the Bill was then re-
sumed.

Mr. Charles Brown, coach proprietor of Kilmarnock, exa-
mined. He said he was the proprietor of two coaches that
ran south from Kilmarnock. The one coach was the
Standard, that ran through to Dumfries and Carlisle; and
the other was the Lass of Ballochmyle, to Cumnock. The
number of passengers booked last year at Kilmarnock by the
Standard coach was 9,215. This was from January 1845 to
January 1846. Of these about one a day went through to
Carlisle, and these would represent the number on the average
that carnet': um Glasgow via Kilmarnock for Carlisle. The other
passengers were for places along the route. The traffic by
this coach had great ly increased the last year, and so had the
profits. A great number of parcels were taken by this coach,
and they were often asked to ttle carpets, but they were
obliged to refuse them. Besides the two coaches he had
named that went south, there was a coach from Ayr to
Dumfries, and also one front the former place to Cumnock.
There was a gow deal of Netwg- from Ziliaaarliock ?owl

Hei • Dumfries. kept froth twenty-live to thirty post-horses, :lid
there might be as many mote iti the town. He generally
bought his horses at Dumfries and the dettthern markets,
and if they had a railway they would no doubt be brought
by it. He thought there would be 1,000 or 1,200 horsed
brought each year by the railway. A great number of dairy
Ayrshire cow 3 at present went south, and he thought, were
the line formed, there would be at least a thousand sent an-
nually. The line now proposed would make complete com-
munication between Ayrshire and England. At present It
was the practice for English travellers to visit Kilmarnock
in their way to Glasgow, and to transact business in the
former. They generally came by his coach.
To the CHAIRMAN—The distance from Kilmarnock to
Carlisle by the road was 94 miles, and to Dumfries 60
miles.

Cross-examined—The Standard coach left Kilmarnock
every morning for Carlisle, and took about ten hours. There
were two coaches that went to Cumnock only. The coach
from Ayr to Dumfries did not go by the valley of the north.
The Glasgow passengers to Carlisle went mainly by the
Caledonian route. He did not know that the main bulk of
the passengers by the Standard coach to and from Carlisle
were from or going to Glasgow. The passengers, on the
day he spoke of, were those who booked from Glasgow,
though there were some through passengers that did not so
book. In the number given he had given those booked for
all distances, long and short. Included in the 1,200 horses
that would be carried by the railway, draught horses, many
of which, in that county, were worth 501. or 601. each. Of
these horses, about three-fourths would go by Glasgow. Of
the cows he had named, a considerable number, he believed,
were sent by steam. He could not give any proportions of
those which went by land and by steam. The finer kind of
horses were raised about Annan and Carlisle, and the draught
horses in Galloway.
To Mr. MURPHY—He was sorry to say that the great de-
mand for horses for railway work had increased their price.
The increase in price was not double, but it might be about
25 per cent. The greatest increase in his posting had taken
place within the last two years. The railway proceedings
had increased the demand for post horses to some extent, for
the purposes of engineers and surveyors. At present they
could not book passengers at Kilmarnock till the arrival of
the train, unless they wrote through to Glasgow before.
Re-examined—The course adopted in relation to horses
was, to bring them from Dumfries to Kilmarnock to be ex-
posed for sale, and, if not sold there, to be taken on to
Gla+gow.

Ti Viscount CANNING-He could not give the passengers
for the year previous to 1845.
Mr. Rolston, farmer,. who resided at Dunduff, near Ayr,
examined—He farmed two farms, one of 700 acres, Scots, and
the other 1,000. He dealt largely in cattle and sheep. There
were a great number of fairs held in the district, which were
attended by English dealers, principally to purchase cows and
heifers. From 1,200 to 1,500 of these went at present south
by the valley of the Nith. A portion also went by
ti. Ai-duos:smi steamers. if a railway were formed
there, cows would no doubt go by it. A good
number of fat cattle and sheep were raised in the district,
which went mainly to Glasgow, because, for want of travel-
ling accommodation, they were shut out of the English mar-
ket. With a railway he thought 2,000 or 3,000 tat cattle
and 8,000 or 10,000 sheep would go south. There would
also be a considerable trade in bringing barley from Dumfries
for brewing purposes. In Ayr and Kilmarnock 600 or 700
tons of barley were used for brewing.
Cross-examined—He had been engaged in collecting infor-
mation on the points he had stated. The Lothian barley
was heavier than the Dumfries barley, but he could not say
that it was better for malting purposes. He was informed
not. The fat cattle now went principally to Glasgow, ex-
cept what were wanted for the consumption of the district.
Cows also went to Glasgow and Edinburgh, but he did not
think they went by railway.