The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

to the rive

lstitute the most im-
cutting at Houille has

owin active pro-

ining embank-

k- is proceeding with
like that of Bigons,

mat energy_
all the piers ready for receiving the arches, and

itres are placed in one arch for throwing over
e ribs of timber which is to carry the Railway
.Tanks forpreserving the timber are built, and every
preparation made for prosecuting. simultaneously all the
the
parts of the work. A little beyond the bridge
,w.e line enters a cutting from eight to twelve feet deep,
iTich continues for a considerable distance into the forest of

Germain
!e-arch bridge i
:74json!s is fixed.

In this cuttir
be*

at which point the station for

On the west of th

Germain forest

4.d in the iiei

not heavy ;

°tit it is already commenced in sever•'
!°, Mantes

.om

mut 20 miles, the
done

is under contracts, but

'e is not yet much wo

the heaviest portion is at

Te town of Mantes,
gtreetors wised throe

Leh was commenced on tt

:st of Mante

R►'eat 'tunnel of R

erable progress
the excavations

1143 been made both in ti
ea each end.
nns.t._eltd,
anA

at the west

s the t

e road

To this point, about 40 miles from Paris,

The tunnels at -Venables
in a very advanced state. The

works uro under contract
re next visited. They z
!tertnnost tunnel

_ lking through the
rift way from end to end an opportunity was afforded of
keing the strata. There is another tunnel at this place 400
Yftrds long, Where the driftway is already completed, and the
°Pen cutting between the two is proceeding. Both tunnels
eye through chalk, perfectly dry, and easily worked. The
ITrks are very slight between this place and Le Mauvir,

_
similar to those before mentioned is building
aiers there are not placed in the
ame may be said of the bridge at Oissel, which
a few miles nearer to Rouen. Near to this latter bridge
a tunnel at Tourville, about 500 yards long, is being cased
th brick work, the driftway being already completed. At
411 the tunnels the brick work is started. The line from
Ois sel to Rouen was not let at the time of this inspection,
oat it has since that time been contracted for on reasonable
terms.

here a brill;
:roes the S

le, but

• Mr. Locke, who is present, will inform you that the
Forks thus visited form a very large proportion of the whole
that those which remain uncontracted for are of
fight character, and it is confidently expected that the con-
tracts for them will be concluded within a month from
:4e present time. The English directors believe, therefore,
the they are warranted in conveying to the shareholders
ir full conviction that the cost of the entire work is within
..4,very narrow margin, defined and certain. It may here be

'2oserved that, with the exception of one bridge, the whole of
these works are let to two English contractors of known re-
spectability and capital—viz., Mr. William Mackenzie and
jilt'. Thos. Brassey ; who, in addition to the guarantee which
t! afforded by their character and their property, give posi-
"e security for the due execution of the works within a
vrescribed time. These gentlemen leave also in the hands
;lir the company 5 per cent. of the value of the work done,
that is to say, they receive only £95 for every £lOO certified
!.% being due to them by the engineer of the company, the
reniaining £5 being retained as a security for the final and
lubstantial completion, to be paid to them after the opening
°f the railway. Moreover, Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Brassey,
having from their own observation become convinced of the
!dvantages which must ultimately arise to t 1

e shareholders

uh this line, have arranged with the directors to invest this 5
Per cent. in 1700 shares of the company—such shares to be
handed over to them instead of money at the period when
otherwise that money would become payable to them, and in
the mean time to be held in trust for them by the directors.

" The directors cannot quit this part of their report without
adverting again to the position of this company in respect to

she
work when the last meeting of En,
that
It will be recollected by those who were present on
occasion that Mr. Locke, with his usual prudence, de-
Ttared with respect to the estimates, that ' the only difficulty
he felt concerning them arose from his not knowing the value
'at French labour'—and to this it may be added that the
directors had, in common with Mr. .Locke, some doubts
Whether the experience of English workmen could be corn-
with those of France, and especially whether the two
classes of labourers, French and English, could agree so as
to act together as to prosecute the works with that expedition
which in England is required in railway undertakings. All
IPprehension of difficulty on this subject is now at an end.
4t is true that, in the competition for contracts, the English
%utractors have, by reason of their greater experience and
orisequently increased ability to appreciate suet' works, been
such lower in their tenders than the French contractors ;
but so far as the workmen are concerned nothing can be more
satisfactory. Not only do the French labourers work hat-

mouiouslywith the coinparatively small number of English-
men whom the contractors have feltit necessary to send over
Prance, in order to show how works of this sort are con-
ncted, but in some of the operations, particularly in the
formation of the tunnels, the French
bed unless they are associated with En

workmen are not satis

"In the previous part of this report-His stated that three-
"Mrths of the land is purchased, and it is fully expected that
i‘'ithin three months from the present time the whole of the
44d will be in the possession of the company. Those who
are acquainted with the minute subdivision of property
It, Prance, and the immense number of proprietors with
',horn the company would therefore have to deal, were not
without fear that these circumstances would impede the
°Perations of the company, and present almost innumerable
14stances of that extortion to which railroad companies
have been subjected to by landed proprietors in England.
Bt this has not been the case. The French law requires
At various forms shall be complied with, local inquiries
''ade, and positive proof adduced, that the land is really re-
:Mired for a work, which has been declared by the legislature
i° be one, of public usefulness. The compliance with these
forms
involves delay, but it does not occasion much ex-
-4 Pence appeals to juries are not frequent, nor are those
'`'Peals attended with anything like the same expellee as in
rlgland ; there are few large landed proprietors, and these
e* do t generally ask unreasonable terms from the coin-
o no

"The rails and chairs are all contracted for. The iron is
excellent quality, and, although it is much dearer than in
4gland, the cost does not exceed the estimate.
' Far the greater art of the engines used on te few rench
tailr ads already constructed have been made in EnglandF,—
he efforts of the •French manufacturers of locomotive
Oines having hitherto- been unsuccessful. The directors'
tilt it right therefore to entertain a proposition. made to
%meta by an English party who offered to establish them-
tVies as a company at Rouen, and there to build, according
• ,Plans and drings approved by Mr, Locke,. all the
ytues required by the company at a stipulated price. As
G .this means the import duty, and the heavy expense of
the from England, are avoided, the directors, under
advice of their engineer, have contracted withacting this corn-
nY, and the engines are now in course of construction at
eacli,ltlien• The concern is under the management of Mr. All-
, known to many present as formerly one of the enginceys
• the Liverpool and Manchester and Grand Junction Rail-
,t4Ys, and of Mr,. Buddicom, who, until he went to France
,I:Pressly for this purpose, was the manager of the locomotive
"ePartinent on the Grand Junction Railway.
1,,---ie works tire contracted to be finished at various
ti ""the latest on the Ist of March, 18-13,— little more
fifteen months from the present time; and there is no
tiZut that the line may be opened •as early in the spring of
Year as circumstances render desirable.
to 4,, to the traffic, the English directors have little to add
tie:pe statements formerly made. The very careful statis-
r,Fflort originally prepared by Mr. Reed, aided by Mr.
sliewed that the present passenger and parcel traffic
aitii•
„u alone, a quantity railway prices, produce £305,000 per
ql• The of goods carried by land, as well as
tyr, ater, is . This railroad h one terminus in
Capital of France,immense and the other in theas greatest manufac-