The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

The preamble of the Mold Railway Bill has been de-
clared proved.
The first sod of the Killarney Junction Railway was cut
on Wednesday, by the Earl of Kenmare.
On Tuesday, an experimental trip was made upon the
Southampton and Dorchester Railway.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.—It is said that a great railway
man has borrowed £lOO,OOO for two years, at ten per cent.
per annum.—Herapath.
IRISH RAILWAY BILLS.—The promoters of Irish Rail-
way Bills have no reason to complain of the facilities
afforded to the progress of these bills. This Session no
fewer than fourteen have already passed the committees
upon merits in the Commons.
We find from the Railway Gazette that my Lord the
King sways an iron empire of 1,5311 miles in length, with
an annual revenue of £2,184,832. When all the lines in
the Hudson empire are complete, it is expected that
the revenue will be five millions.

Six persons were convicted at the Central Criminal
Court, on Monday, of having stolen a large quantity of
goods from the Camden station of the London and North-
Western Railway Company (from the waggons of Messrs.
Crowley and C. 0., the carriers), and sentenced to seven
years' transportation.
MANCHESTER AND LEEDS.—The Board of Management
have just resolved to suspend all new works in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, which are not likely to be imme-
diately productive. The (.02) third shares and the
West Riding Union shares are consequently relieved of
Calls ; those of the fifths will not amount to more than
30s. per share.
On Thursday, the bridge of the Great Western Railway
at Hanwell was destroyed by fire, supposed to be the act
of an incendiary. It burst forth before the twelve o'clock
up train from Reading reached it—a most fortunate cir-
cumstance, as the weight of the train would have proba-
bly broken through the smouldering rafters, and a great
loss of life ensued.

THE DERBY DAY.—The Epsom line was so managed,
that hundreds got into the trains at Epsom without pay-
ing; and on their arrival at London-bridge, after waiting
patiently whilst fewer than half-a-dozen men attempted to
collect tickets and money from 43 carriages (many with
70 people in each), the whole body of passengers opened
the doors on the off-side, and marched up the line without
paying or leaving their tickets!
The Manchester and Southampton, in no wise dis-
heartened at their second failure, have resolved to go be-
fore parliament again next year. Mr. R. Stephenson,
with characteristic frankness, admitted that the responsi-
bility of failure rested with him, and said that he would
repair the error as well as he could, and would himself
bear all the expenses of passing standing orders in the
next session.
The Railway Chronicle, of Saturday, in an article on
the defeat of the narrow gauge party in parliament, states
that it sees " nothing to prevent the broad gauge travel-
ling to the north indefinitely far." The Chronicle is a
strong advocate of narrow gauge interests, and concludes
its remarks as follows :—" The better cause, in the worse
hands, has now lost all chance of success. The cause of
uniform gauge in the north is lost."
The immediate cause of the stoppage of the Croydon
Atmospheric was the condition imposed by the Govern-
ment Inspector of having a second junction at the point
where the Croydon line diverges from the Brighton, be-
fore he would sanction the opening of the Epsom. He
deemed this necessary for public safety. But this was
found to be impracticable, unless the Atmospheric was
actually taken up at the point. The directors, therefore,
had only the option of retaining the Atmospheric and
giving up the traffic of the Epsom, or opening the line
under the conditions imposed by the Railway Board.
SOUTH YORKSHIRE RAILWAYS.—We rejoice to an-
nounce that the committee of the House of Commons
have sanctioned the South Yorkshire Railway, with the
exception of the portions of the line projected between
Worsbro' and Penistone an& between Mexbro' and Ro-
therham. But the Committee having also granted the
Barnsley Junction (applied for by the Sheffield and Man-
chester Railway), there will now be a continuous line of
rails from Doncaster through Barnsley and Penistone to
Manchester ; and it is left to the railway commissioners to
say upon what terms the South Yorkshire shall run their
trains on the Midland line to Masbro'. These arrange-
ments provide for Doncaster the westerly communication
which it so much requires, and fully open the South York-
shire Coal Field to the Great Northern, Midland, and
Sheffield and Manchester Railways.
FALSE PROPHECIES IN 1834.—A Mr. Cort predicted
in 1834, only thirteen years ago, as follows, in a work he
called Railroad Imposition detected :'—" Long before
the Birmingham is ready, such are the improvements now
making in canals, not only may the charge be expected
to be many times less than the railway, but the time now
lost will be considerably saved; and as a proof of the
impotency of the Manchester and Liverpool to compete
with water lines, it has not been able to obtain at the end
of three years, three months and a half, much above one-
sixth of the whole traffic ; nor even that, without a total
failure as to profit. But granting the Birmingham secured
only one-half instead of a sixth, the income estimated at
£92,820 would be redaced to £46,410. The only chance,
therefore, for the latter railway in the waggon department,
must be confined to goods requiring extraordinary expe-
dition and these, comparatively, are very few. The
Great Western, though probably it may reach as far as
Bath from Bristol, after having, like a mole, explored its
way through tunnels, long and deep, the shareholders who
travel by it will be so heartily sick, what with foul air,
smoke, and sulphur, that the very mention of a railway
will be worse than ipecacuanha, especially when the only
prospect they can find the least cheering in the midst of
all this derangement of their stomachs, will be a grd'hite
tramway, actually in operation, along side of their own
dose of ipecacuanha, ready to follow up the black draught,
so as to get rid of every particle of obstruction with which
the bottoms of their pockets might be otherwise afflicted."