The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-25 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

Eis.ST INDIAN.

The directors of. the East Indian Railway Com-
pany have issued. their 24th report, which will he
submitted to the proprietors at the half-yearly ge-
neral meeting, to be held on Thursday, the 28th
inst. The following is an abstract of the document :
The directors have the satisfaction to state that
the latest accounts of the progress of the works are
with few options the most encouraging that
have been received since the first outbreak of the
mutiny. They are informed that the first 23 miles
from the junction at Burdwan to the river Adjai
will be opened about the Ist of the present month,
and that there is a fair prospect of opening the line
up to Cynthea, about 22 miles further, by the end
of 1859 ; that on the north Beerbhoom district, 331
miles, a marked improvement has taken place in the
progress of the works ; and if permanent way ma-
terials and. the iron girders required for bridge works
can be delivered on the works in time, there is a fair
prospect of this district being finished in July,
1860 ; that on the south, middle, and north Rajma-
hal divisions, 74 miles, the works have been going
on prosperously, although some difficulty has been
experienced in obtaining labour ; that the Colgong
division, 33 miles, is in a very satisfactory condi-
tion. It is anticipated that the works on the Bau-
gulpore division, 23 miles, may be completed by the
middle of 1800. On the Jchangheerah district, 20
miles, 22 per cent. of the earth work is finished, and
good progress has been made in brick making. On
the Monghyr division, 314 miles, 50 per cent. of
the earth work is finished, and 11 per cent. of the
brick work, with about 7,000,000 of bricks on hand
for the ensuing season. On the Keul division, 7+
miles, 671 per cent. of the earth work is executed,
and the remainder may be finished next season ; 18
per cent. of the brick work is also finished. On the
Hullohur division the progress has not been so satis-
factory, owing to the division of labour, and the diffi-
culty of obtaining land or water carriage for the
importation of coal, lime, and timber. The progress
on the Barrh division, 31+ miles, is satisfactory.
On the Patna division, 31+ miles, good progress has
also been made ; 66 per cent. of the earth work and
12 per cent. of the brick work are completed. On
the Soane district, 784- miles were in full operation
at the beginning of March, but on the 21st April,
when Kooer Singh and his followers crossed the
Ganges, the works were necessarily again stopped,
as also the works on the Soane-bridge. The line
between Allahabad and Cawnpore is completed, and
it will have been opened for public traffic between-
the Ist and 15th of the present month. The great
difficulty now to be contended with is the trans-
port of materials, stores, and rolling stock up coun-
try, a difficulty very much enhanced by the demand
for transport on the part of the Government. Mr.
Rendel had the opportunity whilst in India of
maturely considering this subject, and, after
conferring with the Government, it has been
decided to build a number of light draught steamers
and flats for the exclusive service of the company.
The permanent way and works on the opened line
are m a most satisfactory state, though some
trouble has been experienced in maintaining that
part of the road laid with cast-iron sleepers. It is
proposed to substitute wooden sleepers as soon as it
can be done, employing the iron ones in sidings and
bye roads at stations. The cost of maintenance for
the half-year ending June 30 has been 61d. per
train mile. It is expected that the whole will 'be
completed before the rains of 1859. The number of
passengers' carried during the half-year ending in
June was 581,274, showing an increase of 32,727
passengers as compared with the corresponding
half year, and an increase of 58,914 over the pre-
ceding half-year. The tonnage in goods and mine-
rals, exclusive of parcels, carriages, and live stock,
for the half-year ending June 30 was 90,600 tons,
giving an increase of 20,325 tons over the preceding
half-year, or 36,910 tons over the corresponding
half-year. The gross traffic receipts for the half
year ending June 30 were £82,573 13s. ld., show-
ing an increase of £13,599.145. 5d over the preced-
ing half-year, or £19,114 Bs. 10d. over the corre-
sponding half year. The total gross receipts for the
year ending June 30, 1857, were £113,285 Os. Id.,

against £150,232 2s. 9d. for the year ending June
30,1858. The amount of engine mileage run during
the year ending June, 1858, has been 581,001 miles
against 371,941 miles in the preceding year. 33
running engines are in excellent order and in daily
work ; 13 are under repair, and 9 new engines are
erected, and ready for use on the line to the Adjai,
and in anticipation ofincreasedtraffic in the present
cold season. The accounts of the damage sustained
by the company from the mutiny are not yet com-
pleted. - In accordance with a resolution of the pro-
prietary, dated Oct. 29, 1857, the directors lost no
time in applying to the Court of Directors of the East
India Company for their authority to advance to
Sir M. Stephenson annually, either out of the capi-
tal or the receipts of the opened line, one-third of
the annuity granted to him by deed dated Sept. 13,
1853, but they regret to report that they were met
with objections and proposals which they could
scarcely have expected. to receive. The directors
have obtained the sanction of the authorities to com-
plete the remainder of the capital, viz., £2,000,000
at 5 per cent. interest, required for the line, as ori-
ginally designed, to the North-West Provinces. The
balance remaining to be called up on the E shares
is about £300,000, payable within the next six
months, and there is cash in hand, exclusive of the
capital raised for the Jubbulpore line to the extent
of about £120,000, whilst the expenditure is pro-
ceeding at the rate of upwards of £lOO,OOO per
month. As the state of the country will not at
present admit of any expenditure of importance on
the Jubbulpore line, the board propose, with the
sanction of the authorities, that the capital in hand
on this account should be made available tempo-
rarily for current expenditure in preference. to an
immediate issue of' shares, which would otherwise
be necessary."

ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET c o 3r-

PANY.

Annexed is the report of the directors to the
proprietors, to be submitted to the general meeting,
on the 27th October :

" By the working account now presented, it will
be seen that the receipts for passage money and
freight during the half-year, ending the 30th June
last, exceed by £2,091 19s. ld. the satisfactory
earnings of the corresponding period of 1857, not-
withstanding that only seventeen transatlantic
voyages are embraced in the account, against nine-
teen voyages in the half.3rear of 1857. On the other
side of the account, it will be observed that the ex-
penditure exceeds that of the half-year ending 30th
June, 1857, by £6,937 15s. 6d., but in this expen-
diture the amount paid for wages and victualling
of men, stores, and port charges of the ships char-
tered to the European and Australian Royal Mail
Company (the hire of which appears on the credit
side of the account) is included, and is considerably
more than the excess in question. In the item of
salaries a considerable diminution appears ; this
arises from a portion of those paid iuring the half-
year having been charged to the European and.
Australian Royal Mail Company, in conformitY.
with an arrangement made between the two com-
panies under the working agreement. The working
of the Australian contract has been attended with
considerable difficulty throughout, as may be easily
inferred from the statements made at the general
meeting, held in April of this year. Early in June
last the irregularities and losses consequent thereon
had reached such a point that it was quite evident
the service could no longer be continued under the
stringent terms of the contract then existing. The
represbntatives of the two companies, therefire,.
opened "negotiations with her Majesty's Govern-
ment, with a view to obtain such modificatiqns of
Vie contract as might enable the Royal Mail Steam
Packet Company, without further loss, to carry
on this service until the expiration of the
agreement made with the European and Aus-
tralian Royal Mail Company ; being for nine
months after the rejection by the share-
holders of this company of the proposed amal-
gamation. Just at that period, however, it became
publicly known that the European and Australian
Royal Mail Company was irretrievably insolvent,
and the government, in consequence, refused to re-
cognise it in any further arrangement. Under these
. s,
p cecircumstances,io the
an
u representativesnaersta ndiig
that
atth et
htew oncoo3r: -I
Mail Steam Packet Company should, in its own
name, enter into a contract with her Majesty's go-
vernment for carrying onthe service for six months
from the 30th June, upon terms concurred in by
both parties, viz., that the penalties for the voyages
not being performed within the stipulated period
should be very materially modified, and that the
government should allow a sum of £6,000 per
month, in addition to the contract price, if it should
be shown that loss in carrying on the service was
sustained to that amount. By this arrangement,
this company was to that extent relieved from the
prospect of further loss from carrying out the work-
ing agreement with the European and Australian
Royal Mail Company, and that company was of
course benefited to the same extent, as the loss was
ultimately to fall upon them. However, after these
terms were arranged, the embarrassments of the
European and Australian Royal Mail Company in-
creased, and in the end they were driven to seek
relief under the winding-up act, and it is under-
stood that they now repudiate any liability to loss
from the working under the new contract. It is
believed that, with the aidof the additional £6,000
per month, the further loss will not be important.
At a subsequent period the directors of this com-
pany, in order-to'meet the wishes of her Majesty's
government, agreed that the company'Ff contract
should be extended to eight months. Tenders were