The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-24 00:00:00

SOUTH-EASTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the Bridge-house Hotel, London-bridge;
the Hon. J. M. Byng, the chairman, presided.
Mr. S. Smiles, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting, the report was taken
as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said it would not be necessary for him to
occupy much of their time on that occasion. In
some respects they had gained, and in others they
had lost during the half-year, and it was, perhaps,
matter for congratulation that upon the whole they
had been able to hold their own so well. (Hear.)
The opening of the new coast line to Margate and
Ramsgate had necessarily had the effect of abstract-
ing traffic which in former years has been carried
over this railway, though they had happily been
enabled to make up for that loss by gains at other
points. That they had been able to do so had been
entirely attributed to the working of the Charing-
cross Railway by this company. (Hear, hear.) The
cost of that line had, indeed, been very great, as all
lines passing through London must be ; but when
they thought of its cost it was also right that they
should think of where they would now have been
without it. With other rival metropolitan lines
possessing favourable termini at various points of
London, it would have been impossible for them to
have held their ground if they had remained cooped
up at London-bridge. (Hear.) As it was they had
carried more passengers in the last half-year than
they ever carried before. (Hear.) :Including the
journeys of season-ticketholders, they had carried
upwards of 16,000,000 during the year, a number
which he believed was exceeded by only one other
railway in the kingdom. It was true most of the
traffic was for short distances, between London and
the suburbs, and principally upon the North Kent
and Greenwich lines, and this it was which had
been so much increased by the opening of the
Charing-cross terminus. For example, on the
Greenwich Railway alone they had carried 301,533
more passengers than they had in the corresponding
half-year. Of this increase, about 100,000 had
been at Spa-road, the station nearest to London-
bridge. (Hear.) There had also been an increase
in the number of passengers carried upon the main
line, but whereas the increase there had been prin-
cipally in first-class passengers from Charing-
cross, the . increase in the suburban passengers
had been almost entirely third-class. The Char-
ing-cross second and third class traffic was, how-
ever, but yet in its infancy, and he could not
entertain a doubt but that it would yet prove a
source of large and constantly increasing revenue
to the company. (Hear.) They also looked to
the residential traffic as a large source of future in-
come arising from the West-end terminus. Parlia-
ment had granted powers to the Chatham Com-
pany to construct duplicate lines in Kent, and to
enter into competition with them for traffic at
Chatham, Canterbury, Dover, Ramsgate, and Mar-
gate, and other important places. Whatever might
be said of the justice or injustice of this course,
there was no good in complaining of it. (Hear, hear.)
They had to face the fact that the Chatham Com-
pany had been placed by Parliament in a position to
compete with them effectively at many points, and
in this way seriously to injure them. To avoid that
injury they had entered into the agreement about
two years ago. They had now had two years' ex-
perience of its working, and felt justified in saying
that it had proved an advantageous arrangement to
both companies. (Hear, hear.) This was shown by
a few facts. For example, during the last year the
gross receipts had been £67,000 more than they were
during the Exhibition year, which was before the
date of the agreement, and when the other company
were running against them at competition fares. The
receipts of this company from Continental traffic
had been greater during the past year than they were
even before the new duplicate line to Dover was
opened. There had also been a considerable increase
in the receipts from local traffic at Dover and Folke-
stone compared with the receipts
the two corn-
of the agreement--(hear)—but had
preceding the date
panies been in competition with each other the results
would have been very different. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. G. TIIOMSON, deputy-chairman, seconded
the motion for the adoption of the report.
ter some observations by Mr. HAMILTON, Mr.
ADAMS, Mr. FILDES, and other proprietors, the re-
P°rt was adopted, and a dividend of 17s. 3d. per
£3O share, being at the rate of £5 15s. per cent. per
compan
annum, was declared on the capital stock of the
y,
payable on the 2€l of Marc h
The retiring directors, the
on. J. M. Byng,tkin
. WaMr. .1, Barlow, Captain D. mraTren, and Mr M.P., were unanimously re-elected, and also
Mr.
,
Child, the retiring auditor.

The meeting was then made special,
at which cer-
taM by-laws were approved ; the conversion of the
5 per cent. preference shares into stock was autho-
rised, and the directors were empowered to borrow
on mortgage £113,000.

The proceedings closed with a vote of thankE, to
the chairman and directors.

BRISTOL AND EXETER.

The half-yearly meeting was held yesterday at
the company's new offices, Bristol ; Mr. J.W. Buller
M.P., in the chair.
An abstract of the report and accounts has ap-
peared in Ihe Sun.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the

report, said he trusted they all► considered it highly.
satisfactory. The increase in the receipts was a sub-
ject of great congratulation, the more so because on
the other side the excess of expenditure was not consi-
derable, and not it all in proportion to the increase
in the receipts. The increase of expe tses was chiefly
caused by the charges—one for compensation on the
accident account, and the other for Parliamentary
expenses, which had been considerable during the
Vast half-year. He regretted very much that there
should be so considerable an item for Parliamentary
expenses ; but in a company like this, surrounded
as it was with other companies, there were adverse
lines which must be watched. It was the endeavour
of the directors not to interfere with other com-
panies, but he was afraid that other companies did
not always pursue the same course towards their
line. With respect to the expenses on revenue ac-
count, the charge for the line and the locomotive
account showed a reduction of expenses. (Hear,
hear.) With regard to the line account, the de-
crease in expenditure had been progressive, but he
felt much indebted to the able engineer (Mr. Fox)
for the care which he had taken of the line. (Hear,
hear.) He hoped they might now consider that
they had arrived at an an average amount, and that
their expenses would not exceed the sum which
had been charged in the present half-year. The
locomotive account seemed to be in a very satisfac-
tory state, and under the management of Mr. Pear-
son nothing could be better than the condition of
this department. They would have to pay their
share of the loss on the Cornwall Railway. The
losses had hitherto been met by the Cornwall com-
pany from capital, but they had no longer any which
could be applied to this purpose, and therefore it
would be necessary for the several companies who
were answerable for the loss on the Cornwall Rail-
way to carry into their next revenue accounts their
proportion of the loss. Referring to the Royal
Commission which had been announced by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to inquire into the
cost of railways and the charges made by them to
the public, the chairman said he agreed entirely with
the opinion expressed by the late Mr. Stephenson
on a similar subject, that if railway companies were
secure of impartiality and intelligence in the consti-
tution of the commission they had nothing to fear
from the issue. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. T. POWELL seconded the motion for the adop-
tion of the report, which was carried unanimously.
Resolutions declaring a dividend at the rate of 51
per cent. per annum, re-electing the retiring direc-
tors and auditor, and authorising the directors to
borrow from time to time on mortgage any sum not
exceeding £112,000, were adopted unanimously, and
a vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the
proceedings.

LONDON, TILBURY, AND SOUTHEND.
The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the London Tavern; Mr. J. N. Daniell
in the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, stated that there had been a loss on the
passenger traffic as compared with the corresponding
period last year, but this loss had been more than
recompensed by an increase in the goods traffic.
He thought that an increase of traffic would arise in
connection with the Thames Haven and the Dagen-
ham Docks. Powers were sought to increase the
tolls between intermediate stations, but this would
not touch the through routes. The directors could
not see how the leasing of the Blackwall by the Great
Eastern could be detrimental to this company, and
though there had been a question of opposing that
amalgamation, this company had no funds for that
purpose.

Mr. C. J. ELEY, a director, after pointing out ap-
parent discrepancies between the accounts and the
weekly traffic receipts, said that owing to the excep-
tional circumstances under which the line was worked,
the expenses were enormous, but that in many im-
portant respects the proprietors had never stood in
so good a position as they stood that day. Referring
to what the chairman had stated with regard to the
leasing of the Blackwall line by the Great Eastern,
he expressed an opinion that at some future period
the company would have other means of reaching
London than they had at present, but in the mean-
time all propositions affecting the company's termi-
nal facilities would be jealously watched. (Hear.)

Mr. GOEZ said the time was drawing near when
the anomalous position with regard to the directors
and the company must be done away with.

The report was then adopted.
On the motion of Mr. Parsons, Mr. Moxon was
unanimously elected director in the place of Mr.
Sydney Lawrence, who retired, and Mr. Gossett
was elected auditor in the place of Mr. C. Whetham.