The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

PARIS AND' ROUEN RAILWAY

sh°4 Wednesday a meeting of the English shareholders in
e Paris and Rouen Railway was held in the Clarendon-
South John-street, for the purpose of receiving a re-
run from the English directors, of their examination of the
e, and of the general affairs of the company. The meet-
g was attended by a very numerous and respectable body
of shareholders.
IA the motion of Mr. Charles Lawrence, Join
"19. of this town, was requested to take the chair.
,Moss, in acceding to the proposition said, he shoul,
,a,ve requested Sir John Easthope, who was present, to havc
`„*4ela the chair, had it not been that twelve months ago he
;r_esided at a meeting in this town, and that from the repro.
iteotra Cons then made, many were induced to become share-
obsclers in the undertaking. He should now, without further
nation, call for the report of the English directors to be
!earl

r. SWIFT then read the report...
In making their report to the English shareholders of the
t atis and Rouen Railway the English directors think it best
Is°refer to the state in which matters stood when they last
let the proprietors in this town, on the 22nd of July of last
ar• The chambers of the French legislature had then
ted the law, authorising the construction of the railway,
14'4 law only waited the signature of the king of the
10e4ch previously to which, however, it was felt expedient
, _ ascertain whether its terms were such as rendered its ac-

,`lPtance by the• English shareholder-s--ciesirable. Some mo-
peations which the law sustained in its passage through the
(trench legislative chambers were then discussed, and acqui-
i„,ee..4 in by the English shareholders, and the royal sanction

18, in due course given.
The statement, which had up to td
° the English shareholders, both as to the
4Y and its probable revenue, wa
eldv subscription for its share
..•

.t time bei

it of the r

;uch as
Tt annf

had induce

,ppc.rett trotn the

i-Port
!chief of the company,
!fl',(l equipping the line (80 mil,
; that, f
,°,e4 be obtained, the rom
ti-
"llluoveing fur legal anti
nt'of interest during the pe'riod of construe,.....,
'rges of direction, and for all other contingencies which
4avoidably.occur in such undertakings, the whole expendi-
pte would be amply met by the capital then provided, of
'1,000,000 sterling.
The English directors deem it to
lieleasion to refer thus brieflye
Le English shareholders accepted the t
he directors adopt this course in order
plag fact that, up to-the present timt
the land is purchased
°r and in operation
eadful to ,-- •

who is by lav

the cost, boil; of constrtictin

El leng

nation which could
DOO ; and that
—for the pay-
-for all

❑d would cost £150,1

important on this

;pect of thit

he terms of the law ; anc
',n* to represent the gra-
-.,hen three-fourths

-`••V LAJ1.1.11,1,k. qtr., Ili,
whole of the eng,thes r

!Led, still there is iiothi
'lley of the capital, or t

that it

amount of

At a general ass

t days after the Inc

the samc
ecretary to

others

aris, there to resid

41able services to the cc

the wt

direct(

Lit political events sliglitly.r

arsons,

taring district of the kingdom, stretching towards the most
important commercial port, and holding out facilities for
transport to nearly four millions of inhabitants. It must be
borne in mind that of the capital of two millions sterling,
the French government lend £560,000, at 3 per cent. inte-
rest, repayable in thirty equal annual payments, the repay-
ment commencing in July 1848. Placing, therefore, the in-
terest on the £560,000 as part of the current expenses of
working the line, the profit will have to be divided upon a
capital of £1,440,000 only—a sum unprecedentedly small for
80 miles of railway. Nor is it expected that the cost of
maintaining or working this line will be large. The works,
with the exception► of the tunnels and the bridges across the
Seine. are of an unusually light character, and the nature of
the material is everywhere of the very best description.
With the exception of the article of coke, all other expenses
of working the line will be small,—it being found, on all the
lines hitherto made in France and on the Continent gene-
rally, that the number of passengers per train is much greater
than in England ; and it is almost unnecessary to add, that
on this, more than on anything else, depends the actual cost
to the company of conveying passengers, and consequently
the degree of profit.

"'!'he English directors cannot give a greater proof of their
confidence in the success of the line, than by the statement
of the fact that they now hold more shares than they have

done at any former period.
" As respects the financial position of the company, the
English directors have to state, that, although there is in
hand nearly £400,000, yet the rapidity with which the works
are now carrying on, in order to their completion by the spe-
cified time, makes it imperative that the expenditure be large
also at very early periods. The £560,000, which is lent by
the government, will not be advanced until the whole
£1,440,000 raised in shares is fully paid up : the last of the
calls to make up this 11,440,000 cannot be made before the
month of October next, leavit, only a very short time to ob-
tain from the government,- and expend, the remaining sum
sted engineer I of 1;560,000. It is evident that to incur any delay in open-

. .
big the line, by suffering arrears of calls to remain unpaid,
would be inconsistent with the best interests of the concern.
The English directors feel it therefore to be their duty to
press for the punctual payment of all calls; they hope they
may be spared the necessity of resorting to the power given
them by the law for enforcing payment of calls in a concern
which promises such great advantages at so early a period ;
but they deem it to be their duty at once to state their deter-
mination not to suffer the concern to sustain damage by any
delay in the payment of the subscribed capital. It may here
be added that the calls on the shares held in France are
promptly paid. Having now set forth the facts, and the
opinions which are the result of their late visit to France, it
remains only for the English dicectors to add that they were
treated with the most entire frankness and cordiality by their
French colleagues, with whose diligent attention and econo-
mical administration the English directors were highly gra-
tified.

(Signed,) JOHN EASTHOPE.
JOHN Moss.
CHAS. LAWRENCE.
W. CHAPLIN."
The CHAIRMAN said, this was the report which the dire,
tors had felt it their duty to make to the shareholders.

aking it, it must, of course, he understood that they bad
_d their information from gentlemen eminently fitted
ire it, namely, Mr. Locke, Mr. Chaplin, Mr. Reid, and
; and he was very glad to have the pleasure of saying,
'se gentlemen, being present, would confirm what the
had stated. Of course the directors would be happy
...ver any questions which the shareholders might think
. aper to pat. In the meantime, he called upon Mr. Locke
to state his views as to the certainty of completing the un-
dertaking within the time allotted to it.

Mr. LOexr., who came forward amidst much appl
menced by observing that what he could say in addition to
the report just read would be very little, because nothing that
he could say could be more distinct than the report itself.
When he had the pleasure of attending a meeting in that
building twelve months ago, lie did nut feel so certain as to
the cost of making this railway as he did now. Two-thirds
of the entire works had been let, and from the prices at which
they had been taken, he felt no hesitation in sayingtaht the
capital subscribed would be rather more than ample for their
entire completion. (Hear, hear.) Indeed he might tell the
shareholders that at that moment with £240,000 worth
unlet, and with £600,000 let, lie had an offer to guarantee the
entire completion of the line for a sum of money less than he
had set down in the estimates. (Hear, hear.) He did not
think it necessary to accept that offer, because he thought it
was better to let it ; but it enabled him to speak with perfect
confidence as to the total construction of the railway. For
engines, stations, coaches, or what he called the stock of the
line, there was in the estimate £350,000, and he would leave
it to any gentleman to say whether that was not large enough,
economically used for such a purpose. He thought it was :
he thought it more than sufficient : he did not think they
should spend it ; and when all the entire works were finished,
they would have £350,000 to be carried towards the stock of
the concern. With regard to time, which was one of the
questions the chairman had put, the contracts hitherto let,
(and they were the heaviest works on the line), were to be
entirely finished by the Ist of March, 1843. There had been
some difficulty and delay in obtaining possession of the land.
They had pot certainly gone on so fast as they hoped and be-
lieved they should, having been prevented by the want of
possession. This must occur again, and therefore he spoke
less confident with regard to the question of time than with
regard to the question of estimates. He had no doubt that
the work would be finished in less time than had been named ;
but lest any unforeseen circumstance should occur, he wished
to speak upon this point with his usual caution. Having had
the fullest opportunity of seeing the line, and what it was ca-
pable of, he could say a great deal more than was said in the
report. (Hear.) It was impossible for any one to see it,
and to see the traffic upon it, and feel the slightest doubt
about its eventual success. (Applause.)
Tile CHAIRMAN, after complimenting Mr. Locke, and
end alluding to the necessity of rigour in the prosecution of
the' works, said that Mr. Reed could give the meeting some
information as to the difficulties there had been in obtaining
possession of the land. With regard to the cost he (the
chairman) felt no doubt. The Grand Junction Line, about
which he might be supposed to know more than about any
other, really and truly, including every thing, had not cost
£20,000. If the Grand Junction could be finished for
£20,000 a mile, and he could find nothing on this line worse
or more expensive than on the Grand Junction, for there was
only one station to be built, the Paris station being like that
of the Grand Junction at Liverpool, he should think it would
not cost £23,000 per mile—that indeed there would be some-
thing left out of that. (Hear.) He was quite convinced that
the shareholders would not be called upon for any more
money. (Cheers.) If they looked at the bill, they would
find that there was no power to borrow one farthing. The
French government, unlike the English, did not allow the
shareholders to borrow upon their land a certain sum of
money ; but with that which they had they must finish the
line, and he felt confident they would do it. (Applause.)
Mr. REED said that with regard to the land the directors
had something to learn as to the mode practised in France
of obtaining possession. The government of France were
very justly jealous of the rights of landowners. The act of
parliament, which was contained in four pages of the book
which he held in his hand, merely recognised the principle
and the public usefulness of constructing a railway from A.
to 8., from Paris to Rouen, but did not -define where the
line should go. It did not limit you, as railway bills in
England did, to fifty yards deviation on one side or the
other ; it merely gave you power to make a line through
certain communes or parishes from one place to another.
But the government, although they did not insist that you
should prove before a committee of the houses of parliament
the special line, and define the land with which you wish
to have the power to interfere, took care of the rights of the
landowner, by an after view of your plan ; and railway
companies in France were obliged to submit, in very great
detail, as Mr. Locke knew to his great trouble, in a very great
multiplicity of plans, not only of all the land required, but
of all the works to be constructed. This had to pass through
several judicial ordeals • and as regarded the land it had next
to go through the ordeal of an ordinary committee. This
committee next was summoned after the plans had been ap-
proved by the Board of Government Works ; and there, any
objections which individual landowners, or public functionaries
might have to the proposed line were heard. The report of
this committee was next made to the government; and after-
wards you got the arri.t of the Prefect of the department
which gave you the power of taking the land. But they had
to assign not only their entire line along the map, but also
what land they should want; they bad to say within a perch
how much land they should want, the parish where it was,
and from that they must not deviate, or if they did the devi-
ation occasioned them the trouble of going through the
whole process again. He need not tell gentlemen that Mr.
Loche, or any other engineer of equal talent, would necessarily
have a great deal of trouble in so defining the land as to
have no after consequences of a troublesome character, which
would be consequent upon any future deviation from the plan ;
and therefore that the preparation of all the details arid plans
for afterwards being revised by the authorities, should occupy
time, was not to be wondered at. The wonder was, that,
how, going strange, as they did, into a foreign country, with
all the prejudices of former habits, they should have gone
through those forms in the time they had. He believed he
might say that that was done in an unexampled short
space of time, and that the French authorities had taken
great pains to step out of their way to oblige them, merely
because they were an English company. (Hear, hear.) The
meeting would gather from what had been said, that time
was necessary, in order to get possession of the land, but
that period had now elapsed. Though it took between five
and six months to get possession of the first acre, the whole
processes had been going on, and the company were now in a
condition to demand possession of the whole. Indeed, whilst
he was now speaking, the whole fifty-two communes through
which the railway passed, and the committee of enquiry, had
reported to the government upon the whole. The ground
wanted for the station at Rouen had been approved by the
Town Council and Chamber of Commerce, and the directors
had reason, non-officially, to believe that government ap-
proved of the plan. Therefore, though delay had taken
place from time to time, that delay would not occur again,
and Mr. Locke had no reason to expect that there would be
any future delay in the completion of the works. (Hear, hear.)
He was happy when he arrived in London, to find this distant
and little known railway excited the attention of the press,
for he found that week after week there was some notice of
it in the railway papers of this country. (Hear, hear.) He
saw in one or either—or both of them in fact—articles with
regard to the purchase of the land for this railway. Those
gentlemen who were in the habit of reading the railway pa-
pers would see the juries with which the directors had to do
took a just and proper view of the case. In one paper it said
that as to the forest of St. Germains the directors had had a
contest before the jury. Now he was happy to be able to
state, that with regard to the forest of St. Germains they did
not go before a jury at all, except as a matter of form, an ar-
rangement having been made between the company and the
government as far as pecuniary matters went. They went
through the royal forest of St. Germains three miles and a
half, through a part where there was a large quantity of
growing timber ; they took forty-two acres of the royal land,
six acres and a half being required for a deposit ; and for
this land they paid 55,000 francs, and they contracted for
additional works in order to facilitate the undertaking, which
would cost £1,500 more, Looking at the whole cost of this
land—the £2,200 which was represented by the 55,000 francs,
and the £l,soo—it was £3,700 for three miles tmd a half of
land. But he could tell the meeting that this sum was
agreed upon previous to going before a jury, that they went
there as a matter of form, and to be sure that the different
departments should not quarrel which department should
have such and such a share ; and lie thought the shareholders
would agree that this was fair and honourable on the part of
the directors. Upon the Southampton Railway, where
economy was practised as much as anywhere, the land cost
at least £3,500 a mile ; but he did not think that the whole
land for the Paris and Rouen Railway would cost much more,
irony, than half of that money. With regard to the legal ex-
penses of obtaining the land, he would say they were satisfac-
tory. The government had given the company exemption from
the duty, which, it must be added, was a statuteable duty upon
conveyances. A conveyance was inexpensive; a nominal duty
I of a franc for every one had to be paid, but it was rather
lucky the company had the exemption, for pot unfrequently
he had signed so many as four hundred, end this occurred
something like once a fortnight. (Cheers.) He did not
know that lie could say anything more with regard to land,
or anything else, as the report of the English directors con-
tained so full an account of all their doings, and for that
reason little remained to be said; but it perhaps might be
thought that after a residence in France of some year and a
half he ought to have formed some opinion as regarded the
traffic to be expected on the line, lie was happy in being en,
abled to state, that nothing whatever—that no cirenmstanee
which had passed around him had tended to shake his faith
—that the figures, and the amount put down in the first re,
port would certainly be realised—that the traffic would at
least amount to the sum there put down. (Hear. hear.) It
might be thought extraordinary that such a line, in such a
country, which was not proverbial for its commercial enter-

price ; should be found where traffic should be' even, more
abundant than upon any road in England. But if the parti-
cular circumstances of the line were taken into considera-
tion, the thing explaindd itself. Taking the whole sea board
of France upon the English channel, Havre was the only
commercial port of the sligiitest consequence. Independently
of being the port of the Metropolis, it was the only commer-
cial port. Let a ship arrive from any part of the western
world ,from England,or even.the southern coast of France itself,
to Havre they must go-, One case which had come under
his own observation was this. Many of the rails to be used
on this line were made at a place a hundred miles north of
Marseilles. Marseilles lay direct south from Paris. The
shortest line of transit would be to send these rails by canal
or otherwise to Paris, but the fact was, instead of being sent
north to Paris, were sent north to Marseilles,f there to be
shipped ; they were then brought through the straits of Gi-
braltar to the port of Havre, and thence conveyed to the
railway. Nothing, he thought, could better prove the exten-
.

sive usefuluess of that port than this fact. It was the only
means of approaching the capital with things of bulk, n
only of foreign ports, but even from their own coast. In
like manner the wine of Bordeaux was not sent to Paris by
land, but it was shipped there to Havre, and thence sent to
Paris. By and by he hoped it would be conveyed by this
railway. (Hear.) The revenue of the railway, too, would
be materially helped by the imperfect navigation which the
Seine afforded. During the summer time very commodious
stearn-packets were fitted up for the convenience of passen-

gers, but they really did not run more than tive months in
the year. In the early part of the month of May they had
scarcely started, and before October they had ceased to rUil,
and not one of them was now plying. The consequence of
this uncertain medium of transit was, that a great part of the
goods as well as passengers, was sent by land ; and surely it
was nothing more than certain that they would be able to

take goods by railway cheaper than by common carts. Im-
mense quantities of goods did go by these carts now ; and
be saw no reason why they should not take the whole of
them, and also abstract a portion from the river. However, if
they only took that which now travelled by land, they would
take more than any line of • railway in England, or, he be-
lieved, any other in the world. (Applause.)
. _

The CHAIRMAN said the tneefing.tnust feel much obliged
to Mr. Reed for the explanations he had just given. lie

(the Chairman) had seen- it. reported that there were some
differences between the French and English directors ; but
be was quite sure that nothing of that kind had ever oc-
curred between them. (Hear.) They went on together in
perfect harmony. Of course little differences in opinion
would occur but he might say that, although we English
directors had power to vote by proxy in the committee, they
bad never once sent their proxies ; therefore there could not
have been any very great differences. He was sorry that he
Was in ill health in Dover when his friends visited the works
in France, and therefore could not go there ; but Sir John
Easthope would state in what manner they had been re-

ceived by the French director

Sir Jons EASTELOPE, Bart., said he could have no diffi-
culty at all in stating, which was of much more importance to
gentlemencomposing a meeting for business purposes, that