The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-29 00:00:00

MIDLAND COUNTIES' RAILWAY

Yesterday, a meeting of the Liverpool proprietors in the
Midland Counties' Railway Company, was held in the Cla-
rendon Roams, South John-street, for the purpose of con-
sidering the propriety of acceding to the proposition involved
in the following circular : _ _

" Leicester. 22nd October, 1841.
SIR,—" I am directed to inform you that a Special General
Meeting of the Proprietors of the Midland Counties Railway
Company will be held at the Railway Station, Derby, on
Friday, the sth of November next, at one o'clock, for the
purpose of considering and determining on the expediency of
authorising the directors, in concurrence with the other rail-
way companies interested in the completion of the line of
railway between London and Newcastle, to adopt measures
for forwarding an application to parliament in the next ses-
sion for an act to make a junction railway between the Great
North of England Railway at Darlington, and the Durham
Junction Railway, for which the requisite notices have been
given, either by guranteeing to the subscribers to such under-
t &sing a certain amount of profit. or by such other means as
may be calculated to effect the desired object.
" Shareholders who do not attend the general meeting in
person may vote by proxy, each of such proxies being a pro-
prietor of one or more share or shares ; and each proxy must
be transmitted to the secretary of the company five days at
least before the holding of the meeting at which such proxy
is intended to be used.

" I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
J. F. BELL, Secretary."
J. CROPPEIL, Esq. was called to the chair; and he com-
menced the proceedings by reading the advertisement con-
vening the meeting, after which he read the above circular,
issued by the directors of the Midland Counties'. The cir-
cular, the chairman added, contained the following explana-
tions of the scheme : _ .

"The projected Junction Railway to which the above
notice relates will commence at the present terminus of the
Great North of England Railway at Darlington, and will for
the first fifteen miles (as far as Sincliff) adopt a line for
making which powers have already been granted by Parlia-
ment, in the Great North of England Railway Act. From
Sincliff a new line will be taken, which partially adopting the
Durham Junction Railway, will join the Branding Junction
Railway at a point nearly equidistant from Newcastle, South
Shields, and Sunderland, to each of which towns the Brand-
ied Junction already affords adequate means of railway com-
munication. At Newcastle a union will be effected with the
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, and thus the only link will
also be furnished which is now wanting to complete the chain
of railway between Carlisle and the South of England.
" The cost of the projected railway, according to an esti-
mate very carefully made by Mr. Robert Stephenson, will
not exceed £500,000. The necessary plans have already
been lodged, and the requisite notices given.
It is proposed to raise the capital in 20,000 shares of £25
each, and in order to induce capitalists to come forward at
once to take the shares without delay, a dividend will be
guaranteed to the shareholders at the rate of 6 per cent. per
annum for the first 10 years from the opening of the railway,
up to which time interest at the came rate on the capital ad-
vanced will be paid out of the Capital. In giving this guaran-
tee the York and North Midland, the North Midland, the
Manchester and Leeds, the Great North of England, the
Newcastle and Carlisle, the Durham Junction, and the
Branding Junction Railway Companies propose to join with
the Midland Counties in certain specified proportions, and
the share of the guarantee for which it is proposed that the
Midland Counties Railway Company shall be responsible is
1-10th of thh whole."
The chairman then observed, that no statement was here
made of the length of the proposed junction. Could any
gentleman supply the information ?
Mr. MILLER said it would be twenty-two miles, and that
the expense would be £22,000 a mile.
The CHAIRMAN believed the object of the meeting was to
consider the propriety of the directors, generally, whether it
would be desirable for the Midland Counties' Railway pro-
prietors to take an interest in a railway far north, in the mode
proposed, not in shares, but in guaranteeing an income to
those who would, so as to induce persons to take it up, as
the railway itself would not produce anything equal to the
capital invested in it.
Mr. Jostes raid the projectors thought otherwise. They
had no doubt it would pay, but they thought that in the pre-
sent state of the money market capitalists would not be in-
duced to take it up.
The CHAIRMAN asked whether there was any gentleman
who could tell the amount to be raised by subscription?
Mr. MILLER said, it would be £30,000 per annum, one-
tenth of which would be £3,000, and that amount it was
proposed the Midland Counties should subscribe.
A PROPRIETOR.—That is, supposing the railway to be
made for £500,000.
Mr. MILLER produced a statement of the amounts agreed
to be contributed by the different companies named, pub-
lished in the Norfolk Herald, as we understood.
The CHAIRMAN read thii statement, from which it ap-
peared that it was intended that the companies agreeing
should take the proposed line on a ten years' lease. This, he
continued, was rather more than was stated in the proposition.
Mr. PARSONS said, the companies combining rendering
themselves liable to the several payments would be partners
in the intended line; and if any portion of the partnership
failed in paying, their quota must bear the additional burden.
He disapproved of the idea of a partnership.
Mr. GILFILLAN said, if the proprietors consented to this
proposition, they might be called up to aid in making a line
still further north, on the ground that it would be requisite,
in order to secure the prosperity of this.
Mr. PARSONS said, it would be most unadvisable to agree
to this project, when it was considered that the shares of this
company were at a discount, and it was intended to make an
attempt to raise money to carry it out still further. They
could not limit their responsibility if they once entered upon
this undertaking. Mr. Stephenson's estimate for making
the line was £500,000, but it was well known how fallacious
engineers' estimates were,—that there was scarcely one line
in the country which had not cost nearly double the amount
estimated ; and he should be much surprised if this was
completed under a million and a half. He thought Mr.
John Ripley's plan was the best if the proprietors were to
engage in the undertaking at all—namely, to limit the lia-
bility of the Midland Counties' Railway to £3,000 a year, to
commence after the line was made, and to he contingent
upon the other companies coming forward. Nevertheless he
thought it would be better to oppose the plan in limine.
Mr. WOODS explained that Mr. Stephenson had allowed
for the interest on the capital sum in his estimates.
The CHAIRMAN expressed an opinion that the most im-
portant question was whether £500,000 would be enough to
complete the line. He feared not.
Mr. PARSONS said there was something very suspicious as
to this point. The circular said, in the first instance, that
the estimated cost would not exceed £500,000 ; but in the
closing clause of the proposition these,words were carefully
introduced :—" The share of the guarantee for which it is
proposed that the Midland Counties Railway Company shall
be liable is one-tenth of the whole."
Mr. WOODS read a letter from Mr. Theodore Rathbone
and Mr. Cropper, two Liverpool directors of the Midland
Counties Railway, who were unable to attend, to the effect
that they thought it would be better not to come under such
engagements as those proposed if the other companies had
taken a similar view. As it was, they greatly doubted, now
that the other companies had determined to join in the gua-
rantee, whether it would be wise and prudent for the Mid-
land Counties' Company to be the only exception.
The CHAIRMAN said it was quite clear from this letter,
that the judgment of the Liverpool directors was against the
plan.
Mr. PARSONS repeated, at considerable length, his objec-
tions to the plan. at the same time complaining that so little
time had been given by the directors for the consideration of
the subject.
Mr. JONES thought the proprietors ought to have more
information before they decided.
Mr. HEALEY explained that the proposed arrangements
would not involve a partnership, as the line would be let on
lease, and the parties would only be severally bound.
Some further discussion took place, at the close of which
Mr. PARSONS moved the following resolution
That this meeting having taken into consideration the
proposition that the Midland Counties Railway proprietors
become parties to a lease of a proposed railway, to be con-
structed between Darlington and Newcastle, resolved, that
they recommend the proprietors of this railway not to accede
to such proposal."
Mr. JAMES HEYWORTH seconded the motion.
Mr. RIPLEY moved an amendment to the effect that the
Midland Counties Railway proprietors become parties to
paying the sum of £3OOO a year to the guarantee fund from
the time the line is completed, but be no parties in going for
an act, or in making a line or working it.
The amendment was not seconded.
Mr. HEALEY thought the Midland Counties line would
not yield an additional traffic to compensate for the outlay
of £3OOO a year.
After some debate, the CHAIRMAN put the question, when
Mr. Parson's motion was carried with only one dissentient.
A vote of thanks was then presented to Mr. Cropper for
his conduct in the chair, and the meeting separated. •
It will be necessary for those proprietors in Liverpool who
intend to vote on this question, at the special meeting, to be
held at Derby, on the sth of November, to send their proxies
not later than this evening, (Friday,) as each proxy must be
in the hands of the secretary five days previous to the
meeting.

Notwithstanding the lateness of the season three vessels
are advertised to sail shortly from London to New Zealand.

'• Satan" Montgomery has written, and means to publish
a new poem called " Luther."
The expected military brevet, it is asserted, will include
captains of 1835.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?--In a street leading from the
Whitechapel-road are to be found eight shopkeepers who
rejoice in the following names :—Slaughter, Death, Angel,
Demon, Black, White, Green, and Gray.
A mountain flood carried away several houses in the neigh-
bourhood of Doonbeg. County Clare, on Sunday last. Two
men, named Corcoran and M'Alahon, lost their lives in en-
deavouring to save some cattle, and an immense quantity of
corn and hay was destroyed.

POST HASTE IN THE OLDEN TIME.—III a letter written
by the Earl of Essex, about the year 1595, to the Lord High
Admiral of Plymouth, which is still preserved, there are
added to the words" Hest, bast, hest for lyfe !" the expressive
symbol of a gallows prepared with a halter, which could not
be well misunderstood by the most illiterate of Mercuries.
About a fortnight ago Mr. George Bates, publican, Ponte-
land, vomited up an asp, between two and three inches long,
which he supposed he must either have swallowed, or some
of the spawn, while drinking water out of a ditch.—Tyne
Mercury.

- -
The friends of Alderman Harmer are about to present him
with a token of respect on his retirement from the functions
of a ►magistrate. It will be remembered that this gentleman
has attained an unenviable notoriety as proprietor of the
Weekly Dispatch..

RUSSIA DIAPERS.—It may not be generally known that
this useful article of manufacture, an enormous quantity of
which is annually introduced into this country, is not fabri-
cated in regular manufacturing establishments, but is exclu-
sively the work of the peasantry, many of them of the poorest
class. It is woven by hand-labour in families scattered over
the empire, principally in the winter season, when there must
be cessation of out-door employment. Some families manu-
facture but one or two pieces in a season, others twenty or
thirty. The quality does not materially differ. They are
carriedlto the nearest populous town, and sold to a trader,
who packs them up in bales, and transports them to St.
Petersburg or some other seaport, where they are again sold
for exportation.
THE CHINESE TAILOR.—Among the many whimsical
anecdotes told of the peculiar habits of the Chinese, perhaps
few will be considered more characteristic of their love of
imitation than the following :—Towards the close of the last
century an officer of the Pitt, East Indiamen, when that ship
lay off Canton, sent ashore to a native an order for a dozen
pair of trousers, to be made of the nankeen for which China
has been so long famed. The Chinese artisan required a
pattern ; he could not make anything without a pattern. So
a pair of trousers were sent at his request, which pair had
been mended with a patch and needlework on the knee. In
due time the dozen pairs were sent on board, of a fabric of
exceeding beauty for fineness and quality, but every pair
bearing, like an heraldic badge, the obnoxious patch on the
knee, exactly copied stitch for stitch, in a style that reflected
the highest credit on the mechanical skill of the workman,
and for the difficult execution of which an extra charge was
made upon the purse of the exasperated owner, who had no
alternative, but to bring home his bargain as a qualification
for the Travellers' Club ; for certainly among no kindred or
people living between this and China could a similar achive-
meat have been performed.