The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-07 00:00:00

POLITICAL MISCELLANY.

Parliament has been further prorogued to the 19th Dec.
A requisition is to be forwarded to the Hon. Edward
Stanley, Lord Stanley's eldest son, who is in America,
inviting him to consent to be put in nomination for Lynr.
The states of the Zollverein are understood to have
consented to the admission of British goods free from the
addititional duties, provided they are accompanied by
certificates of origin ; and, the Prussian government has
intimated an intention of reimbursing the additional
duties already paid on British merchandise imported with
proper certificates, and of inviting the other states of the
Zollverein to adopt the same course.
LORD STANLEY'S OPINION OF LORD GEORGE BEN
TINCK.—Lord Stanley in a letter, enclosing a subscription
for some testimonial to the memory of Lord George Ben-
tinck, says :—I hope I am right in supposing that your
subscription, though originating in, is not intended to be
confined to the City of London or the mercantile interests.
The farmers of. England will be anxious to testify their
gratitude to the memory of their tried and constant
friend; and men of all classes, even those who did not
coincide in all his views, may well unite in doing honour
to the memory of qualities, which, as long as honesty and
integrity are valued, must command the respect of all. I
knew Lord George Bentinck well. I was long honoured
by his personal friendship, I shared his political opinions,
and I was associated with him, though with far less exer-
tion on my part, in his public labours ; and I can safely
say, that it never occurred to me to meet with a man of a
warmer and more generous heart, of more boundless
liberality, and, above all, of more sterling and single-
minded honesty of purpose. An innate love of truthful-
ness and honour, and an intense abhorrence of all that is
false, trickery, and underhand, were among the leading
features of his character ; and able as he was in argument,
persevering in mastering the details of his subject, and
bold and unflinching in the support of his views, that
which gave him his power in Parliament, and won for him
the respect of his opponents and the admiration of his
countrymen, was the conviction felt by all that he was
never acting a part—that which he truly felt he never
feared to say—and that he carried practically into his
public life the stern principles of integrity which dis-
tinguished his private character. These are qualities
which will be appreciated by every Englishman, and many,
like myself, will be glad to be assured that the subscrip-
tion which you have set on foot to do honour to them is
intended to be open to all, though originating with the
, mercantile body of the City of London.

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.
All the railway companies over which Mr. Hudson pre-
sides intend to issue full statements of their financial po-
sition, and toe Hull Packet says, the stock will gain con-
siderably th ?reby.
A new eight-wheeled engine has been running on the
London and North-western Railway, with 100 tons, at an
average running speed of 51, and at a maximum running
speed of 53, miles an hour.
Mr. Hudson is carrying out a rigid system of economy
on all his lines ; on some making dismissals, and on
others carrying out reductions to the extent of 10 per
cent.

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STOCK JOBBING.—The Standard of Monday says :
As a specimen of the proportion of bona fide to the
gambling business, it has been ascertained that for three
weeks past there has not been a single transfer made in
the stock of the North Western Railway Company.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic for the
week ended 28th October, 1848 :—Coaching traffic,
£1286 18s. 71d. ; parcels, £7l 13s. 3d. ; goods and cattle,
£939 75. 4d. ; Steam-boats, £167 I3s. 6d. Total,
£1765 12s. 84d.
Of the importance, magnitude, and expense of railway
bills our readers may form some slight idea from the fol-
lowing :—The Solicitor's bill of the South-Eastern Rail-
way contained 10,000 folios, occupied twelve months in
taxation before the master, and amounted to £240,000.
FORTHCOMING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.—The Great
Western Railway authorities are preparing a voluminous
statement, which is expected to be ready on Wednesday.
Similar ones are in preparation from the London and
South-Western, the Eastern Counties, the Lancashire
and Yorkshire ; the York, Newcastle, and Berwick ; the
Ycrk and North Midland, the South-Eastern, and the
Scottish lines.
THE RAILWAY COMPANIES.—We understand that the
representatives of the three great lines of railway—the
London and North-Western, the Great Western, and
the South-Western—of which rumour has already in-
formed our readers—has resulted in an agreement by the
three companies to apply to parliament for an act author-
ising their amalgamation. The ultimate event is of course
still dependent upon several contingencies.
From official returns it appears that the amount of traf-
fic for the last week, on 4,167 miles of railway, was
£207,257, thus accounted f0r:—£99,590 for the convey-
ance of passengers only, £55,49) for the carriage of goods,
and a remainder of £51,877 for passengers and goods
together, not respectively apportioned ; being an increase
of £23,089 over the corresponding week of last year, when
the mileage was 3,309. The average earnings per mile
were £5ll, whilst in 1847 they were £55.
RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday a lamentable acci-
dent occurred to the Caledonian express train which left
the Euston station that morning. The engine ran off the
line at the curve about half a mite south of Weedon station,
drawing four carriages along with it; two other carriages
and the guards break remained on the rails. The driver
and the fireman were severely scalded, but fortunately
none of the passengers were hurt, except two, who were
slightly scratched The carriages were very much damaged.
FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Sunday week some
workmen were travelling in a special train on the York
and Newcastle line, and stopped at Don to take in water,
when the mail train from the south come up, and ran into
it with such violence that the carriage and tender were
completely smashed, and the engines much damaged. One
man was killed on the spot, and two others died a few
minutes afterwards. Another man is so severely injured
that little hopes are entertained of his recovery, and an
engineman had his leg broken.
BELFAST AND BALLYMENA.—At a meeting of share-
holders, held in Liverpool, on Tuesday, Mr. Maunder in
the chair, resolutions were passed to the effect, that the
existing number of directors was too great, and should
be reduced to fifteen. of whom five should consist of
shareholders in Great Britain be recommended to attend
at the meeting at Belfast, appointed for the 30th of No-
vember, or to send their proxies, stamped in due form, to
Mr. Maunder, of this town, who will attend there per-
sonally, for the purpose of inquiring into the company's
accounts, and, at the same time, to see that every facility
be afforded for the increase of traffic, and also that the
strictest economy be used.
RAILWAY ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE WINTER.
Various important alterations and revisions in connection
with the trains and other arrangements of the railways
running out of London, and consequent on the confe-
rences that have recently taken place between the heads
of the railway body, came into operation on Wednesday.
The London and North-Western Railway Company, who
have regularly run one-and-twenty trains a-day out of
and into London, intimate that during the winter this
number will be reduced to sixteen. A general reduction
takes place in the trains both out and in, but as yet there is
no announcement as to the fares, which is presumed will
remain as before. Five 'of their down trains are to be
discontinued, and a corresponding number up.
THE FLOODS AND THE RAILWAYS.—On the branch
lines of the Eastern Counties, from Ely to Peterborough
and beyond, the arable and meadow lands are two and
three feet under water for six and seven miles around, so
that viewed from a train in transit, the country presents
nothing but a vast sheet of water, from which neither the
canals nor the rivers can be distinguished. The farmers
alongside the railway are to be seen ferrying themselves in
boats from field to field and farm to farm. Many acres of
oats and barley, mowed and unmowed, are surrounded
with water, and this in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire
is expected to render the crops below the average. An
ingenious method has been resorted to on the 'Eastern
Counties to mitigate the effect of the mass of water, by
placing little breakwaters of wood at the bottom of em-
bankments, but in spite of these precautions, the line be-
tween Swavesy and St. Ives has been overflowed and the
traffic temporarily suspended. Although the Great North-
ern runs parallel with the Witham Navigation, and almost
on a level, it has not suffered from the overflowing. The
line affected most has been the Northampton and Peter-
borough branch of the London and North-Western, where
a bridge or two has been washed down.

RAILWAY RECEIPTS.
The following are the receipts of railways for the past week ;
that is to say, up to the date to which the respective returns
are made:—

Week 1 1848.
ending Amount.

RAILWAYS.