The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-19 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER (STORE

HRIINCH).

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP X.

DIRECT NORTHERN LINE-P.ARRINGDON-

STREET EXTENSION.

This Committee resumed today at the usual hour, Viscount
Courtenay in the chair. . . .

Mr. Paine, C.E., who was examined yesterday by Mr. Nias,
the owner of property in Shepperton-street, corrected an inaccuracy
which he had made in stating that the error in the sec-
tions of the Farringdon-street Extension was outside the centre
line. The witness attributed his mistake to the erroneous repre-

ientation of Mr. Webster's plan, and now positively declared that
the deviation of eight feet two, as mentioned yesterday, existed
within the limits.

Mr. Wakeling, the vestry clerk of Clerkenwell, stated that he now
Wished to call witnesses to prove the injury which the construction
of the line would entail on the rates and trade of the district he re-
presented. The promoters of the Company had scheduled 468 houses
to be taken down, the average annual rent of which was 00/. a
year each, and the total amount of rates 1,4161. The parish would
suffer from the destruction of this property, and the trade of the
district being almost exclusively that of watch manufacturing,
would be considerably injured, both by tho vibration arising from
the passage of trains on the contiguous line, and from the distant
removal of the workmen, by the destruction of the lit,uses in which
they reside.
Mr. Hux, examined by Mr. WaxeLtuu—ls a watch manufac-
turer of Percival-street, Clerkenwell, employing more than tbiity
hands, all of whom reside in the immediate vicinity
of the projected line. lf, however, the houses in which
they now dwell are taken down for the construction of
the railway, the trade would suffer great inconvenience from
the removal of the workmen. The vibration caused by the
transit of carriages on the line would seriously affect the manufac-
ture of watches ; in fact, he thought no chronometer would go cor-
rectly within 50 feet of a railway.
Mr. W. 'Connell, examined by Mr. WILELING, a practical
chronometer maker of Gloucester-street, corroborated the evidence
of the preceding witness. The fluid body in the mercurial
pendulums would be seriously injured by the vibration on the
railway, as it would oscillate and destroy the accuracy of
observation so necessary for the regulation of chronometers.
Mr. Lockwood, an escapement maker and wheel cutter, gave
similar evidence.

Mr. William Mason, a printer and publisher, guardian of the
poor, and auditor of the parish of Clerkenwell, deposed to the
rate of the 468 houses scheduled for the use of the railway being
upwards of 1,500/. He considered the railway would be far from
beneficial to the district, and in that opinion he was joined by the
universal resident population.
• '

This having closed the case of the parish of Clerkenwell against
the line,
Mr. WEBSTER called rebutting evidence.
Mr. Terry, overseer of the parish, deposed that the line would
travel through the very poorest parts of Clerkenwell, and the
compensation for any deterioration; in the rates would be but
trifling. He considered that the railway would im-
preve the condition of the parish, as it would
afford a readier means and a greater inducement to the poor, who
were receiving relief, to remove to other districts. The Irish
paupers would more especially avail themselves of these facilities,
and the number of casual poor would be materially diminished.
Mr. Smith, a watch and clock maker, under examination by
Mr. WEBSTER, assured the Committee that, when he visited a
friend at Poplar, he never found the slightest variation in the re.
gularity of his watch by the vibration of passing omnibuses, and he,
therefore, inferred
~.that the transit of trains would be equally
harmless.

Mr. HILDYARD, at a quarter before two, rose to address the
Committee on the case of the Farringdon-street Extension Line,
then closed. He assured the Committee that, though he had not

intended to speak at'any length on the subject, it was his firm con.
victims that it was the most important element in the whole case,
and the only feature which his opponents had ne.er attempted to
'al c.(. eee.0...., .711 on 1)0 addressed
the Committee on behalf of the Direct iorthern Line, he
had anticipated a saving of 800,0001. in that, over the other lines,
so far as the antagonist schemes between London and York were
concerned. But since the evidence had been of late adduced
in course of the Farringdon-strect case, that saving of 800,0001. had
been swelled to 1,300,000/. ; and although the London and York
could put forward their 934 miles, which they professed
would be the amount of saving effected by their line over
its rivals, yet, on the whole, the Farringdon-street Extension
would, as he pledged himself to show, have the advantage of
shortness of time, in consequence of the superiority of their
gradients to those of the London and York. And, again,
the distance between certain densely populated points of