The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-08-06 00:00:00

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

The Great Northern Railway to Peterborough was
opened yesterday.
The directors of the Newmarket railway, including Lord
George Manners as Chairman, have resigned in conse-
quence of the shareholders having disapproved of their
policy in closing the line on the 30th June last.
It is reported that the Great Western Railway Com-
pany will nay 5 per cent. this bou9year, and the London
and North Western 4 per cent.,Tlie latter leaving a sur-
plus to be carried to the reserve fund, of £15,000.
MIDLAND RAILWAY.—A meeting of shareholders in
this company was held at Liverpool on Wednesday, "Ito
take into consideration the best means of defeating the
proposition of certain of the £5O shareholders, made at
Derby on the 19th July." The chair was occupied by
Mr. J. H. Brancker, and the attendance was numerous.
The following resolution was carried nem. dis:—" That
in the opinion of this meeting it is essential for the pre-
servation of the interest of the proprietors of the Mid-
land Railway; and for the maintenance of good faith
towards all classes of stock and shareholders, that the
personal and sectional pretentions of certain of the £5O
shareholders should be opposed by all necessary legal and
parliamentary measures."
THE RAILWAY TO WATERLOO. The Liverpool,
Crosby, and Southport Railway is progressing rapily to-
wards completion, and will shortly be opened for traffic.
The works are about 34 miles long. The line is con-
tinued on an embankment crossing Lord Derby's land at
the Derby Arms, by a skew arch of thirty feet span,
where his lordship purposcs making a road. The remain-
ing portion of the line to Waterloo is on the surface, over
an embankment, and a considerable cutting. The rail-
way is carried over a timber bridge, on piles, at Seaforth,
and there is another of a similar character between Sea-
forth and Waterloo. At Waterloo the only bridge over
the line will be constructed. This will be a stone bridge
140 feet long, and two carriage roads, namely, those from
Crosby and Southport will form a junction over the
bridge, and the line will be run into the Waterloo station,
which will have to be lowered about three feet to get a
common level. There will be stations at Bootle, Merton-
road, Seaforth, Marsh-lane, and Waterloo ; also other
places not yet fixed upon.
FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—Between ten and eleven
o'clock on Thursday, a collision occurred on the Edin-
burgh and Glasgow Railway, near the Cowlairs station,
by which five persons were deprived of life and several
others severely if not fatally injured. It appears that a
monster special train left Perth by the Scottish Central
Railway early in the morning, carrying a number of per-
sons to witness the Highland Society's Exhibition at
Glasgow; that on its arrival at the Greenhill junction the
train was divided into two portions, one of which pro-
ceeded on to Cowlairs; on its arrival at Cowlairs a deten-
tion occurred in consequence of a large train from Edin-
burgh not being able to get down the incline as speedily
as usual; while remaining here the second section of the
Perth train came up, and although it was noticed at some
distance it was proceeding at such a rapid rate that a col-
lision resulted inevitably. Seeing this, some of the pas-
sengers leaped from the stationary train and escaped
without injury, but they had no sooner done so than the
collision took place. Two cattle trucks, in which there
were some 20 to 30 persons have been completely
smashed, as were also the buffers of nearly all the carriages.
DINNER TO ROBERT STEPHENSON, ESQ., M.P.—A
public dinner was given to this gentleman by his friends
and admirers in Newcastle and its neighbourhood, to
mark their respect for his excellent private character,
great talent, and public achievements in engineering sci-
ence. The dinner took place in the new railway station
in Neville-street, and about 400 persons sat down to it.
Th' Hon. Mr. Liddell was in the chair, and the vice
chairs wc,-.• Mina by the Mayors of Newcastle end Gates-
head. The chairman, in proposing the toast of the even-
ing, enumerated the many works with which their guest
had been connected ; from which it appeared that the
railways alone to which he had been engineer, amounted
to 1850 miles • he particularly alluded to the Britannia
Bridge, the Ith-level Bridge, and the viaduct over the
Tweed, as works unequalled in ancient or modern times—
paintings of these three structures were exhibited in the
apartment. Mr. Stephenson, in returning thanks, bore
testimony to the perseverance and skill of those who had
been his associates in his labours, and to whom he felt he
owed his success. He said it was Lord Ravensworth, the
father of the chairman, to whom his father was indebted
for assistance to enable him to carry out his locomotive
experiments, and consequently to his after success in life.
ST. HELEN'S CANAL AND RAILWAY.—The annual
meeting of the proprietors was held on Tuesday, at St.
Helen's, Mr. G. Greenall, M.P., in the chair. The re-
port stated that the traffic for the half-year, ending the
30th of June last, as compared with the corresponding
period of 1839, showed an increase in the gross receipts
of £1,413, and in the net receipts of £1,476. against
which is an extra charge for interest on loans and prefer-
ence shares of £7BO, leaving a net profit of £695 in excess
of the same period of 1849. The gross revenue for the
half-year amounted to £16.375, and the working expen-
ses, &c., to £6,363, or 39 per cent., leaving a surplus of
£10,012, out of which £2,633, was deducted for interest
on loans and renewal of permanent way, and £7,236 for
preference and other dividends, leaving a balance of £260
for the next account. Arrangements have been made for
the commencement of the traffic on the whole of the
Blackbrook branch. The continued and large increase
in the traffic at the docks at Widness convinces the di-
rectors of the expediency of providing the improved dock
accommodation at Garston with as little delay as possible,
The dividends for the half-year are—on the old shares,
15s. ; on the half-shares, 7s. 6d. ; on the £lOO preference,
£3 ss. ;_ and on the £25 shares, Bs. 3d. each. The chair-
man referred in congratulatory terms to the leading state-
ments which it contains. With respect to the future, be
said he had a very confident opinion that there was an
opening for still greater improvement. The report was
adopted. Mr. Holland expatiated upon the advantages
Of the concern, and the value especially of the proposed
extension to Garston. He showed that on the outlay
£428,000,) the dividends declared declared had been equal
to £4 13s. 4d. per cent. The retiring directors were re-
elected.