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

MEETING OF TIE BOARD or Publ,
WoRkS-SrEEcnEs ON THE SUBJECT OF TIL
CONSOLIDATION. - The Board of Public
Works held a meeting yesterday morning
in the Senate Chamber. The members o.
the Board, Governor Pcirpoint, Major Cal
vert, treasurer of the State, and William
+. Taylor. Esq, auditor of the State, were
present. The object of this meeting par.
iicularly was to consider the question Of
consolidating all the railroad lines on the
south side between Norfolk, Va, and Bris-
tul, 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 Il view OF forwarding the interests of
PARTIES or cliqucs, but with view of benc-
f,iyg the whole State. Our railroads on
the south side of James river, with the cX
ccptiou of the Richmond and Petersburg
railroad, arc owned by the State to the
amount OF thrcc-iitths of the stock, be-
sides the bonds Of theirs which the State
has taken. On the north side, it owns in
,a,. Orange and Alexandria railroad three
rul, If the stock from GordonSyillc to
Alexandria. All the people along these
Ines are deeply interested in the transpor
tation aud travel over them. The object
81 the Board j. 10 see that these roads
render the State the greatest amount Of
good and the people the greatest amount Of
facilitN. 4 question has arisen relative
10 the consolidation Of the railroads on the
south side. This is not question about
krcriug the amount Of freight, passengers,
&C.. hut Il question which affects the vital
interests of the State. All these things are
krpt tv the different railroads themselves,
even 10 the wear and tear of a car, for
thew reduce the running of trains To the
>,ur system which mercantile house in a
city does. The real question of con>olida-
ton *, can additional facilities for travel
and transportation he afforded to the pub
lic hy putting these roads under one head !!
Ii does not involve the consolidation OF
Interests. for each road will still have its
own board Of directors and its own pre-
>ilrrt, the only difference being that that
PRESIDENT is the head Of two other roads
beside. lie will, however, he equally de-
VOID IL thu interests OF all. The Orange
and Alexandria railroad connects with the
Nuguia aud Tennessee railroad, and ii and
rar James River and kanawha canal have
t. break bulk III Lynchburg. The object
of the consolidation is to place both Of
these on an equality with any other lines
cirhrr Going west or coming east. The
Er-ilia andsTcnncSscc railroad and South
>G,, railroad have the same guage, and
freight can 70 from one to the other with
out breaking bulk. The canal and Orange
a,l Alexandria railroad, however, have to
bear the expense of breaking bulk at
l}nchhurg.
One Object of this consolidation is to put
Virginia cities on an equality with other
,,'irs. Ii Richmond is 200 miles nearer
Memphis than New York, then freight
from Richmond ought to bc 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 IA
ulwha canal ought to be held to be ITO
mjlc>--which, excluding the windings OF
thrriycr, is it, length-aid should charge
three cents ton a mile and that would
put il on 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 care whether
thr freight that went over the road went
to Memphis or 10 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 lie was not willing that TenneS-
sccan should go over the Virginia roads at
three cents mile, when Eirginians have
10 pay six cents per mlc-the Virginian
lhuS paving the Tennesseean's expenses.
We all know that one cent per ton per
mile pays q railroad company. The best
European and American railroads have
found il 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 cars; 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 Board have another viSw OF TINS
matter. They cannot see that localities
Nhouid control works in which the whole
State is Interested TO the amount of three
tillhs OF the stock, though the friends OF
this say it 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 freigilts
from one car to another ON these roads 1t
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 IN
loading and loading it might have gone
100 miles further on. Also, you not only
save time aud expense by this consolida-
u"h, tnt about forty per cent. OF the roll
ins stock now used might be saved. IL
had been said that there were legal OBJ
lccuons to this movement, but no one had
hcttd OF legal objections to the consolIda-
Ton Of the Richmond and Danville and
Greensboro railroad, or the consolidation
OF the Norfolk and Petersburg and South
SIDE railroads. Since the combination OF
lie last two companies, the expenses OF
lie Southside railroad had been reduced
from FAC, 900 to $4,000 per mouth.
Colonel T. p. August.-Was there any
objection ON the part Of the stockholders
ol the Greensboro road TO consolidate
with the Danyille road
Governor Peirpoint.-It turns out that
The Danvlle road owned all Of the Green's
boro' road. About the legality of the
matter, ! can say that no stakeholder could
ooIect to 1t, because he sustained no Injury
from the change and having sustained no