The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-17 00:00:00

erbirb Ebition

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

(THIS DAY).

HOUSE OF LORDS.
%Room A.
C WIN W'ELIAL—WZST CORNWALL.
The conaideration of the merits of the above lines, which,
bough under different names and in different Bills,
form together but one scheme, having been referred to a
Select Oommittee, consisting of Lords Denbigh, Monteagle,
Kingston, Nelson, and Torrington, their Lordships assem-
bled this morning in Room A, at eleven o'clock. Lord
Denbigh in the chair. The members were all in attendance.
The promoters of the Bill were represented by Mr. Austin,
Mr. Talbot, Mr. Sergeant Kinglake, Mr. Merrivale, and Mr.
Montague Smith ; and the supporters of the Cornwall and
Devon Central, a line originally competing with this, but
thrown out on the standing orders by the Committee of the
House of Commons, were represented by Mr. Cockburn.
The latter gentleman, and Messrs. Hope, James, Rowe,
Hume, &c., also appeared for a number of petitioners against
the bill.

Mr. Auswi, on the part of the promoters of the Bill,
objected to the appearance of counsel on the petition
of the Cornwall and Devon Central, upon which a long
discussion arose, the result of which was that the Committee
refused to hear the opposition on the part of the competing
project.
Mr. Jimmie then proceeded to open the case for the pro-
moters at considerable length. The main line, he said, corn-
menc?.d at Plymouth by a junction with the South Devon
Railway, and proceeded by Liskeard, Clynn-bridge, Los-
withiel, St. Austell, Truro, and Penrvn, to Falmouth. The
length of the line Was 63 miles: There was a branch to
Bodmin and Padstow, the length of which was 15 miles, and
the estimate was about 1,500,000/. The West Cornwall line
was a continuation from Truro to Penzance. Now
It was a curious 'fact that the county of Corn-
wall was entirely devoid of Railway communication, and
indeed was the only county in England which was so. The
fact was, that although the people were the most locomotive
people in the kingdom, there was not a single railway in the
county. Railways had long been demanded, and many at-
tempts to establish them had been made, but up to the year
1844 none had been successful. In the beginning of that
year—in March, he believed—a meeting was held at Truro,
at which resolutiens were passed as to the necessity for a line
of railway similar to this, and this project being brought for-
ward, was universally approved of. A Bill was brought for-
ward last session, which was passed in the Lower House,
and which certainly was not passed, but which could
not be said to have been rejected by the Com-
mittee of this House. Lord Ellenborough was Chair-
man of that Committee, and in announcing their de-
cision on the case his Lordship said, that they were
of opinion that the making of a railway from Plymouth to
Falmouth, with a branch to Bodmin (it was not then proposed
to carry the branch on to Padstow) would be a very great
public benefit; but they would recommend that the line
should be carefully and accurately re-surveyed, with a view
to secure more favourable gradients, and to avoid some inci-
dental damage which would be done by the line as originally
laid down. They therefore resolved that it was not expedient
that the Bill be allowed to proceed. The line had once been
re-surveyed. It came before the% House of Commons
this session. After a long and vexatious opposition
it ultimately passed through that House, and he had
little doubt it would now pass this House. All the
landowners—that is to say, a great majority of them—were
in favour of the scheme. Lord St. Germans was the chair-
man, and Lords Fortescue, Wodehouse, and Clinton. Sir
Edward Coleworth, and a host of other gentlemen of the
highest respectability were members of the company, and a
great many noblemen and gentlemen whom he would not
tire their Lordships by enumerating, were promoters of the
Bill. Yet so violent, so determined was the opposition, that
the cost of passing the Bill through the House of Commons,
in 1844, was 730,000/. The recommendation of Lord
Ellenborough's Committee as to the alteration of the
levels, curves, &c., had been fully carried out. The
gradients in the old scheme were in some cases
1 in 54, 1 in 45, and even 1 in 40. The steepest gradient
on the line, as at present proposed, was lin 60. He would
not say that that was a good gradient, but it was as good a
gradient as could possibly be got in such a country, and he
would have no difficulty in proving it to be a workable gra-
dient. As a proof of the assertion that the great mass of the
people were in favour of the line, he would observe that while
there were about twenty petitions against the Bill, on their
Lordships table, there were just 240 in its favour ; and that
the capital already raised in Cornwall alone, amounted to
365,000/. The Learned Counsel, on concluding his address,
proceeded to call witnesses in favour of the line.
Mr. Broad, a merchant at Falmouth, and agent for Lloyd's
there, gave general evidence, the effect of which was to cor-
robate part of the statements contained in the Learded Coun-
sel's speech.
Mr. Fox, also a merchant at Falmouth, gave similar
evidence. . _

Mr. Karceck, a merchant, and importer of guano, and of
artificial manures, at Truro, gave evidence as to the probable
agricultural traffic on the line, lac.
Mr. Mitchell, owner of clay and pottery works near Truro,
gave evidence favourable to this line, in respect of the
business he himself was engaged in. He also gave statistics
as to the amount of traffic in clay, &c., existing in the
neighbourhood.
This gentleman's evidence occupied the Committee up to
Four o'clock, at -which hour they rose, and adjourned till to-
morrow.