The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-04 00:00:00

the original estimate ; and Mr. Locke, who Was present,
would confirm him, and would state, that when the line
should be opened the company would have paid all their en-
gagements, and have some little capital still in hand. He
trusted the meeting would not separate without returning
their thanks to the directors in Paris for their very great
exertions in forwarding the undertaking. They and the
English directors had worked together for two years, and
although the English directors had originally had reserved to
them the power of voting by proxy on all points in which
they differed from their French colleagues, they had never
had occasion to put that power forth, so harmoniously had
the two bodies worked together. He had to add, that owing
to the rate of exchange between the two countries, a sum of
money would stand to the credit of those English sharehold-
ers who had paid theiikcalls in this country.
Sir JOHN EASTHOPE, Bart., said, the proper object of
the meeting was, that the shareholders might be as well sa-
tisfied as they could be upon two questions : the one was the
efficiency of the capital thoroughly and entirely to complete
the works, and the other as to the time of their completion.
Mr. Reed and Mr. Locke were both present, from whom the
Chairman, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Chaplin, and himself, had
mainly derived their own information. They had examined
the accounts, they had looked over the reports, and they had
inspected the minutes very carefully; but, at the same time,
they had derived all the other information they possessed

from those gentlemen. In other words, he understood the
object of the present meeting to be, that every gentleman
present should, as far as he possibly could, have the same
means of information as the English directors, in order to
lead them to the same conclusions as they themselves had
arrived at. The directors said that they had the utmost
confidence that, by the month of May, the fine would be
open. They calculated, from the reports of Mr. Reed and
Mr. Locke, that the works would be substantially finished in
March, but that it would not be expedient to open till May.
With regard to the question of capital, inasmuch as they had
no legislative power to raise further capital, it was a vital
question to be ascertained, whether the capital already autho-
rised was itself amply sufficient for the purpose.- He under-
stood from Mr. Reed, Mr. Locke, and Mr. Lafitte, that they
had no doubt upon that question ; but, at the same time, he
wished the proprietors, by any question which they could
put, to have just the same information as the directors them-
selves, because it was an agreeable thing for directors to be
released from a certain portion of responsibility by their
partners having the same means of judging as themselves.
These were the two great practical questions upon which
satisfaction should be given at the present meeting. The
next question for the consideration of the proprietors was,
how much might their concern he advantaged by an exten-
sion of the line to the sea; and whether or not, if that exten-

sion was desirable per se, it would be for the interest of those
interested in the promotion of this line to engage in that.
Now as to that, both himself and his colleagues had been for
some time under considerable hesitation, because they bad
before them that which it well became every inquiring and

thinking person to investigate, namely, the navigation of the
Seine, which afforded a constant competition, and they had
also the expense of executing the line. Tbat it would be an

advantage to the Paris and Rouen line, no man could enter
tain a moment's doubt ; it was impossible that it should not

be so; it was impossible that a population like that of Paris
would be content without the facility of getting to the sea
with the same celerity they had got to Rouen. He was glad
to say that the result of the enquiries which had been made
as to the cost and the traffic, gave results which promised,

satisfactorily to his mind, an ample reward for the capital to
be employed ; but the English directors would afford all the
information they possessed, so that an undue amount of re-
sponsibility might not attach to them or their opinions.
They had all four embarked in it a considerable amount of
capital as the result of their confidence in it. It was, how-
ever, upon these points that gentlemen should have informa-
tion. One of the first items was this, the French govern-
ment actually gave £320,000; the town of Havre 410,000;

the Paris and Rouen £200,000, which made £560,000, besides
which the French government lent £400,000 at 3 per cent.,
commencing eight years from the present time ; and the prin-
cipal repayable by equal instalments at the end of 15 years—
in fortieths, he believed ; so that the whole sum probably

required for the completion of the line, left £BOO,OOO to be
furnished by the shareholders. He said probable, because
it was possible, that £200,000 more might be required. One
point on which he was disposed to think the meeting should

be informed, was, what was the amount of that possibility.
Mr. Locke had hopes that he should not require that
£200,000. but not feeling confident that he should be able to
perform the work without it, he had, with his usual caution,
and very properly, deemed it right to be on the safe side.
The hon. baronet then adverted to a great feature in the con-
cern, the payment of interest upon the capital during the
construction of the works, and the establishment of a sinking
fund ; and he said that when all these items were taken into
account, he apprehended that they met the whole question
which he had proposed.
Mr. REED then came forward and said, that in offering

the observations he had to make, it would be better to gO
back to the consideration that the present was a meeting only
of the Paris and Rouen Railway shareholders; and before
they entered on the discussion of the question whether or
not they would commence a new undertaking to obtain an
assurance, that that which they were now engaged upon was
proceeding to a successful issue. if he had felt any doubt
on that subject, be would not have ventured to appear before
them in connection with a new scheme; but the report just
read, as well as the letter of Mr. Locke, conveyed to the
shareholders all the assurances which he (Mr. Reed) thought
were necessary ; the railway would be finished for the capital
subscribed, and in less time than was predicted. For those
advantages the shareholders were much indebted to the great
exertions of Mr. Locke, who had applied all the energy and
experience which he possessed to make this, his first work in
France, remarkable for the speed of its execution, and the
correctness of his estimates of cost. There would have been
still less delay in the completion of the railway, but from the
unfortunate political circumstances which prevailed when
the shareholders met there two years ago to determine whe-
ther they would go on with the line or not. Just at that
period, the treaty which created such bitterness of feeling
between the two countries, had received the signature of the
continental powers; and, although there had been no very
great loss of time, the commencement of the work was in
some degree retarded. Since then, however, their progress
had been satisfactory ; every difficulty had disappeared ; and
he believed they should finish this railway of SO miles long in
less time than any line of equal length had ever been completed.
There had been no less than 7,500 parcels of land purchased.
This had certainly being very troublesome, but, like all other
difficulties, had disappeared; and the company was now in
the possession of the last portion of land—that which was
necessary for building a station at Rouen. They had also
had considerable anxiety on another point—they did not
know how English contractors and English workmen w ould
be received in France. They did not know whether the.
French labourers would be able to go on at that railway pace
which was observed in England. These anxieties, however,
were at an end. Before closing this part of the subject, he
would say a few words in reference to an article, or paragraph,
contlined in a late number of the Railway Magazine, re-
., ect'no. ‘,”e e 4" the bridges across the Seine. Mr. Re( d
having stated the su.)stance of the paragraph, proceeded as

: --
Now, what would have been the course in this country ?
Why, instead of being told by an engineer of the government
that we must remove our bridge, some gentleman of the law,
equally acute, if possible, as my friend Mr. Swift, would have
been instructed to move for an injunction, and, after having
drawn out a case long enough to stretch from hence to the
Court of Chancery, he would, in his turn, have instructed two
or three gentlemen in black gowns and white wigs to make that
move, and after stopping our works, and which way it might,
we should have moved off, minus some hundreds, or perhaps
£lOOO for law expenses. How was it settled in France—
simply thus, a written report condemnatory of our bridge was
made by the engineer of the navigation to the department of
public works,—we were called upon to answer, not through
the medium of the aforesaid gentlemen in black gowns and
white wigs, but our own proper selves, through the medium
of our engineer and our secretary ; the superior authorities
having heard both sides, and inspected the plans originally
proposed to them, and which they themselves had sanctioned
—determined that we had executed the works according to
the plan, and albeit that it was not, perhaps, the best plan
for the interests of the navigation, we were authorised to
complete it, and our works, which in fact, had never been
suspended, were permitted to proceed. I therefore say, they
do manage these things better in France. Here the misun-
derstanding would perhaps have cost us £1000; there it did
not cost us one shilling. It is, perhaps, unnecessary for me
to say more in reference to the progress in constructing the
Paris and Rouen line. In a few months the traffic will be in
course of development, when I doubt not that our most san-
guine expectations will be realised. I now beg to draw your
attention to the proposed line of railway from Rouen to
Havre. The importance to the Paris and Rouen railway of
such a line, is too apparent to render it necessary to detain
you in describing it. Is the existence of the Grand Junction
railway important to that from Birmingham to London ?
No less so—but on account of particular local circumstances
—more so, is that of the Havre line to the Paris and Rouen.
The relative position of Paris, Rouen, and Havre, is in fact,
without a parallel in this country. To form a just idea of
of the thing, so as to compareit with anything here, itis neces-
sary that the mind should figure to itself the filling up, or
the non-existence of the River Thames—that Liverpool
is the Port of London—that from London to Liverpool
runs the river Mersey, a beautiful stream, but circuitous and
difficult of navigation, operated upon by the tide for about
only one-third of its distance; and that the town of Man-
chester is placed somewhere about Birmingham, so as to
represent Rouen, which is the Manchester of France. 1
ask you, gentlemen, whether you think that a railroad under
such circumstances would pay its promoters? or whether, as
men of business, you would not desire to participate in the
profits which must inevitably arise, if such a railroad were
constructed at a moderate cost ? Ido not mean to compare
the magnitude of the mercantile transactions of France with
those of this more commercial country ; but it must be borne
in mind, that not only is Paris, a city of a million inhabi-
tants, at one end of this line, but that a very large quantity
of goods are landed at Havre. and sent through Paris to the
far west of France. There is not a Hull on one side the
kingdom, and a Liverpool on the other. Cotton is actually
carted from Havre to the foot of the Swiss mountains, in
carts which move in fleets, as it were, along the road. In
order, however, to form something like an estimate of quan-
tity, I have noted down those of several leading articles of
commerce. In the year 1841, the total tonnage of the vessels
entering the port of Havre was 682,000 tons, and the ton-
nage of those which sailed was 719,900 ; together, 1,401,000
tons. There were landed at Havre in the same year 357,327
bales of cotton, which, I believe, would weigh upwards of
70,000 tons ; of sugar, in hhds., sacks, and cases, upwards
of 138,000, weighing perhaps nearly 70,000 tons more ; up-
wards of 150,000 tierces, sacks, and other packages of coffee •
11,700 tons of dye-woods; upwards of 30,000 logs of ma-
hogany ; upwards of 300,000 skins of various sorts ; 119,000
hides; 18,000 packages of tobacco; 265,000 plates of zinc;
and an immense Quantity and variety of other articles, all
or most part of which have to pass towards, to, or through
Paris. I should deem it an impertinent waste of your
time to detain you by entering into the proof that where
such a port, with such an amount of business, exists,
there must, necessarily, be a large traffic between that port
and the point where consumption is made of these articles ;
or, that where so many goods are constantly on the line of
transit, there must, necessarily, be a larger passenger traffic
also. The number of those passengers, or the revenue they
will yield, you will find stated in the prospectus. I rely on a
revenue from passengers of upwards of £132,000 per annum.
But there are persons who, while they admit the existence of
the traffic, yet profess to doubt whether the railway will ob-
tain that traffic—the Seine, they say, is a beautiful river--
passengers will prefer it to the railway—and, by the river,
goods will be sent cheaper than you can carry them ; to which
some add, that even if you do get the passengers, your tariff
is so low that it will have only a very small profit. I believe
that those who so think, are wrong. First, for the passen-
gers. One steam-boat per day each way runs between Havre
and Rouen during the summer months only. In order, how-
ever, that these boats may pass in safety the sands of Quille-
beuf, it is necessary they -should leave Havre as soon as the
water brought by the going flood tide into the harbour is suf-
ficiently deep to enable them to go out. These boats start
frequently as early as three or four o'clock in the morning—
they must not wait for an afternoon tide, forif they do, and
they meet with any obstacle on the passage, the passengers
are kept out all night. Again, Havre being a tidal harbour,
sea-going vessels arriving in the offing, must wait until the
flood tide is considerably advanced before they can enter,
and the consequence is, that steam-boats arriving from Eng-
land or other places beyond sea, cannot enter the harbour
until the Rouen steam-boat has necessarily departed. Sup-
pose, therefore, a passenger to arrive at Havre from South-
hampton, or any other place at 9 o'clock in the morning, the
Rouen boats will have started at 8, if he will go by the steam-
boat, he must remain until 9 the next morning, whereas, if he
chooses to go by the railroad, he may remain 2 hours in Havre
to refresh himself, and be in Paris at 6 o'clock to dinner. Can