The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-28 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE

CELEBRATION OF THE OPENING OF THE
GREAT NORTHEItN RAILWAY.
BOSTON, FRIDAY.—The festival commemorative of the
opening of the Great Northern system of railway
throughout Lincolnshire, was celebrated here last even-
ing on a grand scale. For years the good old town of
Boston has not been the scene and centre of so much at-
traction as on this occasion. All the shops were closed,
and a general holiday was observed both here and at
Spalding. Excursion trains heavily laden ran through.
out the day to Peterborough, Lincoln, Louth, and Great
Grimsby. The mayor and corporation and gentry of
Boston visited the latter plats, now a chief point of at-
traction in Lincolnshire, for its port until the railway
*me there was comparatively obscure, but will now be
converted into a great deep water harbour for the East
Coast and Baltic trade. After viewing the coffer-
dam and other structures they returned to dine at Boston
at four, when upwards of 500 sat down to a sumptuous
banquet in the theatre, which was boarded over to a level
with the stage and decorated as on the occasion of the great
dinner in 1841. Besides the guests, there was a gallery
full of the fair sex. Mr. James Hodges, the Mayor of
Boston, occupied the chair ; supported by the Earl of
Yarborough, the Hon. Oct. Duncombe Sir James Duke
(the Lord Mayor Elect of London), Lieutenant-Colonel
Colquhoun, Mr. Denison, M.P., chairman of the Great
Northern ; Mr. B. B. Cabbell, M.P. for Boston ; Mr.
Christopher, M.P. ; Captain Straubenzee, Mr. Peto,
M.P. ; Captain Laws, R.N. ; Mr. Cubitt, C.E. ; the
Mayors of South and Great Grimsby, Mr. Fowler,
&c.
The cloth having been removed,
The MAYOR proposed, amid the most enthusiastic
cheers, " The Queen, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales,
and thereat of the Royal Family," which was immediately
followed by a fire of artillery from the river-side, and
the National Anthem.
Mr. F. W. WHITE proposed " The Bishop and Clergy
of the Diocese." This was responded to by the Rev. J.
H. OLDRID.
" The Army and Navy," proposed by Mr. T. GARFIT,
banker, was responded to respectively by Captains
STRAUDENZEE and LA'tvs.
Mr. DENISON, M.P., in responding to the toast of the
evening, "Prosperity to the Great Northern and East
Lincolnshire Ralways," which was drunk with all the
honours, after alluding to the unparalleled prejudice and
opposition the Great Northern hail encountered in its
progress through Parliament, its cheapness and national
importance, and the promises it held out of prosperity,
said that by means of its opening, a passenger from
London would now be enabled, either by means of the
London and North-Western or the Eastern Counties, to
get to Boston in five hours, to Lincoln in six, and Hull
in seven or eight. It was well known that the shares of
all companies at the present moment were in an unrea-
sonably depressed condition. He said unreasonably, for
he would defy any man to show him any good and sufi-
Mont reason why London and North-Westerns should
be below par, why Midlands should be at 66, and why
Great Northerns should be at 13 or 14 discount. He
had tried to read the causes of this unreasonable de-
pression, and had come to the conclusion that it was
owing to a sudden panic, created, he believed, by de-
signing persons, whose object was to drive down the share
market as low as they could, in order to make fortunes
from the ruin of those who were unfortunately com-
pelled to make a sacrifice.—(Cheers.) Under these cir-
cumstances he need scarcely observe that the state of
the share market was no criterion, and he would advise
shareholders in the Great Northern and all other lines
not to despond, but do their utmost to stand by the in-
vestment they had made, in the confident hope that they
would be handsomely remunerated for the risk they had
run.—(Cheers.) As regarded the Great Northern he
might state that the Government inspector, who had ex-
amined it, had been heard to say that " he had never
passed over a line in such good condition on a first
opening." It was smoother than any other he had ever
inspected, and would take less to keep in order than any
other line he had ever seen. Whether it would bo as profit-
able as the London and North-Western it was impossible
to say, but its local and national facilities could not be
overrated.—(Cheers.)
Mr. T. GEE, banker, in proposing " The Members of
the County of Lincoln," said it was to be regretted that,
owing to the interference of the Admiralty, the Boston
station was not more in the town; and observed, as a
practical illustration of the already developed advan-
tages of the Great Northern to the agriculturists of
Lincolnshire, that the other day a friend of his went to
Lincoln and sold 800 quarters of wheat, and returned
within an hour to Boston, ready to meet any further

demand.--(Applause).
Mr. CHRISTOPHER, M.P., in responding to the toast,
said that when at first so many railways were proposed
to run through Lincolnshire, he felt great difficulty in
deciding to which he should give his support. He ulti-
mately determined to give it to the Great Northern; and
the sanction of it by both Houses of Parliament, and the
celebration of its opening that day, was a gratifying proof
that he was right.—(Cheers.) It was a duty he owed
to his constituents, and a personal pleasure to himself,
to co-operate in great national works like the present,
believing them to beneficial to all classes in the kingdom,
whether engaged in manufactures, professions, agricul-
ture, or commerce.—(Loud cheers).
Mr. W. H. ADAMS, barrister, in an able speech, pro-
posed "The Earl of Yarborough, and the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway," and after enlarg-
ing on the advantages of the newly-opened communica-
tion to the great agricultural districts, said those advan-
tages were calculated to be increased tenfold by
the
connexion of the Great Northern with its ally,
theMeahnlceh
Earlest e,
was Sheffield,
chairman,anda Lincolnshire,nd
which
a t
onceof unwhicht the
the
N
agricultural with the commercial—the _ greaters )producing
The
with the great consuming districts.—(Cheers.)
de-
pression alluded to by
4ct.0l it;ng wascourage, and hold merely
ot tempo-
rary; p
for° -
rary; they had only toMtta..kl)e
maintain its high position
there was " a good time co.nminthge' yet.—(Cheers.) (oCf neers
Tocommercial
affairs, it was absolutely
necessary that the directory of
aranidlwinaytshissh
roeusl
pde he
tavneenme ewneroef
1.
mu
onefirme preearcthuanbaltee itnhtaegn ritthye,
ugh for pre-
csiodna,npat.n_y(cthhaetersh,awdiththtehrEeea
to the toast,
The Earl of Ya.naostoircan,t\mneresehstYipheoa.rnerabedi.omi)nr:
sustain that character bteh the scountrfy which 'arndh
iosbj.ent family t°
said that it wouldalaywisn
had earned before him. He had once held the high
position of Member for the whole county, and he hoped
) him hit
s formlong thea-
q w te
hn
the a n
county
nhe —d (
enabled
s .
opinionbheausahtinadtanne
t b
of what were its necessities, and more espe-
cially what were its railway wants. When he saw that
vessels were actually carrying cattle from Scotland to
London, and that almost every other part of England
had been thought of by the promoters of railways, he
felt that it was high time that something should be done
for the richest agricultural county in the kingdom.—
Cheera,) Great and gigantic as the scheme of the Great
Northern appeared to him at first, he felt that it was
his duty, as the representative of the county, to give
all his support to the measure.—(Cheers.) It was a
great national project. Year by year he could not fail
observing that the other great trunk lines were getting
so overloaded with traffic, that it was high time to do
something to relieve them.—(Cheers and laughter.)
While, at the same time, he was sure that sufficient
would remain to remunerate the shareholders in those
lines, he felt that the public would not be adequately ac-
commodated unless new lines were raade.—(livar, hear.)
From a practical knowledge of the district that it tra-
versed, he knew of no line more calculated to benefit the
manufacturing and agricultural districts than the Man-
chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire. It was a project
of the greatest national importance, giving as it did a
direct communication from Liverpool to Grimsby and
Newark to the Baltic—(Cheers)--and thus enabling
Lincolnshire, the producing county, to carry to
Lancashire, the manufacturing district, its corn, beef,
and mutton.—(Cheers.) A grand point not to be
overlooked, was, that all this could be done
so much cheaper than by any other means. It had
been rumoured that the coffer-dam at Grimsby had been
falling in, but this was altogether without foundation.
It was true there had been, as in every great work, such
as railways, occasionally a slip; but he spoke advisedly
when ho said that the works were going on to the full
satisfaction of those who were responsible for them.
(Cheers) As to the policy and propriety of construct-
ing these docks, he would ask, was it not of the greatest
importance to such a railway as theirs to have, instead of
a land station, what might be termed a great water
station at the end of it?---(Loud cheers.) Such would
their docks be. Dicks had hitherto been constructed
inland; now they were constru,ting them almost out at
sea; and the great advantage of all this would
be, that coasting steam-vessels would be enabled to
enter their docks at any time of the tide. The lock
gates were so large, and the water so deep, that the
largest coasting steamers would be able to enter them at
half-tide; and as a convincing proof of their national im-
portance, he might state that the Admiralty had insisted
on the dock-gates being so large as to accommodate the
largest war steamers.—(Cheers.) Why was this? Be-
cause they saw the importance of the station in case of
war. Though the railway world was depressed, he felt
le
mapetphnooentnatlrisitfetpeeyhcnkytfm,strce,tiiooehittynnialffidtrifdl(tiyrhemiomennaceteseenuird,hmeoiehnntxseet,toahafse)enyniedardtal::lhivaaeannttnhndestdeeeuhrrethewawerkfhieritsenihwuestsidhltwsiehhnodeHieuprtiewhdflareitotrburiemeutldshsttea_hheiiederl
(Cheers.) They had been told what Leinwcooulnsh
possessed—a network of railways. Lincolnshire
them
now tell no
now what it did not possess, and which, in truth, it did
nub requirt:—fur it was lac) less singular than true, that al-