The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-11 00:00:00

--- -
constructing a railway from the Greenwich Railway,
through Woolwich, Gravesend, and Rochester, to
Chilham, which is the South-Eastern North Kent
Railway. This Bill received the royal assent son the
3d August last, but with powers only to construct that
portion of the railway between Greenwich and Gravea-
end, from whence it is continued to Rochester over the
Gravesend and Rochester Railway. On the sainaeday
the Bill authorising the purchase of the Gravesend anck
Rochester line by the South-Eastern Company receive&
the royal assent.
" The South-Eastern North Kent Bill passed the
House of Commons after a very severe contest, and
was before a Committee of the Lords, when arrange-
ments were made with the rival North Kent Company
to withdraw all further opposition to the South-
' Eastern Company ; and the South-Eastern Company
purchased the plans of the North Kent Company, and
part of the estate of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, through
which the South-Eastern North Kent line patens, for
the sons of 30,0001.
" The engineers are now staking out the North
Kent line. The Directors have every reason to believe
that the worth Kent line will be open for traffic from
London to iliochester within twelve mouths from the
present time.
" The Mid gent line, which was a direct line from
London to Tunbridge, and London to Maidstone and
Ashford, shortening the distance to Tunbridge 9 miles,
to Maidstone 21 miles, and to Ashford, Folkestone, and
Dover, 13 miles, received the sanction of the House of
Commons; but the directors regret to say that it was re-
jected by the Committee of the House of Lords. The
importance of cutting off the angle at Reigate, and
giving the most direct communication to London for the
continental traffic, is under the anxious consideration of
the directors.
" The engineers of the Company are engaged in tak-
ing a fresh survey of the country; and circumstances
have occurred which induce the directors to believe: that
they shall be able to submit to the proprietors and _Par-
liament an ineproved line for effecting the important
objects in view.
" The directors feel bound to acknowledge the great
advantage which the South-Eastern Railway has re-
ceived from the punctual s,ervice of the steam-ships of
the South-Eastern and Continental Steam-packet Com-
pany between Folkestone and Boulogne.
" The passage has been nvide each way in two hours
daily, without the slightest intermissi'en; and the har-
bour of Folkestone is so much improved iey the works in
progress there, that the advantage of a double service
each tide between the two ports may be antic: (fated al-
most immediately.
" Since the opening of the branch to Ramseente on
the 13th of April, the service between Ramsgate and
Ostend has been performed daily with equal punctuality.
" The Acts that have been obtained last session, give
r the Company power to raise 2,978,9001. by shares and
loans.
" This power the directors propose that the Company
shall exercise, by declaring that 285,000 of the sl'istres
authorised to Lel issued under the resolutions of the
special general meeting of the 11th of September, 1.45,
and known as the No. 4 shares, shall be third shares,
71. 10s.' remaining to be paid on each ; that the further
instalments to be paid on those shares shall not exceed
1/. ss. each, with an interval of not less than three
months between each instalment ; and that the holders
of the No. 4 shares shall be entitled to The, advantage of
any further issue of shares which may hereafter take
place for the purpose of completing any pole`ion of the
projects fer which the No. 4 capital was intended, up to
the amount which such shares would have represeeited if
they had remained half shares.
"It is necessary to issue bonds to the amount of
279,0001., at five years' date, and bearing interest at tile
rate of 3i per cent. per annum, to complete the settle-
ment for the purchase of the Gravesend and Rochester
Railway, 31,0001. having been already paid in cash.
" The directors also propose to receive authority from
the proprietors to issue bonds for 121,000/., under
powers contained in their Acts.
" The directors beg leave to convey their thanks to
the proprietors for the support received from them
during the Parliamentary contest, and to assure them
that nothing that they can do shall be wanting to pro-
mote efficiency and economy in the working of the rail-
way, and to attain those advantages to gain which so
much labour and capital have been expended."
The Ceternerees then proceeded to say, that the labour
and money the proprietors had expended in construct-
ing these railways would have been spent in
vain, if they had not attained their object—a
profit on their total outlay. It was true that the
account just furnished to the meeting did not
exhibit an amount of money at their disposal which
was commensurate with the capital they hid ombarked,
er the arduous struggle in which they had i'cen en-
gaged.—(Hear.) But he had different expectations
for the coming half-year. In the meantime the dire ;:tors
had recommended the dividend to be declared that day,
chiefly from the consideration that at their next meadng
for the same purpose they would be in a position to de-
clare a greater one. Although, however, he acknow-
ledged that the returns of money were far from satisfac-
tory, yet he was hopeful that their next accounts would
show a great increase on the opening of the conti-
nental railways. During the-past year the average rates
of fares per mile was only 14d.' how then could it be ex-
pected that the railway should pay? They had
made the trial, and it • had failed ; they
were therefore justified in retracing their steps.
He was happy to say that during the last week (al-
though only days were taken), as compared with. the
correspoeding week of last year, that there was an in-
crease in their traffic of not less than 4,0001. He bad
now to request their attention to the proceedings of the
Company during the last session of Parliament. The
Chairman then shortly adverted to the lines which had
been passed, and to those which had been un'uccessful,
and concluded by moving the adoption of the report.
Lord TORRINGTON, in seconding the adoption elf the
report, said that they had no doubt lately read in the
leading journals of the country very stringent
articles on the conduct of the Company in raising
the fares of the line. He (Lord Torring-
ton) respected the press as much as any man,
but he did regret that the writers for these periodicals,
without looking into the facts, and without making in-
quiries into the circumstances, should make such state-
ments. He regretted that hey should have' opened
these attacks without strong and serious grounds on
which to base the assertion that these attacks were just
and right. How stood the case ? Was it not the fact
that the fares of the South-Eastern Company would bear
comparison for cheapness with any other line in Eng-
land ? and when it was considered that the ac-
commodation given by them to the public was greater
than that given by any other company—when it
was considered' that they ran third-class trains
five times a day, while their neighbours limited
that class to one or at most two a day; he thought that
when all these facts were maturely considered, they
would justify the Company in the eyes of the proprietors
and of the public generally. These were the facts, and
any one who took the trouble to inquire would find that.
they were fully borne out.—(Hear, hear.) If these
charges were just, then, indeed, he admitted that the di-
rectors of that Company would be unworthy of the trust
reposed in them; but he could say for himself, as well as •
for his brother directors, that as long as he had
to do with the Company, he wished to reduce,
the fares to as low a rate as possible, con-
sistent with the interests of the proprietors.—(Hear.)
When they made that great reduction in the fares on
the Ist September, 1845, it was made at the expense of
the proprietors,, and the public had now no reason to
complain. They had shown to the world at large, and
the county of Kent in particular, that these excessively
low fares could not be maintained, because they could
not be with due attention to the interests
of the shareholders. But they had not raised
the fares in every case ; they had only
regulated them—(Hear, hear)—and they.would find that
with reference to one class of carriages there was an even
fare of Id. per mile over the railway. If Parliament had
thought proper to throw out their schemes for giving a
more direct line than now existed to some of the towns
of Kent, thereby shortening the distance, it was not fair
that the 'public should expect that they should be carried
round twenty-one miles, or as it might be, for nothing.
The Company had to pay a heavy toll to the Croydon
company for the first fourteen miles of their distance,
and toey therefore reaped no advantage in theshape of
profit from that. But was the objection against their
circuitous line a tenable one ? Did the Great Western.
giv.e a direct communication to the people of Exeter ?
and if not, did they abolish the extra tare for goods and
passengers ? He thought that the conduct of the di-
rectors had been marked by prudence, and was entitled
to their support ; and he would, therefore, with plea-
sure second the adoption of the report.
Mr. D. SALOMONS said, that although agreeing almost
entirely avith the report, there was still one paragraph to
which, before putting the question, he would wish
briefly to advert—that was the one which had reference
to the raising of the fares upon the line. The
Noble Lord had, with reference to this very
paragraph, thrown out a sort of challenge, namely, with
regard to the lowness of the fares in the county of Kent.
The Noble Lord might be aware that this subject had
already kindled a flame in that county which could not
bo but most injurious to the interests of the Com-
pany and of the shareholders : an universal dis-
content prevailed in consequence of the manner
in which the fares had been regulated: Taking ,
the fares under the new regulation, they found
that they were collected lineally and not diagonally, that
was, by the length of the line, and not by a direct or
geographical distance from place to place. The Noble
Lord said that they went twenty miles round. He (Mr.
Salomons) knew it, and it was, therefore, before agreed
by the Company that the fares should be collected geo-
graphically, and not lineally.-(llear, hear.) He
trusted that the directors would yet sec reason to
retrace their steps, and so satisfy the public expectation.
The county of Kent had declared against their present
proceedings. He held in his hand resolutions expres-
.sive of this opinion that had been passed in the city of
Canterbury, and other parts of the district were getting
up similar meetings. The first question he would ask
the proprietors would be, " Can it be to your interest
to injure yourselves in the next session of Parliament,
by enlisting against you the opposition of a rich county
like Kent?" Could any one believe that the Company
would be supported in the next session? They might,
perhaps, imagine, from the speech of the Noble Lord,
that the fares had been universally and in the same de-
gree increased. It was not so. Where there had been
a longer distance by road than by railway, and where
the traffic by the former mode of conveyance was the
cheaper, the Company had reduced their fares ; but it
was only to greatly increase them where the road was
the longest. On the Ist September last they had adopted
the lineal mode of calculation, for surely it would be
the
inhabitantsbadto do
ofas theyMaidstone t nowone
rice for the pri-
vilege of conveying them 21 miles round. He protested
against the late proceedings of the directors ; ho pro-
i an proposed
extrap d?i n g , to charge
tested because the opinion of the proprietors bad not