The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-03 00:00:00

There was but a thin attendance of shareholders.

4,415

7,114

9,178

4,986

7,293
13,120
14,283
11,660

9,508

3,987

6,484

7,32

6,381

4,289

9,538

At the request of the Chairman, Mr. BAILEY, the
secretary, read the following report :
" The directors of this company are happy to announce
to the shareholders at the present meeting that the werks
along the entire line of railway which this company is
empowered to construct—viz., from Reading to Ash,
being 20 miles, and from Shalford to Red Hill Station,
being 19f miles, are completed, and ready for opening ;
a certain portion, forming part of the main line, viz.,
from Shalford to Ash, being 6i miles, is under construc-
tion by the South• Western Company; but the directors
have every assurance that such portion will be ready for
opening within the present month, thereby comple►ing
the whole of the line. _ _ _

" The two extreme parts of the line, viz., from Read
ing fo Farnborough, and from Dorking to the Red Hill
Station, were opened for traffic by the South-Eastern
Company on the 4th day of July last.
" The directors observe with regret that the Brighton
Company intend to assist the Direct Portsmouth Com-
pany in their attempt to make a line from Epsom to
Leatherhead. Situated as that place is, midway between
Epsom and Dorking, such a line would necessarily
have an injurious effect on the interests of this
company aud its lessees. The Brighton Company do
not hesitate to avow in their report that their assistance
to such a scheme is for the purpose of diverting the
traffic from the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate line.
The directors feel assured that this project will fail;
that neither Parliament nor the Courts of Law will
sanction such an unwarrantable proceeding, and it is
the duty of this company to protect their own property
skid that of their lessees by every means in their power.
" The half-year:y accounts, which have been duly au-
&led, are annexed.
" The directors have to ask of the proprietors their
sanction to the issue ot such an amount of debentures as
may be required to fulfil the engagements of the com-
pany beyond the capital of 600,0001.; for this purpose
the directors propose that such sanction be given for a
sum not exceeding 60,0001.
" The directors have pleasure in testifying to the great
skill displayed
outdiisplay thedbe worksy elr o
.Bsfrtlhowe
lainse.a practical engineer in
th" The
linee
is
alcettoprls hetere every r i
and
do opened
rto hope
traffic
it tat
whill wh'proven
remunerative to the South-Eastern Company.
(Signed) "DA-V.ID SALOMONS, Chairman."
The accounts annexed to the above report, and
made up to the 13th of July, showed the aggregate
amount of receips to be 154,5241. 16s. 5d., including
a sum of 48,3211. 12i. 10d , the balance in hand at
the time of the last report. The expenditure amounted
to 137,8191. ss. 11d., leaving a balance in hand of
16,7051. 10s. 63.
The CHAIRMAN said, in asking the meeting to
adopt the report, he had but a few observations to
make beyond those contained in the report itself.
The small attendance there to-day was an evidence,
he presumed he might say, of the confidence of the
shareholders in the direction. At the same time it
showed that there was no difference of
opinion or feeling among the proprietary,
where the interests of all were guaranteed, and
therefore though the proprietary itself was relieved
from the superintendence and responsibility which
_ _

necessarily attached to all the shareholders em-barking
in a railroad undertaking; yet the report this day
presented some subjects of interest. In the first place,
they were arriving at a termination of their labours.
It was three years since they got their Act of
Parliament, and in the midst of_ difficulties and

trying times they had expended their capital
advantageously and economically ; they had com-
pleted their line up to the South-Eastern Company,
who would hereafter be responsible for the guaranteed
expenditure on the line. There was a committee
of the South-Eastern Company who superintended
all the outlay, providing therefore for the best audit that
could be introduced. They had approved of the expendi-
ture on the line, and therefore, he thought, no difficulty
whatever could arise as to the amount of expenditure
which had been incurred ; and the shareholders

would henceforward be relieved from all responsibi-
lity as regarded the outlay on the line. The meeting
would observe in the report that the directors had
thought it fit to notice in strong terms an attack
which was about to be made on the company by the
Direct Portsmouth Company, in league with the
Brighton Company, for the purpose of making
a line of four miles from Epsom to Lea-
therhead, by which the traffic on the Reading,
Guildford, and Reigate line would be greatly injured.
The Direct Portsmouth Company had had a Bill for
three years for...making a direct line of railway from
Ep.lom to Portsmouth ; yet they had not even put a
spade into the ground with a view to carry out their
undertaking ; but on the eve of the Reading, Guild-
ford, and Reigate line being opened they had connected
themselves with the Brighton Company in an
unhandsome rivalry to deprive this line of the
traffic from Dorking to Reigate. lle was in a pecu-
liar position ; he bad the honour to be the chairman
of this company, and it was his duty to watch over
its interests ; and although the shareholders were
guaranteed from loss by the Sou►h-Eastern Com-
pany, yet a moral duty was imposed upon them to
protect, as far as in them lly, the interests of
their lessees.—(Hear, hear.) He had an interest in
the Brighton Company to the extent of 9,0002. ;

therefore in the observations he had made he could
not be suppOsed to be animated by any enmity
towards that company. It became, he thought, a
great public question, whether those contentions
among railway companies ought not to cease, and
whether railroads, like other property, ought
to be based upon the principle of public con-
venience, and whether, affording as they
did to the public great accommodation,
they should not be entitled, under the sanction of
Parliament, to a fair remuneration for the capital
which they had laid out. —(Hear, hear.) With those
observations he begged to move that the report
which had been read be adopted and printed for cir-
culation among the shareholders.
Mr. MOCATTA seconded the resolution.
Mr. CRADDOCK, a shareholder of the South Eastern
Company, could not help thinking that this line would
be a loss to the South Eastern Company. He consi-
dered it right to ask what steps were to be taken for
the purpose of reducing the expenses of management ?
The-CusaamAri said that was rather a matter for
the South-Eastern Company themselves to answer
than for him. All that the directors of this line
wished to do was to wind up their affairs as soon
as possible, and to leave the matter in the hands of the
South- Eastern Cum pany.
The resolution was then put and carried unani-
mously.
A vote of thanks to the Chairman having been
moved, seconded, and carried unanimously, the meet.
ing separated.

RAIL WAY INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD, • WORCESTER, AND WOLVER-
. HAMPTON.
The adjourned meeting of this company was held, pia
forma, yest( rday, at. the London Tavern, to receive the
report of the committee of investigation, Mr. Rufford,
M.P., in•the chair. The advertisement cmvening the
meeting. having .been read, •
The CHAIRMAN stated that, in consequence of the corn-
mitt, e of. inquiry not being prepared with their repot',
and certain negotiations at present going on, the meeting
would be adjourned to the 31st of August, at which
time the half-yearly meeting of the company would also
be held, for the convenience of the shareholders, on the
semi day.
A resolution to that effect was then passed, and the
meeting separated.