The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-27 00:00:00

THE CORK AND BANDON RAILWAY.

This line, about 20 miles in length, is intended to pro-
ceed from the city of Cork to the town of Bandon. The
works may be deemed to be of an average character, as
to extent and cost. The traffic, though not considerable
between these two places, might, when joined by the
stream of traffic from Kinsale, from Skibbereen, Bantry,
and various other places to the west of Bandon, prove
sufficient to maintain a railway cheaply made and econo-
mically conducted.
The inhabitants of Kinsale have addressed the Board
of Trade in favour of this line being carried closer to
their town than is at present intended. We have given
the subject much consideration ; but as the additional
cost attending the desired deviation would be greater
than could be justified by any increase of traffic which
might thereby arise ; as the traffic likely to come on the
line is not more than enough to warrant its construction
without any more outlay of capital than that which the
projectors believe it will cost ; and as we see no reason
why the traffic from the whole of the western portion of
the district should be taken by a more circuitous route,
attended by an extra mileage charge, we think the pro-
moters of the railway scheme have been right in refusing
the demand made upon them by the parties in Kinsale ;
and, on the whole, we are of opinion that there are no
public reasons which ought to be decisive against the
scheme.

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, in recommending that reports
should be made to Parliament by this department upon
railway schemes, " That no such report should be held
to prejudice the claims of private persons, the examina-
tion of which should be altogether reserved to the Houses
of the Legislature."
In submitting to Parliament, in conformity with the
recommendations 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 re-
port may be available for that purpose, we are anxious
that it should be distinctly understood that we have ar-
rived at these results solely upon public grounds, and to
the exclusion of all considerations how far such results
might require to be modified by a due regard for private
rights and interests.
D.ALHOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY. G. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LAING.

REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE ON THE
SCHEMES FOR EXTENDING RAILWAY
COMMUNICATION IN SOUTH WALES.
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, March 20, 1845.
The Board constituted by the minute of the Lords of
the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, for the trans-
action of railway business, having had under considera-
tion the following schemes deposited with the Railway
Department for extending railway communication in
South Wales, viz.:—
The South Wales Railway,
The Monmouth and Hereford,
The Gloucester and Dean Forest,
The Newport and Pontypool,
have determined on submitting the following Report
thereon for the consideration of Parliament.
The South Wales and Monmouth and Hereford Rail-
ways form, together, a comprehensive scheme for extend-
ing railway communications in connexion with the exist-
ing Great Western Railway, west of the Severn to Here-
fordshire' Monmouthshire, and along the whole course of
South Wales to Pembroke and Fishguard.
The length of the proposed lines are as follows:—
Miles. Chains.

South Wales Railway: length of main
line from Standish on the Chelten-
ham and Great Western line to Fish-
guard .
Pembroke Branch , l9 32
Branch from Newport to Monmouth 22 35
Forest of Dean Branch 7 0

Total 2ll 7
Monmouth and Hereford Railway :
length of main line from Hereford
to junction with the Cheltenham
Great Western . 32 15
Branch to Monmouth 8 20
Forest of Dean Branch 4 26

Total 44 61

The direction of these lines will be best understood by
a reference to the accompanying map. They are both
proposed to be constructed on the wide guage of seven
feet, in connexion with the Great Western system, the
Monmouth and Hereford scheme being undertaken by
the Great Western Company, and the South Wales
scheme by an independent company, assisted by that
company.
The gradients of both lines are in parts very severe,
but not impracticable, and there is reason to believe that
better gradients could not have-been obtained without
incurring an expense which, under the circumstances,
would have been very undesirable. The works for the
greater portion of the South Wales lino are light; and,
upon the whole, the lines present no extraordinary en-
gineering difficulties.
With regard to the general object of extending railway
communication throughout South Wales, the public and
local advantages are too evident to require much comment.
There are, perhaps, few instances where greater advan-
tages may be reasonably anticipated from the extension
of a communication which will place so many con-
siderable places and important mineral and agricultural
districts, which have hitherto suffered from the com-
parative isolation of their position, within a few hours'
journey of the metropolis and of the rest of England.
The towns of Monmouth, Newport, Cardiff, Neath,
Swansea, Llanelly, Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Milford
Haven, the whole of the great mineral districts of South
Wales, and the counties of Hertford, Monmouth,
Glamorgan, Carmarthen and Pembroke, will all partici-
pate directly in the advantages afforded by this improved
communication.
The south of Ireland, also, to the whole of which the
South Wales line will afford the shortest communication
to London, Bristol, and the south of England, will also
participate in the benefits of the undertaking ; and the
advantage in a national point of view of a line which
covers such a great extent of coast, and affords a ready
communication with the dock-yard at Pembroke, and
with the station at Milford Haven, is also considerable.
We can have no hesitation, therefore, in arriving, upon
general grounds, at a favourable opinion of an undertak-
ing which affords such important public advantages ;
nor, when we come to consider the details of the scheme,
do we see any reason to doubt that it has been laid out
judiciously, with a view to the accommodation of the dis-
trict, and to the attainment of the principal objects.
The choice of a coast line, in preference to one more
inland, appears to be fully justified.
The engineering difficulties of the hilly country in the
interior are known to be great ; and it is doubtful
whether a practicable locomotive line could have been
obtained at any moderate expense. Even if such a line
could have been obtained, it would have traversed a com-
paratively poor and thinly populated district, affording
no accommodation to the principal towns of South
Wales, such as Newport, Cardiff, Neath, Swansea, and
Llanelly ; which could only have been connected with it
by branches ascending the different valleys, and from
the nature of the country requiring very steep gradients
in order to attain the requisite elevation. By the pro-
posed line, the principal towns and commercial empo-
riums which are situated along the coast at the bottom
of the valleys are placed upon the main line, to which
the traffic from the interior will descend, a consideration
which is very important, when we recollect that a great
Put of this traffic: will consist of heavy minerals,