The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-03-11 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGEACE.

At the Dublin and Drogheda railway meeting, on Wed.
nesday, a dividend of 245. for the half-year was declared.
RAILWAYS IN WEST YORKSHIRE.—The Provisional
Committee of the West Yorkshire Railway have an-
nounced their intention of appealing to Parliament, not-
withstanding the detailed report of the Board of Trade
against them.

THE DIRECT RAILWAY TO CHELTENHAM.—It is
understood that the Great Western Railway Company
have agreed to take a lease of the proposed line from Ox-
ford to Cheltenham at four per cent. interest. and half
the surplus profits.

A dividend of 40s. on the whole shares, and of 10s. on
the quarter shares, has been declared by the Birmingham
and Glocester Company. The receipts for the half-year
amounted to £70,096, and the expenditure to £44,739.
The lease of the line to the Midland Company was con-
firmed, the latter company paying six per cent. on the
share capital of the former.
TROOPS BT RAILWAY.—The principal railway compa-
nies have agreed to convey soldiers on furlough on the
same terms as those on duty, provided they exhibit the
proper authentic proof of their being absent on leave. We
consider this concession to be no slight boon, seeing that
when men are on furlough they are compelled to defray
their own expenses.

It is in contemplation to make a line of railway com-
munication between the Bolton and Preston and Liver-
pool and Manchester railways, by which the nearest pos-
sible route will be effected between Preston and Mances-
ter. The line in question, which will be less than nine
miles in length. has been ordered to be surveyed by the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company.

HARTLEPOOL RAILWAY.—The dues for the half-year,
ending 31st December last, amounted to £23,505, leaving
a profit of £11,926, after deducting the expenses of work-
ing and paying the interest upon loans. The collieries
upon the line only resumed their full working after the
long strike late in August ; and the above is the result of
four, rather than six, months' traffic. In conformity
with the regulation of the last meeting, delegating to the
directors the power of fixing the dividend, they have re-
solved on 31 per cent. for the half-year.
SHREWSBURY AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.—The
Bill for this line, which it will be remembered was one of
the " bones of contention" between the London and Bir-
mingham and Grand Junction Companies, had been
thrown out on Standing Orders—being (with the excep-
tion of the Thames and Medway Canal-railway) the only
case that has yet been thus decided in the present Session.
The Provisional Committee have however given notice that
they intend to proceed with the bill next session.—Rail-
way Record.
NORTH UNION AMALGAMATION.—A determined
movement has commenced, of which the object is to de-
feat the proposed amalgamation of the North Union
Railway with the Grand Junction and Liverpool and
Manchester. The North Union proprietary, it seems,
especially the class B of stockholders, have come to the
conclusion, not only that the amalgamation is inexpedi-
ent in itself, but that they have been cozened, both as to
the mode and the terms of it ; and memorials to the
Board of Trade are in coui se of preparation, urging the
beard not to sanction the union.—Railway Record.
LONDON, WORCESTER. AND WOLVERHAMPTON, AND
BITEMINGHAM AND SHREWSBURY DISTRICTS. The
Report of the Board of Trade sets out by stating that
these two schemes proposed, the one by the London and
Birmingham, and the other by the Great Western Com-
pany (that of the Birmingham and Gloucester Company
having been withdrawn), are so nearly identical that they
cannot co-exist. It then discusses the question mooted
by some parties of the non-necessity of any railway at all
through the district, as interfering with the existing canal
property, and as attended with danger from the nature of
the district, in which great excavations have been made
for mining purposes. These arguments are held not to be
valid. With respect to the two lines, it is stated that in
point of distance and of the number of miles of new
railway, or of the population to be accommodated, there
is little superiority on either side. The great point evi-
dently is the question of guage,—the importance of uni-
formity in which the Board at some length dwell upon,
and instance the difficulties and delays occurring at Glou-
cester through the differing widths of the Birmingham
and Bristol lines. They are of opinion that no mechanical
arrangements are sufficient to obviate this inconvenience,
and therefore the question simply is, whether the points
of junction between the guages shall he at Rugby, Bir-
mingham and Wolverhampton, or at Oxford and Bristol ;
and they give a preference to the latter points for various
reasons—the principal of which are, that the greater por-
tion of the produce of Staffordshire passes to Liverpool
and Hull, and that by means of an uninterrupted com-
munication, the Midland coal-fields will be rendered
greatly available. The preference is further confirmed
by the fact, that the London and Birmingham Company
have voluntarily agreed to certain conditions. The Shrews-
bury scheme of the Grand Junction Company is put
aside as likely to be used by that Company, rather as a
protection against competition, than as an encouragement
tofurtilbiercß
extensions,.—ailuy
.a or so
s to promote the interest of
the public.—Railway
- - -

RAILWAYS.—The _railway department of the Board of
Trade has published a long report on the London, Wor-
cester and Wolverhampton, and on the Birmingham and
Shrewsbury districts. They are of opinion that a line of
railway is required between Wolverhampton and Worces-
ter. This being conceded, the sanction of a line in con-
nexion with it, to connect Worcester more directly with
London, and to give communication to the large interme-
diate district, appears to follow almost as a matter of
course. The supply of coals to this district, where a
great reduction of price will be effected, is alone an im-
portant subject; and, on the other hand, an outlet will
be afforded for agricultural produce. A population of
about 128,000, between Worcester and Tring, would be
accommodated by the line in that direction ; and, on the
whole, taken in connexion with the Worcester and Wol-
verhampton Junction, the traffic seems sufficient to jus-
tify a fair expectation of return on the capital to be in-
vested, as also on the Li agby and Oxford portion of the
line, which sill complete a chain of direct railway com-
munication from the northern and midland to the southern

Mar. 11, 1815,

and south-western counties, and will afford to those collo'
ties a valuable supply of coal from the Derbyshire et
lieries. They think that if there is one point more fultY
established than another, in the practice of railways, it 15,
that the inconvenience occasioned by a break upon:a Dee,
of through-traffic, occasioned by want of uniformity e!
gauge, is of such a serious description as to detract most
materially from the advantages of railway communication.
They conclude as follows :—" A line to Shrewsbury, 1.11
the hands of the Grand Junction Company, would maul'
festly be not unlikely to be used for the purposes of pro:
tection against competition, rather than of encouragement
to extensions beyond Shrewsbury, and to the legitimate
development of the traffic. It appears to us, therefore,
that, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the
fact of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham line being pro-
moted by a substantial and independent local party is e
legitimate ground of preference, in addition to that al-
ready pointed out, of the superior advantages afforded 1/9
the independent line to the populous mining district be..
tween Wolverhampton and Birmingham. As regards the,
line between Shrewsbury and Stafford, of which plans and
sections have likewise been deposited by the Gray?
Junction Company, it appears sufficient to say, that to,:
though, as a mere line for the town of Shrewsbury, tt
might afford considerable advantages, it accomplishes
none of the more important advantages for the district at
large which are held out by the line to Birmingham. We
are of op!nion, therefore, that the latter line is preferable
to all the competing schemes proposed, upon general
grounds of public policy ; and we are aware of no public
reasons why it should not receive the sanction of Par'
liament."