The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-05 00:00:00

Importance of which he could not exaggerate. At present, with the

lines made, and those for which bills were obtained, Kilmar-
nock would be connected in the most direct manner with Glasgow
and Paisley, as well as with the principal towns in the county of Ayr
Ardrossan, Irvine, Ayr, Kilwining. Kilburnie, and Strathaven. The
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town of Kilmarnock was the trading centre of this district, which
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71:
progressive increase of the goods' traffic on the Glasgow and Ayr
Railway. To 1840, the year in which the line opened, he would not
refer, but he would take the following years. From July 1, 1840, to
June 30, 1841, the receipts for goods were 4,4301. In 1841-2, 14,000/. ;
1642-3, 18,0001. ; 1843-4, 24,000/. ; and on the 31st July, 1845, the
receipts were 34,0001. From present appearances the traffic fully
justified that the estimate for the present year would be 50,431/.
In 1845, the tonnage of goods was 50,431 tons ; in 1844,
104,000 tons ; and in the year 1845, 180,000 tons.
Kilmarnock had a population of 22,000, and had doubled itself within
thirty years. The goods manufactured here annually was about
half a million sterling, and it had a connexion with the principal
manufacturing districts of England:art. Scotland. To• show the im-
portance of Ayrshire, he need only state that it had eleven iron
furnaces in blast, fourteen constructing, and nine proposed; the
whole of which, when in operation, could make 176,800 tons of iron
yearly. The Duke of Portland alone exported annually 100,000 tons
of coal. The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to follow the route of
the line, showing that it would accommodate, independently the
large mineral and manufacturing traffic of Ayrshire, the large lead
mines at Lead-hills, the coal and lime-stone beds of Closebum and the
important ports of Dumfries and Annan, both rising towns.
The main line was sixty-four miles long, and the capital
was 120,000/. There were no engineering difficulties, and it could
easly be made within the estimates. The sanquhar branch was
sixteen miles in length. The Southern branch from Gretna to Ca-
nonbie was seven miles in length, and would accommodate large coal-
fields there belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch and Sir J. Graham.
Having stated so much about the nature and objects of this scheme,
he would now refer to the opponents of the Bill. The Caledonian
Company. That Company had a branch from the North to Dum-
fries almost parallel to the southern portion of the scheme for which
he appeared. They had also a branch north from Lockerbie, and
one from Lockholm, which was almost identical with one of the
branches of the Glasgow, Dumfries, ;and Carlisle—they had likewise
what was called the Caledonian Extension which was to connect Peebles
with Ayr . Now he was prepared to show that the Caledonian Company
only partially stipplied that accommodation which his clients did
completely. He would also show that what they proposed to do was
not so effective as the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle, and, there-
fore, that the latter should be allowed to make the whole. The
scheme for which he appeared would alone connect, in an
efficient manner, the whole of Ayrshire with the south.
His opponents were seeking to do in a roundabout and im-
perfect manner that which his scheme should do in the fullest
and most direct way. He had no doubt he would show, from the
evidence he would adduce, that his scheme was infinitely preferable
to the rival projects. Under the Caledonian plan, a person going
from Kilmarnock to Dumfries would have to travel 82 miles, 6 fur-
longs, whereas by the Dumfries line the distance would be only 59
miles 6 furlongs ; showing a difference in his favour of 23 miles
But the difference was not alone in distance. The gradients on the
Caledonian line were much worse than on the Dumfries line, the
gradients being lin 75, lin 82, and lin 100 respectively. Besides
passengers travelling, independent of the great loss of time, would
have to change three or four times. Again, taking Kilmarnock and
Carlisle by, the Caledonian the distance was 100 miles, 51 chains ;
nuneries line 91 miles 12 chains ; giving a difference in fa-
favourable gradients. 'Araefatts as- tnese great differences,
the Caledonian scheme only gave accommodation be-
tween Carlisle and Dumfries, leaving out altogether the
gap between Dumfries and Old Cumnoek. Seeing, therefore,
that this was left out of consideration, he considered he could prove
a case for not only granting his clients the Cumnock and Dumfries
portion, but also that between Dumfries and Carlisle. In conclusion,
he would say that while the line would confer the greatest benefit on
the district, all the landowners along the line were favourable to it;
as were also the inhabitants generally. He would now proceed to
call the witnesses on behalf of his scheme.
Mr. W. Cranford was the first witness examined. He lived near
Kilmarnock, and was a justice of the peace for the county of Ayr.
The trade of Kilmarnock was very largely on the increase.
There were eight print-works in Kilmarnock, employing 2,000 hands,
goodspsegueed 60,000/. in wages annually. The annual value of the
was 437,0001. There were carpet factories, employ-
apin
ing 800 workmen, and producing annually goods worth 120,0001.
Nearly the whole were sent to England. The manufacture of iron
was greatly on the increase in the neighbourhood of Kilmarnock,
principally on the Duke of Portland's estates. There were also large
coal works on that nobleman's estate. The Duke of Portland ex-
ported about 100,000 tons of coal, and Mr. Fennie about the same
quantity. The general trade of the whole county was fast advancing.
The staple manufactures of Kilmarnock are carpets, shawls, gown
printing, leather tanning, &c., grass and other seeds are grown in the
neighbourhood. Immense quantities of goods of all descriptions
are sent to the south of England.
The Committee then adjourned till to-morrow at twelve o'clock.

GROUP XIV.

NORTH LENT DISTRICT, SOUTH-EASTERN
- _

saNE:

The Committee on the railways projected through this district met
to-day at twelve o'clock. Present, Mr. Protheroe (chairman),
Lord Emlyn, Mr. .T. O'Connell, and Mr. Grogan.
Mr. Ausofsr, on the part of the South-Eastern Company, pro-
ceeded to address the Committee. He stated that he was happy to
say, that without doing injustice to his client, ho would be able to
address the Committee at much less length than he originally intended,
but still he must entreat their patience, as his address must necessa-
rily be very long. He would not so much trouble the Committee
with any detailed remarks on the enormous mass of engineering evi-
dence that had been adduced, but should direct his attention to the
comparative public utility of the lines, and to the accommodation
they would give to the districts through which they passed. He
should at first address the Committee on the evidence in support of
parts of the line, and afterwards he should speak to the whole of the
line ; and he should take the course of the two lines from London to
Dover, and compare them with each other in their more
important features and points. Mr. Vignoles had laid some
tress on the fact that his line was of an integral cha -
sracter, and in doing so had decidedly been in error, for his prin•
cipal station at Union-street by no means deserved that definition.
miles In the City of London and
through the thseedbeocarobuagnhkomfeSnot outlft 2
Southwark would be an exceedingly incon-
venient erection, and would assuredly prevent any efficient commu-
nication between so much of the Borough and City as was on one
side of the embankment and so much as was on the other. The sta-
tion was 4 acres tn extent, was 30 feet above the
level of the street, and it would require a raised approach of
300 yards. That approach would sccupy 1 acres of their ground,
leaving 21/ acres for the purposes of their station, and it had been
heard in evidence that, from some defect in the ground or plan, one
quarter of an acre would be lost—thus leaving only two acres for
their station. The metropolitan stations of other lines occupied a
considerably larger space, and some of them were even then incon-
veniently small. The Union-street station was to accommodate 100
trains per diem—those trains, including all the West-end traffic as
well as the City trellis. The estimate for the station and the em-
bankment, as calculated by the North Kent, was 696,0001., but
Mr. Bidder had proved that the cost of the line would
be 1,100,0001., and, for a reason which he would afterwards give,
the cost would be likely to arrive at the sum of 1,200,0001. The
value of the land alone was 550,0001., and consequently a very in-
adequate sum would be left for the formation of the station and em-
bankment. Independently of these points, it would be impossible for
Mr. Vignoles to form his junction with the South Western
under circumstances as favourable as those proposed by him;
for that junction could not be formed without a deviation
in the course of the line, and in its levels, much beyond
that which the Act of Parliament would permit of. The
junction with the Croydon line, as proposed by Mr. Vignolles,
the
was to be made under circumstances which Mr. Stephenson had
properly described as unparalleled in engineering. Ile was to join
the famous, or rather infamous Croydon gradient of 1 in 100, and
his own line was to joiu at a gradient of lin 74. There was a clay
cutting of 44 feet deep at the point of junction, and the junction in-
volved the severance of the atmospheric pipe within 35 yards
of the atmospheric station. Mr. Stephenson had told them that in a
length
there would not be sufficient
Power obtained to enable the train to cross the break in the pipe, or
sufficient impetus on its re-entering the pipe to start up an incline
Of in 100. Under these difficulties in the engineering features of
the line, and the serious doubts—the almost certainty—of the in-
sufficiency of the estimates, he submitted that Mr. Vignoles had no
available metropolitan station at all. He would then proceed with
h
metropolitanof3syards
of pipe
portion of the South Eastern line as contrasted
with the very peculiar circumstances of the North Kent line. The
South-Eastern Company had the advantage of having already a sta-
tionp
at London-bridge. That station was devoted to the Brighton
Company but were tenants-at-will, and was only for the eastern
traffic of the Company. The western traffic would be accommodated
by a very convenient junction with the South-Western line, with a
terminus at Ilungerford or Waterloo-bridge. Mr. Vignoles would
have his traffic involved in a troublesome manner amongst the
quarter-of-an-hour trains on the Greenwich Railway, while the South-
Eastern traffic would have the accommodation of being divided
between two lines. The South-Eastern Company availed themselves
as much as possible of existing lines and of capital already expended.
It would be only the passenger trains which would have to use
th o Greenwich terminus, for the goods traffic would be
taken to the Bricklayers' Arms station. Their junction
with the South-Western line was so contrived as to save half a mile
of house property, for while Mr. Vignoles's line went two and a half
miles through Southwark and its neighbourhood, the South-Eastern
would have only one and a quarter mile. He could sum up the
Metropolitan stations by saying
that Mr. -Vignoles's Union-street
station ought not to be permitted, because it was not sufficient for
the traffic, or for the purposes of a station. Neither ought he to be
allowed to bring his traffic to the London-bridge station by the in-
convenient route of the Greenwich Railway. His interference with
property would greatly exceed that of the South-Eastern, which had
also the advantage of having two lines for the separation of their
traffic, and had at one of their stations, the Bricklayers' Arms,
ample accommodation for the stowage of goods, The Learned
Counsel here requested the indulgence of the Committee for
a few minutes, being rather fatigued. On again rising he proceeded
to detail the other points of comparison between the two lines, but as
most of them have been elicited in evidence, a repetition is unneces-
sary.
The Committee adjourned at four o'clock.
[Considerable inconvenience was caused in this room by the knock-
ing of the workmen over head, and also by the continued buzz of
conversation, caused by strangers at the other end of the room. The
latter annoyance was so serious that the Chairman, after repeated
attempts to obtain silence, was compelled to threaten to clear the
room.]

Mr. Noyes GROUP XVI.
READING, GUILDFORD, AND REIGILTS
_ The Committee resumed the inquiry this morning ; present, Sir C.
Douglas (chairman), Mr. Blewitt, the Hon. 0. Duncombe, and Mr.
three companies,
Lockhart.
order to ascertain whether' the terms of Mr. Duncombe's resolutions
was recalled, and cross-examined by Mr. HILL, Q.C., in
had been complied with. It appeared that there had been originally
which had afterwards been atnalgamated. In
crder to comply with these resolutions, the names of the several
4119"41 11" been given to the register, but hut the