The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-05 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

Is RE GOULDING.—This bankrupt, late a builder in
this town, applied for a certificate. He was opposed on
the ground of reckless trading, and that he had erected
and obtained mortgages on worthless property. Mr.
Sergeant Ludlow said this appeared to be the case of a
party who, having no capital, or, at all events, a very
small capital, made a number of contracts for land which
he did not pay for; after putting together a few stones
and other materials on that land, obtained a mortage
upon it, in consequence of the increased value which he
appeared to have given it by so doing. He thought that
was a mode of dealing of which the public had a right to
complain. The result of such a system was the incessant
demand for interest on mortgages, the payment of stamps,
and other liabilities, under which it was impossible almost
for a party to bear up. He could not, therefore, make
his judgment absolute, but must suspend the bankrupt's
certificate for twelve months from the date of his last exa-
mination.

Mr. Bather, the solicitor, who, a few years since, was
sentenced to transportation, with Fletcher and others,
for alleged forgery of testamentary documents, and whose
sentence has been recently reversed, and free pardon
granted him, appeared on Saturday in the precincts of the
Court of Common Pleas, Westminster, Mr. Sergeant
Wilkins having been charged by him to make an applica-
tion to the Court to have Mr. Barber replaced on the rolls.
The novelty of hearing such an application or motion
made attracted a considerable crowd to the Court. In the
course of the day the Attornev-General entered, and had
some conversation with Mr. Wilkins, after which the lat-
ter gentleman withdrew, and it was understood that, on
consulting with Mr. Barber. he agreed to the postpone-
ment of the application until next term, or at least for the
present.

The proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas on Fri-
day, the 24th ult., afford some evidence of the correctness
of the opinions we have expressed with reference to the
Acts of Parliament lately passed applying to Joint-Stock
Companies. It appears that certain pi oceedings had been
taken against a shareholder in the Universal Gas-Light
Company, and the rule for issuing execution discharged
with costs, in consequence of 10 days' notice, as required
by the Act, sec. 67, not having been given—the lawyers
appearing not to have carefully read, or understood, the
clauses of the Act; but, with the view of remedying the
defect, counsel for the plaintiff subsequently obtained a
rule against the defendant, railing upon him to show
cause why execution should not issue, under the 66th sec-
tion of the Joint-Stock Companies Act, 7 and 8 Vic., c.
110. Mr. Serjeant Talfourd now contended that such rule
must be set aside, inasmuch that the former application
to the Court, on which the plaintiff was defeated, was
against the defendant as a " former shareholder," while
the present was as a shareholder "for the time being "
After argument on the part of counsel in support of the
application, the Court granted a rule absolute for the is-
suing of execution against the defendant, on the ground
that having been a shareholder once, and signed the deed,
by the 3rd and 12th sections of the Joint-Stock Compa-
nies' Act he continued a shareholder until be had di-
vested himself of that character by the transfer of his
shares.

RAMTVA ir A FF/1111S

-4--
The Oswestry extension of the Shrewsbury and Chester
railway has been opened.
The Ardwick extension of the Lancashire and Yorkshire
railway, uniting the latter line with the Sheffield and the
London and North-Western lines, has just been opened.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic for the
week ended 26th Nov.: Coaching, £705 15s. 7d. ; par-
cels, £BO lls. 50. ; goods at cattle, £257 3s. 2d. ; steam
boats, £lO3 135.: total, £1147 3s. 2d.
In the recent fatal collision case on the Richmond and
Datchet line, the coroner's jury have returned a verdict of
manslaughter against the driver and theman of the Vul-
ture engine.
The London and North-Western Company and the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company have entered into
mutual traffic arrangements, the effect of which will be to
immediately transfer all the traffic of the latter to the
Leeds and Dewsbury line.
A remarkable tunnel on the Waterford and Dublin
Railway, at Bray, has advanced so far towards completion
that there is a communication throughout. The work
runs through Kilkenny Point, and for its whole distance
it passes through the hardest granite. It is said that this
is the first tunnel in the United Kingdom entirely through
such difficult material.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY.—The Irish Ad-
vocate gives the average speed of the Dublin and Holy-
head packets. The power of the vessels is 350 horse
each, and the distance 64 miles. The " Banshee" ap-
pears from the statement to be the fastest, having accom-
plished the passage in 3 hours 44 minutes. The average
time taken by the four vessels on the station is about 4
hours 20 minutes.
The gigantic scheme of railway amalgamation has proved
abortive, at least for the present. The question on which
the three great companies have split is that of representa-
tion at the Board of Directors, the North-Western claim-
ing that, as its stake in the concern is nearly, if not quite,
equal to the other two combined, it shall have a propor-
tionate representation at the board ; while, ...)37 the articles
agreed upon, an equality of representation was the prin-
ciple laid down.
From official returns it appears that the amount of rail-
way traffic for the last week, on 4,205 miles of railway,
was £183,068, thus accounted for :—£81,166 for the con-
veyance of passengers only, £55,351 for the carriage of
goods, and a remainder of £46,551 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £23,122 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was £8,317. The average earn-
ings per mile were £43, whilst in 1847 they were £4B.
WONDERS OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.--The New
York correspondent of the Morning He, aid, in his letter
received by the last mail, mentions some facts, showing
the wonders of the telegraph. It appears that the returns
of a particular district, in the presidential election, were
received in New York in a few hours, after passing a dis-
tance nearly equal to a voyage across the Atlantic to Li-
verpool—and this too with, of course, sundry breaks and
numberless interruptions. The electric telegraph, he
adds, may in truth be termed " The nerves of the Ameri-
can republic."
DESTRUCTION OF LARKS BY THE ELECTRIC TELE-
GRAM WIRE.—One frosty morning last week, the plate
layers upon the Whitehaven Junction Railway found no
less than seven.y larks lying dead beneath the telegraph
wires between Workington and Maryport. The same
day Mr. Foster, inspector of the line, found seventeen
larks between Harrington and Workington. The heads
of many of the birds were cut off, and their bodies other-
wise mangled. Seabirds and different kinds of game
have also occasionally been found dead, having probably
come in contact with the invisible wires at night when in
full flight.—Carlisle Journal.
THE EUSTON STATION. The station at London,
which has been recently completed, at a cost of
about £150,000, is situated between Seymour-street and
Whittlthury-street, and comprises an area of about 2,100
feet in length by 500 feet in breadth. On either side is a
platform : the one on the east side, or the arrival platform,
is 1100 feet in length and about 40 feet in width; and the
departure platform is about 800 feet in length. In this
space on the various lines there are 60 turn tables, and
over this are about 700 feet by 350 feet of glass roofing.
There are also 16,000 feet of drains and sewerage. On
the west side, adjoining Codrington-street, a number of
coach factories have been erected, the area occupied by
these being 300 feet by 400 feet. A smithy, with every
convenience for the manufacturing of vehicles, is attached.
In the course of the past week the waste materials which
were not required by the contractors were sold, and rea-
lised nearly £l,OOO.
LIABILITY OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE-MEN,--Mr.
Blandy, the solicitor to a defunct scheme, called the
"Oxford, Theme, High Wickham, and Uxbridge Railway
Company," had brought an action against Mr. De Burgh,
the chairman of the provisional committee, for work and
labour done. A verdict had been found for the plaintiff;
but a point was raised under what is called the Attornies'
Act, which requires, in order to give an opportunity for
axation, a solicitor's bill to be delivered a month before
action to the party to be charged therewith, or left at his
counting-house, office of business, dwelling-house, or last
known place of abode. It was not denied that the bill
had been so left at the company's offices in Moorgate-
street, but it was urged that the "company" was then
defunct, although a plate bearing the name of the com-
pany on it was still affixed to the door. The rule nisi was
argued on Saturday last, when the court differing in
opinion, it fell to the ground, and the verdict accordingly
stands.

DICPOSIT or PLANS.—Thursday was the last day for
the reception of plans and sections for new lines, &c. The
number of plans and sections lodged in connection with
railways up to the close of the offices was twenty-nine,
two only being for new lines, namely, the Brentwood,
Southall, and Pinner Railway, and the Faversham to
Chilham Railway, and twenty-seven for branches, exten-
sions, or deviations. Besides these, but not requiring the
deposit of either plans or sections, there are applications
for upwards of twenty amalgamations in England, and
eight in Scotland; six cases of relinquishment or aban-
donment of portions of lines; five for extensions of time
for making railway or purchases of land, and a great many
for amendments of acts. The chief feature in all the ap-
plications is that of future economy in constructive works,
and for internal mutual arrangement. Including all
classes of applications, there are about 110 applications
for railway purposes this year, as set against 140 in the
last session of parliament.

A WATER RAILWAY.—The Glasgow Citizen describes
an invention, which is now in progress of accomplishment,
for conveying the trains across the tidal estuary at
Broughty Ferry, on the route of railway to Scotland. The
distance across is about a mile and a-half. Our contem-
porary says, " Mr. Robert Napier is at present building in
his yard, at Govan, a floating railway, for the Edinburgh
and Northern Railway Company. It is being built of
iron, 180 feet in length, and 35 feet in breadth. It is to
have three lines of rails on deck, so as to enable it to take
on a railway train of 500 feet in length, and is to be pro-
pelled by engines of ISO horse-power. As the main line
of railway on each side of the 'fay is considerably above
the level of the sea, stationary engines on either side of
the Frith are to he employed to draw up or lower the
trains. This railroad steamboat is expected to be
launched in a few weeks." It will be seen that this is
very much on alie same principle as the floating bridges at
Gosport and Southampton, although, of course, ova awl"
larger scale,

IN R J. R. Pim.—This bankrupt again appeared before
Mr. Serjeant Ludlow on Friday. Mr. Rowe, solicitor,
stated that the accounts were still unsatisfactory. There
were £26,000 in bills not explained. The bankrupt stated
that £17,000 of them were for bills payable, but they did
not seem to have any connexion with the estate. The
official assignee said he never saw such unsatisfactory ac-
counts. The case was adjourned sine die, with protection
fora month.