The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-01-26 00:00:00

GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY.

I The following^ are the most importantpalts or the report pre-
seated at the first general meeting of proprietors the (:rand
' Junction Railway, after the opening of the railway for the
conveyance of passengers, held at Live.nou! on Wednesday toe
17th instant.
"The statement which the directors have to lay before
proprietors, at, the close of six mouths' operations, w4l, it is
hoped, be ound satisfactory and encouraging.
"During this period, the income has been dvived
from the coaching business, .which it was thought desirable to
render in the first place as complete as possible, and to sectire
an abundance of engine power, before the carriage ofgoods was
undertaken. This is now'nearlv accomplished; and measures
have been taken to commence the conveyance of live 510‘.1;':
and the merchandise business between Liverpool, Alancheiter,
and BirminghaM, will be begun immediately. This oustuess
it is intended to bring gradually into °petal ion, and thus ensure
its effective and regular management.

"The gross receipts obtained from passengeis and parcels
only, and the conveyance 0; wails, have amounted to XI IG 140.
.104. 7d. a result which must be highly' _ratifying. The scale
of expenditure cannot yet be completely tensed, as ap!)lit able
to the business when once in full opera; ion;. but t he. e is reason
to anticipate, that it will be 'ptopottionably less than on shortei
lines.

"'The additions which have been made to the engine power
have improved the, regularity of the halos. In ihe arrival of
'the first morning trains from Birmingham' some delays have
taken place,. caused by their waiting upwards otthitty minutes,
on the average; for the London snails, which, Tor several weeks
past, have not been able to keep their appointed time into
Birmingham. With respect to the arrivals in general, although
there has been reason 'to regret many disappointments, arising
from various causes, some of which are removed, and others
greatly diminished, it is on the whole satisfactory to !e'er to
the fact,; that of 1,600 first-class trains, 1,133 have kept time
accurately ;, 1,193 have not exceeded thirtrminutes beyond the
exact time; and that, including all deteutieus w bateVer, the
1 average orate whole is ouly four hours forty-five minutes, which
is considerably less ihau one-halt the time formerly oecupied in
I iicrfortning the distance.
"The state of the road is highly satisfactory; the only casu-
ally worthy of remark having occured to'some land arches in
I Arpley embankment, near Warrington, which were carried
away In the unusually heavy flood of the 21st of December.
Fora few hours some delays were hereby occasioned;, but no,
stoppage was caused to the mails, and the communication was
restored on the rot:touring day,. Considerable progress. has been
made in re-laving the Warrington line with stronger rails, and
this ereat improvement will be completed in a few months.
" It is gratifying to observe, that not a single fatal accident
' has occured to any of the 132,202 passengers conveved by this
company ,since the opening; and to know, that in ease tit
deal, with the description, of engine
.adopted on i his.line, the
risk to passengers is reduced to a degree hardly deserving of
consideration.
',Although the receipts from travelling have, of eOUiSP. de-
clined, during the. winter quarter, the a ninunt of business in
this period has been steady. and
.profitable, and the
',tic) or de-
crease is less than might have been expected, front the exited-
sinee ,of outer tailwats. The directors have great olea.ute in
again calling the attention of. the shareholders to the I i, cum-
t.
stance, that, of the large number, or passetigrs convee"
alasg
the different pai ts of the line,, only abonA eae-half pass litropah
any nue township; thus showing the greiit propot iittri of allot t
files and passengers.froin titre station to another, which cannot
be abstracted by any opposing line.
tnr‘ti tris li
having viog b
arrangement
ee office for the conveyaece of.
been
compensation for the service performed, a new agreement has
lately been made, the tennis of whichnoitnctroeaasffe'c'•rtdinsan dt;l7lilledc:•litallie
revenue finis this soutce, without, however,
however, eXactin front the
post office unreasonable conditions.
•" The accounts now laid before the meeting exhibit a' clear'
g
balance of profit Jo December the 31st, 1837, of 1.::i6'.035 1(.)
which wilt atford,a dividend of £5 pet share, Itftvlng a so rithis
of E.1415,—if this appropriation be sanctioned by the mem ing.
The net profit for Sunday_travelling , attiouuts to six siiilliugs
per share ;, awl the directors would recommend to the prop' ietot s,
that an shareholders who may .refuse to receive it shall be re-
quired to relinquish all claim to it afterwards, in older that it
may be appropriated to charitable purpose's.",
After stating the .amount of Tetley eapended on "capital
account," £1,6(17,49) lls 9:1. and the necessity of raising Wi-
ther funds, either by loans or the creatiou of new shares, ill
order to pay off a balance due to the bankers, and to Provide
additional facilities for carrying pu the business of the com-
pany, on, the opening, of, the London and Birminghain Rail-
way, .the report proceeds to consider the question of a
new line of railway by Fidler's Ferry to liuyton,,and says :
".1-rooking at, the delay., which at times have already occurred
bathearairts, after leaving.Newron, and to the acctiatulat ion of
business on the Liverpoot,and Manchester Railway, which must
ensue, on, the commencement of the carriage_ of gnotlS to and
from Birmingham, and on the opening of the. Not th Unicin
liailway,.ii. appears to. be a most desirable object to secure.a
communication. free frurn the risk of impethweut from the
crowded state or that line; and effecting a saving in time, dis-
tance, and the_expense of working, by shortening the liop seven- -
milex, and by avoidingihree inclined planes; and.the crossing
of.several roads unprotected by bridgei. To avoid the risk of
delays from these causes, is in itself, indepentleniii of any +•1
other, a most important object,. and the question appears to be,.
only how it may be best effected. , The directrirs are of opinioh,
that the line by Fidler's Ferry would be found the liest, practi-
cable measure for this purpose, especially, if au arrangement
could. be made ,between the two companies, for an addittonal
Line or, lines to Liverpool, , honk
.the the junction at II ayton.
This plan, in the directors' opinion, would be Mutually advau-
tageolts. -
Most of the landowners,on the prOjected line have refused
their assent, except ort terms to, whio the ditectors did not
think themselves justified in acceding; hitt they expect that,
taking into account the great publicadvantages of the measure,
and.that it will not in a aingle instance interfere with a private
residence of any kind,theirdemands will not be sustained before
a committee.of the House of, Commons. Opppioj/lion may also
be looked for from.the town of Warrington ; eateusibly directed
against any interfereace, with the navigation of the Mersey, but
in reality front an apprehenSion that the measure will deprive
theM of part of the accommodation they now enjoy. It will be
for parliament to decide, whether this is a. sufficient ground for
requiring that all Liverpool passengers, including those proceed.'
ing by steam boats to Ireland and Scotland, shall be carried
round by the town of Warrington."

A few days ago, an old soldier, proceeding from Dublin to
London in quest of his pension, was landed bete from one of
the Irish steamers, with boil] feet nearly destioyed by the in-
tense cold to which he had been exposed, having been nearly
three days at sea, and with rare generosity given his cloak to
a female similarly circumstanced. He was taken to the North-
ern Hospital, Leeds-street. We have since heard he is likek-
to recover.

On Stinday, a man named Shipley, while intoNicated, fell
from the side of a flat in the,canal, striking his head on the quay
in his descent, He was taken to the Mort itern Hospital. Leeks-
street, where be died a few hotirs afte.t admissiOn.
A lahourei, named Roberts, was dreadfUlly injured on Wed-
nesday last. He had been attempting to place a support under
the shafts of a cart loaded wiilt hides, in Booth-street, and was
overpowered by the superior utimbent weight ; the cart's shalt
.truck him over the ankle,, forcing the buries through 'the flesh.
He was carried to the Northern Hospital, Leeds-street.

We Undersland the Nnithein Hospital is so crowded with
severe accidents. B:c., that numbers iii patients are daily refused
admission, its oftliters.tieiiiv, übliged reserve several beds, fo
accommodate the revere accidelits'which sire continually occur-
ing.