The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-22 00:00:00

PRICE .4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

LAIiLILE7H BRIDGE COMPANY.

A meeting of the directors and proprietors of this
company was held yesterday at the Westminster
Palace Hotel. Viscount Torrington occupied the

The report of the directors and the engineer'&
report, which we have already published, were read.
The former stated that the working plans for the
bridge had been approved by the Admiralty and
the conservators of the Thames, and the necessary,
deposits had been paid. The remainder of the re-
port is comprised in the chairman's observations.

The engineer's report described the bridge and
the mode of its construction.

•
The CHAIRMAN said he would as shortly as
possible point out the object for which this bridge
was being erected. It had always been almost a
reproach to the City of London that it had so few
bridges in comparison to its population, and when
it was compared with Paris, which was so well
bridged, they would see the justice of the reproach.
Some years ago it had been recommended that a
bridge should be made to Lambeth, and the diffi-
culty in carrying out the recommendation had
always arisen from the enormous expense which
attended such an undertaking. Mr. Barber, their
engineer, had therefore devoted his attention to
this subject, and had gone to America almoit for
the sole purpose of ascertainieg the advisability of
constructing bridges on the cheaper construction
that prevailed there,. and he had proposed the plan
now about to be carried out. He felt perfectly cin-
vinced that horn the experience he had had of Air.
Barber, as a-engineer, in conneetiOn with a rail-
way, that any work entrusted to him would be
carried-out with integrity. Oa both sides of the
bridge there was a large population, and it would
be a great benefit to Lambeth and to Pimlico, sup-
posing always that the toll was very moderate, as
the directors intended to make it. High tolls would
never answer. The distance between Westminster
and Vauxhall bridges was very considerable; and
that this bridge was looked upon as a benefit wit.-
proved by the fact that it past-ed through Parlia-
ment without any opposition whatever • and the
cost of getting the bill through had, therefore, been
nothing in comparison with the usual expense of
such an operation. The works had already been
contracted for in a very spirited manner by Mr.
Newall and Mr. Porter, who, having the fullest
confidence in the undertaking, had agreed to take
a con-iderable portion of the contract money in
paid-up shares of the company. Bat the company
had the option of paying off the shares in money,
and thus saving the company no less than £4,000.
As the inhabitants of Pimlico and Lambeth would
derive a great benefit from the bridge, he thought
it was desirable that they should take shares. No
attempt had been made to get the shares taken ex-
cept by advertisements in the papers, and he might
say that those advertisements were more for the pur-
pose of giving notoriety to the company than for ob-
taining money. However, there was a capital sub-
scribed to carry out the work, and a sufficient num-
ber of shares had been taken to enable them to exer-
cise their borrowing powers ; and not only had they
the power of borrowing, but they had no difficulty in
obtaining money, as there was an application already
to lend them a sum. He mentioned this to show
that .the matter was complete in all its stages, and
the bridge was in progress of being carried out, and
it was hoped that in the early part of next year it
would be carried out, and that they would receive
the benefit of the traffic of 1862, which would be
occasioned by the Great Exhibition. He thought
this was briefly a general view of the case, with
regard to the traffic on this bridge. It would be
constructed that it could be widened to make it
equal in width to London Bridge. Having stated
briefly the general points, h 9 had only to observe
that, looking at the comparative traffic of other
bridges, and looking at the situation of this bridge,
he thought that there was every reason to believe
that, taking the very worst view, the undertaking
would pay an interest of sor 6 per cent. He be-
lieved that was the worst view; but he preferred to
take that view rather than a more favourable one in
estimating the results of the undertaking. He
moved that the report be adopted. •
Mr. WOODHOUSE seconded the resolution, and it
was carried.

The directors were re-elected, and Mr. aildey
and Mr. White were .Appointed auditors; and a
vote of thanks to the chairman closed the pro-
ceedings.