The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-16 00:00:00

RAIL WA T INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTH-EASTERN.

The half-yearly report of the directors of this company
to be presented at the half-yearly meeting, on Thursday
next, says :

" The directois have to report, that the receipts of the
South-Eastern Railway Company for the half-year ending
on the 31st of January, 1853, have been 424,5471. Bs. 9d.,
including 3801. 18s. 9d. received of the Brighton Company
for toll ; and the working expenses and renewals
151,0691. 13s. The sum of 6,2151. 15s. has been laid aside
for renewal of permanent way. The rates, taxes, and tolls
amount to 15,986/. 16s. 2d. ; the Government duty to
13,1711. 14s. 4d. ; the rents of the Greenwich, Canterbury,
and Whitstable Railways to 24,4151. ls. Bd. ; which sums,
in addition to the interest on the mortgage debt, South-
Eastern annuities and guaranteed stock of the company
74,200/. 12s. ld., make a total deduction from the gross
earnings of 285,0531. 12s. 3d. The profit and loss account
shows a credit of 8591. lls. after providing for the last di-
vidend, also a sum of 169/. 3s. 4d. for dividend and
interest on Canterbury and Whitstable securities in the
hands of the company, and is debited with the sum of
3,2701. ss. 9d. for Parliamentary expenses, and 7881.45. Bd.
being one-third of the loss sustained by fire at the com-
pany's works at Ashford, leaving a balance available for
dividend of 136,4641. Os. sd. The total increase in traffic
for the last half-year, as compared with the corresponding
half-year ending 31st January, 1852, is 15,6911. 12s. 4d. ;
the through traffic to and from London and Folkestone,
and Dover and Ramsgate and Margate, for the half-years
ending as follows was :

To and from To and from
Folkestone and Dover. Ramsgate MO Margate.
Jan. 31. 1851.....£61,351 2 8 ..., £i8,792 611
Jan. 31, 1852.... 84,363 14 8 .... 18,821 6 2
Jan. 31, 1853.... 68,889 18 2 .... 23,810 10 9

Dec. under '52, £18,473 16 6 .. • . Inc. over '52, £4,969 4 7

Inc. over '51.. £7,538 15 G Inc. over '5l, £5,017 3 10
It will be observed that there is a decresae in the traffic
to Folkestone and Dover of 15,473/. 16s. 6d. ; but the di-
minution in the continental traffic during the half-year,
as against the comparative half of the preceding year, is
actually 18,9431. There is, therefore, an increase of 3,4691.
3s. 6d. of traffic between London and Folkestone and
Dover, not attributable to continental traffic. The whole
increase, therefore, of domestic traffic during the half-year
is 34,634/. 12s. 4d., a • fact which the directors cannot but
consider will be gratifying to the proprietors. Of this,
12,047/. 16s. 7d. is derived from the goods traffic ; 4,9581.
4s. 9d. is to be attributed to hop traffic ; there was A dimi-
nution, however, during the half-year of 2,132/. 7s. 9a.
owing to a deficiency in the crop of fruit and vegetables.
The foregoing tables show that the increase of passenger
and goods traffic during the half-year, compared with the
corresponding half of 1851, has been 71,929/. 17s. 10d.
The directors renewed their application to the Government
for the privilege of having the baggage of passengers ex-
amined at the London-bridge terminus, whereby the con-
venience of those persons who constitute the most
important class travelling between England and
France would be greatly enhanced, and it has been
conceded in favour of passengers arriving in London
by the mail leaving Paris at 7.30 p.m. The contract with
the Northern of France Railway Company, to continue
the fixed train at 8.10 a.m. daily, from London-bridge ter-
minus to Dover, and the steam-packet service in connec-
tion therewith to Calais, will be in force to the Ist of July;
but experience serves to convince the directors that a tidal
service, in connection with express trains between London
and Paris, is the best thing for the accommodation of the
travelling public, and their endeavours will be given to
the improvement and maintenance of this service. In any
event, a train will leave the London-bridge terminus
daily, in correspondence with a steamer at Folkestone, so as
to ensure the most rapid communication between London
and Paris via Boulogne ; and this service is accomplished
daily from London to Boulogne in four and a half hours.
It will be observed, that, notwithstanding the facilities cn
the Greenwich branch have been continued throughout the
half-year by a train every quarter of an hour each way,
the traffic has diminished to the extent of 2,3891. 9s. 7d.,
whilst on the North Kent line, although there has been a
decrease of 67,243 persons in number, the increase in the
traffic receipts has been 3,9681. 17s. ld. In the half-year
ending on the 31st January, 1852, the number of miles
run by engines was 1,337,531 ; the coke consumed was
14,585 tons;
the total cost being 13,6161. is. lid., or
2.4432 d. per mile. During the last half-year, the number
of miles run by engines was 1,425,556 ; the coke consumed
was 16,910 tons, bing an average of 26.574 lbs. per mile,
at a cost of 14,6081. 9s. Bd., or 2.4597 d. per mile. The en-
gines, therefore, ran 87,825 miles more last half-year than
in the corresponding half of the preceding year, and con-
sumed 2,325 tons more coke, at an increased charge of
992/. 7s. 9d. The total running of the engines has cost
8.651 d. per mile, which includes 3.251 d. per mile of re-
pairs and renewals. The carriage and waggon stock of the
company is in good order ; the whole cost of repairs and
renewals of now for worn-out stock, during the half-year,
is charged to revenue. There is a charge to capital ac-
count for additional new stock of 6,316/. 18s. sd. The re-
turns of the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate line, since
its opening on 24th October, 1849, have been as follows :-
Partially opened, to 31st January, 1850, 7,666/. 12s. 4d. ;
six months ending 31st July, 1850, 11,186/. Us. 6d. ; do.
31st January, 1851, 13,687/. 15s. 10d. ; do. 31st July,
1851, 14,700/. 17s. id. ; do. 31st January, 1852, 16,8111.
15s. sd. ; do. 31st July, 1852, 14,769/. 3s. ; do. 31st
January, 1853, 19,0931. 7s. sd. When proper commu-
nications with the northern lines are established with the
Reading, Guildford, and Reigate line, a large increase to
its traffic may be anticipated. It will be observed
that were there an union of trains with the 5.20 a.m.
train from Dover, which conveys the mail leaving Paris at
7.30 the night before, via Red Hill and Reading, the mer-
chants of Liverpool and Manchester might receive their
correspondence leaving Paris at 7.30 p.m. by two p.m. on
the succeeding clay. The advantages to the merchandise
traffic which would result from such arrangements are ob-
vious. The directors were compelled to enforce the rights
of the company as lessees of the Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate Railway by an action against the London and
South-Western Railway Company, who retained the whole
receipts on account of this company at Guildford, and
claimed against them a set-off of larger amount for tolls,
under an erroneous interpretation of the agreement be-
tween that company and the Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate Company. The directors first obtained a decision
in favour of this company in the Court of Exchequer; but
the directors of the London and South-Western Company
appealed from that judgment, and the judges, on a rehear-
ing of the case, in a court of error, affirmed the decision in
favour of the South-Eastern Railway Company, which sets
the question at rest, and the amount due to this company
has since been received. The charge in the account for the
maintenance of the permanent way during the last half-
year is large ; it is 18,4491. 17s. against 14,061/. 13s. 10d.
in the corresponding half-year. That increase is occasioned
by the outlay required in consequence of the heavy rains.
It was difficult at one period of the half-year to keep the
line open in a satisfactory state for the traffic. This object
was accomplished in a safe and substantial manner, though
at a great outlay ; the circumstances were not such as
would have warranted the slightest hesitation in provid-
ing ample means for ensuring safety. The accounts pre-
sented at the last half-yearly general meeting showed
that the sum of 88,772/. ss. was due from proprietors
in arrear of calls. During the last half-year, 29,9771.
13s. 4d. has been received from proprietors in arrear,
and the sum now due on shares forfeited, and to be for-
feited, is 58,794/. lls. Bd. 49,3787. 18s. 4d. is due on ac-
count of shares,
_of which notice of forfeiture has been
given, and 9,415/. 13s. 4d. on shares of which notice of for-
feiture has been prepared for the present meeting. When
the resolution is passed, the whole question may be dealt
with at once, and the capital account to that extent closed.
The amount of mortgage debt of the company on Jan. 31,
1852, was 1,997,0601., bearing interest at an average rate
of 4.375 per cent. per annum ; on July 31, 1852, the
amount was 1,859,9751., at 4.259 per cent. per annum; and
on January 31 last, the debt was 1,932,5751., bearing the
reduced interest of 4.1048 per cent. per annum. In addition
to the capital shown to have been expended to the 31st
January last, the directors have to state that there will be
a further outlay in works and buildings now in progress,
which will reach the sum of 70,000/., and any outlay beyond
this sum must be in the discretion of the proprietors hav-
ing regard to the prospective advantages to be derived from
it, and the directors will take the earliest opportunity of
placing the matter in a shape for their decision. It is right
to say that the settlement of the contractors' accounts up '
to the present time has required a larger sum than had
been estimated, but the accounts open on the 31st January
are within moderate compass, and are not likely to occa-
sion any material variation from the estimates. If, when
full statements are prepared, the proprietors are of opinion
that hop and corn warehouses should be erected at the Brick-
layers' Arms station, bonded warehouses at the London-
bridge terminus, and cottages aad other auxiliary works on
the line, and that the locomotive and carriage and waggon
stock of the company should be increased, then the outlay of
70,000/. now proposed will be increased by 230,000/., and
make up a total sum, in addition to the capital expendedon
the 31st January, of 300,000/. The directors have taken
steps to realise the surplus property belonging to the com-
pany; but theyare bound to state that, notwithstanding the
instructions given to them at the last general meeting, they
are not in a position to offer more than an estimate of what
the result will be, and that estimate they will submit to
the meeting. On the 15th November last, the directors
laid before the proprietors a summary of the measures
which they thought were then demanded for the protec-
tion and advancement of the interests of the South-Eastern
Railway Company. One of those was to effect a junction
or approximation of the stations of the Reading, Guild-
ford, and Reigate Branch, and of the Great Western Rail-
way, and as no arrangement has been offered by the Great
Western Railway Company, the bill for that purpose is
proceeding, as is one for extending the North Kent line,
by the Angeretein
branch, to Blackwell Point. The di-
rectors are convinced that no wiser step can be taken by
the company than to continue the Greenwich Railway
through Greenwich-park, at a suitable time, so as to give
a direct communication between Greenwich and Woolwich,
and to Blackwell Point, to connect the Greenwich line
with the East and West India Dock Junction Railway by
a steam ferry. The opportunity for considering the mea-
sure for
Passing through Greenwich-park this year has not
been afforded, as the Astronomer Royal has not completed
the experiments with which he was charged by the Admi-
ralty. The directors deposited plans for the continuation
of the North Kent line from Strood. to Maidstone, and
also for a line from Lewisham to Croydon and Bromley,
which they hoped to accomplish on joint account with the
Brighton Company. The directors commenced a correspon-
dence in October last with the directors of the Brighton
Company, suggesting to them the fitness of constructing
the Lewisham, Bromley, and Croydon extension at the
joint cost and on the joint account of both companies. To
this they had hoped that they had received and would meet
with a ready
assent and co-operation ; but to their surprise,
notice which
the
that
without any notice to them, or any communication leading
to a supposition that such a measure was afloat, they
saw, in the public prints, inserted on [the last day
aithsentingrightuidonerasndof South-WesternParliament
admitted one
of,
proposed to amalgamate. The Brighton Company offer
now to assent to the construction of the Lewisham, Brom-
ley ,and Croydon line on joint account, or to concur in its
withdrawal ; but the whole matter requires a more full
attention on the part of the proprietors than the directors
can invite in a half-yearly report. In obedience to the
resolution of the proprietors at the last half-yearly general
meeting, notice was given to the proprietors of the Can-
terbury and Whitstable Railway Company of the South-
Eastern Company's intention to exercise the option to
purchase the railway. The directors communicate with
satisfaction the report of the committee appointed by the
railway company and by the South-Eastern and Conti-
nental Steam-packet Company, with the object of assisting
the directors in proposing a plan for the amalgamation of
the interests of the two companies. A copy of the report
is annexed. It will be observed, that the committee had
the steam-boarvalued by the surveyors of Lloyd's, and
and that their united recommendation is, that those steam
ships be purchased at the valuation so arrived at, and that
thus the interests of the two companies become united.
In the bill for the pnrchsee of the Canterbury and Whit"