The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-15 00:00:00

NORTHERN.
A long correspondence has been printed relative to
the existing competition between the above companies
for the traffic of certain towns. The great part of the
correspondence consists of certain propositions of the
companies for a division of the traffic. Mr. C. E.
Stewart, the secretary of tip London and North-
Western Company, on the 31st of March, in a letter
to Mr. Mowatt, the secretary of the Great Northern
Company, after adverting to a minute passed on the
224 of March last by a committee representing the
Midland and London and North-Western Companies,
which was placed in the hands of Mr. Denison, the
chairman of the Great Northern Company on the
morning of its date, by Mr. Ellis, the chairman of
the Midland Company, and Mr. Smith, the deputy-
chairman of the London and North-Western, who
both urged upon Mr. Denison the acceptance of the
offer to continue the existing arrangement of equal
fares, rates, &c., for passengers and goods between all
places to which the respective companies compete,
goes on to state :
" My directors entertain a deep sense of the responsi-
bility which would attach to them, did they fail to use
every means in their power to avert the evils to be ap-
prehended from a course of r. ckless competition between
such companies as the London and North-Western, the
Midland, and the Great Northern; and since Mr. Deni-
son refuses to accept our proposed partition of traffic, or
to agree to equal rates, with penalties in case of breach
of agreement, it only remains further to propose to leave
the decision upon our respective offers to the arbitration
of two impartial men, with a practical knowledge of the
subject, and with this view the committee instruct me to
propose the names of Mr. Learmonth, chairman of the
North British Company, and Mr. Leeman, chairman of
the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway, with power
to real in an umpire in case of difference."
Mr. SEYMOUR CLARRE, the general manager of the
Great Northern, replied on the part of that company
to the following effect :—That any general arrange-
ment between the two companies for a division of
territory being manifestly premature, from the great
disparity of the views of the respective companies, it
is better for the present to confine our attention to
the towns at which competion has actually commenced,
say York, Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, Doncaster,
Lincoln; that as to these, there is no objection on our
part to refer the propositions which have already been
made on both sides to the decision of an arbitrator.
The Great Northern Company, therefore, suggest
Lord Wharncliffe as a man of standing and of busi-
ness habits on their part, and that the North-Western
and Midland Companies shall select some similar
party to meet him, with power to both, in case of
disagreement, to select an umpire ; or the Great
Northern Company propose (if he can be induced to
undertake such an office), that the propositions be
placed singly before Mr. Gladstone for his decision,
leaving the other question (the division of territory)
to be the subject of another and distinct proposition.
If the plan referred to for the settlement of the division
of traffic of the several towns is agreed to, it may be
taken as though the companies had come to an agree-
ment, and subject to the bargains for goods already
made by either company in anticipation of the 4th of
April being adopted. Equal rates for goods and
passengers shall then be continued, the money division,
when settled by the arbitrator, to date back from the
said 4th of April, 1851.
Mr. STEWART, in reply, stated that the London
and North-Western would willingly concur with the
Great Northern in referring the case to the sole de-
cision of Mr. Gladstone.
Mr. Swift, the solicitor to the. London and North-
Western Company, in a letter to Mr. Baxter, dated
June 13, 1851, states :
" Since our preliminary meeting before Mr. Glad-
stone this morning, I have submitted to my clients the
views then adopted by you, as contended for by Mr.
Seymour Clarke in the correspondence which has passed
between him and Captain Huish since the execution of
the agreement of reference—namely, that your com-
pany would still (notwithstanding any award now made)
hold themselves at liberty to compete, and at any rates
they pleased, to any places beyond, however near to or
far from your line, or the particular towns named in the
agreement as not to be competed to.
" To my clients it appears that this, your view of the
future relations of the two companies, is wholly incon-
siatent with the idea of any practical or real settlement
at all, even to those towns, inconsistent with the avoid-
ance of that very competition which it is the professed
object of both boards, and of the agreement of reference
retedpa to part
claim of thatto agreement.baveclause 1 2itself, to avoid, and inconsistent with your board's pro-
po.s, I itioanm,
sttohoernerfso,rwe.hiincshttfu, m
of these propositions of yours considered sae a part of
any arrangement to be now made, as well as any others
of your or of our propositions which the arbitrator thinks
fit and necessary.
" Indeed, you will find that, unless this were so, it
would be impossible to work out any result whatever,
even if an award could be made by Mr. Gladstone, since
there will be no provision for many quite essential
points; among others I may mention the fixing of the
rates and fares to be charged by, and divided between
the two companies (the very essence of the reference),
the penalty for any evasion of the award, the arrange-
ment as to terminal charges, and as to working expenses
in any excess of traffic carried by either one of the two
companies, &c."
Mr. Baxter, the solicitor to the Great Northern
Company, in reply, said :
"1 am sorry to say that I not only cannot coincide
with you, but it appears to me your proposition is alto-
gether contrary to the understanding upon which the
arbitration was entered into, for you will recollect you
pressed the extension of the submission to other matters;
and upon my replying that it could not be conveniently
extended, you said you were authorised to abandon the
request, and to take it as it stood. It is quite clear that
if you wish an arrangement putting an end to competi-
tion upon all points, a great deal of matter will have to
be considered which has never yet been touched upon ;
but I strongly fear the time has not yet arrived when
your clients would bo induced to look at a general ar-
rangement upon a basis which would be permanently
equitable."
On the 20th of June Mr. Baxter wrote to Mr.
Swift the following letter :
" Dear Sir,—l have seen some of the Great Northern
directors and talked over with them the subject of our
conference ; but, after every consideration, they cannot
see the propriety of their being expected to bind them-
selves to take equal rates to auy point except where we
may agree for a division of traffic. The adverse combina-
tions which your company has made for the special pur-
pose of excluding the Great Northern from the natural
course of trafficito those places which they would have
enjoyed had not these combinations been effected,
renders it impossible, so long as these combinations
exist, to abstain from such measures as become neces-
sary to break through the combinations. If your friends
would abandon those exclusive combinations, there
would be no difficulty in agreeing upon equal rates."
Mr. Swift, in his letter of the 23d of June, after
reminding Mr. Baxter that he (Mr. Swift) was not
contending for something previously asked, and
abandoned by himself or his clients, said :
" I beg to refer you to that note of mine, a perusal of
which will remove this erroneous impression from your
mind. In fact, all which I asked was that Mr. Glad-
stone, in proceeding to deal with the matter referred to
him, should adopt as his basis your manager's (Mr.
Seymour Clarke's) proposition No. 12, as appended to
the agreement of reference, and such others of those
propositions
as, like it, will be absolutely needful for
carrying into effect the award which he may make. My
clients, I repeat, quite agree with me in considering
that proposition of Mr. Clarke's to be not only proper
in itself, but absolutely essential, for the reasons already
explained in your presence to Mr. !Gladstone, whose
time, therefore, we should have been most unjustifiably
wasting if we had affected to proceed with the reference
on any other basis; any award which he could have
made, except upon that basis, must necessarily have been
practically useless."
After referring to the evils of competition, Mr.
Swift goes on to state :
"At all events, that it can only be temporary, and is not
even meant to benefit the public, are points on which we
are fully agreed. I can only repeat my own opinion,
and urge for your re-consideration of it; but in the
meantime I feel constrained to remark on your five-
times-repeated use of the unpopular word ' combination,'
as applied to my clients in your last note. In point of
they have made were
fact, the only 'combinations'
l.
ar-
rangements entered into before your line was opened,r
are in respect of traffic, on the faith of which our Ines
they would
were authorized, and without proof of which
each only as the public
not have been authorized, are
convenience have called for, and such as you yourselves
have made with us, and with several other companies as
respects other traffic; indeed, such as your only com-
plaint against us now is for not extending to you. If
we are not prepared to carry our ' combinations with
you even further than has been already done, we must
protest against your therefore taking advantage of our
friendly communications to taunt us as if we had done
you or the public some wrong by having become parties
to the former arrangement."
At a special meeting of the Midland and London
and North-Western joint committee, held at the Eus-
ton station on the 22d of July, 1851, Mr. Glyn
stated that particulars of an interview between him-
self, Mr. Ellis, Mr. Denison, and Mr. Gladstone, the
result being that under the agreement of reference
upon which he was acting, Mr. Gladstone considered
he would not be justified in taking upon himself to
decide anything more than the division of the traffic
belonging to the six towns named in the agreement.
At the same time the arguments made use of before
him had made him strongly of opinion that a refe-
rence, confined to the traffic of those six towns, and
not wouldac the general question of a division of
territory, be nugatory and futile. Mr. Glad-