The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-05 00:00:00

(from die Dady Nerx.)

RAILWAYS.

The ordinary half-veurly meeting of the Eastern
Counties. Railway rnvls attention to the affairs of
that compuny. They are iu so lamentable a state
as to disarm nil hostile criticism, and to render its
resuscitation almost an object of national interest.
If our readers will open the map in their lireut.
*Auer, tluy will see to tin' mot of the Great Northern,
so far as it tumwets London with Peterborough by a
direct line. that ennmsas block of country Icing 'be-
tween tin' Thames and the Wash, rich, fertile, and
not ill peopled, reticulated with railways. They will
observe two trunk lines striking through it. ()neon
the extreme east (nun London through Colchester,
Ipswich. and Norwich, with a fork terminating at
Yarmouth and Lowestoft respectively; the other
passing through Cambridge and Ely to Kings
L)nn.Nictoria county and the Wash. 'They will see
ensw lines isinneeting the Wash and King's Lynn
with Norwi. h and Yarmouth ; and bringing Ely into
connexion with the same eastern points. They will see
braw•hes and I, puni jutting out on all sides to New-
market, to Bury St. Edmunds, to St. Ives and Peter-
bon-nigh. and to every little agricultural town in the
old kingdom of East Anglia; and they will observe
extensions pushing on from East Iterefam to a little
purl that nu one out of that division of the heptarehy
ever hiard of Wells, near the sea on the northern
frontier, and to notorious Harwich on the eastern.
All this is plain and patent enough on even Brad-
auger's Map ; but when you try to distinguish the
various companies and ti:xlies by which this net-
work of railway has been laid down, then commence
intricacy and confusion ; then you may begin to dis-
cover why ;Al their expenditure of money has
his n so profitless and so ruinous. Taking up
Brads/faro again, there you will find that one-half
the eastern trunk to N'Orfolk and Yarmouth was
made by the Eastern t'ountien, the other half by
other companies ; how on the western trunk
to
Lynn the Eastern Counties proper only runs to Ely,
there falls into the East Anglian, but has branches
from Ely to Peterborough and March; how it is the
Nurfulli(Amitinny, that connects Ely with Norwich,
across country ; *how it is the East Anglian, that
unites Wisbeach and I.ynn, after the same fashion,
with the same provincial capital; and how it is the
Eastern Union, that runs from Bury St. Edmunds
to Ipswich: altogether constituting a confusion and
a discord, and a multiplicity and a diversity of in-
terests, that nothing probably but holding shares in
each and all could Induce any human being to per-
fectly master and completely unravel.
Yet to understand the present difficulties it is
necessary to read attention generally to this con-
fused and perplexed origin of the Anglian network

of rails. For it indicates the primeval source of the
plight they are now in. Bit by bit has all this net-
work been laid down ; now this company has made i
a line ; then that company another; then a third has
conic in between them ; now there has been compe-
tition, and rivalry, and jealousy, leading to the use-1
less expenditure of countless thousands; then there
have been agreements, and friendships, and amity,
scarcely less costly. In the struggle for predomi-
nance, estimates were formed only to be exceeded;
original capital eagerly subscribed only to be
swamped by preferential additions•, and by one at
least of the companies a line has been formed that
hitherto has been unable to discharge the interest of
its loans. It has, however, surrendered at discretion
to the Great Northern ' • and so has introduced that
powerful company into the very heart of Anglia.
The manner in which this district has been co-
veral with railway has necessarily involved such
enormous preliminary, as it is the fashion to call
parliamentary expenses, such frightful misealcula-
I tions as to the cost of construction, such great addi-

blow; to original capital in the shape of preferential
claims and debt, and these have, in their effect on
working operations, produced such bad management,
that no one need wonder that these companies are
without dividend, without credit, and almost with-

out prospect.
Take, fur instance, the Eastern Counties; its capi-
tal is, probably, nearly thirteen millions sterling ;
on nix millions of this it is unable to pay one penny
dividend; the utmost it can do being to discharge
the preferential claims on the other seven, and carry
24,000/. over. Yet, when in 1547, Mr. D. W.
liaavEY manoeuvred Mr. Meows into the chair,
that gentleman solemnly pledged the reputation he
then had that it must be a ten per cent. line. And
at yesterday's meeting it was stated, that out of the
large sum which from its opening down to July,
WO, had been paid in dividends, viz., 701,5301., only
143,815/. was really earned by traffic ; the rest having
been taken from capital.
Thus, the absence of dividend on six millions
sterling of its capital represents apparently the
worst. Apparently, •however, only. For the rolling
stock of a company in such a plight must, in all pro-
bability, be depreciating ; engines, and trucks, and
earriagtn, and permanent way cannot, it is to be
feared, ho sufficiently maintained on a line one half of
the capital of which, if not positively extinguished, is
at all events in a state of inanimate suspension ; and
if they be, the absence of dividend is only part of the
real evil.
Pecuniary difficulties always produce expensive
management; people, or companies, or incorpora-
tions, with little credit never trade on the same
terms as they who have large balances at their
bankers. Accordingly Captain KELLY points out
how, while the working expensts, of the Brighton
line only reach 30, per cent. on its receipts, these of
the Eastern Counties have mounted to (all—a con-
trast that might suggest to the Eastern Counties the
propriety of following the example of the Brighton
line, and secure, if they can, at any price, the
management of such a man as Mr. LAING ; for to
expect any ordinary set of directors to pull it through
its present difficulties, will be the greatest of all the
follies the company has as yet perpetrated.
Fur, one of the inevitable tonsevences of a rail-
way'sdistreas is a deterioration of its proprietary, as
well as of its rolling stock. The able men who ad-
here to its fortunes shrink from the labour and the
responsibility of the management of its affairs ; and
on the register of its shareholders arc only to be
found men of inferior powers and position, willing to
encounter not merely the fatigues of the direction,
but the vituperation and ill manners of such disor-
derly assemblages as Eastern Counties meetings have
degenerated into. Thus, at present, that company is
not only without dividend, but without a chairman,
and very likely to be without a direction too.
In the presence of such a state of things as this
line displays, it ix the height of absurdity to suppose
that any man competent to set it right will make the
attempt fur the paltry remuneration ordinarily re-
ceived by a chairman of directors. 'fhc company
evidently wants a head that can think, and act, and
command for it; such heads it is difficult enough to
get for money ; but to expert such a one for no-
thing seems sheer trifling with the thirteen millions
sterling involved in the concern, and with the public
interests too. The gods, the Eastern Counties'
shareholders may rely on it, won't assist those who
don't assist themselves.
Bad, however, as the condition of the Eastern
Counties is, the plight of the other lines of the dis-
trict is much worse. None of them pay any dividend
on their ordinary or original capital ; some only on
part of their preferential stock; while one has been
repeatedly in the hands of the sheriff; and more than
once in the Court of Chancery. Such being their
state, the Great Northern comes to plague them. Fur
years the Easteni Counties had, by means of a round-
about branch from Ely, the bulk of the traffic to
Peterborough. That, of course, it lost when the
Great Northern opened. But now the Great North-
ern is within a few miles of Cambridge. and should
it get there, over its line into 'London will
inevitably come all the traffic from Yarmouth,
Norwich, Thetfonl, and Ely ; for it would
then be their shortest route to London.
This, however, is nut all ; the fallen and
diastrous fortunes of the East Anglian, run-
ning to Wisheach. King's Lynn, and to Herein=
on the way to Norwich, have just placed it under
the control- of the Great Northern. So that, whilst
on the one hand that company is penetrating by
Cambridge into the centre of tlas district, it is, on
the other hand, by means of the East Anglian, sur-
rounding it on its north eastern frontier.
Thus threatened, the remaining Anglian lines, it
is proposed by the Eastern Counties direction, shall,
k -self-defence, amalgamate with it. They at once
Gwent; fur anything is better for them than their
present condition. But the Eastern Counties share-
holders, when appealed to for their approval, regard
apparently the terms of amalgamation as unfavour-
able to thlir interests, which, bad as they now are,
arc not so dreary in prospect as those in other com-
panies ; for they hesitate, appoint a committee to
consider and report to then and so the matter now
stands. flow it will end, wise sman tell?

THANES TCNNEL.—Yeaterday, the annual general
tueetina of this company took place. at Badley's Hotel,
New Bridge-stmt—Mr. B. Hawes in the chair. A pro-
prietor hoped the chairimus had a dividend to offer this
year.—The chairman could not offer that ; but the meeting
would see by the report that the property was gradually
hemming valuable. Ile had also the satisfaction of inform-
ing them that, notwithstanding the fears expressed by some
as to the safety of the tunnel, it was in the most perfect
order and Are from the slightest crack.—Mr. Mason, the ,
secretary, read the annual report, which stated the amount
of tolls for 1850 to be 3,962/. 19s. 4,1., being an increase of
4821. Gs. over that of the p►evious year: the gross receipts
of the company, with tolls, rent for houses and stalls, for
the past year amounted to 5,302/. 14*. Id., and the expendi-
ture left a surplus of •13'21. 14s. 2d. The sum paid to the
government was 1,227/. Ila Ild., or nearly double the
amount paid in the former year, and which was to i
be attributed not only to an increase of tolls but ;
to increased economy in gas and other matters.
The capital row due to the government was
about 323,0001. The average number of passengers
per week during the year was 18,000. The report was
unanimously adopted. 'Mr. Winders wished to know if any
steps were to be taken to render the tunnel attractive to
visttors during the great Exhibition. He thought that by
so doing the revenue of the company might be greatly
increased. There certainly could be no reduction in the
eharge.—The Chairman had no doubt that something
would be done to draw a good share of the multitude,
though he had great hopes that for,igners would find suffl •
dent attraction in the great work itself —A Proprietor
hoped that something would be done to draw a great por-
tion of the visitors to the Exhibition to so stupendous a
work as the Thames Tunnel. Instead of talking of lower-
ing the toll during that period, he thought it ought to be
increased to a two-penny charge.—After some con-
solation, a vote of thanks was passol to the chairman, and
the =Wag separated.

SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY.
HALF-YEARLY MEETING.
Yesterday the half-yearly meeting of proprietors
in the above company was held at the Bridge-house Hotel,
Mr. MACOREOOII presiding.
The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN said he hoped that in the few observa-
tions it would be nunnery for him to address to the pro-
prietary,he would be allowed to adopt the language of the re-
port and in doing so would my, that the continental traffic by
Dover and Follistoue with London has never been fairly or
fully developed. The exposition of 1831 must be
of great benefit to the South Eastern Company, not
I merely as giving a great temporary increase of trails, but
as proving a standing advertisement to all the nations
of the continent, of the fatalities both in price and
tinte which the South Eastern line afforded for travelling
between the great centres of civilisation. (Hear, hear.) It
was satisfactory to observe that already they had had an
earnest of the benefits they might expect in future—the
; continental traffic for the half-year ending 31st January
last having shown a considerable increase • the number of
excursionists during that time having been 7,276, and of
passengers by ordinary trains, 12,321 ; the total increase in
the item for passenger traffic between London, Folkatone,
and Dover, had been, in money, 13,9541., not a very im-
portant amount in itself, but valuable as an earnest of
what they might expect in future. He looked upon
it that when the great Exposition had passed away, the
knowledge which the visitors would have acquired
of the great facilities which their line afforded
would permanently affect their future interests, and
realise to them the results they had expected in 1818.
As the shareholders bad had ample opportunities of srady-"
ing the accounts, he should only add that he hail not much
to congratulate them on the point of economy; but this he
would say, that of 5,000/. of the expenditure there would
be no repetition, and also that there would in future be a
considerable diminution in the expvnae for permanent way.
lu consequence of Mr. Barlow's great invention of the per-
manent sleeper, the expense under that head would be re-
duced from 45t. a mile to 201. ; and laying by that sum
would, in his opinion, be quite sufficient. (Hear, hear.)
lie did not inent• this as a mere speculative remark, tor
he believed it was a demonstrated certainty ; and the effect
would be that the expenses fur renewals, which
during the last year had been 20,000!., would not
be more than 12,000!. for similar periods in future.
They continued to make out their accounts on the
principle adopted at the last half-yearly 'fleeting, and the
effect was that 8,000!. would be found charged to revenue
fur reproductive rolling stock over and above the sum their
own officers had told them was necessary. They had
thought it better for all parties to adopt that plan, and
would now take a resolution declaring that no stun should
he laid aside for future renewal, except what was found to
he absolutely necessary to make the stock as good as it had
been at the beginning of the year. (Hear, hear.) Looking
forward to the extraordinary demand for motive power
which they might expert in the current year, consequent
upon the great influx of visitors, which would, no doubt, to
some extent, continue in succeeding years, the directors
had thought it right to make some preparation, by
ordering twenty-five engines of the best description
to be delivered under penalty immediately, together
with carriage accommodation calculated for on excess of
fuur or five thousand persons. With the insistence of these
superior engines, each of which he believed would be equal
to two of the present engines, they hoped to be able to do
justice to the occasion and to ensure to the proprietors the
profits to which they were justly entitled. (Hear, hear.)
He would not say much on the subject of the parliamentary
contest; they must bear the burthen of the 2,0001., of
which they had been mulcted fur the amusement of the
projectors of the landowners' line—a rival line, forsooth, to
be supported by a rate in aid from the parishes in order to
find a dividend fur the gentlemen who were charitablen-
deavouring to ruin the South Eastern property. (Ik-ar,
hear.) Ile would not occupy their time by detail-
ing the offensive manner in which, without any pre-
vious intimation, the Brighton Company had filed their
bill to restrain the South Eastern Company from pro-
ceeding with their Ashton and Hastings works. He
mold not avoid adverting to the grounds which their
directors had taken at • former period, when urged to
amalgamate with the Brighton Company, or lease the line
at 7 per cent. The proposition they (the South Eastern
directors) made was, that on an equal amount of spent
money they would recommend amalgamation, but as
to taking upon them all the burdens of the Brighton
Company, it was what the' directors could not assent to.
His belief was that within the next twelve months 100,000/.
would be realised, besides the 163,000/. of calls in armor to
which the auditors alluded. Ile could not but take credit
for the forbearance the directors had hitherto exer-
cised with respect to these calls ; hut the time
had come when the gentlemen who had used the
company's money for their own convenience should he
culled upon to pay up. Ile was very glad to tell the meet-
ing that the money was all safe. Again, as to the invest-
ment in their own shares, the effect would be a profit of
21,000/. on the amount sold. What the directors submitted
we,, that they should be empowersd to receive tenders for
thew shares at different periods between that time and the
closing of the capital account, so as not to depreciate their
value by forcing en immediate sale. He thought that thus
the stock would be all realised without materially affecting
the market.
Mr. UPCRAIFT—What price do the directors propose to
sell them at?
The CHAIRMAN said, that the present price was 27,
hut the directors proposed to receive tenders from ponies
naming their own price. The directors had determined
upon recommending that a dividend of 31. 6.. Bcl. should
be paid, and that would leave a surplus of 2,963/. In con-
clusion he begged to congratulate them on the improved
state of their affairs, and to express his belief that what
had occurred was only an earnest of future success. (Cheers.)
Mr. Macgregor then moved the adoption of the report.
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. CPCRAFT asked the chairman whether he could
fix a sum at which they might expect the capital account to
be closed ?
The CHAIRMAN said that all the directors could do
was to go upon the estimates which had been submitted to
them; and judging from them he believed that they
might close the capital account on the 31st of January,
1832, at a gross sum of 9,350,000/. This sum would be
made up by original consolidated stock 7,433.700/. ; guaran-
teed shares, 481,3001.; and mortgages, 1,633,0001. The
estimates had been made out by Messrs. Quitter and Ball,
and he hail no reason to doubt their co.-rectnes..
The report having been unanimously adopted, as will
as the resolution, which proposed a dividend at the rate of
3!. fe. Fal. percent.,
The CHAIRMAN proposed that henceforth the divi-
dends on the guaranteed stock of the company should
be paid within 14 days after the holding of each half-yearly
meeting.
The motion was seconded, and agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then moved a resolution, the object of
which was to leave the question of making • reserve for the
rolling stock to the report of the officers of the company.
The resolution was seconded and agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN next proposed a resolution, authoris-
lag the directors to sell the reserved *hares within a certain
specified period.
Mr. Alderman SALOMONS protested against the com-
pany'r:placing it in the power of directors to sell shares for time
Mr. ALM, RNE moved that the shares should not be sold
for less than 33/. 6..
The amendment was seconded.
The CHAIRMAN said, as an individual proprietor he
could have no objection to such a resolution, but he thought
it would nut be well to leave the directors under the
liability of haying to raise the money at a disadvantage.
Mr. Le/NOME/RE moved as an amendment that the
shires should be sold at such time and price as the directors
thought proper. (No, no.)
The amendment was seconded.
The amendment. precluding the directors from selling
the shares for less than 33/. 6s. Bd. was then carried.
The CHAIRNIAN then moved a resolution. authorising
the director to raise 200,000/. on debentures within the next
half-year.
Agreed to.
The retiring directors and auditors were re-elected.
A resolution authorising a lease of Mr. Angerstein's pro-
perty, as stated in the report, was then agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN said, the business of the meeting,
being concluded, be could not help expressing Ilia pride and
gratification in appearing before them at a time when the
prospects of the company were so satisfactory. For several
years he had done everything in his power to promote the
prosperity of the company, and he rejoiced to think that
the object which they had had in new was now within
their grasp.
A vote of thanks having been given to the directors and
auditors, the meeting separated.

LIVERPOOL, March 4.
STOCI-EXCHANOZ.—The market opened firmly, and with
• cad devised foe the hoarier abases, and contmeed so until mid-
day, his pricer declined • lane, and etwed quietly at Wog-Mime
Aberdese. ISI-Birkenbied, Lancashire, and eheiblre. 211 7 1-12 d.
-Mt, (late Chester and Birkenhesd), 22-Ditto (Ed .ham', 4i
4 146 4 d.- Holten. ("Theme and West York No. I), 41 --Mester
and Holyhead. 23 -Bait Lancashire, 161 -FAinhergh end Olassow.
331-Great horthern.l9 -Igneashire and Yockihire, 39/-aue (fifth
share.), d.-Ditto (fifth at arts, West Ridley rnlon), tk d.-Lan.
eater sad Carßde :third sharer), Sp.-Leeds and 1 Meek, IS! -Leer.
peol. Greeley, and fewhprirt, p.-Landon and North Mestere, 132 i i
-Ditto (new I Ames), W I p.-Ditto I fifth thane), Gi 1 p.-
31anebester, Blislleld, and Lleasloshire, 'pref. shame).
II 11-16-Mhlland, 63-Ditto (*shares), d.-North British, in
-North Staffordshire. 6 3I d.-North Weiner., 111 d.-rft. Helm&
Witlway and Canal, 63-Shrewsbury sad Birmingham '9l. 1:a. 3d. B!,
31-bovik Paster) and Dover, 271-loath Rallordrhire. 27 d.-
York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 2.11-York sad North Roared,
261 I I-Ditto (preference). I d.