The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-06 00:00:00

RAILWAY COMMITTEES

(SATURDAY.)
GROUP IX.
The Committee met to-day at twelve oclock, Lord Wors-
ley in the chair.
WEST OP SCOTLAND JUNCTION.
After some conversation, itiwas arranged that, in abandon-
ing the junction with the Greenock and Polloc and Govan
lines south of the Bridge-street station, the promoters
of the West of Scotland Junction did not give up the small
branch proposed to connect it with the Barrhead and Neil-
ston, and that opposition should be heard on that head.
Mr. Gray, the deputy-chairman of the Clyde River Trust,
was called, and was undergoing examination against the via-
duct proposed over the river, when
Mr. HOPE wished the promoters of the Bill to put in the
exact plan of the bridge they intended constructing. They
had spoken about two or three plans, and he wished to know
which of them they selected, in order to regulate his exami-
nation of witnesses accordingly.
It was announced that the promoters were prepared to take
any of the plans that the Committee proposed ; either that
with seven piers detached from the present bridge, or one to
abut on it ; or else to cross above it, as explained by Mr.
Miller.
After some discussion on the point, the room was cleared.

On our admission the Cx.intsiax intimated that the parties
should confine themselves to one plan for crossing the river.
Mr. ANDREWS then said the plan selected was the viaduct
with the same number of arches and with continuous piers.
Mr. Gray's examination was then resumed, wh deposed
generally that he opposed the present scheme, because it
would interfere with traffic of the streets, while the crossing
of the Clyde at the point proposed would drive the ship?ing
down the river forty or fifty feet. The crossing would also
damage Glasgow•bridge.
The cross-examination of the witness did net elicit any
particular point, and the Committee adjourned, at three
o'clock, till Monday at twelve o'clock.

GROUP X.XI.
LONDON AND OXFORD.

The Committee re-assembled this morning at the usual
hour; present, Mr. Finch (chairman), Mr. Lawson, Lord A.
Hervey. and Mr. Wodehouse.
The CHAIR3IAN then gave the decision of the Committee
with respect to the objection raised against the validity of
the contract deed. He said the Committee were unani-
mously of opinion that the objection raised was invalid, and
that they should, therefore, proceed with the investigation.
Without mentioning the names of those they had consulted
on the subject, he might say that they had obtained the opi-
nions of persons whose authority on such questions was very
great, and who were all of the same opinion.
Mr. Humphrey Brown, general traffic manager of the Bir-
mingham and Gloucester Railway, was then called to give
evidence with respect to the traffic which might be expected
by the line. He taid he had had much experience in the
management of traffic by railway and water conveyance, and
was formerly manager of a large carrying trade. Since the
first formation of railways he had been actively engaged in
making estimates of traffic for lines now in operation. Those
estimates had been generally realised. Was well acquainted
with the district which the line would traverse. Had re-
ported on the traffic of the Great 'Western Railway for a
body of shareholders at Liverpool at the time it was dis-
cussed whether the Great Western should be constructed
on the broad gauge from Maidenhead to Bristol. The re-
venue which he anticipated would be derived from passengers
travelling various distances, estimated from those now tra-
velling by public and private conveyances at 44,403/. 14s. 10d.,
100 per cent. increase by the construction of a railway
44,403/. 14s. 10d. ; passengers who now travel by the Great
Western 11,251/. 6s. Bd. Total revenue for passenger-traffic
102.058/ lea. 4d.; merchandise and agricultural produce by
load, 9,241:1 2s. 2d. ; minerals by road, 5781. 15s. 4d. ; mer-
chandise which now came by Hereford, 12,512/. 10s.; total,
22,2321. 7s. 6d. Horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs,
7,6071. 10s. 7d. ; parcels, mails, dogs, horses, and carriages,
4,6091. 17s. Bd. ; total for traffic, 136,6081. 12s. id.,
out of which would have to be deducted 25,929/. 16s. 7d.
for tollage to the London and Birmingham Railway;
44,271/. 10s. 2d. for maintenance of roads, stations, locomotive
power, and the general expenses of the line (40 per cent.),
making a total of 70,201/. Cs. 9d., and leaving a disposable
balance of 55,4071. ss. 4d., or 71. per cent on the capital of
900,000.1., and leaving a surplus for contingencies of
3,407/. ss. 4d. By this line coals in the district would be
reduced from 325. 6d. to 175., thus saving 15s. per ton. The
saving to the district in coals would be 155,000/. (The
assents and dissents were banded in.) He then detailed the
saving of time and expense which would be effected, by
having the use of the terminus of the London and Birming-
ham Railway, over that of the Great Western.
This evidence concluded the case on the part of the
promoters
Mr. 'Lawlor then proceeded to address the Committee in
opposition to the project, in bebalf of the Great Western
Railway Company, and the landowners who had petitioned
against it, namely, Sir. Cox, Mr. Granville Prim, Lady
Grenville, Lord. Carrington, Sir John Dashwood King, Lady
Wenman, Lord Abingdon, and the Colleges of Oxford. He
said the line was open to innumerable objections: it was a
competing line with the Great Western, and ran, for sixteen
miles of its route between three and four miles of it. The
promoters, in the event of the line not passing, would be in-
volved in ruin, and in ruin no less deplorable, if it

received their sanction, because it was obvifus tha
it would not be constructed, but handed over to its competi.
tors, the Great Western Railway, in which case it would not
be made at all. Then it was alur.l to say that the lin(

would be of advantage to the district, bcause it was Reif•
evident that the Great Western offer,d every facility which
the whole district required. Then let the Committee bear in
mind the difficulties with which the Great Western had to
contend in making their branch front Dh'cot to Oxford,
which was indisputably the best line of railway in the coun-
try, and that it had only been opened twelve
months; that the directors had had scarcely time

to make ail the arrangements necessary for affording the
inhabitants of Oxford all the advantages cf their line. In
what had the Great Western gained ? A person might
travel from Oxford to London for 9a, and the fares were
being gradually reduced, but in the event of any of their
passengers being withdrawn by a competing lire this salu-
tary insertion would be frustrated, and they would be obliged
to increase their fares to keep up the revenue which they de-
rived from a larger number of passengers. It was
true the collegians of Oxford were originally opposed
to the Great Western, but the line was altered
and re-altered to meet their wishes, and at length
they give their ascent to it. He should call Dr. Winter,
the late Vice-Chancellor of OxfOrd before them, in order to
show the feeling of the colleges with respect to the Great
Western and the proposed line. They had no security that
the proposed line would give greater facility fur the transmie-
sien of parcels at a cheaper rate than the Great Western,
fur they might, and would, no doubt, charge the highest rate
allowed by Act of Parliament. Would it then be either fair
or equitable to pass a competing line to one so lately opened, and
whuee resourees had not as
yet been fully developed and at the
instance of a few diseepointed and envious persons ? were they
to adopt vindictive legislation because a few persons, of this
kind wanted a railway to their doors. If the Great Western had
been guilty of all the misconduct which bad been attributed
to it by the promoters of the London and Oxford, was it not
likely that more than two persons, living at Oxford would
have invested their capital in it ? Either abuses did or did
_ _

not exist; but it was most evident from this that they did
not exist, and that the proposed line was rot
required by the inhabitants of Oxford. Then they
admitted that their line was a bad one in an
engineering point of view. Then, again, this line was to
effect a solution of the gauge question. The absurdity of
this was evident when it was considered that the cons; ruction
of a narrow gauge line into a broad gauge district would
make " confusion worse confhunded," and that the Great
Western was constructed on the broad gangs to Exeter, and
proposed to be extended to Fishguard and Porthdynallen, in
South Wales. He was at a loss to know how the line was
to save 155,000/. per annum. in the article of coals, when in
the estimate furnished by Mr. Brown the amount
of revenue for coals was set down at 578/. only. It
was equally ridiculous to conceive that the whole of
the stations could be made for the sum proposed,
namely, 22,000/. Then the whole district, instead of a rich
agricultural one, as stated, was a poor one, and thinly po
pulated, which he should prove by witnesses. Uxbridge, for
instance, to which the Great Western proposed to make a
branch 212 miles in length, would be a mite nearer London
than by the line proposed. Then let them look at the towns
they proposed to accommodate. In the list of places in-
clutled in their list, he found places south of Maidenhead
where the Great Western had a station, and Hanwell, where
they also hail a station; Hampstead and harrow, to which the
London andßirrningham gave accommo lation ; andother places
the population of which they had included in their list, and
which they proposed to accommodate, were intersected by
the Great Western. They proposed to carry coals to Thame,
but the line of the London and Birmingham to Aylesbury,
and the proposed extension to Thame, would fully give this
accommodation. The assents were only 137, and from persons
residing on sixteen miles of the line, whilst the dissents had
been received from persons residing within twenty-two miles
of the line. Was it likely that the large landowners who
had petitioned against this line would have done so
if it would bestow upon them ail the advantages stated?
No; they preferred to depend for railway communication
to a solvent Company instead 'of a project admitted to be
bad and inefficient, and proposed by parties of whom they
knew nothing By the branches proposed from the Great
Western to Henley-upon-Thames, to Wycombe and to Ux-
bridge, no town of the slightest consequence would be more
than seven miles distant from a railway. Then, as to coals,
the Great Western brought them from Bath to Bulls-
bridge and other places. -If they granted this line, it
would be a precedent to which all the commercial peti-
tions presented to them were opposed, for parties
to propose the construction of lines immediately parallel to
those now constructed in the same direction. He should call
witnesses to prove that the soil at Stoke was not chalk, as
stated by Mr. Addison, who was hitherto unknown as an
engineer, and whose evidence they must, therefore, look upon
with considerable caution; he had made no borings, yet, in
a soil fluctuating in every acre, ho felt perfectly satisfied
in saying that it was either chalk or London clay, from
merely looking at breaks in the earth. How, then, could he
say with any confidence that he could safely construct via-
ducts of an immense height in soil of which he must, from
this, be ignorant ? After some further observations,he con-
cluded by calling on the Committee not to pass the preamble
of the Bill.

LATEST PRICES OF SHARES.
IN BANKS, ASSURANCE, AND OTHER COM.
PANIES' STOCK.

From tie Official List,
PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EVENING

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 3.
JOINT-STOCK BANKS.

Dividend Amount
Name of Company, per of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
----- --
Australasia
Britsh I% orth American 51. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 44%
Commercial of Si. per cent. 100 0 0 20 0 0 22
Colonial Si. per cent. 180 0 0 25 0 0 16
Londn and Westminstr 61. per cent. 100 0 0 20 0 0 56%
London Joint-Stock
Metropolitan - 25 0 0 710 0
Provincial of Ireland.. 81. per cent. 100 0 0 25 0 0 48%
Ditto, New. ••••• •• • SI• per cent. 10 0 0 10 0 0 17%
National of Ireland .. Si. per cent. 50 0 0 20 0 0 18
Nat. Provncial of Eng. 51. per cent. 100 0 0 35 0 0 35%
Ditto, New- ....... 51. per cent. 20 0 0 10 0 0
Union of Australia .. - 61. per cent. 25 0 0 25 0 0 25
Union of London. •• • • Si. per cent. 50 0 0 10 0 0 12
nvsuizazircm COMPANIES.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. per of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
£ s. d. £ s. d.
Albion ••••••• • • • • • • • 31. 10s. 500 0 0 50 0 0 71
Alliance Mrit. and For. 6 per cent. 100 0 0 11 0 0 19%
Ditto Marine 6l. per cent, 100 0 0 5 0 0 6%
Atlas .•••, • • .• ... •• • • 13s. 6d. pr sh. 50 0 0 5 0 0 16y,
British Commercial
Clericl,3lecl.& Gen. Life 51. per cent. 100 0 0 210 0 634
County -
10s. 50 0 0 5 0 0 -
Eagle ...... ......
Economic Life.
1 & 30s.bs.
Eng. & Scot. Law ••• • • • 51. per cent. 50 0 0 2 0 0 2%
European Life ••• • • • 5% per cent. 20 0 0 All paid. 20
Freemasons' .. •••• • • • • 5/. per cent. 20 0 0 3 0 0
Globe - 138
Guardian •••••• • • • • • • 51. per cent. 100 0 0 36 10 0 49
Imperial Fire ..... •• • 61. and bonus 500 0 0 50 0 0 240
Imperial Life •••• • • • • 12s. 100 0 0 10 0 0 17
Indemnity Marine •• • • IL sh. & bs. 100 0 0 513 1 29
Law Life• 1/. ss. 100 0 0 10 0 0 50
Legal and General Life - 50 9 0 20 0 6%
London Fire ........ 10s. 25 0 0 12 10 0 15%
London Ship ........ 10s. 25 0 0 12 10 0 15%
Marine -.•••• • • • • 51. per cent. 100 0 0 15 0 0 10%
Med. Invlid & Gen. Life 4% /. per ct. 50 0 0 2 0 0 3
National Lean Fund- 51. per cent. 20 0 0 210 0 2%
National Life.
Palladium Life 5l. per cent. 50 0 0 2 0 0 2/. 2s.
Phcenix IL p. ct. & bs. - - 205
Protector Life.... •• • W. per cent. 20 0 0 1 0 0 1/. 4s.
Provident Life.. ••• • • • 1/. ss. 100 0 0 10 0 0 23
Rock Life ..... •••• • • • 4s. 5 0 0 010 0 4%
Royal Exchange .• •.• • 51. per cent. Stock. - 180
Sun Fire.. • • . • . • • - - 210
Ditto Life 11. 6s. - - 49
Universal Life
DOCKS.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. per of ; Paid. Price.
! Annum. Share. I
-
X s. d. X s. d.
Commercial -
East and West India - 140
East Country .... •• • - 21
London - 116
St Katharine -••• • • . ' 5 per cent. I Stock. - 104%
Southampton •• ••• • - 41. per cent. 50 0 0 , 50 0 0 j 30

LIST OF SCOTTISH COPEP.S.NIES' PRICES
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. per of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
A a. d. £ s. d
Bank of Scotland • • 6l. per cent. 100 0 0 165
Royal Bank of Scotland 61. per cent. 100 0 0 159
British Linen Company Si. per cent. 100 0 0 224
Commercial Bank .. • • 61. per cent. 100 0 0 16234
National Bank .......• 6/. per cent. 10 0 0 1414
Union Bank of Scotland 7341. pr cent. 50 0 0 92
Western Bank .. • ••• • • 61. per cent. 50 0 0 80
North of Scotland Bank 61. per cent. 5 0 0 7%
Clydesdale Bank ••• • • • 61. per cent. 10 0 0 1371
Eastern Bank Si. per cent. 10 0 0 11
Caledonian Bank
Edinb.& Glasgew Ban:: 61. per cent. 50 0 67,
City of Glasgow Bank . 51. per cent. 10 0 0 13
Scottish Union Ins. Co. 51. per cent. 20 0 0 1 0 0 245.
Hercules Insurance Co. 7/. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 0 147 i
Insur. Co. of Scetlnd• • 51. per cent. 10 0 0 All paid. 9.74
North British Incur 5341. pr cent. 200 0 0 10 0 0 28
Caledonian Fire Insur lOl. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 0 24
Edinburgh Life Insur 6l. per cent. 100 0 0 12 10 0 1834
Edin. &Gla.sg. Railway 1/.los. per c. 50 0 0 50 0 0 72
Ditto, X Shares •. • . 7s. 6d. p. s. 12 10 0 All paid. 17%
Edin., Leith, & Grantn 20 0 0 20 0 0 17
inasgw & Ayrshir Rail. 51. per cent. 50 0 0 All paid. 7016
Glasov & Greenck Rail. 21. per cent. 25 0 0 All paid. 19
Gl.gw & Garnkirk Rail. 5/. per cent. 25 0 0 All paid. 401%
Dundee & Arbroth Rath 6/. per cent. 25 0 0 All paid. 3914
standard Life Assarnee.lsl per cent. 50 0 0 210 0 8

Name of Company.

V.T.I..TMZ-IXTOI7.IiCS

East London..•• .. •• • •
Grand Junction .. •• ••
Vauxhall •• • • •• •• •• • •

est llidcll,l.sex • . • • •

Dividend
per

Amount
of

Anum. I Share.

£ s, d.

100 0 0
31. 10s. 41 13 4
21. 10s. 100 0 0
51. per cent. 100 0 0
cm. C. 3 12 9
11745.

Names of ti Dividend
Companies. per
Annum.,

Price.

Names of
Companies.

Ashtn& 01dli, 97 31.55. pc, 72
Ashhy-d-la-Z,112 41. I 70
Barnsley.. • l6O, 121. i 180
Basin
Brkni&Abrg 1501 51. I 85
Cromford 1100' 141. 150
Dudley 1100 4/.
Derby .......100, GI. 73
Elisrnre&Chs,l33, 41. j 65
Erewash 1001 Z2l. 303
Forth & Cord ,100 41.
GrandJunetn 100. 71. 95
Grand Union' 100 1/. 10s.
Glamorgnsh . 172, 1331. 210
Glstr & Brkly, 00
Grantham ,150 12/. 100
Iluddarsflrld .57
Kennt &Avn 79 7s. 63.
Lancaster .• • 47 11. 10s.
Leeds& Livrp 110 311. 520
Leicester l4O, 101. 105
Lelestr &Nth 83 4/. CO
Lougliborogh,l42. 701. 850

131onnionthsb.

IMntgomrysh I
Maccl,:sneld .1
iNeath • • • • • • ,
Nottingham .1
'Peak Forest .
;Regent's
iflochtio le
[Shropshire
[Somrset Coal,

Paid.

Do.LkFLISt
,Stffrit&Wo,ci
Strew9bury..l
.Strtfriron AT
'Severn and/ 1
Wt. j
t Trut 4 Mr-1
V, 51.1.11
;Tharnsgz3loii
Worestr & I
Birathig. j

'Dividend

per
Annum.

1/. 5s

71.105.
61. p. c.
2SI.
151.
201.
11. 10s.

STATE OF TRADE.

1/. /3s,

FOREIGN WOOL TRADE, LEEDS, APRIL 3.—The fo-
reign wool market continues in akout the same state as
List week. The business done is compalativay small in
amount, and prices are stationary.
ENGLIII WOOL MARKET, LEEDS, APRIL 3.—Sales
have remained dull this week, and late prices are with
difficulty maintained.
WAKEFIELD WOOL MARKET. APRIL 3.—There is no
alleviation to the dull state of the trade, which rela-
tively continues in the same position as we reported
List wet-k, and consumers merely supply immediate re-
quirements._

LEEDS.—We scarcely ever witnessed less business done
at our Cloth hail than was the case both on Saturday
and Tuesday. There wa, a complete absence of specu-
lation, the merchants confining themselves to purchasing
only to order ; prices continue much the same as for
some time past, and the stocks in the manufacturer.'
hands are very small for the season, and no disposition is
evinced to increase them. In the warehouses business
has been very dull during the week, and the few buyers
who visit the market purchase with great caution, and in
much less quantities than they have usually done at this
season. On the -A hole, the spring trade this year is
duller hitherto than it has been for several years past.
BRADFORD MARKET, THURSDAY.—We regret that
we cannot notice any improvement in the state of the
staple manufacture of this town. Some hopes, however,
are entertained that should the next news from America
be of a favourable character, there will be an increased
demand of complete goods for the markets of that
country ; and that when the New Tariff Bill is passed
into law, both the home and the German trade will be
better.

MANCHESTER, THURSDAY EVENING.—Though it is
expected that the late glorious news from India will re-
vive the state of trade in that hemisphere, still it has
produced no sensible operation for the better in those
articles considered as especially suitable for the East.
The cloth market has been dull all the week, and the
market closes very heavily to-day, at scarcely last week's
currency. The home market is very dull, and no signs
of improvement appear. Yarns are without change in
value, and perhaps rather better to sell.
BARNSLEY.—The trade of this town is considered dull
at present ; in fancy drills the summer orders being
nearly completed, it is generally flat at this period, but
the other branches of the linen trade experience more
than ordinary depression at this time of the year.
LEICESTER.—There is not the slightest alteration for
the better in the market this week, both the London and
country houses being equally flat, and but little doing in
shipping for the season. Worsted yarns are reduced a
halfpenny per lb., at which sales are with difficulty ef-
fected, although the spinners state they cannot buy
wools to meet this reduction. Long wools are flat,
without alteration in price. Short sorts are brisk, and
command good prices. —Leicester Journal.
NOTTINGHAM.—The several branches of the hosiery
trade continue in the same stagnant state. The fancy
bobbin trade has not in the least improved ; many ma-
chines are standing, and some hundreds of good work-
men are half perishing for want of food. The warp lace
trade, late so flourishing, to use the words of a consider-
able master warp lace maker,is half annihilated. The
exception is to warp mitts and gloves made by the
jacquard and some few by slide bars, which are brisk.
—Nottingham Review.

DEATH OF THE REV. CHANCELLOR FLETCHER.—
We have this week to announce the death of the venerable
Chancellor of this Diocese, the Reverend Walter Fletcher,
M.A., of Dalston. He was seized with paralysis, whilst in
the discharge of his duty, in Dalston Church, on Sunday
last, and died on Wednesday, at the ripe age of 79 years.
Mr. Fletcher was a native of Derbyshire, and first came to
this diocese as Chaplain to Bishop Vernon, now Archbishop
of York, by whom he was appointed, in August, 1793, to
the vicarage of Dalston as the successor of Archdeacon
Paley. In 1814 he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese,
on the death of Dr. Grisdale, whose daughter he had
married. He was also Vicar of Lazonby, and held a
Prebendal Stall in the Cathedral of York. Mr. Fletcher was
the tutor of Sir James Graham, Bart., and kis brothers, and
of the present Duke of Beaufort. He was a man of most
charitable disposition and active benevolence, and was es-
teemed and respected wherever he was known. The livings
of Dalston and Lazonby (worth respectively 2001. and 40C1.
per annum) and also the Chancellorship are in the gift of the
Bishop of Carlisle.—Carlisle Journal.
CATTLE Fens —During the lastweek, several fairs in
this county and Wales have taken place, and the sellers have
been satisfied with the prices. It is considered a question of
doubt, whether the graziers who have purchased store beasts
at very high prices will be remunerated by fattening them.
However weave the best information afforded. It is extra-
ordinary that, so many fairs occurring almost together, the
stock sold high.—Shrewsbury Chronicle.
business
has
beenr"trßans3alcAtßedßEinT,WAestP-Rlnadial—sugtartheeislyweaenky,
owing to the want of supply ; but for Mauritius there has
been a good demand, and about 5,000 mats have found
buyers at extreme rites. For Bengal these has
little inquiry,—Nristei
envy. been but