link which now remains to be supplied in the chain of railroad communication between New York and Philadelphia is the distance between New York and Fenton; when this slip is completed the two former important places will be within five hours' ride of each other, and the distance from New York to Washington will be reduced to thirteen hours'.-Public Ledger.

Two Oceans within Fourteen Hours' sail!-The Atlantic and Pacific Ocean are likely to be united by Yankee enterprise. The Congress of New Grenada has granted to Mr. Charles Biddle and others the exclusive privilege for fifty years, under the name of the "Transportation Company of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," to navigate the river Chagres, with steam. A further exclusive privilege, for the same period is granted to Mr. Biddle for the transportation of goods and passengers, by the railway Macadamised road, from the head of the Chagres to the city of Panama, reserving to the public a transportation road for horses and mules. Extensive concessions of land are made to Mr. Biddle in the same decree, in which colonies of natives and foreigners may be settled, and be exempted from certain contributions for twenty years. One of the last provisions of the decree ordains that if two steam-boats, at least, are not kept in operation, and that the communications are not kept constantly in such a state (excepting accidents) as to admit of the transportation between the Atlantic and Pacific being effected in fourteen hours, the exclusive privilege is to be forfeited.--New York Paper.

We have seen a letter from New York, of the 8th ult., which states that an agent has been sent to Liverpool, by the Savannah and Maeen Railroad Company, for the purpose of engaging 1,000 labourers to work on that undertaking, and that most liberal offers, together with payment of their passage, are to be made to these poor persons. The undertaking in question is to extend from Savannah, upon the Atlantic upwards of 200 miles into the interior, to the town of Maeen, at the head of steam-boat navigation in the Ocmulgee river, and the object of the latter is to demonstrate that the scheme is a most visionary and ill-founded one; that the work in such a climate and soil is so detrimental to health, that none of the native labourers will engage in it, and consequently that the propositions in question, however attractive they may seem, ought not to be entertained by poor persons in England, inasmuch as by trying to escape from one evil they may be transported to a worse. It certainly appears highly improbable, if all was quite right, that labourers for such a work could not be found on the spot, without the trouble and expense of sending over the Atlantic for the purpose, and just suspicion therefore attaches to the whole proceeding.-Times.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS ON RAILWAYS.

LIST OF RAILWAY BILLS PASSED THIS SESSION.

The bills passed during the present session, either as new or amended bills, amount to thirty-five.

Arbroath and Forfar Railway.-Great Western.-Birmingham and Gloucester.-Birmingham and Derby.-Ulster.-Dundee and Arbroath.-Hull and Selby.-Bristol and Exeter. Sheffield and Rotherham.-Cheltenham and Great Western.-Bolton and Leigh. -London Grand Junction.-Aylesbury.-Hayle.-Bristol and Thames Junction.-Brandling Junction.-North Midland.-York and North Midland.-Manchester, &c.-Dundee and Newtyle.North of England.-North Shields.-Merthyr Tydvil and Cardiff. -London and Dover South-Eastern. Midland Counties.-London and Cambridge.-Deptford Pier Junction.-Edinburgh, Leith, and Newhaven.-Eastern Counties.-Preston and Longrigde.-London and Croydon.-Blackwall and Commercial.-Tremoutha Harbour and Railway.-Drogheda.-Edinburgh, Leith, &c.

The Bills thrown out in the Lords are three Stevenson's Brighton.-Manchester and Chester.-South Durham.

NEW REGULATIONS OF THE LORDS WITH RESPECT TO RAILWAY BILLS.

NEW STANDING ORDERS WITH REGARD TO RAILWAY BILLS.

1. THAT at the Commencement of every session of Parliament a Standing Order Committee shall be appointed, consisting of forty Lords, besides the Chairman of the Committees of the House of Lords, who shall be always Chairman of such Standing Order Committee.

2. That three of the Lords so appointed, including the Chairman, shall be a quorum.

3. That previous to the second reading of any private bill relating to railways in the House such bill shall be referred to the Standing Order Committee, before which the compliance with the standing orders relative to notices, to the depositing of plans and sections and books of reference, lists and estimates, and to applications for the consent of the owners and occupiers of lands, and to any other matter which may be required by the standing orders to be done by the parties promoting such bill previous to the second reading of such bill, shall be proved.

4. That any parties shall be at liberty to appear and to be heard by themselves, their agents and witnesses, upon any petition which may be referred to the Committee, complaining of a noncompliance with the standing orders, provided the matter complained of be specifically stated in such petition.

5. That such Committee shall report whether the standing orders have been complied with; and if it shall appear to the Committee that they have not been complied with, they shall state the facts upon which their decision is founded, and any special circumstances

connected with the case, and also their opinion as to the propriety of dispensing with any of the standing orders in such case.

6. That three clear days' notice be given of the meeting of such Committee.

7. That no Committee on any private bill relating to railways shall have power to examine into the compliance with the standing orders in any of the matters upon which an inquiry is directed to be made by the Standing Order Committee.

8. That no private bill relating to railways, which shall have been opposed, in which any amendments have been made, other than verbal amendments in the Committee, shall be read a third time unless such bill shall have been previously reprinted as amended.

PROPOSED AMENDED STANDING ORDERS WITH REGARD TO RAILWAY BILLS FOR SUBSEQUENT SESSIONS.

1. THAT when any application is intended to be made to Parliament for leave to bring in a bill for making any railway, or for varying, extending, or enlarging any railway already authorised to be made, or for continuing or amending any act passed for any of those purposes, or for the alteration of the existing tolls, rates, or duties upon any such railway, notices of such intended application be given.

2. That such notices, except as hereinafter mentioned, do contain the names of the parishes and townships and extra-parochial places, from, in, through, and into which any such railway is intended to be made, varied, extended, or enlarged; and if an alteration in any existing tolls, rates, or duties is intended to be proposed, the intention of proposing such alteration be expressed therein. But in case any such bill shall be for the purpose only of altering any existing tolls, rates, or duties, or of continuing or amending any former act, and solely for the purpose of tolls, it shall not be necessary to insert in such notices the names of the several parishes and townships and extra-parochial places.

3. That such notices be inserted in the London Gazette twice in the month of February, and twice in the month of March of the year immediately preceding that in which such application is intended to be made, and also in some one and the same newspaper of every county in or through which any such railway is intended to be made;* or in which such railway already authorised to be made is intended to be varied, extended, or enlarged, or if there is no such paper printed therein respectively then in the newspaper of some county adjoining thereto. But in case any such bill shall be for the purpose only of altering any existing tolls, rates, or duties, or of continuing or amending any former act, such notices shall be inserted in the London Gazette three times in the months of August, September, October, and November, or either of them, immediately preceding the session of Parliament in which such

For the next session it must be inserted three times in the months of August, September, October, and November.

application is intended to be made, and also in some one and the same newspaper of every county in or through which any such railway is authorised to be made, or if there is no such paper printed therein, then in the newspaper of some county adjoining

thereto.

4. That a map or plan and section of the whole of such intended railway, and also of any intended variation, extension, or enlargement of any railway authorized to be made, upon a scale of not less than four inches to a mile, shall be deposited for public inspection at the office of the clerk of the peace of every county, riding, or division, in or through which such railway, or such variation, extension, or enlargement, is intended to be made, on or before the 1st day of March* in the year immediately preceding that in which such application is intended to be made, which map or plan shall describe the line of such intended railway, or of such intended variation, extension, or enlargement, and the lands in or through which the same is intended to be made, together with a book of reference, containing a list of the names of the owners or reputed owners, lessees, or reputed lessees and occupiers of such lands respectively; and where such railway, or such variation, extension, or enlargement is intended to pass through any buildings, yards, court-yards, or land within the curtilage of any building, or through any ground cultivated as gardens, an additional plan of such buildings, yards, land, and ground, and of the said railway, shall be laid down upon a scale of not less than a quarter of an inch to every one hundred feet.

5. That such section shall be drawn to the same horizontal scale as the plan, and to a vertical scale of not less than one inch to every 100 feet, and shall show the surface of the ground in the line of railway marked on the plan, and shall also have marked on it a line showing the railway line when finished (which line shall correspond with the upper surface of the rails), and a datum horizontal line, which datum line shall be the same throughout the whole length of the railway, and shall be referred to some fixed point stated on the section.

That a vertical measure from such datum line to the line of the railway shall be marked in feet and inches at each change of the gradient or inclination, and that the proportion or rate of inclination between each such change shall also be marked.

That the height of the railway over or under the surface of the ground shall be marked in figures at least twice in every mile, and also at every crossing of a turnpike-road and public carriage-road, navigable river, canal, or railway, or junction with a railway; and that it shall be stated on the section whether any and what alteration in the present level of such turnpike-road, carriage-road, river, canal, or railway is intended to be made.

That where tunnelling or arching is intended the same shall be marked both on the plan and section.

[To be continued.]

* Next session before November 30.