The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-03 00:00:00

CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.

- - A special general meeting of the holders of new
shares in this Company, for the purpose-a...c.wstoct.7
ing the following branch lines of railway, was held yes-
terday, at eleven o'clock, in the Thatched House Tavern,
St. James's-street, in pursuance of the resolutions of
both Houses of Parliament, to consider the propriety of
proceeding with the Bills empowering the formation of

the same.
The list of Bills is as follows: -
1. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to deviate the line of the said railway in the vicinity of
Carlisle. _ _ _

2. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to make branch railways to the town of Dumfries.
3. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to make a branch railway to the town of Langholm.
4. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Compariy
to deviate certain portions of the Clydesdale Junction
Railway.
5. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to form certain branch and terminal railways in the vi.
cinity of Glasgow.
6. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company

to make a branch railway from the Clydesdale Junction
Railway to the Glasgow, Garnkirk, and Coatbridge
Railway at Dundyvan and Coatbridge.
7. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to make branch railways from the Castlecary Branch
of the Caledonian Railway to the Glasgow, Garnkirk,
and Coatbridge Railway, and from the last-mentioned
railway to the town of Airdrie.
8. A Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company
to make certain branch railways in the county of Mid-
Lothian.

The meeting, which was numerously and respectably
attended, was presided over by J. J. Hope Johnstone,
Encl., M.P., the chairman of the board of directors.
Among the gentlemen present besides the Hon. Chair-
man, we recognised Mr. P. M. Stewart, M.P., Mr. Hodg-
son, M.P., &c., &c.

The CHAIRMAN said, the first thing they had to do
was for the secretary to read the advertisement calling
the meeting together.
Mr. MACKAY then read the announcement of the
meeting, which he stated had been inserted in all the
newspapers, and in the London and Edinburgh Gazelles,
as required by the sessional order of Parliament.
The CHAIRMAN proceeded to address the meeting to
the following effect:—Gentlemen, it is now my duty to
submit for your consideration the Bills, the names
of which have been read to you, in order
that your decision may be taken upon them.
But before submitting them to you let me, in the first
place, call your attention to the most unexpected deci-
sion come to by a House of Commons this y ear in regard
to the scheme of the Glasgow and Dumfries Company,
which was put forward last year against the Caledonian,
but which was lost, after a full and fair investigation
before Committees of both Houses of Parliament. From
what had previously taken place I had good grounds to
expect a decision of a different kind. I do not say so
without sufficient grounds for the statement. You will
recollect that, atter a lengthened inquiry on the
part of a commission appointed to investigate as
to the best means of supplying the south of
Scotland with railway accommodation, that a
decision was given in favour of the Caledonian scheme.
That decision was affirmed in the able report of•.the
Board of Trade, and afterwards a Committee of the
House of Commons and subsequently a Committee of
the House of 'Lords ratified that decision. They de-
clared that on public grounds the Caledonian Railway's
claims for preference were well founded. Since then I
see no reason why that decision, on the faith of which
the Caledonian Company was incorporated, should be
departed from by the admission of a competing line—a
line, too, which after the most ample and fair investiga-
tion was rejected last year as incompatible with
the Caledonian Railway. This is the posi-
tion in which we are now placed, the
Bill which was last year rejected having now received
the sanction of a Committee of the House of Commons.
But we must not rest satisfied with that decision—

(Hear, hear)—or allow ourselves to remain in the posi-
tion in which we have been se unjustly placed, as I can-
not but think, when the case is more fully considered,
that it will be seen the decision is not such a one
as we were in justice and equity entitled to. I may,
however, observe, that if we have failed before the
Committee of the House of Commons in opposition
to the Glasgow and Dumfries scheme, we have prevailed
against another opponent that threatened to take a con-
siderable portion of our traffic I mean the North
British extension, from Hawick to Carlisle. We stand
in as favourable a position as we could desire, as far as
that project is concerned, the Committee having de-
cided that the preamble of their Bill was not proved.
With reference to the Bills now submitted, some it will
not be necessary to proceed with; only I think it will be
better that the whole be agreed to now than postponed.
We should then be in a position to proceed with all of
them at any time, should circumstances require it. I
think that all of these branches are essential to
the prosperity of the Caledonian system ; and some
of them have been brought forward more as
a protection than from the expectation of large remu-
neration. Last year we proposed a branch from the
main line of the Caledonian Railway to Dumfries, which
we thought would give the necessary facilities to that
town. We thought one branch which would not have
cost more than 100,000/., and with the trifling detour of
only seven miles, would have been satisfactory, but the
Committee decided differently. In order, therefore, to
meet their objections we brought forward the present
scheme, to unite Dumfries with the main line of the
Caledonian Railway, by two branches involving a con-
siderable expense. We have also considered a deviation
in the main line near to Carlisle necessary, in order to ob-
tain an entrance into a commodious central station that is
proposed to be erected there for the accommodation of
this railway in conjunction with the Lancaster and Car-
lisle, the Newcastle and Carlisle, and the Maryport and
Carlisle Railways. Conceiving that such a central sta-
tion will be of the greatest advantage to the public, we
have proposed the deviation in question. We also pro-
pose, about nine miles from Carlisle, to take a branch
from the main line to Langholm, both as a means of
protection and to afford accommodation to a considerable
population. We likewise propose a small deviation on
the Clydesdale Junction Railway, which is necessary in
consequence of a decision of the House of Commons last
year. There is a Bill also involving considerable opera-
tions in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, which are found
necessary to connect the Clydesdale Junction with the
Barrhead and Neilston and Glasgow and Greenock Rail-
ways, a connexion that will be of great advantage,
embracing also a scheme for crossing the River Clyde,
so as to establish a station in the very centre of the city.
This Bill has been agreed to by the Committee of the
House of Commons, with the exception of the latter
part, for crossing the Clyde, which is not to be
per-
witted without the consent of the Admiralty. The
Committee would only sanction the preamble of the Bill,
subject to such approval. At present the Admiralty are
not prepared to sanction the crossing of the river,
and we will, therefore, have to confine our opera-
tions, at present, to the south bank. I may here
remark that the Ayr and the Glasgow and Edinburgh
Railway Companies had a project before the same Com-
mittee for crossing the river lower down, but that was
rejected, so that with regard to the crossing we stand
at least upon equal terms with them, If the Admiralty
at any future period may consider our plan for crossing
the river unobjectionable, or we may__ devise some means
of effecting that object that will meet with their ap-
proval, then we shall be in a positiot. to give a most
central and commanding station in the very heart of the
city. We have also Bills for short branches to connect
the Garnkirk Railway and the adjoining district with
the Scottish Central Railway, so as to bring
the large northern traffic on to the line. The
last Bill is for the purpose of effecting a
junction from the terminus at Edinburgh to the pier
at Granton—a pier constructed upon the largest scale, in
order to accommodate the shipping, and through which,
by the proposed branch, we shall be able to afford every
facility to the shipment of coal and other mineral traffic.
We have proposed to make this junction along with the
Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company. it will
not involve any great expense, and. no doubt be highly re-
munerative. We did submit a Bill to extend the junc-
tion to the port of Leith, but some difficulty arose in
carrying it out, and we have not proceeded with
4, We bore, however, to make such armor-