The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-17 00:00:00

DON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 17, 1866.

the tunnel mentioned the water will be conveyed in
a single line of pipes similar to those of the Loch
Katrine waterworks, past various relief tanks, to a
pair of extensive reservoirs at Stillorgan, situated
on the Dublin and Wicklow Railway, about eight
miles south of the metropolis. These reservoirs,
with their filtering chambers, have been long since
completed, and with a double line of 32in. diameter
pipes connected with Dublin, these water stores
being about 170 ft. above the level of the city houses.
Such is now the exact state of the Vartry works as
examined yesterday by the Corporation party under
the guidance of the acting engineer, Mr. Neville,
the local engineer, Mr. Andrews, and the working
contractors, Messrs. Green and King. The inspec-
tion closed -with a dejeuner in the grounds, at which
Sir J. Gray presided, and at which several political
as well as appropriate speeches were delivered.

Railway and other Companies.

LONDON AND SOUTH WESTERN.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday, at Hawkstone-hall, Waterloo-
road; Mr. C. Castleman, the deputy chairman,
presided. _

Mr. F. Clarke, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting, and the minutes of the
last ordinary and several subsequent special meet-
ings, which were confirmed, the report, an abstract
of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as
read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, regretted to say that their chairman, Captain
Mangles, was unable to attend in consequence of
very severe illness. He had intended, if possible, to
be present, and address them on the affairs of the
company, but at a late hour last night he, as deputy
chairman, was requested to perform the duty. He
hoped, therefore, they would give him their indul-
gence and support. It was painful to meet share-
holders with a falling off in the dividend, and it
would be his duty to explain the causes which had
led to that result. They were not at allan exception
to the general rule. The causes which had led to a
reduction in the dividend from 4i per cent. in the
corresponding half of 1865 to 4 per cent. in the past
half-year had nothing to do with the permanent good
and advantage of the undertaking. They had opened
and worked a large additional mileage. The receipts
per mile per train were not less than in the same
half of last year ; but owing to the general diminu-
tion in the traffic and the additional mileage run,
their expenditure had been greater in proportion to
the receipts. The monetary crisis had also effectel
them very materially, because, instead of borrowing
at rather high rates, they could have issued their
ordinary shares, which they had a right to expect
would be taken up. The crisis had also prevented
a large amount of pleasure traffic from coming on
the line, people having a smaller amount to
spend that way. The traffic had not increased in
proportion to the increased mileage run. The cattle
plague had also affected the cattle traffic. They had
large markets on their line at Salisbury, beyond it
at Yeovil, and also further on to Exeter. They
had also been prevented by the regulations import-
ing cattle from France at Southampton and bring-
ing them straight over the company's railway into
the London market, by which alone they had
lost about £3OO a week; in fact, the whole of the
cattle trade had been stopped. They had a memorial
presented to them by people at Southampton on the
subject, and they considered themselves illused in
the matter. Ports on the Thames had been allowed
to land foreign cattle and drive them to the London
market, while the people of Southampton were not
allowed to land cattle, from which place they could
be sent' direct by railway into the London Cattle-
market. The company felt that they had been ill-
used in that matter, but he hoped the restrictions
would soon be removed. The directors believed in
the soundness of the undertaking, and he was glad
to say that the Bank had that day reduced its rate
for money from 10 to 8 per cent. When the rate of
interest was reduced to a moderate amount and the
cattle restrictions were removed they would have an
increase of traffic as heretofore. They had a large
amount of new and undeveloped lines to work ; and
it was well known that the earlier years of railways
were the most expensive, the opening of the South-
ampton and Netley, the line from Alton to Win-
chester, the new service between Kensington and
London-bridge, the Andover and Redbridge, the
Okehampton, and other lines had increased the
working expenses. There was a portion of the
Chatham and Dover line from Clapham Junction
to which the company had subscribed £200,000, but
owing to the failure of the contractors the works on
that portion had been stopped, but the directors had
since made arrangements with the Chatham Com-
pany by which the money to be paid by the South-
Western Company should be expended directly on
the works for the completion of the line, so as to
enable the South-Western to run their trains through
to the Ludgate-station. Those works, he believed,
would be completed in eight or nine months, and
from which the directors expected considerable ad-
vantage to the traffic of the company. So long as
the junction line remained incomplete the traffic to
Ludgate could not be developed. As to the circui-
tous service from Euston to Kensington, passing
through their Waterloo Station to London-bridge,
nothing whatever could arise from it. The trains
were unremunerative, and no profit m hatever ‘had
arisen from it. This had been undertaken to pre-
vent competition, with which they were threatened.
The scheme of the junction line between the South-
Eastern and North-Western line from Euston to
Charing-cross would render the roundabout service
by Kensington totally unnecessary ; and the South-
Western Company would then have their Waterloo
Station again free to themselves. The high price of
provisions had necessitated an increase in the wages
of the men, although he thought their men had fair
and liberal wages. He then alluded to the extensive
repairs of the rolling-stock during the winter months
for the summer traffic, which had been charged
against the past half-year. They had run an ad-
ditional mileage of 272,000 train miles during the
past half-year, that bad increased the expense of
working, but a committee of the directors were
engaged in the investigation of the whole of the re-
quirements of the traffic, with a view to reduce the
mileage of the trains without injuring the traffic,
and to ascertain what improvement could be made
with a view to a reduction of expenditure. In the
locomotive department, with the assistance of
Mr. Beatie, their engineer, they expected to be able
to save a large expense. They were asked nearly
every week or fortnight to put on a fresh train
somewhere, perhaps to accommodate one or two in-
dividuals. The whole system of train service was
now occupying the attention of the directors, and he
trusted improvements would be introduced. At the
river side they had a very fine wharf for cattle and
goods, the frontage to the Thames extended about
250 yards, and they had two steam cranes which
travelled alongside the wharf. They had made an
improved arrangement there by which barges and
vessels might come alongside the whole front and be
loaded or unloaded, whether the tide was in or out,
instead of waiting as formerly for the tide, by which
they could now have about four or five times the
work done in a given time. They would proceed in
the most cautious way with new works while the
money market remained in its present state. With
rbeegeanrdbutyoiltilgiethSetsbuuy andprwith Yeovil
inthelastshtawroesmtley had
oinosat
par, and had expended £212,000 more than they
were authorised by the proprietors to expend for
that purpose, but as the Yeovil line paid 6 per cent.
dividend, the shares were not a bad investment at
par. The Act of Parliament years ago had given the
South-Western
and-\Vest YeovilernCo lw
Company 20
.oyears to purchase the
Salisbury
They now held two-
thirds of: the capital of that line, so that ccme what
might they would only have to buy up the remain-
ing one-third. In the last session there were pro-
moted 19 different railway bills affecting the com-
pany's interests, of which bills eight were aban-
doned, five lost by their opposition, four were thrown
out by the committee, and one was passed, sub-
ject to the insertion of certain clauses which gave
power to the Great Western and South-Western
Companies to work the traffic jointly over the pro-
posed Colnbrook railway, which ran in a northern
direction from their line to the Great Western.
Notwithstanding the opposition of the Great