The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-27 00:00:00

why not ?

EXTRAORDINARY BALLOON ASCENT.—On Wednesday
Mr. Hampton made one of his most successful ascents
from the Rotunda Gardens, in Dublin. It was announced
that he mould cross the Irish Channel, but. this did not

prove a great attraction, and from the haze the object
could not be accomplished. The aeronaut was accompa-
nied by Sandham Symes, Esq., of Dominick-street, and
Mr. Bateman, of the " Shades." It continued to ascend
to a great altitude until the great body became almost be-
yond the range of observation, at which point it appeared
for a considerable time. In fact no instance is
of so great an altitude having been attained in

on recor

Ireland. The balloon descended in the vicinage of the
Ashbourne road. The aeronauts landed in perfect safety

a corn

field, but afterwards trailed into a meadow, where they
were immediately surrounded by a joyous and astonished
crowd of haymakers. The country people behaved with
the greatest civility, and used every exertion to aid in se-
curing the balloon. By some n,pidpnt nM m;.t.v. in

%/I 1111.101,C, 111
those engaged in holding the prodigious.bubble, it escaped
from the netting, and rose to such a height that it was
soon lost in the clouds. The voyagers returned to Dub-
lin. Mr. Hampton has written an interesting account of
the voyage, from which it appears that a gust of wind hav-
ing thrown over the balloon on one side, the men holding
on the netting got alarmed, and let go. Mr. Hampton
and Mr. Bateman were left hanging on to the netting ;
but at length the balloon slipped out of it, and having no-
thing but the silk to carry, it ascended very rapidly. It
was afterwards recovered in a field at Athearne, eighteen
miles from the town. It was safely folded up, and taken
to Athearne Castle.

RAILWAY AFFAIRS,

In Whitsun week last year, the average earnings of the
railways per mile was £6l ; his year they were £52.

The traffic on the Chester and Holyhead railway, for the
week ending June 17, was £llll 14s. Id.
During Whitsun week no fewer than one hundred and
sixteen thousand individuals left Manchester by the re.
spective railways.

On Monday that portion of the East Lancashire railway
which connects the town of Accrington with that of Black-
burn was opened to the public. When the line through
Ormskirk is finished the distance from Liverpool to Black-
burn will he performed in about an hour.
The North Staffordshire Railway have agreed to give a
bonus of £4OO to Messrs. F. and J. Mills, for injury done
to the salt works of those gentlemen, at Sandbach,
Cheshire, and to pay damages if the works are not put in
working order within a prescribed period.
The requirements of a railway when detailed with any
minuteness appear absurd ; for instance, three million of
bricks, says the Railway Record, will be requisite in the
formation of a viaduct of 300 yards, in progress at Brier-
ley Hill, on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton
line.

It is stated that Mr. Creed, who from the first projec-
tion of the London and Birmingham Railway, has been
the secretary to the company, has resigned his office.
Mr. Henry Booth, who now holds the joint appointment
of secretary, together with Mr. Creed, will, it is presumed,
be his successor. _ _

The directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
have received the sanction of the shareholders to the imme-
diate consolidation of their share capital. Any means,
said the chairman, that could bring up their stock to nearly
its proper value, so as to enable those to sell who wanted
the money to meet engagements for calls on other stock,
would be a great advantage. _

At the special meetings of the shareholders of the Bir-
mingham and Oxford Junction, and the Birmingham,
Wolverhampton, end Dudley, the bills for confirming the
agreement of November, 1846, for the sale of the line to
the Great Western, &c., and for the loop line from the
Birmingham and Oxford Junction, through Leamington,
were approved of.

The ancient Collegiate Church of Edinburgh has been
purchased by the North British Railway Company for a
waggon shed. The antiquaries made a stout resistance,
but the company have at length possessed themselves of
the edifice, the tombs of the Scottish Queens, for £17,000.
The remains of the foundress, Mary of Guelders, Queen
of James the Second, bpve been removed to the Abbey of
Holyrood,