The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-08-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY NONSENSE.

The following paragraph, purporting to be copied from
the British and Foreign Review, is one of many that are
running the round of the Newspapers, evidently written by
parties who know no more about railways than as many Chi-
nese mandarins :

;‘CANA LS AND RAILROADS.—The freight between Liver-
pool and Manchester is 10s per ton by the canal ; the cost of
maintaining the railroad is calculated at 10s 6cl per ton, and
the other expenses increase the amount to 81-d per ,cwt, or
13s 6d per ton. The railway receives, for conveying each
passenger from Liverpool to Manchester 4s. Now, allowing
twelve persons to weigh a ton, this would amount to 48s per
ton, while the canal only charges lOs per ton for that dis-
tance. The expense of maintaining the Grand Junction
Canal has been estimated at £260 per mile; that of the Ken-
net and Avon at £l7O per mile; and that of the Leeds and
Liverpool at £l5O per mile. The expense of maintaining the
Manchester and Liverpool Railway has *been estimated at
£650 per mile. The freight between Manchester and Lon-
don, by canal, is 65s per ton,- the distance being; 262 miles.
'l'he fare for each passenger, by the railroad front MancheS-
ter to London, will be, when the entire line shall be opened,
about £2 by the first-class carriages, and 30s by the second
class—something less than the proportion now charged be-
tween Manchester and Birmingham. This would be Callow-
ing twelve persons to weigh a ton) £24 per ton for the first-
class carriages, and £lB per ton for the second class.—British
and Foreign Review.
We believe there is scarcely one correct statement relating
to railways in the whole paragraph; but the most outrageously
extravagant is that which alleges the cost of maintaining the
Liverpool and Manchester rak_lway to be "calculated at 10s
6d per ton" on the traffic. The writer in the British and Fo-
reign Review may "calculate'.' after this fashion, for any
thing we know; but his conclusion is most strangely wide of
the mark. From the amount of receipts in the last half-year,
as detailed in the report, of which we gave an abstract on
Wednesday, the goods and coal carried on the railroad must
have been, during that that time, about 120,000 tons, besides
the whole of the passenger trains, which amount to many
thousand tons more. But the maintenance of the railway,
instead of costing upwards of 60,000 guineas, as it must have
done according to the "calculation" of the writer, was just
£4454 13s 10d, which, we believe, includes a portion of the
expense of re-laying the line with heavier rails. The fact is,
that the expense of maintenance of the railway, as "calcu-
lated" by the directors (rather more competent- parties than
the reviewer,) was about one shilling per ton. The rest of
the statements are almost equally absurd; and they are the
more inexcusable, as the admirable half-yearly reports of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, which furnish
correct information on these points, are accessible to every
body.—Manchester Guardian.

GRAND JUNCTION.—GRAND MISTAKE.—The Directors,
to do justice to Marshal Soult, fitted up one of the carriages
expressly for him. In their zeal, is'e are informed, they for-
got to notice that the carriage was called the " Waterloo."
0! fatal name. What an insult to a Frenchman! Happily,
however, the Mar,hal did not see it, and the Directors and all
the railroad establishments are safe.—Railway Magazine.
COUNTRY BANK NOTES.—An account of the aggregate
amount of notes circulated in England and Wales by private
banks and by joint-stock banks and their branches, distin-
guishing private front joint-stock banks, between the 31st
March and the 30th June, 1838, finm returns directed by 3
and 4 William IV c. &3:—Private banks. £7,383,247; joint-
stock bank5,•£4,362,256; total, £11,745,503.—This statement
exhibits a considerable increase on the return for the prece-
ding three months, viz. on private banks, £377,775 ; ortjoiut-
stock banks, £441,217.

On the 9th instant, a gentleman at Long Btickby, in a fit
of despondency, purchased of a druggist in the town three
ounces of oil of vitriol, all of which he attempted to swallow,
but was only able tc, take about half an ounce. As soon as
the act was committed he repented, and ran to a druggist,
who took him to the surgery of Mr. Dix, in the most excru-
ciating torments, and where he vomited great quantities of
blood. Mr. Dix and his assistants, by the most unremitting
attention and the greatest perseverance, literally drenched
him for several hours with the proper antidote—viz., the car-
bonate of magnesia mixed in milk. He has now, after the
acutest sufferings ever witnessed, recovered, and is truly
grateful for the means that were used for his preservation.—
Northampton Mercury.