The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-01 00:00:00

It remains to be seen how far this conclusion may be confirmed
or modified by other considerations.
The most important feature of comparison between the two sys-
tems is, as we have already stated, that the West Riding scheme is
promoted in amity and connexion with the Manchester and Leeds
Railway, while the other schemes are promoted in opposition to it.
The argument which has been mainly urged by the promoters of
the West Yorkshire and Leeds and Dewsbury schemes is, that the
wish and interest of the important district of the West Riding was
to retain its railway communications in Its own hands, under a
system of local management. It has been alleged that the district
in question has strong reason to complain of the manner in which
it has been treated by the Manchester and Leeds Company ; that
the interests of Yorkshire hare been sacrificed to those of Lanca-
shire, which preponderate in the direction of that Company, and
that in consequence an intense local feeling has sprung up against
the Company, which now demands, as a matter of right, to be eman.
cipated from an oppressive monopoly.
On the other hand, it is replied by the promoters of the West
Riding scheme, that the Manchester and Leeds Company has at
great risk and at a.i enormous outlay, openediout communicationifrom
which the country has derived the greatest benefit; that it has set
the example of introducing a lower system of charges, both for
goods and passengers, than any ocher leading railway; that the
hostility to it in the district is very much owing to the injury that
.has thus been inflicted on canal and other interests; and finally,
that the local feeling, instead of being, as is asserted by the other
pany, decidedly adverse to a connexion with the Manchester and
Leeds Railway Company, is, on the contrary, decidedly in its
favour,.
It is extremely difficult for us to discriminate amidst such con-
flicting statements, more especially upon a question so difficult to
reduce to any satisfactory test as the actual balance of local feeling
among the intelligent and disinterested inhabitants of a great dis-
srict like that of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and this difficulty
is increased by the degree of excitement and party spirit which
bus unfortunately become mixed up in the question. We cats
only form our opinion upon such undisputed facts as hare come
before us in the progress of the inquiry.
From these it appears that the Manchester and Leeds Company
have certainly been
,the means of conferring very great benefits
on the community. They have been the first of the great railways
to introduce on a large scale the system of low fares and frequent
third-class trains. They now run not less than ten third.class
trains a day, at fares averaging Id. a mile, and carry at these fares
at the rate of nearly a million third-class passengers a.year. Tho
accommodation afforded in the first instance was not what could
have been desired, but the Company at once acceded to the lepre.
sets rations made to them by this Department in regard to the cheap
Parliamentary train, and provided a super for description of covered
carriagsl, and they have since provided seats and roofs by their or-
dinary th'ird.class trains. As regards goods, the Company state
that they hove brought down charges to the public as follows :
ran TOX BETWEEN MANCHESTER AND DULL, 99 MILES.
Before the
Railway opened,
in 1840.
About
d. s. d.
Corn, flour, &c
Cotton twist
Manufactured goods
The saving to the public by this reduction of cost of conveyance
upon the traffic now passing by the various modes of conveyance
may be estimated at not less than from 200,000/. to 300,0001. a
year, independently of the very great advantage to the manufac-
turing districts of reducing the time of transit to their principal
plates of export and import, Liverpool and Hull, to a few hours.
As one instance of the benefits resulting to the manufacturing
community we may mention, that very recently on a strike of the
colliers in the Lancashire district being apprehended, arrangements
were instantly made by the Manchester and Leeds Company with
other northern railways, by which a supply of 20,000 tons of
small or refuse coal, from the county of Durham, was rendered
available at a low rate of cost for the engines of Manchester,
whereby the danger of a stoppage of the mills, and consequent
throwing out of employment of thousan:s of hands, was in a great
measure averted.
We cannot doubt, therefore, upon the evidence of facts and
figures, that the Manchester and Leeds Company is one which is
fairly entitled to participate in whatever claim upon the favourable
consideration of the Legislature may be derived from the plea of
services rendered to the public.
With regard to local feeling it is less easy to arrive at any
decided opinion. Numerous and most respectably signed memo.
rials have been addressed to us by the advocates of all the
different schemes : judging from these we should say that not only
is the assertion that there exists a strong and almost unanimous
local feeling against the West Riding scheme Incorrect, but, on
the contrary, that a decided preponderance of local support is in
its favour. A memorial was presented to us in favour of the West
Riding scheme, which was open for signature for a few days in the
middle of December, after the plans and sections of the rival
schemes had been deposited, and consequently after an opportunity
,had been afforded to consider the details of the schemes, the general
features of which had been matters of constant discussion through.
out, the district for months previously.
It is stated by the memorialists, in their analysis of this memo-
rial, that it is signed by the Mayor of Leeds, by a majority of the
Town Council, and by a most numerous body of magistrates,
merchants, manu'acturers, traders, owners and occupiers of
mills, manufactures, lands, and property in the district, and chiefly
in the immediate vicinity of the lines proposed to be made, and
that it represents employment of steam power and labour to the
amount of—

Now.

Horse power employed
Hands employed
It is stated, therefore, that the West Riding scheme, although
promoted in connexion with the Manchester and Leeds Company,
and intended to be worked in harmony with their railway, can by
no means pe looked upon as a scheme promoted exclusively by that
Company, or under their undivided control ; but, on the con.
trary, that independent local support, and a guarantee for a sails.
factory share of independent local management, are among its
essential features.
Considered in this point of view, the connexion with the Man-
chester and Leeds Company does not appear to us to be any disad.
vantage, but the contrary. Indeed we are at a loss to see how the
peculiar traffic. of the district, consi.ting, as we have had occasion
to point out, of a very frequent circulation among a number of
enwns situated partly upon the new lines and partly upon the exist-
ing Manchester and Leeds line, and combined with a thorough
traffic which must necessarily pass in a great measure over the
Manchester and Leeds Railway, could be worked with any tolerable
degree of safety, convenience, or economy, otherwise than by a
perfect unity of action and good understanding among the different
portions of the extensive system.
This consideration also tends to show, that however highly we
might be disposed to rate the advantages of competition, the proba-
bility of securing them would, in the present instance, be exceed.
ingly remote.
Supposing the West Yorkshire and Leeds and Dewsbury schemes
sanctioned with a view to competition, it is evident that all the
motives that have hitherto proved to effectual in inducing hostile
railway interests to combine, would tell with peculiar force. The
independent schemes, from the nature of their works and the heavy
cost of construction, could barely be considered as commercial spe-
culations entirely free from risk, even if they could obtain the whole
traffic of the district without competition ; and when we consider
that they would have to compete for most of it with one another
and with the Manchester and Leeds Company under great disad.
vantages as regards economy of working, front the want of har-
mony and arrangement of trains, it seems highly probable that no
long period could elapse before the pressure of circumstances drove
them into a combination.
As regards the West Yorkshire schemes, these objections apply
with peculiar force, since they are absolutely dependent on the
Manchester and Leeds Railway for an outlet for a great portion of
their traffic. They are also open to the serious objection of
creating monopoly on the one hand, while they propose to defeat
it on the other, since they are intimately connected with the Leeds
and Bradford Company, with whose lisle they are in direct compe.
tition between Leeds and Bradford, and whose extended line
through Skipton and Colne will afford an indirect check upon any
attempt on the part of the Manchester and Leeds Company to
raise fares, or to abuse its powers. This highly useful check
would be, in a great measure, removed by an union of interest
between the line from Leeds to Lancashire, via Halifax, and the
line from Leeds to Lancashire, via Skipton and Colne.
These considerations do not apply to the Leeds, Dewsbury, and
Huddersfield line; and here undoubtedly, by the sanction of the
proposed scheme •in connexion with the Huddersfiehi and Man-
chester, a direct competition might be, in the first instance, este.
Wished, front which Huddersfield might derive benefit from being
placed on a through line between Leeds and Manchester. This
through line would be shorter also by about five miles than the line
from Manchester to Leeds, via Halifax.
On the other hand, the connexion of Huddersfie'd and Dews.
bury with Leeds and Manchester will be attained equally well by
the West Riding Company's line and the Huddersfield and
Manchester, should this last scheme appear spon its own merits
deserving of the sanction of the Legislature. As a through line
from Leeds to Manchester, this route would not be likely to obtain
a decided preference in competition with a Halifax route, having
worse gradients, and five miles and a half of tunnels, one being a
tunnel of three miles in length, constructed for a single line of rails
Only, and being also not in a position to supply such frequent or
cheap trains as a route which combined the traffic of Manchester,
Rochdale, Halifax, Bradford, and Wakefield with one another,
and with Hull. And, after all, if the through traffic could be
diverted to the Huddersfield route, this advantage would only be
obtained for Huddersfield at the expense of Halifax and Bradford,
places of larger population.
On the other hand, the intercourse of Huddersfield with Halifax,
Bradford, Rochdale, Wakefield, Hull, and other places connected
with the Manchester and Leeds and West Riding systems, would
be inconvenienced in an extreme degree by any arrangement that
tended to isolate Huddersfield from that system.

Having regard to these considerations, and also to the improba-
bility of such a scheme as that Nom Leeds to Dewsbury and
Huddersfield being able to support Pself fer s.ny length of time in
an independent and solvent condition in competition with the
Manchester and Leeds and 'West Riding systems, we cannot hesi.
tate to express our decided opinion that the advantages off ered by
the latter system in its integrity appear to us to be preferable to
any prospect of deriving permanent advantage from a competition
between two independent lines between Leeds and Manchester, it
being assumed, of course, that the legitimate traffic which would
flow along the Dewsbury and Huddersfield line, for the convenience
of the public, and fir the accommodation of those places, would be
provided for by adequate securities from the West Riding Corn. 11

The question would have stood thus, independent of the volun-
tary offer of any specific advantages or guarantee on the part of the
Manchester and Leeds and West Riding Company.

They have offered, however, on condition of their scheme being
sanctioned in its integrity, terms which we cannot but consider as
highly' advantageous, viz.:—

To subject the whole of the existing Manchester and Leeds
Railway, as well as the West Riding Railway, and all lines which
Parliament may hereafter allow to be Constructed by or amalga-
mated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company, to the
following provisions:—

1. The option of purchase and revision, as contained in the
General Act of last session ; the latter option, however, to accrue

immediately on the profits reaching 10 per cent.

2. A revised tariff of maximum charges lower than those
Usually enforce.l, viz.:—

First-class passengers by ordinary trains, 2ad. per mile.
Second class carriages to be closed and provided with glass
windows.

Third-class r.ssengers, Id. per mile, in carriages provided with
seats, and covered, by three mixed trains at least each way per day
at the ordiway speed.
Coal:, salt, lime, &c., Id. per ton per mile, including locomotive
power.

Corn, flour, timber, &c., 2d. per ton p,r mi e.
Cotton, cotton.twiA, waol, meta's, &c., 3:1. per ton per mile.
Manufactured goods, &e., 4d. per too per mile.
An uniform paruel rate, including delivery within one mile of
railway station :

s. d.
Up to 14Ibs. .........
............... I 0
ss 21bc .......................... 2 0
•
„ Mits. ..................... ..• ...... 63. That c'auses shall be inserted in their Act binding them to
Submit to the decision of the Board of Trade or other authority
constitutul by Parliament for that purpose, all questions of dif-
ference %itli other Companies by which the public convenience is
Affected.

4. That ample security for a due share of local management in
the direction both of the West Riding and Martehester and Leeds
Companies than be provided by the Act,

S. And, finally, the Company pledge themselves to do all in
their power to carry out such arrangements as Will be most con.
&wive to the comfort and convenience of the public, and to attend
to any reasonable suggestions that may be made to them at any
time hereafter with this view.

In addition to the above must be taken into account the greatly
juperiorluarautee which is offered by the Manchester and Leeds
Company, an established and prosperous undertaking, with a large

revenue for the completion of all the schemes with which they

u• connected. The West Yorkshire scheme offers no such gua.
nntoo of this sort, Except that which is t.erived from the guar.:atee

et three ad a Galt' per cent. interest given it by the leed; anti