The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-06-15 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction Rail-
way, and Chester and Birkenhead Railway Purchase or
Amalgamation, was read a third time in the House of
Commons yesterday week.
As soon as the Newcastle and Berwick Railway is
opened, the whole distance between Edinburgh and Lon-
don, by express trains, will (says the Newcastle Journal)
be accomplished in thirteen hours.
The Government have brought forward a motion to
suspend progress in the parliamentary proceedings of all
lines introduced during the present session. That some
such step must be taken, under the existing difficulties of
the country, is too obvious.

At the meeting of shareholders in the Birmingham and.
Oxford Railway on Saturday, at Birmingham, it was re-
solved to adjourn the meeting until Saturday next in con-
sequence of the matters now pending in the House of
Lords with reference to the railway.
On Saturday and Sunday week, collisions took place
between the Irishmen and Highlandmen employed on the
Edinburgh and Northern Railway.. About half a dozen
of the ringleaders were apprehended; and, on the following
Tuesday, two of them were sentenced to forty, and two
to sixty, days' imprisonment. On Tuesday week, about
300 of the men at Kingstown struck for a rise of wages,
but the greater part have since resumed their labour.

MALICIOUS CONDUCT.—The Edini;iirgiMTGUsgow
Railway was, through the instrumentality of some diabo-
lical person, placed in imminent peril yesterday morning
week, several large coping-stones having been removed
from the boundary-wall, and placed upon the rails. For-
tunately no serious accident occurred to any person, 'but
an engine of a goods train was much damaged, and the;
waggons nearly thrown off the line.
MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE.
RAILWAY.—At a special meeting of the shareholders held
at Manchester on Thursday, Mr. Chapman in the chair,
a bill was approved authorising the purchase of Lord
Ellesmere's interest in the Manchester South Junction
and Altrincham Railway by the above company, in con-
junction with the London and North Western Railway
Company. The purchase is to be £62,000, each company
to pay half the sum, both having an equal interest in the-
purchase.
The committee of the Lords on the Amalgamation of
the Birmingham and Oxford and Dudley lines have de-
clared that the Standing Orders have not been complied
with, by the omission to get the sanction of the share-
holders to the bill- The Great Western counsel contended
that the Standing Orders did not apply to such a bill, but
the committee decided the contrary. An attempt will be
made to get the Standing Orders dispensed with, but this
of course cannot be expected to succeed. The decision
being maintained, practically there is an end of all the
disputes, parliamentary and legal.
The PARLIAMENTARY PROGRESS Of the week has been
as follows. In the LORDS :—Preambles proved.—Cork
and Bandon ; Cork, Blackrock, and Passage ; Glasgow,
Barrhead, and Neilston Direct and Glasgow Southern
Terminal; Midland Great Western (Ireland), (Extension
from Athlone to Galway) ; Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow,
and Dublin ; Windsor, Staines, and South-Western (Rich-
mond to Windsor.) In the Commons :—Preambles proved.
Caledonian (Edinburgh Station and Branches to Granton,
and to the Edinburgh and Glasgow); Clarence and Leeds
and Thirsk (Amalgamation) ; Eastern Union (Manningfree
to Harwich) ; East Lancashire (Deviation and Rawtenstall
Coal Branch) ; Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding
(Burnley and Colliery Branches) ; Great Northern (Devi-
ation between Grantham and York), partly; Liverpool,
Manchester, and Newcastle-on-Tyne Junction Amend-
ment, &c.) : London and Blackwell : London; Brighton,
and South Coast (London Bridge Termini Enlargement);
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire (Station at Shef-
field), (Sheffield Canal Purchase) ; Midland (Extension
from and near Leicester to Hitchin), (Gloucester and
Stonehouse Junction) ; Northern Counties Union (Devia-
tion.)

CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY BILL.—Lord
Rendlesham reported, that, in the case of the Chester and
Holyhead Railway (extension at Chester and Holyhead,
&c.) Bill, the committee had divided the bill into two,
and had proceeded with such part of the same as had no
reference to any works at Holyhead. That the additional
capital required to be raised is £50,000, the amount of
loan which they are empowered to raise being £16,666,
when one half of the entire capital shall have been paid.
up. That inasmuch as the objects of the bill are to en-
able the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company to alter
the levels of part of that line, and to make a short exten-
sion of it at Chester, it did not appear to the committee
that 2d 3d 4th sth and 6th sections of the 99th " Standing
Order " were applicable to the cas ; and that there did not
appear to be any peculiar difficulty in effecting the pro-
posed alterations and extension. That the proposed al-
terations in the levels will involve the necessity of extend-
ing two tunnels, one of 290 yards : the length of the tun-
nel when so extended will be 530 yards, breadth 24 feet,
and height 22 feet; and the other fora distance of 250
yards : the length of the latter when extended will be 400
yards, breadth 24 feet, height 22 feet : and also the con—
struction of an additional tunnel 220 yards, breadth 24
feet, height 22 feet. The strata, the gradients, and the
curves are, however, generally favourable—the steepest
gradient being 1 in 100, and the smallest radius of a curve
one mile where the levels are to be altered. That
the length of the proposed extension of twenty-five
chains, and the portion of the railway whereon the
levels are to be altered is 201 miles ; and it is proposed. to
construct the same on the narrow gauge of 4 feet 8 inches.
But the committee are of opinion that the £50,000 capi-
tal required to be raised will be fully adequate for the con-
struction and completion of the proposed works; and that
they are quite satisfied of the fitness in an engineering
point of view, of the proposed extension. Lord Rendles-
ham further reported that they had divided and amended
the preamble of the bill, so as to exclude all mention of
the proposed harbour and extension railway at Holyhead ;
and that they had examined the allegations of the bill as
so amended, and found the same to be true: '

RAILWAY SPECULATION.—The select committee ap-
pointed to consider the propriety of suspending further
proceedings on railway bills during the present session
have made their report. We have the result in the shape
of 11 resolutions. The Ist proposes to permit the pro-
moters of any railway bills in the present session, after the
2d reading, or after any subsequent stage, to suspend
further proceedings, with the option of proceeding as from
that point, with the same bill, in the next session. The
2d resolution provides for a return of the parliamentary
deposits in the interim. The 3d opens a new field. A
clause is suggested for insertion in every railway bill of
the present and future sessions, " prohibiting the payment
of any interest or dividend, in respect of calls (except the
interest by way of discount on subscriptions pre-paid,
agreeably to 8 Vic., c. 16, s. 24) out of the capital autho-
rised to be raised in such bill." The 4th resolution de-
clares that existing railway companies applying for powers
to enter upon new works, shall furnish subscription con-
tracts for three fourths of the additional capital required.
The sth embodies a prohibition of railway companies pay-
ing the deposits for a new line out of capital, raised for
the purpose of one already sanctioned. The 6th declares
that companies shall not be permitted to exercise their
powers to purchase, sell, lease, or amalgamate (if acquired
in the present session,) until they shall have paid up, and
duly expended one-half of the capital they are au-
thorised to raise. The 7th resolution intimates that
in future sessions "no powers of purchase, sale, lease,
or amalgamation shall be contained in any act for
the construction of a railway." The Bth declares
that
withoutchprupoofweersf
thsehadllueneoxtpeanfdtietruwrae of rds be granted
s
compall is
of
the capital authorised to be raised. The 9th resolution
declares that henceforward no railway
to
Ave
permitted, except for the execution of its original line,
guarantee the interest on shares issued to create additiona
capital, or to guarantee rent or dividend to any other rail-
way company, until the guranteeing company shall have
completed and opened its original line. The 10th and
11th resolutions provide that in future the capital of the
amalgamated companies shall not exceed the sum of their
capitals when separate ; and that when one railway is pa'
chased by another, the addition made to its capital by the
purchasing company shall not exceed that of the line pur-
chased, without regard to any premium paid on the pur'
chase. Thus the report contains no allusion to any relaxa-
tion of the conditions, as respects time, under which the
projects sanctioned in the last year and the present are to
be completed.
DUTCH RHENISH RAILWAY. On Thursday, a meeting
of the provisional committee of shareholders in this rail-
way, was held at the Clarendon-rooms, Charles Holland,
Esq., in the chair. Robertson Gladstone, and T. F. Ben-
nett, Esqrs., two of the newly-appointed Commissiaries of
the company, were present. Mr. Beloe, the Hon. Secre-
tary, read the report, which stated that the committee,
having obtained the confirmation of the sEveral arrangf-
ments, as intimated in their report of the 12th of April;
considered their functions terminated. They acknowledge°
the ready and cordial support of the shareholders, and eX
pressed special obligations to Henry Harrison, Esq., one
of their colleagues, for his kindness in proceeding to Hal'
lan., at much personal inconvenience, to attend the se"
cial geneial meeting, at which the appointment of ":
Reid, Esq., to the office of Director in London, and that
of Messrs. Robertson Gladstone, Elias Mosley, Thom
Bouch, and T. F. Bennett, as new Commissaries, who'
conjointly with John Moss, Esq., form the resident Cony
missaries in Liverpool, and who henceforward are meta'
bers of the London board, was confirmed ; and in addition
o which, a resolution was passed enabling the Director;
to treat for the junction of the Dutch Rhenish Railirg"
with the Prussian line, whereby a continuous communie
tion with Cologne and the interior will hereafter be
,_ob-
tained. To effect this, Mr. Leo Lippman has visits
Prussia upon this important mission, and the commit,
w"
,
trust that at an early meeting of the proprietors a schel33
will be submitted for their consideration and appro."'
Mr. Harrison also arranged with the head director that
auxiliary office should be established in Liverpool, for tlies
the use of the resident Commissaries, to which office
of all minutes will be regularly transmitted, and the neigh'
bouriug shareholders be enabled to obtain such informs,
tion and assistance as they may require. For the &i,
ment of this object, the Liverpool Commissaries had ';')f
quested the committee to secure the valuable service
the present secretary, Mr. Beloe, and enquiries addrer,s;
to that gentleman will meet with his immediate attentllich
The rigid examination that the concerns of the 13
inT
Rhenish Railway have undergone, induced the coraP' ei,
,t 0
to consider that, despite of adverse circumstances, and tle
delays which had occurred, there was every reasona°_,
prospect of the ultimate success of the undertaking, P.
vided it be carried out in its integrity, as originally pry
jetted, and its resources fully developed. The balayiy,
now in hand (including the bonds), exceeding in v_a be
£400,000, ought, in the opinion of the committee,
tile
available, and render further calls unnecessary, unt,', oat
entire railway shall be so nearly completed as to ho I%e
a prospect of early and remunerating returns. After,bvias
speaking, principally of a congratulatory character,
resolved that the report should be printed, and cir
among the shareholders, with a request that they
the
forward to Mr. Beloe their proxies to be used at th
suing annual meeting of the company.