The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-03 00:00:00

LONDON AND DOVER RAILWAY.
The Annual General Meeting of the Proprietors
and Directors of this Railway was held yesterday at
the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, for the pur-
pose of receiving the Directors' and Engineer's Re-
port, a statement of the accounts, and to declare forfeit
certain shares. _ _

JOSEPH BAXENDALE Esq., took the Chair, and read
the Report, which stated, " That since the last general
meeting the line had been further opened—to Head-
corn in the month of August, and within the present
week to Ashford. The opening to Headcorn—the
mileage over which the Company's receipts were
taken, being, of course, increased, while, at the
same time, the payment of toll to the Brighton
Company had ceased, that to the Croydon had been
modified under the arrangement referred to below,
and the tax payable to Government had been placed
on a different footing—appeared to the Directors a
proper opportunity for introducing lower fares and
an additional class of passengers. So far as a limited
experience had enabled the Directors to arrive
at a conclusion on the subject, it warranted a be-
lief that the experiment had increased the general
usefulness of the Railway, and the net profit to
the Company. By the opening to Ashford it was
expected that the existing traffic from London to Do-
ver and Canterbury would be diverted into its new
channel, and that many of the difficulties with which
the Company had hat to contend in respect to the
conveyance of passengers and parcels, beyond the line
of the Railway to their ulterior destination, would be
removed. The full development of the traffic to which
the line was entitled, and the entire freedom from de-
pendence upon arrangements not properly falling
within the province of a Railway Company, could not
of course be looked for until the full advantages
of the new system had been offered to the public
by the opening throughout to Dover. The pro-
posed extension from the point where the Croy-
don diverges from the Greenwich line to the
Grange-road, had occupied the careful attention of
the Directors. In pursuance of the resolution passed
at the last meeting, they had contracted to purchase,
for about 35,0001., so much of the land required as
was necessary in order to secure to the Company the
power of prosecuting the design. Further negotiations
had put them in a position to recommend to the Proprie-
tors theeontinuatton of the line to a point near the Brick-
layers' Arms, still nearer to London than that which
was considered at the last meeting. The advantages
of a West-end terminus, close to the already accus-
tomed point of convergence on the southern side of the
bridges, were great and obvious ; but these did not
constitute the only, inducement by which the
Directors bad been influenced. The terminus at
London-bridge, which would shortly be completed,
was very valuable for the purposes it was designed
to serve, but did not afford sufficient space for
carrying out in a safe, creditable, and efficient
manner, the amount and various kinds of traffic in
passengers, goods, and cattle, which might reasonably
be expected at the London terminus of the line.
Twenty-three acres of commodious station room
would be made available if the present suggestion
were adopted ; and the Directors were advised by
their engineer that the increased convenience thus
afforded to the Company was a consideration to which
they could not easily attach too great importance.
The Brighton Company had declined to unite in
the proposed extension, and as the participation of the
Croydon Company was uncertain, the Proprietors of
this Company, if they sanctioned he project, must be
prepared to invest the Directors with full powers for
carrying it into effect on the sole responsibility of
the South-Eastern Company. The total cost of this
branch, with the extension now proposed, including
the costs of application to Parliament, and of the line
and station, would probably be not far short of
200,000/. Against this expenditure, besides the ad-
vantages above referred to, must be set the annual
amount saved in tolls, and the confluence of traffic
likely to be attracted to this branch ; and considering
its importance, and the advanced and promising state
of the undertaking generally, the Directors did not
hesitate to recommend its adoption to the meeting.
The Proprietors were aware, that in order to com-
plete the line according to the estimates laid before
previous meetings, two sums of 120,0001. and
100,000/. remained to be raised under the authority of
the Acts already obtained. The order of a General
Meeting was necessary to enable the Board to raise
these sums ; that for the 120,0001. was given by a
previous meeting, and that for 100,000/. would be
submitted to the Proprietors. The mode pro-
posed by the Board was the issue of debentures
and loan notes, for the whole amount required.
The Directors have had much satisfaction in
laying betore the Proprietors Mr. Stephenson's
elaborate Report, on the surveys made for
lines connecting the South-Eastern Railway, by
way of Calais or Boulogne, with Paris and
other important places on the Continent of Europe.
While this Company, from a sense of propriety as
well as of prudence, had always abstained from any
interference with the projects for railways on the
other side' of the Channel, the Proprietors could not
fail to receive with interest a Report ascertaining, by
a careful comparison of engineering capabilities with
existing traffic, the future prosperity of an undertaking
calculated to enhance the value of their own line.

The statement of the receipts and expenditure
showed a balance of 108,3751. 10s. Old. in the hands
of the Company.
The CHAIRMAN. then read the Engineer's Report,
which stated the line was now opened to Ashford,
and would be opened throughout in the end of next
year. The opening to Folkstone would take place
early in the summer. The Chairman then went on
to say, that in 1836 the Royal Assent was given to
the Bill of the South-Eastern Railway Company, and
the first general meeting of the Proprietors took place
in 1837. Perhaps no railway had ever moved
slower than this one appeared to have done. The
expenditure since the commencement of the Rail-
way had averaged about 100,0001. per an-
num ; but from March to November last the
expenditure had been 260,0001., and for the whole
year 1,230,0001., making a total of two millions
of money. During the time the railway had been in
course of completion, the Directors had frequently
changed, and now only one original Director re-
mained, and he (the Chairman) happened to be the
third who had presided at that Board. In the six
years following 1835 there had been an expenditure
of 320,0001., and in the following six months, 250,000/.
From September to October, 1842, the expenditure
was 224.000/. ; since which period up to the 15th
November, it had been 193.0001., the total payment,
therefore, was 2,187,0001. The further expenditure
required, according to the Engineer's Report, was
596,0001., making a total of 2,783,0001.; but from
this sum would be deducted the interest paid on the
shares which had been received back, the cost of
the land at the Bricklayers' Arms, and other
items, which would reduce the sum to 2,681,0001.
The line would, therefore, be completed at a
cost of between three and four millions.
The total amount at present at command of
the Directors was 83,0001. The estimate for the
Dover terminus would be considered at a special ge-
neralrms
meeting. The terminus at the Bricklayers'
A
was a subject of great importance, and would
be brought under the consideration of the meeting.
This terminus, if erected, would place the railway
within about three quarters of a mile of St. Paul's, about
a mile and a half from Westminster-bridge, about two
miles from Waterloo-bridge, and two and a half from
Charing-cross. The necessity for thislbbraatnch
businesswas
very urgent. At the present station it was out of the
question to think of carrying goods, v
could be conducted when he told them that the station
for three Companies, the Brighton, the Croydon, and
the Dover, stood on ground about a quarter the size of
Westminster Hall. It appeared to him that there
was no earthly reason why the Brighton, the Dover,
and the Croydon should not act in concert, and for
their mutual benefit. The station at London-bridge
for the three Companies was 100 feet by 52, while
at the Camden station of the London and Birming-
ham for one carrier alone the allotment was
227 feet.—(Hear, hear.) He therefore thought
that the Grange undertaking must be beneficial
to the Dover Company. The Chairman then entered
into a long statement to show that the arrangement
made by the Company with respect to the New Cross
Station, had been of great advantage to the Company.
The arrangement being, that instead of paying ls. per
head each passenger indiscriminately upon the line
to the Croydon Company, the Croydon Company
should take a proportionate charge for each,
according to the distance travelled, whereby the Dover
Company had been enabled to carry third-class pas-
sengers. The next point he would call their atten-
tion to was the position of each Company with respect
to each other. He thought the public and the Com-
panies would be materially benefited by the Direc-
tors in each pulling well together.—(Hear, hear.)
The Brighton, the Croydon, and the Dover Company
had no possible excuse for not acting as one. He
hoped that the proprietors would take some measures so
as to compel thirty-eight foolish gentlemen to adopt
a course which must be beneficial to all. He had
hoped that common sense would prevail, but it had
not seemed to have gained ground at all. He had
seen the establishments reducing their labourers from
21s. to 195., but this was not the reform that was re=
quired ; what was wanted was to make the three
Companies work as one. They did not want three
Directors, three staffs, or three locomotive '
establishmentd. Could any one suppose that two sta-
tions were required at Croydon and two at Reigate?
He had heard this bitterly complained of by passen-
gers, who had suffered. What was required was one
staff for the whole, one engineer, one secretary, ttia
one inspector. He was happy to say that they had
no disputes with their contractors, as many other
railways-had. All that they now had to do was to
complete the- terminus at Dover, and he hoped that
I the one at the Bricklayers' Arms would be sanctioned.
He concluded by moving the adoption of the Report.
I 1,Waluly said that according to his calcula-