The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-12 00:00:00

aid South Eastern Railway Company, in pursuance of the
*visions of the said Act."
Mr. CROWLEY, the deputy-chairmail, having seconded the
confirmation of the resolution, it was put and unnaintowily
agreed to.

HULL AND HOLYHEAD DIRECT.
A meeting of the committee of management in this under—
taking was held on Saturday, at the offices of the Company,
2, Winch( ster-buildings, Winchester-street, Lord Viscount
Inoestre, ➢I.P., presiding.
His Lordship having briefly introduced the proceedings,
the report of Mr. W. H. Smith, the engineer, was laid.before
the meeting, and read by Mr. William Tyler, the secretary

to the Company.
It commenced by stating that it became his (Mr. Smith's)
duty to report to the Committee on the practicability of the
Hull and Holyhead Direct Railway, from the surveys
which had already been made, the state of forwardness of
those surveys at the present moment, and generally upon,
the probability of remuneration to the shareholders here-
after. From the rumours which had prevailed as to the
practicability of the fine, he felt called upon to spare no
pains or detail, and he wished to be able to prove that it
would not only, commercially speaking, be highly ad-
vantageous, but in an engineering point of view, of an
extremely satisfactory character. The formation of the line,
in tunnels, gradients, or curves, and cost of construction,
would be much more favourable than he at first anticipated,
and much under his original estimate. There would be no
curves so quick, or gradients so severe, as on railways at
present in existence; and, strange as it might appear, there
would not be so great a total length of tunnelling, or any
one so long, as those upon an equal distance either of the
London and Birmingham or of the Great Western Railways,
while on the projected line there existed the advantage of
passing throughout a fine building-stone of the best pos-
sible quality fl,r tunnelling. There were many reasons,
based upon the result of local inquiry and information.
which were amply sufficient to warrant the construction of
this line. 1. Taking as termini the towns of Chester and
Northwich, Nortbwich and Knutsford, Altringham and
Manchester, Manchester and Holyhead, Northwich and
Sheffield, Sheffield and Macclesfield, they were in themselves
of sufficient importance to demand direct lines ; • this line
embracing the whole of these important towns amongst its
other enumerated advantages. 2. Railways, being proved to
be the cheapest of all communication, the great agricultural
produce of Ireland would be conveyed by the Holyhead line
to Chester, and by the Hull and Holyhead direct to the port
of Hull, and other great eastern outlets of the kingdom,
bringing in return the produce and manufactures of those
districts, the manufactures of Sheffield and Manchester, and
the large trade in rock salt from Northwieh to the northern
ports of Europe. 3. For the vast mineral wealth of Derby-
shire and Yorkshire, including some of the oldest mines in the
kingdom of iron, coal, and lead, and the finest stone and lime-
stone, increased facilities of transit would thus be afforded.
4. The great accession of traffic arising from the numerous
feeders, consisting of the Sheffield and Great Grimsby and
numerous other lines, as likewise the branches already pro-
posed from Castleton to Buxton, and the potteries on the
south, and to Stockport and Manchester on the north. Mr.
Smith proceeded to say that he had considered the relative
merits of the atmospheric system, against which he thought an
undue amount of prejudice existed. He had adopted curves
and gradients, and also a line generally applicable with
advantage to either. The Hull and Holyhead line would
form the shortest from the new American packet station,
Galway, Dublin, &c , to Hull, the Baltic, and the northern
parts of Europe, and would have for its feeders numerous
existing and projected great lines of railway, running north
and south, from Sheffield; Chester, Macclesfield, &c. It
would likewise facilitate the shipment of manufactures,
which are at present conveyed to Chester, and thence, by a
circuitous route, to the interior, and ultimately to the port of
Hull, at great loss of time and expense, the latter amount-
ing in itself almost to a prohibition. The surveys would be
complete in time for deposit for going before Parliament in
the approaching session.

TleCuninm.iN remarked that but one opinion could pre-
vail as to the satisfactory character of the report, the adop-
tion of which he would move. _

The motion was put and carried nem. dis.
Mr. TYLER announced that the notice of the intended ap-
ication to Parliament, in the ensuing session, would appear

in the Gazette of Friday next.
A vote of thanks to the Chairman, which his Lordship
briefly acknowledged, concluded the business of the meeting.

WORKING of the SLIDING-SCALE.

(From the Scotsman.)
The following letter relates to the mode of striking the
averages, and shows some of the evils that attend it. It
alludes also to the difference in quality of the wheat sold at
Mark-lane, but this topic may perhaps be better illustrated
by a reference to our own markets. In Haddington market
(the most important in Scotland), on the 31st of .October,
we have the following very striking variety of prices—
Old Wheat. New Wheat.
First quality
Second ditto .
Third ditto -
Thus, between the best old wheat in the market, and the
best new, there is a difference of 11r. • between the second
qualities the difference is 14s. 8d; and between the third
or lowest qualities the difference is no less than 20s. 'What
is called the second quality is the mean or average of 'thei
whole sales, and may be taken to represent the comparative
value of the last and the present crop. Mark, then, what
follows :
_ _ _

If the quality of the present crop had been equal 'to that
of the last, the average at Haddington on the 31st ult. would
have been 725. 7d. And as the Haddington average.
for the week merely exceeds by one penny that for the.
kingdom, the difference on the six weeks' average, regu-
lating importation, may be assumed as nearly the same,
namely, 14s. Bd. Now, the six weeks' average, which
was 565. 2d., would thus be raised to 70i. 10d., and foreign
wheat should at this moment have been admissible at 3s. in-
stead of 16s. But prices have not yet reached their limit;
and let it be observed, that a further rise of 2s. 2d., whkh
will bring down the duty only to 135., would have opened
the ports, if the grain had not been of inferior quality.
Thus the sliding-scale cheats the consumers, as it cheats
the farmers, by promising each a protection which it does
not give. It promised the farmer 565., and for the last two
years it has given about 465. A year of real scarcity has
come, and now it cheats the consumer, by making the ad-
mission of foreign corn dependent on a fictitious average 14s.
above the real average.
The difference in price between the best and the worst
quality in Haddington-market was no less than 40s. In
the corresponding week of 1844 it was only 225. The low
price which so large a portion of the present crop brings is
owing to deficiency of yield, quite as much as to deficiency
of quality. A given quantity of the inferior grain will yield
thirty to thirty-five per cent. less flour than the same quan-
tity of the superior. The result is, that the real rise is much
greater than the apparent, and while the Gazette tells us that
the price of wheat is 565., we are paying at the rate of 70s.
for our bread. •
In the Edinburgh market on Wednesday the extremes of
price were still greater. Wheat ranged from 345. to 865., and
in weight from 52 pounds the bushel to 66.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SCOTSMAN.
Sir,—ln the present state of the country, it may interest
some of your general readers who have never looked into the
existing corn-law, to give a short explanation of the manner
in which the corn averages are struck, and the import duty
is regulated.
Under the former system, when the pressure of scar-
city began to bear hard upon the country, corn specu-
lators had a method of " working the averages" by which
they irregularly accelerated the rise of the price and the
fall of the duty, so as to quicken the period when the im-
portation became practically free. In proposing the new
corn-law of 1842, Sir Robert Peel intimated that this was
an unfair practice in itself, and that he had provided special
means for repressing it, and working the system if
averages fairly. He then enlarged the number of
places from which returns of corn sales were re-
q,uired, until they amount to very nearly three hundred
nglish towns. The duty of making returns was also
largely devolved on the officers of excise. Returns of all.
sales by corn dealers, &c., in these towns were required to,
be made, and upon a comparison of the (supposed) total
quantity of corn sold in one week, with the prices thereof, an
average weekly price is made up for the kingdom. The last
six of these weekly prices are then taken, and an average of
them is struck, which last average is the price according to
which the rate of duty on the sliding-scale is ascertained.
In striking the weekly average, the prices of good,
bad, and indifferent wheat are all massed together-
While all good wheat, therefore, may be fetching 70e.,
it may happen, when a bad harvest has generally hurt.
the quality of the wheat, that inferior wheats (selling
just as dear, in reference to their quality) may be re-
turned at prices so much lower as to produce, on the whole,
a low weekly average, and consequently a high duty. It
is reported that some good Wheats were sold in Mark-lane"
last week at 745., yet the weekly average was only 595:
sd, At the same time the average of the last six weeks. was
only 565. 2d., which fixes the rate of duty on the sliding-
scale as high as 16s.
Under the sliding-scale, the duty will remain as high as
10s. so long as the average of six weeks sales is under 635.
At present there is not yet one week with an average up to
605.; and, from the large bulk of inferior wheat in the
country, it would seem difficult enough to say when the duty
will fall as low as even 10s. It will not fall lower than 6s.
so long as the average of the six weeks is under 695.
In the meantime it is stated in the public prints that
bonded corn is leaving the country, to be sold at a higher
rate in other countries which are threatened with dearth,
but in which no duty is imposed on its importation. M.

A DnusiKAßD's END.—A woman, named Simms,
the wife of a market-gardener, at Kingsholm, near this city
(Gloucester), and who was in the habit of attending the
vegetable market, was found dead in a chair, on Tuesday
morning, under the following circumstances, detailed before
Mr. Joseph Lovegrove, coroner, and a jury :—Hannah White
—I am the wife of Charles White, and live next door to the
Bull Inn. I have known the deceased for the last five or six
year:i. She came to my house between seven and eight o'clock
on Monday night; I noticed that she was quite in liquor, and
could hardly walk across the kitchen. She had a bottle
with her about half full of ruin, and she drank out of it
several times between that time and about half-past eleven.
At this time I left her and went to bed, together with my
sister-in•law, and got up this (Tuesday) morning about six
o'clock, and found deceased sitting in the chair in the kitchen,
just as she now is. [The body was exhibited to the jury in
the same position as it was found ; the deceased had the ap-
pearance of being asleep.] I called up my sister-in-law, and
we thought she was dead. I went to my father, andhe fetched
Mr. Clark, surgeon, who pronounced her to be quite dead.
The deceased was much given to liquor ; she is about fifty
years of age. Sophia Jones—l live with the last witness, but
for the last three months have been in attendance upon Mr.
John Simms, the husband of deceased, at Kingsholm. [Mr-
Simms had been severely injured by a bull.] The deceased
was unwell from the bile for some time, but it was to be attri-
buted to the quantity of spirits she usually took. She left
home on Monday morning to look after the cart with vege-
tables, and was in her usual health. She returned about ten
o'clock of the came morning quite tipsy, and went to bed;
she arose again about four o'clock, and partook of a basin of
chocolate. I left about six o'clock, and I saw her as described
by the last witness between seven and eight; she was very
noisy and abusive. After we left the kitchen she continued
very iet ; I afterwars found her i the chair quite dead.
When quiet
at home, she usudally slept onn a chair or on the sofa.
The deceased was a drunken woman, and usually carried a
bottle of spirits with her. About twelve I had occasion to
come down stairs, and she appeared to be in a sound sleep.
The jury returned a verdict to the effect that " the deceased
died froi the effects of intoxication." Gloucestershire
Chronicle.
SHOCKING SUlClDE.—Another proof of the direful.
results which the preaching of such fanatics as Dealtry andil44*
Burgess, who recently honoured this town with their pry-.5,_ ,
sense, is calculated to produce upon the minds of the creNr: -, k
dulous and ignorant, has, we regret to state, been afforded fitrtiz,l3
the suicide, at an early hour on Friday morning, of ascot:inn: -‘7l
named Netherton, the wife of an ostler residing in Gibbons•
Line, in this borough. The poor woman, it appeared, at•
tended the lectures of the worthies above•namedrand fright- 7 (i. ~lli,
ened at their declaration of the near approach be t*xlsy 0f.,...t 1, ' #ll
judgment, she has ever since been in a state of-Mtatal de. -4 ;," "NI
........)
rangement, and thus it was, that being left alone for a short ..`i,
time on Friday morning, she put a period to her existence bl 0
' nearly coyeripg tor bead from her body.—riemptis gonad