The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-25 00:00:00

GROUP V.

The Committee met this morning at eleven, Lord Stanley in the
chair.

BUCHINGHASTSTIIEZ (BANBURY TO

TR.IDTG).

Mr. Austin, Mr. liddyard, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Hope, and Mr. Laing
are retained for the promoters. The line is opposed by the Oxford
and Bletchley Company.
Mr. AUSTIN having briefly opened the merits of the project,
Mr. CALVERT proceeded to cell Mr. Plerrepoint, Rev. F. Litchfield,
vicar of Faringho, and other witnesses, who gave evidence of the ad-
vantage which the railway would wafer for the transport of agricul-
tural and dairy produce to the large towns, for convenient transit to
market., and the county town. and for the introduction of coal to the
district, whlch is in great want of fuel. -

Mr. Robert Stephenson was examined, and gave evidence similar
to that which was given before the Commons' Committee.
In the cross•examixation by Mr. TALBOT, the attention of the
Committee was drawn to a point which engaged the notice of the
Commons' Committee also, the manner of joining the Oxford and
Rugby line much above the level, by moans of two sidings.
Mr. Ntephenson said this was a common practice.
31r. TALBOT contended that though they had power to take all the,
land within the line of deviation, they had no ower to make, in tact,
four I.nes instead of two, for which they had got the Bill, as in this
instance.

Mr. CALVERT held that the sidings in question were part of the
accommouati n• works for which they took powers in their 11111.
The CHAIRMAN wished to consult Lord Shaftesbtuy ou the point,
which he therefore reserved.

Some formal evidence in addition closed the case for the promoters.
The Committee adjourned till eleven o'clock to-morrow.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP IL
TAW VALE EXTENSION.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
The remainder of the day was occupied with general traffic evi-
dence in favour of the line.
The Committee adjourned shortly after four o'clock.

GROUP XIII.
CALEDONIAN =TENSION.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)

Mr. Maeneigh. the gentleman who laid down the line under the
direction of Messrs. Locke and Errington, proved that the length
of the lin,, with branches front Muirkirk, and the point where it
joined the Caledonian Railway was fifty-two miles. Its engineering
features were favourable, and the total coat was estimated at
883,6461.

Mr. F.verington corr .borated the testimony of the last witness.
There were no tunneLs on the line, and but one viaduct. The
severest gradient was 1 In 99, and the sharpest radius of a curve was
three furlon,,s. The works generally were of a light and easy cha-
racter, and certainly could be constructed rapidly, and within the
estimate.

This closed the case tor the promote •s of the Bill.
Mr. A cszin then addressed the Committee at some length on be-
half of the opposirg landholders, hose property wss situated between
Muirtsirk and Ay-. The Learned Counsel said the length of the
line between these two places was 25 miles, and the gentlemen whom
he represented, and who opposed the line on public grounds, were
the owners of 13 of those 25 u Iles.
Tko Committee then adjourned.

MANI

GROUP XVII.
Et 11,.211 SOITIIIAMPTO v.

The Committee met to-day at one o'clock, the lion. E. Yorke in
the chair.

The evidence in support of the opposition of the Great Western Rail-
way was continued.

The first witness call .d was Mr. Biddle, a mealman, carrying on
ousineas at Stroud. who stated that the line would run through
seven of his fields, and would seriously injure them. The tratflc be-
tween Cheltenham and Swindon would not warrant the construction
the line.

Mr. Skinner, a sheep-dealer, well acquainted with Weyhill and
Appleshaw fairs, stated that few sheep went from these fairs to the
north, and that they were not injured by being driven. In his cross-
_examination, however, he admitted that the practice of conveying
sheep by rail's ay was be'coming more general. Some dealers from
the north purchased sheep in these markets. Sheep might be driven
to Birmingham for I/. per hundred. The conveyance of sheep by
the proposed line would depend mainly upon the price which the
Company would charge for their transmission. He would rather send
a hundred sheep by railway than drive them.
Mr. Gregory, platform policeman at the Reading station of the
Great Western Railway, said that the average number of persons
cuing in the direction of Basingstoke from Stroud, Cirencester, sad
Stonehouse was only 1G weekly, but this did not include passengers
frJin Swindon or Cheltenham.
Mr. C. Hill, superintendent of the Swindon Station, said that the
uune-er of tickets Witted at this station between January 1 and June
,a.t, for passengers between Swindon ant Cheltenham, was 1,359. A
coach ran between Swindon and Southampton three times a week.
The distance by road from Cirencester to Cheltenham was lb miles,
a• id the journey by railway on an average took more than two hours,
n account of the delay occasioned by the change of gauge. A train
left Cirencester at a quarter past five, and arrived at Cheltenham
wenty minutes before eight.

Re-examined by Mr. 'REArim—Most certainly great delays are
occasioned by the conduct of the hostile company, the Bristol and
Birmingham, in compelling the Great Western trains to wait until
t heir trains start. When the G: eat Western is completed to Chelten-
lam, the distance from Swindon to that town would be effected in
in hour and fifteen or twenty minutes by the mall-train.
The Committee then adjourned until twelve o'clock to-morrow.

In the -course of the proceedlngeThe Chairman and Committee
complained of a map suspended on the wall opposite theta. which
they stated did not fairly represent the lines in the district, and con-
sidered that It was, therefore, calculated to mislead them. The maps
which they consulted, and on which they placed reliance, were the
Ordnance maps. The map, it appeared, wa; one executed under the
,irectlon of the South-Western Company.