The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-11 00:00:00

SOUTHAMP i ON, MANCHESTER, AND
OXFORD.

A meeting of the supporters of this (Parsons') line
was held on Tuesday at flungerford, in pursuance of a
requisition numerously and respectably signed by inha-
bitants of the town, calling on the Mayor to convene
them, for the purpose or expressing their cordial ap-
proval of the proposed undertaking in preference to any
other.

A deputation from the managing committee, consist-
ing of Mr. Parsons, solicitor to the Company and pro-
jector of the line, Messrs. Macmillan, C. H. Coape, Charles
R. Bigge, and H. Renton, engineer, attended for the
purpose of fully explaining the objects of the undertak-
ing, and showing the superiority of its claims over the
competing one.
Mr. D. Allen, the Mayor, presided ; and the meeting
was addressed by Mr. Coape, Mr. Parsons, Mr. Willes,
of Hungerford-park, Rev. Mr. Davies, Mr. Atherton,
Mr. Barker, and other gentlemen. The proceedings,
which we are compelled to abridge, were unanimous in
favour of the project.
Mr. PARSONS gave the following account of the pro-
posed line :—lt would be the shortest, cheapest, and
most expeditiOus route that could well be planned, and
by far the best of any that had hitherto been proposed.
By looking at the maps, which were distributed about
the room, they would perceive that the line was a forked
one. It would commence at one point at the Didcot
station on the Great Western Railway (where
the Oxford line joined it), and running southward
through Newbury, would join the South-Western
railway at or near the Andover-road. The other branch
would run from the Swindon station of the Great
Western down through Hungerford to Whitchurch, thus
completing by two short lines, the united lengths of
which would be only about fifty seven miles, the railway
commur icasion between Manchester and Southampton,
and the entire western district of England, from north
to south, on the one branch, and Oxford with the whole
north, north-midland, and north eastern districts, with

the southern, on the other. Having pointed out the
great advantages of such a thorough communication to
Hungerford and the counties of Hants, Wilts, and Berks,
Mr. Parsons directed the attention of the meeting to the
merits of tho two other competing lines—one of which
proposed to make a direct road from Manchester to
Southampton, at a cost of 1,500,0001. ; and the other
(Bethell's line) to do only one half of what he (Mr.
Parsons's) proposed—namely, to connect Dideot and
Andover-road, at a cost of 500,0001. The united cost
of those undertakings would be two millions sterling,
whilst his line would effect the same purpose as both at
a cost nut exceeding 900,000!.

LEEDS, DEWSBURY, AND MANCHESTER.
LEEDS, TUESDAY.—On Monday a special general
meeting of Shareholders was held at the Company's
office, South Parade, Leeds. Mr. John Gott, Chairman
of the Board of Directors, presided.
The CliaxnmAN then said, the first subject of import-
ance they had to consider was, an extension from the
main line to Wakefield, and through Wakefield to
Oakenshaw, for the purp.,se of joining the Midland, and
the Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole Railway, and for
the purpose of meeting the projected Doncaster and
Wakefield branch of the intended London and York

line. The Directors, after ascertaining their ground by
communication with other parties who were interested
in the district, bad come to the conclusion to ask the
sanction of the Shareholders for going to Parliament for
the purpose of carrying out this extension, and or a gran.
of money. The line had been very carefully gone over
by the Company's survey or and engineer, and could be
constructed with very favourable gradients. There were
other branches from the main line which it would be.
requisite, to make to complete the original line in the
most efficient way. They were a branch from the main
line from near the intended Batley station, by way of
Throden Clough, towards Gildesome and Cockersdale
an extension of the Bristol branch from Bristol towards
Birkenshaw. The e-xt,n‘ion to Wakefield, and from
therce to Oakenshaw, would require a capital of 300,000/.
The other branches, and sundry contingencies connected
with them, and also with the original line, would require
a further additional capital of 100,0001., making alto-
gether 400.0001. This the Directors proposed to do by
creating 16,000 half-shares—each half-share would of
course be 251. They would be issued in the form of
scrip, on signing the Parliamentary contract, in the pi o••
portion of seven half-shares to the holder of every five
original shares. They would have the support of the
Manchester and Leeds in carrying out their Wakefield
Extension.

Resolutions empowering the Directors to take steps
for carrying out the extensions were passed, and after
some explanations from Mr. Atkinson, the solicitor, as

to the issue of the shares,
On the motion of Mr. SHAW, seconded by Mr. JOSEPH
BATES, it was agreed that 7001. a year should be placed
in the hands of the Directors for their services.
The CHAIRMAN intimated that Mr. Grainger, their
engineer, was arranging a junction with the Manchester
line in a very satisfactory manner.

SINGULAR ACCIDENT THROUGH THE FALL OF A
LAMP.—On Tuesday, about seven o'clock, as a young man of the
name of Masson, in the employ of Messrs. Warman, the grocers,
in Drury-lane, whilst lighting the gas suspended in front of the
shop, the iron-work which holds the lamp, from some cause, sud-
denly snapped, and the lamp, which is a very large one, together
with the piping, fell into the street. The young man was thrown
of the ladder, in his fall severely fracturing his arm and shoulder,
besides otherwise bruising hircself. The nursemaid belonging to
Mr. Parkes, of Lincoln's Inn- fields, who was entering the shop
with one of the children, was struck with the lamp, and much cut
with the broken glass. The child, fortunately, was not hurt.
FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENTS AT THE NEW HOUSES OF
PaatramErirr.—Tuesday morning, about six o'clock, a dreadful
accident happened to a man named James Casey, a workman at
the new Houses of Parliament, living at 9, Wood-street, Millbank.
He had just got to the top of a scaffolding near the Victoria Tower,
and was proceeding along it to that part where his work lay, when
his foot slipped, and he fell with frightful violence the whole
height, nearly forty feet. He was instantly taken up in an insen.
sible state, arid conveyed to the Westminster Hospitil, when it
was found that his right thigh and arm were fractured in a very
dangerous manner. The broken limbs having been set, and every
attention paid him by the house surgeons, he is likely to proceed
favourably. On the previous afternoon, about three o'clock, a
bricklayer named John Jarvis, living at 4, Wood's-place, West.
minster, and also working at the new House of Commons, fell
from the scaffolding on which he was, about twenty or thirty feet
high, and came with such violence to the ground, that his left leg
was doubled up under his body and broken in a very bad manner.
He was also taken to the Westminster Hospital, where the fracture
was set.
THE WEATHER.--It afforded us much pleasure to
notice in our last that the weather had at length taken up, and
that there was every prospect of its continuing fine ; and we
are now glad to rec.,rd that since that time the crops have been
brought rapidly forward by the continued influence of genisl
sun. It has been a week of glorious harvest weather, not only
in our own immediate district, but throughout the length and
breadth of the land, and the effects have been visible in the
activity with which harvesting operations have in many places
been commenced. A considerable quantity of barley and oats
has been cut, and in several instances wheat has also given way
to the sickle. There is much corn in stock, and not a little a;
already been housed, and is reported to be in fair avi rage eon-
. dition. Our market-place has been thronged, early in the
mornings during the week, with shearers ; but the wages
obtained, we understand, have been generally very low—vary.
iug from litl, ell. to 2ea a day.... Cur:ide Journal.