The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-17 00:00:00

The Londondividend anodf
per 10 Birmingham
cent.
Glared
a perty tax. The gross receipts on the half-year arnoune„,
to £542,702; the expenditure to £222,529; the balance
£320,173, applicable to the dividends, and a large reserve
the next half-year.
The balance sheet of the Eastern Counties showed thee
receipts and disbursements for constructing the main l%;
to 4th January, 1846, to be £2,296,395, and the tra.,
per meeting,annuro, on
clear Fridoalf
account of the Cambridge and Colchester lines to 0°
£173,166; also the balance up to 4th January (after Pare
ing dividends up to 4th July, 1845,eaed income tax) to
£64,467. At the meeting a oivideal was declared ell
per share on thepital stock, at the average value,.
£l4 16s. per share. The increase of traffic, arising ITime_
cipally from the opening of the line to Cambridge, 0"'
and Brandon, was stated to be great.
The report of the Brighton Company is an interest
one, and, on the whole, satisfactory ; proving that `f.„
le:
experiments in cheap fares they have so boldly made, We
der circumstances by no means the most favourable4.
their introduction, have been carried out so far with t
profitable result. The available balance is £76,051,e,04
of which a dividend was declared of 355. a share.
total half-yearly gross receipts, to December 31, is
£144,325, against £128,665, in 1814: the same propel:A
tionate advance will not, however, be found in the no!
balance; the rate of working expenses having increased,
as the report states, 154 per cent. While the receipts fur
passengers have increased 104 per cent., the number eat'
vied has increased 184—very nearly double. It is there".
fore easy to account for the rise in the scale of Nvorkil.
expenses. The total nett income is, meanwhile;., £18,191
(or 34 per cent.) more than in the corresponding perioe.
of 1844.
HOW THE HOLYHEAD RAILWAY WILL CROSS at
MENAI STRAITS.—Mr. Robert Stephenson's eatinen9
is too well established to leave a doubt on the mind 0'
any one that he would discover a solution of the probe,
km, and that what he should resolve upon lie would
efficiently execute. This problem is, however, the 111°°e
arduous he has yet attempted, and the expedient he ha'
adopted is a bold one. Already he has carried out the
use of iron in railway bridges to a greater extent thafl
most other engineers; and for this purpose he is to adoln
the favourite material, and is about to lay across
Menai Straits AN IRON BEAM 450 feet long, supported
on stone pillars at both ends. This propoeal is bold;
but the method proposed for executing it is ingeilisatr
and satisfactory. This great iron beam, 450 feet long, Se
to be 30 feet deep and 15 feet wide, with a hollow in the "
centre, and this hollow is to he so large, that the relived
train shall pass along in the heart or centre of the bean''
This beam will be laid across the Menai Straits : 00e
end joining the railway on one side of the straits, one
;
the other end joining the railway at the other side of t?"
straits so that passengers coming along the line will be
whirled through the heart of the beam without any per:
ceptible difference between this and any part of the
which may happen to be covered in or arched over. el
is, in short, to be an iron tunnel, hung up in the air'
across an arm of the sea.—Railway Chronicle.
ST. HELENS CANAL AND RAILWAY.—On Saterdala
the half-yearly general meeting of this company was hel,
at the Clarendon-rooms. The revenue account shower,'
surplus for the half-year of £3,359 2s. 3d., after prove .
ding fur the guaieriteeo teiviceni of £5 per cent. on the
amount paid up on the preference shares. There wag.
£517 15s. 4d. left on the same account to June last, hu",
as there were still debts owing for work done in the for'
[nation of the line, which there were no means of ligni"
dating under the acts, except from surplus income, the
directors did not recommend any dividend until authoritl
was obtained to raise a further sum of money, when these
debts might be provided for. The traffic for the whole
of 1845 left a clear surplus, after meeting every charge O°
the revenue account, of £5,207 16s. 7d. The canal in'
come for the half-year had been £8,353, and the railway
income £7,947. The canal expenditure had been £2,960'
and the railway expenditure £4,686. The total surplus
from both concerns was £8,653, from which, after de'
ducting interest and guaranteed dividend, &c., there wal*
let a nett surplus, as stated in the report, of £3,876.'
The report of Mr. Rendel, the engineer, was then read, .
It stated the grounds which had induced him to revere"
mend to them the construction of a coal-dock at Garston,
and a railway between the St. Helens coal-field and the
said dock, by a line along the banks of the canal, ow
municating in its course with the Grand Junction Rail'
way, at Warrington. The Chairman stated that the sue'
of £400,000 was proposed to be raised. The report wag
adopted, and the directors were empowered to apply to
parliament to make the lines. &c. mentioned. The share'
holders are to be called together again, to have the clauses
of the bill submitted to them in detail. Mr. WhitleYt
solicitor to the company, stated that the Grand Junction
were on very good terms with their company. Of course
the Grand Junction would rather that the St. Helens
Company should not make their proposed lines than that
they did ; but he thought such an arrangement might het
come to as would prevent all opposition an the part 0'
either company. The Grand Junction crossed the St'
Helens line two or three times, and the projected bridge
of the former at Runcorn would he very injurious to the
present dock of this company there. The new dock at
Garston, however, would obviate all difficulty on that
head. The heads of Mr. Rendel's report are to be en";
culated amongst the proprietors, together with a plan 0'
the proposed lines, prior to the next meeting.
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY.—On Friday, the half
j
yearly meeting was held in the Cotton Sales Room, an
was numerously attended. Charles Lawrence. Escl"
Chairman of the Board of Directors, presided. Airci
Booth, the secretary, read the report. which commence
by congratulating the shareholders on the amalgamation
with the Liverpool and Manchester, and subsequentll
with the London and Birmingham Company, and throne;
that company with the Manchester and Birmingham, by
which means the directors were enabled to carry both
goods and passengers, at a cheaper rate, and with greater
punctuality and expedition. The report then notices thef
alterations now making at the Liverpool terminue, all
which are in progress. It goes on to say—" The direct;
tors will now refer to the new measures which, with tl!
approbation of the proprietors, they intend to apply for i e
the present session of parliament. The most importa''
is the line from Huyton to Aston near Preston Brool‘'
crossingthe Mersey at Runcorn,, by which the distance
from Liverpool to Bit mingham and London will be shot'
tened between nine and ten miles. From this line there
will be a branch to Warrington, affording to that town 5.1
improved communication with Liverpool. Application t
also being made for a line from Warrington to KenY°"
and Parkside, to shorten the distance from Warringt°"",,
and the south to Bolton, via Kenyon, and to Wigat
Preston, and the north via Parkside. The next projectA7
a short line from Huyton Quarry to Prescot and SI
Helens, for the accommodation of those towns, and °„,
the collieries in the vicinity ; and they propose to wi,det
their own railway from Huyton to Edge-hill, by o°`"je '
tional rails on the south side, with a view especially tots
better accommodation for the London and Birminghalfil
traffic. They have further lodged plans for a 'bran'
from the main line to Wolverhampton. where it is Pre:
posed to arrange a central station, for the joint use of 6:e
veral lines of railway now proposing to connect with t'f
Grand Junction at that town. The estimated cost btas
these undertakings is £1,303,000. It had been though
expedient to subscribe one-fourth part of the capital "te
the Liverpool and Preston, Manchester and SoutbPob,
Railway, amounting to £400,000. By the accounts ouej
mitted, the traffic of the Grand Junction Afealgarriat
Company, during the half year to the 31st Decerohet,
!o0
exhibits a considerable increase over the aggregate trio,
of the Grand Junction and Liverpool and Manchesre:
lines, in the corresponding 6 months of 1844. •. The,os,
ceipts for the last six months amounted to £435,168 1.4
2d., and the disbursements to £180,499 Ils. Od., lea Zd,
es the nett proceeds of the half year £254,761 19s-eiee
To this amount must be added the amalgamated sufrre,
fund of £28,615 19s. Id., as shown in the directors of
port of the 10th of September last ; also the sty:no.
£1,574 19s. 24., being balance of Liverpool and 1%00
chester reserve fund, after payment of sundry exPeelier
arid small charges. The directors recommended a 'to
dend of 5 per cent., without deduction for iron-ee*
amounting, as per statement below, to £218,768 9s. 001
and leaving a disposable balance of £67.197 7s• Sj" 6d,
of which the income tax, amounting to £6,380 lls•
has to be paid. The chairman in moving that the the
counts and report be approved, called attention Which
fact that both boards had given up concerns in war
they had promised to take an interest. They bad 'ad
posed to take a large interest in thee Wolverhameo° tioo
Shrewsbury line. They had not given up the inteePereer
of supporting it, but they had declined to buy nay" or'
and had applied the money to more advantageous ;jog
poses. The Derby and Crewe, which now was "itioee,
mated with the North Staffordshire line, would eo'l 000
to have their support, as well as that of the London 10
Birmingham, but without their taking any shard' been
them. With the North Union an arrangement it time
made, which it would be necessary in a short t'tl"
submit to the proprietors for their sanction, but it tc
not yet in a fit state to lay before them. With reg 9 fact
their present state of affairs, he would allude to the th,el
that that was probably one of the last meetings P S
would have as the Grand Junction CompanY'a. ae,
moved that the accounts and report he approve
l'orret;
that they be printed and circulated in the usual a' sing
Mr. Rotherham seconded the motion. Mc.
of Warrington, objected to that part of the eeporieyeere;
recommended art extension from Ashton to lieffeet4
The report stated that this alteration would sesol,
saving of nine or ten miles, whereas the raving beif
only be about five miles, and that would be nega" rise 4
bad gradients, of which there were 31,- miles with ato tPd
4in 100. It also would be particularly injuriousee, I!°4
navigation of the Mersey, and driving poles into r 'bib
of the river might affect the tidal rower of a port „,
every body knew was a ticklish one. Its cost.‘c othwf
enormous ; something like a million ; upon wh'ehnno Pee
X 1 ot
to pay 5 per cent., they must have a traffic of ever
t
week—a traffic which it was almost impossible_iogst
anticipate. The scheme was. in fact, only pro and
out of opposition to the Birkenhead Company' 'et. to
from any expected benefit to be derived frog' aiert se
moved as an amendment, " That it is not exPeesed "d
apply for an act of parliament to make the nr°l3:teffeeo
from Aston to liuyton." Mr. Joseph Weethainel
Warrington, seconded the amendment.—The f gelled
explained that the proposed line was a reeasure °eee,'"oft
policy to secure themselves against any ronti" 00°o,
to prevent their being injured by a competing re, AO it
vt Ito might get a hill on the score of the ronte u!spectere
beinea nearer one to London. They did 11()t .erthtf
as 'c';itilitX
the A

would

than the "cos

't to the r

tvl the Cons

00141
3 ro, de,
i0.(10 Sa' a roe
__ _ t

is tidal power wits

T.4ey

company was t

Casson, against the amendment, it as Put__ "001/ . er;
ill
_c;ntived by an immense majority: a° tb
mover and seconder voting for it. The Chalble °II
moved that a dividend of five per cent. be papa
16th instant, which concluded the meeting.

chair, anti