The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-22 00:00:00

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to 18,048 i
n/
respect 1
consolidate4s . 3d.
of
SOUTH-EASTERN.
The half-yearly report of the directors to be pre-
sented to the proprietors on Thursday next has just
been issued. It says, " The accounts for the half-
year ending the 31st July last show that the gross
ocrhreacairengipaertssy for that period on revenue account have
amounted to 502,5231. 9a. 6c1., being a decrease of
6531. 14s. Bd. as compared with the corresponding
period of 1856. The working expenses of the half-
year have amounted to 197,0091. 12s. 2d. ; the rates,
sk providingnotfetesteh, e
o formannuities,
at
nh ye fixed
pre-
ferencexeA
taxes, tolls, and Government duty to 35,0331. 19s.
sd. ; and the working of the steam-packet service
dividends, dm, there remains a net balance
drAfeen!oe
e r
of 118,5381. 13s. 9d. available for dividend on the
dividend of 9s. per 301. stock, or at the rate of 31.
perdciemin
nt,
ipshertahnenpnmass,ewngilelrabrseocrebipatssumot
during
the
111, 5051.
10e., leaving a balance to be carried forward of
7,0331. 3s. 9d. Several circumstances have tended
to
half-year. Amongst these may be mentioned the
decrease in the movement of troops to and from
Aldershot, Shorncliffe, Dover, Woolwich, and
Chatham. The discontinuance of the Greenwich
fairs at Easter and Whitsuntide has also led to a
considerable diminution in the receipts on the
Greenwich branch. Notwithstanding these Myren()
circumstances, the elasticity of the local traffic ha
been such that the total receipts from passenger
traffic on the railway show a small increase over
those for the corresponding period of 1856. The
receipts from other descriptions of traffic have on
the whole been well maintained. The expenditure
on the repair and renewal of the permanent way,
although less than that of the corresponding period
of last year, is nevertheless in excess of the
average expenditure of preceding years. The con-
dition of the road has in consequence been ma-
terially improved. The company's steam-packets
have been well maintained, at a reduction in
the expenditure under this head of 2,6511. on the
half-year. The packets have run 26,070 miles dur-
ing that period, at an average speed of 1411 statute
miles per hour ; the average time occupied in mak-
ing all the passages between the opposite shore hav-
ing been 1 hour 58 minutes. The capital expended
during the half-year has amounted to 60,8041.
11s. 11d., the principal portion of which has been
for additional working stock for completing the
direct junction of the main line with the Tunbridge
Wells and Hastings branch, and for additional
works and station accommodation on the main line
and branches, as authorised by the proprietors.
The directors are proceeding, from time to time,
with the sale of the company's surplus lands. The
amount realised during the last year has been
17,0821., the lands sold having brought good prices.
The remaining surplus property not required for
the purposes of the railway will be offered for sale
as opportunities occur. The attention of the direc-
tors has been much occupied during the present
session of Parliament by the proceedings involved
in the application made for a relief line of railway
from Lewisham to Dartford. It also became the
duty of the directors to oppose the competing
scheme of the East Kent Company for a line be-
tween Strood and St. Mary's Cray, by which, -in
conjunction with the Bromley to St. Mary's Cray
and the West-end and Crystal Palace lines, they
sought to procure an access to London entirely in-
dependent of the South-Eastern system, and there-
by to enter into competition for the whole of tLe
continental, Dover, Canterbury, and Strood traffic.
The principle contended for by this company be-
fore Parliament was, that the East Kent Railway,
established for military and local considerations,
and presented to Parliament in the first instance as
a line in extension of the North Kent Railway,
ought not now to be treated as a portion of an en-
tirely independent scheme. After a protracted in-
vestigation, this view was adopted by the com-
mittee of the House of Commons, who passed the
Greenwich Junction to Dartford Bill, rejecting the
East Kent Bill, and, by their report to the house, re-
, cognised the just claim of the South-Eastern Com-
pany to protection from unnecessary and injurious
competition, such asthat contemplated by the scheme
of the East kent Company. The directors regard
the decision thus come to by the committee of the
House of Commons, and the important principle
which it recognises, as of the greatest value to the
interests of this company and of all railway pro-
perty. The directors, however, regret to add, that
the bill, after having received the sanction of the
proprietors, and been introduced into the House of
Lordq, was rejected by their lordships' committee,
in so far as related to the formation of the proposed
relief line of railway between Lewisham and Dart-
ford. The proprietors have already been informed
that the committee of the House of Commons, be-
fore passing the preamble of the bill, required the
directors to give them a pledge that they would call
the proprietors together, with a view to providing
a communication with the West-end of London.
The chairman, in declaring the decision of the
committee, made some remarks which would ap-
pear to intimate that the committee considered the
scheme proposed incomplete, inasmuch as it did
not provide such a communication. And the di-
rectors have reason to believe that the committee of
the House of Lords were induced to reject the pre-
amble, in order that a scheme may be brought for-
ward next session in a more complete form, in con-
nee+ ion with a plan for giving the desired access to
the West-end of London. The bill promoted by
this company in the present session has, therefore,
received the Royal assent limited in its objects
principally to the formation of the junction at Tun-
bridge, and the increase in the qualification of di-
rectors from 6001. to 2,0001. stock, to be held for
three months previous to the date of election ; and
further, that 21 days' notice be given of the inten-
tion of any proprietor to offer himself for the office
of director. Application was made by this company
for a bill authorising the connection of the Reading
and Reigate branch of this railway with the narrow
guage of the Great Western Railway. The Staines,
Wokingham, and Woking Company applied for
similar powers, and the Gi eat Western Company,
as well as the Corporation of Reading having
given the preference to their scheme, the bill
promoted by this company was rejected, and that
of the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Company
was passed, after your directors had succeeded in
obtaining the insertion of clauses by which this
company will secure the full advantages of the junc-
tion, whether constructed by the Great Western,
or by the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Com-
pany. The directors considered it to be their duty
to oppose the passing of the bill authorising the
formation of a line from a point on the East Kent
Railway to Herne Bay—in which, however, they
did not succeed. The South London Railway Bill,
the Mid-Kent and South-Kent Railway Bill, were
also opposed by this company, in concert with the
Brighton Company, and rejected by Parliament."

[PRIOE 4D. ST&MPED 5D.]

ment. This sum, according to official statistics, will
form a total of nearly 20,000/.
The Barracouta, 6 guns, paddlewheel storm
sloop, Commander T. D. A. Fortescue, was paid off
at Sheerness yesterday. She has been in commission
since December, 1852.
The Malacca, 16 guns, screw steam sloop, has
been taken into the basin at Sheerness to be stripped:
her stores (as a first-class reserve steam sloop) are
to be returned into shore, and she is to be placed in
the second class steam reserve until her new boilers
are ready.
The Ganges, 84 guns, sailing ship, Captain John
Fulford, has been put out of the fitting basin at
Sheerness, and is ordered to be ready for sea in 10
days.
The Russell, 60 guns, screw steam ship, has been
taken into the fitting basin at Sheerness.
The new screw steamship Renown, 91 guns, is
undergoing alterations in No. 3 dry dock at Sheer-
ness.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :
Edward Maunder, master, to the Diadem ; J.
Rorie, mate to the ogue ; t. P. Fitzgerald, mate
to the Mohawk •, James Towel!, paymaster to the
Diadem ; Russell Hill, clerk to the Diadem ; Wat-
son W. Parminter, assistant-clerk to the Imaum ;
John J. Andrews, assistant-clerk to the Waterloo ;
Richard Williams, assistant-clerk to the Diadem.

.DEATH OF REAR-ADMIRAL ELIOT.
We regret to announce the demise of Rear-Ad-
miral Henry Algernon Eliot, which mournful
event occurred at 28, Porchester-terrace, Bays-
water, on the 17th inst., in the 69th year of his
age. He entered the navy Dec. 28, 1802, as first-
class volunteer, on board the Belleisle, 74, as mid-
shipman of which ship he accompanied Lord Nelson
in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France
and Spain to the West Indies in the summer of
1805. He then successively joined the Quebec,
32, and Euryalus, 36, on the Mediterranean sta-
tion, where he appears to have been frequently
employed in cutting out vessels from under the
enemy's batteries, After a further servitude in the
Royal William, Christian VII., 80, Prince of
Orange, 74, and Thisbe, 28, all on the home sta-
tion, Mr. Eliot was confirmed, June 8, 1810, to a
lieutenancy in the Ferret, sloop, then off the coast
of North America. Until November, 1816, we
next find him employed on the .Lisbon, Mediter-
ranean, and home stations, on board the Ton
:Ant, 80, Pylades, sloop, Cornwall, 74, Scylla, 16,
Phoenix, 36, Boyne, 98, and Bombay, 74. Dur-
ing that period he commanded the Tonnant's boats
up the River Tagus, in co-operation, in 1810, with
the British troops occupying the lines of Torres
Vedras, and while so employed, he was constantly
engaged with the advanced guard near Villa Franca,
and one occasion fell into the hands of the enemy,
by whom he was led captive for several weeks.
Mr. Eliot also, in the Pylades and Boyne, wit-
nessed an attack upon Ciotat, and was present at
the surrender of Naples in 1812-15. After serving
for about 12 months in the Creole, 42, on the
Brazilian station, he was promoted to the com-
mand, Sept. 2, 1819, of the Icarus sloop, in which
he continued until June, 1/331. He obtained his
post commission July 22, 1830, and was promoted
to Rear-Admiral, Sept. 27, 1855.

DEATH OF LIEUT. MURRAY.
Lieut. George Don Murray (1847) died recently
at Rosseanna, near Athlone. This officer, while
serving as midshipman of the North Star, 26, Capt.
Sir James Everard Home, commanded a sub-div:-
sion of seamen, and was severely wounded, in an
attack made in January, 1846, on a pah belonging
to a rebel chief named Kawiti, at Ruapikapika, in
New Zealand, which was assaulted and carried in
a most gallant manner after a severe action of four
hours. As a reward for his conduct he was pre-
sented, as soon as he passed his examination, with
a commission, dated Nov. 9, 1847. He has been
employed since the 10th of the following December
in the Prince Regent, 90; Neptune, 120 ; and the
Vengeance, 84.