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

TUE ENGINEER'S REPORT.

• " 18, Dalre•street, Westminster, Au_,. 27; 1850.
'• " Gentlemen,—A reference to the fact of the opening
of the railway between Chepstow and Swansea, as
promised at the last half-yearly meeting, and the eatis-
Ta;:torr.manner in which that part of the-line has been
',subsequently worked, may, I trust, supply the place of
-inlydetaiied'report of the proceedings al regards those
*oriel up to, -toe period of the completion of the per-
t& malt way.
• Since the,lBtle Jane, when the railway wweopened
_•for_ Public traffic, the final cornplelion of the ballasting,
ttimining and soiling of 'the slopes, the closing of
:the' fencing, and generally the tintsliing up of the minor
Vorks on the several contracts havo h,en proceeded
-with. There is still some work to be clone in the re-
nieva,l- of tnavrial from the slip in the LlAnsaralet cut.
ting between Neath and Swansea, but, with tliis
exrep-
tusn; I trust that everything will be completely finished in
two nalmths, and I am proceeding with the sittlement of
the accounts with the st.veral contra^t
‘. The goods- sheds, . cranes siding,, and other ar-
rangements for the merchandise traffic have been pro-
'ceeded with, and will be ready for commencing this
trade in the ensuing month.
" The fire small additional st,:tions recently ordered
are- in hand, and will alto be ready for use next month.
Preparations are also making for proceeding with the
-gpodstranch-at Swansea which will afford a direct ac-
rcess, and the means of shipping minerals at the port.
'Between Chepstow and Gloucester the works are
in a forward state, and if no unexpected obstacle arise,
:they may -be completed at the period mentioned in
former reports,. namely, the spring of 1851. Of these
leorks the Bridge at Chepstow is the most lin-
portan4-. 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 aloot or eighteen inches of theeame Lei of rock,
and preparations are now making for sinking the ether
• four.- There•is no doubt this portion of the work wit! be
,ceirapleted'irt time to receive the superstructure, the eon-
struction of which is now proceeding rapidly at Chep-
stow, and in the other establishments of the contractor.
,The:main truss -and other parts of one road way are
nearly completed, and preparations are making for
putting then together and testing atl the parts in the
-company's yard-adioizing the site of the bridge, and-I
• should hope that in six or eight weeks this operation
will be commenced.

" Eastwards of Chepstow the principal works ate
grnerally far advanced towards completion. At one part
'of the line, near Sydney, we had delayed commencing the
works; or even obtaif:ing the- laud, in expectation of
'talking lonal deviations; no further delay must now take
p'a.:e'at this point, as the execution of the works them-
. selves may ocompy sic months, particularly if the winter
0201;2 be unfavourable. At the point of junction with
the Bullo Pill R til way the works had also been post-
poned; we are now proceeding with them. With these
exceptioni everything is in a forward and very 4atisfac-
tory state, for the entire distance of about twenty miles;
froin Chepstow to Grange Courr, nearly ten miles are
completed, and upwards cf five miles are ready for the
permanent way, which we ate about to commence.

" I.3ctween drlnge Court nEd Glou :ester the Gloucester
and Dean Fore,t Railway Company are proceeding
rapidly wiJa the worli, and will, no doubt, hare com-
pleted their line, so that no delay will be caused in com-
pleting the communication with the Great Western
It diway ca3t. of Gloucester.-1. am, gentl,men, your
obedient servant, (Signed) "J. K. BRUNEL.
" To the Directors of the South Wales
Railway Company."

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the reception and adop-
fon of the report of the directors, observed that it
would not be necessary for him to make many re-
ma.ks. It was the opinion of their auditors that all
Govcrament interference in the audit of railway ac-
counts ought to be deprecated, and in that opinion be
most cordially concurred, feelieg that all audits by a
Government officer were the worst that could be
conceived.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped that in the
course of the next session some measure would be
introduced into the House of Commons on the subject.
(Hear.) With respect to the traffic on the line,
he was happy to say that it was double what it was
/a 3t year.—(Hear, hear.) He was sure also that when
the goods traffic 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, be should not care
about negotiation, but as one of the trustees for this
company he felt bound to consent to some negotiation.
The terms of that negotiation, he was sorry to say,
bad been greatly misrepresented. It bad been sap-
posed that the line beyond Swansea was to be aban..
doned. Such was not the case. The South Wales
Company would carry the line 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 45,0001., 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 d.
a year; and he believed that the compro-
rni?e was one that would have been moat propt-
able to the Great Western Company, and the
proposition of the South Wales Company, therefore,
did not deserve the appellation of an unreasonable
and preposterous one.—(Hear, hear.) He believed
that they might now consider negotiations with the
Great Western Company as definitively closed. He
imputed no blame to any of the directors of the
Great Western Company, but it was natural, when
looking-to the interest of their own proprietors, that
they should look through a different coloured glass to
what the directors of the present company did. The
Chairman, after alluding to the course pursued by the
Great Western Company in opposing the Bill
which had been said the effect of this
would he to create great expense to the South ,
Wsls Comp-.,.ny, and why they sheoNl have op-
posed the measure he could - not for the life or
soul of him t2ll.—(Hear, hear.) It appeilted to him,
"I
they had been thwarted in carrying out their line 1

by the Great Western Company, they should do it
without their assistance.—(Hear, hear.) The report
would show the proprietors what the directors in-
tended to do. They proposed to proceed with the
line to Gloucester, and from Swansea to Fishguerd—
(Hear, hear)—with the utmost possible rapidity, and
that might be easily done by issuing debentures ; and
when they had finished their line they would tben be
in a condition to call upon the Great Western Com-
pany to perform theirs.—(Hear.) The Chairman
concluded by moving the adoption and reception of the
report.
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. Wieusais, M.P. fur Lambeth, thought if the
directors of the company had acted with energy this
company would not have been in the state it now
was ; and he believed it was only in consequence of
the great perseverance of their chairman that they
were in the condition they were at preeent.--(Hear,
hear.) He recommended to the proprietors that the
directors should set about at once completing the line
to Fisbguard, which he bad no doubt would be highly
profitable to the company, and might be carried out
within the engineer's estimate.--(Hear.)
The Rev. Mr. SPENCER, of Bath, thought that the
speech of the chairman of the Great Western Com-
pany was an insult to the South Wales Company,
and considered the conduct of the chairman of the
Great Western Company and of the directors most
ungentlemanly.
The CHAIRMAN called the rev. gentleman to order,
and begged Lf him to retract the expre.7sioa ungen-
tlemanly.
Mr. SFENcrx declined doing so, and, at the demire
of the chairman, sat down.
After some further considerable and rather angry
discussion the report was adopted..
Thanks were then voted to the Che.rMan, -who
having responded, the meeting broke up.