The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-01 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, June 29.

Their Lordshipslnet at Five o'clock.
BANKRUPTCY AMENDMENT ACT.
On the motion of Lord BROUGHAM, this Bill was
read a second time.

PROTECTION AGAINST VEXATIOUS ACTIONS.
This Bill was also read a third time and assed, on
the motion of the same NOBLE AND LEARNED LORD.
SUGAR DUTIES BILL.

The Duke of BUCCLEUCH moved that this Bill be
read a second time.
On the motion of the same NOBLE DUKE the standing
orders were suspended. The Bill went through Com-
mittee' and was subsequently read a third time and
passed.
RAILWAY COMPANIES DISSOLUTION BILL.
On the motion of the Earl of DALHOUSIE, the
Commons' amendments to this Bill were agreed to.
The Duke of BUCKINGHAM moved the re-com-
mittal of the Buckinghamshire (Tring and Banbury)
Railway Bill to the decision of the Select Committee on
the Bill. The object, he said, was to consider the propriety
of passing a portion of the Bill which was not objected to.
He must inform the House that he made the motion
with the concurrence of the chairman, else he should not
have presumed to have done so.
Lord STANLEY explained the reasons why the Com-
mittee decided against the Bill in question. They
did so because they believed the line as an
independent scheme would not pay the share-
holders for the capital invested. Since then he
understood the scheme had been so altered, that
the major part of it was to be abandoned, and a branch
of twelve miles retained to accommodate the towns of
Brockley and Buckingham. This small portion
sought to be obtained was nnobjected to by the
landed proprietors along the line, and would be worked
by another company. Under these circumstances he
had no objection that the Bill should be re-committed
for the purpose of considering the propriety of granting
the portion in question.
Lord BROUGHAM had always felt a great objec-
tion to the interference of the House with railway
Committees. In the present case the circumstances
seemed considerably altered since the Bill was before
the Committee; he thought, therefore, that there was ;gyp
obpotion to the Bill being referred back to the
snittee.
Lord CAMPBELL did not think they Were departing
from the sound principles of non-.interference with the
decisions of railway Committees by referring this Bill
back to the Committee.
The motion was then agreed to.
It was then ordered that the Bill be referred to the
Select Committee for re-consideration.
Their Lordships then adjourned till Thursday next.

RAILWAY COMMITTEE 5.

(YESTERDAY)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
GROUP C.

HERCULANEUM DOCHS.
The Committee re-assembled this morning, Lord Ashbur-
ton in the chair, when, after some time, the preamble was
declared to be proved. The clauses of the Bill were passed
through without amendment, and the report ordered to be
brought np.

GROUP D.

MANCRESTER, MIDLANDS, AND GREAT

GRIMSBY ?UNCTION.

The Committee assembled this morning, Lord Somers in
the chair.

Witnesses were called to show the nature of the produce
on the respective lines of the present competing companies
for this line, the chief points being to show what
was the extent of magnesian limestone carried into
Lincolnshire from the neighbourhood of Worksop,
and the supply of stone for grindstones sent from Thryburgh
and Wickersby to Sheffield, as also the number and extent
of the ironworks in the neighbourhood of Rotherham.
The statements with respect to the minerals were made by
Mr. Sellers and Mr. Byron, both connected with the district,
the latter agent to By
Fitzwilliam for his mineral pro-
perty. Mr. Dyson, of Rotherham, was the principal wit-
ness called to show the extent of the ironworks, and he
stated that his own manufacture was 500 tons daily, and, of
course, many thousands of tons a year.
Mr. Chadwick stated that he was the owner and the oc-
cupier of the stone quarries at Thryburgh, and that the
opposing quarries at Wickersby are nearly exhausted; while
there was the additional advantage, the stone having to
descend a considerable elevation.
The Secretary of the line was then put into the box, and
repeated the formal proofs which had been deposited before,
according to the standing orders. The population within
three miles of the line, but including all those residing in Gains-
borough and Rotherham, as stated by Mr. Belton, who has
been employed in taking the traffic, was 65,855 on a line of the
Womoters, exclusive altogether of the population of Sheffield.
ithout speaking as to accuracy, he found that the local
population was 39,000, or, according to the statement of the
engineer of the Sheffield and Lincolnshire line, only 34,000.
A. long cross-examination ensued, in which Mr. PAGET
endeavoured to elicit that the several places on the line for
whose population credit hat been taken were, though appa-
rently, really several miles distant; but the discrepancy
appeared to be reconciled by the circumstance, that though
parts of the several parishes were far off, yet the population is
scattered, and spread over wide districts.
Mr. Macconnell, the engineer locomotive superintendent
of the Bristol and Birmingham line, who attended under a
warrant from the Speaker, expressed an opinion that
there would be danger in the junction of the Sheffield
and Lincolnshire line with the Rotherham Railway, as the
line was there on a descent. He was impressed with the
necessity of having four policemen stationed at each of the
four points of this junction. It would be necessary also to
have a first-class station there, where all the trains might
stop, as, from the natural slope of the ground, it was impos-
sible to see the trains as they approach. The northern point
of the Midlands Railway would be particularly dangerous,
in consequence of the cutting interrupting the view both
ways.
On re-examination by Mr. PAGET, it appeared that all
the junctions in the kingdom are made by the up or the
down train passing from one pair of rails to the other, and
that the janotion here spoken of was on an incline of 1 in 100,
still he had himself formed a gradient of 1 in 37, though he
disliked gradients.
To Mr. Sergeant WILIMTS the witness said, that the
employment of policemen would be inevitable, and thus the
expense would be ten guineas a week for this watching.
With respect to the junctions which had been alluded to, all
the trains on the Birmingham add Midlands Railways, with
the exception of the express train, stopped at Rugby, and he
had understood, with respect to the Warrington line, that it
was considered so objectionable, that the people of Liverpool
had this session applied for a new and direct line, in order to
avoid the danger and delay of that junction.
Mr. Payne, the manager of the traffic on the Bristol and
Birmingham, considered the Woodside Junction very inad-
visable.
Captain Lawes, manager of the Manchester and Leeds
Railway Company from its establishment, testified as to his
knowledge of the country through which the line of
the promoters was to pass, and to his opinion of the
excellence of the line from the communication which
it opened up with the Yorkshire coal-field, which is one of the
largest in England for the eastern counties of England.
The Aubrey section strikes the Sheffield and Rotherham
line about two miles and a half from Rotherham, and in-
tersected the Silkestone coal-field for more than
three miles, and as the whole of the line was on a de-
scending gradient there would be an excellent facility
for the transference of this coal to every part supplied with
communication by the London and York line. He decidedly
objected to the junction at Woodside, and would rather go
round by Sheffield to Rotherham than incur the risk
and trouble of it. With respect to the inclined plane which
had been objected to in the Manchester, Midlands, and
Great Grimsby Junction line, he could say that
the Oldham incline, on the Manchester and Leeds
Railway, is 1 miles long, and on a gradient of 1 in
27, and yet, by the adoption of a system of balances, they
found no difficulty whatever in daily overcoming it. There
could be no doubt, therefore, that the engines could be
worked up the proposed incline of the promoters at a speed
of twenty. five miles an hoar. The facilities for traffic at
Sheffield had been greatly increased by the enlargement of
the station.

In cross-examination by Mr. BAINs, Captain Lanes stated
that in ascending the Oldham incline, all the contingencies of
breaking of ropes and braces had occurred, but they had al-
ways found the power of the engine iu front sufficient to over-
come the difficulty. He denied that there had been any de-
cided hostility to the Manchester and Sheffield line, and al-
though interested in the Pontefract, Wakefield, and Goole,
as well as the branch to gyl, though not an engineer or a
practical manager, he should, in the face of the opinions of
all the civil engmeerts in the kingdom, persevere in his im-
pression of the great injudiciousness of this gradient
The Committte here adjourned till to-morrow.

. -
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP XVII.
MANCHESTER AND SOUTHAMPTON.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. A.THERTON then proceeded to address the Committee.
against the line, on behalf of Mr. Roe, a landowner at
Southampton, near the site of the proposed terminus. He
is the owner of a wharf fronting the water, the access to
which he held would be destroyed by the ; and,
there-
fore, he prayed the Committee not to pass the
preamble of
the Bill.
Mr. Hack, an architect at Southampton, considered that
the mode of crossing the Dorchester line would be dangerous,
and that the carrying of trains along the quays would offer
serious inconvenience to the business of that locality, and in-
terfere with those who were in the habit of going there for
the purpose of recreation.
In his cross-examination by Mr. ALEXANDER, he stated
that four roads were crossed by trains in connexion with the
South-Western, at Southampton, one of which belonged to
Mr. Roe. On the whole, he considered the railway would be
of advantage to the town. He should like to see direct rail-
way communication with the north from Southampton.
The Committee then adjourned until twelve to-morrow.

GROUP XVIII.
LONDON, NEVTEURY, AND BATH
DIRECT.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. MEEREWETUER then called Mr. Walker, the Admiralty
engineer, who stated that he had been in communication
with the Speaker for a considerable time, which was his
apology for not appearing before the Committee at twelve
o'clock, and that he thought he should be able to save any
farther delay and trouble to the Committee, as he hoped be
should be able to conclude an arrangement with Mr. Brunel.
After a short time, which was spent in consultation be-
tween Mr. Brunel and Mr. Walker,
Mr. AfF.RnEWETIIER stated that he had been informed that
an arrangement had been entered into between the parties,
which he would lay before the Committee in a formal and
proper manner to-morrow.
The Committee then adjourned till twelve to-morrow.

,• R GROUP XXXIII.
~...411;e1Ominittie on this Bill having adjourned to this day
5 T•fioni- • • . y,, that again at twelve o'clock this morning,
-jindpti.: ~:. 'with %the adjourned case of the landowners,
fefitoillifg agaiFstAlits
..._.
_ • arit•Mgilali- AND OXFORD JUNCTION.
' Mr. Ma.ct,9N p ed to address the Committee on the
part or hislaVerall, nts petitioning against the Bill. Ere
wftpt.l3ver -the whole of the evidence given on Saturday,
which was stated .at great length in The Sun of Monday
...morning, kath as it referral to the landowners, and cf the
truttee.i of the luclepeucleat Chapel. In reopeot of the latter