The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-19 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EASTERN COUNTIES.

Yesterday a special meeting of the shareholders in
this company was held at the London Tavern, Bishops-
gate-street, for the purpose of submitting (pursuant to
the standing orders of the House of Lords) to the ap-
proval of the proprietors the following bills :—A bill to
enable the Eastern Counties Company to construct a
railway from the line of the Northern and Eastern Rail-
way near Stratford to Woodford and Loughton, and to

repeal certain of their existing acts, and to grant further
powers of capitalising their debt, and for other purposes ;
also a bill to enable the Eastern Counties Company to
construct branch railways from their North Woolwich
line to Ham Creek and the River Thames, and for other
purposes. Mr. David Waddington, M.P., chairman of
the company, occupied the chair, and there was a good
attendance of shareholders.

The CHAIRMAN opened the proceedings by statinr, the
object of the meeting, and explaininf, that the standing
orders of the House of Lords required' that three-fourths
of the proprietors should record their vote in favour of
any bill, either in person or by proxy, before that bill
could be allowed to be read a second time by that branch
of the Legislature Mr. Maynard, the solicitor of the
company, would now read to the meeting first the heads
of the bill to enable them to construct the branch line
from North Woolwich to Ham Creek.
The heads of the bill in question having been read
accordingly.
The CHAIRMAN explained that this bill was introduced

in consequence of an arrangement which had been en-
tered into with the promoters of the Victoria Dock
Company. The Victoria Docks, the proprietors would
be aware, were connected with the Eastern Counties
Company's railway, and with a view of facilitating their
works, the Dock Company had applied to them for a
diversion, or rather a substitution of their present line.
This would render the construction of the Victoria Docks
much more easy, and would be more convenient for the
passage of traffic than if the line remained in its present
position. The Victoria Dock Company undertook to
pay all the expenses connected with this bill, and also
with the construction of the new line for the making of
which those powers were sought ; and the directors of
the Eastern Counties Railway had considered that it
was only a, matter of sound policy to apply to Parlia-
ment for this bill, as it was obvious that the construc-
tion of these docks at the termination of their line was
of the greatest importance to the interests of their rail-
way, and, as he had already said, the Victoria Dock
Company would defray the entire cost of the undertak-
ing. He would, therefore, now move that the bill now
before the House of Lords be approved and adopted by
this meeting.

In reply to a question from Mr. M'LAREN,
The CHAIRMAN said that this line would be an addi-
tional line rather than a substitution ; because the exist-
ing line would not be done away with. The sole object
of the extra line would. be to afford greater facilities to
the Victoria Dock Company.
The motion was then unanimously agreed to.
The SOLICITOR next read to the meeting an abstract of
the bill to enable the Eastern Counties Company to con-
struct their line from Stratford to Woodford and Lough-
ton, when

The CHAIRMAN said it would be in the recollec-
tion of many of the older proprietors of that com-
pany that several years ago powers were sought
and obtained to enable them to construct a line
from North Lea-bridge, on the Northern .and East-
ern Company's Railway, to the town of Epping.
That project proposed to take the higher ground on the
ridge of the Epping-hill, and would' have been a very
expensive works in its execution. The consequence
was, that after the powers had been obtained, the direc-
tors thought it was not desirable to proceed with the
undertaking, and it had lain some time in abeyance,
some seven years having now elapsed since they origi-
nally obtained their act. In the course of last year,
however, the subject was again brought under the notice
of the board, with the view of accommodating the dis-
trict between Woodford and Epping. He confessed
that at first, looking at the line for which the powers
had been previously obtained, he, in common with his
colleagues at the board, did not regard the project with
any considerable degree of favour, but the directors,
before finally determining the question, deputed him in
conjunction with the engineer to walk over the pro-
posed route for the purpose of reporting upon its lead-
ing features. In inspecting the country accordingly, he
(the chairman) found that the engineer had taken an en-
tirely different direction, and that, instead of keeping on
the high ground towards Epping, he proceeded by the
lower or valley route, starting from Stratford-bridge,
crossing over to Leytonstone, and then striking into the
valley by Woodford, and so continuing on to Loughton:
thereby accommodating a larger district, and at a cost
of one-half the outlay that would have been necessary
for the original scheme. He therefore reported to the
board the easy nature of the country through which the
new project would pass, and the character of the accom-
modation it would afford ; and when they received the
estimates of their engineer he had no hesitation in ex-
pressing—and he now repeated his belief—that, taking
the amount of capital to be expended, there was no
seven miles of railway within twenty miles of London
which would yield anything like the return that they
would obtain from this proposed line. (Hear, hear.)
But, in addition to that, it would enable them to get
rid of what had threatened to be a very powerful oppo-
sition to their company, because, although the rival
scheme for the same district looked a very small line in
itself, yet if they referred to the Ordnance map they
would find that it would not end with a mere branch to

Woodford and Loughton. It was manifestly meant to
be the first wedge inserted into the Eastern Counties
property, and was intended hereafter to be driven fur-
ther eastward—indeed, it was alleged by the promoters
that they contemplated extending themselves into the
Eastern Counties' district. He therefore thought that
'this scheme was eminently entitled to their support,
protecting their property as it would from all aggressive
inroads, because the projectors of the competing line
had withdrawn their bill, despairing of success in their
opposition ; and the cost of 9s. per share which they
had had to pay as the expense of the contest would no
doubt operate as a heavy pecuniary mulct to deter any
other rival from entering the field against the Eastern
Counties Company. The cost of the proposed line
would be 15,0001. per mile, or thereabouts ; and sup-
posing their traffic over the seven miles amounted to
only 2001. a week, or 10,0001. a year, they would obtain
a return of something like five per cent. for their out-
lay ; but the board calculated upon realising a much
larger amount than that. With regard to the contents
of the bill, he might mention that a further clause had
been introduced to the effect that the line should not be
constructed until they made a third line of railway
between the Bow junction of the Blackwall Railway
and the Stratford junction of the Eastern Counties
line. That, however, would not be a very onerous
condition, and it could not cost more than 10,0001. at
the most. There was another clause binding them
to complete the line in three years, otherwise the
dividend of the old proprietors should cease. A very
salutary regulation had been introduced by Mr.
' Cardwell, the President of the Board of Trade, re-
quiring all existing railway companies to complete
any new projects for the carrying out of which Parlia-
ment conferred on them the necessary powers, within
the space of five years ; and in the present instance,
Lord Redesdale had abbreviated the period to three
years, thinking that long enough to execute an exten-
sion of only seven miles. Now, in his (the Chairman's)
mind, this new regulation of the Government was a
measure of the most wholesome and conservative cha-
racter, and would act as a check upon the getting up of
rival schemes for the mere purpose of finding employ-
ment for engineers and country attorneys, Parliament
declared that the promoters of any project should deposit
in the Court of Chancery three-fourths of the tenth of
the estimated cost of construction, which must have been
paid up. Hitherto it had been the practice to return
these deposits when the bill had passed, but Parliament
now said that, in order to test the good faith of the pro-
jectors, these deposits should be forfeited to the Crown,
unless the parties proceeded with the execution of the
works. The effect of this system would no doubt be to
make those who were in the habit of subscribing to
other than bona fide schemes more careful how they paid
deposits into the Court of Chancery, knowing, as they
would do, how difficult it would be to get thir money
out again. (Laughter.) Another clause in the bill was
intended to enable the directors to create a preference
stock by the capitalisation of their bonded debt, follow-
ing the example which had been set them by the Lon-
don and North-Wester and other companies. It was
well-known that when their debentures become due, if
there prevailed at the time a tightness in the money
market, they were compelled to pay perhaps 1 per cent.
more interest than they ought to do ; and therefore the
object of this clause was to obviate that inconvenience
by enabling the directors, with the consent of the pro-
prietors in general meeting assembled, to take advan-
tage of the easy state of the money market from time to
time, for the purpose of issuing a fixed preferential stock
in lieu of their floating capital. With regard to the sub-
ject of railway amalgamation, he might observe that a
committee of the House of Commons had adopted a
standing order to the effect that no railway bill for the
purposes of amalgamation should be proceeded with this
session, and therefore the Eastern Counties board, feel-
ing that any railway bill in which an amalgamation
clause was introduced had a very slight chance of pass-
ing, had abandoned their project of amalgamation with
other companies for the present, and determined to wait
for a future opportunity of introducing such a measure.
The committee of the House of Commons which was
now sitting on the general subject might shortly be ex-
pected to make their report. But, be that as it might,
so far as that company was concerned, he would only
repeat what he had stated at a former meeting, namely,
that it was his private opinion that the Eastern Counties,
and the Eastern Union, and the Norfolk railway com-
panies might determine to carry out the working agree-
ment to-morrow, if they chose, in the same way at the
York, Newcastle, and Berwick, the York and North
Midland, and the Leeds Northern companies had done,
and that without any intervention of Parliament, pro-
vided the directors of all the three companies had one
common object in view, viz. that of making the most of
their respective districts, and apportioning to each com-
pany that fair amount of revenue to which the traffic en-
titled it. (Hear, hear.) He was not aware that any
other subject called for remark, and he would therefore
, conclude by moving that the bill now before Parliament,
t, enable that company to construct a railway from the
li tie of the Northern and Eastern Company near Strat-
ford to Woodford and Loughton, and also for empower-
ing then to capitalise their debt, bo now approved and
adopted by this meeting.
Mr. PATTERSON seconded the motion.
A SHARETIOLDER inquired when the line was likely to
be completed ?
The CHAIRMAN thought it would not take longer than