The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-19 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS,

Mr. Saunders, the secretary of the Great Western Rail-
way, was presented with a piece of plate, on Wednesday,
by the shareholders.
OXFORD AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.—It is under-
stood that the holders of about seven-eighths of the
shares have declared in favour of the offer of the London
and North-Western Company.
Mr. M'Connell, of the Bristol and Birmingham
Railway, has been appointed Locomotive Superintendent
of the London and North-Western Railway, in the room
of Mr. Edward Bury, who has resigned.
The proposed lease of the Exeter and Crediton to the
Bristol and Exeter has been rejected, by a majority of two
to one of the shareholders against the recommendation of
the directors.
The works of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, from
Grange-lane to the Docks, are proceeding with great
vigour. Upwards of 500 men are employed upon tkem ;
the line is expected to be opened in seven months.
A NEW RAILWAY.—The Eastern Counties Railway
Company are about erecting large works at Stratford, com-
prising almost a new town. We learn that no fewer than
300 houses are to be at once erected, at a cost of £200,000.
It is also contemplated to erect a church at the same spot,
and provide other institutions for the moral welfare of the
inhabitants.

LANCASTER AND CARLISLE RAILWAY.—At the ap-
proaching half-yearly meeting, resolutions will be sub-
mitted for a conditional contract between the Lancaster
and Carlisle, the London and North-western, and Cale-
donian Railway Companies, and the Scottish Central, for
a lease to the three former companies, of the Scottish Cen-
tral and its branches.
ELY AND PETERBOROUGH RAILWAY.—This important
extension of the Eastern Counties Railway was opened on
Thursday for passenger trains. This line branches off
about a mile below the Ely station, and passes Chittisham,
Manea, March, and Whittlesea, running on to the North
Western Railway at Peterborough, its entire length being
thirty miles.

FLEETWOOD, PRESTON, AND WEST RIDING RAILWAY.
—The mayor of Preston performed the ceremony of
cutting the first sod of this railway yesterday, (Monday.)
The corporation and shareholders, with their friends,
walked in procession from the Town-hall to the place se-
lected, which is about half-a-mile from Preston. After
the ceremony, the party partook of a cold collation at the
Bull Hotel.
FINE ARTS AT THE RAILWAY STATIONS.—A corres-
ptaeov,endt,eloelfn-pt of the A
tehne.Leannledtottnehre:tnteeodui‘Nmiro, Felix
.rhhi Sm
w.lipeusHtearrmndewley, Railway,
Rasyaa,addressed
,arerscshi
submit-
ting a plan for decorating the stations with paintings, &c.
thus rendering them a number of National Galleries. He
proposes that when, but when only, a line pays ten per
cent., any surplus should be appropriated in this manner.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC.—From official returns it appears
that the amount of traffic for the last week, on upwards
of 2,730 miles of railway, was £134,816, thus accounted
for:-071,873 for the conveyance of passengers only,

£33,441 for the carriage of goods, and a remainder of

£30,502 for passengers and goods together, not respec-
tively apportioned ; being an increase of £16,898 over the
corresponding week of last ,year, when the mileage was
about 1,920.
DUTCH RHENISH RAILWAY.—The traffic account on
this line, for the last quarter, exhibits a great and pro-
gressive' increase. In October, 1845 and 1846, the re-
ceipts were respectively £3,853 14s. Id. and £4,045 Os. 3d. ;
in Noveniber, £3,059 17s. 2d. and £3,380 4s. 4d. ; in
December, £2,864 6s. 10d: and £3,357 2s. 10. During
the first week of January, 1846, the traffic produced
£5BO 18s. 6d., and during the same period of 1847,
£7OB 155., which shows that the progressive increase of
December last still continues and augments.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Monday, a man named Robert
Green, who had been engaged that day as a labourer on
the Liverpool and Bury Railivay, at'Elton, was run over
by a waggon which he was driving, and received a severe
laceration of the leg, which caused his death soon after-
wards. He was employed to drive the waggons along part
of the line ; and as there were a number of points at the
tri
of
spot where the accident occurred, it is supposed that he
was tripped
agbgyon.
some of the rails, and fell under the
wheelsas
The Stour Valley passed last week into the hands of the
London and North-Western. The terms are two-thirds
of London and North-Western dividend, to commence
when the line is opened ; the London and North-Western
to supply the additional capital for the present line and
additional branches ; 4 per cent. to be paid on calls till
the guarantee comes into operation. Certain shareholders,
who are not identified with the canal proprietary or the
London and North-Western, murmur dissatisfaction.
They say, even supposing the present London and North-
Western continue paying 10 per cent. and the guarantee
commence instanter, it would not raise the Stour Valley
shares to more than 44 premium.
LIVERPOOL AND BURY RAILWAY. This immense
undertaking is being carried out with great spirit, and
notwithstanding its being the depth of winter, the work
is fast progressing. There can be little doubt but a por-
tion of the line extending from Liverpool to Upholland
will be opened in the early part of next summer. A por-
tion of the cutting of the line near to Aighfield House,
the property of J. H. Blundell, Esq., in the township of
Pemberton, affords a splendid specimen of the wonderful
freaks of nature, by the exposure of a dislocation of the
coal measures, called by the miners a fault, whereby the
continuity of the coal mines is broken, and one portion,
or several parts thereof, thrown down to a depth of many
fathoms below the natural range of coal on the opposite
side of the fault.
FOUR RAILS ON THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN.
—The London and North Western opened its annual
campaign by taking the carrying business into its own
hands, and now are about to lay down four lines of rails
on their important line. The decision was made by

the directors during the past week, and it is resolved
to carry on the works, as far as it is possible to do
so, without waiting for an Act of Parliament. No oppo-
sition from the landowners, as far as Watford, certain, is
likely to occur, and no time will be lost in completing the
four lines to Tring—where the great necessity for them
trafficb
begins. They wbeillpobuereodf immense
fromns e
the value
aetoth
oefsutreeartmfosrodf,
Bedford, Buckingham, and Oxford. The tunnels are to
e countieslu
of the vitality of private enterprise.—Railway Chronicle.
be doubled. What an instance this ready decision affords
A new point of railway law was on Thursday in
the Court of Exchequer—to wit, that the secretary of a
company provisionally registered, if he be also a promoter
of it, cannot sue any of the members of the provisional
committee for arrears of salary, although his appointment
was regularly made by a formal resolution signed by one
of the defendants as chairman of a meeting ; and although
a finance committee, to whom the plaintiff's claim, among
others, was referred for consideration, actually reported a
certain
are insuams
fonduoew. s
:Th_, , The appointment of the plaintiffe case in which this decision was
pronounced is " Wilson V. Lord Curzon," and the grounds
of
by the resolution in question, he having been one of the
promoters of the scheme, did not confer on him a right to
sue those who signed it in their individual capacity. He
only acted, as it were, under the authority of the promo-
ters themselves, and the plaintiff might be said to have
appointed himself. To himself, therefore, he should go
for payment of his salary, if any was due."

LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER, AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-
TYNE JUNCTION RAILWAY.—We are much pleased to
find that there is every prospect of the disputes between
the directors of the Liverpool, Manchester, and New-
castle-upon-Tyne Junction Company being speedily
settled: The Newcastle section of the board having come
to the conclusion that the affairs of the company could
not proceed satisfactorily under the existing disunion, as-
sisted in getting up a requisition from the shareholders,
for a special general meeting for the purpose of reducing
the number of directors (that being the only legal course
open to them,) and their temporary reduction will be ef-
fected at the approaching meeting on the second of next
month, in case they receive the support of the share-
holders, of which, we believe, there can he no doubt.
Anonymous attacks are now being made against the par-
ties who took the step alluded to, with a view to injure
them in the estimation of the shareholders. The attacks
to which we allude have been circulated, and have also
appeared in Herapath's Journal, and are signed "a
Shareholder ;" and, we believe, they must emanate from
the party who indulged in the same disgraceful and un-
gentlemanly course on former occasions. The proceed-
ings, however, are not likely to misguide the shareholders,
but must recoil on the party under whose sanction they
appear. The Manchester section of the board has also
issued a circular, apparently for the purpose of producing
a similar effect. This circular is signed by seven di-
rectors, who hold amongst them eleven hundred and
eighty-foUr shares, whilst the interest of the Newcastle
section of the board consists of four thousand eight hun-
dred and sixty-one shares, a satisfactory pledge that their
own interests are bound up with those of the shareholders
generally. Out of the seven directors of the Manchester
section, some of them, we understand, occupied their
seats at the board for nearly six months after the amal-
gamation of the two companies, without having paid their
deposits.—Newcastle Journal.