The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCZ.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.
A special meeting of the company was held on
Saturday at the Waterloo station to consider a bill
now before Parliament ; Mr. W. J. Chaplin in the
hair.
The CHAIRMAN said that the meeting was
_con-
vened in compliance with the standing orders of the
House of Lords. The object of the bill was merely
nes and Wokingham line to the
to extend the ,Sta;
Great Western Railway at Reading, and to give
power to the South-Eastern, South-Western, and
kji eat Western Companies to participate in any be-
neftcial arrangement. that might be made for the
intevchange and working of the traffic.
.The SOLICITOR read the heads of the bill and the
clauses relating to the, use and working of the pro-
posed junction Ern .which was to connect the nar-
row guage lines at Reading ; and also those respect-
ing the collection, conveyance, and de'ivery of
goods traffiC, and the apport;onment and division
of the traffic during any specified time not exceed-
ing 10 years, subject to the approval of the Board
of Trade, and of three-fifths of the shareholders re-
presented at a meeting convened for the purpose.
Contracts or agreemews in respect to traffic may be
renewed at the end of ten years if approved by the
Board of Trade.
The CHAIRMAN moved a formal resolution ae -
proving the bill.
Mr. HERAPATH thought it desirable on such.
casions that they should have a map of the lines
and district placed in the room to give them an ilea
of what they wers about. He was glad to see that
the Great Western and South-Western companies
were working harmoniously at Dorch-st r and
Salisbury to develope the traffic.
The CHAIRMAN concurred in the uti'ity of a map
on such occasions, but the junction line was only
abotit 1 mile 7 furlongs in length. The Greet
Western Company would construct it for the Wok-
ingham Company, and, as it would run into the
Great Western line, it was quite right they should
have control over it. They were working amicably
with the Great Western Company, and they would
have a better station at Salisbury than was ex-
pected ; for sines the Bill had passed the Great
Western Company had expressed their wdlingness
to construct the station at Salisbury, so as to be
conveniently connected with the South-Western
station there, with a view to facilitate the traffic.
Mr. HEREPATH was glad the two companies ha I
come to an amicable arrangement, as great injury
had been done to railway property generally by the
adverse proceedings of railway companies. The
subject now was better' understood than formerly,
and it was found that amicable arranzernents fur the
accommodation of the public and the developement
f the traffic., were much better for all pat t:es than
ruinous competi!iou.
Tee motion approving the Bill was carried unani-
mously, and the mtetieg separated.

OSWESTRY AND NEWTOWN.
On Friday three meetings of this company took
place at Welahpool—viz., the adjourned half-yearly
raeoting And_ two special meeting. Sir W. W.
Wynn, M. P., presided.
The CHAIR.24LAN moved the adoption of the direc-
t _us' hal-yearly report, an abstract of "which has
already appeared .n The Sun.
Mr. MiNsuALL moved an amendment on thetwo
first paragraphs in the report, having reference to
the appointment of Mr. Piercy as engineer. in-chief
and the circumstances that had led to his resigna-
. tion and..subseque.nt appoin'lnnt of resid-nt en-
gineer under Mr. Joseph Cubitt, and also as to the
slow progress iu the purchase of land.
Mr. It. N. BROUGHTON seconded the amendment.

Ultimat:ly, after con.ifierable discussion, the re-
port was adopted by omitting a portion of the first
paragraph from the words commencing " the an-
poiutrnent".to "should b 3 appointed," and wholly
omitting the second.
The meeting was then m'tde special for the re-
ception and consideration of the report of the cum-
uli tee of inyes igation.
The report, au abstract of which his appeared in
The Sun, was t tken as read.
Mr. CARTWRIGHT moved--•

"That negotiations as to the contracts of works with
Messrs. Thornton and Al'Cortnick be abandoned."

He stated that the opnion of the committee with
respect to this rasolu ion was unanimous.

Mr. G. IL WHALEY seconded the resolution.
A letter from Mr. Thornton (of the firm of
Thornton and M'Cormielc), was rcad. It stated
that they had been advised that the agreement w Is
valid, and they were determined to enforce their
rights.
Mr. MYTLAR (a director, and! one of the eight
gentlemen who signed the agreement with the con-
tractors)
.spoke strongly against the resolution.
He deprecated, any repudiation of the agreement.
The Rev, J. R. HARRISON said the quehtion
whether the provisional directors, having signed
the agreement with-the full knowledge of its effect,
were not bound as men of honour to carry it out.
Earl Pow;s (a director) strongly expressed his
concurrence, in the observations of Mr. Mytlar,
and bis det-,erMination to vote against the resolution.
They should see. tf,at reducti .ua could be made by
limiting the.earaiworki to a single litre, and giving
Mr. Thornton the opportunity of making another
es imate.

The resolution was carried by a large majority.
Earl Pow.mdemanded a poll, the r_su't of which
showed a majority for the resolution of 678 on the
shares on which calls had been made in full, and
847 on shares on which the last call had not been
paid. (Chet L.)
The CHAIRMAN said the directors bad agreed to
give up the annual bum of 5001. allcoted to them.
Itesolniions were passed indemnifying the
eight genlemen who bad signed the agreement
of the 11th of January, 1855, from the conse-
quences thereof, the company undertaking to de-
fend them from any action or suit that might
be instituted against them by the contractors ; cd!-
ing the attention of the board to arrears of cal's,
and to the immediate liquidat'on of all claims on
the company ; fixing the salary of the secretary at
250/. a-year ; authorising the directors to complete
the contract with 'Mr. Davidson for constructing
the line, and requesting them to adopt the molt
stringent economy in every department._

Voles of thanks to the committee of investigl-
tion and to the chairman of the company closed the
proceedings.

CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAY.
.011 S.itur,lay a large meeting of railway directors
and m-xuagers of railway companies was held at the
King's Arms ravern, Westminster, to consider the
propriety of oppesiog "A Bill to mike further
ovi4-.)tr for thi Conveyatic of Mails by Rill ways."
Mr. E. Penisim was rtqueste3d to take the chair
unt:l the arrival of tt.e Marquis of Chandos, who
afterwards preside).

Mr.• COATES was appointed to act as secretary to
the meeting, and, at the request of the Chairman,
stated his views with regard to the bill. In hi,
opinion the main object of the bill was to give the
Voe -office authorites ab-,.olute control of all that
related to the conveyance of the mail bag, on raj-
ways, whether by mail trains or'such trains as th'y
might think. At. to. use as mail trains' properly so
called : to compel such trains to travel at n girt
at any sp ed they Might prescrib?, provided the
speed be not greater than that of an express train
during the day. Under the bill the P)stoffice
authorities 'would have th3-power. to -prescribe the
running of such trains as they may require, nnle,s
an officer of the Board of Trade sh,..uld declare
the running of them to le unsafe.. He (Mr. Co 'acs)
had been.inforate d. by cornl etent persons that such
a measure would be impracticable, as a gre.tt part
of the gentle bate was c trried over many lines
dui ingn,ght, and such a power asthat sought wo ild
be inc anpa i))1) with ra, lway 3Y invemtrit, or the
public safetz. They.would be placed under the con-
trol of an officer of the B 'ard of Tiade, while
the ra;.lway companies would be held respon-
sible for • all •
accidents awl losses that
might result . from s
The
neat
ti interference by.
the Po t
in the bill was the 5.11 clan-ex which7mp was exceeorta"t matter
hdiw2.,ly
difficult to understand.
interpret it, but could not suceele triedcl
teh very hard to
succeed 1s sa! isf acti,,n.
He believed it.was ititondedbyttcausethat the
Post-office should have the power to order
l-
way collap iny to alt,r the time running runnin rnlatil
trains, toalelay oihere, and corn.; el trains to run at
high ape air, -order to make up for lost tim eithsr
from di lays ()fah') Pod.-office or the trains of other
companies. Thesedelays and various ra' es of spiacil,
the temporary- conversion of or-din-air tra'ns into
-mad trains, would ,coinpl.cafe the working of th 9
ti-ainB; endanvr t!io public vfe!y, and calve penal-
tits out of bomb :r to bo incuirol by tie railway
COMpallje an It r , existin contracts with the Post-
a
:111u.i was Another ciat in which it w
Post-office to forward its
Prop to enable the
milts b:igs. ley eirdinaoy .trains, including luggage
tra.ius,, without a. guard or any.atendant: Ti:e
tebcantAnies were to rec the mail bags and deliver
part. S. Th:s regulation would,
the..coinpanies in groat risk,. A rail way.
company worldnot. b.) atlib.:lity to pk+r the tine
of run ni a train *tifrozit first n 7 days'
tO tll-3 Post-ottiee, and also st lug the time
cf st.rting the train before and after so that' -the
Pt s-offico might avail it self of rof those trains
ihould it. be .d.temetl re(plisit,
it was also pro-
vided, bajl the till that the p-st M-o might send
le-,gs in ch.rge of the guard of any train at -43(1. per
mite for_ every 112 Th. we ight of lei.ter ham to b
paid tor, accOr.iing to an average mileage a„,l „it ight
to be :decided by., the 13 ard of
.Tratle. The 1411
eattiie refe.red to th.) mode of wet daputo's.
The present method cuss by arbitrati u kinl the ap- .