The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-26 00:00:00

LONDON,

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
EASTERN COUNTIES.

Yesterday the half-yearly meeting of the Eastern
Counties Railway Company took place at the London
Tavern. The report of the directors, an abstract of
) which has already appeared, having been read,
' The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Waddington, M.P.) said he
should trespass a short time on the indulgence of the
meeting while he went into some details on several
of the points alluded to in the report, and if any
gentleman required further explanation he should be
happy to give it, for it was the anxious desire of
himself and colleagues that every proprietor should
be put fully in possession of the exact position of the
undertaking. In the first place, it was his pleasing
duty to call attention to the statement of the revenue,
by which it appeared that the receipts had increased
over those of the corresponding half-year to the ex-
tent of 24,2531. 4s. sd. Of this increase only about
2001. had been occasioned by passenger receipts, the
great increase having taken place in the merchandise
traffic. He would state the details of the increase, in
order to show that it arose, not from imposing higher
rates, and thereby curtailing the accommodation
of the public, but from a development of
the local traffic of the line, and from
increased interchange with other companies.
The increase of tonnage was, for general merchandise,
61,180 ; coal, 36,436 ; oxen, 17,724 ; sheep, 64,83 Q;
and pigs, 20,616. This steady and sound increase
arose, he repeated, from the arrangements tending to
bring on the line traffic which it had not hitherto pos-
sessed, and it was satisfactory to the board of direc-
tors and to the company to have that proof of the
wisdom of the policy they had pursued in recent times.
With respect to the reduction of expenditure, no
doubt the most important saving which had taken
place was attributable to the efficient working of the
locomotive staff, not only in the adoption of the most
recent and modern improvements for) economising
fuel, but in a system of renewals in the carriage de-
partment, whereby the company had the most efficient
plant in the kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) But he should
not be doing justice to the stores committeee, and to a
gentleman who had recently entered the service of the
Eastern Counties Railway Company, Mr. Williams,
if he did not call attention to the satisfactory state of
the store account for this half-year as compared with
the corresponding half-year, there being a saving in
the general issue of stores, independent of the
locomotive department, of 9,3231., or very nearly
50 per cent., and in stationery of 2,4401.
He thought it would be satisfactory to the
public to be informed that this saving was
not effected by curtailing the salaries of the officers
employed, or lowering the efficiency of the staff, but
by a close regard to economy in the issue of those
articles required for the working of the line. In the
present accounts another point deserving notice bad
reference to the permanent way. It would be recol-
lected that this time last year there was a sum of
8,0001. for the depreciation fund. The directors had
considerable doubts whether that should be continued,
their superintendent of " way and works" having
stated that if they adopted the system of fish-joint-
ing" it would not be required, and he recommended
that 901. per mile per annum should be charged for
the expenses of the permanent way, by which in the
present half-year 3,1781., being the amount in excess
of expenditure for the maintenance of the road during
the past six months, had been added to the " deprecia-
tion fund." He believed that this was a very advan-
tageous course of proceeding, and one
which other
companies would shortly follow. With respect to the
East Anglian line, he regretted that the Eastern Coun-
ties Railway was not in a position to hand over the
accounts to the East Anglian Railway; but, as the
guarantee of the Eastern Counties to the East Anglian
was for 8,5001. for the half-year, and as the receipts
bad been 8,4001., it was quite evident that there
could not be any very serious loss in working the
East Anglian. It would be observed in the report
that the directors recommended for the future an al-
teration in the dates of paying the half-yearly inte-
rest on the different guaranteed stocks of the com-
pany, as many proprietors of the original consoli-
dated stock were also holders of the guaranteed stocks.
It was proposed in this case to put them in the same
warrant for payment ; and, as this would be a great
simplification of business, it would tend also to a
saving of expense. The Hon. Chairman next re-
ferred to the Newmarket Company and the Great
Northern Railway. He observed that the directors
of the Eastern Counties had recommended the New-
market line to be brought under the Eastern Coun-
ties system, and 5,0001. a year to be paid. This was
the time when the Great Northern Company were
wishing to form a communication with the New-
market Company by Cambridge, and, if that had been
done, the Great Northern would eventually have
got into the heart of Suffolk and Norfolk, and
would not only have obtained possession of the New-
market line, but would have encouraged the Eastern
Union to an aggressive system of policy against the
Eastern Counties. The result would have been most
disastrous if the Newmarket line had not been
taken and made a stopgap. The Great Northern
Company, finding themselves checkmated on that
point, turned their attention to another, and that was
to have the power of running over the eastern Cowl-
; ties line from Peterborough to Wisbeach. The
Eastern Counties made arrangements with the East
Anglian Company, by which the Great Northern
Company discovered it to be its interest to cease seek-
ing to work over the Eastern Counties line, and to
stop short at Peterborough, so far as regarded the
right hand of their line. The Great Northern, find-
ing that the Eastern Counties had obtained possession
of those two important links of communication at
last turned attention to that peaceable policy which
the directors of the Eastern Counties Railway had
long ago recommended, and the latter then met the
[Great Northern Company in that spirit which ought
to actuate men of business who were desirous of pro-
moting the prosperity of any undertaking committed
to their charge.—(Hear, hear.) The result was,
that by depriving the Great Northern of the means
of mischief, they were enabled to make a fair and
equitable arrangement with that company. He made
these remarks because he thought it desirable to
amalgamate the whole of the interests to the right of
the Great Northern Railway for the purpose of
developing the traffic of the whole of the Eastern
Counties' district. Let them amalgamate were they
could work in unison, and where the public interest
would be promoted by a fair interchange of traffic,
but let them not, to annoy a company, keep up in
competition a line which, in periods of great excite-
ment, was intended to be a competing line, but which
had ceased since to have the power to be so. This
had been the course pursued by their directors, and
he believed it had been the :means of putting into
the coffers of the Eastern Counties Company the in-
creased sum of 24,000L—(Hear, hear.) This could
not have been effected if they were fighting and quar-
relling with their neighbours, who ought to be their
allies ; and the system of holding out the olive branch
to those who ought to work in common was the best
for all parties concerned.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon.
Chairman next adverted to a paragraph in the report
of the directors of the Eastern Union Railway, in
which it was stated that the Eastern Counties Com-
pany were not overscrupulous in diverting the traffic
from that line, and, after defending the
Eastern Counties Railway from that insinuation, ad-
verted to the proposed new line from Ilford to Til-
bury and Southend, a detailed statement of the pro-
ceedings connected with which, already publicly
known, he gave to the meeting. After the line should
be constructed by the contractors, he said that both
the Eastern Counties Railway and the Blackwell Rail-
way, or one of them, were to work the traffic at a
fair rate of charges, and he recommended the meeting
to give to the directors power to obtain the plant ne-
cessary to work the line. He was convinced, looking
to the district and the number of people likely to pro-
ceed by the line, not only to Gravesend but to Mar-
gate—for fast steamers to run there were to be placed
on the station—that the mass of traffic which would
be created would be astonishing. With respect to
the line to Harwich, the Eastern Union Company
had held out hopes that that line was about to be
would be
constructed ; and he had received a communication
within the last few days which left no doubt that
within a fortnight the works would be in active
construction. When completed that line, which
would convey passengers from Rotterdam, Ant-
on the
and the different principalities of Germany,
to the one of the most important feeders
The irEastern Counties Railway.—(Hear, hear.)
s ictor'a Docks were to be constructed on the
line at
to the traffic of si:y,
Northi Woolwich. Judging from the premium
dock
tiiliehadres, it seemed to be one of the best
would give the sl°n'
concerns of and, if so, it must necessarily add
conclusion,
Eastern Counties line.—(Hear,
hear.)
he trusted that the proprietors
the directors credit for doing all in their
power to promotebenefit of the company at large,
and that they would repose in the directory that con-
fidence which would enable them to work effectively
he did not believe that the
forTthhee commonc Am m interest.A
said
aad Southend line would
In reply to Dr. RE/,,i.
traffic on the Tilbury
inter-
fere with the traffic on the Colchester line.
Dr. REILLY then put some other questions respect-
ing Some minor matters. connected with the manage-
mentangry altercation,
not necessary to be reported,
as it had little reference
to the business of the day.
Id be
Mr. HELPS thought it would satisfactory if the
of the line, which led to an
n
vacancies which took place I
themeetin directionsweirne theft in •
up
terval between the half-yearly
approved of
not fillede
one day being
by the directors. Hs
interest on
fixed for the payment of the half-yearly
be filled up by the proprietors,
trusted stock, and thought it
on the original consolidated
nds on all the ttle different guaranteed stocks of the company, and
would be convenient if the divide
me-
tropolitan railways were paid on one day. He
the line to Harwich.
that everything would be done to complete