The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-12 00:00:00

SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY
COMPANY.

A Half-yearly Meeting of the Proprietors of the
South -Eastern Railway was held on Tuesday at the
Company's-room, London Terminus.
Mr. Baring Richards, Esq., Deputy-Chairman,
took the chair.
The requisition calling the meeting having been
read,
Mr. BROWN said he wished to know the number of
registered shares opposite the name of each Proprietor
The CHAIRMAN said that was a question which he
would not answer, as he did not think they had any
right to inquire into the private affairs of any in-
dividual.—(Hear, hear.)
The Secretary then read the report, from which it
appeared, that the gross revenue of the South Eastern
Railway, and of Folkestone Harbour, for the months
of April, May, June, and July, was 81,482/. Os. 9d., to
which must be added a balance of 1,2231. 10s. 10d.
from the account presented to the Proprietors on the
25th of May, making in the whole 82,7051. Hs. 7d. The
working expenses have amounted to 40,994/. Os. 6d.,
leaving a net profit of 41,7111. Its. ld. The charge
for interest on loans amounts to 25,1131. 3s. 6d., of
which 21,9681.25. 2d. has been passed to the debit of
revenue, and 3,1451. Is. 4d. arising on unproductive
capital, to the debit of the capital account. The sums
of 21,9681. 2s. 2d. and 1,1941. 13s. 10d. (which
appears on the credit side of the harbour account,
as for tonnages and passengers by steam-packets, but
not received) being deducted from the general
balance, leaves a sum of 18,541/ 15s. Id. divisible
amongst the proprietors, or six shillings per share on
the shares paid up, and ninepence per share on the
shares created in February last, leaving a balance of
698/. 15s. Id. There is also a sum of 11,760/. 19s. Bd.
in the hands of the Company upon the general inte-
rest account, and of 455/. 1 ls. 84. on the transfer fee
account, both of which, in consequence of the com-
pletion of the line to Dover, can be carried to the
credit of the dividend account, if the Proprietors so de-
termine; to which may be added 1,567/. 15s. pre-
mium on the sale of unallotted new shares, or an ad-
ditional suns of 13,7841. 6s. 4d. for dividend purposes,
and which, added to the before-named 18,548/ 15s. Id.,
would give 32,3331. ls. 5d., or 103. 6d. per share on
the shares paid up, and Is. nd. on the last issue,
leaving a balance of 1,0951. 1 ls. 54. The
working expenses have amounted to about
fifty per cent. upon the gross receipts.
The report went on to state that the terms of a lease,
provisionally agreed upon with the Directors of the
Greenwich Company,would be laid before the meeting.
It then referred to the expediency of a line throug
Woolwich to Gravesend, Rochester, Chatham, Sitting-
bourne, Faversham, and Chilham, uniting with that
to Canterbury and Ramsgate, in the valley of the
Stour, and a line from Rochester and Maidstone,
uniting with the present Maidstone branch, and
forming a communication across Kent and Sussex ;
also a line from the Canterbury and Ramsgate branch
to Sandwich and Deal. The Directors have also
taken steps for making a branch to Tunbridge-wells,
which might be advantageously extended to Hast-
ings. They had also concluded an arrangement for a
lease of the Whitstable Railway. The general out-
lines of these projects have been submitted to the
Board of Trade, and the greatest advantage was ex-
pected from them. The Maidstone branch would be
opened in the present month. The report then re-
ferred to the projected railroad from Boulogne to
Amiens, which would afford the means of travelling
from London to Paris within the day, which would
secure to the Dover line the traffic to and from Paris
and the south and east. In conclusion, the Directors
referred with satisfaction to the amounts exhibited by
the traffic returns during the past weeks of the cur-
rent half year ; and trust that a continuance of re-
ceipts, exhibiting a similarly favourable comparison
with those of the preceding year, would afford at its
close a substantial dividend, and would place the
South-Eastern Company in an advantageous posi-
tion for the important financial measures to which,
in 1845, the contemplated extensions of the line must
of necessity give rise. The account showed a balance
of 51,798/. 12s. 44. in the hands the Company.
' The CHAIRMAN then rose, and said it became his
duty to move that the report be received and adopted.
He regretted that there should be occasion for more
discussion than usual at the present meeting, and that
the management of the proceedings had not devolved
on some person more competent than himself. The
Directors and Proprietors might differ, or each might
differ amongst themselves, but when those differences
arose he thought they could be better settled by meet-
ing together than by having recourse to anonymous
letters in the newspapers.—(Cheers.) A notion had
gone abroad that it was the intention of the Directors
to force on the Proprietors a plan by which the in-
terest of all money to be raised for their future
schemes was to be defrayed out of the traffic of the
present line. Nothing more unsound or preposterous
could have been suggested. That plan was adopted
for making the Maidstone line and other works of
the Company, because the dividend was small, and
they thought it better that it should be given for that
purpose than to divide it, and every person must feel
they were amply compensated by a plan which so
much helped to raise the value of their shares. The
Proprietors were at perfect liberty to do what they
wished with their own. With regard to the
goods' traffic, an opinion prevailed that the present
plan adopted was not a good one. He had some
doubts of that himself, but he confessed, after inquir-
ing into the subject, that doubt was removed, and he
hoped as this was a matter of serious importance no
gentleman would make up his mind on the subject
without full inquiry and due deliberation.—(Hear,
hear.) The Directors could have nothing in view
but the advantage of the Company, and he was sure
not one of them would sacrifice the good of the Pro-
prietors to his private interest. His inquiries led
him to believe that some alterations might be made
with advantage with regard to the goods' traffic. By
diminishing the present charge on parcels, an addi-
tional share of business would be thrown into their
hands. With regard to the accounts, the traffic
trade profit of the last four months was 18,548/.
'Thorn was also I 1,C(301. 2t. from the in! crEst on
..r:E.•a;:b which, though ;lot to be considered the
traffic of last year, was available to the Proprietors