The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-27 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FluDAr

In the commons Mr. PIGOT, the new member for Bridge-
north, took the oaths and his seat.
The report from the Tynetnouth election committee declared
that Sir C. Grey had been duly elected, and ought to have been
returned instead of Mr. G. P. Young.
Sir H. El ARDINGE inqui.ed whether any arrangethents had
been made to enable the unfortunate men who had been engaged
in the Spanish legion to return to this country?
Lord PA iMERSTON answered' in the attirinative. Lord J. Hay
had a vesselat their service, so that there would be every facility
for them to return or stay, according to their own judgements
and inclinations.
Sir G. DE LACY EVANS observed that there was no truth in
the statement as to the "starvation,". &c., of the men em-
ployed in Spain.
Sir H. HeantNGE replied that the Spanish authorities had
declared the treatment of them to be " intamous."
Lord PALMERSTON said (in answer to a question from an
hon. member,) that the appointment to the order of the Bath
had been made in the usual way by the, government, and on its
Own respopsibility.
.Lord PA LAI ERSTON stated, in answer to M,r. Maclean, that he
should have no objection to produce the correspondence re-
specting. the 'Vixen.
MR. O'CONNELL'S SPEECH AT THE CROWN AND ANCHOR

some advances from a large capitalist. but which is not credited,
and sales were yesterday made at 181., French five per cents.
have declined to 109, and the three per cents to 79. 75, ex-
change 251.50 c. The market for the other continental bonds
has fluctuated only to the kxtent of about 4 per cent. this week,
the previous high prices being well sustained. Scuth American
stocks have declined. ColoMbian. from 271 to 261; Mexican,
from 29 to 281 ; and Peruvian, from 21 to 20.
The public appear to be speculating deeply in the railway
shares, a•nd scheiries abont, which will never be carried into
execution,_find willing dupes who hazard their money to get a
turn of the market in their favour. The rise in the London•
and Brighton shares has been to 14, or 6 .prem. ; the London
and Birmingham 166, or 96' prem.; the Blackwell 71, or 41
prem.; the North Midland 27, or 21.prem.: the Southampton
402, or 91 discount; the Greenwich 19 or, 1 'di's. • the Manches-
ter and London 31, or Il prem. ; the Ilirmingham and Derby
to 18, or 2 disc.; the Edinburgh and GlasgoW to 5, or 2 prem.;
aria the South Eastern and Dover to 7or par. An advance
has taken place in most of the other smaller shares; London.
Joint Stock Bank has been sold at 7, or par; Loudon and
Westminster at 211, or II prem.: and ColOnial at 261, or 4 pm.
A meeting of the 'merchants of the city of London has been
convened fur Monday next, to consider " the expediency of
availing themselves of the consent of her Majesty's government
that they shduld make use of the Quadrangle of the Excise-
office," as a substitution for, the Royal Exchange, until the
edifice shall have been completed.
HALF-PAST TWELVE.—Accounts have been received from
the Mauritius to the 20th of November, inclusive. There con-
tinued to be large exports of sugar for England and America.
The exchange on London, at thirty days' Sight, was at 11 prem.
Freights were at £3 155., with five per cent. priinage.
The commercial letters from Ceylon and liertnce are not of
importance.

In the funds not a great deal of Inisiness has yet been .trans-
acted. Consols for the February account remaim at 921, and
for money the same price has also to be paid. Exchequer &Its,
and India Bonds, both continue steady, the former at 56, and
the latter at 57 premium.
Bank Stock fetches 204 Reduced Annuities, 931, and New
Three-and-a-Half per Cents, WO Yt.
In the Foreign Bonds, business is still dull; Spanish Active
Stock is inure buoyant at 19 to I, but Portuguese New Bonds
are at 27k. Belgian Bonds realise 103 i, and Dutch Two-and-a
Half per cents, 53k. Columbian are worth 261, and,MeeXican,
28

In Shares not much variation has occurred from the prices of
yesterday. -

BRITISH FUNDS

3 per Cent. Cons.
Ditto for Acc
Reduced Annc
31; per Ct -
3-1 per Ct. lOl
New 31 per Ct 1001

Bank Stock 2054
India ditto 2634
India Bonds 57 pm.
Exchequer Bills
Long Anus•
56 m.
p
15 5 16

LONDON AND BIRIINGIIAM RAILWAY

The general half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of this
important undertaking was held at Dee's Royal Hotel, in Bir-
mingham, on Wednesday, February 21st. The meeting was
very numerously attended, and included many of the most in-
fluential proprietors of the company. George Carr Glyn, Esq.,
was called to the chair; and the, following report of the di-
rectors was then read

' " Birmingham, February 21st, 1838.
" The directors, referring to their last report, expressed a
confident expectation, founded on their reports of their engi-
neers, that a futher portion of the railway, from Box Moor to
Tring, would be open in October last, and tharby the mouth of
January so much more of it would be completed as would leave
an interval of only 36 miles between the stations at Denbigh
Hall and Rugby; this expectation would, of course, be under-
stood by the proprietors as contingent on the works not being
retarded by causes which it was not in the power of the engi-
neer to control.
" The railway was opened to Tring in the month of October,
as the directors anticipated, but a winter of unusual severity
and duration, by retarding the remaining works, made the far-
ther opening in January impracticable, and still occasions de-
lay. A very few weeks, however, after the breaking up of the
frost, will suffice to complete the road bet‘ween Tring and Den-
high Hall, and between Birmingham and Rugby, and the pro-
prietors may rely on the earliest day being appointed for the
next partial opening which the directors can venture to name
when the works shall have been resumed. The engineer con-
tinues to express his conviction, that the entire completion of
the railway may be expected iu the autumn of the year, and
the directors have decided, as the course which, in their opinion,
will be most satisfactory to the proprietors, to annex for their
perusal his detailed and very able reports relative to the unexe-
cuted works of the engineering department. The difficulties to
i which Mr. Stephenson refers, as having prevented the comple-
' lion of a portion of the works at the exact periods stipulated,
cannot fail to impress the proprietors with the idea that an in-
creased expenditure has been rendered unavoidable. Such cer-
tainly has been the fact, but the directors are gratified in being
i able to state that this increase will not materially affect the re-
sults hitherto contemplated, and that the existing capital of the
company will suffice to put the whole railway in full operation
for the passenger traffic from end to end. Any addition to the
capital which may be eventually required, must arise out of the
further preparations which will probably be necessary for an
increase scale of business in the goods department.
" In anticipation of the next opening, the directors have
made arrangements for the booking and conveyance of passen-
gers and parcels for the whole distance between London and
Birmingham. Messrs. Horne and Chaplin, the coach proprie-
tors, have contracted to provide the requisite means for carry-
ing the railway passengers and their luggage on the turnpike
road between ace two stations, as the trains may successively
arrive, at the charge and subject to the regulations of the com-
pany. Passengers will thus have the benefit of railway for 77
miles of the distance between London and Birmingham, and
of greatly reduced prices fu. am vrholc 11:3 m;6., vrith o. otaving
of one-third of the time. •
" The line of the railway between London and Tring has been
found too distant from the Holyhead road to hold out sufficient
inducements to coach proprietors to quit their accustomed track
for the chance of a comparatively small saving in time • the cer-
tainty, also, that a few weeks would-make a complete alteration
in the passenger traffic on all the toads parallel with the rail-
way, has effectually checked the establi4rinent of new lines of
communication for coaches from Tring to the north, Hence it
has happened, that, from the time when the season for excur-
sion had passed, and the curiosity of the public had been
Partially gratified, the railway travelling was limited to the
purposes and accommodation of the immediate district; and
the directors, having thus had the means of ascertaining
practically the effect of the ordinary passenger traffic on that
portion of the railway, are enabled to state with reference to
the estimates which they have laid before the proprietors, that
the actual -traffic has exceeded the amount upon which they bad
calculated.

"The directors have no desire to attach undue importance to
an isolated case of this nature: but they consider it so far of
value, that it tends to establish the fairness of their calculations,
and affords encouragement to the proprietors as respects the
future prospects of the undertaking. Between the 20th of July
last arid the 14th of February, a period of thirty weeks, 162,216
passengers had been conveyed by the railway, without an ac•
cadent to any individual passenger.

. "The directors considering it of more importance that pas-
sengers should be able to rely on a certain and safe conveyance
to and from the stations where the trains stop, than that they
should in the first instance travel at the highest attainable speed,
have made it their chief aim in the regulation of the trains to
ensure a uniform precision of movement on the railway. In this
endeavour they have been ably seconded by their contractor for
locomotive power, Mr. Bury, and a degree of punctuality in the
arrivals and departures has for some time past been attained
at all the stations, which considering the unavoidable imper-
fections of a road so recently formed, and the many difficulties
to be surmounted in every new undertaking, the directors could
scarcely have anticipated, and which, they may add, has not
been accomplished upon any other railway.
"'The directors can now look with confidence to the extended
operations which they are about to enter upon, and are fully
convinced, by the successful experience of the working of their
system on a limited scale, that it is even more applicable to a j
longer line. The arrangements fur the carriage ot goods, when
the company shall be in a condition to undertake it, have occu-
pied much of the attention of the directors. Aware of the ad-
vantages-of
combining experience with system in the manage-
ment of a business so extensive as the future goods traffic of the
London and Birmingham Railway, the directors have much
satisfaction in announcing that they have secured the valuable
services of Mr. Baxendale, of the well known firm of Pickford
and Co. for the conduct of this department, under an agree-
ment which is to take effect from the opening of the railway for
this branch of business.

" The directors are in negociation with the post-master-ge-
neral for the conveyance of the mails, but the necessary ar-
rangements are not finally settled. Desirous as the directors
are to afford to the Post•office all reasonable accommodation
not inconsistent with the interests of the company, they claim
no more in return than a fair remuneration for the use of the
railway.
The directors request the confirmation by the proprietors
of an agreement which has been previously entered into with
the A ylesbury and Trig; railway company, in virtue of which
this company undertake to rent that railway at £.2,(X)0 per
annum, being at the rate of five per cent. upon the estimated
outlay, for five years certain from the date when it shall be
opened. The proprietors looking to the importance of the
traffic of the vale ofAylesbury, and to the communication which
this branch line will open with Oxford and other places, can
have no hesitation in adopting an arrangement which is fully
in accordance with the suggestions of a former meeting.
" The inhabitants of the town of Banbury, have resolved at a
general meeting, to make a new road to join the railway at
Weetlon by the shortest practicable line, on condition that a
first class station should be established at Weedon, the direc-
tors have given their assent to the proposition.
"By the statement of accounts now to be la►d before the
proprietors, it will appear that
" The Receipts to the 31st Dec. weie £4,229,136 8 7
" The Disbursements 3,981,828 12 3

" That the balance of cash in the Com-
pany's hands at that date was .. £247307 16 4

" And that the amount applicable to the
further expenditure of the Company
was r £625,456 1 7

"The directors, since their last report, have removed the
London office from Cornhill to the Euston Station, and made
such arrangements as appeared calculated to prevent any delay
or inconvenience in the transfer of shares. By this change the
respective departments of the London establishmentare brought
more directly in communication, with each other.
" The directors have to announce tour vacancies in the board,
caused by the resignation of Mr. Hardman Earle, Mr. Pear-
son, Mr. Bowles, and Mr. Warre; and that they have not
thought it necessary to avail themselves of the powers under
the act of filling up these vacancies.
The report was received with very general satisfaction.
The CHAIRMAN then announced the resignation of four di-
rectors, but only two were nominated in their stead, Mr,
Richard Nilson and Mr. Edward Wilson.
The accounts having been read, (a brief abstract of which
appears' in the report,) JOSEPH STURGE, Esq., brought forward
the motion he had given notice of, by circular and otherwise,
as to the propriety of suspending Sunday travelling on the
railway from the time of the opening of the Birmingham end
till the general meeting in 1839. He enforced the expendiencv
of this by a variety of arguments and statements, which he had
collected from various sources.
Mr. fIAGFIELD seconded the motion in a speeeh of some
length.
Mr.' HOULDSWORTH opposed the -resolution, and moved an
amendment, to the effect that the business of the railway should
be suspended on Sundays, except on occasions where the public
convenience required travelling; that the subject, however,
should be left altogether to the decision of the directors;. and
that those gentlemen, on this point, should take the public good
as the ground of their decision.
Mr. SMITH (of Liverpool) seconded the amendment.
A lout; discussion then followed, in which Messrs. Parsons,
Bees, Garnett, (of Manchester,) and Coglan, (of Liverpool,).
opposed the amendment, and Messrs. Boulton, Henshaw, and
others supported the original resolution. .
A division then took place, when.. the fpllowing was the de_

WILE CLOSE IN A FEW DAYS.
THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM.
AT THE LARGE ROOM, QUEEN'S ARMS HOTEL,
(Entrance by Cook-street,) which is kept warm b/two large fires.
sLAi universallyDLA W m
baedgsito intimatep A soitti
At hArris e •whhoiscvhi to view
red
not only the City, hut all the interesting St ous mentioned in
Scripture within twenty miles of it, that i will shortly be re-
moved from Liverpool. This Panorama w s visited by nearly
the whole of the adult population at Manchester, Leeds, Shef-
field. York. and Hull.

" The public is certainly indebted to Mr. Laidlaw for the
introduction of a Panoramic subject so congenial to the feelings
of the present age; not only the beauty of the painting, but the
name of Jerusalem invites the attention of the community at
large."—Skqield Iris.
The VIEWS of CAPTAIN ROSS'S VOYAGES, where he
passed four years, and his happy rescue; the BOULEVARDS
of PARIS, FIESCHI FIRING OFF THE MACHINE,
form also a part of the Panorama.
Day Exhibition punctually at One o'clock, in the Evening at
Seven, and again at half-Da.t mAkt, o'elnek.
Boxes, 9,3.; Gallery, Is. Children under ten years of age
Half Price.—Book and Plate of Jerusalem, 6d.