The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-12 00:00:00

FLAILITJAY COMMITTEES

(YESTERDAY.)

GROUP Iv.
P 25 I'+l AND INVERNESS.

(Continued from our AfternoorigUition of yesterday.)
Mr. AUSTIN said then it became his duty to comment upon the
case of the Perth and Inverness promoters. He contended that the
Committee could not, In the peculiar circumstances of these two cases,
decide upon the engineering evidence without having reference to the
subject of local accommodation, or without looking at the general
system of the two schemes. The Learned Gentleman, after com-
menting upon the engineering evidence adduced on both sides, di-
rected the attention of the Committee to the fact that the Great
North of Scotland line comprised only 138 miles of rails, while the
rival schema for accomplishing the same object took up 221
miles and a half. Now the cost of the first, which was
proposed to be wholly a double line of rails, was
estimated at a million and a half, while the cost of
the ether, which was only partially double, was 20,444,0001.
while to make the line double it would take 203,0001. more, or
20,787,0001, giving a saving of a million 1n favour of the Great North
of Scotland line.
The CHAIRMAN said the Learned Counsel was Including the cost of
the line f?om Nairn to Aberdeen, which was hardly fair, when he
was comparing a line from Perth to Inverness with the Great North
of:Scotland.

Mr. AUSTIN said then he would not touch again on costs, but come
at once to an immediate comparison with the engineering merits of
the two lines. Well, then, the summit of the Highland line was
1,450 feet high, while the summit of the Great North of Scotland
only reached an altitude of 500 feet. On the Great North line the
severest gradient was lln 100, on the Highland line lln 70. On the
Great North line out of 138 miles there were only 15 miles
on a gradient of 1 in 105, while on the Highland line
there were 15 miles under lin 150. On the Highland line there
were 8 miles of 1 in 75, 7 of 1 in. 84, 21 of 1 in 100, 4 of 1 in 102, and
lofl in 104. This summit and these gradients, he boldly asserted,
were unprecedented. Mr. Mitchell, the gentleman who laid out the
line, the Committee wont': see from this, was the greatest mountain
climber that had ever teen heard of. He beat Napoleon outright,
and quite eclipsed Hannibal. He recollected reading a work of
several hundred pages, written by a gentleman at Cambridge, and
detailing how Hannibal crossed the Alps, but after this line will have
passed, he had n'a doubt there would be quarto's written about Mr.
Mitchell.—(Laughter.) He thought then he had shown that this line
reached the greatest altitude with the severest gradients through
the wildest country, and with a single rail, of
an7linekno in Bri-
tain. Besides the decision of the Committee in its favour, then there
was only one thing that would surprise him, and that was the mak-
ing of the line. Now he came to the question of cost of making,
and after the evidence of Mr. Lee, it was important for the Com-
mittee to take this question into their serious consideration. Mr.
Lee had told them that upon the Sheffield and Manchester, a line
infinitely more superior to this in point of gradients, and nothing
near its length, the cost of working swallowed up a clear half of the
gross receipts. What, then, would be the cost in this case?
That was an important point for the Committee to decide, and
one which slime he thought ought to prove fatal to the passing of
this Bill. He said then there was sufficient to justify the Committee
in refusing to hear any further evidence in favour of the Perth and
Inverness line, and to say that their sanction to the Great North of
Scotland Bill ought not further to be delayed.
The Committee postponed their decision till to-morrow, and ad-
journed shortly after four o'clock.

GROUP VII.
This Committee re-assembled to-day at twelve o'clock; present
Mr. Palmer (chairman), and the other Members.
EDINfITJEGR AND NORTHERN (STRATH.

ERN DEVIATION BRANCH).
The Committee having heard some further evidence. decided that
the preamble of this Bill was proved.

GROUP IX.

CALEDONIAN (TERMINX AND BRANCHES,

As arrangements respecting the junctions to be effected by this
scheme with the existing lines south of the Clyde could not he come
to this morning, it was agreed to postpone its further consideration
till the 27th, in order to get the assent of the House to certain devia-
tions that would be required to meet the objections of the Committee,
but which involved an infringement of the standing orders.
GLASGOW AND GREENOCK (POLLOC
AND GOVAN BRANCH).

The case on behalf of this Bill having closed to-day, the Committee
declared the preamble of the Bill not proved.
The remainder of the sitting was occupied till four o'cloek with
the Glasgow Southern Terminal, when the Committee adjourned.