The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-30 00:00:00

Mr. T. L'Estrange Ewen, the chairman of the:board

presided.

Mr. F. B. PHILBRICK, one of the solicitors, read the
report, which set out with recommending the adoption
of a resolution to enable the board to pay interest upon
the calls, the provisions to that effect having been in-
advertently omitted in the Act of Parliament. The next
subject treated of was the agreement with the River Stour
Navigation Company for purchasing their interest in
such river at the rate of 7001. per share, half the amount
to be paid in cash, and the other half in Stour Valley
Railway shares of 251. each; to raise the capital re•
quired for this purpose, as also to convert such portions
of the work as might be deemed desirable from a single
to a double line of rails, it was proposed to create 10,000
new shares of 101. each, to be first offered share for share
to the holders of the original shares in the company, and
to rank in all respects as part of the original capital of
the company, such new stock to be called upon from
time to time as the payments of the river shares became
due. The report next noticed the proposed extensions
to Milford, Lavenham, and Clare, and from Lavenham
to Bury St. Edmunds, all of them called for by the wants
of the districts. The additional capital, which would be
thus required, the directors recommend to be raised
by extension scrip to be allotted as they might judge
expedient.

The Midland are about to remodel the old Leicester
and Swannington line, by-Ist, the formation of the line
from Burton-upon-Trent to Moira, including the Swad-
lincote branch, a length of 81 miles ; and 2d, by widen-
ing of the line from the 14th to the Bth mile on the
existing line, including the formation of two miles of
new line for the alteration of the Bagworth incline. This
is one of the oldest lines, incorporated in 1830, and con-
structed by George Stphenson. It connects the coal-
fields near Ashby witfi Leicester, and is principally,
though also a passenger line, used by the collieries and
quarries. It was opened in 1832, and only cost 8,0001.
per mile.
NEWCASTLE AND BERwlcH.—The opening is likely to
be postponed until April.
GREAT NORTHERN.—The Colebrooke Dale Company
and the firm of Bailey Brothers have taken the contr.:et
for 35,000 tons of rails, at 101. per ton, 721 b rails.
Railways, while they are the ready means for the con-
veyance, are thought, anomalously enough, to be instru-
mental in the diminution of sheep, if we may believe
Mr. Waddington, M.P., who, at the West Suffolk agri-
cultural dinner, is reported to have said—" He was
afraid that the sheep of the country were very fast
fishing. What was the reason for this diminuAon he
could not make out, unless it was that many, of the
labourers were employed on the railroads at good wages,
that they worked very hard, and required greater
sustenance than formerly, and that they had caused an
increased consumption of mutton."
LOCOMOTIVE PATENTS.—The following are some of
the patents for improvements applicable to railway pur-
poses, registered from October 21 to December 15 :
G. Borelli, Milan—for improvement in bridges, via•
ducts, acqueducts, and other similar erections ; J. Todd,
Glasgow, and W. Johnson, Birmingham—for improve-
ments in arranging the rails on certain parts of railways.
Wheels and Axles : W. Adams, Croydon—for certain
improvements in railway wheels ; G. Eddy, Waterford,
America—for an improvement in the manufacture of
cast-iron wheels for railway and other carriages ; W.
Ezell, Reading—for improvements in the construction
of wheels, and in certain implements employed therein,
and in the mode of forming the tires, metallic rings,
bands, Scc. Steam-engines : Mr. Leahy, Westmin-
ster for certain improvements in steam-engines ;
E. Galloway, Middlesex—for improvements in rota-
tlry engines, and in locomotive carriages and railways ;
T. Craddick, Birmingham—for improvements in steam-
engines and boilers, and in machinery connected there-
with. Electric Telegraph : A. Bain, Edinburgh—for
certain improvements in transmitting and receiving
electrical telegraph communications, and in apparatus
connected therewith ; M. Poole, London—for improve-
ments in the construction and working of electric tele-
graphs Propulsion and Motive Power : F. H. Ma-
berly, Stowmarket, and T. Branwhite, Itattlesdea, and
D. Lusten, Finborough—for improvement in machinery
for obtaining and applying motive power, and for accele-
rating and retarding the same ; W. Eaton, Surrey—for
improvements in obtaining motive power ; W. H. Talbot,
Wilts—for improvements in obtaining and applying mo-
tive power ; W. Johnson, Millbank—for certain improve-
ments in propelling carriages on railways. Carriages :
W. Aitken, Aberdeen—for improvements in four-
wheeled carriages ; J. Boydell, Dudley—for improve-
ments in applying apparatus to carriages to facilitate the
draught.
SUNDAY TRAINS.—At a meeting of the town council
of Stirling on Monday, Mr. Burden moved that the
council should express their disapproval of the conduct
of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway directors in
discontinuing the Sunday morning and evening trains.
Bailie Morrison moved the previous question. In the
course of the discussion the Dean of Guild said " he had
seriously, and for some time, considered this matter, and
had at first felt some difficulty, but his mind was now
made up, and he could see no right that these directors
had to dictate to people who thought it a duty to travel
on the Sabbath. The directors of a public company,
having the sole traffic between Edinburgh and Glasgow,
had no right to dictate to a million of people composing
the inhabitants of these two cities and the other towns
along the line." On the vote being taken, the mo-
tion, censuring the directors, and requesting the
resumption of the trains, was carried by eleven to
three—the provost, three baffler, treasurer, and dean
of guild voting in the majority. The minority of
three are free churchmen. Three elders of the estab-
lishment, and all the Dissenters (with the exception of
one, who declined voting) supported the motion. We
understand that the council are prepared to fellow up
the first step of memorialising the directors in the same
way as the councils of Edinburgh and Linlithgow. All
the town councils in the neighbourhood of the line—
Edinburgh, Leith, Falkirk, Stirling, Linlithgow, Queens-
ferry, Cupar, Dunfermline—bare now condemned the
conduct of the directors, who have obtained countenance
from no responsible and representative public body, ex-
cept at such places as Inverness and Rothesay, where
people are in utter ignorance of the facts of the case.
—Scotsman.
THE EDINBURGH SUNDAY TRAIN MEETING.—The
hall was crowded chiefly by ladies, and the quantity of
clergymen present was great. It was truly what Mons.
Michelet would have called a meeting of "priests, wo-
men, and families."—Fileshire Journal.

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW ACCIDENTS.
Some strange fatality seems to attach to the manage-
ment of this railway. Scarcely a week elapses without
the occurrence of an accident more or less serious in its
results, and we are again called upon to record below
another of those unfortunate casualties, in addition to
those given in other parts of this sheet, by which a
considerable number of passengers have been severely
injured. The officials connected with the working of
the line seem now to be so much accustomed to these
affairs, that the matter of broken legs, dislocated arms,
or other dangerous bodily hurts, are described by
them as trifling injuries ; in fact, when applied to far
information on the subject they appear to be utterly im-
pervious to the knowledge of a serious accident. They
are used to it, like the eels to skinning, and whether by
the instructions of their superiors, or from an instinctive
perception of what is for the interests of the company,
they aro perfectly alive to the importance of refusing all
details of collisions, break downs, overturns, and those
numerous other incidents to which their trains seem
heir to. It was lately suggested by Punch—and we
think not without propriety—that, for the sake of rail-
way passengers, railway trains should be aceom-
by party of the directors of the company;
Paan di esd to
so
mismanagement—offt
usas oti knowledge
this ofli
o thee i management—orseooee r
concerned,
this
ap-
pears ra-
therpe
the only practical way of preventing such oc-
currences as that detailed below. We are aware that
tt
rh vde
lle
ee
de t
uo rp so
no f t thhei s
line,
railwaye have,
in
an
individual
upon
and
occasions,
collective
capacity, but we never yet heard of an accident to any
of
conveyed Special a
trainsonumber
bto e r andof t h fermo mi t h Edinburghe short
phaveae?e.
of one hour and a half, and one hour and fifteen minutes,
and no accidents have occurred ; and this, of course,
thosearo s o
e fromeh
atrhgee cautionef
the andlioe .
H ow
doe s n
t eom exercisede,
then,by
that with the slow trains of the company so many acci-
dents should happen ? The subject is one entitled to
prompt and serious attention ; and as such we hope it
will be appreciated by the public.
Since the above was witten, a meeting of the passen-
gers by the quarter to eight o'clock, P.M., train from
Edinburgh, was held today in the Black Bull, at which
the details connected with the accident of last night
were embodied in the form of a memorial and adopted.
The following is an outline of the proceedings :—The
meeting, which was large and highly respectable, was
composed principally
of passengers who had been
bruised and otherwise injured, but who had escaped
with their lives, and were able to attend to take part in
the proceeding. Nearly all of them, however, were
complaining, and some so much 80, that they could with
difficulty adhibit their signatures to the memorial which
was agreed to.

_
Mr. WALKER, of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bank,
one of the passengers, having been unanimously called
to the chair, opened the business by explaining the ob-
ject for which the meeting had been called. Hu then
read the following memorial:—

" TO THE DIRECTORS OP THE EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW

RAILWAY.

" Glasgow, Dec 26, 1846.
" We, the undersigned, passengers by the quarter
to eight o'clock, P.M., train from Edinburgh, on Friday,
the 25th inst„ beg to address your board relative to the
serious collision which took place last night, near Bishop
bridge station, which was occasioned by the gross, st
carelessness and mismanagement on the part of your
servants, and the results of which might have been of a
more appalling nature. The train was about 400 or
500 yards from the above station, which it passes, and
going at full speed, when it ran into a coal train, luckily
Or us, Focevdini ia the sgue directio, but ut a mucli