The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-09 00:00:00

S N, DECEMBER 9, 1848.

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Parliament in the ensuing Session, for: leave to bring in a Bill to
reign of her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to authorise the
South-Eastern Railway Company to make a Railway from Tunbridge
Wells, to join the Rye and Ashford Extension of the Brighton, Lewes,
and Hastings Railway near Hastings." as enacts that It shall not be
lawful for the said Company to open for public purposes the Railway
by that Act authorised to be made until the Railway from Hastings
to Ashford shall have been completed. And it is also intended by
the said Bill to authorise the said South-Eastern Railway Company
to alter the levels of the last-mentioned Railway from, at, or near a
point on such Railway, marked twenty-three miles and four furlongs
on the plans referred to in the last-mentioned Act, to two of the junc-
tions of the said Railway with the line of the Hastings, Rye, and
Ashford Extension of the Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway,
one ofsuch junctions being near Leltham Farm, in the parish'eGuest-
ling, in the county of Sussex, and the other of such junctions being at
Lidham Hill Farm, in the same parish and county, which alterations
will be wholly situate in the several parishes of Westfield and Guest-
ing, in the same county.
And it is also intended by the said Bill to repeal or alter so ranch
of an Act passed in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of ber
present Majesty, intituled " An Act to enable the Brighton, Lewes,
and Hastings Railway Company to make a Railway from Bulver-
hithe, in the county of Sussex, to Ashford, in the county of Kent," as
enacts that no part of the railway thereby authorised to be trans-
ferred to, or authorised to be made by, the South-Eastern Railway
Company, shall be opened to the public, nor any toll taken in respect
thereof, by the South-Eastern Railway Company, until the comple-
tion and opening of the portion of the same railway and works which
lies between a point in the parish of St. Leonard and the station
intended to be made in the parish of the Holy Trinity, Hastings, and
to revive, in respect of that portion of the line from Buiverhithe
aforesaid to Ashford aforesaid, which Is situate between the point at
Hastings marked one mile and five furlongs upon the plans referred
to in such Aet, and the point near the River 'tether, at Rye, marked
twelve miles seven furlongs upon the same plans, the expired powers
of such Act for the compulsory purchases of lands and houses.
And it is also intended by the said Bill to enable the Company to
alter and alter the levels of the turnpike road leading from Playden
to Rye, for the distance of 250 yards or thereabouts, in or near the
town of Rye, in the parish of Rye, in the county of Sussex, for more
conveniently and commodiously carrying such turnpike road over the
Railway authorised by the last-mentioned Act, and to purchase lands
and houses for the purpose by compulsion or agreement, which said ,
alterations, and the lands and houses so to be purchased as aforesaid,
will be wholly situate in the said
,parish of Rye.
And it is also intended in the said Bill to authorise the said South-
Eastern Railway Company to alter the levels of the last-mentioned
Railway from, at, or near a point on such Railway marked five
miles and seven furlongs on the plans referred to in the last-men-
tioned Act, to a point on such Railway marked seven miles on the
said plans, which alteration will be wholly situate in the parish of
Guestling, in the county of Sussex.
And it is also intended by the said Bill to authorise the South-
Eastern Railway Company to purchase, by compulsion or agree-
ment, certain lands and houses in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen,
Bermondsey, in the county of Surrey, for the purpose of conveying
the same to the Corporation of the Warden and Governors of the
Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth of the parishioners of the
parish of St. Olave, Southwark, pursuant to the provisions of an
Act passed in the tenth and eleventh years of the reign of her pre-
sent Majesty, intituled " An Act to enable the South-Eastern Rail-
way Company further to widen the London and, Greenwich Railway
and to enlarge their London-bridge Station."
And it is also intended in the said Bill to authorise the South-
Eastern Railway Company to cross, divert, alter, or stop up tempo-
rarily or permanently all such turnpike roads, parish roads, foot-
ways, streets, and other highways, rivers, streams, sewers, pipes,
canals, navigations, bridges, railways, or tramways, within the
parishes aforesaid, or some of them, as it may be necessary so to
cross, divert, alter, or stop up for any of the purposes aforesaid.
And it is also intended by the said Bill to vary or extinguish all
existing rights and privileges connected with the lands proposed to
be purchased or taken for the several purposes aforesaid, or which
would in any manner impede er interfere with the several objects
aforesaid, or any of them, and to confer other rights and privileges.
And notice Is hereby further given, that plans and sections of the
said intended alteration of the turnpike road from Playden to Rye,
and of the lands and houses to be taken for the purposes thereof, to-
gether with a book of reference to such plans, containing the names
of the actual or reputed owners or lessees, and of the occupiers of
such lands and houses ; also, amended sections of so much of the
said railway from Bulverhithe to Ashford as lies in the said parish
of Guestling between the points aforesaid, showing the levels thereof
as proposed to be altered ; and also amended sections of so mach of
the said Railway from Tunbridge Wells to join the Rye and Ashford
Extension of the Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway, as lies in
the said parishes of Westfield and Guestling, between the points
aforesaid, showing the levels thereof as proposed to be altered ; and
also a copy of the notice for the Bill as published in the "London
Gazette," will be deposited for public inspection, on or before the
30th day of November instant, with the Clerk of the Peace for the
county of Sussex, at his office at Lewes ; and a copy of so much of
such plans and sections as relates to the several parishes in which
:he said alterations are proposed to be made, together with a copy of
sach " Gazette " notice as aforesaid, will be deposited on or before
the said 30thday of November instant with the parish clerks of such
sarishos respectively, at their respective residences,

And notice is hereby further given, that it is also intended In the
said Bill to take powers to enable the said South-Eastern Railway
Company to contribute and subscribe, eith- r out of their corporate
funds or out of any capital to be raised for such purposes, a sum or
sums of money towards the maintenance or establishment of steam
communication between the several ports of the counties of Kent and
Sussex approached or to be approached by the South-Eastern Rail-
.

way, or any pregent or fhturiliranches thereof, and the various' ports
on the Continent of Europe : and also to charter or hire, purchase
or construct, an I to use, maintain, and work steam-boats, or other
vessels, and to enter into any contracts or agreements with any
steam-packet company, or any other persons having, or making, and
navigating steam-boats and other vessels with reference to the es-
tablishment of steam-boats and packet communication with the Con-
tinent, and to take tolls and fares in respect of such steam• boats or
other vessels.

And it is also proposed in the said Bill, and so Tar as may be
deemed requisite for the purposes thereof, to alter, amend, repeal,
enlarge, or extend the powers and previsions of the hereinbefore
mentioned Acts, and also of the several ACMt raitt.iu.nt ham.._.

atter ineiiti......i toa...EL.A.:, a;;),..1;;;;;;;aricts following, directly
or indirectly relating to or affecting the Seuth-Eastern Railway Com-
pany, which Acts (local and personal) are distinguished in the
Queen's printer's copies thereof as the 6th Win. IV., cap. 75; Ist
Vict.. cap. 93; 2d Viet., cap. 42 ; 2 and 3d Vict., cap. 79 ; 3d V ict.,
cap. 46 ; sth Vict., seas. 2, cap. 3 ; 6td h and 7th Via., cap. Si ; eth and
7th Vict., caps. 52 and 62; 7th Viet., cap.7th and Bth Viet.,
caps. 69 and 91 • Bth and 9th Viet., caps. 167, 186, 197, and 200 ;;9th
Viet., caps. 55, 56,' and 64 ; 9th and 10th Vict., caps. 305 and 339 ;
10th and Ilth Viet., caps. 104 and 230.
Dated this 10th day of November, 1848.
TILLEARD, SONS, and FREEMAN, Old Jewry.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

DERBYSHIRE, STAFFORDSHIRE, AND IVOR
CESTERSHIRE; •

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on Thursday, at the office, Cornbill; Mr. J. Mee Mathew
in •the chair.
On the motion for affixing the seal of the company to
the register of proprietors, a long discussion ensued.
Mr. WESTON contended that two of the former direc-
tors, who had signed the deed for a large' number of
shares, should not have been let off without paying the
calls upon those shares for which they had signed. He
wished now to have. the resolution rescinded which was
passed at their last meeting in June, authorising their
names, with others, to be expunged from the list of re-
gistered proprietors
Dr. MACKENZIE, the secretary, explained that al-
though those gentlemen subscribed their names to the
deeds they never paid the deposit, neither did they re-
ceive any scrip or shares, therefore they could not pro-
perly_ be placed on the register.
After some severe remarks on the 'manner in which
the affairs of the company had been` conducted by the
former board, a sum of. 9,0.004 of the company's funds
having been spent in buying shares and " rigging " the
market, it ,was stated that the former board passed a re-
solution exonerating the two directors who had signed
the deed from, all responsibility, they having done So
with the view of completing the subscription contract to
go to-Parliament.
The Simla .the company was then affixed to the re-
gister, and a resolution was agreed to.,- rescinding that
passed at the-last meeting with reference to the omission
of Certain names from the register. This resolution was
carried by the casting vote of the chairman.
The. SEcRETARY stated that the number of share: men-
tioned in the prospectus was 20,000, the number signed
for in the deed above 14,000, and the number registered,
for which sealed certificates had been issued, 11,500. He
then read the report, which stated that, since 'the meet-
ing in June last, the directors have been endeavouring
to obtain payment of the call of 11. per share, to enable
them to discharge the debts owing to the engineer and
others, for services incurred in obtaining the Act.
The board first caused a letter to be written to every
defaulter by the chairman, afterwards another let-
ter was addressed to them by the secretary, and subse-
quently. a third by the solicitor, but very few sharehold-
ers responded, and the board were consequently driven
to law proceedings against a considerable number of
shareholders, two of whom defended the actions and
went to trial; the company obtained verdicts in both
cases. The directors regret to add, that after incurring
the expenses incident to these two trials, they have not
succeeded in obtaining from the defendants payment of
the debts and costs, one having become a bankrupt and
the other an insolvent. The directors, in consequence of
the delay in getting in calls, have not been enabled to
collect a sufficient sum to discharge the heavy debts in-
curred by their predecessors. Those debts have been
very considerably reduced, and with the monies still re-
maining to be received from shareholders in Scotland and
others whom it is believed are solvent, it is the intention
of the board as fast as assets shall come in, to use the
same in still further reducing such debts. Claims have
been made by solicitors against the company which the
board, after taking legal advice, felt themselves justified
in resisting. The action brought by Mr. Serrell for the
cheque of 4201., taken by one of the late directors for his
services is still pending, and may be brought to trial
speedily. The directors have used their utmost endea-
vours to arrange the various complicated questions con-
nected with the company which were left unsettled by
the late board. They have taken measures to reduce
the expenses to the lowest possible scale, they
have not incurred any new debt or engagement, and
nothing had been expended that could possibly be
avoided.

The accounts from the 15th of May to the 22d of No-
vember showed that 2,5931. had been received, including
781. from the last account, and that 2,149/. had been ex-
pended in payment of accounts and office expenses,
leaving a balance of 444/. at the bankers'.
The CHAIRMAN, on moving the adoption of the report,
adverted to the disagreeable position in which the di-
rectors were placed in taking legal proceedings against
the shareholders, many of whom were their personal
friends. He said they were all particularly indebted to
their colleague, Mr. Wintour Harris, for his unwearied
exertions in reducing the amount of the law bills.
Mr. HARRIS, in reply to questions from Mr. Weston,
stated that the gross amount of the late solicitor's
bill of costs was 23,400/.; he had been paid 10,6401.;
and the gross disputed balance was 12,0001. Mr.
M`Gregor claimed 1,7161.; Mr. Smith, 2,8401.; and Sir
J. Rennie, 2,0001., which were all disputed.
The SECRETARY said he believed the whole of these
claims would be disposed of for 2.5AR1
Mr. WINTOUR HARRIS, at some length, explained the
unsatisfactory nature of the solicitor's charges, which
had been for some time under taxation. The local
agents had sent in claims to the company for sums which
were included in the solicitor's bill. It had taken him a
fortnight to go through all the items contained in the
bills of costs.
Mr. DUNNETT remarked that many of the items ob-
jected to could be easily explained.
Resolutions were passed adopting the report, re-
electing Mr. Mathew, and electing Mr. Weston a director
in consequence of his local knowledge and representing a
considerable number of shareholders.
It was stated that they had made arrangements to re-
duce the rent of the office from 1001. to 40/. per annum;
and as the secretary was going to an appointment in the
north, they would be' enabled still further to reduce their
office expanses.

After a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors,
he meeting separated.

IMPORTANT TO RAILWAY COMPANIES AND THE PUB-
LIC.—A very important discovery has just been made
by Messrs. W. D. Wells and J. Broadfield, surveyors of
Kidderminster. It consists of a new and successful mode
of communication, to be attached to every description of
railway carriage, so that in case any one of them should
break away from the rest on the line, it would imme-
diately communicate the fact .to the engine-driver, by
blowing the steam-whistle on the engine. This can also
be done by the guard at any moment. In principle it is
self-acting, and is entirely removed from the control of
the passengers: simple, efficacious, and cheap in its ap-
plication and construction, it can be attached with great
facility and saving of time, and in case of breakage can
be restored to its proper action again by the guard in one
moment and the simple cost of a few pence. The above-
named parties are in possession of a number of model
carriages, showing the principle of action throughout.—
Worcester Chronicle.
NOVEL MODE OF PROPULSION ON RAILWAYS.---A
correspondent informs us:—" On Monday last, a meet-
ing of gentlemen interested in railway engineering took
place at the residence of Mr. Bartlett, in Maidstone,
Kent, when Mr. John Weston, of London, explained the
principles of his patented mode of propulsion. These
may be very briefly summarised. Mr. Weston, by his
system, combines the atmospheric with the locomotive
principle of traction, and, in so far, differs from previous
inventors, that be uses " the waste steam," instead of
air, for his propelling power. His tube, instead of being
placed on the ground between the rails, is affixed to the
axles of the carriages, and the impetus is communicated
by a series of stationary pistons, placed along the road at
distances equal to the minimum length of trains. This, in
the first instance, it is said, will effect a saving of at least
99 per cent. in the cost of the working tube, a matter of
no small moment, when the experience of the Croydon
and Portsmouth lines are referred to. The pistons with
the tubes will be provided with self-acting valves, and
stationary engines will be placed along the
_line. Mr.
Weston having fully explained the modus operandi, a
series of resolutions were passed, approving of the inven-
tion, and pledging the gentlemen to extend, as far as in
their power, all information upon the subject,
WATERFORD AND LIMERICK RAILWAY.—The direc-
tors have resolved not to supply by any fresh appoint-
ment the vacancy in the secretaryship which will be
caused by Mr. Saunders's retirement next March. By
continuing with the present staff only, a saving of some
hundreds will be effected. The line is worked by the
Great Southern and Western, only twenty-five miles (or
one-fourth) being opened, though three-fourths of the
capital has been expended. The weekly receipts average
about 3501.—Saunders's News Letter.

The opening of the Sambre and Meuse from Mel-
chienne to Walcourt, the chief trunk communication
from Belgium and Germany to the north-eastern pro-
vinces of France, took place ou Thursday last. The
total extent of railway thus opened up from the Go-
vernment line at Marchienue to Walcourt, with branches
to Monaline and Laneffe, is 25 miles, through the
richest mineral districts of Belgium. The Belgian Go-
vernment have certified its fitness for opening, after in-
spection by the Minister of Public Works, the traffic in
passengers and the staple products of the districts,
such as coal, coke, and iron, which is very considerable;
commenced on Saturday. Upwards of 3,000 tons of
zinc ore, a mineral extensively worked at Samar' and
Santour, near Philipville, were ready for conveyance to
the banks of the Sambre, for smelting. The chief en-
gineering works are the Laury and Ham-our-Heure
tunnels. The Sambre and Meuse is the first railway in
Belgium of any extent conceded, constructed, and worked
by British capitalists, all the other lines being the pro
perty of the State.
TORQUAY RAILWAY.--PLYMOUTH, DEC. 7.—The
Government inspector of railways will, it is anticipated,
inspect this railway on Saturday next, and it will most
probably be opened on Monday. On 'Tuesday morning
last a public meeting was held
at the Union ball, for the
purpose of taking into consideration the best means of
celebrating the opening of the railway to Torquay. Col.
Meyrick was called to the chair, the meeting was ad-
dressed by several gentlemen, and it was resolved that
the town should be canvassed for subscriptions, to pro-
vide poor families with a few pounds of beef and bread
on the day of opening. The directors and engineer are
to be invited by a committee appointed to meet the iu•
habitants to dine at the Royal Hotel. Although the
meeting was small, upwards of 501. was collected for the
bread and beef fund before the meeting broke up.
The Great Northern Company, after a delay of some
weeks, have recommenced the works at the curve which
is to join their line with the Sheffield and Grimsby, in
Humble Carr, and they have nearly effected a junction.
—Lincoln Mercury.

The Great Northern Railway is making rapid pro-
gress in the works on the line between Grantham and
the junction with the Ea*tern Counties at Walton, near