The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-14 00:00:00

EVENING, AUGUST 14 1852.

ordinary stimulus to traffic: and in the next—as the au- •
ditors of the company point out in their report, and as
the proprietors themselves determined by special reso-
lution yesterday—it would have been only fair that a
sum of 77,000/., which is charged in the present ac-
counts for repairs and rolling stock, should have been
spread over a longer period. As the fact stands, the
income of a single half-year has sustained an undue de-
duction for purposes which belong rather to capital than
to revenue. It is true that the charge, when once
paid, is for ever disposed of; but the consequence of the
arrangement adopted will be that future half-years
will present an appearance of comparative pros-
perity to which they will not be fully entitled. The
present halt-year is impoverished for the benefit of the
future, and the dividend is less than it fairly might
have been. Mr. Glyn was right in iving that the ac'
counts of the company hr:ve nothing to do with the
gloom in the share market. The latter has oscillations
pe colter to itself, and the depression of the last few days
is the result of one of them. The development of the
company goes on steadily. A decline may be noticed
here and there, but the general result—allowing for
great and manifest causes of disturbance—is satisfactory
and hopeful. And it is to be remembered, too, that
the company have closed their capital account; and
consequently, nearly all the vast income which they
will henceforth derive from their traffic will be avail-
able for the payment of dividends. In this respect,
the London and North-Western Company are more
fortunate than their formidable neighbours, the Great
Western. The latter have not yet closed their capital
account, and they have still to look forward to considerable
additions to the total sum which, in one form or another,
will become a charge upon their dividend-paying re-
venue. Bat the resources of the company are elastic;
and the directors are able to congratulate the share-
holders on the fact that the increased merchandize
traffic during the last six months compensates for the
natural decline which has taken place in the passenger
traffic, as compared with the corresponding period of
last year, in consequence of the withdrawal of the
stimulus afforded by the Exhibition. The most impor-
tant topic, however, adverted to at the two meetings,
was the bold proposal fcr amalgamation which has been
made by the London and North-Western Directorate to
their groat rival. The views of the Euston-square board
simple, and they have
They say, in effect:—
verysu cpcltainarlye exceedinglyex pressed.
"We feel that it is useless to talk of agreements and
treaties as effectual or equitable modes of putting
on
neen this
subject
ani end to the disputes between the two .
com-
panies
' The subjects of difference are so various,
and the points of collision are so many, that
harmony can never be expected so long as there is not
identity of interest. We propose, therefore, that the
two undertakings, vast and complicated as they are, even
separately, shall be amalgated, on fair terms, into one
company- At present the Great Western directors do
not assent to the principle of this plan. They put for-
ward a counter proposition, which assumes for its basis
the possible efficiency of an alliance as distinguished from
an amalgamation. It appears probable, however, that
the Euston-square scheme may, at no distant date, be
adopted by the two companies; and, in that case, Parlia-
ment will be called upon to consider one of the most mo-
mentous questions which ever came before it in connexion
with the internal comunicatious of the country.
Both companies admit that they cannot expect any
such project to be sanctioned by the Legislature
except on the condition of some effective power of
supervision over their proceedings being placed in the
hands of the Government. The policy of granting or
withholding the consent of Parliament to the proposed
amalgamation would depend almost wholly on the re-
strictive concessions which the two companies might be
prepared to make—upon the evidence they could produce
as to the expediency of the measure on public grounds
—and upon the facilities and guarantees they could offer
for the efficient operation of tee checks to which they
might consent to submit. It would be unreasonable to
say that the proposed junction of interests is utterly
inadmissible; but it is clear that amalgamations are
arrangements which ought not to be hastily authorised.
It will be for the two companies to prove I hat they have
both the will and the means to surround the formidable
powers which a union would give them with such safe-
guards against abuse, that the advantages of the change
would be equsLy shored between the travellers on the
consolidated lines and the recipients of the consolidated
dividends.

DAILY NEWS.—The reports of the Great Western
m and North-Western Railway meetings disclose the im-
portant fact that a proposition has been unanimously
made by the North-Western to the Great Western
board for an amalgamation of the two companies; with
the further suggestion that " the Midland Company be
invited to concur in the arrangement generally in manner
and in terms to be settled with them. ' To this propo-
sition the Great Western has, it seems, given a very
cautious reply. First of all it says that the proposition
comes rather late to be really useful now that the Com-
panies have in their rivalries spent millions that an
union some years ago would have saved; next it is of
opinion that amalgamation is not the best manner of
settling present disputes and contests; thirdly, it doubts
whether Parliament would sanction such a junction;
fourthly, it argues that the money terms of amalgama-
tion cannot be fairly fixed until the traffic of its new
lines be tested; and, lastly, it has its fears whether ne-
gotiation on the subject may not damage its Parliamen-
tary case for legislative sanction to those Shrewsbury
arrangements, whereby it still hopes to reach
the Mersey and compete for the Liverpool traffic.
Into the struggles and rivalries of these two great
companies, or of any others, it is not our practice to
enter, further than to describe the progress of their
competition. For so long as the supineness and the
indifference of the great bulk of their proprietaries
allow these wars to be originated and continued, they
who suffer most by them are, after all, most to blame ; 1
and the public, it is quite clear, is anything but damaged
by rivalries that furnish it with greater railway accom-
modation at cheaper rates. Railway directors are but
mortals; and once fairly in a great contest their passions
become excited, their fears and apprehensions exagge-
rated, and their plans of assault and defence grow in
magnitude and costliness, until at last there seems to be
no door open to accommodation and peace,
but some
great scheme of this sort. And thus it will go on, whilst
legislation on the subject of railways is all hap-hazard'
without plan, system, or principles; the two houses hav-
ing no uniformity of action, and not even the same
standing orders; so that while the Commons pass on full
examination of its merits a Bill the Lords reject it on
some preliminary point of observance by its promoters.
It is this legislative uncertainty that gives en-
couragement to railway contests. In the pre-
sence of this cause, arising in Parliament h
it has reduced dividends, has largely
it-
self, tee have never been disposed to blamee
railway directors too severely for that competition which,
the railway system; and if the proposition now made
by the North Western is only an evidence that the
board of that great line is tired and wearied of a system
of rivalry, the beneficial results of which to the public
have certainly reached, if not passed, their utmost pos-
sible limits, that proposition is of good augury. In any
other light, and us a practical measure, eeteeded
it is, however,
one that requires the very gravest consideretion before it
can possibly receive the sanction of the public. When,
Government tried a few years ago to gain some little
power over railway accounts, the attempt was
by the companies und disapproved of by the pubile
chiefly because of the Pownillany such interference would
give to the Government over our railway system, which
in its origin was purely popular; of the danger toand of
effi-
cient service likely to be involved in that power, encl. I
its being a breach of the conditions on which subscrip-
tionsne to railwa} s bad been based. Now it is quite possible
Ito create a great railway power unconnected with the Government
Go-
vernment, which is able almost to control the
be
and Parliament as to railway pulley, and shall also
And
able to domineer over the interests of the pablictn. e
first
in considering Mr. Glyn's proposition, that is resisted
repo-
profits
danger to be guarded against. In favour of thattoP bear,
sition a class of arguments may be brought
found to support a complete transfer of railway
errinsent.
manage-
ment to a central board, responsible to Gov
which, pushed to their legitimate conclusion,willbe
These are the considerations of economy, of _ PX-e2thael
centralised authority, and of uniformity of eSt
Pell rates, and
the opportunity thereby given of charging
derivable from the absence of cons
la
with
from the possibility of carrying on
business
arguments
smaller rolling stocks. These, we say,Bt'ition, from
are all.
_,
may be
which, if applied to this proposed amalgamatiou
purpo
carried much further, and applied to
other
ell desire.
t ban either Mr. Glyn or Mr.
Russell
Quail
They are a two-edged sword, that
i °wielded as
wound those by whose hands it -s •1 e; have
that rai wa)
the enemy, It is a popular belief,
and any such
tie; already too great a power over the "d 'certainly greatly
amalgamation as that proposed would certainly
fortify that opinion. For just let us e°
nsider he
they e a
posi-
tion of these three companies. Already millions ster-
paid-up capital of not less than fifty-twoo _
ormy still unex-
ling, with further powers' of raisine w
Lausted. Their union would therefore constitute by far
c Pith©
the greatest corporation yet knewn i _
i i
bts
e far most
be the jvc
numerous— largest--its
its field pro
ofporietar erati Y
on would be far the most
extensive—and the influencei derivable from its expendi-
ture, its patronage, and its proprietary would be enor-
mous.f railroad in the actual
The number of miles °
possession of this amalgamated corporation would be
the additional
certainly upwards of I,4oo;whilst
mileage under their control would probably be other .
l e th
of this mi eane e c 1
4uo. Now, on a large part
f competition. Unite
has at present the advaetage
O would cease and by
these companies, and competition • le' I; -
its cessation a heavy dd 1 pecuniary art en would
a----iticlia commerce. By their be imposed on society and on
a number of small lines
se-
paration and distinct existence'
are noble to maintain positions of
3 independence. Unite flines mustfall;
these
them, and the independence 0
d in the common system. Then
they, too, will be absorbed
s has in one direction or
line
each of these three great
included in this suggested
another a rival company not wholeforce, rower,
arrangement. Unite them, and the
and influence of the three
combined, will be brought tobear, to the destruction incorporations,
of the
public utility of v hich was
recognised by the
Legislature in the statutes which give them legal
life. By such an amalgamation the traffic of the
country from Plymouth and Swansea and Holyhead to
Glasgow and Aberdeen would bo pieced in the hands of
one compeny. All the great towns of England—Lon-
don, Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester,
Derby, Leieeetee, and Leeds—would come under its
monopoly. The independence of the Eastern Counties,
of the Great Northern, the Yet kshire and Lancashire,
the York and Berwick, could not long be preserved.
Gradually they would yield and be absorbed; until at
last the Briai.ean aims of one huge irresistible incorpo-
ration would cover the face of the island. All this in-
volves not merely arrangements between three com-
peting companies, but an entire change in our system of
railway policy; and that, it is clear, cannot be allowed
to pass through Parliament merely as a private Bill.
It is a public measure, heeding at least publia.discussion.