The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-31 00:00:00

EAST INDIAN.

The ninth half-yearly general meeting of the proprie •
tors was held yesterday at the office of the company,
Alderman'e-vialk, New Broad-street, Mr. B. W. Craw-
ford presiding. There was a numerous nt,:endance of
shareholders.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the reception and .adoption
of•the report (an abstract of which has already appeared
in The Sun), said that resolutions would be submitted
to the meeting authorising the directors to convert the
paid-np capital of the company into stock,•as mentioned
in the report ; and these resolution•, if passed, would
have immediate effect. No further issue of capital was
proposed during the present year. The directors
believed that there existed a sufficiency of capi-
tal for ordinary purposes, and they thought they should
be consulting the wishes of tiie shareholders in not at
present calling upon the public for any very large amount
of additional stook. The mail from India which arrived
in London on the previous dayhad brought them the revq-
nue account for the past half-year, which had not before
been in their possessiori ; and he was happy to tell them
that the statements which appeared in The Tames of
that morning with regard to the results of that account

were in every respect correct. The increase in the num-
ber of passengers had been alluded to in the report. He
had to announce now that the receipts from passengers
had amounted in English money, calculating the rupee
at 25., and not at the exchange of Is. 10d., to 25,7457.
in the half-year ending the 30th of June, against 22,0251.
in the previous half-year. This was on the same mileage.
The receipts from parcels, luggage, live stock, carriages,
and excess fares were 3,091/. against 2,2721. The re-
ceipts &Om merchandise were 10,516/. against 6,3851. ;
those from minerals, 11,4281. against 7,456/. ; the whole
receipts—for . the last half-year being 51,0124,1!glitist
38,636/. as compared with the previous half-year. (Mar,
hear.) gatisfactory as that; result would appear to them,
the figures under the head of "charges" were much
more so. The very important item, " maintenance of
way and works," presented a charge of 12 per cent.
upon the receipts against 6 per cent. for the preceding
half-year. Upon the face of it, this did net appear a
point for much congratulation ; but it must be remem-
bered that, whereas hitherto the maintenance of way
and works was chargeable upon capital, it had now to
be defrayed from revenue. In the locomotive depart.
ment the charge amounted to 17 as against 20 per cent. ;
and the whole proportion which the expenses of conduct-
ing this large company bore to the gross receipts was
40 per cent, as against 58 per cent. in the previous half-
year. (Hear, hear.) This statement was, he thought,
sufficient to remove from the minds even of the most
sceptical individuals in this country the impression that
railways were not to be carried on in India without
the risk of loss. (Hear.) The directors found that they
were now enabled to make, at the close of every half-
year, large repayments to Government in respect to the
advances made to them on account of interest. In the
first half-year Government had received from this com-
pany 10,000/. ; in the second 20,000/. ; and during the
present half year, 30,000/. ; making altogether during
three half-years a repayment of 60,000/. He did not
say that these repayments were likly to be con-
tinued in the same proportion, but if they went on on
anything like this scale it could not fail to be considered
very satisfactory indeed. At all events, it put an end to
the impression that shareholders could ever be without a
dividend, or would have to return the railway upon the
bands of the East India Company, After referring to
the death of Mr. Larkins, a director, and the election in
his room of Mr. Beaumont, one of the auditors, the chair-
man remarked, with regret, the return to this country of
Mr. Stephenson, whose health bad broken down in con-
sequence of anxiety and the arduous nature of his duties,
and who had consequently requested them to supply his
place by the selection of another gentleman to represent
the company there. Remembering the great services
performed by Mr. Stephenson to this company the f
able consideration of the directors would be given to
gentleman's position. The board looked upon the se
ec-
tion of a proper successor to their late agent as a matter
of the greatest importance ; but they bad not yet been
enabled to supply this place, nor had they any individual
in their minds whom they thought likely to receive the
appointment. The chairman concluded by moving the
adoption of the report.
After a few remarks by some of the shareholders, the
motion for the adoption of the report was carried unani-
mously. ,
The CHArnmex, in 'accordance with the report, pro-
posed resolutions converting the paid-up capital into
stock.

The resolutions having been carried neni. con.,
Mr. STEPHENSON shortly explained his position with
regard to the company, and said he was quite satisfied
to leave the consideration of it in the hands of the direc-
tors, feeling assured that they wished, if they possibly
could, to retain his services in connection with the cam-
pa,!9.

vote of thanks to the chairman and directors ter•
minated the proceeding. •

• SOUTH-EASTERN,
The directors of this company have issued a circular to
the proprietors, in anticipation of a special meeting of
the company, to be held on the 13th Nov. next, to con-
sider the propriety of extending a portion of the North
Kent line from Lewisham to Dartford. They state that,
after full consideration, they have adopted a resolution
to recommend the preprietors that they authorise an
application being made to Parliament for an act to con-
struct a short relief line between the Lewisham
and Dartford stations of the North Kent Railway. The
consideration of the subject was pressed upon the direc-
tore' attention by the great and continuous increase
which has taken place of late years in the traffic of the
North Kent Railway, and which has been still further
augmented by the recent successful opening of the Maid-
stone branch. The number of passengers booked to and
from London and all stations on the North Kent line
during the year ending the 31st of July last amounted to
3,169,158, and of these not less than 2,654,978 were
booked to and from London and the eight stations be-
tween London and Dartford. This statement, however,
does not include 1,214,866 passengers who were conveyed
during the same period between the intermediate stations
on the line (not including London), and of whom not less
than 950,000 were conveyed between stations west of
Dartford ; neither does it include the journeys of season
ticket-holders, estimated to have amounted during the
same period to about 750,000, of which four-fifths were
to and from stations between London and Dartford. In
order to accommodate efficiently this large proportion of
the North Kent traffic, it is necessary to run very fre-
quent trains to and from those stations short of Dartford
—viz., New Cross, Lewisham, Blackheath, Charlton,
Woolwich Dockyard, Woolwich Arsenal, Abbey Wood,
and Erith. Notwithstanding the large number of trains
at present provided for passengers to and from those
stations, the requirements and the capabilities of the
traffic on that portion of the North Kent Railway are
so great, in consequence of the large a❑d increasing po-
pulation of the district and its proximity to the metropo-
lis, that the accommodation of the public and the true
interests of the company require that the train service
should be increased and improved by the running of
more frequent trains at particular hours, as upon the
present Greenwich Railway. So long as the North
Kent was a looal line, carrying only its own traffic, the
increase in the number of short stopping trains to and
from the stations between Dartford and London was
comparatively easy of arrangement. But the recent
opening of the Maidstone branch has brought a consi-
derable amount of through traffic upon the line, in addi-
tion to the, heavy traffic of Strood and Gravesend. It
has thus become urgently necessary to adopt measures
to separate the short stopping trains from the longer
through trains, both in order that the former may be
more efficiently accommodated, and that the latter may
be conveyed to their destination without interruption or
delay. The adoption of this course is further rendered
necessary in anticipation of the early opening of a por-
tion of the East Kent Railway, the traffic of which it
will be the duty as well as the interest of this company
to accommodate in the most efficient manner. The in-
cidental advantages to be derived from the formation of
the proposed relief line are thus briefly stated by the
directors :-1. It will enable us greatly to improve the
train service of the populous districts of New Cross,
Lewisham, Blackheath, Charlton, Woolwich, Abbey
Wood, and Eritb, and thereby to increase the traffic
receipts on this portion of the railway. 2. It will enable
the through traffic to and from Gravesend, Strand,
Maidstone, and other distant stations in the North Kent
district to be worked snore regularly, expeditiously,
safely, and economically than is possible under existing
arrangements. 3. It will provide t'ee means of more
effectually meeting the competition which has recently
been started by the Tilbury Railway and the river boats
for our Woolwich, Gravesend, and other North Kent
traffic. 4. The relief line will open up an entirely new
and populous district extremely favourable for residential
traffic, including Eltham, Bexley, Chislehurst, the Crays,
Crayford, and other places, and create a traffic profitable
per se, independent of the other important considerations
above mentioned. The length of the proposed relief
line from Lewisham to Dartford will be 11 miles, with
a junction branch at Lewisham of one mile in length ;
and it appears from the estimates submitted by the
company's engineer and surveyor that the cost of pur-
chasing the requisite land and completing the line will
not exceed 250,0001. In conclusion, the directors
state that they are convinced that the true and per-
manent interests of the company require that the
necessary application to Parliament should be post-
poned no longer, and that the proposed relief line
should be constructed with as little delay as possible.
Should the proprietors confirm this view the directors
are satisfied that the wisdom of the course now sug-
gested will be amply justified by the results.

WEST-END OF LONDON AND CRYSTAL
PALACE.

The first section of this line; from the Crystal Palace
to Wandsworth, was formally opened for traffic yester-
day.
The line commences by a junction with the Crystal
Palace Railway station, and passes, by means of a tun-
nel, under a portion of the Crystal Palace, between the
main building and one of the water towers. The length
of the tunnel is 720 yards. The line then proceeds for a
distance about two mile/ to the next tunnel, which is