The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-08-15 00:00:00

from Chirk 6

stated is the first week in October. The last arch of the
Dee viaduct will be " keyed " in the course of the presell
week.

The shareholders of the Lancaster and Carlisle RailsvoYs
adopted their report without much discusion of the coo'
tents_ Thp nr(Scpnap” t”,,fS" a ts—„

and, indeed, the 01;1 yunsaTisfacto;ymatter, i; il7e;elatioti
of the line with the Lancaster and Preston. A divideur
of £1 per whole, and 4s. 6d. Der third share was declareo!
and plenary authority was given to the directors for the-
settlement of the Lancaster and Preston question. na
ATROCIOUS CONDUCT OF AN ENGINE.DRIVER.--".,-
the East Lancashire Railway works, at Tunnel End,
-fn ''
Burnley, on' -P-'

.day week, the driver and stoker o
Medusa locomotive were drinking, and had left the engine
in charge of the cleaner, whose name is Rhodes. S?". 1,
persons in authority came down to the engine, and, w's"..
ing to go to the " tip end" at Rose-grove, were ta
.hel .. . . _ ken'

driver, named Whittle; came down, and finding the engird
gone without him, he was very much vexed, and place
formidable obstacles on the rails to obstruct the engine
its return. On the engine's return, with a truck attached'
it was cast off the rails, and Rhodes was thrown to 01,
ground, and had his arms and thighs broken. There l',:ecr„e
in the truck the Rev. T. G. James ; his brother,
Tames, of Lice' '""
: Mr. Donaldson, the engineer of the

line, and another gentleman, all. of whom fortunately
escaped. Whittle has been committed for trial.
PRICE 01' RAILWAY SHARES.—On Friday a very cutioi
siderable depression took place in the price of several
the rail Way shares. The immediate cause of this is t"
reduction in the dividends by some of the leadinfr

which is

producing

,~, ...-
idE•rab~y

North-Westerntbi eoynoonfd tt the
e i
dividendn intrinsic n
cs
Company
aapltaunetyhoeof timhFee: eigrebonicl; Tedhueeed
Londondetic:L:3l
per cent., or at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum, pro'
duced a considerable sensation, and sent the shares do'
4or 5 per cent. The idea that had been for a long Peri°,
attached to this line that it would permanently support a
dividend of 10 per cent. on the capital invested has hal
b l g
much more influence than the decrease merits, because,,
is quite clear that it is to a considerable extent caused
the expenditure. upon new branches and extensions no
yet become productive. The holders in that and sl
lines should, therefore, be cautious not to throw their
property away under the influence of a panic which there
are always parties ready to foster and sustain for sinister
purposes.
The
THE LONDON AND NOTH-WESTERN
shareholders in this company had the satisfaction of find'
ing that the dividend declared at the meeting on Friday
was real—actually payable from the bond fide ascertained,
earnings of the line, and not got up for show by any 01_
the " ingenious devices" of financial generalship, or rather
financial jugglery—a resort to which species of third-rate
,
dexterity might possibly, if the directors had condescended
to such shifts, produced a larger nominal dividend for the
nonce, but would have proportionately endangered the
high, the unsullied, and universally trusted reputation
which they peculiarly possess for honourable and straight-
forward dealing. Whatever might have been the sill%
rent temptations to an evasive course of conduct in t"'"
instance, the directors may rely on it that they have taken
in pre-
the path not only of honour, but of true prudence,
• a position
at the tremendous occurrences of the year, Is most
for which their constituents and themselyes'have the
wentsentinogf awnhuazd
consideringisguised unvarnished,an in curn b uranneexeasg,g (87dt e set.ka,!tnes:
ample reason to be proud and thankful.—Railway Reco !:_de
THE STRIKE OF ENGINE-DRIVERS.—On Monday,
following notice was posted on the premises of the Nortest
Western Railway Company :—" Euston Station,
7, 1848.—A statement having appeared in -the Observeorf
newspaper of Sunday, and been copied into the Times
this day, to the effect that at a meeting on Friday of mB'„,
;
of the engine-drivers and firemen employed on the Loo,
don and North-Western Railway, it had been alleged thob
it was the intention of the directors to use the classifit?;
tion as the means of ultimately reducing the wages of
men, I am instructed to declare that so far from this hen);
the case, it is their intention, in every instance, strictlY d
carry out the regulation by which engine-drivers• alif
firemen are to be successively advanced as vacancies roil
occur in the classes above them, and that it is not, on
never has been, the intention of the directors to retle',•
the number of the men employed in these classes, or then
rate of wages.—R. CREED, Secretary." On TuesdaY !ci
adjourned meeting of engine-drivers on the London ail
North-Western Railway was held at the Railway Tevehe,
Hampstead-road, to consider the question pending
tween them and the directors. Mr. James Brown
pied the chair, and 150 drivers were present. The
man read a speech, which recapitulated the grievance by
suiting from the new classification of wages propose„
Mr. M'Connell, the superintendent of locomotives
are perfectly satisfied, he said, with our wages, but °el,'
move is made because, we see in the background the roe
object of the new system—that of being subjected to is
caprice of the superintendent." A variety of staterneub„
were made to show that great danger resulted to the Pilo
lie from the course being pursued by the companY. , to
resignations had been sent in, and the men intended t,
adhere to them.—After thanks to the Chairman the ine.,eo
ing separated. It was expected that negotiations scw't..
To
have been set on foot to terminate these differences. op
men however refuse to give way, and the whole of 6.0.
from Rugby to Carlisle, have forwarded their resignetithe
A letter was read from Northampton, stating that to
engine drivers and firemen there had been induee,bei
withdraw their notice from a misrepresentation, but 1.
ea
had since recalled their withdrawal, and were deterolo,
to resign if they had only bread and water for six In°ntbecl
MIXED GOAGE.—A pamphlet has just been publis,ieg
on this subject by Joseph Locke, Esq., M.P. lin%,
shown that the remedy of mixed gauge is a greater ;so
than the break of gauge, Mr. Locke next shows the cure
for both :—" With the view, then, of avoiding the eibi
which must necessarily arise to the railway sYstelii to
such extension of the mixed gauge, it is my intentiontoo
show your lordship that, for a far less sum than l9,breo
about to be laid out on the mixed gauge upon the 'ol,eo
lines I have named, a railway of continuous and nobrA oth
gauge may be completed between the soutn coast
olia
North of England on the one hand, and the nietroP
Gruel
and the whole of the North of England, by
.the i 0
Western line, on the other. The mode Of doing,,th the
simply by laying the narrow gauge conctirrentlY w.„"„tlog,
broad gauge from Oxford through Reading to 1.41-1101
and from Reading to Basingstoke—in all 77 mile' sited
might be done either by independent lines or a V, an
gauge; and although the latter would, I admit, be 14
evil, it would be much less in extent than it could, suge
any other arrangement, short of altering the broad 14 Or
to the narrow. The narrow gauge must be laid frenli,
ford northward; but why lay the broad gauge at .05.
proposed by the Great Western Company, at an exethae
at the outset (from the mixed gauge) of more reel
£BOO,OOO sterling ? Why not, instead, lay the %tot`
gauge from Oxford to London, at one-third of the seta'
If this were done, the Guest Western could more %lithe
ally compete in the north, if that be their object, or' Olt'
North Western, than they can ever hope to d° j3ir-
breaks of gauge at either Rugby, WolverhamPteT4 the
mingham, or Oxford ; and, for the south coast, 'by Ito
Great Western carry out the pledge often mad: tnke t°l
chairman, to lay the narrow gauge from Basin,,sicts,
Reading ; and thus the north and south coast distr ,001-
a cost of less than £lOO,OOO, would be saved the nWhP
ance and expense of any break of gauge whetever• ewer;
then, my lord, is this suggestion—so obviously the Xoo'
est, simplest, and best for the public interresterni
adopted ? Must it be confessed that the Great ,"
ttees
relying on the conflicting decisions of come?.:_ ini%e!
Parliament, hopes, year after year, to extend tt,e
and tto,
gauge further to the north on the one ben.lirost
Southampton and Portsmouth on the other. octet
owned, that whilst that company is thus urging avow,-
tlions, for
thcL%l.
an d 0 x foridts, get
.rni' of the 7
It is
difficulty which affords a pretext for the extensntoatie
broad gauge ? It was the Great Western that IV neve'
introduction own (los of the
potpuhol
eds e
mixed
l)i
mxaeoddsv
nue
tggi
eer
e,
liyt
between. carefully ,
00
re at ob
interfere
rexceptionaleglui
lines
ndeclaring h
.t h
at it
patty that is now seeking to introduce
order to avoid, as it is alleged, the evils of ,ots al°,o
pinleixoet:lbegre:;:a;
really in order to multiply breaks of gauge at Pan' seol:b
remote frorn,their own line ; and yet this eenlyeisy b
alone confend that a mixed gauge is
to constrUct and to work, hesit p
ates to aPI let is
to their own line, where no one but the Yin
awr
have control over it." [This well-timed P
published by Mr. Webb., of this town-]