The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-31 00:00:00

NORTHERN COUNTIES (ROSS and CRO-
MARTY, SUTHERLAND, and CAITHNESS) DIRECT
ItAILWAY.

Capital 1,500,000/., in 75,000 Shares of 201. each.
Deposit 21. 2s. per Share.

The Counties of Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caithness,
form, probably, the; largest and moat important portion of Great Bri-
tain for which the benefits of railway communication have not yet
been secured.
In no part of the kingdom, considering their distance from the
capital, from the seats of manufacture, and from markets, have
greater improvements of all kinds been made of late years, than in
these counties. In arable and pastoral farming, the skill, enterprise,
and industry of the tenantry have placed them on a level with the
best agriculturists, and store masters, and have obtained for their
corn, cattle, and sheep, the highest prices of the southern markets.
To the opening up of the country by the roads and bridges of the
Parliamentary Commissioners, executei within the last 40 years,
are these improvements chiefly attributable ; and their effect in in-
creasing the value of property in these counties is very remarkable.
No means can be so effectual for promoting and stimulating their
further advancement, as by the introduction of railways, whereby
the produce of these counties may be more rapidly and cheaply
brought into the manufacturing and consuming districts of the
kingdom.
To effect this most desirable'end a Company is being formed, as
has been already announced, to execute a railway commencing at the
terminus of that which may be first completed to Inverness, and
thence proceeding northward, by Dingwall, through the county of
Ross, and by or near Boner, along the south or Lairg side of the
River Shin into Sutherland, and through that county, by Auchintoul,
into Caithness, in the eastern portion of which the line will diverge
into two branches, terminating respectively at the towns of Thurso
and Wick.
The most direct practicable route, consistent with economy in the
execution and working of the line, and with the rights of all parties,
will be adopted throughout.
In compliance with the desire of several large proprietors in the
eastern district of the county of Ross, it has been determined that the
trunk or main line snail proceed to Invergordon and Tabs, and thence
into Sutherland and Caithness.
It is also intended to combine with the execution of the railway,
and, in connexion with it, the enlargement and improvement of the
present harbour of Invergordon (by arrangement with the proprietor),
so as to make that anchorage, which possesses all the advantages of
the celebrated Bay of Cromarty (still, as in ancient times, the largest
and safest harbour of reinge on the east coast of Scotlaad), the port
not only for the counties of Ross and Cromarty, but also for all the
country northwards.
The mutual advantages to Invergordon and the whole country
in respect to those imports and exports which must still be sea-borne,
need only be alluded to to be appreciated. At no other place on the
east coast of Scotland, from the Frith of Tay to Duncanaby Head
(the extremity of Caithness) could so good a harbour be possibly
formed, there being at Invergordon 11 fathoms water (close to the
present wooden jetty) at the lowest of spring tides, and perfect
shelter, with singular facility for ingress and egress from and to the
German Ocean ; and the expense of the requisite works will be com-
paratively very unimportant.
Besides the importance of completing, as is thus contemplated, an
unbroken line of railway transit for passengers and goods, and the
rapid transmission of the mail from tke capital to the northern ex-
tremity of Scotland, the county of Orkney and Zetland will thereby,
and with the aid of the powerful steamer about to be established be-
tween Thurso and Orkney, have a daily and speedy intercourse with
the main land of Scotland, onward to the manufacturing districts of
the kingdom, and to the metropolis.
The prolongation of a railway from Inverness to Thurso on the
one hand, and the admirable roadstead and harbour of Scrabster,
which, from its natural position—admitting of vessels entering and
departing with any wind—would, in connexion with the railway,
command the Baltic and North American trade ' • and, on the other,
to the important and rapidly-improving town of Wick, the capital of
the northern herring and deep sea fisheries, which require only such
a stimulus as the proposed measure will supply to increase their value
incalculably, by affording the ready and certain means of conveying
their products Into all parts of the country, is obviously an -Under-
taking of the greatest national importance, embracing the develop-
ment of the natural resources of the northern counties and their ex-
tensive sea coasts, the continued prosperity and wealth of their in-
habitants and the general trade, and, it may be hereafter, even the
additional security of the empire.
The most populous district in proportion to its extent in Ross and
Cromarty, and until late years (considering its capabilities) the least
improved, is that lying between the Muir of Ord on the south and

the town of Cromarty on the north, commonly called "the Black
Isle." For the benefit of this district, a line is Intended to be made
from the point which may be found most desirable as a station with
-reference to the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the harbour of
Invcrgordon, to join the main line at the Muir of Ord, with a short
branch to the nearest good station on the north side of the Ferry of
Kessock.

The Muir of Ord being now the place where the greatest and most
frequent stock markets in Scotland, north of Falkirk. are held, it Is
of great importance to the western Highlands of Itoss-shire that

their communication with the. Muir of Ord, as well as their access
to the main line of railway, should be facilitated ; and it Is, therefore,
contemplated forming a branch line from the Muir of Ord to the
upper part of the valley of Strathgarve, being the nearest point to the
Lews at present accessible by a railway, and accommodating, at the
same time, the extensive districts of toss-shire lying to the north,
west, and so',lth-west of Strathgarve.

The preliminary survey of the main line has been cempleted. Its
whole length is about 150 miles, and the greater portion of it is of
easy construction.

The proposed capital is considered adequate to cover every expense,
including the completion of the harbour at Invergordon ; but should
additional capital be found necessary for the proposed branches,
power will be taken to raise it.
The principal proprietors have already offered the land and the
building materials in the neighbourhood of the line, free from all
charge, for the purposes of the railway.
Not only will they, and the northern counties generally, benefit in-
calculably by the completion of the work, but the shareholders may
expect a fair, and in no long time, ample return for their investments
in a line which has not, and can never have, a rival.
Interest at 4 per cent. will be allowed on all calls paid up, and the
Act Incorporating the Company will provide that no shareholder shall
be liable beyond the amount of his subscription. Until the Act be
obtained the liability of the subscribers will be restricted to their
actual deposits ; and of these there shall not, in any event, be ex-
pended a larger sum than ss. per shale without the express authority
of a general meeting of the subscribers. _

The names of the Provisional Committee (embracing those of the
principal proprietors in the north) will be speedily published ; but
meanwhile it may be stated, that the support the present undertaking
has already received from individuals fully able to accomplish this
most important work, leaves no doubt of its complete success.
The acting engineers will be Joseph Mitchell, Esq., F.R.S.E.,
M.1.C.E., Inverness ; and J. F. Bateman, Esq., C.E., Manchester;
with Thomas Page, Esq., M.I.C.E. Westminster, as consulting
engineer.
_ _

X minute survey has been ordered of the whole line, and, when
completed, a map of it will be published ; meanwhile, copies of the
prospectus, and of the form of application for shares, will be obtained
at the National Bank of Scotland, or any of its Branches, and at the
offices of the London and Westminster Bank, and of Me-us. Glyn,
Hallifax, Mills, and Co., Lombard-street ;Pr from any of the following
gentlemen, to whom communications and applicatlnts for shares, in the
form annexed, may be addressed, viz.:—William Mackenzie, Esq., of
Muirton, W.S., Edinburgh ; James Sutherland, Esq., Provost of
Inverness ; Patrick Grant, Esq., County Clerk of Inverness ; Hugh
Innes Cameron, Esq., Provost of Dingwall ; Crawlird Ross, Esq.,
Cadboll by Fearn ; David Ross, Esq., Commissary Clerk of Ross-
shire, Tales ; George Gunn, Esq., Factor of Sutherland, Rhives, by
Goisple ; George Sutherland Taylor, Esq.. Golspie ; Robert Hors-
burgh, Esq., Factor of the Reay Country, Tongue ; William Manson,
Esq., Thurso ; Peter Wilson, Esq., Town Clerk of Wick ; and Messrs.
Cameron and Bain, 18, Parliament-street, Westminster.
Scripholders of the Perth and Inverness ; the Aberdeen and In-
verness; Inverness and Ehtiu; Elgin, Banff, and Aberdeen; and
Caledonian Northern Direct Railway Lines, are requested to specify
this in their applications.