The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-02 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

The Lynn and Ely railway-was opened on Monday.
The Rock Insurance Company, whose capital is invest-
ed in government securities to the amount of nearly
£3,000,000, are about to seek for powers to invest the same
in the securities of " established railway or other compa-
nies incorporated by act of parliament."
A passenger on the Great Western Railway travelled a
few days since, in the ordinary trains, seven hundred and
thirteen miles within twenty-four consecutive hours. The
average speed, deducting 4 hours 13 minutes, lost in wait-
ing for trains, was 36 miles per hour.
TRENT VALLEY RAILWAY.—We understand that the
Post-office authorities have at length given notice to the
London and North-Western Company to transfer the
mail trains on the Ist December to the Trent Valley line,
and the line will consequently be opened for through traf-
fic on that day.
DISCHARGE OF lIANDS.—Not only are the Birkenhead
and Cheshire Junction Railway works now entirely sus-
pended, but the contractors for the line from Liverpool
to Bury have discharged more than half the workmen
employed thereon, and the works of the London and
North Western in this neighbourhood are judiciously pro-
gressing at less than half their former speed.
On the evening of Friday last, the centering of the
third arch on the north side of the Calder Vale Viaduct,
Burnley, was thrown down by a sudden gust of wind from
the south-west, just as the men were leaving off work in
the evening, and only one man was up among the timbers
at the time, who escaped with only a slight bruise on his
leg. The damage is estimated at upwards of £l5O.
SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.— A morning paper has
been duped into giving currency to a report that the
South-Eastern Railway was in the iron hands of the fol-
lowers of the law. It is perhaps unnecessary to contra-
dict these whispers, but as they have been repeated in
quarters where it could hardly be expected that such idle
rumours would have reached, we beg to state, upon autho-
rity, that there is not a particle of truth in the report.
Considerable sensation has been created by the applica-
tion to " a Judge at Chambers," to tax the bills of an
eminent West-end solicitor against an old Railway Com-
pany. The bills are greater than any that have ever ap-
peared in a taxing office, extending over some years ; and
report says, they involve about £200,000. Anxiety is felt
by other professional gentlemen lest the example should
be followed, as it has always been understood that the
scale of taxation is not a remunerative one.

From official returns it appears that the amount of traf-
fic for the last week, on upwards of 3,181 miles of rail-
way, was £193,723, thus accounted for :-100,871 for the
conveyance of passengers only, £49,926 for the carriage
of goods, and a remainder of £42,856 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £30,478 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was about 2,525. In such times
as the present, this amount of increase is a most cheering
sign that, at least, the panic has not frightened away rail-
way travellers.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—A plate-layer on the Liverpool and
Manchester line, whose name was Jabez Woods, was on
Friday killed at Eccles. The early mail train wa^ coming
in from Newton, and the man seemed apparently to have
forgotten it, for he did not seem to be conscious of its ap-
proach until it was within a short distance of hiPi. Still
he had ample time to have stepped out of the way had he
been prompt in his movements ; but the nearness of the
rushing train seemed to paralyse him, and the pacing en-
gine struck him, knocked him sideways, and killed him on
the spot.
AMBERGATE, &C. RAILWAY.—A meeting of share-
holders was held on Wednesday, at the London Tavern,
London, for the purpose of considering the terms offered
by the Great Northern Company for leasing the line,
which are to be submitted to a general meeting of pro-
prietors on the sth proximo. Resolutions were passed,
stating that in the opinion of the meeting it was desirable
to reduce the magnitude of the undertaking, within the
limits prescribed by the financial capabilities of the pro-
prietary and by the actual requirements of the district for
rcaeipltwaL allianceacomm wlocaittihonth;
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the principle of an expenditure reduced by three-fifths,
the abandonment of a heavy and needless section of the
line, the security of a guaranteed minimum dividend, and
the option of great prospective advantages; and urgently
requesting the shareholders to support, personally or by
proxy, an alliance with the Great Northern Company, in
the absence of any more eligible offer from other
companies.