The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-08 00:00:00

...h.
in no respect altered or limited the previously-conceived
intentions of the company. They will proceed at once to
carry into effect the line granted to Gravesend, and to
complete the communication to Rochester, by means of the
Gravesend and Rochester Railway, which they have pur-
chased : and in the next session of Parliament they will
apply for the remainder of the line.
" I have the honour tYo rema
obedient servant,
(Signed)
" JAS. MACGREGOR.
"J. P. Plumptre, Esci
Well, gentlemen, the session of that year was over, and
that honourable gentleman, and others, who sincerely
wished well to you, were again at a loss to understand
your policy and your proceedings, and I addressed this
letter in reply to one from that honourable gentleman,
treating of the rate of fares, as well as our general policy.

"South-Eastern Railway, London Terminus,
7th September, 1846.
"My dear Sir,—l sincerely thank you for your letter,
and appreciate the kindness which induced you to write.
"I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of the sup-
port you have given to this company.
" I am not at all surprised at some irritation being ex-
pressed at our adjustment of the fares.
" Fixed as they are now, and viewed in relation with
the great accommodation given to all classes of passengers,
I venture to say you will find, on examination, that these
rates are below those of the principal railways of the king-
dom, and are both just and reasonable. The proprietors,
I am sure, from the experience of the last twelve months,
cannot do justice to the public and themselves for smaller
charges. If rival parties in Canterbury, or elsewhere, se-
riously intend to apply to Parliament for power to con-
struct a new railway, and will only intimate their inten-
tions to us, we will be prepared to consider of the propriety
of retiring in their favour.
" Sound reason will have its day, and we shall be con-
tent to abide the judgment of those who calmly consider
our position when we have stated it. We shall have to
bring it before the proprietors on Thursday next.
" Such parliamentary expenses as we haxe encountered
are perfectly frightful.
" Believing that on inquiry you will find us still worthy
of your support,
" I am, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
(Signed) "J. MACGREGOR.
" J. P. Plumptre, Esq., M.P."
Well, gentlemen, at that period, the larger portion of
the expense to which the report of the majority of my
honourable colleagues, the present board of directors,
alludes, had been actually incurred by theoompany. Did
you, and did I not, understand then how frightful this
expenditure was ? Did we require then to learn its un-
desirableness ? But there is a saying which I will bring
to your recollection, and which you will appreciate, and
that is, "of two evils choose the least." There was on
the one side the sure certainty of the utter annihilation
of your property—there was on the other side the large
Parliamentary expenditure and an ardent hope, and a
just expectation, that that expenditure in Parliament,
and the construction of the lines projected, would end
in a satisfactory result, and in good dividends ; but that
expenditure having taken place, various lines having
been constructed which the company had sanctioned in
the comprehensive instructions before, I joined, the di-
rection given to Robert Stephenson in 1845, the question
the present directors had to consider was, What was
to be done to protect the property so acquired and
the money spent—whether in Parliamentary expenses,
or in any other way ? and I do say that of all the
inventions that ever were perpetrated to bring about
a result adverse to your interests, my honourable col-
leagues are entitled to the credit of that invention,
and to have consummated the greatest prospective
evil that ever was brought upon this company, after
all this Parliamentary and other expenditure, in
allowing a hostile line of railway to invade the very
centre of our property. It is idle now, in reference
to the Lewisham and Bromley bill, to talk of avoiding
hostile competition by manoeuvres of any kind. Mr.
Cardwell's bill of last session enforces the passage of
traffic over the lines of railway, as if all railways were
one interest and under one continued system of manage-
ment, and when, therefore, a hostile line is allowed to
be constructed to join an existing one, we must make up
our minds to accept it for better or worse, and to give it
those facilities which the law has exacted and which puts
it in exactly the same position as if the branch were an
integral part of our own system. That the minds of my
honourable colleagues have been in a somewhat fluc-
tuating state I have evidence in their proceedings. On
the 21st day of March they resolved to prosecute the
Lewisham and Bromley bill, and instructed counsel ac-
cordingly, On the 25th of April they received a report
from their engineer most strongly confirmatory of the
advantage of the Lewisham and Bromley line, telling
them also what I have repeated to you, that the line
could be constructed for a 41 per cent. stock, and would
be guaranteed a rental of 5 per cent. On the 3d of
May they received a report from the former superin-
tendent recommending the bill to be dropped, and talk-
ing a great deal about harmony with the Brighton Com-
pany, and the money market, of which he had thus sud-
denly acquired knowledge. On the 18th of May they
negatived my motion that the bill be proceeded with.
On the Ist of June they resolved that the Lewisham and
Bromley bill be withdrawn. On the 2d of June they
gave a dinner to the directors of the Brighton Company.
On the Bth of June they negatived my motion that a
special meeting of the proprietors of the company be
convened to consider the position of the Lewisham and
Bromley Bill, and the propriety of proceeding with it.
On the 22d June they instructed their engineer to
survey the best Mid-Kent Railway, and invited Mr.
Bendel to be their consulting engineer. On the 23d
June they invited me to take a carriage-drive with
them through Kent, personally to survey the coun-
try, to which my reply was that from its perfect
inutility I should not accept their kind proposal.
On the 24th June they took a carriage-drive in
Kent to survey the country in reference to a Mid-Kent
line. On August 15th they summoned a meeting of the
directors to consider the policy of the company with re-
gard to extensions in Kent, having for their object to
shorten the line to Dover, and on 21st August they de-
sired that the plans which had been taken by the engi-
neer of the company, under the instructions given to
him on the 22d of June, should be locked up and sealed
up, and not inspected without an order from the board.
Gentlemen, I admit that this would have been a most
efficient order, if the directors could have sealed up at
the same time the brains of the people of Kent, and of
all rivals and engineers, and in the same box Mr. Geach's
bill for the line to Farnborough. Why, gentlemen, that
part of Kent— almost that field in Kent—in which there
has not been a theodolite for the purpose of taking a
survey, is the exception. The public know perfectly
well, especially that portion of the public who have
given their attention at all to railway extension, what
portions of Kent are adapted for it, through what passes
in that country new railways can be properly made, and
how such railways will affect existing interests. Gen-
tlemen, what was the object in projecting the Lewisham
and Bromley Railway ? It was to protect a property,
representing a capital of 12 millions of money, in its
most vulnerable point. It was to protect a property
which had cost you, as your directors so agreeably re-
mind you, between 400,0001. and 500,0001. in Parlia-
mentary expenses. No man in his senses, with the ex-
perience which I have had here, would have brought
upon himself even the temporary unpopularity of sug-
gesting the construction of additional miles of railway,
unless they were vital to our interest, as I knew them
to be ; and I shall have the satisfaction of thinking here-
after that I did propose to you a means of protecting
your property ; that the majority of the board of
directors had that protection in their own hands ; and
that in the sacrifice which they have made of our
interests I had no part, but that I opposed them
by every means in my power. Gentlemen, I beg
leave to move, "That the paragraphs in the report
referring to the Lewisham and Bromley bill be expunged,
and that the following paragraph be substituted :—` It
is deeply to be deplored that a hostile line of railway
through Mid-Kent, from the West-end and Crystal
Palace Railway to Bromley and Farnborough, should
have been successfully prosecuted in Parliament, in face
of the attempted opposition made by the South-Eastern
Company in the House of Lords ; and the withdrawal
of the bill prosecuted by the South-Eastern Railway
Company to inaugurate a line from Lewisham to Brom-
ley, is also to be deeply regretted, as having caused the
passing of the bill authorising the hostile line from
Westminster to Bromley and Farnborough.' '''
Mr. RENSHAW (the late deputy chairman) then rose
and said—l second the motion of your late chairman
with perfect confidence, knowing the truth of the facts
which he has stated. Gentlemen, I will not occupy
much of your time in making a few remarks on the late
events which have led to the removal of my hon. and
talented friend from the chair which he has so ably filled
for many years, after devoting all his time and his best
energies to your service, and with a view to promote
your interest, being, in fact, identical with his own, in a
concern in which he embarked, and staked the chief part,
if not the whole, of his fortune. Notwithstanding the
number and respectability of the proprietors present,
whom I have now the honour to address, you are no
doubt aware that it forms but a small part of the pro-
prietary of this great concern, the major part of whom
reside in distant parts of the kingdom, and especially
in Liverpool and Manchester. You will recollect that
great efforts had been made previous to the general
meetine. in March last, in the formation of committees
in both those places, and also in London—the ostensible
object of which was to reform the direction, and thereby
to increase your dividends—but I believe I am war-
ranted in saying that the real object was to displace the
chairman. I will not venture to state what I believe to
have been the motives which actuated several of the gen-
tlemen whose names appear in the London committee,
or those whose names were, and still are, in the list
of your directors, who, if I am rightly informed, as-
sgmiesntetideemateitihwehirose meetings, and also subscribed to their
ge-
nerallyad
funds. In the list of the committee are the names of
atreevperreyhegnedneedrablymteheetinmga
majority
personal Dttacks have been constantly
sharehold-
ers present, in the strongest terms
et
ashtna
drt e
gsiuvl
adequate
him
nodf whoset past,h e anfrequentd
charges have been as frequently refuted. A calm, a
committee so constituted.coulct hardly be expected from a
fair,elawtenl yans
choice,ahido,nfeotnmiettmeeinoefnstixlemgaeln friend
lately
direction
in the
.and he would under-
takepocer:ret.,have only
Respecting
to upset any
the Liverpool committee, lto remark that I
have reason to know that many oveanthde.influential
resideut proprietors were induced toarg
to that committee, under the impressioni‘igri.
mtliaatttihtrhees:SPFUP
vision of their respectable nominee,
ter, with his general knowledge and experience in busi-
ness ness (which I
libLaigvhetfohrayheianhyadyetahr
es heatte
et
th eoopportunityincreasing
tolfieknoirdwiviindge)nds, which, after all, I opine was the pith
of the matter. But if they could have foreseen that
the object in view was to displace their chairman, I
think they would not have leht their names to injure a
man who had for such a length of time enjoyed their
confidence. I feel the more warranted in making this
assertion from
ed a
the fat the lastctthatt meeting thathonourableheirif u
sch wassecretary,
Mr, Beloe, stated
the intenion his committee would not be a party to it,