The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-19 00:00:00

G -~

£18,300,000 in preference stock and debentures, and
£5,378,000 in ordinary stock. In this case it would
hare required a gross traffic of £1,800,000 it year to
pay preference charges alone, the present amount of
the gross traffic being only £1,190,000. Such is the
contrast between " now and then." In 185-1 the
Brighton Company was one of the most prosperous
lines in the kingdom, doing a safe and rapidly im-
proving business. Within 12 years' time this pros-
perity has been totally destroyed, and the com-
mittee think it " not too much to say that nothing
but a timely reversal of the policy of the Board
could have saved the property of the ordinary
shareholders from utter ruin."

Let us next inquire what this policy was, by which
more than five millions of good money were thus
rendered valueless. In the first place, it was, as We
have implied, a policy of incessant " extension,"
competition, and litigation. A sum of £2,300,000
has been expended by the Brighton Company for
the sole purpose of improving their terminal accom-
commodation in the metropolis. During the same
time, it is observed by the Committee, the South-
hsie spent about four millions on
Dover
eesrran,
ima
a oe
a lbajoe Companycat T
p.
ehnats
several Lu i
millions
Inl
i,o
na
fChatham,orthis
pur-
pose.and But counting only the Brighton and South-
Eastern Companies, a sum of six millions has been
spent in providing terminal. accommodation for not
more than 200 miles of - railway, and the original
cost of this mileage was not much more than has
been spent in extending the original terminus at
London-bridge to Cannon-street, Charing-cross,
and Victoria. The establishment of these three
stations has cost as much as the original con-
struction of the whole of the Brighton and
South-Eastern lines ; and this " ruinous expen-
diture" was incurred, we are told, in a great mea-
sure under the influence of rivalry. These two
companies, now that the mischief is done, are about
to be amalgamated. If this step had been taken
sooner, can there be any doubt that " the public
might have been equally well accommodated for less
than half the cost ?" Again, another two millions
of this disastrous addition to capital has been in-
curred for metropolitan and suburban lines. These,
it may be hoped, will ultimately be remunerative,
but they were none the less unjustifiable specula-
tions, and " a considerable time must elapse before
their net earnings can equal the interest on the
capital provided for their construction." Thirdly,
there are the country branches, upon which another
two millions and a half have been expended. This
sum the committee conclude must be set down as
" almost an entire loss," as there are few of these
lines which even pay their working expenses.
Such was the nature of this disastrous policy ;
but the most interesting question remains to be
asked. The shareholders, indeed, have had to sub-
mit like sheep to be fleeced. They knew nothing
of what was going on, and were helpless in the
hands of the directors. But what can be the
motive which impelled the directors to persist in
thus destroying their own property, as well as
that of their shareholders? For it should be re-
membered that a director, as a large share-
holder, must needs have a considerable personal
interest in the welfare of the company. The
committee recognise that the greater number
of these country extensions were " to some extent
forced on the company by the fear of competition."
The directors only acted on the received principles
of railway administration in those days. It is now
easy to see the folly of such a policy ; but it is
more or less intelligible. When a rival company
proposed to invade the supposed " country" of an
established railway, almost any board of directors
would have incurred apparent ruin to repel the in-
vasion. But there is a part of the story which is
not capable of this explanation. The Surrey and
Sussex, the Chichester and Nlidhurst, and the West
Sussex Junction Railways have a character of their
own, and deserve to be for ever notorious in rail-
way history. We must state first the account of
these three lines as from time to time represented
by the directors to the shareholders. It was
said then that these three lines " were each
promoted originally by independent parties, without
the concurrence and assistance and against the wish
of the Brighton Company." The directors thought
it for the interest of the company to prevent the
lines falling into hostile hands, and they have accord -
ingly submitted from " time to time to the meetings
of the company proposals for their absorption into
the company's system." Accordingly, in 1866, the
directors promoted a bill, by which the Brighton
Company were authorised to subscribe largely
towards the capital of these railways, and they pro.;
posed in the present session to obtain a bill for
taking entire possession of the lines with all their
contingent liabilities. The shareholders had up to
the present moment sanctioned these successive
steps on the representations of the directors that
the new lines were independent and hostile un-
dertakings. Now, wonderful to say, it is con-
clusively established by the committee that each
of these three lines was really promoted by the
staff of the Brighton Railway Company ; that
the Brighton directors have been both the directors
and shareholders in
irec the
tly or indirectly, new lin; and that the
d
almost all the money which has
them. ln short, " the Surrey and Sussex was a
Brighton company,beenexpended has found
on
sham up by persons connected with
the
Brighton
adopted by the Brighton board,
and palmed off on
the shareholders of the Brighton
line as a real and independent company." The
i
company,
a g
board,tatements made by the directors to the shareholders
b•iare, in fact, denounced by the committee as delibe-
rate misrepresentations, which " they decline to cha-
racterise as they deserve," and it is perfectly asto-
nishing by what fatuity men of position and honour
can have reconciled their consciences to the course
they were taking. A deliberate scheme seems to
have been entertained from the commencement for
promoting these lines under false appearances, and
entrapping the shareholders of the Brighton Rail-
wayT This
into
aabsorbing a thembeen step
avertedbyin
step.
time,
and the
lines will be abandoned, though not until the com-
pany have incurred a most serious loss. But the
question we have asked remains to be answered,
and any one who can give a satisfactory answer to
it would confer a benefit upon all who are interested
in railways : 110-.7 can the directors have consented
to be parties to these ruinous and disgraceful tran-
sactions? They have very nearly ruined their own
company, and would have ruined it quite if they
had had their own way, and they have gained
nothing from these lines themselves. On the con-
trary, as the nominal shareholders,
though they
have never yet paid a penny on their shares, they
seem to be legally liable to refund to the Brighton
Company no small portion of its losses. The com-
mittee doubt whether it will be advisable to insist
on this claim, but the liability exists, and it appears
to be the sole personal result to the directors from
their wild schemes and disingenuous manceuvres.
perhaps,
tractors, the solicitors, the engineers, and,.
of
the
the subordinate officials, by whom the idea
The only persons who have profited are the con-
the schemes off for their own
these persons palmedthe board, and the directors were too
purposes upon -
to the extent of guarding
lines was originally conceived. It would seem. that
weak to resist them, even
their personal honour. Whether we regard the
result to the company, or the process by
general
which it has been obtained, a more extraordinary
tale has never been told. It affords additional
evidence that nothing will be safe in railway affairs
until the shareholders find some means of in-
suring it
tehae:
ietsrathloarplyi Perhaps
that ieseanflitoerrta the
ve
bast
n wt
opwneordfee emr fitul opplutasbrlttine oiotfrye.
whe
d
to start the company afresh, the d. or 'nary share-
holders may still hope in 1868 fora
dividend of
'2l per cent., which will increase by about a half per
cent. each year.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.--A special
meeting of the council was held on Saturday for the
purpose of awarding the Atkinson-Morley Surgical
Scholarship (£45
per annum for three years). The
scholarship was conferred upon Mr. Geo. V. Poore, of
Andover. Professors Erichsen, Wharton Jones, and
Marshall, and Mr. Berkeley Hill wero the examiners.
A. HINT TO THE COIIMITTEE.--By the new Re-
distribution Bill Luton is to have a member. The value
of this proposed addition to the house is very doubtful, for
to represent Luton properly its M.P. must be a Man of
Straw.—Punch.