The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-13 00:00:00

SOUTH WESTERN RAIL TVAY COMPANY

HALF-YEARLY MEETING THIS DAY.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the directors
and shareholders of this company was held to-day
at the Waterloo Station, Captain Mangles pre-

sided.

The report, which has already appeared in The
Sun, having been taken as read,

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said
that those who were present at the two former meet-
ings would recollect that he on those occasions said
he believed the falling off of the amount of dividend
was entirely owing to exceptional circumstances,
and to-day he had the gratification of saying that
that prediction had proved correct. (Hear, hear.)
They had now turned the corner, and he hoped
for the future they would go on pr os-
sperously and well for the future. The divi-
dend they intended to-day to submit to the
meeting was an honest dividend. (Hear, hear.)
The capital account, he had pleasure to say, had
only been increased this year by the sum of £61,896,
and he hoped that year by year it would go on de-
creasing, and that- in a few years they would be
enabled to clear it off altogether. The expenses had
been incurred by erecting goods sheds and
sidings at Vauxhall, by replacing the iron rails with
those made of steel, which would last three or four
times as long as iron, the erection of the new station
at Leatherhead, some improvements at the Ports-
mouth station, the doubling of the rails from
Basingstoke to Salisbury, and the construction of the
Andover junction. The payments that had been
made on the working account were highly creditable
to the whole of their servants. (Hear, hear.) The
payments for compensation, lost property,. &c., only
amounted to £3,400. The steamship account stood
highly favourable, as they been enabled entirely to
pay for the two steamers, the Normandy and the
Granville ; and they had been entirely removed
from the accounts. (Hear.) The revenue account
also exhibited a favourable aspect ; and with respect
to the traffic revenue he had the gratification of
stating that the increase for this year amounted
to £13,500, which was nearly at the rate of £2,000 a
week, which gave the brighest premises of a good
dividend in the ensuing half year. The works in
progress had gone on very satisfactorily, and
although they had been very extensive, yet-they
promised to be very remunerative. He had just
one word to say of the attempt that was made to
victimize railway companies when they went into
new districts. Now when they went into the
Richmond and Kensington they had twenty-two
charges for compensation, amounting to no less a
sum than £183,955, but the parties who made these
excessive demands had to submit either to juries or
arbitration, and thus they only got £6o,ooo—(hear,
hear)—and in two other cases where the sums asked

for amounted in one case to £3,992, and in the
other to £2,100, the claimants only got ss. in the
pound. With respect to the new works at Herne
Hill, the shareholders might rest assured that the
directors would exercise the utmost discretion, and
that the absence of all discussion on the matter
would be attended with the best results. He also had
to make a passing allusion to the bill now before
Parliament for working powers between the Brighton
and the South-Eastern. The directors assured the
meeting that the bill would receive the watchful
interest of the directors in its passage through Par-
liament. They bad no new project, no new line
to place before the meeting—(hear, hear)—and
from present prospects the affairs of the company
seemed highly
satisfactory. He could not resume
his seat without ex
pressing the regret of the board
for the loss they had sustained by the death of Mr.
Godson. He had been an honest, upright, and
the company for 30 years, and
energetic officer of
he was sure the meeting would join in the regret he
bad expressed for his loss on behalf of the board.
(Hear, hear.) He had now the pleasure of formally
moving the adoption of the report.
The motion of the chairman was received with
evident satisfaction, and unanimously agreed to by
the meeting.