The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-03 00:00:00

It remains to be seen how far this conclusion may be confirmed
or modified by other considerations.
The most important feature of comparison between the two sys-
tems is, as we have already stated, that the West Riding scheme is
promoted in amity and connexion with the Manchester and Leeds
Railway, while the other schemes are promoted in opposition to it.
The argument which has been mainly urged by the promoters of
the West Yorkshire and Leeds and Dewsbury schemes is, that the
wish and interest of the important district of the West Riding was
to retain its railway communications in its own hands, under a
system of local management. It bas been alleged that the district
in question has strong reason to complain of the manner in which
it has been treated by the Manchester and Leeds Company; that
'he interests of Yorkshire have been sacrificed to those of Lance-
'sire, which preponderate in the direction of that Company, and
hat in consequence an intense local feeling has sprung up against
he Company, which now demands, as a matter of right, to be eman-
zipated from an oppressive monopoly.
On the other hand, it is replied by the promoters of the West
Riding scheme, that the Manchester and Leeds Company has at
great risk andat aa enormous outlay, openedlout communicationlfrosa
which the country has derived the greatest benefit; that it has set
the example of introducing a lower system of charges, both for
goods and passengers, than any other leading railway; that the
hostility to it in the district Is very much owing to the injury that
has thus been inflicted on canal and other interests; and finally,
that the local feeling, instead of being, as is assert,cl by the other
party, decidedly adverse to a connexion with the Manchester and
Leeds Railway Company, is, on the contrary, decidedly in its
favour.

It is extremely difficult for us to discriminate amidst such con.
Siding statements, more especially upon a question so difficult to
reduce to any satisfactory test as the actual balance of local feeling
among the intelligent and disinterested inhabitants of a great dis-
trict like that of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and this difficulty
is increased by the degree of excitement and party spirit which
has unfortunately become mixed up in the question. We can
only form our opinion upon such undisputed facts as have come
before us in the progress of the inquiry.
From these it appears that the Manchester and Leeds Company
have certainly been
.the means of conferring very great benefits
on the community. They have been the first of the great railways
to introduce on a large scale the system of low fares and frequent
third-class trains. They now run not less than ten third-class
trains a day, at fares averaging Id. a mile, and carry at these fares
at the rate of nearly a million third-class passengers a-year. The
accommodation afforded in the first instance was not what could
have been deered, but the Company at once acceded to the repro.
sentations made to them by this Department in regard to the cheap
Parliamentary train, and provided a superior description of covered
carriage, and they have since provided seats and roofs by their or-
dinary third-class trains. As regards goods, the Company state
that they have brought down charges to the public as follows :
PER TON BETWIEN MANCHESTER AND MULL, 99 MILES.
Before the
Railway opened,
Now.
in 1840.
About
£ 5. d. s. d.
Corn, flour, &c 1 4 0 0 13 0
Cotton twist

Manufactured goods
The saving to the public by this reduction of cost of conveyance
upon the traffic now passing by the various modes of conveyance
may be estimated at not less than from 200,0001. to 300,0001. a
year, independently of the very great advantage to the manufac-
turing districts of reducing the time 01 transit to their principal
places of export and Import, Liverpool and Hull, to a few hours.
As one instance of the benefits resulting to the manufacturing
community we may mention, that very recently on a strike of the
colliers in the Lancashire district being apprehended, arrangements
were instantly made by the Manchester and Leeds Company with
other northern railways, by which a supply of 20,000 tons of
small or refuse coal, from the county of Durham, was rendered
available at a low rate of cost for the e►gines of Manchester,
whereby the danger of a stoppage of the mills, and conseque►t
throwing nut of employment of thoussn 's of hands, was in a great
measure averted: _ _ .

•~~We cannot doubt, therefore, upon the evidence of facts and
figures, that the Manchester and Leeds Company is one which is
fairly entitled to participate in whatever claim upon the favourable
consideration of the Legislature may be cleaved from the plea of
services rendered to the public.

With regard to local feeling it is less easy to arrive at any
decided opinion. Numerous and most respectably signed memo..
rials have been addressed to us by the advocates of all the
different schemes : judging from these we should say that not only
is the assertion that there exists a strong and almost unanimous
local feeling against the West Riding scheme Incorrect, but, on
the contrary, that a decided preponderance of local support is in
its favour. A memorial was presented to us in favour of the West
Riding scheme, which was open for signature for a few days in the
middle of December, after the plans and seotinns of the rival
schemes had been deposited, and consequently after an opportunity
had been afforded to consider the details of the schemes, the general
features of which had been matters of constant discussion through.
out the district for months previously.
It is stated by the memorialists, in their analysis of this memo-
rial, that it is signed by the Mayor of Leeds, by a majority of the
Town Council, and by a most numerous body of magistrates,
merchants, mantvacturers, traders, owners and occupiers of
mills, manufactures, lands, and property in the district, and chiefly
in the immediate vicinity of the lines proposed to be made, and
that it represents employment of steam power and labour to the
amount of—

Horse power employed
Hands employed

It is stated, therefore, that the West Riding scheme, although
promoted in connexion with the Manchester and Leeds Company,
and intended to be worked in harmony with their railway, can by
no means be looked upon as a scheme promoted exclusively by that
Company, or under their undivided control ; but, on the con.
trary, that independent local support, and a guarantee for a satis.
factory share of independent local management, are among its
essential features.

Considered in this point of view, the connexion with the Man-
chester and Leeds Company does not appear to us to be any disad-
vantage, but the contrary. Indeed we are at a loss to see how the
peculiar traffic of the district, consisting, as we have had occasion
to point out, of a very frequent circulation among a number of
towns situated partly upon the new lined and partly upon the exist-
ing Manchester and Leeds line, and combined with a thorough
traffic which must necessarily pass in a great measure over the
Manchester and Leeds Railway, could be worked with any tolerable
degree of safety, convenience, or economy, otherwise than by a
perfect unity of action and good understanding among the different
portions of the extensive system.
This consideration also tends to show, that however highly we
might be disposed to rate the advantages of competition, the proba-
bility of securing them would, in the present instance, be exceed.
ingly remote. _ _ _ .

Supposing the West Yorkshire and Leeds and Dewsbury schemes
sanctioned with a view to competition, it is evident that all the
motives that have hitherto proved so effectual in inducing hostile
railway interests to combine, would tell with peculiar force. The
independent schemes, from the nature of their works and the heavy
cost of construction, could hardly be considered as commercial spe-
culations entirely free from risk, even if they could obtain the whole
traffic of the district without competition ; and when we consider
that they would have to compete for most of it with one another
and with the Manchester and Leeds Company under great disad.
vantages as regards economy of working, from the want of har.
mony and arrangement of trains, it seems highly probable that no
long period could elapse before the pressure of circumstances drove
them into a combination.
I As regards the West Yorkshire schemes, these objections apply
with peculiar force, since they are absolutely dependent on the
Manchester and Leeds Railway for an outlet for a great•portion of
their traffic. They are also open to the serious objection of
creating monopoly on the one hand, while they propose to defeat
it on the other, since they are intimately connected with the Leeds
and Bradford Company, with whose line they are in direct compe.
tition between Leeds and Bradford, and whose extended line
through Skipton and Colne will afford an indirect check upon any
attempt on the part of the Manchester and Leeds Company to
raise fares, or to abuse its powers. This highly useful check
Would be, in a great measure, removed by an union of interest
between the line from Leeds to Lancashire, via Halifax, and the
line from Leeds to Lancashire, via Skipton and Color.
These considerations do not apply to the Leeds, Dewsbury, and
Huddersfield line; and here undoubtedly, by the sanction of the
proposed scheme in connexion with the Huddersfield and Man.
chester, a direct competition might be, in the first instance, esta.
blished, from which Huddersfield might derive benefit from being
placed on a through line between Leeds and Manchester. This
through line would be shorter also by about five miles than the line
from Manchester to Leeds, via Halifax.

On the other hand, the connexion of Huddersfield and Dews-
bury with Leeds and Manchester will be attained equally well by
the West Riding Company's line and the Huddersfield and
Manchester, should this last scheme appear upon its own merits
deserving of the sanction of the Legislature. As a through line
from Leeds to Manchester, this route would not be likely to obtain
a decided preference in competition with a Halifax route, having
worse gradients, and five miles and a half of tunnels, one being a
tunnel of three miles in length, constructed for a single line of rails
only, and being also not in a position to supply such frequent or
cheap trains as a route which combined the traffic of Manchester,
Rochdale, Halifax, Bradford, and Wakefield with one another,
and with Hull. And, after all, if the through traffic could be
diverted to the Huddersfield route, this advantage would only be
obtained for Huddersfield at the expense of Halifax and Bradford,
places of larger population.
On the other hand, the intercourse of Huddersfield with Halifax,
Bradford, Rochdale, Wakefield, Hull, and other places connected
with the Manchester and Leeds and West Riding systems, would
be inconvenienced in an extreme degree by any arrangement that
tended to isolate Huddersfield from that system.

Having regard to these considerations, and also to the improba-
bility of such a scheme as that from Leeds to Dewsbury acrd
Huddersfield being able to support itself for any length of time in
an independent and solvent condition in competition with the
Manchester and Leeds and West Riding systems, we cannot besi.
tate to express our decided opinion that the advantages off erasi by
the latter system in its integrity appear to us to be preferable to
any prospect of deriving permanent advantage from a competition
between two independent lines between Leeds and Manchester, it
being assumed, of course, that the legitimate traffic which would
gow along the Dewsbury and Huddersfield line, for the convenience
of the public, and fir the accommodation of those places, would be
provided for by adequate securities from the West Riding Cora.
pony.

The question would have stood thus, independent of the volun.
tart' offer of any specific advantages or guarantee on the part of the
Manchester and Leeds and West Riding Company.
They have offered, however, on condition of their scheme being
sanctioned in its integrity, terms xhich we cannot but consider as
highly advantageous, viz.:--
To subject the whole of the existing Manchester and Leeds
Railway, as well as the West Riding Railway, and all lines which
Parliament may hereafter allow to be constructed by or amalga-
mated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company, to the
following provisions:—
. .

1. The option of purchase and revision, as contained in the
General Act of last session ; the latter option, however, to accrue
immediately on the profits reaching 10 per cent.
2. A revised tariff of maximum charges lower than those
usually enforced, viz.:—
First-class passengers by ordinary trains, 2id. per mile.
Second class carriages to be closed and provided with glass
windows. . .

Third-class passengers, Id. per mile, in carriages provided with
seats, and covered, by three mixed trains at least each way per day
at the ordinary speed.
Coals, salt, lime, &c., Id. per ton per mile, including locomotive
power. _ ' -

Corn, dour, timber, &c., 2d. per ton per mire.
Cotton, cotton twist, wool, metals, &c., 3d. per ton per mile.
Manufactured goods, &c., 4d. per ton per mile.
An uniform parcel rate, including delivery within one mile Of
railway station : a. d.
Up to 141bs.
281bs.

„ ans.
3. That clauses shall be inserted in their Act binding them to
submit to the decision of the Board of Trade or other authority
constituted by Parliament for that purpose, all questions of dif-
ference with other Companies by which the public convenience is
affected.

4. That ample security for a due share of local management in
the direction both of the West Riding and Manchester and Leeds
Companies shall be
provided by the Act.
5. And, finally, the Company pledge themselves to do all in
their power to carry eut such arrangements as will be most con-
ducive to the comfort and convenience of the public, and to attend
to any reasonable suggestions that may be made to them at any
time hereafter with this view.

In addition to the above must be taken into account the greatly
superior guarantee which is offered by the Manchester and Leeds
Company, an established and prosperous undertaking, with a large
revenue for the completion of all the schemes with which they
are connected. The West Yorkshire scheme offers no such gua-
rantee of this sort, except that which is derived from the guarantee
of three and a bait per cent, interest given it by the Leeds and

Bradford Company, a concern whose total capital is only 400,000/.,
and which is not yet completed. The Leeds and Dewsbury line
has no guarantee whatever. Looking at the forniidable nature of
the works upon these lines, the doubtful prospect of a remunerative
return, and the position in which they are placed with reference to
other lines, we must be blind to all the analogies furnished by
railway experience to overlook the con ingency that in the event
of the presont period of excitement having passed away before the
undertakings are completed, portions of them may be abandoned or
loft unfinished for censidera'Ae periods, a result which, from the
complete net.work of connecting parts proposed to be established,
would be highly injurious, and all danger of which would be corn.
pletely obviated by giving a preference, under proper conditions, to
the scheme proposed in connexion with the Manchester and Leeds
Company.
It certainly appears to us, that if the general advantage of the
public and of the important districts connected with the railways
in question is to be taken as the test in deciding upon the claims
of the different schemes proposed, the offer of these guarantees, in
addition to the other advantages pointed out, must be held to give
a preference to the scheme of the West Riding Company.

It may be convenient to include in this report certain other
schemes in the same or adjoining districts, and which, to a certain
extent, may be affected by considerations of a character similar to
those already referred to.
The extension of the Leeds and Bradford Railway, sanctioned
last year, to Skipton and Colne, has been mentioned as affording an
useful alternative route (tom Leeds to Lancashire. Its principal
claim, however, rests upon its being an useful local line, opening
up a considerable extent of country hitherto unoccupied. From
Shipley, where the line branches off front the Leeds and
Bradford Railway, up the valley of the Aire, to beyond
Kele!)ley, the line traverses a district of considerable and increas.
ing manufacturing importance in the worsted trade, of which Brad-
ford is the chief emporium ; and the connexion of this district with
that town and Leeds must be looked upon as very desirable in
completing a sysrem of railway communication for the West
Riding. Beyond Keighley the line traverses an agricultural dis.
trict, of which Skipton is the centre, from which large quantities of
prokince are sent to the densely.peopled manufacturing districts in
the vicinity. Both as affording a means of transport for this pro-
duce, and for the excellent lime of the same district downwards,
and as giving facilities fur the cheap conveyance of coal upward.,
the line promises to confer much local benefit on the towns and
districts which it traverses, both on the Yorkshire and Lancashire
side. Ire gradients are good and easy, and there seems a fair pro-
bability of a traffic sufficiently remunerative on the capital of
500,000/. required for its construction. We are accordingly aware
of no public grounds why it should not receive the sanction of
Parliament.

The Burnley branch of the Manchester and Leeds Railway from
Todmorden appears almost a natural consequence of the other ex-
tensions connected with the last-mentioned line, which will place
Burnley, a thriving manufacturing town, with a population of
11,000, in railway communication with Blackburn, Preston,
Fleetwood, and the whole north of Lancashire. This Branch,
which is only eight and a half miles in length, and estimated to
cost 2-10,0001., will thus connect many of the large and important
towns on the Manchester and Leeds line by the shortest route
with the North of Lancashire, besides affording local accommoda-
tion. We are aware of no opposition to it on public grounds, and
of no public reasons why the sanction of Parliament should be
withhe:d.

The extension of the Manchester and Leeds Company's present
Heywood Branch for four miles to Bury, is opposed by a cam-
peting line from Bury to Heywood, proposed by the Manchester,
Bury, and Rossendale Company. Of the utility of the Branch, as
giving a connexion between Bury and the populous districts
beyo,d, with Oldham, Rochdale, and, through the Manchester and
Leeds Railway, with Wakefield, Leeds, Hull, and the eastern part
of the kingdom, there cannot be a question, indepen-
dently of the success of the proposed Bolton, Wigan,
and Liverpool line, of which, if sanctioned, it is an indis-
pensable link. The Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool Company have,
accordingly, included it in their scheme, but they will be equally
satisfied to meet the Manchester and Leeds line at Bury as at
Heywood ; and, accordingly, the question appears to lie between
the Manchester and Leeds, and the Rossendale Company. With
re_ard to this point, the Manchester and Leeds, and Bolton,
Wigan, and Liverpool Companies, contend that, upon public
grounds, it would be highly inexpedient to place a short link of
four miles in what must, in all probability, become an important
through-line of communication from some of the chief manufac.
turing towns of North Lancash.re to the east of England. in the
hands of a Company like the Manchester, Bury, and Rossendale,
formed for quite different purposes, and avowedly seeking the pos.
ses,ion of this branch merely as a protection against possible com-
petition. A more inconvenient arrangement for the public could
hardly be imagined than that a mile and a half to Heywood
of the short line of less than six miles between Bury and
the Manchester and Leeds Railway should be in the
hands of the Manchester and Leeds Company, and the re-
maining four miles to Bury in that of an independent Com-
pany, with no identity of interest. This argument appears
to us decisive, in addition to the advantages which the Manchester
and Leeds Company are in a condition to offer for conducting the
large local traffic between Bury, Oldham, and Rochdale, and the
places on their line. Had the Heywood Branch not been con.
structed, it might perhaps have been a question, whether the
whole line up to the junction might not have been placed in the
hands of the Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool Company, of whose
scheme it is a component part. But as the Heywood Branch is
already made, there can be little doubt that it will be better, even
for the purposes of the Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool traffic, that
the junction with the Manchester and Leeds Railway should be at
an important town like Bury.
We have to report therefore, that, on public grounds, it ap-
pears to us that the branch of the Manchester and Leeds Corn.
pany is preferable to the competing scheme of the Rossendale
Ccmpany.
The Barnsley Junction.—This is a line 94 miles long, with an
estimated capital of 300,0001., proposed for the following objects :
I. To afford an alternative line from Manchester to the east, by
making a short cut from the Sheffield and Manchester Railway, at
the Penistone summit, to the North Midland Railway near
Barnsley.
2. To give a communication both to the east and west for the
manufacturing town of Barnsley and the surrounding district.
3. To open up the Silkstone coal field.
It might have been doubtful how far the two first objects would
have bean sufficient to justify the requisite outlay of capital, or to
Ward any prospect of adequate remuneration, more especially as
the line, from the steepness of its inclination, being a continued
rise of 1 in 95 for 9 miles, from near Barnsley to Penistone, is not
well atiapted for through-traffic. The opening of the Silkstone
coal field appears, however, to be an object of very considerable
importance, more especially with the prospect of a great extension
of Railway communication throughout the eastern and central
counties of England. We think, therefore, that if this object is
properly attained, it is sufficient, in connexion with the other two,
to warrant the construction of the Barnsley Junction line on public
grounds.
Representations have been made to us, to the effect that this
object is not properly attained by the line in question, which is
said only to skirt part of the coal field at a level too high for con-
venient access from the principal pits, in order to attain the eleva-
tion necessary to carry a line with locomotive gradients to the
Penistone summit. This is a point upon which, if we had
been able to command more ample means of investigation, we
should have been desirous of obtaining more accurate intornaa-
tion, being of opinion that the opening up of the Silkstone coal
field for transport towards the east and south, ought to be consi-
dered as the primary and paramount object of the line in question'

We'" must content ourselves, however, with directing the special
attention of the Committee on the Bill to this point, and stating
that in expressing an opii.ion that there are no sufficient public
grounds to prevent the sanction of Parliament from being given to
the Barnsley Junction line, we have proceeded on the assumption
that the line does, as represented by the promoters, open up in a
proper manner the Silkstone coal field.
The Huddersfield and Manchester, and Sheffield and Hudders.
field Junction, are also lines connected with the district in ques-
tion, the consideration of which we reserve for another report, as
they appear to us to depend upon questions of detail not materially
affecting any of the lines already enumerated.
In conc:asion, we beg to draw attention to the passage of the
Fifth Report of the Select Committee of last year, in which it is
stated, in recommending that reports should be made to Parliament
by this Department upon railway schemes, " That no such report
should be held to prejudice the claims of private persons, the
examination of which should be altogether reserved to the Houses
of the Legislature."

_
In submitting to Parliament, in conformity with the recommen.
dations of that Committee, the results at which we have arrived,
with a view to the information and assistance of Parliament in
forming a judgment upon the schemes ix question, in so far as our
report may be available for that purpose, we are anxious that it
should be distinctly understood that we have arrived at these re.
sults solely upon public grounds, and to the exclusion of all consi-
derations how far such results might require to be modified by a
due regard for private rights and interests.

DA LHOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY. G. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LA ING.

LATE MURDER AT HAMPSTEAD

ADJOURNED CORONER'S INQUEST.

The adjourned inquest upon the body of James Delarue, the
unfortunate man who was so barbarously murdered in the
field near Haverstock-hill, was resumed on Saturday, be-
fore Mr. Wakley, Mr. G. I. Mills, and a mostrespectable jury.
From the observations made by the Coroner on the last day,
and the expectation that the prisoner would be brought up, a
considerable crowd thronged all the avenues leading to the
Yorkshire Grey, on tiptoe to see him, and the inquest- room
itself was thronged with the respectable householders in the
neighbourhood, among whom we observed the Rer. Thomas
Ainger and other clergymen, the churchwarden and over.
seers of St. John's, and other persons of public note in the
parish.- Mr. Lander attended, as before, to observe the pro-
ceedings on the part of the parishioners. The prisoners
were undefended.

Precisely at twenty minutes to ten o'clock the Coroner
entered the room, and the names of the jurymen having been
called over, the Court was opened by the parish constables.
Inspector Gray was called into the room, and he was asked
by the Coroner if he had, agreeably to his instructions, called
upon the Governor of the house of Correction relative to the
production of the prisoner at the Coroner's court ? Inspector
Gray replied in the affirmative, and that the governor stated
he could not give up the prisoner without the order of the
committing magistrate. He had then proceeded to Mr. Raw.
linson at the Marylebone Police-court, who verbally ex-
pressed his wish that the Coroner's request should be complied
with, and communicated that desire to the Governor of the
Gaol. Under these circumstances, he (Inspector Gray) had
not gone back, feeling assured that the prisoner would be
produced this morning in the custody of the proper officer.
Mr. WAKLEY—Then the prisoner is not here.
Inspector Haynes—He is not, Sir.
Mr. WARLEY said that all these difficulties had arisen, in
the first instance, from mismanagement at Hampstead. On
the first sitting of the inquest he (Mr. Wakley) had given
instructions that he should be informed at the very earliest
period if any one were taken into custody. There had been
a person taken up on suspicion of being concerned in this
murder. Now, by the evidence of the policeman Scotney, it
appeared that he had been taken into custody at half-past
one on the morning of Wednesday, yet no information had
been forwarded to him (Mr. Wakley) until nine o'clock of
the same morning. It then appeared to him to be perfectly
useless to call the jurymen together, particularly after he
had been informed that the prisoner had been conveyed from
Hampstead to.Marylebone about the same hour that he had
received his information. He should wish to know the pre-
cise hour he was taken away
Inspector Partridge— About seven o'clock, Sir.
Mr. WAKLEY—That was two hours before then. All this
difficulty and contention, so unseemly in a court of justice,
was solely to be attributed in the first instance to mismanage-
ment. lie wished to know from Inspector Gray why in-
tbrination had not heup conveyed to him at an earlier hour ?
Inspector Gray stated that hp had forwarded a letter to the
Coroner between the hours of two and thre9 of the same
morning.
Mr. WAKLET believed that the ease was otherwise. The
letter,informing him of the circumstance had been received
at nine o'clock. If things had been managed as they ought
to have been there would have been no difficulty with the
police court. They should have proceeded with the inquiry,
and they would ha've had the priponer before them without
any necessity for his going to the polie.esciirt at la Such
a thing had happened in the case of Marchant, 4101-0.4 ip4r7
dered a girl in Cada,,e•an-square. He had not gone before the
magistrate at all. There should be no difficulty at all, for if
they were a court of justice why should there be any hesita-
tion in allowing the prisoner before them ? In the case of
Crouch, also, it was in
(Mr. Wakley's) option to have