The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-23 00:00:00

DUBLIN, WICKLOW, AND WEXFORD.
The half-yearly meetingof this company was held
on Monday, in Dublin; Mr. L. Waldron in the

chair.
The report, an abstract of which appeared in The
Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said he hoped that future ones would be
more satisfactory. Since the report had been issued
a distresssing calamity had happened which they
deeply deplored. , The Government had intrusted
the inquiry to Colonel Yolland, R.E., as to the
cause of the accident. He had just made a careful
examination of everything, and would report the
result to the Board of Trade. Notwithstanding the
unsettled state of the country and the depressed
condition of trade, there had been an increase of
receipts under nearly every head of traffic, except-
ing third-class passengers, minerals, and two other
items. The falling off in minerals was £2lO, and
in third-class passengers £2,388. He believed the
extension of the line to Wexford, which was the
proper terminus of the line, would be of the utmost
importance to the undertaking. It was with great
regret the directors found themselves unable to com-
plete that extension in the present languid state of
railway enterprise. It would be necessary to apply
to:Parliament for power to extend the time for the
completion of the railway, and also to adjust some
financial matters relative to Mr. Dargan's property
in the railway.
Mr. E. Fox seconded the motion for the adoption
of the report. He said that many influential gen-
tlemen in the country were desirous that for the
purpose of public benefits to Ireland that State in-
tervention should take place, and that the whole
railway system of the country should pass into State
management. (Hear, hear.) Railway reformers
believed that individual companies could not, how-
ever well-intentioned, realise iu their separate and
disjointed forms that which the common interest
of the country demanded, but they believed by
a concentration of management—by the intro-
duction of the higher credit of the Government
—they could give to the people of this country a
more rapid and a cheaper locomotion, and they be-
lieved that full and free locomotion was as essential
to a country's prosperity as pure air was to animal
existence. They believed that by State interven-
tion public economy could be worked out, that the
markets of the country could be worked up to the
population, and that those who were engaged in the
peaceful pursuits of commerce could be brought
with more rapidity into those peaceful councils out
of which a country's commercial and agricultural
growth must depend. Those were some of the
broad outlines at which railway reformers aimed.
It was not the amelioration of or the proping up
of the drifting fortunes of individual companies. It
was a matter which vitally affected the interests of
every man whose destiny it was to live in this
island. He believed that the small army of gentle-
men who constitute the railway directors of the
country would willingly permit themselves to be
disbanded, and to be merged into other pursuits in
which they could equally well serve their country,
if they believed that by doing so they were helping
to ameliorate the condition of a country which every
man must see, notwithstanding the statistics which
were placed before them, was dropping low in the
social and commercial scale of nations. He believed
it to be the most important qa,:stion that had been
discussed in their day, and he hoped that its satis-
factory solution was not far distant. (Hear.)
The motion was then put and unanimously
adopted.
Dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum
was declared on the 6 per Cent. Preference Stock
for the half-year ended the 30th June, 1867, pay-
able (less income-tax) on and after Supt. 18 next ;
and also a dividend at the rate of 5 per Cent. Pre-
ference Stock was also made payable on the same

day.
In reply to Mr. GRESIIAM and other shareholders
as to the safety of the line where the late accident
took place,
The CHAIRMAN said he bad no hesitation in say-
ing that the line was now as safe as ever it was.
The bridge was not in the slightest degree injured,
anti its soundness, in fact, was proved by the acci-
dent. Their first duty was the safety of the public,
and, of course, they would not allow any one to trave
over the line if they did Dot consider it quite safe.
The lion. G. I-lANDcoCK said, in reply to an ob
servation, that when the line was first executed, the
proper course would have been to go inland from
Shankill by the Glen of Downs, but it suited the
genius of Brunel, the engineer, to show his great
skill in overcoming impracticabilities, to send it
round Bray-head ; but he feared they could not now
undo what had been done.
The CHAIRMAN, in reference to the statement by
Mr. Fox, said that if it were found advisable for the
interests of the country that the railways should be
taken up by the State, he was sure no board of
directors would oppose their private interests to the
common good. lle believed that Mr. Fox stated his
opinion, and that of his brother directors, that if they
were led to believe that it was for the interest of the
country that this transfer should be made, they
would not only agree to it, but second it to the ut-
most of their power.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
,o the chairman and directors.