The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-13 00:00:00

WEST RIDING AND WEST YORKSHIRE

BRADFORD, TUESDAY.—A very numerous and influential
meeting of the inhabitants of Bradford and its neighbourhood
was held here yesterday, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the merits of the schemes of railway com-
munication for the district now before Parliament, and ex-
pressing their sentiments on the public advantages re-
spectively offered by them.
The meeting was called (in compliance with a requisition
bearing the signatures of about 140 of the manufacturers,
merchants, and other respectable inhabitants of the town
and neighbourhood) by Geo. Oxley, Esq., and John Rams-
den, Esq., constables of the Borough of Bradford.
The theatre of the Mechanics' Institute, capable of holding
1,200 persons, was crowded.
On the motion of W. RAND, Esq., seconded by HENRY
FORBES, Esq., George Oxley, Esq., was called to the chair.
Amongst the gentlemen present were the following:—
W. Rand, Esq., H. W. Wickham, Esq., L. W. Wickham,
Esq., Henry Forbes, Esq., J. Lupton, Esq., E. C. L. Kaye,
Esq., S. Schuster, Esq., W. Walker, Esq., R. Milligan, Esq.,
E. Ripley, Esq., H. Ripley, Esq., Dr. Macturk, W. Cheese-
brough, Esq., Isaac Milnes, Esq., John Mann, jun., Esq., W.
Martin, Esq., C. Ackroyd, Esq., Thomas Ackroyd, Esq., R.
S. Ackroyd, Esq., N. Bentley, Esq., David Ramsden, Esq.,
John Steele, Esq., Joseph Lofthouse, Esq., B. B. Popplewell,
Esq., George Anderton, Esq., Samuel Lumby, Esq., G. T.
Lister, Esq., Thomas Clayton, Esq., Josh. Briggs, Esq.,
Robert Barr, Esq., Wm. Horsfall, Esq., Win. Weare, Esq.,
J. Bottrill, Esq., Wm. Firth, Esq., Wm. Wagstaff, Esq.,
J. R. Wagstaff; Esq., J. Hawkshaw, Esq., George Brown,
Esq., James Wade, Esq., John Wade, Esq., John Wade, jun ,
Esq., Thomas Thwaites, Esq., Robinson Thwaites, Esq., M.
Brown, Esq., Geo. Alderson, Esq., &c., &c.
The Institution being found insufficient to accommodate
the numbers assembled, the meeting was adjourned to the
Court-house.

Mr. WAi.RaND first addressed the meeting, and called at-
tention to the proposed accommodation of the district. The
first point of importance was that any railway laid down in
the West Yorkshire district should unite itself with those in
the adjacent district. The next, that the stations should be
in a position presenting the utmost facilities for public access ;
and the third point was the character of the line as regarded
the nature of its gradients. He endeavoured to show that
the scheme proposed by the West Riding Junction was in
want of these advantages. Every person who was acquainted
with Bradford knew that in the valley of the Aire there were
numerous towns and villages, employing a large and busy
population in manufactures, and almost the whole of them
drew their supply of raw material from places in a direction
for which the \Vest Riding Junction made no provision at all.
They drew their supply of coal front that direction, but when
it got to Bradford it had to make a full stop. hy such a
scheme was not onlyan insult to Bradford, but to Ai: edale also
—not only an insult, but a positive injury. The West Yorkshire
made an ample provision, whilst •the Vest Riding Junction
made no provision at all. He thought, therefore, as far as
that matter was concerned, the West Yorkshire was entitled
to the approbation of the men of Bradford, and the West
Riding Junction deserved their just and emphatic disappro -
bation. He would not go into the minute parts of the gra-
dients genera.ly, but simply speak of them as affecting Brad-
ford and neighbourhood, and lie could fearlessly say that he
believed that no project had ever been brought before a
Parliamentary Committee with such infamous gradients as
the West Riding Junction Railway. Mr. Rand concluded
by proposing the following resolution :—" That in order to
entitle any railway projected for the accommodation of this
d:strict to the support of the inhabitants of Bradford, it is
essential that it should unite itself with the Leeds and
Bradford Railway, now in progress of construction, as well
as with the Leeds and Manchester Railway; that the gra-
dients should be as favourable as the difficult nature of the
country will admit ; and that the position of the stations
should be such as to afford to the public the utmost facili-
ties of access."
Mr. H. W. RIPLEY seconded the motion.

Mr. WALKER, in a speech of considerable length, moved
an amendment in favour of the West Riding Junction. lie
contended that the vast mass of local support incontroverti-
bly showed that a strong and decided preference in favour of
the Leeds and West Riding Junction Company reigned in the
minds of a large proportion of the mercantile and manufac-
turing and trading population of the district. The decision
of the Board of Trade in favour of the Junction Company
confirmed and justified all its expectations. Before any
other Company appeared in opposition to them, the under-
takings and plans of the Junction Company were publicly
announced, and it was not until the complete organization of
the Leeds and West Riding Junction Company, with every
prospect of success, that a rival company was announced,
under the title of " The West Yorkshire," whose main pre-
tension was a refusal to act with the Manchester and Leeds
Company, into whose line their schemes must necessarily run
in every direction.
Mr. L. W. Wicictum seconded the amendment.
Mr. HAwicsizam, engineer to the West Riding Junction,
then addressed the meeting, and stated that the West
Riding Junction entered Bradford in as efficient a manner,
with as good gradients, and could be worked as perfectly as
the lines into Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow. He
described the gradients, and gave a variety of reasons for
preferring the gradients of the West Riding Junction to
those of the West Yorkshire for the local traffic of the district.
Mr. CARTER, in the absence of ?tin Buck, the engineer of
the West Yorkshire line, replied to Mr. Hawkshaw, contend-
ing that the conclusions of that gentleman were erroneous
with reference to the gradients of the two lines.
Mr. HENRY FormEs said that Mr. Robert Stephenson,
one of the most eminent engineers of the present day, had
made a careful comparison between the plans of the West
Yorkshire and the West Riding Junction, and had in a most
emphatic manner given a decided preference to everything
connected, in an engineering point of view, with the West
Yorkshire scheme.

The motion was then put, and both parties claiming the
majority,
The CHAIRMAN' called for a second show of hands, on which
he said, that to the best of his judgment, considering the
darkness of the night, he believed that the West Riding
Junction had carried the day.
A memorial to Parliament in favour of the West Riding
Junction was adopted.

HALIFAX, TlnisnAY.—Yesterday a most important and
highly influential meeting of the inhabitants of this town
was held in the Odd Fellows' Hall, for the purpose of taking
into consideration the merits of the respective railways for
this district now before Parliament. The spacious saloon
and gallery were crowded, and upon the platform we noticed
the following, among other gentlemen :—Jonathan Akroyd,
Esq., William Haigh, Esq., George T. Pollard, Esq., J.
Emmett, Esq., Captain Stansfeld, J. Baldwin, Esq., E.
Akroyd, Esq., J. S. Brown, Esq., H. Ambler, Esq., Haigh,
Esq., G. Beaumont, Esq., Ely Bates, Esq., J. Hoatson, Esq.,
Dr. W. Alexander, A. G. Suter, Esq., J. Thorpe, Esq., J.
Turney, Esq., F. Crossley, Esq., W. Heap, Esq., J. Apple-
yard, Esq., T. Hodgson, Esq., J. whitwortn, Esq.
The meeting was called in pursuance of a requisitimn of the
gentry and merchants, manufacturers and tradesmen, mnum-
tier about 200.
It was moved by Mr. JONATHAN AKROYD, and seconded
by Mr. W. MORRIS :—" That a careful comparison of the
respective merits of the two railway schemes has left the
strongest conviction on the minds of those present, that in
the superiority of its gradients and curves, the convenience
of its stations, its points of juncture with adjacent lines, and
its connexion with a continuous line of water communica-
tion to Liverpool, the West Yorkshire is entitled to the most
strenuous support of the town and neighbourhood."
Mr. Ti!o19.?: proposed, and Mr......8EAU310NT seconded—

, •
That a denial of the claim of the West Riding to construct
and manage its own means of communication, cannot be
viewed in any other light than a virtual assertion of its in-
capacity. That this meeting indignantly repudiates the re-
proach, and pledges itself to exert every means in its power
to rouse the West Riding to a raulute assertion of its in-
alienable rights."
Other resolutions, after a discuision of considerable length,
but upon topics chiefly of a locally interesting nature, ensued,
in which Messrs. Brown, Crossley, Suter, Gregory, Ambler,
and Whitworth took part, expressing the views which the
meeting entertained of the possibility of the Leeds and Man-
chester Company monopolizing the control of the com-
munication of the district, and conshiering the West York-
shire scheme as calculated to secure the benefits of free com-
petition.
A petition, embodying the sentiments of the meeting on
the subject, was unanimously agreed upon, to be presented
to the House of Commons.

GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND.
DARLINGTON, TUESDAY.—Today the half-yearly general
meeting of the Proprietors was held at the Company's
Offices, Mr. H. Wilkinson, the Chairman of the Directors,
presiding.
The Directors' report announced that the gross receipts
for the half year ending December 31, 1844, amount to
54,048/. 65., which, compared with the corresponding half
year, shows an increase of 15,481/. 75. Bd., of which the pas-
senger traffic has given 8,051/. 65., the merchandise 1,167/.
6s. 10d.,ithe mails 983/. Os. I Id., and the c0a1512,8291. 14s. 4d.,
&c. The balance, after defraying the expenses, amounts to
31,783/. 6s. Bd., out of which the Directors recommend that a
dividend be declared, at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum
(that is, for the half-year, 3/. on every 100/. share, and 10s.lon
every 401. share), clear of income-tax, and be made payable
on the 4th of March. This will amount to 23,820/., leaving
a reserve fund of 7,964/. 6s. Bd. The object which the
Directors had in view in leasing their coal dues for three
years (of which the first year expired on the 30th of No-
vember last), namely, to promote the permanent extension
of that trade, seems likely to be fully realised ; the number
of tons of coal and coke carried up the line during the half
year, being 82,469, against 41,097 tons in the correspond-
ing period of the year before, and with every prospect
of a still further increase. The Proprietors are already
aware that the Great North of England Directors
entered into an arrangement with the Newcastle
and Darlington Junction Company to work the line
of the latter Company—the Great North of England
Company finding locomotive power, carriages, waggons, &c.,
the necessary surveys of the proposed branch lines to Har-
rogate, linaresborough, Ripen; awl linrenghbridge, as well
as to Richmond, have been made, and all the necessary
steps taken, in compliance with the standing orders of both
Houses of Parliament. The lines are not of an extensive
character, and, from the great accommodation they offer to
the public, at well as from their being legitimate branches
of an existing railway, the Directors confidently anticipate
a favourable report from the Board of Trade. Acting on
this imprp§',sion, the Directors have thonaht iY.444414 to
enter into a contract 5,000 tons of° iron rails, at $L.l5s.
per ton, a price considerably below that at which they could