The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-11-20 00:00:00

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

The Conservative students in the University of Glas-
gow have resolved not to oppose the re-election of Mr.
Macauley as Lord Rector for the present year.

There were 111 public acts passed in the late session,
all of which, with the exception of one, are in operation.
The exception relates to the repeal of the navigation laws,
which will come into force on the Ist of January. _

.....-- ---
REPRESENTATION OF CHESTER.—It is rumoured, that
in case Lord Denman is obliged by ill health, to resign
his position as Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Sir
John Jervis will waive his claim, and Lord Campbell re-
ceive the appointment. Very like a whale. The talk is,
catch Sir John waiving his claim and playing second fiddle
to " Plain Jock."—Chester Courant.

THE LAY CF THE LAST FEARGUS.—Feargus O'Con-
nor laid down his life again last week. This is really a
fact. The awful sacrifice took place at Brighton, at the
Financial Reform meeting. Feargus never enters a public
meeting now but he lays down his life with hi& hat
and gloves on the table, previous to addressing the peo-
ale. His whole political career lately has been paved with

lives he has laid down in all the cities he has travelled
through. In the market-place at Nottingham a small
stone is shown to the curious, that is almost worn out by
the number of times that Feargus has laid down his life

upon it.—Punch.
PROTECTION.—The National Assembly for the Pro-
tection of British Industry and Capital, of the acting
committee of 'which Mr. George Frederick Young is the
chairman, has issued a circular letter to Protection So-
cieties throughout the country, recommending the im-
mediate holding of public meetings, where practicable
and safe. and of private ones under other circumstances,
for the purpose of making a united, unanimous, and strik-
ing expression of opinion in favour of a return to a pro-
tective system of commercial policy, and of addressing
the Queen, imploring her. -Majesty to exercise her royal
prerogative by dissolving the present parliament and call-
ing a new one, by which the suggested protecting duties
may be re-enacted.

At the London civic banquet, on Friday week, Lord J.
Russell promised•that so long as he and his colleagues are
in office, " they will always think well of the fortunes of
this country." By way of a sample of the art of thinking
well of things when they have an ill look, his lordship
added, that " with a growing revenue, and the general ap-
pearance of the trade of this country," he " is happy to
y that in many respects the situation of this country is
?assuring," and "trusts that any dijficul-
have to surmount may be of a temporary
trust so too, with this trifling difference

ties WE
nature

ieve the

ie just as lasting or as tem-
porary as the continuance in office of the noble lord and

e country wi

his crazy

RAILWAY

AFFAIRS,

Locomotives have been ordered at Newcastle for a rail-
way in Peru.

The opening of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Rail-
way, as far as Wolverhampton, took place on Monday.
On many railways the same number of trains only run
on Thursday last as on Sundays.

YORK, NEWCASTLE, AND RERWICK RAILWAY.-Mr.
G. Leeman, of York, has been appointed chairman of this
company.

Doos NOT DOGS !—A clerk of a railway company, in
giving his evidence in an appeal case, in answer to a ques-
tion, said, "Dogs are parcels, sir !"

PARLIAMENTARY EXPENSES.—To construct a certain
Scotch line of 80 miles in length, no less than TWENTY-
ONE Acts of Parliament were required.
The Whitehaven and Furness Company have com-
menced the tunnel through the limestone rock at he
Crooklands station, Dalton, four miles from Ulverston.
The Directors of the London and North-Western Rail-
way have refused the application of the Caledonian Com-
pany for an advance of £200,000 or £300,000 upon secu-
rity of the rolling stock.

The correspondent of a daily paper suggests, that it
would be a publ:c benefit if the directors of railways
could he induced to build a bed carriage to run on their
lines, for the transport of the sick or injured.
The negotiation between the London and North-
Western and Great Western Companys, for a transfer of
the Birmingham and Oxford Junction line to the former
company—subject to some arrangements relative to the
gauge—has gone off.
As an instance of the competition between contractors,
it is asserted .that there were no fewer than forty-four
tenders sent in for the formation of the East and West
India Docks and Birmingham Junction line, lying between
the Lea-cut Canal and Blackwall, and the difference be-
tween the highest and lowest tender was no less than
£16,000.

13',ILEY V. THE CHESHIRE JUNCTION RAILWAY COM-
PANY.—On Wednesday the argument was resumed be-
fore the Master of the Rolls, on the demurrer in this case,
which was a bill filed by the plaintiff on behalf of himself
and all other the £3l shareholders in the company, to re-
strain the directors from enforcing a call of £lO made on
these shares, which was alleged to have been illegally
made. His lordship reserved his decision. _

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.—We have
much satisfaction in referring to our traffic returns. which
show a considerable increase in the receipts of this line for
the week ending the 12th instant, as compared with the
corresponding period of last year. The increase in the
passengers' parcels, &c., has been £1,054, and in the
merchandize, 1,040. If the " take "isto be the criterion
of a " market value," the increase which has been taking
plac.3 in the traffic of this line for some weeks past must
be anything but pleasant to the "bears."
The Chinese Exhibition reached Edinburgh by railway
on Tuesday week. The passage of the train below the
bridges was generally effected by the temporary alteration
of the rails, so as to enable it to attain the centre of the
arch. From the breadth of the vans, the platforms at
every station had to be removed, but scarcely any delay
was occasioned to the ordinary trains on the line. Much
injury was sustained by two of the vans and their fragile
contents, in consequence of the heads of the vans coming
in violent collision with one of the bridges.
ELECTRO-TELEGRAPHIC PROGRESS.—WhiIe the cost
of a telegraphic line in England is £l5O a mile, in America
and Prussia it is under £2O a mile. The telegraph in
Prussia consists of one wire, extending over 1,402 miles,
under ground, and covered with gutta percha. Like
those in America, it is by Morse, and it is said to be ca-
able of transmitting 1,000 words an hour. There are up-
wards of 10,000 miles of telegraph line in America, all
worked cheaply. In England there are only 2,000 miles
in operation.— The Builder.
On Saturday week the first of the great tubes of the
Britannia-bridge was finally lowered down again, by a
three-feet fall, on to its permanent bed of plates and rol-
lers; the operation for effecting a junction with the tube
on land having occupied about three weeks. The event
was cheered by the assembled workmen and spectators,
and bailed by the firing of cannon on the Carnarvonshire
side of the Straits. The hydraulic presses and lifting
apparatus are now being removed from the Anglesea to
the Carnarvonshire shore, in order to raise the next tube
as soon as it is floated to the piers—an operation which,
weather and tide permitting, will take place on the 3rd of
next month.

THE CALEDONIAN RAILWAY COMPANY. SUSPEN-
SION AND INTERDICT.—This case, which recently came
on before Lord Murray, in the Court of Session, in Scot-
land, was an application to interdict the directors of the
railway named from applying the funds of the company
in purchasing shares in other railways. His lordship,
having considered the note of suspension and interdict for
Thomas T. Fawcett, and his mandatories, against the
company and their directors, suspends the letters simpli-
ciler, interdicts, prohibits, and discharges, in terms of
the same note; finds expenses due, and allows an account
thereof to be given in, so that the same may be taxed.
The transaction that gave rise to the proceedings, is stated
to have been a misapplication made some years ago of the
company towards the purchase of shares to a very great
amount in other companies, which shares had since
greatly receded in value. A demand was now made upon
the purchasers of an additional or final call. These
shares are said to be held in trust by certain persons
whose names have not been disclosed, for behoof of the
company. Although in the first plea of law, stated on
record for the respondents, it is said that these shares in
the several railway companies having been acquired by
the respondents in furtherance of the general undertaking,
the purchase was not illegal. But this plea was not main-
tained by counsel for the respondents, who might be called
upon to appear in proceedings directed against the legality
of the purchases, The Lord Ordinary considered that
the act of the company did not permit the directors to
purchase such shares, though in doing so they might have
acted from good motives. It was to be lamented that in
their zeal they misapplied the funds entrusted to their
charge. The counsel for the respondents without denying
this, stated that large sums had been paid upon these
shares, and the interdict asked for would prevent them
from paying up calls on the shares, and also of disposing
of them to advantage, which would be minus to the com-
pany, as the shares would be lost. Without such inter-
dict the loss arising from the shares might, by good ma-
nagement, be comparatively inconsiderable. The Lord
Ordinary does not feel himself entitled to consider the
most judicious mode of diminishing the loss from these
unfortunate shares. That was not matter for a court of
law. If it was not disputed that this application of the
funds was illegal, the court cannot sanction a further
misapplication of the funds of the company for that
illegal purpose. It may be expedient for the parties who
entered into these transactions, and who are-responsible
.forthem, and for the individuals in .whose :names these