The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-30 00:00:00

careworm than he looked at present, and he was

sure he would carry with him on his journey the
good wishes of the proprietors and directors. (Hear,
hear, and a voice, " Pay his expenses.") He then
called attention to the successful exertions of the
Rev. Mr. Allcock, who had collected £4,000 and
built a church at Ashford to accommodate 600 of

the working people employed by the company. He
commenced his exertions in 1861, and had lately

completed one portion of the task he had undertaken.
Mr. Alicock had again renewed his exertions with
a view to provide an endowment for the church,
and he hoped the shareholders would kindly assist
Mr. Allcock to accomplish that desirable object.

The chairman then called attention to the unjust

state of the law as affecting rates and taxes on rail-
ways and compensation to passengers for injuries.
He hoped the recommendation of the Royal Com-
mission on Railways would induce Parliament next
Session to pass an act to remedy those grievances.
The rates and taxes on the South-Eastern Company's

railway amounted to £30,000, or 9 per cent. of the
net earnings. A railway did not cast any burdens on
the rates, and it got no benefit for the good it did in
the various parishes through which it passed. They
had paid in one year £85,000 out of revenue for
composition for accidents. With regard to their
liabilities, the best way was to meet every charge at
once out of revenue, and not place anything to a
suspense account. Ile thought directors should be
prudent and thoughtful men ; and as to the present
board, he believed that no body of men could work
more pleasantly together than they did for the bene-
fit of the company, and as to the shareholders they
had givEn them their cordial and unanimous sup-
port. If the bond had not had that support, they
could not have gone on so successfully. The agree-
ment between the company and the Brighton Com-
pany, if prudently, carefully, and faithfully carried
out, could not fail to be beneficial to both compa-
nies, and the more he thought of it the more clearly
he saw his way to a development that would arise,
and the more reason they would have for not dis-
turbing that arrangement. The capital account
would lie in a nutshell, and he now thought that the
services he had rendered to the company ought to
relieve him from the position he now occupied, and
which he accepted at request of friends who were
large shareholders in the company. His time was
fully occupied, and he thought they might go on
without him now. He would not advise his friends
to part with their stock in the company. He
thought the concern had turned the corner, the re-
venue would steadily increase, and they would again
enjoy good dividends. (Hear, hear.)
The Hon. J. BYNG seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report.
Mr. MORPETEE suggested that the second-class
carriages on the Charing-cross line should be re-
tained, and that the affairs might be modified ; and,
after asking several questions with regard to items
in the accounts, he agreed that everything charge.
able against revenue should be paid in the half-
year, and that there should be no suspense account
for any purpose whatever. He thought the surplus
lands should be sold, and that the time had arrived
when they should endeavour to retain the valuable
services of Mr. Watkin by offering him suitable
compensation. (Hear.)
Mr. PUNCHER approved the course pointed out
by the Chairman, recommended a modification of
the fares on the Charing-cross Railway, and a pro-
vision for smoking carriages, to relieve those who
did not like smoking.
After some observations by Mr. Adams and Mr.
Morrin,
The CHAIRMAN explained that when the Tun-
bridge line was opened for traffic it would save 13
miles to Tunbridge, Dover, Hastings, Ramsgate,
and other places, and would practically make the
South-Eastern line as short to those places as the
Chatham and Dover line, and by means of which
they hoped to recover some of the traffic they had
lost by the competition of that company. When the
directors of the London and South-Western were
prepared to allow them a fair consideration for
running trains into the Cannon-street Station the
South-Eastern directors would be ready to meet
them on fair and reasonable terms.
The report and statement of accounts were unani-
mously adopted, and a dividend at the rate of 2 per
cent per annum was declared for the past half-year
on the consolidated stock of the company, payable
on the sth of September; a bylaw was agreed to for
imposing a penalty of £5 upon persons putting in
awsctaotiscokpnsa,smas•eosei,dstfphmiat
sarou.
and voting
authorising
rerooeaoadiasonable cause the telegraphic
communication between passenger and guard ; an
Audit Committee was unanimously appointed, con-
sisting of Messrs. Fielding, Sealy, Fletcher, Wheeler,
and Fort, for the selection of auditors ; a resolution
tswfri ifnbendao:tsgras
riunetin.thlenahißtiaeinirrbcsedi,hbmszi
paoyvo2bilri:uuose,
chairman.
aynn of.
adoptedt h e ordinary
b y the
present
eac oy requesting
positionre
a,
holdingsr seconded
caf ooinlnr
large
his
dees.
sastt I:doon balc ynt :no
tl:unklani Mr. Stuart, the
valuable services,
meetin
On the motion of Mr. MORPETII, £lOO was unani-
mously voted to Mr. Eborall out of the funds of
the company to defray the expenses of his journey
for the benefit of his health, and the proceedings
concluded with a hearty vote of thanks to the
chairman and directors.

CRYSTAL PALACE AND SOUTH LONDON JUNCTION.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the offices, Winchester-
buildings ; Mr. J. Leveson Gower in the chair.

The CIIAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said the Board had succeeded in obtaining a
settlement of the accounts between the company
and the contractor. He was of opinion that if they
took the cost of the construction of the line it would
be found that it was the cheapest of the metropo-
litan lines. He believed that the traffic of the line
would be quite equal to the traffic on the metropo-
litan extensions of the London, Chatham, and
Dover. The station at the Palace could not be
assailed, and they had every reason to believe that
all the metropolitan railways would be glad to have
access to the High Level Station at the Palace. The
East London proposed in their bill to make arrange-
ments to get to the Palace, but it was not suc-
cessful. He believed it was intended to renew the
project as soon as the railway property revived; this
company would be the first to benefit by it.
Mr. llontAm, in seconding the motion, said the
position of the station at the Crystal Palace could
not be better, standing as it did at the top of a nar-
row summit with slopes running down on all sides.
The weak point in the line was the want of city ac-
commodation, and the manner in which the line
was worked by the London, Chatham, and Dover.
Mr. BURKE, Q.C., said he had a very large inte-
, rest in the company as a mortgagee, and as the
directors had not given the mortgagees any infor-
mation he had qualified himself as a shareholder for
the purpose of gaining that information. He had
been told that the line had been worked at a loss, as
the receivers bad only taken £5,000, while the ex-
penditure was £B,OOO. If that was the case they had
better shut up the line. The line was badly worked
by the London and Chatham.
Mr. MAYNARD explained that the line was worked
by the Chatham Company at cost price. The
directors had not yet taken steps to get, possession
of the line, as they believed the closing of the line
could do no good to any one.
Aiter some further discussion the report was
adopted, and the meeting closed with a vote of
thanks to the chairman.