The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

GROUP X VII.

ZRANCIECUTZ3I, AND SOTITNAMPTONO AND
BOUTS WESTERN (11.0111,SZY AND RED-
BRIDGE DRANCIE).
The Committee met this morning at the usual hour, the Hon. E.
Yorke to the chair.
Aestrs then proceeded to address the Committee on behalf of the
ntcat Nyestern Railway Company, in opposition to the first-mentioned
• otte tomato:need by calling the attention of the Committee to
company t. of the Bill, which set forth that the capital of the
,ot. each. 2,5!1_0,000/., which was to he raised in shares of
the proposed capita, orate Zethia, In order to ascertain what really was
been abandoned. it waa icervaTlY, now that the line to Poole had
00,1 should be stated, b,al4'll-ant that the real amount of the ca-
/he estimates. T." amount would materially affect
Mr. 'Wheeler, the solicitor to
colnploy, since the abandonment of worc7, said the capital of the
(bleed to 1,769,000!. YO S branch. had been re-
on to say that the commute.
Mr. A rsTi went
'lion the expenditure of so large a sum as this, ~xaht to look
ti was to be
raised in such small shares aS
n2doi/t.,urbey
oafngeowleargomepa,. this
ew
parties altogether. The expe
oViretablished companies would not create
rseurps
the
pollen by new parties, and 1n these Sinsn ' and isoothtU
Great Western, the London and 13inningham.
gs than 501. each, tt
Western, for instance, where shares arerrelo_etrrilens
to the opinion of
esonld not fail to create Suspicion. After f
Lord Dalhousie, which was to the effect that It
tohfecapportaleroonf
Committees of the House to restrict the expett
wasu in n e
mmit it
ees, au-
railways, he went on to call the attention of
Coth eCommittee
to the fact, that various Bills passed by
thorising the expenditure of immense sums of money fu the
third
construction of railways had been thrown out on th
reading. This he considered showed that the House of Com-
mons was determined to .carry out in practice the opinions
It had expressed with respeett to railway projects of minor lin-
-IPortance, and that tt would be-better for Committees not to Pass
Bills which, for the large sums of money required to construct them,
wenld afterwards be thrown out by the House. Then the Committee
wets called upon to consent to a 13111, the promoters of which pledged
themselves not to raise more than'33o,oool. betore 1848, att,r paying
the Interest on calls; What, after the payment of cousisel, engl-
goers, surveyors, and solicitors, would remain, out of this sum, for
the construction of their line ? Why, the line to Andover, without
the purchase of land, would Cost 300,0001., so that if the whole of
the land necessary for the,,.line from Southampton to Andover was
_given to them they could' not open that portion of the line before
1848. Lord Shaftesbury's Bill specified that the land, necessary for
the purposes of a railway, should be purchased within three.years
:after the passing of the Bill. Then, after 1845, they were to be ern-
Wwered to raise 750,0001. Now, what would this sum do ? It
world do little or nothing towards constructing the line
to a windon, and this ha believed he should prove to the
satisfacNon of the Committee Then, it the Committee • would
look at the map they would see that there was by com-
munication north and south, and east and west, abundant for all the
purposes of Os country. The-local tragic was of minor importance.
There were lilies frem Reading to Itungerford, end from Reading to
tishopstoke, from Basingstoke by Andover ant Salisbury to Yeovil,
and south to Dorchester. The worth-west communication to the
north could be effected by the Basingstoke add italisbury, and the
*rut% leatiereet, and Weymouth, and so on by Bristol or Swindon ;
the north-east communication was effected thorn Southampton' by
Basingstoke, Reading, and by the Oxford and Rugby. Between
Southampton and Oxford there was a break of gauge. Ile then re-
-lerred to the traffic, and held that the promoters of the line had in-
Aimed every clodhopper wro never travelled on anything save his
/pen two legs, or athwart a farmer's horse, as a person estimatid to
h:egi the line, and not only had they done this, but they bad actually
set Amsted that for every person of this kind on the local roads,*
two woad use the railway—actuary doubled it. lie held also that
the w. osof the traftic estimates were fallacious, and could upt be
• „. 'see with anything like accuracy by the Committee. The
And Southampton estimated that they would carry
3. x:oFir, 'l...niers, but the London and Birmingham last year
ow, earrred 1.1.955,060, the Greet Western 1,99'4,000, the *oath
Rests. 843,00. "*, Ale Eastern Counties 534,000, the Colchester line
61,0g0„ The, ea, 'legated that 300,000 sheep and pigs would travel
by the line, but the • Lond,:u and Birmingham Couarany carried last
roar 166,719, tura,, Westiera 172,000, mid the ts94tll Wilgus