The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-26 00:00:00

be entitled to every ficility the Government could afford,
provided security were given" (as it now is) " of a boas
fide intention of completing the whole line from Lancas-
ter."

Upon the subject of traffic it may be observed—first,
that this railway will afford the shortest and cheapest
transit from Glasgow and the west of Scotland to all parts
of England ; secondly, by means of the projected Perth.
and Sterling Railway it will connect those cities and the
north of Scotland generally with England ; and thirdly,
it will bring Edinburgh into direct communication with
London, Lancashire, and all the manufacturing districts
with which that city has at present no communication
except by coach, and the trade of which is necessarily
carried round by a circuitous route by sea, and by canals
or railways which have no immediate connexion with it.
The subjoined table of comparative distances* seems to
the Committee to prove beyond doubt, not only that their
line cannot fail to secure the approbation of the Legisla-
ture, but that, when made, it must also necessarily re-
ceive nearly all the mails and traffic of Scotland. In its
intermediate route, the line traverses the rich mineraland
manufacturing districts of Lanarkshire and Dumfries-
shire ; the great lead, iron, and coal works of the former
county are well known ; of coal there are at the present
moment large quantities daily carted for a distance of 411
miles along the line southwards; of lead to the distance
of 50 miles and upwards in both directions; awl thou-
sands of tons of iron and coal are daily carted northwards
for the distance of 25 miles to the Harbour at Glasgow.
Nor can the carriage of lime, both north and south, for
one of the most improvable regions of Scotland, fail to
produce a considerable annual return. This line, more-
over, unites in the most direct manner, as the map shows,
the most important cities in Great iiritain, viz., London,
Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, with Edinburgh
and Glasgow; even to Edinburgh, which is on the eastern
coast, it is the shortest line. The amount of passenger
and merchandise traffic between Those cities must neces-
sarily be great, whilst the number of tourists visiting
Moffatt, the Falls of Clyde, the Scottish lakes, and other
romantic scenery along the line, already numerous, will
be greatly increased.
Upon the subject of traffic, the Government Commis-
sioners reported as follow :
" We have had before us various statistical returns re-
garding the districts through which the several competing
lines would pass, and as they are of an interesting nature
we have placed them in the Appendix to the Report, but
we do not find that the results they give are such as to
lead us to prefer any other to that by Carlisle and Lock-
erby." From a further and recent investigation the
Committee have assured themselves of a return of at least
eight per cent. per annum on the investment.
By a continuation of eight miles of additional railway
from Coatbridge, near Airdrie, to Castle Cary, this line
may be brought into connexion with the projected railway
to Stirling, Perth, and Dundee, thus forming one unbro-
ken chain of railway communication from London to the
North of Scotland, and avoiding the inconvenience and
loss of time that would necessarily be caused by crossing
the Friths of Forth and Tay.
As regards the expense of working this railway, it is
obvious that a great advantage will arise from the fact
that both the Edinburgh and Glasgow traffic will form
the same train for three-fourths of the whole distance.
The undertaking has the enthusiastic support of the
great majority of landed proprietors along the whole line,
and the Committee have reason to believe that it will
meet with no opposition from any ; indeed, for at least
three-fourths of the land required, they have already made
satisfactory arrangements.
The shares will be of £5O each, and it will be a provi-
sion of the Act of Incorporation that no subscriber shall
be liable for more than the amount of his subscription.
The Parliamentary deposit of 10 per cent., or £5 per
share, to be paid at the time of allotment, and subscribers
will have to execute an agreement binding them to sign
the Parliamentary deed when required.
Application for shares to be made to Messrs. FOSTER
and BRAITHWAITE, 64, Old Broad-street, London ; to
Mr. JOHN LANG, Glasgow; to Messrs. JOHN ROBERT-
SON and Co., 15, Royal Exchange, Edinburgh; to Messrs.
FORSYTH and PR/TCHARD, Brokers, Liverpool; or to
the Provisional Committee.

30, Great George-street, Westminster,
March 15, 1844.
*Table of Distances between the Places after-mentioned
by the following Routes, viz. :