The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-12 00:00:00

RAILWAY TUNNELLING.—At a meeting of persons
interested in the South Wales Railway at Cardiff, on Fri-
day week, Mr. Brunel stated that the Box Tunnel of the
Great Western Railway cost £lOO per yard; the White
Ball Tunnel on the Exeter Railway cost but £53 ; the
Cheltenham Tunnel, in connection with the Great Wes-
tern Railway, was estimated at £136 per yard, and it cost
but £34 per yard ; and to show the reduction in this de-
partment alone, he mentioned that within the last three
weeks he had contracted for tunnelling at £2B per yard.
GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND.—At a special general
meeting of proprietors held at Darlington, on Monday
last, a resolution in favour of the formation of a branch
from a point near Cooperhouse, Dalton, to Richmond, in
addition to the Harrogate and Ripon Junction, determi-
ned upon the 15th ult., was unanimously agreed to. The
chairman, J. H. Wilkinson, Esq., congratulated the
shareholders on the condition of the undertaking, and
said there was no foundation whatever for the rumour
that it was intended to lease the line to the York and
North Midland, or to any other company.
HULL AND SELBY RAILWAY.—A meeting of this Com-
pany was held on Thursday week to consider the best
means of raising the additional capital (£200,000) requi-
red for the construction of the intended railway from Hull
to Beverley, Driffield, and Burlington Quay. The direc-
tors were authorized to raise the money by creating 8,000
shares of £25 each, one of which will be offered at par to
the holder of each original £5O share in the company.
As soon as the new line is completed, these new half-
shares become part of the capital stock of the company.
The directors were also empowered to purchase additional
land and buildings for the purpose of enlarging the com-
pany's terminus at Hull, which is found too small to ac-
commodate the increasing traffic.
EDINBURGH, LEITH, AND GRANTON RAILWAY.—
The directors of this greatly-needed railway have adver-
tised for tenders for the execution of the Edinburgh tun-
nel, which will be about 1,000 yards long, and extend
from the Cannonmills Station on this line to the stations
of the Edinburgh and Glasgow and North British Rail-
ways. This work is certainly most extensive, but the di-
rectors, in showing their intention to complete it, have
only given another proof of the persevering enterprise
which has characterized all their proceedings, and without
which they could not have surmounted the difficulties by
which they have been surrounded. The extension by
junction of all the existing railways on both aides of the
river Clyde with the Edinburgh and Glasgow, at Glas-
gow, by the completion of the tunnel at Edinburgh, be-
longing to the Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton line, will
form a most important feature in support of this very gi-
gantic undertaking, and will enable Scotland to vie with
England in the immensityand stability of the works ontheir
lines of railway.

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW EXTENSION RAILWAY,
&c.—The operations on this important line are going on
with a rapidity which is astonishing. One cannot view
the works in the North-loch without being astonished at
their daily progress. The first arch of the tunnel through
the earthen mound has been this week built, and the
embankment which the company are bound to form as
the compensation for the removal of the little mound,
which, commencing at the foot of Warriston's close, and
joining near the gate into the nursery on the north side,
is also coming fast into view. In fact the North-loch is
a scene of the most exciting bustle. At other parts of the
line, particularly towards the west end, the business also
goes on with spirit, although chiefly under ground. On
the east of the North-bridge, again, the workings for the
Edinburgh terminus to the North British Railway are
viewed with much excitinginterest, and the Granton branch
of the Edinburgh and Leith Railway is making a progress
beyond what any one can conceive, except those who are
daily visitors to the works; and promises at an early pe-
riod to afford at least a communication between Granton
Pier and the station at the foot of Granton-street; and of
course in time to connect that pier with the aorta of ge-
neral railway communication in the centre of the city—
that is to say, when the tunnel between Scotland-street
and the North-loch is completed, and which is now pro-
gressing. Caledonian Mercury.

LEASE OF THE SHEFFIELD RAILWAY.—The following
are the terms on which this line has been leased to the
Manchester and Birmingham and Midland Comnpanies.
The lessees pay all interest on loans (not exceeding
£700,000 in the whole), and all rents, rates, working ex.
penses, and other charges to which this company is or
may be liable ; that they adopt during the lease this com-
panies guarantees to the Barnsley, the Sheffield and Lin-
colnshire, and the Manchester South Junction and Al-
trincham Companies ; and that they pay to this company
a valuable yearly rent, to be ascertained as follows, namely,
—A rent after the rate of 71 per cent. per annum on
£144,000, and 5 per cent. per annum on the residue for
the time being of this company (share capital), so as such
residue do not exceed £750,000 ; such rent to be payable
for such time as the gross traffic of this company shall not
fall below £2,500 per week, on an average of twelve
months ; and when such gross traffic shall exceed £2,500
per week on such average, then the rent to increase accord-
ing to the following rates, viz. :-4 per cent. per annum
on the whole of such share capital, not exceeding
£900,000 in the whole, when the gross traffic of the line
shall, on an average of twelve months, exceed £2,800,
but not exceed £3,000; a further 2 per cent. per annum
when such gross traffic shall, on such average, exceed
£3,000 per week, and a further increase of 2 per cent.
per annum for every £250 traffic per week, on such ave-
rage, beyond £3,000, until such rent shall amount to £lO
per cent. per annum upon the whole of this company's
share capital.

SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.—On Thursday, a spe-
cial meeting of the proprietors of the South-Eastern and
Dover Railway Company was held in the large room of
the company at the London Bridge station. The late
differences amongst the proprietors in this company,
which have resulted in James MacGregor, Esq., of Li-
verpool, and Benjamin Harding, Esq., of Wadhurst Cas-
tle, being elected on the directorate, created an unusual
interest in the proceedings, more especially as some great
financial operations were to be submitted to the meeting,
as also very important announcements made regarding
the resolution of the directors considerably to shorten
the main line, by constructing a direct line frotn the
Bricklayer's Arms to Tunbridge and Paddock Wood,
whereby the distance to Dover would be shortened twelve
miles, and other questions of moment. The new mea-
sures were understood to he the result of the recent ac-
cessions to the board. Shortly before the hour an-
nounced for the meeting a large body of wealthy and in-
fluential proprietors were in attendance, and at one
o'clock the directors, preceded by W. P. Richards, Esq„
the deputy chairman, entered the room, and opened the
business. Mr. MacGregor gave a very lucid exposition
of the state and prospects of the company, and the reso-
lutions were all carried unanimously. They authorised
the creation of new shares, to capitalize the mortgage debt
of the company, and to provide funds for the formation of
the Canterbury, Ramsgate, and Margate line. For this
purpose an additional capital of £1,400,000 is to be crea-
ted by the issue of 42,000 new shares of the annual value
of £5O each, to persons who shall pay for the same
£33 6s. Every registered proprietor of existing shares
on the 7th of November shall have the option, in respect
of every two such shares, of taking one new share, provi-
ded he shall declare such option in writing to the secretary
on or before the 30th instant.

CONVEYANCE OF FAT CATTLE BY RAILWAYS,—The
practice of driving fat cattle over considerable distances
was, doubtless, resorted to in the absence of any means of
conveyance whose cost was tolerable ; but that it should
be continued where railroad or steam-boat transit can be
employed must be attributed to neglect of the plainest
principles on which the profit of the parties concerned
depends. It is stated that Mr. David Martin, of Wain-
fleet, sent five sheep to London to walk the whole dis-
tanoe on the road, and killed five others at home. The
two lots were of exactly equal weight (8581b5.) when alive.
'I he carcases were weighed when dead, when it was found
that the sheep which had walked to London weighed
4351b5., and their loose fat 601bs ; while the five killed at
home reached 4891b5., their loose fat weighing 7411b5.
Nor is this all. At the end of so long a journey the ani-
mal, unused to effort, is wearied and diseased, and its
flesh is, to say the least, less wholesome. There can now
be no excuse for the continuance of this practice. But
why should not the advance make another step ? Why
should these animals be killed in the crowded yards and
cellars of the metropolis ? The reasonable plan is evi-
dently to send, not live cattle but dead meat to great
towns and cities, and to locate in the country the pro-
cesses by which the various parts of the animal are ren-
dered serviceable to man.—Railway Bell.
SHEFFIELD, ASHTON, AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.
—On Monday last, a special general meeting of this com-
pany was held at Manchester for the purpose of consider-
ing the expediency of authorising a lease of the line to
the Midland and the Manchester and Birmingham Rail-
way Companies. The chair was taken by John Parker,
Esq., who moved a resolution for leasing the line " for a
term of thirty years, to commence six months after the
opening of the line throughout, and determinable by either
party at the end of the first ten or twenty years, on three
years' previous notice to that effect." The resolution also
declared it to be expedient, that, under the lease, the
traffic of the line should be managed by a committee to
be appointed by the three companies, and to be adjusted
to the satisfaction of the directors of the Sheffield and
Manchester Company : and it deputed to the directors
full power to carry into effect an arrangement founded on
the preceding terms. A letter from Mr. Houldswor h,
chairman of the Manchester and Leeds Company, was
read. It was dated " November 4," and contained the
following offer :—" The Manchester and Leeds Railway
Company propose to lease the line and works of the
Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Manchester Railway
in perpetuity, upon the following basis :—The lessee to
pay all interest to accrue on loans ; also the rents, rates,
working expenses, and all other charges to which the
company is liable ; and to pay to the shareholders six
pounds per centum per annum upon a share capital of
£756,000., and seven and a half per cent. upon a share
capital of £144,000; when the traffic amounts to £2,800
per week, on the average of twelve months, the dividend
to be increased one-half per cent. : when it amounts to
£3,000 per week, one per cent. ; with an additional in-
crease of one-half per cent. for every £250 per week,
until it reaches ten per cent. The share and loan capital
not to exceed £1,600,000. The guarantees of the stocks
of the Barnsley and Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railways
to be adopted by the lessee. The traffic of the Sheffield
Line to be managed by a committee to be appointed by
the two companies; and the Sheffield Company to have
the option„ at the end of three, five, or seven years, of
associating themselves with the Manchester and Leeds
Company, on tile same plan as that proposed with the
Hull and Selby Railway Company. The line to betaken
by the lessees six weeks after the stations and main line
are completed, and so repotted by the government in-
spector" Mr. Roberts moved an adjournment of the
theme Manchestereting,inor and Leedsdertogiv offer,
give timefo for
h
thec consideration
thnsidoeurgathitonatoef
better of the two. A long discussion ensued, and ulti-
mately the original motion was carried by an overwhelm-
ing majority.