The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-02-19 00:00:00

ilailb3ag intstlignut.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on the 14th at the Waterloo station, Captain Mangles in
the chair.
_ . . . .

The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report,
Mid, when they considered the state of the weather
during the last half-year, the fICSIII of coil, that they
had opened the new line to Exeter, and that for the
first tine the interest on its cost bad been charged to
revenue. he thought the directors had not overstated
their ease when they said in their report that the result
of the half-year's operitions must be deemed satisfac-
tory. Their Esau Extern/am line extended from
Yeovil to Exeter. The :ine was opened on the 17th of
July last, and the revenue bore the interest on the °net
of construction from that date, although the goods
traffic did nut commence on that line until the let of
September. Therefore he thought the directors had
nut overstated their ease when they deemed the result
satisfactory. They had doubled six miles on the
Salisbury and Yeovil, which was 40 miler in length, and
they were about to double 16 miles inure. The
directors had doubled 11 miles on the Exeter Extension,
end were doubling 22 miles, so •• to make 33 miles of
double line on that extension. They hail 48 Wall{ of
earthwork completed, so tl at they would soon have 55
miler' of double line between Exeter and Salisbury, and
it was believed by competent persons that that length of
double line would be quite sufficient to accommodate
any amount of traffic that could come upon that line.
The directory regretted that the Board of Trade should
have called on the company to double the reinsiniug
portion of the Dorchester line to the extent of 26 miles
in length, which toe directors thought was • very
unnecessary order. The Board of 'Trade had the
power to call upon them, and in such cases, un-
fortunately, the shareholders had nothing to
do but to submit. The junction line at Exeter,
between the South• Western Railway and the
Bristol and Bleier Railway, would be COM'
pitted in time for the autumn traria. On Fe-
ria-sues to the engineer's report, they would perceive
that the works in course of uunstruction were drawing
to • Uwe. The report of their locomotive superintea-
tondent in respect of the expenditure in the locousotive
mai carriage department was gratifying, the avenue
charge being 9168. per traiu mile, which was • redue-
tr... •• rgtk fewsme. ehsmiwe. TWA was wog',
satisfactory, and highly to the credit of Mr. J. Beattie,
their locomotive supenntetident. (Hear, hear.) The
prevalence of wet weather lied caused additional ex-
pense in repair' and maintenance of the permanent way.
They had agreed at the last westing to set aside out of
revenue £lO,OOO every half year for the renewal of the
permanent war, wiith they now found woul 1 not be
enough, end it would be requiete to add £5,000 to ix
They had had two very heavy slips on their line which
had cost tlnma £5,000 during the past half-year. With
regard to the paragraph in the report informing the pro-
prietors that they lied no Bill before Parliament this
Session (hear, hear), it had been tithed that the direc-
tors were in faveur of extensions, but lie did not believe
that such an opinion existed at the Board. He was
glad to tell that the directors thought they had got
quite far enough to the west when they arrived at
Heater. He then adverted to the appropriation of
£l,OOO • year to • fund established since 1651, of which
£5O was for A school, £lOO to a mechanics institute,
£550 for allowances, and £3OO for decayed clerks'
widows. Out of the latter fund, 1.1,000 hail secumu-
lated. He then referee.' to the sad accident of the 28th
ult. that had occurred on the line, stating that the dick-
tors felt the deepest regret at the accident, which had
deprived of life a highly valued and esteemed member
of society, and had also entailed misery on others. Their
attention would be directed to the safe and efficieut
working of the line. It was, however, • matter of
emus satisfaction to the directors that silica the opening
of the line, in 1836, only five passengers had lost their
lives on the line. During the past 10 years they had
conveyed 52,000.000 passengers on the line, and during
the past year 7,000,000 pi...engem He was anxious to
trey • just tnbute to their traffic manager for his atten-
tion to the interests of the company, and to Mr. Btrapp
for the seal and courage with which he had applied him-
self to the maintenance of the extended permanent way.
Mr. Tit., UP., seconded the motion for the adop-
tion of the report.
Mr. Michell liked the speech of the chairman better
than the report of the directors. The shareholders
equally regretted the loot by the recent accident, of •
most useful and valuable member of society. Taking
the average reoeipts per wile of the three last weeks of
the three preceding years he found a falling-off in the
receipts per mile per week from £45 per mile in 1858,
to ma per mile in 1860, which was 1:13 lees than on
any other metropolitan line, and from that circumstance
he considered that their new line. could not be worked
at • realuaerative rats. He hoped that they would

have a dividend equal to 5 per eent, per annum by Husk
time nest year, viii that tlisir shares would be at par.
Mr. Tile thought the find of only five human lives
having b. en 104 on their line hi *.a yeers showed the
great Care and Attention bestowed by their officers in
working traffic. The Ide Accident arose (rein some
catiae apperently beyond their resell. He thought the
report deserved the support of the meeting.
Mr. Hotepatli was glad to hear they had no Billain
Parliament this Session.
A Proprietor said that no accident on their line bad
been caused by excessive speed.
Alderman Salmons. M.P., said it was not the speed,
but the it 1111 l her .1 trains on vitae that caused aceidents.
Mr. Currie sold he was one of the passengers who had
pmvidentially escaped being killed in the accident of
the 2uith ult. Ile had travelled on the line two or
three days a week since it was opened to Woking, in
18.18, and had never met with the slightest accident on
the line till the 28th of lest month, when he was drawn
out from the bottom of • smashed carrikre. The coin.
tinny's ...events lied shown him the greatest kindness
and attention, and lie felt it his duty to come there
end thank the servants of the compatiy for their care
and attention.
The Chairmen, in reply to various observation..
stated, that every encouragement was given to local
traffic, and the price of periodical tickets on their line
was very low. With regard to accidents front the
speed of trains, he might mention that the Ist* Mr.
Brunel had stated in reply to a question that an acci-
dent from a trnin running at the vita of 20 miles per
hour would lire it a penein into email pieces, while at
44) miles an hour it would break him into very small
pieces. lie (the chairman) had known of serious acci•
dents from • t min goitig at the rate of five or six smiles
an hour. If they were to reduce their speed from 30
miles to 20 utiles an hour it would be most injurious to
their traffic, and an accident would not be less fatal in
one case than the other. Slow travelling might, suit
foreigners, but would never suit Englishmen.
A Shareholder said he was in the train when the late
accident occurred, and he could bear testimony to the
attention and activity of the servants, and that every
ears and attention was paid by the officials to the
passengers on that occasion
The report was then unanimously adopted.
A dividend at the rate of live guinea. per oent, per
annum was declared, subject to ineounetaz, and payable
on the 28th inst.

The retiring directors were re-elected.
Mr. Portal was elected a director in the room of Mr.
licitlli, deceased; and Mr. W Ashmore was elected an
auditor in the room of Mr. Close, who retired.
Thanks were voted to Mr. Close for his able services
as auditor, and to the chairman and directors.