The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-29 00:00:00

SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.
The eleventh half-yearly ordinary meeting of the
shareholders of this company was held yesterday,
pursuant to advertisement, at the Great \s estern
Railway Station, Paddington.
C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., M.P., the chairman of the
company, took the chair shortly after one o'clock.
Theusual routine business having been gone through
The SECRETARY read the following report of the
directors :
" The directors have to report that they have con-
tinued steadily to carry on the works on the portion of
the line between Swansea and Grange Court, and that on
the 18th of June they were enabled to open for traffic 75
miles of railway, between Chepstow and Swansea.
Neither goods nor minerals have hitherto been con-
veyed, along the line, nor have any payments on account
of mails been received; the weekly receipts have been in
fact mainly supplied by local passengers, the existence
of an inconvenient gap between Chepstow and Gloucester,
operating as a check to the development cf the through
traffic of line. Under these circumstances, the di-
rectors consider the weekly returns satistactory; they
will use every effort to secure as speedy a completion of
the works to Grange Court as is practicehie, in order to
bring into full operation the treflie of a continuous line
between London and Swansea.
"The negotiations with the Great Western Company,
for the purpose of modifying the existing agreement for
a lease of your line to that company, have not led ta
any result, the terms asked by the South Wales Com-
pany having been deemed too high by the Great Wes-
tern directors, and the terms offered by the Great
Western directors having been considered too low by
the South Wales directors. It is, however, satisfactory
to be able to state chat there was no material diversity
of opinion as far as regards the principle on which such
a modification ought to proceed, the negotiation having
been: broken off in consequence of a difference of opinion
with reference to the amount of fixed rent to be ulti-
mately paid by the Gnat Western Company.
" Two Bills were brought into Parliament with rsfe-
remake to your company in the session just expired, the
first, which had for its object. simply an extension of
time for the exercise of the compulsory powers of the
company, and the completion of the works west of
Swansea, passed into an Act without opposition. Of
the other Bill, the object was twofold; first, to enable,
you to re-issue forfeited shares either as preference shares
or otherwise; secondly, to sanction certain improvements
and deviations on your line, and on the Forest of Dean
Railway, and the mode of raising the tolls thereon. In
the early part of the session it was deemed desirable ee
divide this last named Bill Into two Bills, and accordingly
a Bill fur the sole object of enabling you to re-issue
forfeited shares has been passed. The other, which was
for the improvement of your line, has unfortunately
been lost, owing to the refusal of the Great Western
Company to consent to those portions of it which re-
quired that consent. The Bill thus lost, was one provid-
ing for objects Important equally to your own interests,
to Rio freighters on the Forest of Dean Railway. and to
those of the Great Western Company. It would have
effected material improxement in the value of your pro-
perty, and it is to be lamented that the contemplated ad-
vantages have been lost to both companies; at the same
time it will be satisfactory to you to know that the ob-
jects of the Bill, although desirable, were not essential,
and the directors trust that the loss of this Bill will not
retard the complttion of your line,. The Great Western
board declined to assign reasons for their refusal to
consent.
" The Crrectors have carefully considered the necessity
of submitting to this meeting any scheme for the raising
of money under the provisions of the Act lately passed,
and they are of opinion, that with the balance in band,
the receipts from the arrears of calls, and the issue of
debentures to a moderate extent, they will be enabled to
complete the line to Grange Court without exercising
the powers of that Act, which will then remain in full
foree and effect, to be emplee ed in carrying out the en-
tire engagements to the Greet Western Company, at any
time which may he decided upon."
The report of 2lessrs. Thurburn and Biker, the
auditors of the company, we have already given, and
it is, tterefore, unnecessary for us to repeat it.
Tne CHAIRMAN, in directing the secretary to read
the engineer's report, regretted that, in consequence
of the late hour at which it was received last night,
the directors hid nut been able to have it printed fur
the use of the proprietors. The secretary would,
however, read it, and as soon as possible it would be
printed and eirculitt.d among the proprietors.
The following is

TAE ENGINEER'S REPORT.

"18, Duke-street, Westminster, Aug. 27, 1850.
"Gentletner,—A reference to the feet of the opening
of the railway bre.ween Chepstow and Swansea, as
promised at the last half-yearly meeting, and the satis-
faetory manner in which that part of the line has been
subsequently worked, may. I trust, supply the place of '
auy dettailed repcwt of. the proceedings as regards those
works up to the period of the completion of the per-
manent way.
" Since the 15th June, when the.railway was opened
for public traffic, the final completion of the ballasting,
the trimming and st!'ling of the slopes, the closing of
the fencing, and generally the finishing up of the minor
works on the several contrecta have been proceeded
with. There is stiil some work to be done in the re-
moval of material from the slip in the Llensatulet cut.
Wag between Neath and Swansea, but, with Vila excep-
tioo, I trust that everything will be completely finished in
two months, and I em prom echug with the st ttlemetet o,
the accounts with the several contractors.
.4 The goods sheds, cranes, sidings, and other ar-
rangements for the merchandise traffic have been pro-
eteiled with, and will be ready for commencing this
trade in the ensuing month.
" The five small additi(nal stations recently ordered
are in hand, and will also he ready fur use next month.
Preparations are also melting for proceeding with the
goods branch at Swansea, which will afford a direct tic-
eess, and the means of shipping minerals at the port.
" Between Chepstow and Gloucester the works arc
is a forward state, and if no unexpected obstuele arise,
they easy be completed at the period mentmned in
firmer reports, namely, the spring of 1851. Ot these
works the Bridge at Chepstow is the most im-
portant. Six of the twelve cast-iron piers or
cylinders required have been sunk to the full
depth, and bedded in the rock, two others are within
about a foot or eighteen inches of the same Led of rock,
and preparations are now making fur sinking the other
four. There is no doubt this portion of the work will be
completed in time to receive the superstructure, the eon-
etruction of which is now proceeding rapidly at Chep-
stow., and in the other estanli3hments of the contractor.
The main truss and other parts of one road way are
nearly completed, and prepereeions ore rocking fir
putting them together and testing all the parts in the
company's yard a,dioieing the site of the bridge, and I
shenid hope that in six or eight weeks this operation
will be commenced.
Eastwards of Chepstow the principal works are
generelly far advanced towards compictiun. At one part
of the liee, ',ear Sydney, we bad delayed commencing the
works, or even obtaieing the land, in expeetetion of
makes z sona, davialiana; no further delay must now take
p sate at this point, as the execution of the works them-
selves may occupy six months, particularly if the winter
should be unfavourable. At the point of junction with
the Bello Pill Railway the works had also been post-
poned; we are now proceeding with them. With these
exceptions everything is in a forward and very satisfac-
tory sate, for the entire distance of about twenty miles;
fcow Chepstow to Grange Court, nearly ten miles are
completed, and upwards of five miles aro ready for the
peraianent way, which we are about to commence.
" Between Grange Court and Gloucester the Gloucester
and Dean Feret.t Railway Company are proceeding
rapidly with the works, and will, no doubt, have com-
pleted their line, so that no delay *ll be caused in corn-
ale!irg the communication with the Groat Western
R alw:ty ca-A: of Gloucester.—l am, gentlemen, your
obedient servant, (Signed) "J. K. BRUNEL.
" Tu the Directors of the South 1% ales
• Railway Company."
The CIIAIRMAN, in moving the reception and adop-
tion of the atport of the directors, observed that it
weuld nut be neceseery for him to make many re-
marks. It was the opinion of their auditors that all
Government interference in the audit of railway ac-
counts ought to be deprecated, and in that opinion he
most cordially concurred, feeling that all audits by a
Government officer were the worst that could be
conceived.—(Elear, hear.) lie hoped that in the
cour‘e of the next session some measure would be
introduced into the House of Commons on the subject.
_(llear.) With respect to the traffic on the line,
he sets happy to say that it was double what it was
153 t year.—(Hear, hoar.) He was sure also that when
goods trade was established the company would
not only be placed in a sound but a most satisfactory
and profitable condition.—(Hear, hear.) As to the
negotiationS between this company and the Great
Western, that was a question for most serious con-
sideration.—(Hear, hear.) If he had looked to his
own interest, and no one else's, he should not care
about negotiation, but as ore of the trustees for this
company he felt bound to consent to some negotiation.
The terms of that negotiation, he was sorry to say,
had been greatly misrepresented. It had been sup-
posed that the line beyond Swansea was to be aban-
doned. Such was not the case. The South Wales
Company would oarry the lilac as far as its pro-
prietors would allow it.—(Hear, hear.) Another
error was that the sum to be realised by the first '
year's working was 45,000/., while the fact was that it
was stated at 25,0001. It was thought there was no
consideration for the compromise that was proposed,
while the fact was that the Great Western Company
have to pay to the South Wales Company 200,000/.
a year ; and he believed that the compro-
mise was one that would have been moat profit-
able to the Great Western Company, and the
proposition of the Seut'n Assist Company, therefore,
did not deserve the appellution of an unreasonable
and preposterous one.—(flear, hear.) lie believed
that thee. might now consider negotiations with the
Great Western Company as definitively chyed. He
imputed no blame to any of the directors of the
14E34/SPraub ~I,7a.aterti Company, but it was natural, when
tr,..,4,. - --'7.10641 4:ieg- tk7the interest of their own proprietors, that
.. i .. _ jthey,thoph‘look through a different coloured glass to
~r
: what the erOectors of the present company did. The -,,/
r`- ... ' Chlitniarai after alluding to the course pursued by the
'ra', Great IVeetern Company in opposing the— Bill
\" - . which had/ been lost, said the effect of this
a.. a
-; .would be to create great expense to the South
, -yr.le . Company, and why they should have op.
poseethe measure he could not for the life or
soul of him tell.—():icar, hear.) It apaeared to him,
as they had been thwarted in carrying out their line