The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-14 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT SHREWSBURY.

Mr. Frail is working wonders at Shrewsbury. He
has established an Autumn Race Meeting there that
Vies in popularity with the most successful Spring
gathering. The programme of the sport is varied and
attractive, and to the principal handicaps there is ap-
pended a long list of nominations from which large fields
are likely to be selected. The Shrewsbury Handicap
numbers 62 nominations. Speculation on it has, how-
ever, been limited in its range, but somewhat significant
in its tendency. Little Harry is the only animal that
has been spirited supported, and the short price to which
he has been advanced in the betting, seemingly indicates
that he is intended. The investments on the other horses
have been unimportant and, indeed, " bar three or four,'
almost any odds are obtainable. This circumstance is
scarcely calculated to excite expectations of a large number
of starters. I shall not attempt to select the winner, but,
"following the money," I shall place some confidence in
Little Harry, and merely express an opinion that the
Undermentioned horses are " well in ": Goldfinder,
Black Doctor, The Hatchet, and Angelo."

For the Column Handicap the favourably weighted
division comprises lanthe, Master Slender, Little Fawn,
Alonzo, Candlewick, Calot, Kiteflyer, Le Juif, May
Day, Catherine Parr, Corybantes, and Nerva. lam
now puzzled to select a winner, but of the above men-
tioned "lot" I shall give the preference to Alonzo,
siteflyer, Le Juif, and Corybantes.

Should The Jealous One, Vestige, and Lady Pon-
sonby go to the post for the Copeland Handicap, they
Will, perhaps, be the foremost competitors in the race.
Entertaining a well-founded suspicion of the " squaring
system" on which steeplechases are now invariably con-
ducted, I shall not express an opinion on the " cross
country contests."

Subjoined is a copy of Admiral Rous's letter in reply
to Mr. Dorling's statement respecting the " Screw
Roping Case" at the recent meeting at Epsom :

" Sir,—ln reply to your letter of the sth I beg to
inform you that the committee are of opinion that the
Steward of Epsom has no power to declare bets void on
any race. The Hurdle Stakes must be paid to the
Winner. The committee further beg to express their
opinion that it would be much better to prohibit steeple
and hurdle races at Epsom for the future, inasmuch as
they have been in general heretofore made instrumental
to proceedings of the most dishonest and disreputable
Character, and the committee recommend that Green,
Who rode the Screw, should be warned off Epsom Race
Course.—Yours, &c., " H. I. Rous.
" To Mr. Dorhng, Epsom."

That the opinion contained in the above letter is in
strict accordance with the laws and practices of horse-
racing is indisputable. Indeed, had the power of the
stewards been confined to declare bets void, a precedent
Would have been afforded that would be inevitably
attended with great abuses. The recommendation to
discontinue steeplechases at Epsom will, I trust, be
acted upon, for ever since their establishment in that
locality they have been connected with the most per-
nicious practices that ever brought discredit on the Turf
and its patrons.
Nov. 14. A FRESH MAN.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

A. special meeting of this company is to be held to-
morrow, to consider and deciee upon the proceedings to
be adopted by the company with reference ty the pro-
posed extension of the railway from Dorchester to
Exeter, and for raising the necessary capital.

The directors, in accorlance with resolutions passed
at a meeting of the company in May last, gave a
pledge to the committee of the House of Commons
that if they rejected the Devon and Dorset Railway
Bill for a broad guage line from Exeter to Maiden
Newton, promoted by the Great Western and
Bristol and Exeter Compahies in the last session, they
would undertake to apply for a bill in the ensuing
session to make a double line of narrow gunge
railway from Dorchester to Exeter. Mr. Snell, at the
head of the committee of shareholders, contended that
the directors had obtained authority to make the pledge
under false representations, and that so far from the
Southampton and Dorchester line yielding a profit of 31
per cent. on the outlay, excluding working stock, but
includtng the interest on the cost of it, it does not ex-
ceed 34 per cent. per annum. In this view Mr. Snell
is supported by Mr. Mortimer, a director, who esti-
mated that the working expenses of the Dorchester line
amount to 40,0001. a-year, and that the company lose
about 16,0001. a year by the line on the assumption
that the company borrowed the money at 4 per cent.
to make the line and. provide the working stock.
Captain Moorsom, after an investigation of Mr. Mor-
timer's figures and items in the accounts, stated that
the latter gentleman's estimate of expenditure had
been greatly exaggerated, and the result of Captain
Moorsom's inquiries confirmed the statement of the di-
rectors made to the meeting in May last, as to the profit
yielded on the working of the Dorchester line. It ap-
peared also that two other shareholders—Mr. Herapath
and Mr. A. Beattie—had examined the accounts with
respect to the receipts and expenditure on working the
traffic of the Dorchester line, and they found that it
yielded a profit in 1852 of 28,5601. on a capital of
752,0001., or at the rate of 3 8 per cent. It was as-
Burned by the directors that, the proposed extension from
Dorchester to Exeter would pass through a better dis-
trict than the Dorchester line, that it would yield 31 per
cent. on the estimated outlay of 700,000/. per 52 miles.
They propose to construct it as a single line from Dor-
chester to Axminster, and as a double line from Axmin-
ster to Exeter. It was urged by Mr. Chaplin, the former
chairman of the company, that if the coast line be made,
they must also make the " central line" from Salisbury to
Axminster, the double line from the latter place to
Exeter being common to both extensions. Considering
the enormous sums that have been charged to the com-
pany for making the existing branch line, it is not sur-
prising that some of the shareholders should feel anxious
as to the expenditure of further capital ; the reduced
estimates of the coast line being 700,000/., and of the
Central line 1,100,0001., together 1,800,0001., or at
least 2,000,0001. with working stock. It was shown by
a calculation that appeared in The Sun some months
Past that the South-Western Company had expended on
their main line from Nine-elms, Vauxhall, to Gosport
and Southampton, up to June 1846, about 28,0001.
per mile on ninety-three miles of railway, the
traffic on which yielded a dividend at the rate of
94 per cent. ; and that, in July, 1852, when 151
Miles of additional lines were in operation at a cost
to the company of 39,0001. per mile, the gene-
ral dividend on the whole of the capital then expended
Was reduced 'to 3i per cent. It has never been ex-
plained how it was that the branch lines had cost on
the average 11,0001. per mile more than the main line.
Rad the branch lines been constructed at 13,000/. per
mile which would be nearer their value exclusive of the
extension to Waterloo-road, which cost about 1,000,000/.
sterling for two and a quarter miles, the shareholders
would have been in the receipt of respectable dividends.
A rigid inquiry into the cause of the extravagant outlay
On the branch lines of this company, being above the
average cost of railways in England, would lead, pro-
bably, to a means of constructing any future extensions
On a scale in accordance with the traffic of the district,
and of course at a very moderate cost. It might be
Mentioned that the same persons under whose guidance
a great portion of the outlay had been incurred on
the branch lines, had offered to construct the
central line (90 miles in length) (from Salisbury
to Exeter, for 1,000,0001., or at the rate of 12,0001. per
mile, a sum, no doubt, quite sufficient for the purpose,
particularly as the landowners were favourable to the
scheme and had promised to give the land required for
the railway at agricultural prices ; but, considering the
smallness of the local traffic, and that its constructions
would cause competition with the Great Western Com-
pany for the Exeter traffic, the South-Western share-
holders had twice rejected the offer to construct the
line which offer was strenuously and ably supported
by Mr. Locke, M.P. But unfortunately this for-
bearance on the part of the South Western shareholders
had the effect of encouraging the Great Western
Company to project and promote the Devon and Dorset
Railway scheme, which has led to the revival by the
directors of the South-Western of the Coast and Cen-
tral schemes. The expenditure of about 6,000,0001. of
the company's money on 151 miles of branch railway
already completed should make the South-Western
shareholders very careful how they sanctioned the ex-
penditure of money on further extensions, and they are
not to run away with the notion that because it is now
proposed to construct the Coast and Central lines toge-
ther, about 120 miles in length, for the sum of 1,800,000/.
that they will be constructed for that sum, or that good
lines sufficient to accommodate the traffic of the dis-
trict cannot be constructed for less, if proper means be
adopted in the selection of the lines, and in letting the
contracts in convenient portions by public competition.
The central line 1846, under the title of the Salisbury
and Exeter Railway, was estimated to cost 2,225,000/. ;
and Parliament sanctioned the bill for its construction,
'plde powers for which, fortunately for the shareholders,
bbeen allowed to expire. Had the Salisbury and
Exeter line been constructed at the time authorised
1„t
_votilcl in all probability have cost the full sum of
z,2250001 and probably a great deal more, as it would
haveve under the
unprofessional to have constructed the
.„I.llv. _ the engineer's estimate. The reduction of
iiiineisd,enpdasrtdin noti so much arise from making branch
long ones, as from expending unwar-
rantable sunumaOfYmoney upon them. A district with
Ilseraeai lltraffic can be well accommodated with a cheap
railwaybankt so planned as to require very little ern-
inen or cuttings, avoiding expensive bridges and
of 'lnon
ut_ e
which look very beautiful but cost a great deal
y, Very fine works and gradients being of
much less importance than a small outlay of money, it is
e:icieonstethat such branch lines would not answer the
tor, of engineers, lawyers, contractors, or specula-
, althou h judiciously carried out, they would
alaswer the
I:l3reukteseoPfintt et cll?
Would
tbheus
purposesgil of the shareholders and the public.
c?st of construction within the require-
secureditr
on
nt toth be e
outlay,aecom maonddatetdh
the
pfaarirenreturn
would
the new
derive all the advantages of the traffic from
4w:lLO:strict without injury to the dividend on the

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