The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-09-21 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

-The Trent Valley Railway was opened on Wednesday.
A portion of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway-
-from Burntisland to Cupar and Lindores—was opened on
.Friday.

The South Staffordshire report progress, and announce
that the portion of the line between Walsall and Bir-
mingham will be opened very shortly.
LIVERPOOL, ORMSKIRK AND PRESTON.—The works
of this line are being pushed forward with vigour. It is
said that the East Lancashire. the lessees of the line, in-
tend applying next session for a bill to construct an inde-
pendent station at Preston.
The dividend of the Liverpool and Glasgow is at the
rate of six per cent. per annum on all the stocks, clear of
income-tax. The meeting was made special to authorize
the conversion of shares into stock, and the amalgama-
tions with the Edinburgh and Bathgate and Wilsontown,
Morningside and Coltness' all which were agreed to.
A man, named Richard Lamburn, was killed on the line
of the London and North-western Railway, on Saturday.
He had been employed in fixing the wires of the electric
telegraph near the Ponsby station, and, crossing the line,
he was knocked down by an engine, and died almost im-
mediately from the injuries he received.
The far-famed Furness Abbey, once a, retired place,
has, since the opening of the Furness Railway, become
one of great bustle and animation. The house formerly
occupied by the farmer has been converted into a magni-
ficent hotel, and the railway which passes its noble front
brings pleasure-seekers, health-seekers, and antiquarians
from all parts of the country.
YORK AND NEWC ASTLE RAILWAY.—On Monday week,
a woman of the name of Peel, aged 78 years, lost her life
on a public crossing of this railway. Having waited till a
train of coal wagons had passed, the deceased attempted
to cross the rails, and not perceiving a passenger train
Proceeding in the contrary direction, she was struck down
by it and killed.
MANCHESTER AND SOUTHPORT RAILWAY.—The works
on this line are in full play. That portion of it which
will bring the Liverpool and Bury line through Wigan is
in the contractor's hands, and is to be opened simulta-
neously with the Liverpool and Bury. The portion be-
tween Wigan and Southport is expected to be opened in
twelve months, the remainder, from Wigan to Manches-
ter, when the tunnel is completed.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE ELECTRIC TELE-
GRAPH AND LOCOMOTIVES.—An electric telegraph is in
active preparation along the railway from Vienna to
Prague. When completed, every locomotive is to be fur-
nished with a small electric apparatus, by the aid of which

telegraph, and thus announce to every station the events
necessary to be known.

From official returns it appears that the amount of traffic
for the last week, on upwards of 3,152 miles of railway,
was £210,147, thus accounted for :—£117,846 for the con-
veyance of passengers only, £46,358 for the carriage of
goods, and a remainder of £45,943 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £25,860 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was about 2,525.
THE CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.—The portion of this
railway which continues the great north line from Carlisle
on to Beattock Bridge, in Scotland, was opened on Friday.
A large party started from Carlisle, in the morning, and on
arrival at Beattock were entertained at a very handsome
lunch, Mr. Hope Johnstone, the chairman of the line, pre-
siding. There were also present Major Hasell, Colonel
Lowther, and other distinguished persons. The opening
was without ostentation, but highly satisfactory.
SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—On Thursday, a great number
of persons were waiting at the new station at Hadleigh, on
the Eastern Union Railway, for the departure of an ex-
cursion train to visit the Ipswich regatta. The wind was
blowing furiously, and threw down in one mass about
thirty feet of wing wall, under which upwards of 150
persons were assembled to shelter themselves from the
gale. The scene was dreadful, and, to increase the deso-
lation, the platform gave way beneath the accumulated
weight. The consequences were disastrous ; more than
sixty persons are now under medical care. One old wo-
man had both legs fractured and severe wounds on the
head, and there is little hope of her surviving ; another
person fractured his collar-bone, and, in addition to several
whose legs were broken and ribs fractured, many received
serious wounds of the head, body, and limbs.
EDINBURGHWEEKLYREPORT.—TheCommittees of the
Directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow and North British
Railways held a meeting yesterday, which passed off most
satisfactorily ; we have every reason to say, that, within
a fortnight,.preliminaries for an union of the two under-
takings will be arranged. This will in all probability be
followed up by other amalgamations, all tending to unite
Scottish interests. This is as it should be. The Edin-
burgh and Northern Railway is to be opened to-day by
the members of the Exchange having been invited by the
directois to be present. There will be no meeting of
Exchange to-day. To-morrow, Saturday, will also be
kept a holiday.' The directors of the Edinburgh and
Northern gave a splendid dinner at Cupar, to upwards of
600 noblemen and gentlemen of the first influence, and
returned to Burntisland,. 244 miles, in one hour and a
half, by six o'clock in the evening.—Scottish Railway
Gazette.

IMPORTANT.—We have heard that a circular, which a
few days ago, was signed by about 150 of the largest
railway holders, was being sent round in Manchester and
the neighbourhood, to obtain more signatures for the
purpose of resisting the further payment of calls. With
this circular, we are informed, was joined a list of chairmen,
and other directors, who were then in arrear with their
calls, with the amount of the several defalcations. One,
we are told, was to the tune of £25,000. We have not
seen this circular ; but if it be true, the effect will be very
serious; inasmuch as it was admitted a few years back,
both by counsel and judge, that if any director sitting at
slay
11 was

ooard was in arrear with his calls, at the time a ca
made, the call itself was illegal, and the payment of it
could not be enforced. The case was the present West
London Railway against Holford. Upon this ground the
defendant made a stand ; but it was proved by the secre-
tary that no director present at the time of making the
call was in arrear, and therefore he lost his defence.—
Herapath's Journal.
DOVER RAILWAY.—At the half-yearly meeting held on
Thursday, the dividend was 21s. on the old shares, 13s. ld.
on the No. 1 shares, and Bs. on the No. 2 shares, being
at the rate of about 6l per cent. per annum. Not
expecting such a dividend, the shareholders were in high
spirits, and everything passed off well. Some references
were made to an amalgamation with the Brighton line by
one or more of the shareholders, at which the chairman
took an opportunity to observe, that he thought amalga-
mations had been carried too far ; he was very glad no
amalgamation had been come to with the Brighton ; and
he preferred the Dover being in an independent state.
Some questions were put by the Messrs. Beardshaw, of
Leeds, with regard to the cost, and time of completion of
the branch lines, to which the chairman would not venture
to give a definite answer, though very much pressed to do
so. He was averse to precipitation ; and said that large
sums would be saved by delay and the amendments of
the line. The whole arrears of the No. 4 shares, in
respect of calls on the Ist of July, were said to be
£35,196, and the present arrears on No. 4 only amounted
to £47,758. The payments of the arrears were said to be
coming in daily.
EXTENSION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—The ar-
rangements of the Electric Telegraph Company for the
transmission of ship news and commercial communication
between the principal seaports, the manufacturing and
commercial towns, and the metropolis, are in a state of
great forwardness. The system of telegraphic signals to
be used will be ouite distinct from that at present in oper-
ation, and the company intend having a room fitted up at
each telegraph station for the accommodation of sub-
scribers, and in which commercial news and intelligence
of public interest will be received and simultaneously ex-
hibited. Independent of the subscribers' rooms, offices
will be provided at the various stations for the transmission
and report of despatches, messages, &c., as at present.
The following is a list of the towns and seaports to which
it is expected the system will be extended early in the
ensuing year, viz. :—Barnsley, Birmingham, Bradford,
Bristol, Bridlington, Berwick,- Cambridge, Canterbury,
Cheltenham, Chester, Chesterfield, Chelmsford, Col-
-1 chester, Coventry, Deal, Dover, Derby, Darlington, Dor-
chester, Edinburgh, Folkestone, Gosport, Gloucester,
Glasgow, Halifax, Hertford, Hull, Huntingdon, Leeds,
Liverpool, Leicester, Lincoln, Lowestoft, Manchester,
Maidstone, Northampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Peter-
borough, Ramsgate, Rotherham, Rochdale, Stafford, St.
Ives, Southampton, Sheffield, Scarborough, Stamford,
and Tunbridge.
BOULOGNE AND AMIENS RAILWAY.—A special meet-
ing of this company was held on Tuesday last, at the.
Clarendon-rooms, Mr. D. Neilson in the chair. The
meeting was called to consider the present position of the
company, and the cause of the repeated delays in opening
the line. A resolution having been moved by Mr. Davis,
to the effect that the delay in opening the line was most
unsatisfactory, and that a committee of inquiry be ap-
pointed, Mr. Beloe remarked that no railway needed a re-
formation in its statistics so much as the Boulogne and
Amiens line ; £400,000 was the amount in the hands of
the directors ; 4,000,000 francs had been invested in the
French funds, and 450,000 francs in exchequer bills. The
interest in the first year was five per cent., or £5,000, and
the second year £lO,OOO was raised on the paid-up ca-
pital. No other moneys had been accounted for ; and the
sum now in the hands of the directors was very large.—
In answer to a question, Mr. Beloe stated that the chief
engineer had expressed his opinion that the portion of the
line as far as Nesle would be completed about the 15th of
October, and that the tunnel near Boulogne would be fi-
nished about spring, thus completing the entire line.
The resolution was then agreed, to, and Messrs. Mozley,
Devaux, Armstrong, and Neilson were nominated
as the committee of inquiry, and empowered to act with
the committee that may be formed in London and France.
After some further conversation, expressive of dissatisfac-
tion at the conduct' of the French directors; the meeting
terminated.

FATAL ACCIDENT, ON THE LANCASHIRE AND YORK-
SHIRE RAILWAY.—An accident, attended With the loss
of two lives, occurred on the line of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire, late the Manchester and Leeds Company, on
Thursday last. It appears that the one o'clock ex-
press train started about the 'usual time from Man-
chester for Leeds. The last carriage in the gain was
what is called a coupe, having two first class compart-
ments, and a second•class compartment in the centre.
The train, it would appear arrived at the Sowerby Bridge
Station, about two miles this side of the North Dean
Station, about two o'clock. The express train does not
usually stop at Sowerby Bridge, but it would seem that at
that station the accident was discovered, and the train was
immediately pulled up. From the most authentic accounts
it appears that at a distance of about two miles from
Sowerby Bridge the line of rails was broken, as is sup-
posed by the express train in question. The result was
that the hind carriage was dragged off the line. This was
not ascertained until the train had got through the tunnel
at Sowerby Bridge. Immediately the accident was dis-
covered, the guards applied the breaks, and the engine-

driver reversed his engine. The carriage which ran off the
'hne struck the station platform on the down side of the
line, then, after forcing the platform, the wheels of the
hind carriage got into the ash-pit, and it is supposed that
the collision was so great as to cause some of the wheels
to be partially detached from the carriage. In the hind
compartment of the last carriage it was ascertained that
there were two passengers, and in the front compartment
three. It is believed that in the centre or second class
compartment there was one person, who providentially
escaped without sustaining injury. The two gentlemen in
the hind compartment of the carriage, Captain Ellis and
his secretary, fortunately met with no material injury in
consequence of the carriage running off the rails. The
names of the three gentlemen who occupied the front of
the carriage were, Mr. Weston, (surveyor of customs),
Mr. Moon, (secretary of Mr. Weston), and Mr. Gillard,
(of the Electric Telegraph Company). At the distance of
about one hundred yards from the Sowerby Bridge Sta-
tion the three gentlemen who travelled in the first com-
partment of the hind carriage, Messrs. Weston, Moon,
and Gillard, were found lying together between the rails.
Mr. Moon was slightly injured ; Air. Weston sustained
very severe injuries, in consequence of which he died the
next morning, at eight o'clock. Mr. Gillard was heard,
after being found; to breathe only once, when he died.
One of the feet of Mr. Weston was completely severed,
and one of the. feet of Mr. Gillard was found fast in one
of the " points" of the line. It is supposed that it was
knocked off in his endeavour to extricate himself from
the carriage. The rails of the line had been examined on
the morning of the day upon which the accident happened,
and were not thought to be in a state requiring repair.
It is supposed that the rails were broken at the point in
question by the express train passing over it. After the
bodies were found the train was again put in motion, and
some of the passengers went on to Edinburgh.

POLITICAL

MISCELLANY.

Anticipating that Mr. Cobden will elect to sit for the
West. Riding of Yorkshire, the electors of Stockport have
presented a requisition to Mr. Alderman Kershaw.
COST OF A NOMINEE.—Lord Fitzhardinge spent twenty-
five thousand pounds at the late election of West Glou-
cestershire.

Mr. Cowan can now take his seat for Edinburgh, the
Lords of the Treasury having cancelled that part of the
contract with the Messrs. Cowan in which the new mem-
ber for Edinburgh is concerned.
CURIOUS DEMONSTRATION.—It will be recollected
that at the recent election for Shrewsbury, Mr. Slaney,
the Whig candidate, was returned by a majority of three

only over Mr, Tomline, the former Conservative mem-
ber, one of the 112 who, without any appeal to the con-
stituency, went over with Sir Robert Peel. This triumph
of Mr. Slaney was celebrated at Shrewsbury, on Thurs-
day week, and a most splendid demonstration it was.
The flags and banners were new, and presented on the
occasion, and about 7,000 persons took part in the pro-
ceedings, Mr. Slaney being accompanied by the Hon. T.
Kenyon, (son of Lord Kenyon,) T. C. Eyton, Esq., and
numerous other gentlemen. The demonstration con-
cluded with a magnificent banquet, at which Mr. Kenyon
was in the chair). Now comes the " remarkable" part
of the affair. It appears that among the leading persons
were a great many Conservatives, and the ground upon
which they justify such a course is, that it is infinitely
more desirable to have Mr. Slaney for a representative
than Mr. Tomline, who has deserted his colours, and upon
whom no dependence can be placed when the battle of
the constitution is again to be fought.' Our contempo-
rary, the Shropshire Conservative, who has always
avowed old Tory principles, puts the matter thus in the
strongest light, and goes so far as to gay that Mr. Slaney
is a a Protectionist, an enemy to any endowment of the
Roman Catholic priesthood—in a word a staunch Pro-
testant, and a Conservative. With our contemporary,
however, we have read Mr. S.'s speech at the dinner, and
confess that we cannot arrive at the same conclusion.
The hon. member " burkes" the question of Whig and
Conservative altogether, as indeed was to. be expected
looking at his new allies, and the only point on which he
expressed concurrence was the improvement of the
dwellings and condition of the poor, respectirig which he
paid a deserved compliment to the Earl of Lincoln and
Lord Ashley, as well as Lord Morpeth. It is all very
well, then, to describe Mr. Slaney as a Conservative, but
will he own the " soft impeachment ?" Votes in Parlia-
ment will be the best test.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

DONCASTER RACES.—The St. Leger Stakes of Fifty
Sovereigns each, h ft ; for three-year-olds ; colts, 8s 71b ;
and fillies, Bst 21b ; the second to receive 300, and the
third 100 sovs. St. Leger course. One hundred and
forty six subs :

Lord Eglintoun's Van Tromp

(J. Marson) 1
9

Mr. Pedley's Cossack
Lord Eglintoun's Eryx
The following also started, but were not placed—Planet,
Philosopher, Foreclosure, and Jovial. Betting.-5 to 4on
Cossack (t), 4 to 1 agst Van Tromp, 11 to 2 agst Fore-
closure, 7 to 1 agst Planet, (taken freely), 12 to 1 agst
Eryx, and 25 to 1 agst Philosopher. Cossack took a clear
lead at starting, with Van Tromp and Eryx second and
third, and Jovial fourth. In this position they made
running at a good pace right into the distance, when Van
Tromp went up, caught and headed Cossack at the stand ;
a severe.struggle ensued, but Van Tromp won easily at last
by twol, engths ; Eryx a bad thir•3.
SETTLING FOR THE LEGER.—Thursday's racing was
appointed to commence at three o'clock, in order to give
sufficient time for settling on the St. Leger, which, as
usual, took place this morning. With the exception of
one or two absentees, who had large investments, all
Passed off very satisfactorily. We heard of no great

Iv' inners. Lora Eglintoun, and his friends, no doubt net
a small stake, and Mr. Pedley and his friends cannot be
great losers ; but the probability is they must have a con-
siderable amount to their credit, when it is considered
the large odds they must have obtained about Foreclosure,
and with the opportunity of edging on such easy terms as
4 to 1 and 5 to I.—.Doncaster Gazette.