The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-02 00:00:00

EXPORT DUTY ON COAL.
The following Memorial has been signed by almost every
shipowner of South Shields :
"TO THE LORDS OF HER MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE
PRIVY COUNCIL FOR TRADE AND FOREIGN PLANTA-
TIONS, &C.
" The Memorial of the undersigned Shipowners resident in
South Shields,

" Showeth, That your Memorialists have heard with
alarm, that it is the intention of her Majesty's Government
to levy a duty of four shillings a ton on all coals exported to
foreign countries, without any regard to whether they are
shipped in a British or foreign vessel.
" That since the repeal of the export duty, in 1834, on all
coals shipped by British, and vessels belonging to reciprocating
countries, under their respective treaties, while a discriminat-
ing duty was continued to be levied on coals shipped by other
foreign vessels, the export trade has gone on increasing, and
has proved highly beneficial to the owners of coal mines in the
north of England, and afforded a source of employment as out-
ward freight to Briting shipping.
" That your memorialists are convinced that a duty levied
indiscriminate), in the way, and to the extent proposed by the
new tariff, will have the effect of transferring to the other coal-
producing countries a very large proportion of the trade at
present enjoyed by the coal owners of this district, and will not
only deeply injure them, but will also, to the same extent,
deprive your memorialists of the share they have had of the
carrying trade of the goals, and thus aggravate the distress under
Mich they are suffering.
" Your memorialists, therefore, pray that the coal duties
may not be altered, and that the discriminating duty on coals
exported in a foreign ship may still be continued."

ABSTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A MERCHANT IN GHENT.
" I have now the pleasure to inform you that I freighted a
ves el yesterday of 220 tons for Alarseilles, at 11 francs per ton,
equal to S. Bd. Take the keel at 21 tons, and it will be equal
to 91. 2s. per keel.
" I intend loading it with our best coals. That coal will
cost on board here lf. 10c. per hectolitre. I find in my mile-
book a memorandum of the make out' of a vessel of 152
Newcastle chaldrons of English coal at Marseilles. It yielded
4,586 hectolitres, being at the rate of 241 hectolitres per keel ;
241 hectolitres at If. 10c. come to 265 f. 10c., or 10/. Bs. 9d.
per keel, which, added to the freight of 9/. 25., makes a total
of 191. 10s. 9d. per keel, or 18s. 70. per ton. Now English
coal at 15s. per chaldron and 16/. freight, the rate frequently
paid, will cost 221.. or 21s. per ton, which is a difference of
2/. 9s. 3d. per keel in favour of the coal from here, or 2a. 4d.
per ton. Let them put the export duty of 4/. 4s. per keel on
English coal, and the difference will become 6/. 13s. 3d. per
keel, or 6s. 4d. per ton. •
"The coal I am going to send to Marseilles can often be bad
at 9d. per ton less than the price upon which I hate now cal-
culated its cost-'-the difference being in the freight from the
mines to Ghent."
o

UTH-EASTERN RAILWAY...
The half-yearly meeting of the South-Eastern Railvvay.
Company was held on Tuesday, at the London Tavern.
The• Chair was taken at one o'clock by Joseph Baxendale,
Esq. The usual notices of the meeting having been
read, and the common seal affixed to the register of Pro-
prietors,
The SECRETARY read the Report of the Company as
follows :

"At a Special General Meeting, held on the 28th
April last, the half-yearly account was distributed, it is
now annexed to this Report. The amount of calls then
in arrear has been still further reduced, being at present
'2,2641., which, with 8,181/., arrears due on Shares sur-
renderedlo tlIZ' COrtiffity, anctre-issued (for-which se-
curity is held), makes a total arrear of 10,4451. The
whole of the new Shares, issued agreeably to the Reso-
lutions of the late meeting, have been taken, and the first
instalment paid. Loans on Debentures continue to come in
liberally, which, with the large amount paid upon the new
Shares, has justified your Board of Directorsin giving the
required legal notice of payment to the Brighton Railway
Company for the portion of the litie between Croydon
and Redhill, which this Company are entitled to pur-
chase. The notice will expire on the 19th of July next,
from which date the portion of line in question will
be transferred to this Company. From Redhill to
Tunbridge the line of Railway was opened on the
26th instant, having- been previously inspected and
approved by the officer of the Board of Trade. Your
Directors have been engaged in an important negotia-
tion for the purchase of land, for forming an ap-
proach from the junction of the Greenwich and Croy-
don Railways, near Corbet's-lane, to a point near the
Bricklayer's Arms, and have concurred with the Croy-
don Company in their application to Parliament for
powers to carry it into effect. This measure is in every
respect highly beneficial to the interests of the South
Eastern Company, it may be carried out at a moderate
expense—it will give ample space and accommodation
(which at London Bridge cannot at any cost be had),
and the works can be executed speedily ; it will com-
prise also the important feature of a terminus for the
West-end traffic. The most economical system for
• WUrking the Railway, has bad the earnest attention of
the Board, they have entered into an agreement with the
Croydon Company to make ajoint concern of the station,
engine-house, and workshops, at New Cross, and also of
locomotive engines, carriages, and materiel, the costs of
the buildings being arranged in the shape of rent, and
each Company paying rateably to a common fund for lo-
comotive power and carriages in proportion to the use
made of them by each. It is believed that this arrange-
ment will effect a very important saving to both parties,
and the Directors feel assured, that the Proprietors will
see the advantages which must result from it.
" The stations upon the Railway, viz.—Reigate, God-
stone, Edenbridge, Penshurst, and Tunbridge, have been
erected at a moderate cost, leaving to a future period their
enlargement and embellishment, should circumstances
render it necessary, ample land having been secured for
such purposes.
"The works beyond Tunbridge are in a forward state,
and the promises made of future openings of 15 miles to
ileadcorn, and 11 miles further to Ashford, in the months
of August and December next will be made good.
" The opening to Headcorn will bring the Line at
Staplehurst, within 7 miles of Maidstone, and 21 of
Hastings and St. Leonard's, and on the opening to Ash-
ford, the traffic of Canterbury and Dover will come on
the line.

"From Ashford to Grove Bridge, 6 miles, will be com-
pleted early in the next spring, and from thence to
Folkestone, 7 miles, in July 1843, leaving from thence
to Dover to be completed before the end of the year.
"It is very satisfactory to your Directors to report,
that both public and private communications fully justify
their previously expressed expectation, of Railways con-
necting Paris Belgium, and the Rhine, with the Channel,
either by way of Calais or Boulogne. These projects
which may be considered as in immediate connection
with our own line, stand foremost in the great system of
railways, which has received the sanction of the French
Chambers and Government, and their execution is no
longer a matter of question.
" The communication by branch railways to Maid-
stone, Canterbury, and Ramsgate, is not forgotten, the
Standing Orders of Parliament have been complied
with, and in due course the sanction of the Proprietors
will be asked.

" The Directors who go out by, rotation, are Captain
Tyndale, William Parry Richards, and Edward Suart,
and being eligible for re-election, they offer themselves
for that purpose."
The statement of receipts. and expenditure was also
read ; it exhibited receipts to the amount of
1,145,5971. 135., and an expenditure of 1,075,4681. ss. 4d.,
balance 62,4611. ss. Bd.

The CHAIRMAN said before moving the resolution for
receiving and printing the Report, he was prepared to
give any explanation that might be required by the Pro-
prietors.

Mr. PARSONS asked if there was any Report from their
engineer ?
Mr. CUBITT had not been able to furnish a detailed
report, and must beg to offer an excuse for not having
'made one. But any verbal 'explanation that might be
required he was most ready to give. His report, if he
had made one, would have been very brief : it would
simply state that the line had been opened, and from
what he had seen, he believed that if the line were to
,sec s at Tunbridge, it would amply repay the money
that had been laid out upon it to that distance.
Mr. PARSONS regretted that there had not been a Re-
port, as it was desirable they should know what would
be the ultimate cost to the Company. The present Re•
port was very meagre in what it communicated. At the
last meeting it was stated that the cost of the railway
would be 30,000/. per mile, with 15 per cent. for con-
tingencies. Some shareholders went away with an im-
pression that the cost for their sixty-eight miles of the
road would be only 28,0001. per mile. But the cost, with
deductions for interest and other expenses, appeared to
be 35,0001. per mile, within 2001., and in consequence
they ought to have some statement to refer to hereafter,
so as to check what they anticipated with the actual re-
sults. _ _

V~The CHAIRMAN said he was prepared to gives state •
ment which he believed was perfectly correct, and which
corresponded with the statement he had made before.
The sum in cash which they had the power of using for
the purposes of the railroad, was 1,520,0001., and by a
subsequent Act, they were empowered to raise 800,000/.
Under the London Bridge StatiOn act, they 'could
raise 120,000/. By the end of July he • trusted
that the line from hence to Dover, would be
entirely open, a distance of eighty-eight miles,
of which 78 miles would be their own, at a cost of
30,0001. per mile, or .a total of 2,340,0002 The en-
gineer had stated, and they bad every reason to put the
fullest confidence in his statement, that the amount of
his portion would be 800,000/. ; that statement they had
distinctly in his own writing. They supposed that the
Brighton account would be 350,000/. ; land to be paid
for, 25,0001. • the London Bridge station had cost
50,0001. ; the Neiv Cross station might amount
to 30,6001. ; the Dover station was put down at 25,000/. ;
the cost 'of the plant, carriages, waggons, Sze., was
100.0001. ; the total amount, therefore, which they
thought hey should require from the 31st of March
was 1,380,000/., leaving.a balance of 2.36,000/. for con-
tingencies. To this 'statement he still adhered ; the
Directors had told them that the lire would be
opened in the spring of the year, and it had
been opened. They expected to open eleven miles far-
ther in August, and he had no doubt they should
be able to do so ; they had told them that before
Christmas, they should open another eleven miles, and
he was satisfied that they should be able to carry it out.
If he had the slightest doubt as to the correctness of the
statement, or if he thought that the line would
coat. anything Leyond the stun mentioned, he.
would have distinctly told them so. Ire was
sorry that any Proprietor. had been disappointed.
in not having a report, but,.all the reports that hail been
made were on. record and could be refyrred.to..
Mr. PARSONS had not meant to convey anything like a
censure; at the same time he thought it desirable that
each railway should have a report given at its meetings.
The statement made had not appeared officially, though,
if given in the public prints, it could, no doubt,' be re-
ferred to.

General HoinosoN observed that if the engineer had
been employed in framing the Report, so as now 'seemed
to bo 'required, the line could not have been opened
according to pronnse on the lst of INS-.
Mr. IV;sg_tve did not thi4-, that tome of the
facts stated in tliQ Repot' were sufficiatly ex-
lio wLitiod to
,19ipt e precise stem