The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-09 00:00:00

GROUP IX.

This Committee met to-day at twelve o'clock, Lord Wore-
ley in the chair. All the members of the Committee present.

WEST OX' SCOTLAND JUNCTION.

Mr. ANDREWS then proceeded to reply on behalf of this
line of railway. He would occupy the time of the C,.mmit-
tee as little as possible while he addressed himself to the ob-
jections brought forward against the Bill, and placed before
the Committee the principal grounds on which he submit-
ted the Bill for the favourable consideration of
the Committee. In doing so he was persuaded he
would be able to prove that these objeetions
were far from being unsuperable, and that the measure was
imperatively necessary. He would first address himself to
the objections brought forward. It had been said that the
promoters of the Bill had broken faith with the Glasgow and
Garnkirk Railway and the public of Glasgow, by the aban-
donment of the Harbour branch and the Queen-street
station. This was not so ; they brought forward the scheme
in entire integrity, and it was only when the Clyde Trust en-
deavoured, by witnesses, to impress the mind of
the Committee with the idea of danger and inconvenience,
that the promoters abandoned the harbour branch and the
junction in the tunnel. He never said that the harbour
branch should not be made, or that it was valueless. No,
the promoters of the Bill gave it up because they thought
the junction over the Clyde was more important than the
harbour branch, and because it was intimated that the two
could not be made conjointly without danger to the public.
There was no breach of faith, therefore, either with the
Clyde trustees, or the Glasgow and Garnkirk Railway. He
denied, moreover, that the land fur the Stub. cross docks had
been purchased, because the Mineral Harbour branch was
carried last session ; for, from the evidence adduced, it ap-
peared that in maps of Glasgow, long before last year, these
docks were laid down ; and it had also been shown, that the
land was purchased not for ducks to accommodate the
mineral traffic, but to give increased accommodation
to the general trade of the harbour, which at
present was so ill supplied with room. He regretted
that he had had to address the Committee before the natural
and understood period on which he expected to be called on
to do so, as he could then have better shown the character of
the opposition banded together. That the Greenock Railway
Company should oppose the Bill, would, if it were an inde-
pendent company, exhibit a shameful dereliction of duty, on
the part of the shareholders, in cutting off the great advan-
tages which the proposed connexion would confer on the
port cf Greenock. But the true state of affairs
would have come out, had the Caledonian schetne
been gone into, as then it would have been shown
ikTiattt
et
et( d alcivnviotathn
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thuatt the real motive was, not the general benefit of Glasgow,
t
bhuat!b°evuernowfeGrel it worse than represented, the real question
wa!,, " what is good for the public?" If it had been shown
that Greenock, Ayrshire, Edinburgh
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yd
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Glasgow.
e That
and
de
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a
done should not be allowed to neutralise
pTrehsee niett.terf the Admiralty,
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case. The
on which so much bad been said, meant merely that the
Committee should hear all the evidence, and judge
according to the facts adduced. It meant that the
Committee should decide, and they (the Admiralty)
should then deal with the matter. If the Bill was
agreed to by the Committee, the power of veto
might still be exercised against the Bill, or it might be
stipulated by the Admiralty that the works should proceed
under their inspecti don, an upon such plans as they
he might
think best. With such a power in the hands of t Ad-
miralty all idea of danger to the harbour was at an end.
His Learned Friend Mr. Hope had talked a great deal of
the Provost of Edinburgh and Perth being anxious to have
the junction in order to get a good supply of capons and
eggs and bacon. He would only say in answer to that
attempt at wit, that the Provosts of those two cities were not
the only witnesses called to show the necessity of the junc-
tion, but commercial men had been called from all parts of
Scotland, and some parts of England, to prove the absolute
necessity for the line; and mere would have been
called had not the Committee expressed their satisfaction
on this point. But those who lived in glass-houses
should take care how they threw stones. If the Provost
of Edinburgh liked good capons, his Learned Friend (Mr.
Hope) represented the Provost of the turtle-loving city
of Glasgow; and perhaps the secret of much of the opposition
offered would be found in the fact of the pleasure arising from
a trip to town in the spring time of the year for a month or
two, living at a splendid hotel, and faring sumptuously every
day. That might have a great deal to do with the proceed-
ings before the Committee. The care of traffic had been
so satisfactorily made out to the Committee, that they
stopped the further examination of witnesses. The
Learned Gentleman than referred to the crossing
over the streets, commenting on the evidence, and main-
taining that no junction through Glasgow could be made
with less injury to a town than the present. So little injury
would be dyne that, netwithetitudiug the strong banded op-