The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-02 00:00:00

PARIS TO STRASBURG RAILWAY.

The annual general meeting of the shareholders of
this company took place on the 29:h instant at Paris,
in Herz's Great Room ; Count de Sk;ur, the Pre-
si,lent, in the chair. Near him were seated the
following directors :—The Duke de Galliera, Baron
d'Hervey, M. Fouchard, M. Fayr, M. Baigneres,
M. Blacque-Belair, M. Clary, tsl. Chevandier, M. Dofus-
Meg, M. Dabochet, M. Llainguellot, M. Mac:lard, M.
Roux, and M. A. Perdouizet. The meeting being de-
clared duly constituted, and the minutes of the preceding
general meeting read, M. Bossange, the secretary, pro-
, seeded to read the report.
This document commences by reminding the share-
holders of the favourable conditions of the concession
granted to the company. The whole length of the line
is 662 kilometres (415 English mites) ; everything is at
the charge of the State on 540 kilometres (3371 English
miles), except the laying down of the way and the ballast-
ing, and the moveable stock necessary for the workimg.
The branch line from Frouard to the Prussian frontier,
of a length of 122 kilometres (76-k English mile) is,
however, completely at the charge of the company, but
it did not present the same difficulties of execution as
those which marked the main line. Experience has
flown that the average cost of a kilometre on any
great railway amounted to 375,000 francs, but in
inn present case it was only 188,821 francs. As was
announaed at the last general meeting, the company
Cal offered to assist the State at a fair rate of payment
in the execution of part of the line. The offer having
been accepted, the company had executed the works
which were necessary between Vitry-le-Frargais and
Bar-le-Due, so that this section, which otherwise
could not have been opened to the public until to-
wards the commencement of 1852, will be opened
in the course of next month. The report then touched
on the working of the line during the past year,
and its results. The gross receipts have amounted
to 6,007,417 f. 75c., from which, when the various taxes,
duties, indemnities, have been deducted, there re-
mains, for the nett receipts,
A sum of

The expenses being

The balance 13
The receipts have gradually increased in proportion as
the extent of line opened became more considerable;
so that, if the last year were divided into two
periods, the first would give 2,490 f. 97c. per kilom.
per month ; and the letter, 2,802 f. 54c., showing u
general increase of thirteen per cent. The works
on the unfinished parts of the line are being exe.
cuted with the greatest rapidity. The Strasburg to
Bale Company having offered to work, with its
own locomotives and carriages, the section from Sarre-
burg to Strasburg, for the joint advantage of the two
companies, until such time as the company to which
that section belongs was in a position to do so itself
without inconvenience; a treaty had been entered
into between the companies on the subj-ct. The
profits are to be thus divided—threo•fourths to
the company from Psria to Strasburi4h, end one-
fourth to that from Strasburg to Bale. The treaty
has been entered into fur two years, but the Paris to
Strasburg, Company can, on a notice o? three months,
thatto tro4uSnacaYr.b r uTc kh e
mats t-0t,,,r into possession of the section alluded to,
ca'n tb'e"e" the distance between Luneville to Strasburg
from rawr7ked, or when the principal line shalt be open
worksar,e
nearly t thef
ter bmriannaet
those. of 111"ns may b 3 consieered as terminated; and
financial situation of hedl.ineTshteo
the company on the Ist of the pre-
sent month was as follows:
Money received
Money expended

................. 109,985,812 f. 19c.
............... 96,181,551 f . 67c.

Excess of receipts ................
Deduct caution•money ...............

13,804.260 f. 52c.
773,333 f. 34c.

hand on April I ,
13,030,927 f. 18c.

As Art 44 of the statutes interdicts the distribution of any
di4idend until the whole line op-m to the public, the
profits of the working are always to be invested tor the
benefit of the company. This has been done with the
greatest care, and has up to the present time brought in
not less than 8,857,811 f. The report then speaks of the
utility of a circular junction-line between all the rail-
ways terminating in Paris, and laments the delay which
has arisen in the execution of so important a project. It
adds that it has entered into an arrangement with the
Northern Company for the purpose of conjointly obtain •
ing permission from the Government to execute & junc-
tion line between their two railways close to Paris,
which would be the cause of great convenience, and
saving of expense to both companies. " You may
perceive, gentlemen," continues the report, in sum-
ming up what precedes, " how satisfactory is the
situation of our enterprise. The social capital is
uninjured ; out of the sum of 11,037,500 f., paid in
interest since the origin of our society, we have been
able to restore to the social capital 8,857,311 f. 17c.,
we have experienced neither losses nor disappoint-
ments : the working of the 205 kilom. (128 f Eng-
lish miles) from Paris to Vitry has produced an
average of 7 3.10 per cent. on the capital -expended on
that section; we hope to be able in the course of next

month to open the section from Vitry to Barle-le•Due,
and that from Sarreburg to Strasburg; and in the
course of the month of July, the section from Metz
to St. Avoid, making altogether 173 kilom , which,
joined to the 261 kilom. already opened, will form
an extent of 434 kilom. (2711 English miles)
at full work in the first six months of the present year ;
we shall be able to open in the spring of 1852 the section
from Bar-le-Duc to Told, and that from Nancy to Lune-
villa; and, should no unforeseen events arise, we have
every expectation of opening the whole of the principal
line and the branch lice of Saarbruck in the autumn of 1852;
the activity imparted to the works has enabled us to
regain a portion of the time lost in consequence of the
events of 1848; in fine, we approach the end which for
upwards of five years we have been endeavouring to attain.
We regret to have to inform you of the death of General
de Mouthion, whose enlightend and unremitting co-ope-
ration was never withheld from us. We have also to
state that Admiral Arnoux, of whose ability and expe-
rience we have had so many proofs, being under the
necessity of quitting Paris, has sent in his resignation.
Notwithstanding the importance of the task which
still remains for us to accomplish, and the multiplicity
of works of every kind which are its necessary conoo•
mitants, we do not intend to propose to you to fill up at
present these two vacancies. We shall wait until the
whole line is finished before we ask you to decide on
what is to be done. It is only then that we shall
enter on a regular situation, and that we shall be able
to judge of what course it will be best to adopt." The
report then touches en the important point of the loan
of 35 millions, which had been suggested by some per-
sons as a means of dispensing with the payment of the
lest 100 f. on each share. The report, after expressing
the regret of the directors that the question had been
ever raised, denies that either the directors or a general
meeting of the shareholders have a right to deliberate
on such a proposition. No article of the statutes au-
thorises any such course, as, according to them, a loan is
permitted only in case the funds of the company are in-
sufficient to execute any part of the works. But were a
loan of 25 millions effected, it would change the con-
tract by which the company existed, and consequently
alter altogether the position of the shareholders. Sup-
posing, too, that the loan was legal and practicable,
would it be advisable to have recourse to it! The board
thought not. Unless the loan-fonds of a company had
a preference over the shares, and presented some decided
adrentago to the holders, they were of difficult negotia-
tion. In either case the shareholders would suffee. In
the first, because the bonds would receive a fixed inte-
rest, whilst the shares were obliged to receive what the
working gave; and in the second, because whatever
advantage was given to the bonds must be effected at
the cost of the shares. Independently of these conside-
rations, there was another reason against contracting a
loan, which was most conclusive, namely, that in order
to be enabled to effect one, permission must be asked
from the Council of State, the decision of which would
not be riven, in all probability, for months. During
that time the calls would be stopped, and consequently
the execution of the works arrested, which event would
prove of the very greatest detriment to the company, as
by the cahier des charges it was bound to have all its en-
gagements terminated in the course of the ensuing year.
The report also touches on another project which had
been suggested—viz., to contract a loan of 25 millions
for three years only. It alosits that such a plan ap-
peared less objectionable than the otner, but that it did
not present sufficient advantages to induce the board to
entertain it."

Whe❑ the reading of this report, which was received
with loud applause from the meeting., had terminated,
M. Rennin, one of the members of the commission,
named at the last general meeting to verify the accounts,
read a report, in which the commission spoke in very
high terms of the careful and accurate manner in which
the accounts are kept on ever part of the line.
The accounts for 1850 were then approved of, and a
vote of thanks passed to the commisson, the three gen-
tlemen composing it being re-elected for the present
year by acclamation.

M. Bossange then read the articles of the treaty
agreed to with the Strasburg to Bale Company, as alluded
to in the report.
This treaty was then put to the vote and adopted,
without a dissentient voice.
The arrangement with the Northern Company, for the
purpose of uniting the two lines together, was also ap-
proved of unanimously.
A Shareholder having inquired whether there was
any probability of may part of the last 100 f. on each
share not being required from the shareholders?
The Chairman said that all that the board could stilt')
at the present time was that it saw no reason to depart
from the course which it had hitherto adopted of mak-
ing calls of 25f. at such periods as the execution of the
works would permit. The next call would be on July
1, and would, as before, amount to 25f. per share.
The meeting then separated.

DREADFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT
Yesterday morning intelligence reached Manchester of
a dreadful railway accident in the Frodslaam tunnel, on
the Lancashire and Cheshire Junction line, about half,
pest seven o'clock on the previous (Wednesday) evening.
A great number of people were said to have been
brought to Manchester during the night who were more
or lees injured, and it was rumoured that at least eight
lives had been lost. There had been a great traffic over
this line on Wedaeidity, owing to its being the principal
day of the Chester races, and the facts which first came
to our correspondent's knowledge respecting the accident
were, that three trains bad left Chester on Wednesday
nigh, twith gre it nutnbers of passengers for Warrington
and Manchester, in quick succession; that the first train,
having too many passengers for the power of the loco-
motive, came to a dead stand in the middle of the Frod-
sham tunnel, which is a mile and a half long, and was
run into by the second, but without mach injury to
either train, and that then the third train came up at a
rapid pace and ran into the other two with a fearful
crash, the tail lights of the second train in advance being
obscured by the dense steam with which the tunnel was
filled. The following particulars were gathered from
gentlemen who had been passengers by one or other of
the trains:—
Colonel Petit, of the 50th Regiment, at Manchester,
says he left Chester by a train at a quarter before seven
on Wednesday evening.
It was a very long train, and
he was in a first-class carriage, near the end. On ar-
riving in the tunnel at Sutton, by Frodshain (ten miles
from Chester), under Sir Richard Brookes' property,
the train, which had been going very slowly, came to a
stand for want of steam, and the next train ran into
them from behind, although the guard had been sent back
to show a light as a signal for caution. The carriage in
which he sat was entirely crushed, and he lost consoious-
ness for some time. Oa recovering he found himselt
sitting on a portion of the carriage, the frame of which
appeared to have been deinolish# d, and he walked out
apparently on a level with the ground, and cane in con-
tact with the side of the tunnel. It was intensely dark,
but he believed he saw four or five persons who had been
killed. and a great many with broken limbs. Miss or
Mrs. Ridgway, of Bolton, a lady who was in her own
carriage, with servants, was amongst the killed. He
(Colonel Petit) was cut about the head and face, but not
seriously injured.
Mr. Fulham, of Manchester, said he was in a first-
class carriage in the middle 6f a train which left Chester
at a quarter-past seven o'clock on Wednesday evening.
When they arrived in the tunnel near Frodsham they
stuck fast for want of steane there being so little that
the engine driver could not raise a whistle. They re-
mained stationary for at least three-quarters of an
hour, when another train Came up very rapidly
and ran into them behind, *mashing several carriages
and throwing two off the line, An immense number
of people were injured, some baying broken legs. The
only light in any of the carriages was in that he was in,
and that was procured as t favour at- Chester. He
thought there were twenty-five or thirty carriages in the
train, most of them being covered. In the train which
ran into it there were many open trucks with people
standing up. He reached Mallehester about one o'clock,
being only hurt in the back, Wel not seriously.
The guard of the third traill says it left Chester at
half-past seven, and that there were lights at the tail of
the train in advance, but that the steam from the en-
gine had so filled the tunnel that they could not be seen.
Mr. Ansell, superintendent of the electric telegraph
for the Manchester district, saes he was in a first-class
carriage (about the fifth) of the second train. The first
train of the three left Chester at five minutes to seven,
and contested of about twenty carriages. In the Prod-
sham tunnel they struck the first train, but did not smash
it as they were going very elowli, at the time. No person
in the second train was hurt by that collision, he thought,
but a few persons in the first were bruised. They had not
become stationary more than three or four miuuteawhen
the third train came into thc na, producing a fearful crash.
There were about 25 carriages in the second train.
The carriage in which he was sitting was smashed and
the roof knocked off. No one in the same compartment
was hurt, but he assisted to take out two men from an-
other compartment, one of whom bad Lost his fiegers,
and the other was severely cut on the head. Another
gentleman, who appeared much hurt, was brought on
to the Albion Hotel, Manchester. After the accident
the greatest confusion and excitement prevailed on ac-
count of the utter darkness prevailing. The cries tor
" Help " were frightful. People were seeking wives,
husbands, and friends in all directions, and running
about in the greatest alarm for some time. He got out
of the tunnel as soon as he could grope his way, and
sent to some farmhouses for lights. At or near the end
of the train he was in was an open truck crowded with
pcople standing, which the engine of the third train must
have struck, and over which it was supposed to base
passed. One man was thrown completely out of that
carriage upon the top of a covered one, and said " God
only knew how he escaped." He (Mr. Ansell) arrived
at Manchester about 12 o'clock.