The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-11 00:00:00

NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the North
Staffordshire Railway Company was held at Stoke-upon-
Trentyesterday afternoon. The report having been taken
as reed

The &slaw+ (Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson) said there
was a decrease in the mileage of 17,000 miles, but au in-
crease of 3,000 tons in the consumption of coal, a discre-
pancy due to the fact that the mileage given did not in-
clude the traffic over foreign lines to Liverpool, Man-
chester, and other places ; whereas the coal consumed in-
cluded that expended in working trains over foreign lines.
He believed that at the present time the average consumption
of coal per mile was 441 be. for goods, and something less
than 341bs. for passengers, and that he understood was
quite satisfactory. The new engines which had been pur-
chased would bear • pressure of 1401bs. to the square
inch, as against 100Ibs. which represented the
strength of those which had been superseded. The
com y during the past half-year had carried
225,11 I more tons of merchandise than in the correspond-
ing period of hat year, and 114,000 more passengers, and
therefore it might not unnaturally be asked how it was
that the directors had not been able to recommend
a better dividend. One great reason 11R/ that parliament
had compelled them to reduce their canal tolls,and, speak-
ing generally, he might ;say that the directors had been
anxious to do all in their power, by reducing charges,
to meet the wishes of the district and prevent opposition
and competition, having at the sametime due regard to the
interests of shareholders. The advance in the prices of
material' and of wages would account in a great measure
for the increased outlay in the locomotive department, and
in every railway report, which be had lately read, he found
the same remark made. When he Snit addressed the
shareholders as their chairman the district was suffering
front the great strike amongst the puddler* and the direc-
tors were only able to recommend a dividend of 3i
per cent., to provide which they were obliged to with-
draw 3,5001. from the reserve fund, and they left there the
very small balance of 2611. They had since replaced the
amount taken from the reserve fund, and after paying a
dividend of four per cent., would have a balance of 4,5841.
The new half-year had opened rather gloomily on account
of the depression in the iron trade, but with the return of
prosperity there was every reason to believe the affairs of
the company would flourish, es the receipts had been in-
creasing latterly from day to day. The chairman *on-
eluded by moving the adoption of the report.
Several questions respecting the accounts having been
put by Mr. Porter and Mr. J. H. Goddard, and answered
by the chairman, the report was unanimously adopted, and
a dividend after the rate of four percent. per annum was
declared.

LONDON AND Ill.mnrwaxl, RAILWAY.—At the
sixtieth half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors, to
be held on Tuesday, the following report will be submit-
ted: "The directors have to report that they have received
from the Great Eastern Railway Company the rents pay-
able under the lease for the half-year ending 30th June,
1866, and that a dividend fur that half-year, at the rate of
44 10s. per cent. per annum, both on the ordinary and
preference stocks, may be declared and made payable on
the 15th inst. The directors have not succeeded in obtain-
ing a settlement of the outstanding accounts to the 31st of
December last, and are therefore unable to lay }afore the
proprietors at this meeting a final statementof the accounts
to that date, or to propose, at present, any further pay-
ment in the way of dividend. Captain Mangles having
retired from the direction of this company, the east at the
board thus vacated will not, pursuant to the provisions of
the lease, be filled up. The board have appointed Mr.
Venableu to snowed Captain Mangles as a director of the
London, Tilbury, and Southend RailwCompany."
SAD ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH WALES RAIDWAY.
—On Thursday evening a horrible accident happened on
the South Wales Railway, near Magor, about seven miles
from Newport, by which one man lost his life and another
was so fearfully injured that but little hopes are enter-
tained of his recovery. A young man named Crawley, a
clerk in the local department of the company, with a
friend, at Mager, got into the luggage department of
one of the carriages of the train due at twenty
minutes past five o'clock at Newport. The train had
not proceeded above a mile and a half from Magor when
they both fell out of the carriage—how, it is impossible to
say. Some parties who saw the accident raised an alarm,
but those in the train did not hear it, and the train pro-
ceeded on its journey. When the parties went to the spot
they found Crawley lying in an insensible state about three
yards from the line. His head was dreadfully cut, and
the flesh of his left cheek was cut completely off. His
friend, who is a stranger on a visit, was ins dead from a
blow on the temple. Crawley was brought on to Newport
by the Bristol train. At Newport statics he was attended
by Dr. Woollet, who dressed his wounds, and he was con-
veyed home to his father-in-law's (Mr. Lemma, super-
intendent of the locomotive department) home in a fly,
attended by Dr. Woollet and Mr. Fatten, station master.
No hopes are entertained of his recovery.
POISONED BY GINGER BEER.—On Tuesday a,
ly dressed young woman entered the shop of Mr.
respectably dressed
Ferdinand-street, Chalk Farm-road, and
asked for a bottle of ginger-beer. Mrs. Hales having
opened a bottle Matey's), filled a tumbler, and handed it
to the young woman, who drank heartily. She had hardly I
swallowed it when she was seized with burning pains in
the throat and cheat, and suffered most exoratiating
agonies. Mr. John Hall, a surgeon in Chalk Farm-road,
being sent for, found the young woman had taken something
of a most poisonous nature. On applying the stomach pump
and other remedies he relieved the stomach of saw of its
poisonous contents, though the pains continued. On
examining the ginger-beer left in the tumbler,and breaking
the bottle (one of the common earthenware sort) he found
a quantity of &smite of copper adhering to the ine'de of
the latter, and the former strongly impregnated with the
poison. The sufferer still lies ins verydangerous state.
Nam Poort-Lam Acr.—Yesterday an sot of par-
liament was printed to provide for the r.dief of the poor in
the New Forest, Southampton. The Poor-law Board is
empowered to set out the boundaries of the extra-paro-
chial lands in the New Fared, as also in "No Man's
Lend" and the adjoining parishes. The board, with the
consent of the Commissioners of Woods end Fonda, may
divide the extra-parochial lands into townships, and jus-
tices having jurisdiction may appoint overseers.
HEALTH AND STRENGTH RESTORED BY DU BARRY'S
DELICIOUS RIVALLED. ARADICA AVID Width cares without
medicine or ineoeventsece dyspepsia, Ina= cowl, asthma,
consumption, debility, constipation, ota, palpitation,
I nervous, bilious, liver, and *tooted* complaint& It eaves fifty
times it, cost la other remedies, and is tie beef food for Infanta
60,000 ears annually.-11a Barry and Cc, lie. 77, Regent-street,
Loudon. W. In tow at is. le& ; lib.. ts. Pd. is. ;bibs..
sea. : also at el, Gracscharrhotreet ; 4, Clwasekle; 6;6. /80, and
MI Omordemset ; midst all grocers.—iAdvertimmanta