The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
The general half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on Friday, at the Terminus at Nine Elms; W. Chaplin, -0-miq
the chairman of the company, in the chair.
The advertisement convening the meeting having bee*
read,
Mr. Caati.nxer., the secretary, read the report, end tha
minutes of the last special meeting on the 17th November,
which were confirmed by the meeting.
Mr. CAMPBELL then read the general report, the substance
of which was as follows:
" The directors have much satisfaction in being able to • to
state that notwithstanding the somewhat diminished receip
l
in consequence of the great reduction of passenger rates, they
did nos contemplate any diminution in the dividend.
"The gross income in the past six months ailments
to
196,323/. ss. 2d.; the gross expenses, including interest
ofl
borrowed capital, amount to 98,568/. 10s. 5d.; showing
balance of 97,754/.145. 9d., out of which the directors te.
commended a dividend of 2/. 2s. 6d. per share,
come-tax ; the warrants to be issued on the Ist March nest.%
" The directors have much pleasure in stating that
the
Bishopstoke and Salisbury Branch has been inspected a
the Government, and will be opened to the public on the l"
raised for
of March. In order that the holders of the stock
subject to ltl
the construction of this line may be in some degree compel!.
sated for the delay which has taken place in the compliers
of the work, the directors thought it right to suggest
vote should be submitted to the roprietors, at the nexr
lf
yearly meeting, tor payment of 6,0001. to these shareholder,
by way of interest, at 5 per cent., from the Ist January.to
30th June next, from which latter day they will
in dividend with the holders of the parent stock. ke
" The directors had received a report from Mr. I,oc, the
the subject of the Bishopstoke and Salisbury.
.linet and t
other works now in course of execution, showing the ge!.
difficulty of proceeding with them, owing to the late ov_r*::
and uncertain weather. lie said further, that in referene"2"
the lines sanctioned by Parliament last session, I have to 7.
participm.
port that the following have been all marked out, the ns2.
tracts let, and the purchases of land are under negotiethr
Fareham and Portsmouth •, Guildford and God
ehant;
Guildford, Farnham And Alton; Weybridge and Cheese,
Basingstoke and Salisbury. On all these lines the works are
commenced at various points. The extension line. to Yolk .
road and Waterloo-bridge is progressing satisfactorilli
though the frost has to some extent retarded the brickvtli•
It advances, however, sufficiently rapidly to keeP.pece
the purehase,of property along the line. _see,
As regards the important Bills now before Perne,'",4o,
promoted by this company, or parties in alliance with them,
the directors reported, that all but the Cornwall aid Devonlit,if
Central and Plymouth Railway Bill had passed tileistnnu:;.„
orders. After a technical scrutiny of the severest kind, nlied
ducted before the Examiner of petitions in London. 111PIr •
by the joint efforts of four great companies, the mellorleLiti.....
against this Bill have been referred by mutual corifitnetea.r.
examination of independent engineers, who are noir.,:eoedfi
ing the inquiry on the ground. The directors Me lieowa
that, whatever the result may formally be, no ertor 00_2
established of a substantially objectionable character, or
as ought toovithdraw an undertaking of such' eoleprehet
sive usefulness, from the consideration of Parliament on is
merits.
" The directors feel that they have cause to continue most.
confident of a successful issue in their several- pendiog eP:a
plications to Parliament. Every succeeding investigation"'
the great system of uniform communication which- the r:
prietora by their enterprise and confidence have enabled t
directors to propose to. Parliament, cannot fail to result ltZ
increased development and appreciation of their merit&
directors might instance, although this has DeVetlieell PLa
ininently stated, the high probability that on the misty:WM
of these railways, a new and most convenient line of CO
munication will be established between the North of • De!‘"i
and Cornwall and the South of Ireland, and such's, wok
',,
attract a large proportion of the traffic passing beesreen ",s
h ,
land and the southern parts of England. On the,Wlmle t• a
directors are confident that public works more compreb.
....
j
or more likely to be of national service, were never
to the consideration of the Legislature.
" The directors confidently anticipated obtaining-ilia-0
er
Devon and Cornwall lines, and believed that therwoue-,
tain increased traffic with the south of Ireland, and, wt.
view to render this great system yet. more'cotniilete"
board have entered into a conditional agreement-with
Taw Vale Railway and Dock Company, to take one-fonrn
of' their capital, and for a perpetual lease of their railway
works, by means of which, and a short branch fronl',
Cornwall and Devon Central line, both Plymouth moan
mouth will be brought into connexion with the north
of Devon by railways of a uniform gauge and managent7,,d
The rent to be paid by this corapany is 5 per cent. per as
on on the cost of the Taw Vale Railway and Works absoletfo°
with 105. per cent. additional should the line actually P..—
5i per cent. The lessors are also to have half the
atio
profits. Three of the directors of this company have hais
elected members of the Taw Vale board, and by the no
nation of Mr. Locke as engineer of that company, end"t...
guarantees, the board trust that they have secured theso,4
and economical execution of the works, the lease of Tao.
they now recommend the proprietors to confirm. Tht.,-1
rangement will include the Grediton and Exeter
should the Taw Vale Railway Company purchase or 10'""
that undertaking.
" The directors deem it important the proprietori s°- .
be informed that the capital recently created in tenthslSli
new shares has been subscribed, and the deposits paid
unprecedented punctuality; and it must be satisfactory, i";e0
to Parliament and to the proprietors, to know that, b°_,...„l"ea,
large the undertakings in which the company are concerned;
ample provision has been thus made for meeting ever,'
gagement.
"The members of the board who retire by rotation or°
Sir John Easthope, Bart., M.P., the Count Eyre, and
Vi:,cent Eyre, whom their colleagues cordiallyirceoaMisr
for re-el, ction."
The report, which was received with much cheering, 101
then put, and
The CHAIRMAN, in moving its adoption, said that was !!!
ri port for the last six months, and he trusted it was 1.1"„ S,
factory. He would not conceal from the meetingthat both ha
colleagues and himself, had felt considerable anxiety resPtei;
ing the measures they had adopted• when they enteredv se
the free reduction of the fares last May. He was aware
the movement was a popular one, and it at any rateiva.l4
liberal one.- __
and that generally was the right one; r
had the effect of ahs(,rbing the usual surplus of 9,00'1"n
10,000/., ch was usually ready to carry to the benefit:d
the spring dividend, and that surplus was now under Notwithstanding this, this, however, the directors had decided
upon giv:ng the usual dividend of 425. 6d., for they. had ibe
addition of the Richmond traffic, as*ell as that for the In'
termediate stations. which they all knew bow'to value. nes_
there w-s the addition to be expected from the Sonthaintitl
and Dorchester line, which was sixty miles in length,e 2;
which, according to the agreement with the great contrac
to
Mr. Peto, was to be opened on the Ist of May. The dim
rectors, therefore, thought that they might with' ..r
assent, as he had sa.d, to the usual diiidend.--(tduv—ile
1
The Parliamentary campaign was about to commence--A.
believed that they were to go into Committee on
4th of March—and on this point he believed there
little apprehension to -be ' entertained. He would abatut.;
front general observation as much as possible, for he lint
from experience how able opposing counsel were to tett
black into white and white into' black ; but he might ;',e
serve, that Mr. Campbell, the secretary, had been in all tie
loealities and he believed their. peace was-made with all,
, great landholders in the district. On public grounds, I'l'.7'
he believed the company was entitled to, and would °ban?+
the sympathy of the public in their endeavour to promote
a great public benefit. They had been actuated by no Mole
or monopolising spirit; but, while they were looking for t
natural reward of private enterprise, they were at the MC,
time aware that it was necessary to meet the claim 1
public convenience, and that they had done so was evid,es.,
in their being among, the first to adopt the system of it
fares, not only for passengeraabut also forgoods, and throlig_ll
out the whole of these proceedings they had, he truer'
been actuated by every principle that was satisfactory to at:
public, as well as to the shareholders. With respect to te...'s
position of the company, he was happy to say, that, as the
report had stated, nothing could be better. The whole of
the capital of the company is 5,238,800/., and on this ill;
were empowered .by law, to borrow 1,569,166/. Neu
the actual amount of the capital paid up
3,841,000/., and the whole of the amount borrowed is onll
780,000/. ; making, as it would appear, that instead of :Or
third, the whole of the sum borrowed did not amount to mare
than one-fifth or one-sixth of the:Parliamentary capital; and
as it might be of interest to know how this nlOOl
stood, he would state that 72,200 was borrowed at
per cent., 500/. at 4% per cent., 435,100/. at 4 per cent-
and 272,2001 at 31,E per cent, and as in the beginnia
of these works money was often borrowed on debso
tures at 7 per cent., he trusted that this would prove satiate!'
tory. He might urther observe, that the present lengtlit:.
working rail is 105 miles, and these, with the Bishopste"_;
and Salisbury branch, which was to be opened on the Istm
March, 22 miles in length,, and the Southampton and Der.
chester branch, which is to be 60 miles in length, with tu:
extension to Hungerford Bridge, would make altogether 25'
miles. The whole of the locality over which the new line:
were to run had been apparently left entirely to them, 50_,th,,,,a-
-little Parliamentary opposition was to be anticipated. w".--.4
these observations he would put the adoption. of the ref!"
to the meeting.
This having been seconded by T. B. SIMPSON, ESCI9
Mr. Sergeant GAZSLZE wished to make his usual protest"
against the proceedings of the directors, and especially again.",
being called upon to give his adhesion to a report which was
only put into their bands as they entered the rooms Be would
like to know what the working expenses of the line were, lem,
what measures had been taken respecting the completion 0'
the Corsham and Portsmouth branch. He could inform the
directors that there was a petition, with upwards of 2,000
signatures, now lying in Portsmouth, the object of which
was t o compel them to take up the direct line into that town/
and he was therefore anxious to ascertain whether there had
been any amalgamation with the Brighton Company.
The CHAIRMAN replied, that the Corsham branch had been,
proceeded with as far as it could, and the completion 12f."
been delayed partly by the alteration of the site for tue
terminus, which was proposed by the 'Learned Sergeant
himself.

To further questions, Mr. Cfrirq.rN replied that the whole
of the capital of the Taw Vale Docks and Railway was only
50,000/. The Richmond Railway might not have paid rei
turns commensurate with the expense of its formation, "
t
it should be recollected that this had been a curious wintsr•
and, notwithstanding the badness of the weather, the COny'
panv had carried upwards of 240,000 passengers.
Mr. CURRIE wished to know why it was that the allort•
ance to the directors had not been increased from 1,000/. to
2,000/. per annum, as voted at the last meeting?
The CHAIRMAN replied, that the directors had felt that tb°
vote was not quite unanimous, and therefore they bad de-
ciined the advance.
The report was adopted nem. con. The next resolution
was for the declaration of a dividend of 21. 2s. 6d. per oblit°o
which was also passed unanimously.
The arrangement with the Taw Vale Railway and pock
Company was then confirmed.
On the proposition of Sir J. Easthope for one of the direc-
tor, Mr. Sergeant GAZELER made some observation' on the
irregularity of the system which had been followed on T°
retirement and election of the directors, and concluded at
asking tier the dates of the resignations of those who retireyg
and the dates of the applications of the candidates for the

direction.
Mr. CHAPLIN, in explanation, replied that the reason whY
one person had 'been preferred to another in the direction,
was simply the loss of thePortsmoutli line and the obtaining
of the Western line.
A long conversation ensued upon the subject, which lila'
mately merged into the question as to whether the proceed-
ings were legal or not. It being determined under the deci.
slots of Mr. Bircham, the solicitor of the company, that thAr
were, Sir John Easthope was ananimously elected 21'.*
several complimentary observations on his character and the
services he had rendered to the company. The Count Eyre!
Vincent Eyre, Esq., and W. Read, Esq., were also elected
directors. The last-named gentleman returned thanks for
the honour.
and as one
Mr. Sergeant GAZELLE then proposed John Hbbert'
Esq., as one whom he had known many yea"'
and ability, was
who, from the possession of time, energy,
well fitted for the duty.
J. B. Stmrsos, Esqseconded nom
the ination, from his
perfect knowledge that the eulogy just proncunced
was only
J
An amendment was then moved. that the vacancy WS.
Lioned by the resignatioh-of Slr. Eibhert, Seal 11191214 Ett