The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-11 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY HALF-
YEARLY MEETING.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company was held
on Friday, the ith inst., at Dee's Royal Hotel, Birmingham ;
and we have again to congratulate our friends upon the flat-
tering prospects which the experience of this great under-
taking holds out to those interested in railway property.
From the report read by the secretary it appears that the
nett profit of the half year ending 31st December (always
the most unfavourable for traffic on railieays) is £145,555
ss. 9d., out of which the directors have declared a dividend
of 8 per cent. upon the capital, or 4 per cent. for the half
year. This dividend, be it observed, is upon the full amount
of the shares, although of the £lOO shares only £9O has been
called up, and of the £25 only £5 per share ; so that in re-
ality the dividend upon the amount paid up is considerably
more than 8 per cent.

We may refer to some points in the report in a future
publication. This week we are much pressed for space.

MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM EXTENSION

RAILWAY.

This undertaking, after the unparalleled expenses incurred
in parliament for three sessions, has at last been suffered to
drop through ; no notice of a bill for the present session
having been given up to the last day for receiving petitions.

PROGRESS OF THE WORKS ON THE CHESTER
AND BIRKENHEAD. RAILWAY.

The most important and expensive works required in the
formation of this line of railway are fast approaching towards
completion. The earthwork is far advanced, and had it not
been for the unparelled wetness of the last six months, the
excavations and embankments would have been already
finished ; but, although this cause has retarded the earth-
work, the weather has been highly favourable for prosecuting
the brickwork and masonry, and little is now left undone in
that department, except a few occupation bridges for the use
of the landowners.

The principal structure on the line is the viaduct over the
Ellesmere and Chester Canal at Moston, which consists of
eleven arches. The centre one is what is called a skew arch,
being built at an angle of 48 degrees with the line of the
canal. The crown of the arch is 36 feet above the surface of
the water in the canal, and measures 52 feet in span. The
other ten land arches are 20 feet span, and thehighest is 44
feet above the level of the ground.
The foundation for this erection was very bad, being what
is commonly called quicksand, and subject to be flooded by
the " Hundred Brook." It therefore required making good
by piling, planking, covering with conceete and invert arches
between the piers. These piers are now all built, and the
arches turned, and the parapet walls are all that are required
to complete the structure.

The centreings of the smaller arches were removed as fast
as the arches were closed, and that of the large arch, after
remaining a few weeks, was struck ten days ago. It must
be gratifying to the proprietors, and equally creditable to the
builder, to learn that in a work of such magnitude, not the
least appreciable subsidence has taken place.
The next step we understand will be to commence the
erection of booking offices and coach sheds at the terminus.
It is probable that these may be completed simultaneous with
the opening of the line. In the mean time, however, the
business
the company may proceed with temporary sta-
nofg
tions, which will be quite sufficient during the summer
months. The object ought, and we trust will be, to open
the line as soon as possible; and the public, if this accom-
modation is afforded them, will gladly put up for a time at
least with any little inconveniences which may arise from the
want of waiting rooms, and other luxuries of the sort, which
railway companies are in the habit of affording Weal.

ILWAY TRAFFIC.
raga:int..)

IP.mile
pr.wk.

p. day.

Passeng.
per day.

CELEBRATION OF THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE
IN LIVERPOOL.

Notwithstanding the unexpected appointment of the nup-
tials of our gracious Queen and his Royal Highness Prince
Albert, to take place a day sooner than was anticipated, and
the consequent want of time for preparations on an extensive
scale, this town exhibited an extraordinary degree of loyalty
and good feeling on the occasion, all classes, so far as their
means were available, participating in the joyous, and we
may add, the blameless festivities of the day, which was un-
usually propitious for the season. Between eight and nine
o'clock there was a smart shower of rain, but soon after-
wards the sun shone out from a cloudless sky, with auspicious
warmth and splendour ; the streets, washed by the rains, were
clean and dry, and the whole town, from the multiplicity of
flags, banners, and streamers that were every where displayed,
and the general turn-out of the inhabitants, young and old,
presented a very gay' and animated appeatinCe.

Long before dawn, school-boys, and other youths, elated
with the coming joys of a holiday, brought out their little
cannons, pistols, and other explosive engines, which, by day-
break, they began to fire off in continuous succession, in all
quarters of the town, much to the amusement of themselves
and the enthusiastic in the cause, and no less to the annoy-
ance of thousands of the lukewarm and the lazy, who were
startled from their slumbers by the unwonted and ceaseless
concussion and vibration of windows and even of walls. The
bells of the several churches filled up each pause between by
" chiming" and " pealing," at a most inveterate rate, which
was kept up at intervals throughout the whole of the day.
Several vessels in the river also fired off their " great guns"
at intervals. At at early, hour, too, workmen were seen
busily employed with ladders and tools in fixing, in the prin-
cipal shoping streets, the apparatus for splendid illuminations
by gas, in various devices, which we shall hereafter notice.
Not the least interesting feature of the day was the avidity
with which loving couples, following the august and honoura-
ble example of our youthful Queen and her royal consort,
thronged to the several churches as simultaneous votaries of
Hymen. The general feeling was, in the sympathy with
royalty, to renounce all single blessedness, for connubial fe-
licity. Many a long-married couple resolved to have a sort
of second wedding ; and many a prolonged courtship, that
might not otherwise have terminated for years to come, was
brought to an amicable compromise, to the infinite satisfac-
tion and delight of hundreds of before disconsolate spinsters,
youthful and aged. The general feeling, indeed, appeared
to be—

Let those now married, wedded be again ;

And single youths and damsels now be twain.

The doors of the parish churches were, about ten o'clock,
thronged with spectators to witness the entrance or exit of
the numerous couples who flocked to the altar in holiday
attire.

Divine worship took place in the several churches and dis-
senting places of worship in the morning, and high mass was
performed at the Catholic chapels, where also " God save
the Queen" was sung, as arranged by Sir G. Stevenson.
The principal streets were decorated with flags, and the
footwalks thronged by continuous streams of individuals of
all ranks, promenading, or viewing the preparations for the
illuminations in the evening. The principal shops were
closed throughout the town, in respect for the occasion, as
well as to afford a holiday to those who would otherwise be
confined behind the counter. In this respect the masters,
with very few exceptions, evinced at once their loyalty and
their liberality. Of the shops opened, or partially so, the
principal were those of the confectioners, the print-sellers
(with portraits of the royal couple), and the dealers in fancy
wares, including white favours, artificial roses, ribbons, and
nuptial medals, of which a considerable number were worn
on the breasts of the loyal. Flags were displayed at all the
public buildings, churches, and institutions. The inns also
showed their colours on this occasion.

Owing to the shortness of the notice of the royal marriage,
the benefit societies of the town found it impossible to make
the necessary preparations for a procession, in which they
would otherwise gladly have joined. One society, however,
made a resolute and effective endeavour to show their good-
will on the occasion—" The Church of England Total Ab-
stinence Society." At about ten o'clock in the morning a
number of the junior and senior members assembled in
Queen's-square, and afterwards walked in procession through
the principal streets in the town. They were headed by the
royal standard, and a band of music in uniform attire. Ano-
ther military brass band brought up the rear. Almost every
member had either a small white flag, with a St. George's
cross, trimmed with Flac, or a flag emblematic of the society,
with a suitable inscription. Each member wore a white fa-
vour (a rose or a rosette of white ribbon), and many displayed
handsome " temperance" and " nuptial" medals. The pro-
cession was followed by a lithographic printing press, on a
spring cart, from the•establishment of Mr. Doyle, of South
John-street, by which many thousand bills were printed, as
it moved along, and distributed—to the following effect :

" Liverpool, February 10th, 1840,

" Issued during the procession 'from the Lithographic
Printing Press of Mr. Doyle, 20, Clarendon-rooms, South
John-street. In commemoration of the Royal Nuptials, this
day, the bearer will be entitled to a Lithographic Portrait
of Prince Albert, by application on Monday, the 2d of March
next, at the Lithographic Printing Office, as above."

The crushing and scrambling to obtain these " promissory
notes," was exceedingly amusing ; and we should think Mr.
Doyle will have (as the Yankees would say) pretty considera-
ble hard work to honour the whole of them by the appointed
time. The procession, though of but one society, occupied
the whole length of Castle-street, and the appearance of the
whole was highly-respectable and interesting.
The following is a list of the displays in some of the most
public thoroughfares :