The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-05 00:00:00

Great Eng]

Railways.

THE SOUTH EASTKM

The system of which we are now about to take
stock is not, unfortunately for the proprietors, in
such happy circumstances as the Great Northern,iusn
which we last reviewed, but has had to sustain
during the last few years the strain of a very
severe competition. Mistaken economy, in the
first instance, led the promoters of the South
Eastern to be content to be an offshoot of the
Brighton, while the true interest of the proprietor
was to run nearly as straight as an arrow from th
metropolis to Dover, regardless of all obstacle
It is fair, however, to observe that when th
South Eastern was first projected it was neve
supposed that the relations between England alai
France would expand as, they have expander
during the last wonderful quarter of a century, an(
doubtless the engineer in chief of the original Soutl
Eastern enterprise believed that he was realli
studying the interests of his employers in adoptini
a cheap circuitous route. In the long run this hal
proved a most serious error, for during the last ter
years a formidable competitor has appeared in th(
London, Chatham, and Dover, while, what with
fearfully expensive metropolitan extensions and
new works to secure the direct route which ought
to have been adopted in the first instance, the South
Eastern will have to expend in the end an enormous
amount of capital, upon which it is extremely
doubtful whether a fully remunerative return can
be obtained. But it is always easy on looking back
to detect errors which might have been avoided,
were men gifted with a larger share of prescience
than they actually possess, and we must not be hard
upon the present administration of the South Eastern
for errors committed by predecessors unable to an-
ticipate and provide for the future course of events.
With these sage reflections, let us examine the
course of the traffic, &c., upon the South Eastern
during the last three years—the expression " South
Eastern," including the London and Greenwich,
the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate, the Mid-
Kent, and, as regards 1864, the Charing-cross also.
Annexed are the receipts acquired, the working
expenses incurred, and the profits realised upon the
system in 1862, 1863, and 1864, or rather in 1862-3,
1863-4, and 1864-5, the company making up its
accounts to January 31 in each year :
Year. Receipts. Expenses. Profits.
1862 £1,156,416 ... £554,673 ... £601,743
1863 ... 1,162,886 ... 560,349 ... 602,537
1864 ... 1,198,187 ... 605,586 592,601
It may be said that we have been rather hard upon
the South Eastern, and that a concern which realises
a profit of about £600,000 a year cannot be in a very
bad way. But, in the first place, it will be seen that
although the receipts have made a certain progress,
yet the working expenses, by reason of the active
competition which it has been found necessary to
sustain against the London, Chatham, and Dover,
have increased in a greater ratio, and that the net
profits realized in 1864 presented a decline of £9142
as compared with 1862. This would be a trifling
circumstance in itself, had not the capital account
been increased from £15,304,137, raised by shares
and loans, Jan. 31, 1863, to £17,561,039 similarly
raised, January 31, 1865. These figures comprise
for 1862-3 the Mid-Kent, the London and Green-
wich, the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate, and
the South-Eastern. For 1864-5 they embrace
the South-Eastern, the London and Greenwich,
the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate, the Charing-
cross, and the Mid-Kent. The amount raised by.
the Charing-cross, January 31, 1863, was not in-
cluded is the total given for that date, as this vir-
tual extension of the South-Eastern system was not
amalgamated with the parent undertaking until
September 1, 1864, and did not become a charge
upon it until that date. The capital account thus
appears, according to our mode of treating it, to
have been increased to the extent of £2,256,902,
comparingJanuaiy 31, 1865, with January 31,1863,
while the profits realized in 1864-5 as compared
with 1862-3 declined to the extent of £9,142. Such
was the result of the competition carried on for
21 months with-the London, .Chatham, and Dover.
The directors persevered with it for another year,
in which period the capital account was increased
to the extent of £642,575, while the net profits
realized decreased to the extent of £20,630, as com-
pared with the corresponding period of 1864. The
result of the constant additions of capital was that
the dividends on South-Eastern ordinary stock,which
was at the rate of £5 2s. 6d. per cent per annum
for the year ending Jan. 31, 1863, was only at the
rate of £2 10s. per cent. per. annum for the half-
year ending July 31, 1865 ; and the upshot of the
matter finally was that the directors came to the
conclusion that they must secure traffic arrange-
ments with the London, Chatham, and Dover—in
other words, that the competition long and obsti-
nately maintained with that company must cease.
The London, Chatham, and Doverwas only too glad
to come to terms, and the result was an agreement
between the two rival companies, to which we shall
make future allusion.

Meanwhile, it may be of some interest to analyse
the details of the South-Eastern traffic in 1864-5--.

that is, for the 12 months ending Jan. 31, 1865,

'The extent of line worked at that date was 291
miles (269 miles double and 22 miles single) as com-

pared with 286 miles Jan. 31, 1864. The number of
passengers conveyed in what for the sake of brevity
may be termed 1864, was 15,008,755 (1,709,865
first • class, 3,419,253 second class, and 9,879,637
third class) against 13,455,053 in 1863. There were
besides, last year, 3,309 holders of season or perio-

dical tickets. The number of carriages conveyed
last year was 2,229, of horses 9,202, and of dogs
19,615. The movement of live stock last year em-
braced 26,233 head of cattle, 209,788 sheep, and
7'358 pigs. The slow trains conveyed, besides,
198,132 tons of coal and coke, and 690,901 tons of
general merchandise. The number of passenger
trains run last year was 121,326, and of goods trains
9,301 ; the passenger trains ran 3,349,218 miles,
and the goods trains 837,100 miles, making an ag-
gregate of 4,186,318 miles. The average fares
charged last year by ordinary trains were—first
class, 1-96 d. per mile ; second class, 1.39 d. per
mile ; and third class, 0.83 d. per mile. With ex-
press trains the fares were 2.34 d. per mile, first
class, and 1.70 d. per mile second class. The receipts
from passengers last year were £807,088 (1254,937
first class, £225,973 second class, £287,654 third
class, and £38,542 season and periodical tickets)
against £769,731 in 1863. The receipts from ex-
cess luggage, "parcels, carriages, horses, dogs, &c..

conveyed
.by passenger trains, were £59,219 last
year, and from mails, £34,027 ; making the total
earnings in the quick train or coaching department
last year £900,334. As regards the slow train ser-
vice, live stock produced £8,046 ; coal and coke,
£31,298 ; and general merchandise, £258,509 ;
making a total of £297,853. Adding this sum to the
£900,334 acquired by the quick trains we have the
total of £1,198,187 indicated above as the revenue
of the system for the past year. It will be seen
that the company's revenue is very largely depen-
dent upon passenger traffic, the movement of goods
being comparatively insignificant. Turning now
to the details of the working expenses we find that
maintenance of way absorbed last year, £100,072 ;
locomotive power, £145,274 ; repairs and renewals
of carriages and waggons, £48,656 ; traffic charges,
(coaching and merchandise,) £178,362 ; rates and
Government duty, £27,995 ; corn-
taxes, £45,989 ;
pensation for personal injury, &c., £6,297 ; com-
pensation for damage and loss of goods, £1,812 ;
legal and parliamentary expenses, £7,943 ; and
miscellaneous charges, £43,186; making a total of
£605,586, or rather more than 50 per cent. of the
receipts. At the close of January, 1865, the com-
pany possessed 214 locomotives, two Royal carriages,
339 first-class and saloon carriages, 84 composite
carriages, 306 second-class carriages, 419 third-
class carriages, 160 mail, luggage, and bullion vans,
tr u cks,
100 horse-boxes, 102 carriage-trucks, six. stores
vans, 2,541 goods and coal trucks, 185 cattle
trucks, 650 timber, coke, ballast, &C./ Waggons' 65
brakes, and 337 horses. This considerable plant
has Ulla Year been further increased to some slight
extent.

We have said that £17,561,039 had been raised
by shares and loans
January 31, 1865. Of this
total, £15,767,739 referred to the South Eastern,
with which the Charing-cross and the Mid-Kent
were last year amalgamated ; £BOO,OOO to the Read-