The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-05 00:00:00

RAILWAY AND OTHER COMPANIES.

SOUTH-EASTERN.
A special general meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the Bridge House Hotel, London-
bridge, to consider, and, if approved, to authorise
the seal of the company being affixed to a proposed
agreement between this company and the London,
Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company ; Mr.
E. W. Watkin, M.P., the chairman, presided.
Mr. T. A. Chubb, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting,

The CumnmAN said a copy of the proposed
agreement had been sent to every shareholder in
the company,l both preference and ordinary. He
had received several letters approving the measure,
and a large number of proxies in favour of the
agreement. One of their fellow shareholders had
sent him a scheme for the general improvement of
railway property, in which be proposed that amal-
gamations and traffic arrangements should be made
between railway companies where practicable, that
they should raise the fares and rates for passengers
and goods traffic to the amount authorised by Par-
liament, and reduce the working expenses to 40
per cent. of the receipts. (Hear, hear.) The agree-
ment he had to submit for their approval did not
in any way interfere with the capital accounts of
either company, which accounts were to be kept
separate and distinct. The agreement was for a
fusion of the net revenue under a working arrange-
ment on the principle adopted by the North-Eastern
Railway Company in 1853. The three companies
which constituted the amalgamation in respect to a
fusion of their net receipts were the Newcastle and
Berwick, the York and North Midland, and the
Leeds Northern Railway Companies ; and to show
the value of that arrangement under the joint work-
ing of the traffic of those three companies he stated
that in 1853 the net receipts of the Newcastle and
Berwick Railway Company amounted to £439,477,
and in 1866 to £854,182 ; in 1853 the net receipts
of the York and North Midland amounted to
£250,483 and in 1866 to £492,171 ; and in 1853 the
net receipts on the Leeds Northern amounted to
£48,199 for nine months, and in 1866 to £149,530.
The dividend on the ordinary stock of the New-
castle and Berwick in 1853 was 3} per cent., and in
1866 51 ; the ordinary dividend of the York and
North Midland in 1853 was 21 per cent., and in
1866 51 per cent. ; and the ordinary dividend of the
Leeds Northern in 1853 was nil, and in 1866 3i per
cent. The price of the Newcastle and Berwick stock
in 1853 was GO, and in 1866 97 ; the price of the
York and North Midland stock in 1853 was 69, and
in 1866 104 ; and the price of the Leeds Northern
stock in 1853 was 31, and in 1866 63. They were
also enabled to show that this very important result
had been obtained with great advantage to the pub-
lic. The fusion of net profits was no new scheme,
for they had, in Nov., 1865, entered into negotia-
tions with Mr. Schuster, the then chairman of the
Brighton Company, with a view to put a stop to in-
vasions, to agree to an amalgamation of the net re-
ceipts of the three southern companies to be worked
under a joint management. A similar proposal was
drawn up by Mr. Scott, general manager of the
London and South-Western Company. The result
was a truce for 1867 in respect of Parliamentary
proceedings for competing lines. He then gave a
history of the various attempts made by the South-
Eastern Company to come to amicable terms with
the Brighton Company, but those attempts had been
frustrated. At the very time in 1864 when the
South-Eastern Company believed they had secured
peace under an agreement with the Brighton Com-
pany there were intrigues going on to promote the
Surrey and Sussex scheme. The repeated acts of bad
faith were well known, and had resulted in great cost
to both companies. Ile told them last August that
the South-Eastern property was in a safer, sounder
position than the Brighton, notwithstanding its great
reputation for good management, and that view had
since been verified. The Brighton had loans from
bankers of £600,000, while the South-Eastern had
a balance at their bankers. The Brighton had capital
liabilities of £1,590,000, for which they would
have to raise money on preference shares, while the
Sinai Eastern had only liabilities to the a,n -mnt of
£Bl,OOO to finish lines, and for which they had the
money in hand. He believed that every 999 share-
holders in the South Eastern out of 1,000 had con-
fidence in their directors, and were ready to act with
the board. Several months ago, when the share-
holders at a distance" saw that they had not an
united Board they took steps and, without causing
a revolution in the company, put in some good busi-
ness men, and it was now a strong and united board.
After he had had interviews with Mr. C. E. Stewart
and Colonel Barttelot on the part of the Brighton
board, neither of those gentlemen having had any-
thing to do with former wrong doings, they sat down
together, went to work on the agreement, between
the two companies, and after some considerable
labour brought the matter to a focus, and the result
was that the proprietors had a copy of the agreement
placed in their hands. He believed it was the right
time to enter into and complete that agreement, and
thus to secure a perpetual peace between the two
companies, by working amicably in future for the
benefit of the shareholders of both companies, and
for the accommodation of the public. In doing this
work they had to convert and convince 21 directors,
they had to conciliate two sets of lawyers, engineers,
and Parliamentary agents, who expected to be de-
spoiled by the establishment of peace between the two
companies. They had also to disappoint some Lon-
don directors in buying estates with their own money
and in having power to make railways over them at
the expense of other people. They had also to con-
sider whether this arrangement would be beneficial
to the public. There were every year about
26,000,000 passengers in and out of their London sta-
tions ; about one half the number arrived at Cannon-
street and Charing-cross stations. When Brighton
passengers could go to and from those stations it
would be an enormous boon to the public at a compa-
ratively small additional cost to the latter. When
stations and lines were properly utilised it would
save the outlay of millions of capital. The money
spent on branch lines that did not pay working ex-
penses was as much a loss to the nation as if they
burnt down so much property. The Cannon-street
station would be of great value to Brighton and
other south coast passengers. The greater the facili-
ties afforded for travelling the larger would be the
traffic. He then pointed out what would be saved
by not running duplicate trains. He said that Mr.
Eborall, the general manager, after a most careful
consideration, had estimated that the saving that
could be effected on the two lines by not running
duplicate trains would amount to £lOO,OOO a year,
-which alone was equal to one per cent. of ordinary
share capital. (Hear, hear.) Certain figures in the
agreement were subject to verification. All the
calculations had been carefully gone into ; he trusted
and believed that every contingency had been con-
sidered and provided for. Mr. Harrison and Mr.
Swarbrick were to settle any questions in dispute.
The margin of difference on certain points was not
to exceed £lO,OOO. He believed that the difference
between the state of their permanent way and that of
the Brighton would be fully and fairly compensated
by setting aside for the latter £9,000 a year for re-
newals. The value of or income from the surplus
property of each company was brought into account.
The net traffic 6n the old lines was ascertained
and divided into certain proportions, 55 per cent.
for the South-Eastern, and 45 per cent, for the
Brighton ; but the actual traffic of the new lines
would be set down and the expenses of working
them, the net amount being added to the net re-
ceipts of the companies owing them. Those receipts
would be carefully taken, and at the end of five
years after the opening of the new extensions and
branch lines a revision and adjustment of the net
receipts would take place. He believed it was a
fair and honest agreement. When the Chatham
and Dover line was opened it took £BO,OOO a year
traffic from the South-Eastern at certain places,
which had now increased to £120,000 a year ; but
that was owing to their shorter lines to those places,
but when the new direct line of the South-Eazterp
to Tunbridge-wells was opened they would get back
a deal of the traffic which the Chatham and Dover
Company had abstracted from them, because the
length of the line would practically be the same.
There would be a joint committee of six good men
to manage and work both lines. Looking at the