The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-08 00:00:00

South• Eastern Ralway.

Yesterday afternoon a public meeting of the
annual ti ket-holders and other passengers upon
the South-Eastern Railway Company's system was
held at the Guildhall Coffee-house, Gresham-street,
City, for the purpose of protesting against the delay
and inconvenience they are suffering from the present
confused state of the traffic. Mr. Thomas Love-
ridge, who was called to the chair, said he felt the
greatest pleasure iu finding that Mr. Eborall, general
manager, and other officials of the South-Eastern
Company, were present, and prepared to give a full
explanation. Mr. Eborall, the general manager of
the South-Eastern Company, said he would explain
the reason of the delays which had taken place in
travelling over the South-Eastern Railway since the
opening of the station in Cannon-street, and that
before the end of the month everything would be in
a regular shape, and there would remain no cause of
complaint. In opening such an enormous station as
that at Cannon-street, one of the largest in the
world, many great difficulties arose, and they must
admit that excessive caution necessitated excessive
delay. For two months before the line was opened
men had been placed at the signals for the purpose
of becoming acquainted with their working, but
even now they took five winutes to work a signal
which formerly a man would work in a second. In
fact, they had displayed an amount of caution which
could not be su-passed, and it was much better than
having a series of accidents. The road had also to
be very severely tested, which difficulty should also
be borne in mind. (Hear, hear.) In the interest of
the shareholders they had to depend day by day on
the working of the traffic for the realisation of their
dividends. The company had done their best to
afford increased facilities and accommodation, and
their over care and caution was the cause of the pre-
sent complaint. Ile took upon himself the respon-
sibility of all these matters, as it was his duty, as the
general manager of the company, to advise the
&rectors on all these points. For himself he must
say that he very much regretted the inconveniences
which had arisen, but he assured the meeting that
he had endeavoured solely to give increased facilities
and accommodation to the public. In answer to a
series of questions, Mr. Eborall said that the curves
and gradients on the new portion of the line run-
ning to Cannon-street station might be considered
perfectly safe, as they were under the superintend-
ence of one of the most experienced engineers in
the country, with a staff of from 200 to 300 skilled
men. They had adopted the systems of signals
according to the Board of Trade regulations, and
no doubt they were the best; but the whole of
the men were timed and wished to exercise a most
excessive amount of caution. The following reso-
lution was agreed to unanimously, after several
suggestions had been made by Mr. Davidge, Mr.
Reeve, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Beal, and other gentlemen :
That the Board of Trade be memorialised to in-
vestigate the manner in which the passenger traffic
of the South-Eastern Railway has been conducted
since the opening of the Cannon-street station on
the Ist inst., and that the directors of the South-
Eastern Railway Company be requested tore-model
their arrangements for the working traffic to and
from the Cannon-street station." Mr. Smiles, the
secretary of the company, then expressed the wil-
lingness of the directors to adopt any suggestion that
could be practically carried out, and endorsed the
views of Mr. Eborall as to the many great difficul-
ties which had attended the opening of the Can-
non-street station. Upon the motion of Mr. Hitch-
cock, a resolution was passed acknowledging the
uniform civility of the whole body of workpeople
on the line, especially during the past eight days of
unprecedented difficulty. Mr. Wells then, in a
very conciliatory speech, proposed a resolution, to
the effect that this meeting, having heard the ex-
planations of the general manager and the secretary
of the South-Eastern Company, are ready to extend
to the company their forbearance until their arrange-
ments are made more complete. Mr. A. M. Flint
seconded the motion, which was agreed to. A vote
of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings.

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