The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-03

MEETING or THE BOARD OF PUBLIC
NoRks-SrEEcHEs ON THE SUBJECT OF THs
CONSOLIDATION. - The Board of Public
Works held IA meeting yesterday morning
in the Senate Chamber. The members o
the Board, Governor Pcirpoint, Major Cal
vert, treasurer of the State, and William
7. Taylor. Esq, auditor Of the State, were
present. The object of this meeting par
ticularly was TO consider the question OF
consolidating all the railroad lines on the
south side between Norfolk, Va, and Bris-
,ul, Tenn. After the members of the Board
had assembled,
Governor Pcirpoint rose and said The
Board of Public Works Of Virginia have
been earnestly inquiring into the manage
mrnt Of the Virginia railroads. They have
heard many complaints, and have been
looking into the management of them, not
with view OF forwarding the interests of
r,rticS or cluucS, but with a view of benc-
if,iuy the whole State. Our railroads on
t,lr south side of James river, with the cX-
rrpriou of the Richmond and Petersburg
railroad, arc owned by the State to the
gu,unt of three .ffths of the stock, be-
sides the bonds OF theirs which the State
IN, taken. On the north side, it OWNS in
,h,. Orange and Alexandria railroad three
man, Of the stock from GordonSvillc to
Alexandria. All the people along these
lines are deeply interested in the transpor-
ilt,uu and travel over them. The object
rf the Board j. 10 see that these roads
r,u.ler the State the greatest amount Of
good and tic people the greatest amount Of
facility. \ question has arisen relative
10 the consolidation of the railroads on the
south side. This is not question about
Nrr,;ng the amount Of freight, passengers,
Nr.. hlt question which affects the vital
interests Of the State. All these things are
I>rpt hv the different railroads themselves,
even 10 the wear and tear of a car, for
lhrv reduce the running of trains to the
,liur system which l. mercantile house III q
lit, does. The real question of conSolida-
;uu is, can additional facilities for travel
wl Transportation hc afforded to the pub
I.c b. putting these roads under one head
II does nos involve the consolidation of
rtcrr>t>. for each road will still have its
own board If directors and its own pre-
>ilrrr. the only difference hcing that that
president is the head of two other roads
beside. He will, however hc equally de-
yo.,l 10 the interests Of all. The Orange
and Alexandria railroad connects with the
Virginia AMI Tennessee railroad, and il and
tire James River and kanawha canal have
I, break bulk al Lynchburg. The object
Of the consolidation is to place both OF
tlr,r on au equality with any other lines
either going west or coming east. The
VIRGINIA and,TcnncSscc railroad and South
>lir railroad have the same guage, and
freight can 70 from one to the other with
oui breaking bulk. The canal and Orange
and Alexandria railroad, however, have to
bear the expense of breaking bulk at
lynchhurg.
Unc object of this consolidation is TO put
virginia cities on an equality with other
cities. Ii Richmond is 200 miles nearer
Memphis than New York, then freight
from Richmond ought to be just 200 miles
cheaper. To the Richmond and Danyillc
road he would say that it ought to adopt
the same tariff adopted by the other south
side railroads. The James River and ka-
nnwha canal ought to be held to be ITO
ujlc>-which, excluding the windings of
the river, is it, length--aHd should charge
three cents a ton mile and that would
put it on a footing with the railroads.
The question had been raised whether
the managers OF the Virginia and Temes-
see railroad would object to consolidation.
No business man, he supposed, who was
Interested in that road would caro- whether
the freight that went over the road went
10 Memphis or to Corinth so that the
freight per ton was paid. Something had
been said about local and way travel. With
reference to that question, he had only to
say that he was not willing that Tennes-
sccan should go over the Virginia roads at
three cents mile, when Eirginians have
to pay six cents per milc-the Virginian
lhu> paving the Tennesscean's expenses.
We all know that one cent per ton per
mile pays railroad company. The best
European and American railroads have
found it 10 their interest to build up the
way freight business. 1t costs little more
TO run freight train of twcnty-six cars
than il does to run one of six ears and
these way freight trains encourage the
farmers to send their produce to the best
markets. With the present system OF way
freight the people of Richmond can't get
wood at anything like reasonable rates.
The Beard have another viSS of this
matter. They cannot see that localities
Nhould control works in which the whole
state is interested TO the amount OF three
hliIs OF the stock, though the friends OF
this say il is for the good OF the whole
people. The Board last year determined
10 favor the consolidation Of these three
lines. They found that in removing frelghts
nom one car TO another on these roads u
cost two cents per ton, aud that car
load going from Norfolk to Lynchburg
COS, for changing cars S6.40 before it got
there. They also found that time was lost
IN transportation, and while car was un-
loading and loading it might have gone
lHD miles further Oh. Also, you not only
save time and expense by this consolida-
ton, but about forty per cent. OF the roll
ny stock now used might be saved. 1t
mad been said that there were legal OBJ
(ections to this movement, but no one had
heard OF legal objections to the consolida-
lloh Of the Richmond aud Danviile and
Greensboro railroad, or the consolidation
ol The Norfolk and Petersburg and South
SIDE railroads. Since the combination OF
lie las, two companies, the expenses OF
tAe Southside railroad had been reduced
ron $4,000 to s20, 1000 per month.
Colonel 7. p. August.-Was there any
objection on the part Of the stockholders
"i the Greensboro road to consolidate
with the Danville road s
Governor Peirpoint.-It turns out that
me Danyille road owned oil Of the Greens
OoTo' road. About the legality Of tho
matter, can say that no stockholdcr could
oooDeet TO 1t, because he sustained no injury
IfOtl the change and having sustained no