The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-09 00:00:00

N0.17,511.] LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING

NATIONAL LOAN FUND LIFE ASSU-
RANCE SOCIETY.

26, Cornhill, London.
Capital X 500,000.
Empowered by Act of Parliament.
This Institution embraces important and substantial advantages
with respect to Life Assurances and Deferred Annuties.
Policies Issued by this Society have a twofold advantage :—provi-
sion for the family of the Assured, and an augmenting pecuniary
available resource to himself, if needful, while living. The Assured
has, on all occasions, the power to borrow, without expense, or for-
feiture of the Policy, two-thirds of the Premiums paid.
DIVIsIOST OF PROFI TS.
The continued prosperity of the Society has enab'ell the Directors
at the Annual Meeting, hell on the 10th of May, 1548, to declare a
sixth bonus, varying from 27 to 65 per cent. on the Premiums paid
on each Policy effected on the profit scale.
EXAMPLES.

Perma- Suns the
:*.d Anneal Policy Bonus In neat Re- Assured •
Age. E g?, Pre- taken addition Bonus in Auction of may bor.
gi whim. tut In to Sum Cask. Annual ' row ea
Assured. Premium.: Polley.
- -
s. A. £ s d. s. d. s. 4.
r 1837 262 14 3,111 15 11 20 0 0 543 17 9
1838 237 15 61108 16 4 17 7 6 494 6 111
60 1000 74x3
4. d. 1839 211 18 6' 95 16 914 17 7 445 S I
1840 163 8 4 75 15 10 11 10 9 395 11 1
1841 159 3 4 71 5 0 10 19 8 346 2 3
1842 132 2 6 58 17 .6 819 10 296 12 4
1843 84 11 8 37 10 0 514 2 247 4 5

11. PREMIUMS
To secure 1
lon attin- AnnuityXlo 10 0
lug the age Cash .. 82 10 0
of 6.5, the Polley.. 97 8 6
option of

r<,l
x
,

Payable
E Anna-
-1-; ally.
20
30
40

Annuity

s.
20 47 16 C
30 26 15 IPII
40 13 19 91

Cash. I Policy.

£ s.
d s. d.
394 n 0 466 0 0
221 0 0 261 0 0
115 8 0 136 6 0

£ s. d.
0 10 11
0 19 6
1 17 3

Payable Payable
is one for Die-
aux. parity.

10 0 10
16 7 I:
27 3 11

Z a. d.
0 o'o
7 3 11
19 4 10

Immediate Annuities are also granted by the Society on liberal
terms, as will be seen by the following extracts from the Tables,
showing the annual amount of annuity upon every 1001. deposited :
Age 50, £7 Its. I Age 60, £9 14e. 3d. I Age 70, £l4 2s. 2d.
The Annual Report, with Tables of Rates, &c.. may be had at the
Office, or any of its Branches in the Country; or, on application, wi
be forwarded post free.

W. S. B. WOOLHOUSE, Actuary.

RE &DING SAUCE, for FISII, GRAVIES, HASHES, STEAKS, ke
JOHN and CHARLES COCKS, the Sole Pro-
prietors and Manufacturers of the celebrated READING
SAUCE, beg to Caution the Public against the daily frauds practised
by many London and Country Oilmen, who are offering their spurious
compe.dttons as the Genuine Reading Sauce.
This SAUCE is patronised and recommended by most Families in
the Kingdom, and for general use it stands unrivalled. It is sold by
all respectable Oilmen and Fish Sauce Venders. Bo particular in
asking for

"COCKS'S BELDING SAUCE,"
which is prepared Only by John and Charles Cocks, at their Manu-
factory, Duke-street, Reading.—All others are Counterfeits.—Observe
the name "J. and C. Cocks, Reading," en the seal and Label of each
Bottle ; without this none are Gelatine.

T lIE NATIONAL GUARD.

The visit from France of the National Guard
•
Is a capital theme for the mercantile bard,
Who, with every good Englishman, heartily cries
" Three cheers for our neighbours and friendly allies."
The National Guard, from accounts that are written,
Seem highly delighted at visiting Britain,
And wherever the good :allic strangers have been,
They've declared themselves pleased at the sights they have seen.
The writer of this being present, for one,
When the National Guards came to MOSES and SON,
Can attest to the pleasure which each seemed to show
As ho wond'ring stroll'd through the mighty depot,
Net one of the visitors failed to admire
The shops set apart for the sale of
ATTIRE.
They noticed the mart in its business design,
And they noticed the dress, which they thought very fine.
At the sight of tke fashions each heart seemed to glow
(And Frenchmen are judges of fashion, you knew),
And every one gave the peculiar shrug
On seeing the Over=Coats, stylish and snug,
Not a guard did I notice but seemed to be won
By the elegant dresses of MOSES aid SON.
After they inspected the prime
HATS AND r APS,
In which you'll imagine some time would elapse,
And I scarcely need say that the National Guard,
On seeing the goods, stared remarkably hard,
Such indeed was the case, and I didn't see one
Who gave not due credit to MOSES and SON.
They next made their way to the prime
BOOTS AND SHOPS,
Which of course they had na disposition to lose,
And here (for I judge from the shrug and the start),
They were equally pleased with the grand City Mart,
Aid I certainly thought they were " sensible Sirs,"
When I saw how delighted they were with the
FURS.
" Well done, Messrs. Moses ; well done," said each man
(I give the translation as well as I can),
And having applauded these winter affairs,
They looked at the
OUTFITS AND HOSIERY WARES,
Which goods pleased them well, as the ethers had done,
And caused them to compliment MOSES and SON.
And be it remembered that, after inspection,
Each one of the " Nattimals" made a selection.
Many thanks, gallant Guards, for your liberal aid,
With warmth is this public acknowledgment made,
And with this very view did the mercantile bard
Select for his subject the " National Guard."
E. MOSES and SON invite especial attention to their Sheeting-
coats, which possess a peculiar cut and style, adding much comfort
In the lit. E. M. and L are convinced they will be much approved
of by the public.
Shooting Coats, in a variety of !materials from Bs. 6d. to 218.

The Doeskin, .r Elastic Coat, frons• • ..
LIST OF PRICES.
READY MADE.

Autumn and Winter Coats, in all the aew styles • • from £0 0 6
Ckesterfield and Codriagton's, and every description
of Over-coats, handsomely trimmed •. • ....... I i 0
The Premier ••• • • • ...............
Shooting Coats.... •• • • ............... ..... ....... 6
Aatumn aid Winter Trousers .... .... • • .... • • ...... 0 4 6
Doeskin ditto
Aatumn aid Winter Vests ••• • .. • 2 •
Frock to. •• .. 1 4 0
Boys' Vassar and Timis Suits...• ••.. • •••••• • • • • • • 0 16 6

PUBLICATIONS.

LEIGH HUNT'S ACCOUNT OF LONDON.
On Monday next will be published, in 2 vols. post Bvo., with Forty-five
Illustrations, price 245. in embossed cloth,
T H " E T 0 W
N:
ITS MEMORABLE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS,
(From St. Paul's to St. James's).
By LEIGH HUNT.
London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornish'.

Now ready, price Is.,
AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRESENT STATE OF
(1,17 Z MITH FIE LD CATTLE MARKET, and the
b Dead Meat Markets of the Metropolis. Showing the tendency
of the present system to reduce the Profits of the Graziers, cause un-
necessary Cruelty to Animal., Poison the Food of the Poor, and give
rise to the meet disgraceful Desecration of the Sabbath.

By JOHN BULL.
James Ridgway, Piccadilly, and all Booksellers.

Now ready, price Is.,
THE TENURE of LAND •in IRELAND
CONSIDERED.

By T. ALCOCK, Esq., M.P.
James Ridgway, Piceadilly, and all Booksellers.

Now ready,
ASTRONOMICAL EPHEMERIS for 1849
and 1850; containing the Latitude, Longitude, Declination,
and Right Ascensions of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, for each day
at noon. Also a Table of Houses for Latitude for 52 deg. 30 min. ;
carefully computed by ZADKLEL.
Published by Sherwood and Co., Paternoster-row, London.
Price Two Shillings.

Just out,

THE FINANCIAL REFORM ASSOCIATION
TR ACT.

No. 111. ON TAXATION:

Amount paid into the Exchequer ; Cost of Collection ; Sources
and Distribution of the Taxes ; Comparison of Burthens on Pro-
perty, Trade, and Industry ; Juggling in Finance; Labour and
Labourers Crushed ; the Excise and Customs Analysed.
Ne. I. THE CIVIL LIST.

LPENCER'S CHINESE LIQUID HAIR DYE.
The thousands of individuals who for upwards of twenty
years have used this celebrated liquid, pronounce it to be the only
article extant which effectually changes, in a few minutes, red or
grey hair, whiskers, moustaches, &c., to a dark brown or black,
without trouble (by simply combing it through the hair), and pro-
duces by one application a pleasing and permanent change ; and it
can be incontestibly proved, that while many dyes tend to destroy
the hair by their pernicious properties and dangerous process of ap-
plication, that this article promotes the growth of hair, nourishing
the roots till the latest period of life. Price 3s. 6d., 65., and 10s.
per bottle.

Ts be had of the Proprietors, 29, Nottingham-place, Fieldgate•
street, Whiteehapel-read, London ; also of Mr. Johnstone, 68, Corn-
hill ; Butler, 4, Cheapside ; Prout, 229, Strand ; Sanger, 150, Oxford-
street; Barclay, Farringden-street ; Atkinson, 24, Old Bond-
street; Hooper, 43, King William-street, London .bridge ; Finnigin,
Hilsom-street, Bath; Elmore, Bull-street, Birmingham ; Roberts, 23,
Church-street, Liverpool ; and of most Perfumers and Medicine
Vendors in town and country. Sent to any part of the kingdom
by receiving a remittance, post-paid.
Please to ask for " Spencer and Co.'s Chinese Liquid Hair Dye,"
Observe, the Proprietor's address is on the wrapper.

THE BEST APERIENT and ANTIBILIOUS
MEDICINE for general use is FRAMPTON'S PILL OF
HEALTH, which effectually relieves the stomach and bowels by
gentle relaxation, without griping or prostration of strength. They
remove head-ache, sickness, dizziness, pains in tho chest, &c., are
highly grateful to the stomach, promote digestion, create appetite, re-
lieve lanzour and depression of spirits ; wkile to those of full habit
and free livers, who are continually suffering from drowsiness, heavi-
ness, and singing in the head and ears, they offer advantages that will
not fail to be appreciated.

This medicines has for many years received the approval of the
most respectable classes of society; and in confirmation of its effi-
cacy, the following letter has been kindly forwarded to Mr. Prout,
with permission to publish it, and if requisite, to refer any respect-
able person to its author :
" To Mr. Preut, 229, strand, London.
" Heavitree, Exeter, April 24, 1844.
" Sin.,—l feel pleasure in being able to bear my strong and unsoli-
cited testimony to the excellence of your Frampton's Pill of Health,'
which I consider a most safe, efficacious, and very superior ge-
neral medicine. The widow of an officer, an elderly lady, and
near relative of mine, has used them—very rarely having re-
course to any other medicine for a long period of years. She
has recommended them extensively, and in one instance in

which she induced a person to adopt them, and supplied the
first box herself, they hsve proved of extraordinary efficacy. I think
th+t, perhaps, there is scarcely any other of the many patent media
cines before-the public ofequal value as a friend in need ;' certainly
none possessed of superior claims. I shall be happy on all occasions
to give them my indtv.dual recommendation; and am, Sir,
'• Your obedient servant,

.. ♦ * 0 0."

Sold by T. Front, 229, Strand, London. Price Is. IV. and 2s. fd.
per box. Also by the venders of medicines generally throughout the
kingdom. _ .

Ask for FRAMPTON'S PILL of HEALTH, and observe the name
and address of " Thomas Prout, 229, Strand, London," on the Go-
vernment Stamp.

Illustrated by 26 Anatomical Coloured Engravings on Steel.
)N PHYSICAL DISQUALICATIONS, GENERATIVE INCAPA-
CITY, &ND IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE.
New Edition, enlarged to 196 pages. Just published, price 2s. 6d., or
bv nest, direct from the Establishment, 3s. Gd. in postage :tamps,
FIRE SILENT FRIEND, a Medical Woritk.
and
on
the infirmities and decay of the generative system, from ex-
:essive Indulgence, infection, and the inordinate use of mercury,
with remarks on Marriage, and the means of obviating certain dis:
lualificatiens. Illustrated by 26 Coloured Engravings.
Tiateyhborne.
PERRY and CO., 19, Berners-street, Oxford-street, London.
Published by the Authors : sold by Strange, 21, Paternoster-row ;
Hannay, 63, and Saeger, 150, Oxford-street
street, Haymarket ; and Gordon, 146, Leadenhall-street.
PART I. treats of the anatomy and physiology of the re-productive
argans, and is illustrated by Six Coloured Engravings.
PART 11. treats of the consequences resulting from excessive ladul-
nce, and their lamentable en e system, producing mental
end bodily weakness, nervousexcitement and generative incapacity.
ft is illustrated by Three Explanatory Engravings.
PART 111. treats of the diseases resulting from infection, either in
the primary er secondary form, and contains explicit directions for
their treatment. The consequences of early neglect and of the abuse
at mercury, are also clearly pointed out. This section is illustrated
')3, Seventeen Coloured Engravings.
PART IV. treats of the Prevention of Disease by a simple ap-
elicatien, by which the danger of infection is obviated. Its action
Is simple but sure. It acts with the virus chemically, and destroys
its power on the system. This important part of the Work should
he read by every Young Man entering into life.
Pear Y. is devoted to the consideration of marriage,
e
Mies. The causes of unproductive union a alsecsideraledd, anditi
the whole subject critically and philosophically inquired into.
Tax Coantet. BALM OF STRIACIIII is exclusively employed in treat-
ng nervous and sexual debility, impotence, kc., lit .and 335. pe
it
r
swlo,
mr:tt Ferry's tlht
ass e
a.
a..
ruv.
Purifyinge:
deothsCAb eotna
ntnhe:candop e
ceddunti
Attendance
renaetchet
haeepbed
du
eaDsel t
yieoet;es
tr Detersive r
jemercury,etr4sEssence,
e6disa n a
and d ax
h ra
13013:
isen. :pp;
en f
ry
per
ab
settle. nr n
i t
romedy, for purifying the blood in cases of infection, secondary symp-
ce
ed.
11oInTowfoth. eanbdladndvere.th Consultation
Itat;onsab,iiistnfee, if by letter, ►ll. 51. Packets
h r nd
419
.Teshe tf
re
roonmas
rl yr,4_,:byr
eye
enwt.toh
.coohnmet the
Eleven fee,

ON NE rtYOUti DEBILITY AND GENERATIVE DISEASEs.
Just published, the Thirty-sixth Thousand, an improved edition, re-
vised and corrected, 12it page; price 2s. is a sealed envelope, or
forwarded by the Authors, post paid, to any address, secure from
observation, for 2s. 6d., in postage stamps, illustrated with Int-

merous Anatomical Coloured Engravings.
nANHOOD: the CAUSES of its PREMA-
TUBE DECLINE, with. Plain Directions for its PERFECT
RESTORATION.
A Medical Essay on those Diseases •f the Generative Organs,
emanating from Solitary and Sedentary Habits, indiscriminate Ex-
cesses, the Effects of Climate and Infection, &c., addressed to the
sufferer la Tooth, Manhood, and Old Age; with Practical Remarks
en Marriage, the Treatment and Cure of Nervous amt Mental De-
bility, Impotency, Syphilis, and other Urine-Genital Diseases, by
which even the most shattered constitution may be restored, and
reach the full period of life allotted to Man. The whole illustrated
with numerous Anatomical Engravings on Steel. in colour, explain-
ing the various functions, secretions, and structures et the repro-
ductive Organs is health and disease ; with instructions for private
correspondence, cases, &c.
/Sy J. L. CURTIS and CO., Consulting Surgeons,
7 , Frith-street, Soho-square, London.

" ' Manhood.' A Medical Work.—To the gay and thoughtless we
trust this little work will serve as a beacon to warn them of the
:longer attendant upon the too rash indulgence of their passions,
whilst to some it may serve as a monitor in the hour of tempta-
tion, and to the afflicted as a sure guide to health."—Chronicle
" Manhood.' Ey J. L. Curtis, and Co.—Their long expolence
and repitation in the treatment of these painful diseases is the
patient's guarantee, and well deserves for the work its immense cir-
ulation."—Era.

" • Curtis on Manhood' should be In the hands of youth and old
age. It is a medical publication, ably written, and developer the
treatment of a class of painful maladies which has too long been
the prey of the illiterate and the designing."— United Service
Gazette.

The Parent, who beholds his beloved child pining away, and fast
approaching to a premature grave, in consequence of some disease,
which, for want of careful investigation of its real cause, has been
set down to the score of consumption, will, on perusing this work,
be astonished to find, that in nice-tenths of the cases of young per-
sons of both sexes, who perish of what is called pulmonary con-
sumption, heart disease, tabes, &c., the sole and exclusive origin has
been the indulgence in certain destructive habits practised by youth
much more frequently than it is at all suspected.
N.B. Hours of consultation from Eleven till Two, and Six to
Eight 4, the Evening.

ALARMING MORTALITY AT MONTROSIL—Making
all due allowance for the increase of our population, we
are safe in saying that the mortality during the last
month has been greater than it has bean for the last
thirty or forty years. Typhus fever, smallpox, measles,
cholera and many other diseases, have visited u 3 in the
above mentioned period, but none of these disorders have
proved nearly so fatal in so short a space of time as the
scarlet fiver which now rages in the town with great
virulence. In a population of less than 16,000, there
have been more than 100 deaths during the past month,
which is one out of every 160 of the inhabitants, and
fully four times our average mortality. We do not say
that all these have died of scarlet fever, but the great
majority of the deaths have been from this disease,
which has been dreadfully fatal among children, more
especially such as had weakly constitutions. Many
families have lost one, and in some cases two of the same
family have been carried to the churchyard together
and laid in the same grave. The places of the town that
have suffered most have been Clerkholm and Union-
street, which are two of the cleanest parts of the town,
and, from their airy situation, might be supposed to be
the most healthy. Such, however, is net the case, for,
in Reform-street alone, which is only a portion of Clerk-
holm, there have been no fewer than fifteen or sixteen'
deaths within the last five or six weeks, almost all chil-
dren under eight or ten years of age.—Dundee Adertiser.

STTRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—Our forefathers certainly were in error
when they said the age of iron had come. What
they saw was only a feeble anticipation of the Rail-
way Millennium. They never knew that dashing
disregard for veracities, consistencies, decencies,
moralities, and such pious relics of antiquity, which
-team alone can inspire. It is our misfortune that
we cannot keep pace with the age, and are accord-
ingly placed in unwelcome antagonism with its gods.
At one time all mankind are darting forwards into
space, and we find ourselves far in the rear, under a
shower of missiles from our enterprising competitors.
By and by we pass the debris of a terrific collision,
and then perceive that our safer destinies have ren-
dered us more hateful than ever. Nothing will
abash or subdue the effrontery of these little Titans,
who are equally furious on exactly opposite grounds,
tied who, at the present moment, are labouring to
bury us under mountains of abuse because we
seem blind to the extent of their former infatua-
tion. Rather more than three years since England,
Ireland, and Scotland were railway mad. Every
man was to make his fortune by buying scrip cheap
and selling it dear. But to conduct this attractive
and honourable commerce it was necessary to be-
lieve, or at least to inculcate, that this country could
make railroads at the rate of 100,000,000/. or there-
abouts a year. The majority of our contemporaries
gave in to this pleasing illusion, and saw no bounds
to the national capability. We dissented tote ccelo,
and totis vitibus also, from the insane calculation.
On various data, collected and analized with all the
care we could bestow, we estimated that even an ex-
penditure of 30,000,0001. on railways alone might
prove an injurious drain on our resources, and in the
event of war or bad harvests most certainly would.
This we said before there was any expectation of a
famine; and as a contemporary has lately thought fit
to assert that we only turned with the tide towards
the close of the year, we beg to say that we began
our warnings on the Ist of July, and repeated them
at intervals with increasing emphasis, till, when the
tide did turn in October, we had for several weeks
been incessantly denouncing the dishonest and ruinous
character of the movement. In that very month an
ingenious contemporary found nothing better to say
of us than that the continued buoyancy of the share-
market showed how little people cared for the Times.
We maintained that but a small portion of the rail-
ways projected, even by responsible parties, could be
executed. At the beginning of the session in 1846,
we implored Sir Robert Peel to adopt some effectual
check on railway legislation ; and when at the close of
that session it transpired that Acts had been passed
authorising calls and loans to the amount of
128,986,7141., in addition to 61,357,373/. authorized
in the previous session, we said that nothing like that
quantity of railway could be made within the time,
and warned the public that the mere attempt would
produce the greatest disasters. Notwithstanding,
however, a considerable foretaste of these disasters
the public still persevered, or were so hampered that
they could not recede, and in the session of 1847 fur-
ther Bills were passed to the amount of 38,007,233/.
Thus in those three fatal years 1845, 1846, and 1847,
Railways Bills were passed which, on the face of Par-
liamentary returns, authorised an expenditure of
228,351,3201. In hose three ;years certain of our
contemporaries, one in particular, still maintained that
there had been no excess of railway legislation. Their
first and palmary argument was founded on the enor-
mous sums raised by taxes and loans in 1813, 1814,
and 1815, and spent in war. It was argued, that if
all this expenditure for unproductive purposes, so far
from draining this country, contributed, as these rea-
soners alleged, to its prosperity, much more would an
equal expenditure in productive railroads. It was for-
gotten, or slurred over, that immediately upon those
three years there followed just such a terrible col.
lapse of credit and failure of resources as we have
lately witnessed. It was also argued that any ex-
penditure in the country was no loss of means ; that
the money only circulated; that the wages only fed
those who would be fed at all events; that the
material was all our own, and that trade was all the
better for brisk employment. We replied earnestly,
eincerely, and consistently, and can only regret that
our arguments were not as well received as they have
been fulfilled. But for our incredulity as to the
power of spending 228,000,0001. in railroads within
three or four years, we subjected ourselves to a CM-
tinued fire of invectives. It was repeatedly and
most charitably surmised that as our contracted es-
timate of the national powers could not possibly have
y foundation in fact or in belief, it must have been
assumed for the purpose of damaging the railway in-
terest, beating down the price of shares, and other such
gratuitous devilry. Will our readers have the good-
ne,s just to bear in mind the one topic of incessant
abuse lavished upon us in 1245, 6,7, and then make
what reflection they please on the following incident ?
We will premise that a mouth ago we inserted, in a letter
from a well- known correspondent, a summary of
rail way legislation from 1826 to 1847. It only pro-
fessed, of course, to be a compilation of Parliamentary
returns, but the little merit or originality which as
such it could possess, was immediately claimed by
Mr. James Bigg, jun., of 53, Parliament-street, for
a publication entitled, "Special Railway Acts passed
in 1847." According to this table the amount of
money authorised to be raised by the Railway Acts
passed from 1826 to 1847 inclusive, was 326,643,917/.,
of which the amount nominally raised or called -up to
the end of 1847 was 166,938,241/ the amount of
calls for this year to the end' of September
28.378,865/., making the total raised and called
195,317,1061. Deducting this suns from the larger
sum, it appeared that there were liabilities still
resting on the public, in respect of railway pro-
jects not completed, amounting to 13 1 32.6 111/.
In an article which appeared thefollowing,, day
inviting directors to set the public anxiety at
rest, and dispel misrepresentations, by detailed
official statements, we called the public attention to
these figures, chiefly as indicatinga the enormous value
of the property actually sunk affected by the fluc-
tuations of the market. We so
referred to the
document, and purposely abstainedl Yf.rarn committing
ourselves to its authority, though as a mere abstract
of Parliamentary returns it
ofavael some sort of
truth. The extreme uncertaintyylod dl railway sta-
tistics suggested this caution.
, we have ob-
served that even up to this day there Indeed
not appeared
of at all an extensive
immediatelyor
one single railway statement,
detailed character, which has not been
contradicted or considerably qualified, if bnobod
else, at least by its own authors. For oury part wey
are of opinion that railway statements are at best only
approximations to the truth. No soonor had we
quoted this summary of railway legislation than our
candid and benevolent contemporaries assailed
us from a new corner of the heavens. Their
accusation now was that we had concocted an ex-
travagant statement as to the liabilities still resting
on the public ; whereas we had made no state-
ment at all, but only referred to a summary
of railway legislation published in our columns with
the signature of a well-known correspondent. The
charge, however, has passed from mouth to mouth,
and on every side it is averred that we have trebled
the amount of railway work still to be done, and so
forth. Now, how does the simple reader imagine the
Parliamentary figures are got rid of? We
thl.e n o
doubt whatever, and never did d
Parlia-
mentary are not exempt from the doubt,
which has
befallen all railway statistics ; but accidental dupli-
cates and over-reckonings would go little Way to
reduce the figures we quoted. So now, in the coolest
manner imaginable the railway gentlemen are
turning round upon us with the
exclamation—“ How
come you to think all those railways are ever likely
to be made ? Why, 40,000,0001. worth of them have
been given up." Here we have it in the Leeds
Ictelligencer, a paper evidently deep in the interests,
the politics, and the morals of railway society :--
" On reading the Parliamentary returns, we find that
many branches connected with old lines are included,
which will not be, and never were intended to be made.
These branches were merely brought out either to defeat
li . drival projects, or to prevent the formation of
ground, noeu
com-
panies, by their apparently occupying t
thus offering to supply the imagined wants of the
public. The London and North-Western directors have
just stated that they: will abandon branches amounting
to 3,800,000/. The York and North Midland Company,
it is well known, do net intend to make the new line to
Leeds, for which they got powers ; and we believe that
nearly every old company intend quietly to abandon the
branches for which they were compelled thus to apply.
Many of the lines passed in 1846 have not yet made a
call ; and, as most of these are worthless schemes, very
few men of property are amongst the original sub-
scribers. Those likely to be injured ;by calls
have mostly transferred their shares to men of straw,
who would feel flattered by having a writ served upon
them. This mode of evading liabilities has been practised
to a large extent, railway companies having no power
to refuse transfers to such parties. Calls made under
these circumstances would be wholly unproductive. The
editor of the Economist objects to our statement, because
it does not include the amount to be raised to make
branch lines. We think there is no truth in this objec-
tion. The branch lines were principally originated in
1845; and if the editor will refer to the various railway
meetings, when the consent of the shareholders was ob-
tained to apply for those branches, he will find in almost
every case that new shares were created to represent
them, in many cases when the directors had no inten-
tion of making the branches. Such was the greediness
of OsT24ol4ere for. mew shares caused by the great pre-