The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 24, ISt 8.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

NORTH BRITISH.
The report of the directors of this company, to
be submitted at a special general meeting on the
31st inst. at Edinburgh, has just been issued. It
states that in convening a general meeting of the
shareholders for the consideration of the heads of a
joint purse agreement between the company and the
Caledonian Company, to endure for 20 years from
the Ist of February, 1868, the board desire to place
before the shareholders the fullest information on
the subject, that they may be enabled to form an
independent opinion of the merits of the proposed
arrangement. The document is accordingly given
in extenso, .and the board do not doubt it will receive
at the hands of the shareholders that careful consi-
deration which its great importance calls for. It is
not too much to say that this is the most important
agreement either of the two companies have
entered into, and ou its fair and equitable working
the future prosperity of both undertakings in a
great measure depends. The agreement has been
adjusted by a committee of directors of each com-
pany, and it has the approval of both boards.
Having regard to the large interests involved and
the peculiar circumstances of the North British
Company, the directors have been careful so to
regulate its provisions that under any contingency
North British interests shall be properly guarded.
Neither company is in any way bound for the en-
gagements of the other; and as the whole scope
and tendency of the agreement is to develope to the
fullest extent the two systems, combined as one for
traffic purposes, the Board look with confidence to

an immediate and very material increase on the
traffic receipts, and at the samc time a reduction of
the working expenses. The agreement will also
enable both companies to abandon lines which will
be unnecessary ; and as both companies are bound
for the next 20 years not to promote new lines
without the sanction of the other, a cessation from
the policy of competition and aggression, which has
to 3 long been pursued by the two companies, must
necessarily be beneficial to the shareholders of both

concerns.
The heads of the joint purse agreement between
the Caledonian and North British Railway Compa-
nies provide that a joint purse agreement shall be
entered into between the two companies, on the
basis of the proportion that the actual gross traffic
receipts, without deducting cartages, eareea on the
Caledonian Railway for the 18 months ending with
the 31st of Janu iry, 18G8, and the actual gross
traffic receipts, without deducting cartages, earned
on the North British Railway for the same period,
bear to the actual gross trafti; receipts of the two
companies for the same period. The gross traffic
receipts earned are to be ascertained by the officers
of the companies; and, in the event of their failidg
to agree, the same shall be fixed by a committee of
the two companies, and, failing agreement, by the
arbiter after named. Before fixing the proportions
to be awarded to the companies, it is agreed that
the competitive traffic between England and Scot-
land which might have been carried by the Waver-
ley route in the 18 months to 31st Jan., 1868, but
for the English and Scotch traffic agreement shall
be estimated by a committee of the two companies ;
and, failing agreement, the arbitrator shall decide
what amount of additional revenue from traffic, if
any, shall be fairly credited to the North British
Company, over and above the revenue for traffic
actually carried by the Waverley route, on the sup-
position that the English and Scotch traffic agree-
ment had not existed in the 18 months to 31st of
January, 1868, and that the companies south of
Carlisle had given the same facilities and advantages
in every respect to the traffic via the Waverley
route as those companies afforded to the route of
the Caledonian Company ; the arbitrator taking
into account the position and statutory powers of
the North British Company with reference to the
Scottish North-Eastern line, and also the position
and powers of the Caledonian Company with re-
ference to the railways south of Carlisle, pro-
vided always that neither company shall plead any
agreement with any of the companies south of
Carlisle in bar of advantiges which the other com-
pany could claim before the arbitrator for facili-
ties over any of those lines. And, in like manner,
the arbitrator shall also decide what amount of
traffic, if sny, shall be credited to the Caledonian
Company for the 18 months of January, 1868, if
the Midland and other English companies, exclud-
ing the east coast companies, excepting as respects
the Newcastle an I Carlisle section of the North-
E'sstern Railway, had given the same facilities and
advantages in every respect to the traffic via the
Caledonian route as such companies afforded to the
Waverley route of the North British Company. The
arbitrator shall also consider what additional re-
venue from competitive traffic, if any, shall be
credited to the Caledonian Company on ac-
count of the amalgamation of the Scottish
North-Eastern Railway Company with them,
which traffic the Caledonian Company allege has
not yet been developed, and which, they also allege,
would naturally accrue to them from their being the
owners of the Scottish North-Eastern line. The arbi-
trator shall, however, take into account the position
and statutory powers of the North British Com-
pany with reference to the Scottish North-Eastern
line. The east coast route shall be maintained in
the fullest efficiency, and all the facilities and ad-
vantages which the east coast companies have
hitherto enjoyed in working their traffic and other-
wise shall be fully secured to them ; but on the
termination of the English and Scotch traffic agree-
ment, or on the opening of the Midland Company's
line to Carlisle, or when that company may be work-
ing into Carlisle over the Lancaster and Carlisle
Railway, the arrangements with the east coast
companies will necessarily fall to be revised. A
joint traffic committee, consisting of four direc-
tors from each board, shall be appointed with
full power and control over the traffic and the fixing
of rates, and the routes for conducting it, but that
it be an instruction to the said committee so
to regulate the traffic that each company's lines
shall convey as nearly as possible their proportion
of traffic which would yield to each company their
proportion of revenue as fixed by this agreement.
That all routes shall be kept open, and that the
working expenses (including cartages) for the excess
of traffic carried beyond the fixed proportions shall
be 30 per cent. If either company at the end of
any half-yearly balance have not earned their pro-
portion of the revenue awarded to them, the joint
committee shall be bound to direct the traffic for
the following six months, so that such company
shall, in addition to their proportion, carry the
amount they were short in the previous half-year,
and the joint committee shall be bound to regu-
late the conveyance of the balance of traffic to
be so made up, according to the request of such
company. The appointment of chairman of tLe
joint committee shall be made half-yearly, and shall
be filled up alternately by a member from each
board, who shall have a deliberative but no casting
vote. Should differences arise, these shall be referred
to the chairmen of the two companies, and if they
fail to agree, then to a standing arbitrator, to be
appointed annually by the joint committee, whom
failing, by an arbitrator appointed by the Board of
Trade. The meetings of the joint committees shall
be held in Glasgow or Edinburgh, according to the
domicile of the company whose director is chair-
man for the time being of the joint committee, or
at such other place as may from time to time be
agreed upon. The revenue from the traffic of the
two companies shall be published weekly in one
e
sum. Each company shall efficiently maintain and
work their respective undertakings, excepting
Forth and Clyde Navigation already provided for.
Statements of the gross traffic receipts on the
two companies' railways shall be furnished
monthly by them to the joint committee, and
the one company shall, at all reasonable
times, have access to the books of the other
company for examination and transcription.
Rents of houses, traffic depots, stores, sto-
rage, and land, feu-duties. interest, on road
"bonds, Newport ferry receipts, gas work re-
ceipts, telegraph receipts, transfer fees, and other
items of the like nature shall be excluded from the
agreement ; but the dividends received on the sub-
scriptions to other undertakings, the interest on
which may be a charge on the joint purse, shall be

paid to the joint committee. The statutory rights
of all companies and parties shall be preserved, and
all agreements, except as provided for in this agree-
ment, affecting thetw.o companies shall be respected ;
and in the event of this agreement terminating at

any time, nothing done under it shall affect the
rights of the two companies or existing agreements

to which they respectively are parties. As between
the two companies interest at the rate of 5 per cent.
per annum on the amounts expended at the 31st Jan.,
1868, as on the amounts still to be expended (when
expended) in connexio❑ with the specified lines and
works in course of construction --but such amounts

shall not exceed the total estimated expenditure res-

pectively stated opposite to each railway or work—
shall form a first charge on the gross earnings of the

compani, before division : —On 17 of the Cale-
donian lines an estimated expenditure of £1,063,600,
of which there was expended to the 31st of July,
1867, £704,734. On six of the North British lines
a total estimated expenditure of £711,000, of which
there was expended to the 31st of July, 1867,

£526,192. The companies agree not to oppose,
directly or indirectly, each other in obtaining the
sanction of Parliament to an extension of the time

for completing all or any of the lines aftermen-
tioned :—Caledonian Lines.—The Aluirkirk branch,
£160,000; Lanarkshire branches,—viz., Climpy
Extension, £5,000 ; Hamilton and Ferniegair,
£45,000 ; Heywood and Addiewell, &c., Branches
Act, 1867, £140,000—total estimated expenditure,
£350,000. North British Lines.—Carlisle Citadel
Station branch, £33,000 ; Glasgow and Coatbridge
Railway, and so much as is necessary for this rail-
way of the Coatbridge branches, 1866, £280,000 ;
Dunfermline and Inverkeithing, £25,000 ; Devon

Valley branches, to the extent of say £15,000 ;
Lasswade branch, part of (as may be deviated to
save capital), £95,000 ; Langdale branch, £30,000 ;
Stobcross branch, £270,000 ; total estimated ex-
penditure, £748,000. As between the two com-
panies, interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum
on the capital from time to time expended on the
above lines, but not exceeding in each case the
£350,000 and £748,000 respectively, shall also form
a first charge on the gross earnings of the companies
before division. As between the two companies,
interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on the
capital contributed by the Caledonian Company
shall form a first charge on the gross earnings of
the companies before division. Callander and Oban,
£200,000 ; Crieff and Coterie, £20,000 ; Crofthead
and Kilmarnock, £140,000; Crieff and Methven,
£55,000; Wemyss Bay, £42,000 ; Busley, £36,048;
and Solway Junction, £60,000 ; total, £553,048, of
which £224,268 was contributed to the 31st of July
last. Also the North British subscriptions of £BO,OOO
to the Berwickshire ; £47,000 to the Blane Valley,
which may be increased by £25,000 ; to the City of
Glasgow Union, £300,000 ; and to the Devon
Valley, £60,000 ; total, £512,000, of which
£241,947 was contributed to the 31st of July last.
In the event of either of the companies electing to
abandon certain lines and works specified, they
pledge themselves respectively not to oppose,
directly or indirectly, each other in obtaining sanc-
tion of abandonment, including seven of the Cale-
donian lines, involving a total capital of £1,122,000,
and ten lines of the North British, involving a total
capital of £1,639,370. The companies respectively
shall work the traffic on or over the new lines which
are to form a first charge on the gross traffic before
division, and receive therefore an allowance equal
to the cost per train mile of working. During the
currency of this agreement no new line or work
shall be promoted, directly or indirectly, by either
company, without the consent in writing of
the other company, under their common seal ;
and neither company shall subscribe to,
or undertake the working of, any other
undertaking or scheme, or enter into any agree-
ment with any company or party, in reference to
the interchange, division, or the rates for the con-
veyance of traffic, or for the lease of or amalgama-
tion of either company with any other company,
without the like consent, with some specified ex-
ceptions. Sir 'William Erle, whom failing, Lord
Cranborne, whom failing, Earl Granville, shall be
the arbitrator under this agreement. A general
arbitration of all differences shall be provided for.
Tis agreement shall subsist for the period of 20
years, from and after Feb. 1, 1868, with the option
to either company to call for a revision as at Feb. 1,
1875, of the proportion of receipts to each coin-
pany fixed under this agreement, on giving six
months' previous notice to the other company ; but
if such revision be not then called for, the power to
require the same shall lapse. In the event of a re-
vision of the agreement being called for, and the
companies failing to agree as to the proportions to
be awarded to each, the arbitrator shall fix such.
This agreement shall be subject to the approval of
to be expressed
at
e ashareholders
generalof
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held simultane-
ously on January 31, 1868. The companies shall
concur in applying for Parliamentary sanction of
this agreement in session 1869, and the expenses of
the application, and incident thereto, shall be borne
by the companies in proportion to their gross traffic
receipts,l A formal agreement shall be immediately
prepared by the solicitors of the two companies, and
be settled, in case of difference of opinion, by Mr.
Lloyd.

meat the funeral ceremony of Colonel Orcutt, the
murdered Sheriff of Kalamazoo, which took place on
Monday, Dec. 30, the mourners tried to lynch the

murderers.

A horrible tragedy was committed on board the
American whaling bark Eagle, at. llonolulu, No-
vember 11th. A Portuguese boy, named Manue'
Dall, .about 14 years of age, who was Bleeping in
-the ma in hatch, was killed by the cutting of his
throat by a negro seaman named Daly. The latter,

after mmmitting the deed, went to the forehold and

cut his own throat.

Chaxles H. Dryden, of 279, Holland-street, Balti-
more, late Justice of the Peace, shot himself
through the heart almost in the preence of his
wife. He was 5) years of age, and had no chil-
dren.

The Chicago Tribune of the 30th Dec. vouches
for the truth of a horrible story concerning a man
who had been accused of stealing a gun in Elkhart,
Indiana, and who was taken from the officers of the
law by two ruffians, and subjected to the most
cruel tortures. To make him confess, ho was seized
and hung up by a tree ; but after a few seconds the
rope broke, when he was again hung up, the rope,
however, breaking a second time. " Next," says
the Tribune, "the men dug a pit in the ground be-
neath the tree, and then built a roaring fire. They
then doubled the rope, placed it again about Sey-
mour's neck, and gave him a last opportunity to
make a confession. He still refused, and a moment
after he hung from a stout limb by a strong cord,
immediately over a blazing fire. In another moment
he was literally ablaze, and then gave token by
looks and signs that he was ready to confess. Be
was immediately cut down, considerably the worse
for the fire, and then he made a full confession."
Mobile (Alabama), on the 28th Dec., was tbe scene
of a tragedy of unusual character. Richard Busteed
was appointed a Judge of the United States District
Court by President Lincoln. L. P. Martin, United
States District Attorney, had been indited for fraud
and extortion in the collection of the revenue. He
met the Judge in the street, and, accosting him,
said, " Will you allow that indictment to stand ?"
The answer was the only one without infamy the
Judge could make, and Busteed replied, "The law
must take its course." On this Mr. Martin drew
from his pocket a revolver and fired at the Judge,
wounding him in the right leg, and a second shot
entered his breast. Mr. Busteed continues in a
precarious state, but the wounds are not considered
mortal.

A railway employe on the Lake Shore Line tells an
affecting incident in connection with the catastrophe
at Angola. A babe, scarcely old enough to talk, was
picked up near one of the wrecked cars by a brakes-
man, seemingly unconscious of what had occurred.
It showed some signs of life, however, and the
moment it discovered that an arm encircled its
waist, it nestled up closely to the man, uttered
the words, " papa," " mother," and died with-
out the contraction of a muscle. Oaly a few
minutes elapsed from the time it was taken up until
it died. A b3autiful smile encircled the lips after
death, such as would have been the case had its last
sweet words upon earth been uttered in the quiet
circle at home.
A NEW CHICAGO SENSATION.—For four years
past a party of Spiritualists in Chicago have been
diligently boring a hole in the earth, on the western
edge of the city, in quest of oil. A " led
by an invisible spirit, promised that by the exercise
of much faith and a small augur the well would
spout oil ; but the more the deluded borers bored
the less signs of oil they saw. A. depth of 790
feet was reached—and there was a prodigious
artesian well, with plenty of water, but no oil. A
few days ago, however, a phenomenon actually
occurred. The Chicago Tribune tells the story :
"It seems that, not satisfied with their previous
experiments, and the rich flow which has followed
their explorations, they have been boring still
deeper. All concerned were startled a day or two
since at finding one of their holes mononolised by a
gaseous emanation as plenteous as the water which
was expected to flow from it, and noxious enough
to threaten to poison the atmosphere for miles
around. It is described by those who have seen it
as a dense gas, which burns red, with a slight blue
tinge, not at all flickering, and with a full carbona-
ceous blaze." As this blaze cannot be put out, the
Tribune proposes to utilise the miniature volcano,
by placing around it a set of reflectors, for the pur-
pose of illuminating the city from the direction of
the setting sun.
A Nevada miner recently had his leg caught
under a rock, and being rendered helpless was eaten
by a panther.
An occupant of the Debtors' Prison at Chicago
caused a great ghost scare. He found that the end
of an unused gas-pipe terminated in his cell, so he
inserted a pap3r funnel in the tube and made the
corridors below resound with the wail he produced.
Consternation reigned among the inmates of the
gaol till the trick of the joker was discovered.
There has been another sensation at Chicago, as
four citizens have lately mysteriously disappeared,
and nothing has been heard of them.