The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

THE MANCHESTER AND BOLTON AND LEEDS
AND MANCHESTER RAILWAYS.
MANCHESTER, THURSDAY EVENING.—This afternoon
a special general meeting of the Company of Proprietors
of the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal Navigation
and Railway was held at Hayward's Hotel, in Bridge-
street, in this town, for the purpose of taking into consi-
deration and deciding upon a proposed arrangement be-
tween the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company, and
the said Company of Proprietors jointly, if so agreed
with the Hull and Selby Railway Company, for uniting
and consolidating into one concern the traffic and busi-
ness of the said two first-mentioned Companies, or, if so
agreed, of the said three Companies, under one manage-
ment, and for giving such powers and authorities to the
Committee of Management, in reference to the terms
of, and for carrying out, the proposed arrangement,
as the meeting might think fit ; and to authorise the
Committee of Management to apply to Parliament
for the requisite power to give full effect to any arrange-
ment which might be conic to between the said two
first-mentioned Companies, or between the said three
Companies ; and also for taking into consideration and
deciding upon the making of provisional arrangements
for the management of the traffic and other business of
the said two first-mentioned Companies, or, if so agreed,
of the said three Companies, in connexion with each
other, until the sanction of Parliament could lse ob-
tained ; or for such other period, and on such terms and
conditions, as at such meeting might be agreed upon.
James Brancker, Esq., of Liverpool, took the chair.
The proposed arrangement provided for the joint work-
ing in perpetuity of the two railways and navigation,
from the Ist of January next, subject to the following
stipulations—namely, each Company to remain pro-
prietors of their own railway and canal, and liable to
their own debts and engagements. The joint concern
to be managed by an associated board of ten Directors
from the Leeds Board, and three from the Man-
chester and Bolton Committee of Management ; the
working stock of the two Companies to become the pro-
perty of the associated Company. The net profits to be
divided iu the proportion of eighty 53-100 to the Leeds
Company, and of nineteen 47-100 to the Manchester and
Bolton Company for the year 1845 ; and afterwards of
seventy-eight 2-10 to the Leeds Company, and twenty-
one 8-10 to the Bolton Company. The capital for future
branches or extension of either line, including the sub-
scription of the Bolton Company to the Bury and Ros-
sendale Company, to be contributed by the two Com-
panies iu the latter proportion. The arrangement to be
extended to the Hull and Selby Railway Company, if
so agreed.
The CHAIRMAN moved that these terms be agreed on.
Considerable opposition was shown on the part of the
meeting to these terms ; and,
A PROPRIETOR moved as an amendment, that the
meeting be adjourned to that day six months.
A show of hands was taken upon the amendment, and
it was declared to be carried by a majority of five. A
poll was however demanded, and the result was for the
proposed agreement:—Present, 1,248 ; proxies, 1,256.
Against it, present, 576 ; proxies, 131 ; showing a ma-
jority in favour of the agreement of 1,797.
The agreement was then carried, and the meeting se-
parated.

RAILWAY SPEED.—On Saturday last, a specia
train, consisting of one carriage only, attached to the
engine Achilles, left the Paddington station at ten
minutes before five o'clock, a.m. After several delays
upon the line, and one of nearly half an hour's dura-
tion at Bristol, the carriage arrived at the station at
Exeter at twenty-five minutes past nine o'clock ; thus
performing 193,1 miles in 4 hours 35 minutes. The engi-
neer said he wauld have made the journey from London in
3i hours, had he not been mistaken for the luggage train
at some of the small stations, where the signals for
stopping were exhibited. The object of this extraor-
dinary haste was, to enable the plans, sections, and books
of reference, of the various projected lines of railway,
with which the Great Western Company is connected,
to be deposited at the offices of the clerks of the peace
for Devon and Cornwall, on that day—the last allowed
by law for that purpose. After doing what was n ces-
sary here, the parties set off, post-haste, for St. Austell,
in a chaise and four.— Western Luminary.
THE RETRIBUTION STEAM FRIGATE.—This noble
steam-ship of war is now lying in the basin of the East
India Docks at Blackwall, where she has attracted a
good deal of attention from nautical and scientific men,
and has been visited by many persons capable of esti-
mating her merits. She is a remarkably fine vessel, and
a perfect model for ships of her class and build. She is
of 1,641 tons burden; her length, between perpendiculars,
is 220 feet, her extreme breadth 71 feet, the depth of the
hold being 26 feet 4 inches. She has not yet got her
masts stepped, nor her armament on board, but her pad-
dles and engine are fixed. The engine has been manu-
factured at the establishment of Messrs. Maudslay, Son,
and Field, Lambeth. It is constructed after the patent
of those gentlemen, called the patent double cylinder
marine steam-engine, and is of the collective power of
800 horses. The diameter of the cylinder is 12 feet; the
length of the stroke 8 feet, and the number of strokes 15.
The diameter of the wheel is 33 feet, the breadth 13
feet, draught of water 7 feet, the length of the engine-
room 75 feet. The great saving of space by the intro-
duction of this engine is one of the principal advantages
obtained by its use. It is certainly superior in this and
in other respects to the beam-engines. The Admiralty
have adopted them in several steam-ships of war besides
the Retribution, and there is one on board the Rattler
Archimedean steam-ship. Yesterday they were in
operation, and the vessel was visited by many engineers
and others, who expreesed their gratification at their
power and efficiency.
LIEBIG.--One of his greatest merits is one com-
mon to all high scientific men—the impulse he has given
to research. Until his time, and that of Dumas che-
mistry, with few exceptions, had never been applied to
the explanation of the processes of life ; for physiolo-
gists confined themselves either to the anatomical exa-
mination of man and animals—vague theories of their
functions—or learned theoretical disquisitions on the
nature and cause of life. Nevertheless, it must be ad-
mitted, that an immense mass of facts were accumulated,
though nearly valueless, from want of connexion. It is
the credit of Liebig, that, departing with equal ingenuity
and originality from the old scholastic ideas which ruled
the science, he, though almost ignorant of anatomy, at
least of its details, has done something to classify and
reduce the hitherto shapeless mass, the chaotic jumble,
to a beautiful and connected whole ; and, though some-
times forgetting the true inductive method of reasoning,
And j thrum's. at conclusions, unsupported by facts, no one
can deny that many of Ills theories are characterised by
extreme beauty and simplicity, and. thqt his works
abound in clever and valuably suggestions, which will
one day become the fruitful germs of new and important
discoveries.—Medical Times.