The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-15 00:00:00

No. 16,38 L

FEBRUARY 15, 1845,
LO N DON, SATURDAY
4- V ,P
•
S TAT NI

" Who runs may read."

PRICE sd,

FOREIGN.

THE SUN is Published EVERY MORNING at FIRE o,c2ocE, in Time for the EARLY TRAINS and TOWN DELIVERY ; a SECOND EDITION (Evening Sun) is PUbliBited ink Time for the AFTERNOON TRAINN
and a THIRD EDITION at SEVEN O'CLOCK, for POST, containing PARLIAMENTARY and all other NEWS in LONDON up to that lour.

ADVERTISEMENTS INSERTED in ALL THE THREE PAPERS, Morning Noon, and Night, thereby insuring a TOWN and COUNTRY CIRCULATION, at ONE CHARGE.

C LERICAL, MEDICAL, and GENERAL
LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY, 78, GREAT RUSSELL-
STREET, BLOOMSBURY.
The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of PROPRIETORS will
be held at the Office of the SOCiety, on THURSDAY, the 6th day of
March next, at One o'clock precisely, at which meeting Two Tnistees,
Four Directors, and One Auditor (on the part of the Proprietors) will
be elected.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

' REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT OF
THE BOARD OF TRADE ON THE KENTISII AND
SOVTII-EASTERN RAILWAY SCHEMES.
[Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed Feb. 13, 1845.]
Railway Department,
Board of Trade, Whitehall, Feb. 13, 1845.
The Board constituted by minute of the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade, for the transaction of railway busi.
ness, having had under consideration the different schemes depo.
sited with the Railway Department for extending railway commu-
nication in Kent, and the South-Eastern district, have determined
on submitting the following report thereon for the consideration of
Parliament.
The list of schemes in this district shows that on the one hand
a very extensive and comprehensive system for the accommodation
of the whole Kentish and South-Eastern district is proposed by the
South-Eastern Company, in connexion with their existing lines;
white, on the other hand, the same, or nearly the same, objects are
proposed to be attained by a number of new and independent
schemes,
This renders it necessary that we should begin by an explicit
statement of the principles which have guided us, in this and simi-
lar cases, in forming an opinion whether a preference ought or
ought not to be given, and if given, under what conditions and to
what extent, to lines for completing the accommodation of parti-
cular districts, which lines are in connexion with existing railways
in those districts.
In this, as in every other case, we have endeavoured to keep
steadily in view the attainment of the greatest amount of public
advantage. We have not recognised the existence of anything
like a vested right in existing Companies to be protected from the
same description of competition which they have themselves in.
flicted on canals and other existing modes of communication.
Beyond, perhaps, a bare preference, in cases of absolute equality,
doe to the intereste of Shareholders, who themselves constitute a
portion of the public, we have not considered that an existing rail-
way Company could claim any preference over other parties pro.
posing to effect the same objects, beyond that which might result
from an identification of interest with the public.
Considering the subject in this point of view, it appears to us
that, as a general rule, the most important point for the interests of
the public, is to secure the best permanent lines of railway cont.
rnunication for the country at large and for the wants of the dis-
trict. To sanction an inferior or unnecessarily circuitous line,
proposed by an existing Company, or to reject one of decided public
and local advantage, proposed by a new Company, for the sake of
any terms that could be offered by an existing Company, would, in
our opinion, be, except under peculiar circumstances, unfair to-
wards the local interests thus sacrificed, and unwise as regards the
general and permanent interests of the public.
We have, therefore, as a general rule, considered it as an essen-
tial preliminary requisite, before entering upon the question of
giving protection to existing Companies by allowing them to com-
plete the railway communications of particular districts, that the
lines proposed by them shall be, in all substantial respects, sound
in themselves, and not inferior to those proposed by any other
parties.

Parliament could compel an insolvent concern to carry at as low
rates and afford as ample accommodation as a prosperous under-
taking might be able to do. A moderate offer from an established
Company, who can be relied on to fulfil their engagements, is
therefore preferable to one apparently more advantageous from a
new Company.
For these, among other reasons, we conclude that the policy in.
cheated by the Committee of last session, of giving a preference
to the schemes of existing Railway Companies for supplying their
own districts, when such schemes are as gOod or better than those
of any other parties, where no special reasons exist which should
induce us to look for advantage from competition, and where the
old Company voluntarily offers such guarantees as may reasonably
be required to protect the public against the possible abuses of mo-
nopoly, or such conditions as at once place the public in a better
position than they could hope to obtain from competition, is that
from which the greatest amount of permanent public advantage is
likely to be derived.
We by no means intend these principles to be considered as rules
of universal application, being satisfied that no abstract nr invari-
able rule can be safely laid down by which to decide cases of such
complexity, and varying so greatly In detail; but we have thought
it desirable to state thus generally the views which have guided us
in cases like this of the South-Eastern district, and upon which the
soundness of the conclusions at which we base arrived must mainly
depend.
Having thus stated the general principles by which we have '
been guided in cases involving a question of preference between ex.
isting and new Companies, we proceed to investigate the different
schemes submitted to us in the Kentish and South-Eastern dis.
trict, with a view to their application.
The following is a list of the projected railways in the district
in question, deposited with the Railway Department of the Board
of Trade:—
Central Kent
Kentish Coast
London and Croydon ; Orpington Branch ..
London and Maidstone
London and Ashford
London, Chatham, and Chilham
London and Gravesend, via North Woolwich
London, Chatham, and Gravesend 145
London, Chatham, and North Kent
195
Rye, Tenterden, and Headcorn

line, abc ost uninterruptedly from the Thames to the Land's End.
The on'i.y important link in this chain which was not likely to be
undert 'ken as an independent commercial enterprise, was the con.
nexion between Hastings and the South. Eastern line in the direc-
tion of Dover, for the completion of which we have now the
guaran tee of a Company who have ample means to fulfil their en-
gagem.erst, and who are alone in a position to work such line, if
constructed, with efficiency and with a fair prospect of success.
The 'effect of sanctioning the schemes of the South-Eastern
Compa ay, in connexion with the schemes already sanctioned or
propos eel by other parties, will be to place the metropolis, the
dockyards and arsenals of Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheer-
ness, l'e,rtsmouth, and Plymouth, the Downs, Dover, Hastings,
Bright an, Southampton, Portland, Weymouth, and all the prin-
cipal ipo its of the southern coast as far as Falmouth and Pen-
zance, in direct railway communication with one another, so as
to admit of the transmission of intelligence in a few minutes by
the eledtrical telegraph, and of troops, stores, and ammunition,
in a few hours from any one point to any other of this extensive
line. Bel the proposed extensions to Hungerford-bridge there is
also ev ez y prospect that Woolwich, Chatharn, and the other im-
portant. places above specified, will be placed in uninterrupted rail.
way corn munication, through the metropolis, with other parts of
the king, loin.
The 13 ther advantages offered by the South-Eastern Company are
sufficiemely obvious. We have already referred to the Reports of
the Select Committee of last session., to show the importance at-
tached b•y them to the obtaining from existing Companies, volun.
tarily and without incurring any suspicion of breach of faith on the
part of rarliament, securities for the future in the shape of an op.
tion of nevi-ion and purchase, resembling in their general effect
those u•ihich the Legislature, after very full consideration, has
thought it advisable to adopt with regard to new railways.
It wiZ I be observed that in the case of the South-Eastern Corn.
pang, n o t only are these guarantees offered, but also a present limi.
tation oaf charge, and amount of accommodation to the poorer class
of pass. edgers, which will ensure the working of the whole of the
South. Eastern system upo❑ terms more favourable for the public,
both as regards fares and accommodation, than are usual upon
.other vafilways. As regards the North Kent portion of the system,
indeed, uve regard any legislative maximum as of comparatively
little i c portance, since the charges of the railway must always
be kept ,down at an exceedingly low point by water competition ;
but as "e gards the great line of continental communication and the
internal local traffic of a great part of the district, it is unquestion-
ably h'igThly desirable to obtain a specific guarantee against the
adoption of a system of high fares, which, under the present Acts
of the .611uth-Eastern Company, might be at any moment resorted
to if thre. Directors thought it expedient for their interests to adopt
the course which has frequently been pursued by other Companies.
The conclusion, therefore, at which we arrive, in regard to the
schemes; proposed In the North Kent district is, that to the best of
our judgment a very decided preponderance of public reasons exists
in favorer of the South-Eastern scheme, No. 222, Hungerford.
bridge to Chilhain, in preference to any of the competing schemes.
The game reasons induce us to express a similar opinion, that as
regards ;the South-Eastern Company's scheme, No. 213, Extension
to Deal,, and No. 205, Maidstone to Rochester, which are portions
evident ,y required to complete the system of Kentish railway cora-
municalinin, and the South. Eastern Company's scheme, No. 215,
Ashford to Hastings, which is an important link in the coast line
of communication, we are aware of no public grounds why they
should no t receive the sanction of the Legislature.
The on ly remaining schemes are those proposed for forming new
railways- from Tunbridge and fle4dcorn to Hastings. With regard
to these,, it seems sufficient to say, that the question having been
contested at great length before Committees of both Houses last
session, Tato rejected the Headcorn line, on the ground that it was
inconsis to .nt with the coast line to Brighton, which was calculated
to afford at the same time a greater amount of local and national
advantage; and no new circumstances having transpired to affect
the grounds of that decision, but on the contrary, the:proposal of a
line fro tri Hastings to Ashford affording an additional outlet, not
then co ntemplated, for traffic ftom Hastings and its neighbourhood
towards Dover and Canterbury; we are aware of no sufficient public
grounds. to justify a reversal of that decision, by the sanction of
lines wltoich, under present circumstances, would go far to render
the line sanctioned last year incapable of sustaining itself as a sol.
vent undertaking.

one line of railway for the accommodation of North Kent will be
sanctioned.
The population of the district to be accommodated (exclusive
of London and Greenwich) exceeds 850,001, and from its proxi.
mity to the me ropelis, the amount of intercourse is extremely
large. More than half a million of passengers have been conveyed
by steam-boats in a single month between London and Gravesend ;
and the amount of traffic, passing both by land and water, to
Rochester, Chatham, Maidstone, Canterbury, Ramsgate, Margate,
&c., is also very great, and likely to increase largely with the ex-
tension of facilities- What proportion of this traffic may be ob.
tamed by a railway in competition with steam-boats and other
cheap conveyances, is of course to a certain extent speculative.
There !appears, however, to be sufficient data to warrant us in as.
suming that any of the schemes proposed for making a railway to
accommodate Nod) Kent, may be considered as a fair and legiti-
mate commercial speculation ; and that the question is therefore
reduced to a choice among the different competing schemes, of
that which offers on the whole the greatest amount of public ad.
vantage.
The question is further narrowed by the exclusion of the
line proposed by the Croydon Company, London, Chatham, and
Chilham, No. 142, which, from the nature of its gradients, is
incapable of sustaining a serious competition with either of the
other schemes, even if equal to them in other respects; while,
from its direction, it is manifestly no less inferior in point of
local accommodation and national advantage.
The gradients are more severe than have ever been proposed
for a locomotive line; 28 planes, extending over more than 15
miles of the first 30, being at an inclination of one in 50.
It may be proper to state, that the Croydon Company ob.
tained, in the last session of Parliament, an Act, under which
they are proceeding to convert their existing locomotive line of
railway from London to Croydon into an atmospheric line, in
connexion with another Company, also sanctioned in the last ses.
sion, and which continues the line on that principle, from Croydon
to Epsom. In their subsequent projects, which are now under
consideration, the Croydon Company equally adopt the atmospheric
system of propulsion. If that system had already been applied
successfully upon any long line of railway, the severity of the
gradients in these projected lines would not have been considered
so objectionable. It is clearly, however, impossible for us to assume
the success of a system, as to which much difference of opinion
exists among railway engineers, and which has not hitherto afforded
such proof of its merits as could warrant us in giving the pre-
ference to projected undertakings, the success of which must de.
pend upon :results, as yet uncertain, while other projects are
offered, to which no such uncertainty applies.
The course of the line, pursuing the Croydon line inland for
six and a half miles to Sydenhana, and thus avoiding Woolwich
and the population along the North Kent-road, and giving
Gravesend only a circuitous route to Lcnden by a branch, ap-
pears too manifestly inferior to that of the other North Kent
lines, for national and local purposes, to require comment. The
comparison, therefore, lies between the South •Eastern Company's
scheme, No. 222, and the London, Chatham, and North Kent,
No. 148.
In their general features and objects, these two schemes are
nearly identical. They both pursue the general direction of the
Old North Kent.road by Woolwich, Gravesend, Rochester, and
Chatham, and thence to the same point, Chilhain, on the
South-Eastern Company's line, from Ashford to Canterbury, which
affords the nearest practicable route to Canterbury. They both
throw off a branch to Sheerness, and accomplish, more or less per.
fectly, the great national object of placing the naval and military
establishments of Sheerness, Chatham, and Woolwich, in direct
railway communication with one another, and with the metropolis.
In the most difficult and important features of the lines, such as
the passage of the Medway at Rochester, and of the Lines at Chat.
ham, they are substantially the same.
The President of the Board, having communicated with the
Master-General of the Ordnance, has ascertained that, while in
some points of detail each scheme is considered objectionable, and
may require modification, there is no such substantial objection to
either as to require its rejection, or to give any decided preference
in a comparison of the two.
The chief points of difference between the two schemes in other
respects appear to be-
1. In the mode of passing Woolwich, and the course pursued
thence to Gravesend.
The North Kent line keeps above the town of Woolwich,:cross.
ing the Artillery-ground, and thence skirting Shooter's Hill, and
keeping inland by Crayford and Dartford.

Any Proprietor desirous of proposing a Candidate for the office of
Trustee, Director, or Auditor, must send the Name of such Candidate
to the Secretary, at least fourteen days before the day of meeting.
Tl-1,- Ballot will commence at Eleven, and close at Two o'clock.
The Election of an Auditor on the part of the Assured, will also
take pl ce on Wednesday, the sth day of March, between the hours
of Eleven and Two o'clock.—All Persons assured for the whole term
of life, and (mantled to vote, are hereby referred to the conditions
endorsed on their policies, for information respecting the Candidate
to be proposed. . .

GEO. 11. I'INCKARD, Resident Secretary.

Feb. 15, 1545.

UNDER THE ESPECIAL PATRONAGE OF HER MOST
GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
THE ROYAL NAVAL. MILITARY, EAST
INDIAN, and GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY,
13, WATERLOO-PLACE, LONDON.
DIRECTORS.
Lieut.-Colonel Sir FREDERICK SMITH, E.H., R.E., Chairman.
Colonel Sir WILLIAM GOSSETT, C. 8., E.C.11., ILE., Deputy-
Chairman.
Admiral the Right Hon. Sir G. Cockburn, G.C.8., M.P., Lord of tho
Admiralty
Major-General Sir J. Cockburn, Bart., G.C.H.
Admiral Sir C. Rowley, Bart., K.C.8., G.C.11.
General Sir Thomas Bradford, G.C.8., G.C.H.
Major-General Sir P. Ross, G.C.M.G., K.C.H.
Lieutenant-General Sir F. W. Muleaster, R.C.H.
Lieutenant-General Sir John Gardiner, K.C.B.
Major-General Sir Hew D. Ross, K.C.8., R.A.
Major-General Sir J. Bryant, C. 8.. E.I.C.S.
Major-General Taylor, CB., E.I.C.S.
Major-General Edward Wynyard, C.B.
Major-General Arnold, Ell., R.E.
Major-General Clellaud, E.LC.S.
Lieutenant-Colonel 11. Hamner, K. 11., late R.ILG
Lieuten lit-Colonel Purchas, E.I.C.S.
MajCaptaino A
cphur Shades
itti),ai
Melville e(t:
G.
Agent
Captain William Lancey, R.E.
William Chard, Esq., Navy Agent
James Nugent Daniell, Esq.
Finlaison, Esq., the Government Calculator.
Assurances are granted upon the lives of persons in every station
of life, and for every part of the world, upon particularly favourable
terms


•
South-Eastern; Maidstone to Rochester
South-Eastern ; Tunbridge to Hastings, Eye, and St.
Leonard's
S mth.Eastern ; Branches to Deal and Walmer, and Exten-
sion and Deviation at Margate

Persons assured in this office may change from one country to ano-
ther without forfeiting their policies.
A Bonus, amounting to thirty per cent. on the actual value of the
policies, was apportioned to the assured at the recent first Septennia
Meeting.

South-Eastern; Ashford to Hastings .1215
i:l7
South-Easttrn ; Headcorn to Rye

JOSEPH C. BRETTELL, Secretary.

South-E.istern ; Hungerford-bridge to Tunbridge and Pad.
dock Wood .....
South-Eastern; North Kent, Hungerford-bridge to Chilham 222
Of the above, the scheme London and Maidstone, 135, may be
considered as included in London and Ashford, 140; also the
London and Croydon, Orpington Branch, 131, and London,
Chatham, and Gravesend, 144, in London, Chatham, and Chilham,
142 ; and South. Eastern, Headcorn to Rye, 217, in Rye, Ten.
terden, and Headcorn, 197; being duplicate plans for the same
or portions of the same scheme.
Kentish Coast
London and Gravesend, via North Woolwich 143
not having been brought before us by the promoters as substantive
schemes, in a position to apply to Pali:Meta in the present ses-
sion, at the same time as the other schemes in the district, and
being for detached objects, are not included in this report.
This reduces the list of substantive schemes which we have had
to consider to the following:—
South-Eastern Company's schemes:
Hungerford Bridge to Chilham (North Kent) 'so. 222
Hungerford Bridge to Tunbridge and Paddock Wood ...... 221
Maidstone to Rochester
Branch to Deal and Walmer
Tunbridge to Hastings
Ashford to Hastings
Croydon Company's Schemes :
London, Chatham, and Chilham 142
London and Ashford
New and Independent Companies :
London, Chatham, and North Kent l4B
Central Kent
Rye, Tcnderden, and Headcorn
These schemes may be classed according to the objects which
they have in view.
I.—The South Eastern Company's scheme, Hungerford Bridge
to Tunbridge and Paddock Wood, No. 222 ; the Croydon Corn.
pang's scheme, London to Ashford, No. 125 ; have for their prin
cipal object the shortening and improving the present line of com-
munication to Dover and the Continent, by cutting off the angle
of the South-Eastern line at Reigate; and the Central Kent,
No. 34, has partly the same object in v.ew, combined with that of
local accommodation, and extension to Canterbury and Deal.
ll.—The South-Eastern Company's scheme, Hungerford Bridge
to Chilham, No. 225 ; the Croydon Company's scheme, London to
Chatham and Chilham, No. 144 ; the London, Chatham, and
North Kent, No. 148; and to a cer,:ain extent, the Central Kent,
No. 34, have in view the accommodation of North Kent, including
the districts along the Thames as far as Canterbury.
The South. Eastern scheme, Branch to Deal and Walmer, No.
213, and a portion of the Central Kent scheme, are for extending
this communication beyond Canterbury to the Downs; and the
South-Eastern scheme, Maidstone to Rochester, No. 205, is for
completing a link in the North Kent system, by uniting it to the
existing line to Maidstone.
Hl.—The South-Eastern Company's scheme, Tunbridge to
Hastings, No. 211, and the Rye, Tenterden, and Hastings scheme,
No. 195, are for extending new lines from the interior of Kent to
Hastings ; and the South-Eastern Company's scheme, Ashford to
Hastings, No. 215, is for completing the coast line of communica-
tion, sanctioned by Parliament last year, from Brighton to Hastings
A reference to the map, which is deposited to accompany this
report, will make the different lines referred to more easily under.
stood.

Assuming this to be the case, the question is at once raised
whether the public are likely to derive most benefit from compe.
tition, or from arrangements with the existing Company.
With regard to thegeneral principles which regulate competition
in the case of railways, we have little to add to the reports of the
Select Committee on Railways of last sesiion, by whom the subject
was fully investigated. The Committee state, in their Fifth Re-
port :
" With regard to the check of competition by railways among
themselves, the Committee cannot, in all cases, repose implicit
faith in it."

" When the lines are very short, the probability is that unless
charges be moderate, road traffic will revive, and in such cases the
public have a great degree of security. Again, as respects the
carriage of goods, it is found in practice that by other channels of
conveyance, such as canals, an effective control may, under certain
circumstances, be placed upon railway charges. But in consider-
ing the case of passenger charges, and in all classes of lines, except

215

those which are so short as lobe effectually checked by the ordi-

nary road, the Committee think that little can be permanently ex.
petted from the mere multiplication of railways in the way of
security for moderation of charge. There may be, indeed, indi.
rect and accidental competition between railways, which may cause
cheapness, and there may even be direct and brisk competition,
with great reductions of fare for short periods ; but in such cases
of competition, somewhat modified, as have hitherto occurred, the
result has generally been increase of charge by mutual arrangement
or positive amalgamation of the competing Companies. The expe-
rience of the past is, however, limited, and might not, if taken
alone, warrant any conclusive opinion ; but in looking to the na-
ture of the question itself, the Committee feel this difficulty, that
they cannot, in case of railways, anticipate any such facilities in
the introduction of new competitors as to check the proceedings of
the Companies actually in possession of the traffic ; that in fact
there is no district in which the traffic will support any
considerable number of railways ; that there is no case in
which they imagine a likelihood of more than two or, at
very m
e suet s
iotsut
a, t tehdr eaes linent o
e°
reopf e
trea
witahy
ecnoem ma
nuentihceart oann,
dw
they
'
pact executive boards, and secure against the entrance of any other
ecthaoneunldotb conceive that two bodies, or even three, acting by com.
party into the field, will fail to combine together. It is, therefore,
their apprehension, that in such cases, either the different
railways will continue to be worked, and then that extreme
measures will be taken in concert for the purpose of paying very
moderate dividends, and it may be found that several capitals have
been expended for performing the business which could have been
equally well, or perhaps even better performed by one ; or a closer
combination will take place among the Companies : they will
choose the line upon which they can most profitably carry the
traffic, and will leave the rival line or lines unoccupied."

This argumerct appears decisive against the Headoorn line, which
is ident;:ical with that rejected last year ; and, as regards the
South-nastern Company's line from Tunbridge, although it would
effect s osne shortening of the distance between Hastings and
London,, this does not appear to us a sufficient object to admit of a
different conclusion.

The South-Eastern Company's line passes through Woolwich,
close past the gates of the Dockyard and Arsenal, and thence along
the marshes by Erith to Gravesend, accommodating the populous
inland district by a second line diverging from the Tunbridge line,
No. 211, at Eltham, and thence passing by Bexley to join the first
or North Kent line, near Dartford.

Wit:k the exception, therefore, of the small portion of this
latter line which connects Tunbridge Wells with the South_
Eastern. Railway, and which will be an useful branch for the
accomreodation of that town, we have to report, that there appear
to us t.) exist public reasons which ought to be decisive against
the ach ernes, No. 195, Rye, Tenterden, and Headcorn, and No. 211,
South-Faistern Company's Tunbridge to Hastings.
In conclusion, we beg to draw attention to the passage of the
Fifth Report of the Select Committee of last year, in which it is
stated, irs recommending that reports should be made to Parlia-
ment by this department upon railway schemes, " That uo such
report should be held to prejudice the claims of private persons,
the ex:unination of which should be altogether reserved to the
Houses of the Legislature."

The arrangement proposed by the South-Eastern Company ap-
pears decidedly preferable, in point of public advantage and local
accommodation, as passing close to the Arsenal And Dockyard at
Woolwich, as giving superior facilities for the conduct of the public
service, on the one hand, and for the uninterrupted passage offrequent
trains, calculated to meet the wants of a dense population, on the
other, by the alternative line, and as serving more places anti a
arger population by the two lines than could be served by one.
This arrangement, however, will involve greater expense and
greater interference with house property; but this latter conside-
ration we are precluded from entertaining.

2. After passing Chatham, the two lines slightly diverge, the
South-Eastern Company's line keeping more to the north, on the
low ground, and thereby shortening the length of the Sheerness
Branch, and the distance to Sheerness, and increasing that to
Canterbury about 1 miles.
3. The comparative distances by the two lines are—
North Kent Line, London to Chilham, 55i miles from the pro-
posed terminus at the Bricklayers' Arms.

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 in question, in so far as our
report may be available for that purpose, we are anxious that it
should be distinctly understool 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.

The principle here stated, that competition loses more or less of
its value as a security for the public, when from the nature of the
case it is limited to two or three parties, who are con,tantly urged
by mutual interest to combine, has received abundant corroboration
from the experience of what has already taken place in the history
of railways.

South. Eastern Line, London to Chilham, 55i miles from the
Bricklayers' Arms, or 57} miles from the proposed terminus at
Hungerford-bridge.
On the whole, therefore, there appears no such difference be-
tween the two schemes as to give any very decided preponderance
to either ; and we have, therefore, had recourse to the other con-
siderations stated in the beginning of this report, in order to de.
term* between them.

DALHOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY.
D. O'BRIEN.
G. R. POR tER.
S. LAING.

We may, at the outset, state our belief, that the two principal
objects first enumerated, viz., the formation of an improved line of
communication with Dover and the Continent, and the accommo-
dation of North Kent, must be kept distinct. A North Kent line
can only be rendered useful or profitable by running very frequent
ained facility
upon for
a dispatching
line
encue xnii
trains, with numerous stoppages; while for the Dover and conti.
whichn en t al
could
o traffic,ulds
esvi:ere speed,y attained e satipunctuality,Bfactorii and
press trains at short notice are highly important,—conditions
beret with the short traffic of such places as Chatham and Rochester,
Gravesend, Woolwich, and Greenwich.
Even if the distance, therefore, between London and Dover
could have been somewhat reduced by a North Kent line, we should
have been of opinion that the present South-Eastern line, improved
by cutting off the angle at Reigate, would have afforded a prefer.
able continental communication; and when we find that by such
improved line the distance may be reduced to 75} miles, which is
actually shorter than by any line that has been projected in con-
Kec
flexion with a North Kent line, it appears to us too clear to admit
of doubt that some scheme for the purpose of effecting such im-
provement, must be admitted in preference to a North Kent line,
as a basis of a system of railway communication calculated to
afford the best practicable outlet for continental traffic.
The only scheme which professes to unite the different objects of
accommodationfor
elnoctraalltrKaTicit,,wNitoh.i3m4p.rionsu'eds.
continental
the
communication, N r
th
via, t
n the and
traces the impracticability of such an union. As a North Kent
scheme, it signally fails in accomplishing the principal objects of
such a line, and which are attained by the other schemes. It does
not go to Woolwich or to Sheerness, and p
yasses at such a distance
from Chatham that it would by comparativel..
of little use as a con-
nexion between that arsenal and other points ; it avoids the mass
of population lying along the River and Old North Kent Road
at Woolwich, Crayford, Dartford, Erith, on this side of
Gravesend, and gives no accommodation to Faversham, Milton,
and the district between Chatham and Canterbury. It likewise
passes at such an inconvenient distance from the principal towns
which it professes to serve, such as Gravesend, Rochester, Stroud,
Chatham, and Maidstone, as compared to other projected Lnes,
that it would afford very insufficient local accommodation, and
would compete, at a very great disadvantage, with steam-boats.
and other modes of communication. The delay, inconvenience, and
expense that results from placing
important towns upon short
branches, or giving them stations too distant for ready access, are
matters of univer,al complaint wherever they have been experi.
enced, and a large proportion of the Railway Bills of the present
session result from thee fforts of such towns to place themselves upon
through lines of communication. In one remarkable instance, the
Birmingham and Gloucester Company now propose to abandon
several miles of their existing line in order to remedy, at a heavy
expense, the error formerly committed in leaving Worcester and
Droitwich at a short distance from the railway.
On the other hand, considered as a Dover line, it would involve
the construction of about 52 miles of new railway of an extremely
difficult and expensive character, in order to shorten the distance
to Dover by an amount not greater than is attained by the South-
Eastern Company's scheme, No. 221, by the construction of 331,
miles only of new railway.
Independently, therefore, of the other objections to this line,
arisinsr from the character of its works, which are of an exces-
sively difficult and expensive character, the want of any pro-
vision for an independent access to the metropolis, and the cer.
tainty that under these circumstances it could not maintain: he
character in which it claims support, of an independent line,
enough appears in its general character to induce us to report
our unhesitating opinion, that in this case there are public
reasons which, to the best of our judgment, appear conclusive
against the scheme.
With regard to the Croydon Company's scheme, London to
Ashford, No. 140, the same objection applies as compared with
that of the South-Eastern Company, via., that by the construc.
tion of 48 miles of new railway from SYdenhana to
-Ashford, it
would only reduce the distance to Dover by the same amount
as the South-Eastern Company's scheme, by the construction of
33i miles of new railway. In this case, however, a mere corn
parasols of distances does not show the full force of the objection to
the Croydon Company's scheme, since the Seuth-Eastern Corn.
pany's Branch is a good locomotive line, with gradients
generally moderate, and in one case only as steep as 1 in 102;
while the Croydon Company's line, although involving heavier
works, and longer tunnels, has nearly one-third of its distance at 1
in 50. A reduction of the actual lengths to equivalent distances,
according to the established formulm, would show a great advantage
to the South-Eastern scheme over that of its competitor.
The intrinsic superiority of the South-Eastern scheme (No. 211),
as a means of effecting the most approved communication with
Dover and the Continent, appears, therefore, so evident, that we
feel bound to state our opinion that, on public grounds, it merits
a preference over any of those which have been proposed in corn.
petition with it. Even if the merits of the competing schemes
had been more equally balanced, we should have been disposed
to think that the Soath.Eastern Company, having already ex.
pended such a large capital in carrying out a great national work,
had a fair claim to be allowed a preference in executing an im-
portant improvement of that work, more especially when offering
such guarantees as are hereafter mentioned ; but we repeat, that the
intrinsic superiority of the South-Eastern scheme in this quarter
appears to us so decided as not to require the aid of such con-
siderations.
By adopting this line the public will obtain a saving of 19 miles
in distance, or of at least half an hour in time, as compared with
the existing route to Dover and Folkstone, and will secure as short
and good a line of communication with the Continent as the nature
of the country will admit of.
We next come to the consideration of the schemes—London,
Chatham, and Chilham (No. 142) ; London, Chatham, and North
Kent (No. 148) ; and South .Eastern, North Kent, Hungerford
Bridge to Chilham (No. ;222)—proposed for extending railway
communication in North Kent.
The importance and population of the district thus proposed to
be accommodated, the immense amount of traffic already existing
by other modes of conveyance, and the fact of several schemes being
in the field, promoted by substantial parties, each anxious to un-
dertake the enterprise, appear to justify us in assuming that some

The fonowing instances mas be mentioned where railway Com-
panies, in a situation to compete, have, after a short time, either
amalgamated or combined together, so as to put an end to com-
petition :
The Leeds and Selby with the York and North Midland ; in
this case the former line being virtually for several years shut up.

RAILWAY COMPANIES.

The public advantages which the alternative of giving the line
to the South-Eastern Company appears to present, are the
following :
I. The security afforded by an existing Company, which has
already expended upwards of three millions and a half, and is in
the receipt of a great income, with the prospect of a large increase
when the French lines are opened, which they offer to pledge for
the completion, within a reasonable time, of all the works they un-
dertake, is greatly superior to anything that can be afforded by a
new Company, however respectable.
2. The connexion of this portion of the Kentish Railway system
with the Company to which the greater part of such system has
been already intrusted, and which is now proposing other unop.
posed links in a comprehensive scheme of communication, will
greatly facilitate the convenient and economical working of the
whole.

A RETur,N, by Name, of each RA ILAvAv COMPANY subject
thereto which has complied with, the Sixth Clause of the
Act of last Session for the Reglalation of Railways, which
came into operation on the Ist November, specifying the
Hours of Starting of the Trains running in compliance
therewith, and the Speed of such Trains; with the Date of
such Compliance, as respect the Carriages having seats,
and being protected from theweather.
same of Railways. Hours of Departure from
n. M.
Great Western
30 a.m....Bristol.
Bristol and Exeter
2 0 p.m....Exeter.
Cheltenham and Great 'Western

The Birmingham and Derby with the Midland Counties.
The Chester and Crewe with the Grand Junction.
The Manchester and Birmingham with the Grand Junction.
The Bolton and Preston with the North Union.

The Northern and Eastern with the Eastern Counties.

On the other hand, we are not aware of a single instance which
can be pointed out, in which the public are now deriving any be.
nefit from direct competition between two railways.
In addition to the instances of combination between directly
competing Companies, recent experience has furnished numerous

instances of the tendency of smaller lines, originally sanctioned as
independent undertakings, to resign their independence into the
the hands of powerful neighbours. We may mention, among
other instances of this tendency, the amalgamation or lease of the
Sheffield and Manchester to the Midland anti Manchester and Bir.
mingham. _ _ .

3. The same concentration of interest will enable the South-
Eastern Company at once to afford a greatly superior metropolitan
terminus to any that is proposed by the North Kent Company, or
that could be afforded by any independent Company; an advantage
which is the more important when it is considered that from the
amount of traffic that must necessarily flow over the Greenwich
and Bricklayers' Arms lines and the proposed flungerford Exten-
sion, and from the limited space available for statio❑ roo.n, the
traffic could scarcely be conducted with safety, and certainly net
without extreme inconvenience, unless under one control and
management.
On the other hand, the effect of giving this line to the South-
Eastern Company will unquestionably be to place in their hands a
monopoly of the railway communications of a very large and im-
portant district, which would be to a certain extent obviated by
giving the line to an independent Company.
The general question of the prospect of advantage from railway
competition has been already discussed. In the present instance
there are several reasons which appear on the one hand to render
tppbecoerrsTbsui
euehr
rsgr:sycei
we,odnaao against gbtrwayaioeintfllhwsl te:
as mysgsooo,
uoonmdtfohupt:
independent
the existence of any permanent competition peculiarly problema.
tical, and OR the other to obviate many of the objections that may
eydao.sepotpeeterrhnanedt
reecnmcotomomsptma
nsmetropolitanutyrnooicof
mmunications
tih iy oe nto tinessbotfra
bring
station, ney
'oa
eaodnudnCt
ttaihn:
hle-5
district, are circumstances which, according to all previous ex-
amalgamation.

Oxford Branch l2 15 p.m....Cirencester.
12 12 p.m....Didcot.
1 35 Birmingham and Derby 12 15 p.m....Derby..p.m....Oxford
Midland
...Bir
Railway North Midland
•• ..... .• •• 3 45 p.m.6
50 a.m....Le naingham.
eds.
Company.
6 • p.m....Derby.
Midland Counties
2 40 p.m....Rugby.
North Union 6 0 a.m....Preston.
)
Amalgamated 6 0 p.m....Preston.
7 30 a.m....Parkside.
7 30 p.m. . Parkside.
Bolton and Preston 8 5 a.m....Preston.

Ot the Bristol and Exeter, and Cheltenham and Great Western,
with the Great Western.

Ot the Hull and Selby, and Manchester and Bolton, with the
Manchester and Leeds.

Of the North Union with the Liverpool and Mancheater and
Graved Junction.

Of the Greenwich with the South-Eastern.
Of the Sheffield and Rotherham with the Midland.

Of the Chester and Birkenhead with the Chester and Holyhead.
Of the Bristol and Gloucester with the Birmingham and

8 45 a.m....801t0n.
Eastern Counties, Col- 7 45 a.m....London.
chester Line ....•• 3 0 p.m....Colchester.
Amalgamated
Northern and Eastern. 9 0 a.m....London.
or Cambridge Line 5 40 p.m.— Stortfiard.
Bristol and Gloucester 9 15 a m.... Gloucester.
4 30 ....
Edinburgh and Glasgow
m....Edinbßristol.urgh.
1 30 p.m....Glasgow.
Grand Junction
6 30 a.m....Liverpool.
Lancaster and Preston

Gloucester.

Besides others that might be quoted.
The same principle has received further elucidation from the
inquiries of Parliamentary Committees on former occasions as well
as from the great body of evidence collected by the Commissioners
of Inquiry into the Sanatory Condition of Large Towns, in regard
to the operation of the principle of competition as compared to
that of well.regulated monopoly in the analogous cases of water
and gas companies. Indeed it is too evident, as a general propo-
sition, to be disputed, although great caution may be required in

its application, and in discriminating those cases where the corn.
petition is of a pure and simple nature, such as must eventually lead
to a compromise, from those where a certain degree of indirect and
incidental competition may exist, from which the public may ex-
pect to derive lasting benefit, either in the shape of reduction of
charge or of extension of accommodation.

9 0 a.m....Preston.
London and Birmingham ... ...... ... 7 0 a.m....London.

The pressure of steam.boat competition is also another eircum
stance which would naturally tend to make the railway interests of
the district combine for mutual defence.
This latter citcumstance also affords the best possible guarantee
against the existence of any injurious monopoly against the public.
With steamboats carrying passengers from London to Gravesend
for Is., and even 6d., the fares upon any line of railway in North
Kant must always be very much lower than the point to which
they could be reduced f a a continuance by any practicable legis-
lative enactment, or by any conceivable railway competition. The
existence of the Thames as a free water.highway, must also
always keep the railway charges on goods at a very low limit; and
in fact render anything like monopoly, in the proper sense of the
word, impossible, unless all the steamers, vessels, and barges in the
river, as well as the North Kent Railway, could be amalgamated
with the South-Eastern Company.

0 30 p.m....Birminghatn.
London and Croydon
t all the trains.
London and South-Western
7 15 a.m....Gosport.
A 0 a.m....Southampton.
London and Brighton, and Shorebam 6 30 a.m....London.

When an existing Railway Company proposes schemes which,
although only partially sufficient for the full accommodation of the
district, may yet be sufficient to prevent other parties from enter.
ing the field with further or improved ',rejects in that district, the
arguments against the creation of a monopoly acquire additional
strength. The simpler case is, when, as in the present instance,
the existing Company comes forward with a complete and compre-
hensive scheme, and the question is reduced to this : whether the
existing Company is able and willing to offer guarantees for the
public advantage superior to any that can be afforded by a new Corn.
pany. _ _

6 35 p.m....Brighton.
Manchester and Birmingham 7 30 a.m....Manchester.

3 30 p.m....Birmingham.
Manchester and Leeds 6 45 a.m....Manchester.
5 40 a.m....Leeds.
Newcastle and Darlington
_ _ _

11 30 a.m....Darlington.
Sheffield and Manchester 0 45 a.m....Manchester.

Of the ability of an old Company to offer such guarantees there
can, generally speaking, be little doubt.
lolly. An established Company, which has a valuable property
and large available income independent of the new scheme, can,
of course, offer a guarantee for the fulfilment of all that it under.
takes to accomplish greatly superior to that of any new Company,
however respectable.
This consideration derives great weight from the experience
which has been already afforded of the failure of many new Corn.
panics to accomplish the objects for which they were incorporated.
We need only refer to the instances of the Eastern Counties Corn.
pany, which was incorporated as a line from London to Norwich,
and has never yet been carried beyond Colchester ; of the Northern
and Eastern, which for many years stopped short of Cambridge;
and of the Great North of England, which abandoned the portion
of its line between Darlington and Newcastle.
2dly. The traffic of d system of lines connected with one another
can always be worked more economically and conveniently under
one uniform management than by independent Companies. The
Company which works the main trunk line, and possesses the prin.

11 25 a.m. —Woodhead
South-Eastern
5 0 p.m.—Dover.
Yarmouth and Norwich ...

The question would stand thus on general considerations, inde-
pendently of any specific guarantees or advantages offered by the
South-Eastern Company, as securities against the apprehended
effects of monopoly, and as inducements to the Legislature to give
their schemes a preference. The South. Eastern Company have,
however, voluntarily offered the following guarantees and ad.
advantage, to be secured by clauses in their respective Acts :-
1. They offer to complete the coast line of communication from
Hastings to Ashford; an undertaking which, left to itself as an
unassisted commercial speculation, might remain long uncompleted.
Q. They offer to complete the communication to Deal, in con-
nev.ion with their line already sanctioned from Canterbury to
Ramsgate and Margate, which the North Kent Company are not
at present prepared to undertake.
3. They offer to extend their Bricklayers' Arms line to Hunger.
ford-bridge, and to render their station there available for the
purposes of a common central metropolitan terminus, should it here-
after appear to be practicable and desirable.
4. They offer to pledge the whole revenue of their existing line
for the completion of all the lines undertaken by them, within a
reasonable period_
5. They offer to lay down the electrical telegraph along their
line, whenever it may be required for the public service.
6. They offer to place their whole system, including the old as
well as the new lines, under the operation of the option of revision
and purchase contained in the General Railway Act of last year.
7. They offer to except instead of their present maximum of
aid. per passenger per mile on the present distance of 88 miles to
Dover, a revised tariff, fixing a maximum of 3d. per mile on first-
class passengers, and 2d. per mile on second-class passengers, in
carriages protected from the weather, to be calculated on the
shortest possible railway distance between London and Dover, or
74 miles.

12 0 noon...Yarmouth.
York and North Midland 7 40 a.m....York.
7 30 a.m....Leeds.
7 50 a.m....Selby.
7 35 a.m....Normanton.
SPEED.—An average rate of not less than twelve miles an hour
for the whole distance on the railway, including stoppages.
DESCRIPTION Ow CARRIAGES.—Seated, and provided with the
means of being entirely closed, so as to exclude the weather, with
provision for the admission of light and air.

DATE OF COMPLIANCE, as respects running Carriages provided
with Seats, Roofs, and closed at the sides. —lst of November, 1844;
subject to medifications in certain cases as to the description of
carriages, with respect to protection from the weather, that would
be considered satisfactory by the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade.

cipal terminal stations, can run more frequent trains, and make

T 1
railway
followingi
eas e
etfth
ee datest
eos p
ef c
no
dmephl
ei ae nc
with o f
tt
hh
ee
Bu ne da
te
dr me ef riTt iroande d
raie
as regards the whole of the said conditions :
Midland Counties
Eastern Counties November 23.
Bristol and Gloucester
Grand Junction
London and South-Western December 18.
Manchester and Birmingham December 5.
Newcastle and Darlington
Sheffield and Manchester
South-Eastern ......... December 1.
And in the case of the following railways the correspondence has
not been yet closed.,Edaswirfihg:ha
rnighh:ceaenrtndolinGcolinasmignpoolwired with the 6th clause
Railway companies
of the said Act—Nil.
Steps taken to recover penalties provided by the said Act—Nil.
D. O'BRIEN.
Railway Department, Board of Trade, Feb. 10, 1845.
York and North Midland.

better arrangements for forwarding the traffic of the cross lines,
than it could afford to do if two or three separate establishments
' • " '

bad to be maintained, and the harmony of arrangements depended
on two or three independent authorities. Under such circumstances

a conflict of feeling and interest has almost invariably grown up,
from which the public has suffered the most serious inconvenience.
When the traffic is large, this conflict has frequently led not only to
increased inconvenience, but to increased danger; and where the

_ .
terminus or a portion of the rails of one Company have been com-
mon to the other, these results have been greatly aggravated.
3dly. An established Company can always, if so disposed, offer
guarantees and advantages for a greater extent of railway than
the new Company, viz., for the existing as well as the projected
lines. When the existing Company is already in possession of the
principal trunk of the district, the advantage of securing such gua.
rantees for the whole system, rather than for only a small portion
of it, is rendered more apparent.

8. They offer to run over their whole system of railways two
cheap trains each way daily, at I d. a mile, provided with seats and
protected from the weather, under the conditions of the Act of
last session, instead of one train only as require. by the Act.
It appears to us that these conditions voluntarily offered by an
existing Company, capable of carrying them into effect, in the event
of their being allowed to execute a line for the accommodation of
North Kent, which is, to say the least, fully equal for purposes of
local and national advantage to any other proposed scheme, throws
such a decided preponderance din their favour as to leave no doubt
that the interests of the public will be best consulted by giving the
preference to their projected line.
The advantages, in a national point of view, of completing a
chain of coast communication, have been already adverted to by
Parliamentary Committees, and are manifestly of great public im-
portance. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that we find,
that among the schemes which will be submitted to Parliament for
its sanction as commercial enterprises, and as combining at the
same time the greatest amount of local accommodation, are lines
which will have the effect of completing this coast line, of which
the foundation was laid last year by the sanction given by parllii.
went to we Brighton And Hasting*, and Brighton and Chichester

The Select Committee of last session, for reasons which are
fully stated in their report, attach great importance to the obtain-
ing of guarantees from existing Companies, by voluntary arrange-
ments similar to those which they recommended, and which
Parliament subsequently adopted in the case of new railways, and
express a strong hope, " that among the existing Companies there
may be those which will be disposed to accede to arrangements,
resembling, in their general principle and effect, those which are
now proposed for new railways."
4thly. Whatever guarantees may be thus offered by existing
Companies possess the double advantage, as compared with
similar offers from new Companies, of coming into immediate
operation, and of being more certainly rendered effectual. An
offer from a new Company to bind itself to charge fares consider.
ably lower than those usual upon other lines, rn,glit readily be
made, in the hope of thereby securing their Bill; but the fulfil-
ment or it would depend almost entirely upon the eventual success

[ADvcarisEmENT.]—A CERTAIN CURB FOR SCRO-
FULA, on KING'S EVIL, BY HOLLOWAY'S PILLS AND
OINTMENT.—A FRIGHTFUL CASE !—A young man
named Bowman, a shoemaker, living in James-street,
Manchester, had been afflicted from childhood with the
most malignant kind of scrofulous ulcers, covering
various parts of his body; besides other sufferings, they
had deprived him of the use of his left kg. Yet, extra-
ordinary to relate, this poor fellow has net only had all
the ulcers soundly healed, but has likewise regained the
complete use of his limb by means of these two wonderful
medicines. Sold at Professor Holloway's Establishment,
244, Strand (where advice may be had gratis), and by
almost all respectable vendors of medicine throughout
the 011'44%1 world.

of the line, and ite ability to perform lie engagements. No Act of

* The figures refer to the number in the alphabetical list of
railway projects lodged with the Board of Trade.

;_____
...- r--,
- ---..—.....--..
AA i
••••.1t.t.z.c.?,,-
- -•`--- -
--.. .... ,
._____________
.
• . ", f 23 „......,1, • "IL . 21( _ _ ....,-.., .
•
ELI k„.,,:zerP',
,`\., %CO- * - ,
- ' 4,4°1"T4441;64-- :9;:i ' 11.7: - --: --- - -111''''A,...
- &. V,. r "•,-° ..--_,4' --*,,-. q :4 ,
. . . . SUMMARY OF NEWS.
, .
~.
~ - ,__..,..,7,,,, :
_._ '. .....„ 3 .
•;,i Ni,
~, \k, I. ~ tat ', ' .
~ -F, ;';',V,,, ~ I', ) i ,
/ 1 7, , ,,..,:i r
aW:
t ~ , . &..., .. : ~ ". ~,,- ., 4. .
.„, ...„, _,„.. ~.,,,,,er ...., ~...._‘___ Of,. V' i .
„,t-' . , • fie ;„
IN., ~;‘,.
...,,,, cSZ, 1, - , 16.4 i . : ,- .:.; • , •. : ~ i ; --- - ."- ' . .1. - -
.
~C,1)...------' ) +i, ,1 ,'7::':, ' -
~, ,' -'
. ~.:. C,___ SI , ? .110, A'
.7; ''''PO.-W'.' '. -,C4Vi,. ''',,
~.', ' - --t• f 0 .4tei.,. . .).. lit. X-. 41(1-''' at`';.:-, '4, c .
--"....4,k',A1i , V--,, ) *45.
::'.
;:.r: - . ) ';'l.l )
'''' ,16i-* - - - '
N, /,..-sr, `:::;:?Ii' 4* 4''l ' iii:l. ''',. '. ' -: ' , 11. ~,?"!,,e al ' ',.ROIT. '''''' 15 ''- --r-
-st%
''''' ... ~, tr. ..;',..• . ~.,.., II ••
. , • ,y 1
• .”.. 7e: , P', A '''' N44..-' / - ''", . +
Armawntrawanri,
............-,—.. . _
EM!I6II[MLFSX..,•.,..Oa,!•ZL'VBWtFnfrIP"Vaotatm•••,m,„,,AIII=.QIIIsMIIIra..... ''''-

AND
Vubitt Opt Won.

The Spanish mail, of the 7th Inst., has not arrived, owing to
the great fall of snow on the Pyrenees, and in the South of France. 1
At Paris the cold continued very severe. Fahrenheit's therm.
meter, at six o'clock on Wednesday, marked 11, being 21, below
freezing. At Brussels the cold was still more intense, the titer.
mometer having fallen to 7.
The Count de Ratti-Menton, Consul at Canton. is about to be
oppointed Consul-Genera/ for France at Manilla, In the room of M.
Barrot.

The fallowing appears in the Afrique :—" We learn that soca*

members of the Chambers of Peers and Deputies have formed a pro.
jest for founding agricultural:establishments in Algeria. It appears,
also from our correspondent at Philippeville, that M. Ferdinand
Rarrot has acquired within the immediate territories of that town
from 1,090 to 1,200 hectares (2,500 to 3,000 acres) of land, which
he intends to divi,:e into about 40 farms, and to settle families upon
them. It is added, that the Minister or War has shown himself to
be very favourable to the realisation of this great undertaking."
It appears from an official return of the commerce of Guada-
loupe during the second quarter of 1844, that the imports amounted
to 6,937,504 f, of which 4,805,521 f. was for French merchan-
dise from France, 669,915 f. for French merchandise from the
French colonies and fisheries, and 4,465,065 f. for foreign trier.
chandise.
A letter from Algeciras of the 29th ult. states that the Spanish
war.steamer Gironde, in passing under the batteries of Gibraltar,
had been fired upon. The circumstance was mentioned in the
Spanish Chamber of Deputies, when the Minister of Marine said,
the Gironda at the time had in tow a coast-guard vessel which had
been disabled by :the weather, and the officer of one of the batte-
ries, imagining that the vessel in tow was one that had been cap-
tured by the steamer within the waters of Gibraltar, and therefore
in violation of the laws of neutrality, had fired upon the Gironda.
This assurance had been given by the Governor of Gibraltar, and
he had not only dismissed the officer in command from the post
that he held, but had also given orders that in future no Spanish • •
vesselfir fired upon. passing
by Gibraltar should, under any circumstances, be
A Berlin letter of the 7th inst., gives the following statement
—" The day before yesterday an old chorus-singer of the Grand
Opera, named Bredersck, went to one of the magistrates, and spon-
taneously confessed that he was the sole incendiary of the Opera.
house, burnt down in the night of the 18th of August, 1843—that
he did it in revenge for a severe reproof given him by the leader
of the chorus, and effected it by scattering lighted tinder in the
wardrobe and other parts of the theatre. He was committed to
prison, but the stateof extreme destitution which he was in led at
first to a belief that he bad accused himself merely to gain food and
lodgings. The minute details, however, which he has since given,
corroborated by other information obtained by the police, appear
to indicate that he has told the truth."
It is reported that the Prussian and Danish Governments have
agreed to refer their differences about the Sound dues to the media.
tion of France.
During the last month, the consumption of meat in Paris was
7,409 oxen, 1,378 cows, 6,939 calves, and 41,631 sheep, being 572
oxen, 74 cows, 1,142 calves, and 2,319 sheep more than in January,
1844. This consumption has never been so great in the same
month of the year since 1825.
We are authorised to state (says Galignani) that the Committee
efthe Franco.Eeglish Railway Company (Jacques Lefebvre) from
Tours to Nantes is composed as follows :--The Hon. George Daw-
son, M.P., and Member of the Privy Council; Mathew Boulton
Rennie, Esq. Director of the London and Westminster Bank ; John
Anderson, Esq., merchant ; George Hankey, Esq., Director of the
Dover or South-Eastern Railway.
An accident happened during tine performance of Robert it
in the evening of Sunday last, at the Valenciennes Theatre, which
might have had the same fatal effects as that which destreyed the
life of Miss Clara Webster in London. While the actress who was
performing Isabella was, in the second act, reading the letter front
Robert, the long veil hanging behind her, suspended from her co.
ronet, caught fare from a gas-light, and in a moment was in one
entire blaze. Fortunately, it was seen by the foreman of the
firemen, who instantly came on to the stage, tore off the veil, and
extinguished the dames. The actress fainted from the fright, but
in ;very short time she recovered, and resumed her part.

MAW AND POLICIII.
The case of Mr. C. J. Mathews, the comedian, came on in the
Court of Bankruptcy. It appeared that under the agreement en-
tered Into some time since, 6501. had been paid into Court by the
insolvent, and was now in the hands of the assignees, towards the
payment of a dividend, The insolvent underwent a long swami.
nation, but nothing of any importance was elicited, and events,.
ally Mr. Commissioner Shepherd adjourned the examination to
Wednesday.
Anne Wilson was committed from Marylebone, for attempting
to drown her own child.

At Guildhall, William Hatch, who was lately employed as
a traveller, by Messrs. Sutton and Shepherd, stational', Sta.
tioners'.court, Ludgate-hill, was charged with embezzling various
sums received from customers in various parts of the country, to the
extent of 1251. The prisoner, who denied the charge, and defied
the prosecutors to prove it, was remanded, on an understanding
that he should be admitted to bail.

At Clerkenwell, Elizabeth Peach, alias Fraser, was finally exa.
mined, charged by Mr. Henry Shakspeare, of No. 25, Mitchell-
street, St. Luke's, with stealing a Si. Bank of England note, and
71. in gold and silver, a shawl, and other articles, and fully corn.
mitted for trial.

C URT-1•11.15 HIONABLZ.
His Serene Highness Prince Ernest of Hesse Philippsthal i•
shortly expected in town from a visit to the Queen Dowager, at
Witley Court.

The Marquis of Breadalbane, who came to town on Wednesday,
left Park-lane on the same day, to join the Marchioness at Brighton,
The Earl of Errol, who, we regret to say, continues very unwell
at his mansion in Clarges-street, was considered rather better on
Thursday.

The Earl and Countess of Clanwilliam have gone on a •isit to
Earl and Countess Bruce, at Savenalse Lodge, near Marlborough.
The Dowager Countess of Pembroke returned to Wilton House
on Wednesday, from a visit to Earl and Countess Bruce, at• 3a.
venahe Lodge.

MISCELLANEOUS.
Two women, named Chandler and Puddy, have been committed
by the Coroner for Somersetshire, to take their trials for the mur-
der of the child of the prisoner Chandler. Both the prisoners had
been inmates of the Axbridge Union Workhouse, and on their
leaving the union they poisoned the child with laudanum.
At the Guildhall, Plymouth, on Wednesday, a woman, the wifC
of a seaman named Johnson, who was charged with assaulting a
girl and robbing her other purse, hung herself in her cell during
the night. The policeman on opening her cell the next morning
thought she was standing against the wall underneath the barred
window of the cell. Finding she did not stir, he approached her,
and then discovered that she was hanging from the bars off the
ground. Lite had been extinct some time before she was dis-
covered.

The terms upon which the proprietors of the Torpoint Steam
Ferry have agreed to cede the ferry to the Plymouth and Falmouth
Railway Company are said to be, that the entire capital sunk from
the commencement is to be repaid with interest at the rate of 4i
per cent. The tolls arising from the ferry were let on Tuesday, by
Mr. Hainselin, for one year, for i,4701., being nearly 3001. above
the amount paid last year.

On Thursday night a meeting of the parishioners of St. James, Cler.
kenwell, was held at the Red Lion, Rosamond-street, for the purpose
of taking measures to: obtain a repeal of the window-tax, when the
chair having been taken, several of the inhabitants addressed the
meeting, and a series of resolutions were moved and agreed to in
support of the object, after which the meeting separated.
Marylebone Parish Church was broken into on Wednesday night
by some thieves, whose object appears to have been the comsat!.
nion plate, &c., which is very valuable; fortunately, however, the
door of the strong room in which it was deposited resisted all the
attempts made upon it, and the only booty the thieves found con.
sisted of 30s. in cash, taken from the desk of theparish clerk, and
five brass candlesticks, found in an ante-room, the door of which
was forced to get at the strong room. The covering of the pulpit
had been removed by the depredators, in search, it is supposed, of
the gold lace which usually ornaments it, but that had been re-
moved, and securely locked up, as is the custom during Lent. Re-
mains of Weiler matches were left in the vestry, and a candle bad
been lighted.

We regret to state that the last accounts from Sidney, New
South Wales, announce the death of Sir James Dowling, the Chief
Justice of that colony. He died on the 25th of September.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
Q VEEN. SQUARE.
On Thursday, shortly before the closing of the Court, Ifens'y Peacock
Grog, of Caroliue.street, Coleshill-street, Pimlico, horse dealer, was
brought up before Mr. Burrell, in custody of a City officer, on charge
of obtaining by false pretences ftom Thomas Reynolds, of Enfield,
corn-chandler, two horses, twenty quarters of oats, and two quarters
of beans, with intent to cheat him of the same. Mr. Steele, of Lin-
coln's Inn-fields, and Mr. Lucena, of Gray's Inn, appeared as so-
licitors for the prosecution, and Mr. Depree, of Lawrence-lane, for
the prisoner. The prosecutor stated, that on the 9th of Jannary last,
prisoner, whom he had previously known, in consequence of dealings
with his father, Mr. William Gray, of 180, Oxford-street, called upon
prosecutor at Enfield, in company with a lame gentleman, whom he
introduced as ,his brother-ha-law, but whom prosecutor afterwards
ascertained to be Rarman Milton ; that prisoner did net mention
this person's name, if he had done so, prosecutor would have been
upon his guard immediately, and he believed prisoner was aware
thereof, and expressly concealed the name. That prisoner requested
to know whether prosecutor had got any horses he could sell him,
adding, that he had married and gone into business on his own ac-
count for some time past ; that his godfather, Mr. Peacock, of Wel-
wyn, Herts, had advanced him a cheque for 2,000/., and he was to
apply for more, as he found his business required it ; that he had
purchased 40 horses, and paid for them all, and had already placed
several pairs of them on excellent jobs, with noblemen and gentle-
men, and that Sir Sebastian Smith had four splendid horses of his,n
for paying 90 guineas per pa • them ; and that he, prisoner, was
then enjoying a first-rate business. Prosecutor ftJher stated, that
prisoner's brother-in-law verified most of the assertions of prisoner.
and congratulated prosecntor that prisoner had come down, for that
much good business might be done between them. Prosecutor, on
these representations, agreed to sell prisoner two horses, 20 quarters
of oats, and two quarters of beans, and on the next day, by prisoner's
directions, sent the horses to prisoner's stables, in a mews, situate
in Caroline-street, Eaton-square, where they were taken in by
prisoner and Ilarman Milton, and that some few days afterwards
the oats and beans 'were delivered at the same pities 1... th
shortly afterwards prosecutor discovered the lame nims,_ 'a a _
prisoner had introduced as his brother-in-law, to b be,
0,/ile 3fra.
Milton, who had been charged at this office
stables,
Kinkead, with fraud and conspiracy., practisehd prisoner'slaVtilliam Milton, his
and indicted for the offence,
the
brother, and a person calling himself Sir
madeE nirther inquiries about
hearing these particulars, prosecutor
• (Tray) ; also at the stables in
prisoner of his step-mother (Mrs. at
init. ,
ood from which prosecutor be-
lieved Caroline-street, and in the neighbour
and Harman Milton were
representations of prisoner that upon
that the
a tissue of falsehoods, and thattshtort
p rosecutor watched the premises, in
prisoner
were remanded fora at this Court, for advice, who
the magistrate
together with
CUP. ;07 ethen c such
pita
andto awttasendanthiser.
itonstuobleenumsextldanme:i.i,ned ; that prose-
plied to Mr. Burrell, .
of two constables ; and, under Mr.
phriissoor wdeacsianroattiotnhe,r,,e,,ithoroutto
the
ee
infotuerlnd.endtjuourinogf
any
horses
thatprisoner I ' the
him ; was n
hopes of apprehending Tuesday's Gazette
Burrell's advice, they wen,t to prisoner's stablea, and got the two
n
formerl'tr.period Steele
e denouncedeelfetheand r.ee
the ds
bankruptcyt h athat
a s
prose-
cutor took a constable with him, and prisoner making his appears
learnt
wards examined by prisoner's solicitor before the Commissioner In
prisoner's presence—the examination being conducted in a Myatt,
room with closed doors, and no creditor being p
allowed to be present.
Dupree each addressed the magistrate, and the
purpose of intimidating the prosecutor, in con.seqttence
exa-
mination under it as a hole-and-corner meeting, got up by the pri-
soner of the fraud, and the ma-
that prosecutor was in search of him on a
criminal charge. Mr. Burrell remanded the prisoner for a week, and
issued summonses for the attendance of witnesses to prove the false-
hood of the prisoner's statement to the prosecutor. Ultimately, by
the consent of Mr. Steele, prisoner was liberated on his father, Mr.
William Gray, becoming bail in 2001. for the prisoner's appearance
next Thursday,
s,"ofg,npcea morning 'r..rie,creditor,s fpopori bankrupt
arriooe'sb et'asre.
laet
iclif3celudo-a,
rtiNttoe,b.olioirilurinazt Commissioner
a simmediately sl
prosecutorst ancge
gave
sa.
ed
Shepherdh beenl

SPORTING EXTRAORDINARY.-A very excellent
shooting-match at penny pieces (thrown into the air by a person
specially appointed), took place on Monday last, at Tewkesbury.
The match was for 51. a side, between two Tewkesburians, and two
residents of Cheltenham, each individual having twenty-five shots.
Mr. Davison and Mr. Davy shot for Tewkesbury, and Messrs. Gower
and Comber were the representatives of Cheltenham. Mr. Davison
hit his twenty-five pieces admirably, and Mr. Davy was alike success-
ful, except in his twenty-third shot, which, being thrown awkward/y
up, prevented a discharge of his gun unless by: risking consider.
able danger, whereby he lost one out of his twenty-five. The
Cheltenham cracks then followed ; both succeeded In hitting all their
pieces, and consequently were awarded the Si. by their opponents.
thus beating the Tewkesburians by one shot only, and the four. sPotctit
men hitting ninety-nine pieces out of a hundred. after
several sweepstakes were contended for at pigeons ; -ScsTNl,cergfifdgesuhremtingen
was displayed, few birds were allowed to escape ;
subsequently dined at Mr. Wall% the 6"
Trorce4ter J'aurnal.