Mr. Hardman Earle, Director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.—p. 18.
1. Are you a merchant at Liverpool?
I am.
2. Are you a Director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad?
Yes.
3. How long have you been so?
For the last three years.
10. Do you know a house in the neighbourhood of Liverpool called Spekeland?
Yes; it belongs to my mother.
11. How near is it to the Railroad?
Five or six hundred paces.
12. What is the size of that house?
It is a large mansion.
13. What did it cost building?
The house and grounds about 12,000l.
14. Have you experienced any inconvenience from residing in that house since the Railway was constructed?
I have not resided there myself; I have been there of course very frequently, and I can say no inconvenience whatever has been expressed.
15. Are the grounds infested by people in consequence of the passage of the locomotive engine?
No.
16. Is there any thing offensive in it?
Nothing whatever.
17. Is there any smoke?
None whatever.
18. Is there any noise?
No; you can hear when the carriages arrive; it is rather an object of interest to persons residing there.
19. Do you know other houses of considerable extent in that part?
I know several; I visit them.
20. Are you able to say whether the inhabitants of those houses are annoyed?
I am enabled to say they do not consider them a nuisance; I have been there, and I should not have been aware of it if I had not heard of it.
31. At the commencement of the undertaking of the Manchester and Liverpool Railroad, were you, or were you not, a determined opponent of that measure?
Yes; my mother was a petitioner against the Bill, and I appeared as evidence against it.
32. From all you have subsequently seen you, would no longer oppose the construction of Railroads at all?
I certainly should not; my opinion is entirely changed, from what I have seen.
33. Are you of opinion that the construction of a Railroad between Birmingham and London would be of great public utility?
Yes, undoubtedly.
36. Do you know of any instance in which this Railway has gone through farming land, in which the value of that land has been raised or depreciated?
Wherever there is any thing like a station it is improved in value; you see advertisements recommending a site because the Manchester and Liverpool line runs near it or through it.
38. Do you know of any instance in which land has been depreciated?
No. I do not; I think I can say positively not on the line of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.