The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-01 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIUENCE.

Mr. Strutt, the member for Derby, is to be the Chief
Commissioner of the new Railway Board.
FACILITIES FOR THE PRESS.—At the meeting of the
Maryport and Carlisle Railway Company, on Wednesday
week, " it was resolved that previous to every general
meeting of the company, the secretary should forward to
the reporters of each of the Cumberland newspapers free
tickets to pass along the line."
MONSTER TRAIN.—One of the largest trains ever seen
on a railway left Rugby station on Friday. It consisted
of eighty-four carriages, and was impelled by three of Ste-
verson's powerful six-wheeled engines. Its length ex-
tended to nearly half a mile, and the weight of merchan-
dise, exclusive of the carriages, was upwards of 20 tons.
On Sunday evening week, a man named Robert Black-
burn, aged 28, employed as a striker at the North Union
station, Preston, met with his death at the Farrington
station, in his attempt to get on the Blackburn train when
in motion, when the wheels of the carriage passed over
him, and killed him on the spot.
LANCASTER AND CARLISLE RAILWAY.—On Wed-
nesday the first trial trip was made on a portion of th!s
line—namely, from Carlisle to Penrith, a distance of
about eighteen miles, With an engine and tender. An-
other trial trip was made the same day between Lancaster
and Hackthorpe, but it is understood that the rails at va-
rious places were only temporarily laid for the occasion.
A number of the directors came by this train to attend
the,general meeting of the company at Penrith.

CHARGE OF EXTENSIVE FORGERY BY THE CHAIR-
MAN OF A RAILWAY COMPANY.—Captain Richardson,
Chairman of the Worcester, Tenhury, and Ludlow Rail.
way Company, the individual charged with having de-
frauded Messrs. Coutts and Co., by altering a cheque
for £lO to the suin of .£5,000. was on Saturday afterno
brought before Alderman Musgrove, at the Mansion-
house. It was stated in evidence that the prisoner had,
as the chairman of this company. filled up and signed the
cheque, that it was for £lO, that it had afterwards been
returned to him signed by two other directors of the com-
pany ; and that. subsequently. it had been paid into
Messrs. Coutts's bank, the sum of £lO being altered icto
the sum of £5,000. Mr. Robert Hare, clerk at Messrs.
Coutts and Co's banking house, stated that he paid the
cheque produced, which purported to be for £5,000, on
the 20th of July, to a person at the counter. He did not
know to whom he paid it. He paid the amount in five
notes of £l,OOO each. The witness here produced the
notes as those which he had paid. Mr. Henry Jerning-
ham, a clerk in the Bank of England, stated that on the
20th July he changed three £l,OOO bank notes, which
were all dated February 13, 1846. The person who pre-
sented the notes gave the name of J. Jones. Tbey were
paid in gold. Other individuals belonging to the Bank of
England declared that they had not the least doubt that
the prisoner was the person who got the gold. The pri-
soner declined so say anything, saying he was taken by
surprise, and wished to consult his solicitor. He was re-
manded till to-day (Tuesday.)
RAILWAY SURVEILLANCE.—Mr. Morrison's Com-
mittee on railways have made their report. It establishes
the fact that rival companies are only a delusion. They
are, it is alleged sure, to amalgamate, and where there is
already an established line, the old company brings up the
new, The remedy which the committee recommends is,
—an efficient system of Government surveillance over
roads already in operation, and a careful investigation into
the merits of new schemes, conjoined with a prudent re-
striction of the powers of companies hereafter to be pro-
jected. The report contains much useful information
concerning the continental lines. In Belgium, it appears,
a systematic plan bas been laid down by the government
. from the commencement, which has ever since been stea-
dily adhered to. France began as we did, but soon find-
ing the inconvenience of disorder, adopted a regular sys-
tem, which has been in force since 1812. In Germany
the choice of lines was at first the work of chance; but
there also a systematic plan was soon adopted. In all
these countries the charges and fares are very much be.
low those of England ; in France, for the conveyance of
passengers in first-class carriages, little more, in Germany
less, than a half ; in Belgium not beyond a third. The
proportions of the third-class fares are, 74, 5 7-10, 4, 3
7-10. It may be thought that the lower price of la-
bour and materials is the cause of the cheapness of
travelling on the continental railroads. This is not so ;
but, on the contrary, England enjoys an advantage in the