The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-08-12 00:00:00

NORTHERN AND EASTERN RAILWAY.

On Friday last the proprietors of the Northern and Eastern
Railway met for the first time under the Act of Parliament to
appoint Directors, and to transact other necessary business.
The meeting was held at the city of London Tavern. At 12
o'clock, the hour appointed for the meeting, the room was full.
Mr. Bagshaw, M.P., the Deputy-Chairman, took the chair at
a quarter past twelve.
The Secretary (Mr. Rowcroft) then read the advertisement
in the Times of -the 21st July and in the Cambridge and Hert-
ford Independent Press of the 23d, giving notice of the meeting
of proprietors according to the Act of Parliament.
Mr. Bagshaw then rose and expressed his regret that the
chair was not filled by their excellent chairman Mr. John Mar-
shall, of Leeds; but in his absence he would endeavour to make
up by zeal the inability which he felt adequately to supply the
place of a gentleman so highly respected as Mr. Marshall. The
honourable gentleman congratulated the meeting on the success
which had attended the labours of the Directors. The act for
the formation of the railway, and the incorporation of the com-
pany, received the Royal Assent on the dth of July, so that no
time had been lost in calling together the whole body of pro-
prietors, in order to lay before them a statement of their affairs.
For a considerable time this company was opposed by a pro-
jected rival company, under the title of the Great Northern
Company. This projected company, he was happy to say, was
now entirely dissolved. 'Elie present line to Cambridge, there-
fore, was without any competing line to detract from its profits.
He would beg leave to call the attention of the company, shortly,
to the history and progress of this company. It was first at-
tempted to be formed in 1825, to Cambridge and York. The
plan was not brought forward, however, so as to satisfy the pub-
lic ; and although a few persons who had studied it were con-
vinced of the favourable nature of the undertaking, it did not
at that time proceed further. He was invited to join some gen-
tlemen who thought well of it, but he declined. It remained
in abeyance until 18:35. In that year persons of capital, influ-
ence, and respectability were attracted by the manifest advan-
tages which would result from a line of railway connecting the
metropolis with the northern and north-eastern parts of the
country. Mr. Walker, their excellent engineer, of whom he
could not speak in too high terms of praise, was applied to. Mr.
Walker examined the country between London and Cambridge,
and reported favourably. From this period the formation of
the company proceeded rapidly, and the result had been the
success on which he had already congratulated the proprietors.
One of the strong arguments in -favour of this railway was, that
it would form the main trunk of communication between the
metropolis and the northern and north-eastern parts of the
country. If the proprietors would cast their eyes on the map
at the end of the room, they would see that it formed the direct
line between London, Cambridge and York. There was another
line, marked blue on the map, which, in a tortuous direction,
ended also in York. But the meeting would observe that the
blue line, part of which was the line called the North Midland,
had relation rather to the western parts of the island. It was,
no doubt, a very good line; he did not dispute that ; but what
he wanted the meeting to observe was, that the North Eastern
hoe was a direct line, the other was a circuitous line ; in fact
the Northern and Eastern line was shorter than the other by not
less than 21 miles. There was another advantage possessed by
the Northern and Eastern line, which it might be useful to men-
tion. On the line which he would call the North Midland, there
were 12 tunnels, one of them a mile and a quarter long, aid
another a mile ; while on the Northern and Eastern there were
only four tunnels in all, not one of which was more than a quar-
ter of a mile long ; and between Cambridge and York there was
not one tunnel ; no slight consideration it gentlemen recollected
what passed in the House of Lords a few evenings since on the
subject of.long tunnels. While he was on this part of the subject
he would call the attention of the meeting to the lines of railway
which would flow into the Northern and Eastern, and act as colla-
teral supplies of passengers and goods to the main and direct trunk.
There was the line to t'lie port of Hull, and northward to New-
castle upon Tyne and Carlisle ; and lines also to the great
manufacturing districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. in
addition to these there were plans now in progress to extend the
advantages of railway communication to Edinburgh and Glas-
gow. Besides this, branches were. being prepared from alt the
great towns and districts throughout the whole extent of the
line. All these lines would serve as feeders to the Northern and
Eastern; increasing its traffic and its profits. Here he would
take the opportunity to observe on the favoea ,f t:,,
country for a railway between London and Cambridge and
York. Ile did nut pretend to he an engineer, but the evidence
of Mr. Walker, who was one of the most eminent engineers that
this or any other country had produced, assured him of the fact.
Indeed, it was proved most satisfactorily before the committee
of the House of Commons, that the line laid down by Mr.
Walker possessed engineering facilities unusually great. He
could not speak of the committee of the House of Commons,
without alluding to the admirable manner in which the office of
chairman of that committee was filled by his hon. friend, on his
right, Mr. Ward—(hear, hear.) His hon. friend had so acted,
as to give satisfaction to all the contending parties before him;
and why ? Because all the parties were satisfied of his strict
integrity, his entire impartiality, and were witnesses of the
minuteness of his examination, and the patience with which he
continued, day after day, to pursue his tedious and laborious in-
vestigations—( hear, hear. He was happy to inform the meeting,
that the favourable opinion which those investigations had pro-
duced in his lion. friend's mind, hail induced him to buy shares
in the company—(hear, hear,) and that he had been persuaded
to allow his name to be proposed as one of their directors—
( hear, hear.) So that, should the proprietors elect him—(hear,
hear,) they would have the advantage of the talents and activity
of his hon. friend. in the conduct of their affairs—(hear, hear.)
He would not detain the meeting longer from hearing the report
of the directors, which their eeretitry read to them. Ile
would say, in conclusion, only one word more. The object of
this railway was, to c.onnect the great metropolis of the north
with London; such might truly he called a national undertaking.
From the first moment that he was engaged in it, he was deter-
mined not to relax in his exertions until it was brought to a
completion. Those who had had the opportunity of observing