The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-13 00:00:00

THE SUA, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 13, 1865.

report of Baron Liebig, the greatest known autho-
rity upon agricultural chemistry, are of opinion
that the scheme of the Messrs. Hope and Napier, if
it could be carried out, would be a glaring violation
of the laws of agricultural science, from which the
least possible increase to our home supplies of food
would be obtained, as well as the smallest return to
the ratepayers of the metropolis for their property.
The committee express their extreme surprise that
the Metropolitan Board of Works, who are trustees
of the ratepayers, should have disposed of this large
property to Messrs. Hope and Napier (who base
their scheme upon the assumption of the compara-
tive worthlessness of sewage), until after those who
ground their plan on its great value had had an op-
portunity afforded them of fairly testing the cor-
rectness of their opinions before Parliament, and
had failed. And more especially are the committee
surprised at the course adopted by the board, when
they consider the enormous benefit that would have
been conferred not alone upon the ratepayers of the
metropolis, but upon other cities and towns and the
agriculture of the kingdom, were those who advocate
the system of moderate dressings, and a wide dis-
tribution of sewage, able to demonstrate that that
system could be made commercially successful. In
conclusion, the committee are of, opinion that it is
for the interest of the nation that a searching inves-
tigation into the system of economic sewage utilisa-
tion should be instituted by Parliament before any
steps are taken for the utilisation of the sewage of
London or of any other town, and that the interest
of the ratepayers of the metropolis demands that
the plan of Messrs. Hope and Napier should be
strenuously opposed. And, having considered the re-
port of Mr. Hopkins, C.E., upon the scheme of
Messrs. Hope and Napier, together with the answer
thereto of Mr. Hemans, C.E., and Mr. Hopkins's
reply, as well as Mr. Hopkins's evidence before the
Select Committee, the committee think it is an en-
gineering impossibility to recover from the ocean
the sands proposed to be reclaimed by the great
embankment except by the expenditure of so enor-
mous a sum of money as to render the entire scheme
perfectly hopeless as a commercial speculation. The
committee recommend that the Court should peti-
tion the House of Commons for the appointment of
a Select Committee to take into consideration the
best mode of utilizing the sewage of the metropolis
and other towns of the kingdom, and to inquire into
all the plans for dealing with the sewage, and spe-
cially to report upon each of such plans, for the in-
formation of the country, with a view to secure for
the ratepayers of the metropolis the greatest amount
of profit from the utilization of this property, and
also that they should be authorized to take the ne-
cessary measures for opposing the Metropolis Sew-
age and East Kent Reclamation Bill in Parliament,
which has for its object the obtaining of the sanction
of Parliament to the carrying out of the arrange-
ment entered into by Messrs. Napier and Hope and
the Metropolitan Board of Works.
The report is signed by Messrs. William Lawley,
Samuel Green, Deputy Perkins, William Lister,
James Waterlow, Thomas Lintott, Henry Gibson,
J. G. Arnold, Henry A. Isaacs, John Stewart,
George Webb, John Richardson, W. C. Fowler,
William Brass, W. Jones, and Deputy Lott, mem-
bers of the Coal, Corn, and Finance Committee,
and has since been adopted by the whole Corpora-
tion.

Railway and other Companies.

_-e-

TAFF VALE.

The directors have determined to recommend a dividend
at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum for the half-year end-
ing the 31st of December last.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The report of the directors eitiiis company states that
the balance of the revenue accounts for the half-year ending
the 31st of December last, including £8,641 from the preced-
ing half-year, and after deducting all preferential charges,
amounted to £235,938 ; but against this amount there was
the large sum of £40,793, principally on account of the late
lamentable accident at Egham. Of this the directors had
debited the half-year's accounts with £25, 000, leaving avail-
able for dividend £210,938, out of which it was proposed to
pay a dividend at the rate of 5} per cent. per annum,
amounting on £7,562,229 of paid-up capital to £207,961,
leaving a balance of £2,976. The gross revenue showed an
increase of £46,825 as compared with the corresponding
half of 1863. This amount had been carried on an increased
mileage of 154 miles, the Midhurst line 94 miles having
been opened on the Ist of September last, and the Thames
Valley Railway, 6-} miles, on the Ist of November. The in-
terest on the company's mortgage debt averaged only 4.21
per cent. per annum in the past half-year, notwithstanding
the adverse state of the money market. The total traffic
receipts for the half-year ending the 31st of December
amounted on 4704 miles to £749,905, the working ex-
penses to £335,064, the taxation to £33,507, and the net
revenue to £381,334, against £703,080, total receipts for
the corresponding half of 1863 on 454} miles, £322,179
working expenses, £31,971 taxation, and £348,930 net
revenue, showing an increase of £46,825 in the total re-
ceipts, £12,885 in the working expenses, £1,536 in the
taxation, and £32,404 in the net revenue. The rate
per train Mile for locomotive and carriage expenses
was reduced from 10-43 d. in the corresponding period to
10.23 d. in the past half-year. Various additions to the
stations and sidings had been rendered necessary owing to
the increasing traffic, and were being carried out. Tho
Salisbury and Yeovil Company had up to the present date
made but little progress since the last report in the doubling
of their line. The Andover and Redbridge Railway was
finished, and would be shortly opened. The works on the
Netley Railway were making satisfactory progress, and the
directors hoped that the contractor would enable the line
to be opened in the coure of the coming summer. The
works on the Chertsey•Extension line, as well as those on
the Wimbledon, Tooting, and Merton line and at the Clap-
ham Junction, had been let to responsible contractors on
satisfactory terms, and would be immediately proceeded
with. The delay which had arisen in the opening of the
Weymouth and Portland line had been a source of regret
to the directors, but they were satisfied that the course
they adopted was the right one, as the points at issue be-
tween the Weymouth and Portland Company and this
Board, having been referred to Capt. Galton, he had decided
that the line was not completed according to the terms of
the agreement. It now remained for the Weymouth and
Portland company to complete their undertaking by pro-
viding suitable station accommodation at Weymouth. On
the Ist of January in this year the amalgamation of the
North Devon and Bideford Companies with this company
took place. In regard to the liabilities incurred in respect of
compensation arising out of the Egham accident, only a
few cases remain unsettled. Arrangements had been con-
cluded with the Brighton Company for the running of goods
and mineral trains by agreement over their lines to the river
at Deptford. The terms made in respect of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Company's lines and stations would
be immediately submitted to Parliament for confirmation.
In the district of North Devon the directors had deposited
a bill for authorising the construction of a new railway
from their Bideford station to Torrington, about five and
a half miles in length, at an estimated cost of £BO,OOO and
borrowing powers of £26,660. At Torrington it was in-
tended that it should be connected with a branch Hue to
Hatherleigh, which the Okehampton Company had been
inducedto add to the contemplated extension of their autho-
rised railway through Holsworthy to the Cornish coast at
Budo. Provisional arrangements for the working of the
Okehampton Company's lines, which were on the narrow
guage, had been made. The expenditure on capital account
amounted to £13,638,940.