The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-02 00:00:00

It AILWAY INTELZIGENCE.

S OUTII-E ASTERN.
The following is a more extended report than
appeared in The Sun of yesterday.
The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of
this company was held yesterday at the Bridge-
house Hotel, London-bridge, tl.e lion. James Byng,
the chairman of the company, in the chair.
Mr. SMILES, the secretary, read the notice con •
veniAg the meeting. The report, an abstract of
which has already appeared in The Sun, was taken

as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said—Gentlemen, the accounts for the half-
year, which have been placed in yoar hands, render
it unnecessary for me to enter into any detailed ex-
planations on the present occasion. The net result
of the half-year's working
.may be summed up in a
few words. The increase in the gross receipts has
been about £30,000; but the reduction in the
charges against revenue have been such that we
are not only enabled to recommend you to divide
the whole of this amount, but a sum of above
£7,000 in addition. Should you adopt the direc-
tors' recommendation as to the dividend to be de•
dared, the rate will he at 4 per cent. for the last
half-year as ompared with 3 per cent. for the cor-
responding half of 1858, a result which is perhaps
its own best comment:ll7 on the healthy state of
the undertaking. (Hear.) It is ri7ht, however,
that I should add that there hit. been no relaxa-
for, main-
tion whatever in the measures necess:.73'
taining the efficiency of the permanent "V' and
the working stock, the current revenue hit;'ing
been directly charged with the expenditure neces-
sary for these purposes. You will observe from the
engineer's report that the expenditure in his de-
partment during the last five years has consider-
ably exceeded that of former years, but with the
result of greatly improving the condition of the
road, a point which we consider to be of very great
importance. I may mention that by an arrangement
with the Post-office, under which we obtain an in-
creased allowance for the service, the night mail now
performs the journey between London and Dover in
two hours and five minutes, and we are enabled to ac-
complish this principally by virtue of an excellent
road and the superior character of the gradkafs
upon our main line. (Hear.) Another satisfactory
feature which is alluded to in the report is the source
of increase of traffic during the half-year, which is
almost entirely derived from local traffic. The
through traffic to and from the Continent during the
last year has,- indeed, been considerably less than in
some former years, but this may be accounted for by
various disturbing causes which have checked
growth in that quarter. There has also been a
severe and protracted competition by neighbouring
companies for passengers between London, Ports-
mouth, and the Isle of Wight at unusually low
fares, which must have had a considerable effect in
abstracting excursion traffic from this railway ;
nevertheless, the local traffic has gone on steadily
increasing, so that the net result of the last year's
working, as exhibited in the third tabular statement
contained in the report, has not only been main-
tained, but it exceeds that of all former years. And
I believe I may say, with confidence, that there is
no reason to doubt that the local traffic will con-
tinue to go on increasing as heretofore, in propor-
tion to the facilities which we provide for its deve-
lopment and its adequate accommodation. (Hear.)
And this brings me to the question of the further
capital -which the directors think it necessary to
expend with this object. We know that the
.'2, pro-
prietors very
with consi properly regard all additions to capi-
taldOntble jealousy, and we do not desire
vigi-
that they should in any way-
lance in this respect. We wish that every Pgi
7
outlay on capital account should be well scrutinised;
for, as no such expenditure is made or proposed by
'121.x in their
tne directors without careful consideration, Ave be-
lieve that we shall alwaps be able fully to justify,
what we recommend in this direction. (Cheers.)
Several of the items of new capital expenditure, as
stated in the report, explain themselves. The
siding at Ashford is rendered necessary by the
increased traffic created by the new stock markets
at that place, and also for the purpose of accelerat-
ing the passage of through trains. This measure
is therefore rendered necessary by , consideratiTheons
of public convenience as well, as safety.
improvements at the Canterbury station have for
some time been under consideration ; but we find
they cannot longer be delayed, looking to the large
traffic which is expected, and which we must be
prepared to accommodate on the holding of the
next meeting of the Agricultural Society of Eng-
land at Canterbury, in July, 1860. The enlarge-
ment of the Customs examining warehouse at Folke-
stone is rendered necessary by the great increase in
the imports from France passing over this railway.
The present warehouse is often choked up with
goods, and delays and interruptio :s of the trallic
are thus caused, which it is the interest of the coin-,
piny at once to obviate by increasing the accom-
modation to the required extent. The new works
proposed at the Dover terminus are of an important
character. When carried into effect, the engines
and trains of this company will be enabled, by an
n t o
for
re
arrangement with the Admiralty, to pass directly
o
the conveyance
Admiralty
p ier, ,
of and
the give
mails, spaesc special faci-
litiesasthrough passengers and luggage, to and from the
Continent. I ought also to add that the execution
of the proposed works will have the effect of pro-
tecting the Lord Warden Hotel against the force
of the sea when the wind blows
strong from the
south-oast, storms from that quarter having of late
years caused considerable damage to the hotel, and
involved the company in a large outlay for repairs.
It is only fair to add that in carrying out these 1111-
prmainnts this company
_will derive material al-