The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-19 00:00:00

RAIL WAY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVER-

HAMPTON.

The receipts of this company, including the
Stourbridge Extension Canal, for the fortnight end-
ing May 9, have been 7,824/., while those for the
corresponding fortnight of 1857 amounted to
8,1841.; and the expenditure to 3,8941., or 43.39
per cent., while for the corresponding fortnight of
1857 it amounted to 3,941/., or 48.46 per cent.
The total receipts for the nine fortnights and three
days of the half-year, including the above,
amounted to 69,250/., as against 71,597/. for the
corresponding nine fortnights and four days of the
previous year ; and the total expenditure, includ-
ing the above, amounted to 38,812/., or 48.82 per
cent., as against 35,373/., or 49.40 per cent, for the
corresponding nine fortnight?, and four days of the
previous year, showing a decrease in the receipts of
2,347/., and in the expenses of 1,561/.

GREENWICH AND WOOLWICH DIRECT.

On Monday evening a meeting of landholders and
owners of house property in the town of Green-
wich was held for the purpose of considering the
best means of securing direct railway communica-
tion with the town of Woolwich. The great depre-
ciation in the value of property in the neighbour-
hood was urged, and it was stated that the pros-
perity which formerly existed there was now found
in adjoining localities, where facilities for travelling
from one part to another were afforded to the in-
habitants. To remedy this state of things it was
proposed to construct a line of railway from the
Greenwich branch of the South-Eastern Railway
near Deptford. creek, passing thence across the prin-
cipal street of the town to the park, fronting the
Royal Naval Schools, and thus to form a junction
with the main line of North Kent Railway at
the Charlton Station.

RUABON AND DENBIGH.
It is proposed to make a line of railway from the
Great Western line at Ruabon, passing near the
towns of Llangollen, Corwen, and Ruthin to the
present terminus of the Vale of Clwyd Railway at
Denbigh. The landowners generally have signi-
fied their readiness to aid in carrying out the
undertaking, as it is expected that the formation
of this line will prove advantageous to the district,
and be the means of conveying to various places
coals and other minerals from Ruabon at a mode-
rate cost, which can now only be obtained at great
expense.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES ON RAILWAY
BILLS.

LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE . AND EAST LANCA

SHIRE (AMALGAMATION);

Mr. F. NORTH reported from the Committee on
Group 9 of Railway Bills that this bill has for its
main object the amalgamation of the Lancashire
and Yorkshire and East Lancashire Railway Com-
panies. The bill likewise contains provisions for
merging in the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Company absolutely the Sheffield, Rotherham,
Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Goole
Railway Company, whose undertaking, so far as it
still subsists in their hands, is leased to the Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire Railway Company for 999
years ; and the bill provides for the abandoning of
a short branch railway at Burscough which experi-
ence has proved to be needless. These two parts
of the bill were unopposed. 17 petitions against
the bill were referred to the committee. The com-
mittee, after a long investigation of the matter,
are satisfied upon the evidence adduced before them
that this is one of the special cases in which the
amalgamation of two companies is expedient, and
that the intermingling of the Lancashire and York-
shire and the East Lancashite Railways throughout
Lancashire, their common ownership of important
portions railway and of stations, and their con-
stant juxtaposition render it more convenient for
the public and for the trade of the district, and
more advantageous to these two undertakings that
they should be permanently united by a common
management and common interest. The pro-
moters tendered clauses which were inserted in the
bill to secure the due construction of the station
and the completion of the bridge at Wigan, and the
forming of a double line on the Burnley branch of
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The
tolls and charges both of the Lancashire and York-
shire and East Lancashire Companies had in
1846 been reduced below the amount oliginally
granted by Parliament. In 1850 the Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway Company applied to Par-
liament for an increase of their tolls and charges,
alleging these to be insufficient to give a due return
for their capital. After a careful investigation of
the facts Parliament granted an increase of 20 per
cent upon the tolls and charges of 1846, excepting
the tolls for coal. In 1851 a similar increase, in
similar circumstances, was granted to the East
Lancashire Railway Company. The tolls and
charges in the bill are identical with those granted
to the companies in 1850 and 1851, with this ex-
ception, that where the one act gave a lower rate
than the other the lower rate has been adopted.
The bill also contains the clause which is in the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Act of 1850, providing
for the revision of the tolls when the dividend of
the company reaches 8 per cent. The committee
have inserted in the bill a clause which provides
that a certified copy of every agreement which the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company may
hereafter make with any other railway company or
canal company shall within a month atter the
agreement has been made be deposited for public
inspection with the Board of Trade and with the
Clerk of the Peace for Lancashire. That the depo-
sit of the copies shall be forthwith advertised • and
that all persons may have copies upon a moderate
payment, as provided by the Ist Vic., c. 83. The
committee believe that this principle of publicity,
as provided for in this bill, is properly applicable
to all railway companies. The committee have like-
wise by a clause iu the bill prohibited the Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire Railway Company from mak-
ing any agreements obstructing the conveyance of
traffic over their line by the shortest and most con-
venient route, and abrogating any such agreement
already made, and have provided that all reason-
able facilities shall be afforded by the Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway Company for the convey-
ance of such traffic. Evidence was produced before
the committee proving that a through route exists
from Huddersfield to London, via the Huddersfield
and Peniston Branch of the Lancashire and York-
shire Railway and the Manchester and Sheffield
and Great Northern Railways, which route is 19
miles shorter than the route via the Loudon and
North-Western Railway. In consequence of ar-
rangements between the Lancashire and Yorkshire
and London and North-Western Railways, the
public has been deprived of the benefit of such
shorter route, and the powers as to through traffic