The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-22 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EASTERN COUNTIES.
The chairman of this company has just issued his reply
to the report of the committee of investigation, lie
complains of the conduct of the committee in► refusing to
give him a fortnight to reply to their chargei, and com-
mences by adverting to the policy and state of the
Eastern Counties Railway in 1851, as follows :
"It was on the 31st of March, 1851, that I was appointed
chairman of the company. Those who remember the cir-
cumstances will not fail to bear out my assertion that your
line was then in a state of decadence and disaster. Not-
withstanding national prosperity and the general increase
of railway receipts, your traffic receipts were rapidly di-
minishing. Your working expenses were enormous, your
dividend was nil, you were engaged in Parliamentary con-
tests involving inordinate expenses, you were exposed to
ruinous competition on every side of you, and you were in
imminent danger of having that competition carried into
your own restricted territory. To some unacquainted
with the facts such a description may appear exaggerated.
I will, therefore, describe it in detail.
"1. As to the traffic receipts. At the half-yearly meet-
ing held in August, 1851, the report of your directors
commenced as follows :
" "The directors, on again meeting the sharehelders,
have to regret that the traffic receipts exhibit a decrease,
as compared with the six months ending the 4th of July,
1850, of 33,5241. 108 7d.. on the Eastern Counties line ;
and on the Norfolk line of 259/. 4s. 61, their total receipts
being 366,921/. 17s. 4d., as contrasted with 400,7051. 12s.
sd. for the corresponding half of 1850.'

"2. As to the working expenses. The working expenses
per train mile were, for the first half-year of 1851, no less
than 44.61541. The locomotive power per train mile was
16.4054,1. These items for the first half-year of 1855 were
reduced respectively to 28.7572 d. and 11.1533 d.
"3. Your dividends were nil. The accounts for the
h alf-year left you a profit, after payment of your expenses,
of only 5,624/, Os. 4d. Your profits in 1835 were, as we
shall hereafter see, tenfold greater.
"4. Parliamentary contests. —At that time you were in
collision with almost every company in or near to the
Eastern Counties. In the report from which I have already
quoted the shareholders were congratulated that `The
powers sought by the Eastern Union Company for running
over the Eastern Counties and the Norfolk line did not
receive the sanction of Parliament.'

" 5. Your legal expenses for the first half-year of 1851
were no less than 5,000/. For the first half-year of 1855
they were 1,1951.
" 6. This lamentable state of things was the consequence
of the competition to which you were exposed.
" The map affixed to this document exhibits the Eastern
Counties country covered as it is at this moment by one
system, and that system our own. How different the po-
sition in 1851 ! At that time, on the west, we were sub-
jected to sharp competition, conducted with all the energy
and spirit of which the Great Northern were capable.
They were fighting us at Cambridge • we were retaliating
at Peterborough. On our north, the East Anglian line,
with which we were at issue, was actively negotiating with
the Great Northern, and subsequently concluded an ar-
rangement which might have cut off all our traffic from
Norwich and the north of Norfolk. On our east, the
Eastern Union, with which our relations wore unfriendly,
was threatening us to the extent of taking running
powers over our line. On our south, that same company
was injuring us by putting on steam-boats from Ipswich
to London, running them at low rates as well for passen-
gers as for goods, and giving through tickets by boat and
rail to all persons coming from Norwich and intermediate
stations. Even in the centre of our system we were in
danger, for the Cambridge and Newmarket Railway had
received overtures from the Great Northern. Thus it will
be seen that at that moment the Eastern Counties had
absolutely nothing beyond its line from London to Col-
chester,(subject to the competition of thelpswich steamers),
and its line to Cambridge and thence to Peterborough,
at which points it was fighting a hand-to-hand battle with
the Great Northern. Now, I ask you to consider where
you would have been in 1855 had that state of things con-
tinued ? One glance at the map will show you that the
Great Northern, conjointly with the East Anglian, could
have cut off the Eastern Counties from the entire north
of Norfolk. The East Anglian had had powers to make a
line from St. Ive's to Ely. By Huntingdon via St. Ive's
and Ely, on the East Auglian, Lynn, and the adjacent
country are in almost as direct a line for London by the
Great Northern as via Cambridge by the Eastern Coun-
ties. Further aggressions were in contemplation, by which
the Great Northern would have competed with the Eastern
Counties for the traffic of the great and populous city of
Norwich, now passing exclusively over our lines. Nor was
this the whole extent of the danger. In 1851 we had a
w agreement with the Norfolk Railway, expiring in
1855. Our relations with the Norfolk directors were far
from cordial. Terms of amalgamation had been discussed
by the Norfolk, Eastern Union, and Newmarket, as against
us, and the Norfolk had even threatened to put an end to
our contract at once. A year or two preceding, the Great
Northern had leased a line from Hitohin to Royston with
the obvious view of ' tapping' the Eastern (3eunties at
Cambridge. Many will remember the Parliamentary con-
test which arose out of this extension. The Great Northern
was within seven miles of Cambridge. Had the Great
Northern been successful (as under such circumstance was
certain) in another application to Parliament for leave
to make the line to • Cambridge ; or, had they obtained
powers to make a branch from Shepreth to some point of
the Cambridge and Newmarket line which had received
overtures from them, if that junction had been made, a
short line from near Newmarket to Thetford must have fol-
lowed, and you would have had a direct line from London
to Norwich, Norfolk, and great part of Suffolk, via the
Great Northern Railway. These were the difficulties and
perils of your position when I became your chairman. My
first efforts wero directed to the accomplishment of some
arrangement which should change the position of the
Eastern Counties line with regard to Per neighbours. It
seemed to me that by embracing all the minor competing
lines we should fortify our own position against our great
antagonist; hut that, otherwise, the opposition must over•
whelm us. I recommended, in consequence, a policy of
peace and of friendly relations—a policy, calculated, as I
thought, to insure the reduction of our expenses, to ex•
tend our traffic, and to multiply our resources. I first
concluded a negotiation for the purchase of the Newmarket
line, thus stopping the Great Northern from entering our
territory in this direction. I then proposed terms to the
East Anglian. They were not unfavourable, although
they involved the principle of paying a toll for all traffic
passed upon that line. The Eastern Counties gnaran teed
the East Anglian shareholders a minimum toll of 17,00 1.
a-year, which was less than the earnings of the line, and
undertook to work it at a rate not exceeding the rate of
the Eastern Counties. I next turned to the Great North-
ern, and early in 1852 I completed an arrangement with
that company, whereby competition ceased, and an imme-
diate increase of tolls wag effected. A territory for each
company was defined. The Eastern Counties undertook
for 11 years the responsibility of the Hitchin and Royston
lino, paying 16,8001. n-year for the usa of it, but obtaining
all its revenue. Thus the Eastern Counties were protected
at Cambridge, one of the most important points of their
system ; and the Groat Northern conceded to them 20
per cent. on traffic received at Peterborough through
the Eastern:Couuties, and passed over the Great Northern
line. By those arrangements the Eastern Counties was
saved upon the ncrth and west. On our east, at
a somewhat later period, I was able to open a negotiation
with the Norfolk and Eastern Counties, for a permanent
agreement. That negotiation resulted in au arrangement
whereby the Eastern Counties took these lines, on a lease
of 939 years, upon the principle of purchasing the stock
of the Eastern Union, working the whole system, and di-.
siding the profits. The working expenses at the time
were 41 per cent. on the receipts. Uudor the agreement
the Eastern Counties take 46 per cent. of the gross receipts
to cover the working expenses, and the bilance, or remain-
ing 54 per cent., is divided in the proportion of 1-7th to
the Norfolk, 1-7th to the Eastern Union, and 5-7ths to the
shareholders of the Eastern Counties. Thu Committee of
Investigation attempt to throw discredit upon this trans-
action by stating that the deduction for working expenses
was taken too low, and that 45 per cent., not 41 nor cent.,
was the true percentage of cost in 1853. They write
(page 4)
" The present chairman sets them down as 411. Bs. sd.
per cent. The half-yearly assets, ending the 31st of Dec.,
1853, show that sum as the percentage, but that was not
the true percentage—it was near 45 percentage.'
Now, see how easily a plain statement can confound the
wrong and dispel the evil intent of this insinuation. The
meeting of proprietors at which this amalgamation was con-
sidered and agreed to was held on the 19th of December,
1853. The last accounts of the Eastern Counties then be-
fore us wore the accounts for the year ending the 30th of
June, 1853. Those accounts show the working expenses to
have been precisely as I stated them, 411. Bs. sd. per cent.
This arrangement, when completed, opened out to us
clearly and uninterruptedly the whole railway system of
the three great counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex.
It afforded us additional means of protecting ourselves
from any future attempt at rivalry upon our west. As it
checked the chance of external competition, so it consoli-
dated our internal strength, and enabled us to work the
system of the Eastern Counties as one harmonious whole."
Looking at the operation financially he states that the
I gross receipts of the Eastern Counties and Norfolk were,
for the half-year ending the 30th of June, 1851, 306,921/ ;
the working expenses, 203,3581.; and the interest on guar-
antees and loans, 152,939/ ' • leaving a balance of 5,6241.
They were then without dividends and with desperate
prospects. For the purpose of showing the present posi-
tion of the company he deducts everything that does not
appertain to the Eastern Counties aad Norfolk Company.
The half-year ending the 30th of June, 1855, showed the
gross receipts of the company (as amalgamated) to be
591,3551., deducting 12,2361. fer the receipts of Cambridge
and Bury lines, 23,0151. for the receipts of the East An-
glian, and 81.4791. for proportion of the Eastern Union,
together 119,7311.; leaving 471,6241. as the gross receipts
of the Eastern Counties Company and Norfolk alone. The
gross expenses of the amalgamated companies amounted to
311,7191., from which 50,291/. is deducted for the expenses
of the other lines, leaving the gross working expenses of
the Eastern Counties and Norfolk 261,428/. Thus they had
obtained in 4 years an increase of 105,0001. on the half-
yearly revenue, at a cost of 53,0001. additional expenses.
These additional expenses included theinterestonalltheir
purchases—viz the interest on the Newmarket and Bury,
purchased on the Harwich lease, and on the unproductive
works.
" As regards dividends, what have been the results ? In
the first half-year of 1851, as I have already shown you,
the balance to be divided between the Eastern Counties
and the Norfolk was 5,6241. Os. 4d., and you had, conse-
quently, no dividend. On the last half-year the balance
in favour on your revenue account was 55,731/.
15s. 6(1 your
~ exclusively your own; or a tenfold increase iu
four years.
" The chairman then goes into a history of the Tilbury
and Southend Railway, and states that it was obviously
for the advantage of the Eastern Counties Company to
have an interest in every line running from London into
Essex. He defends the policy pursued with regard to that
undertaking, and states that, instead of the profit on work-
ing the line, as stated by the committee, being only lOW.
during the past half-year, it would be 3,0001., With regard
to Lowestoft harbour be states that the traffic between
London and Lowestoft has increased from 4,346/. in 1850
to 16,233/. in 1854, or 11,8871., while that between London
and Yarmouth had increased from 16,8261. in 1850, to
33,4801. in 1854, showing an increase of 16,6531. So that
Lowestoft, instead of " taking away the traffic from Yar-
mouth," has very nearly doubled itself within four years.
He defends the traffic arrangements for the conveyance of.
cattle and fish, and contends that it pays the Eastern
Counties Company. He then goes into an elaborate state-
ment with regard to the Suffolk lines, and contends that
the committee were the cause of inducing the landowners
to extend the line from Fladdiscoe to Yarmouth, and from
Beccles to Lowestoft, by means of which the distance from
London to Yarmouth will be shortened by 30 miles. With
regard to the Woolwich line, Mr. Waddington contends
that there is no part of the Eastern Counties line that pays
so well, and that the receipts from the
Woolwich-gardens
brought to the company 3,0001. in the course of four
months ; and as to the 1,500/. expended on the dancing-
saloon in the gardens, he thought it would have been

better had it not been incurred, but that, at all events, the
company had gained by it, and it would be available for a
goods shed when not required for the garden. He then ad-
verts at some length to the four Hackney-wick branches,
together 2i miles in length, which cost 56,0001., stating
the cost was exceedingly low, and that no one can foresee
how much the land will increase in value for manufactnr-
ing purposes. He explains that the purchase of the Ipswich
boats was unavoidable, on the amalgamation of the Eastern
Union Railway with the Eastern Counties Company be.
tween Ipswich and London. An explanation is also given
of the Harwich steam-boats and their advantages in deve-
loping the traffic.
The remaining portion of Mr. Waddington's reply, in
respect to the permanent way and other matters, will re-
ceive a farther notice.