PORTSMOUTH.
The half-yearly meeting of this Company was held on Saturday, 30th August, at the offices, Great George-street, Westminster;
Mr. D. R. MANGLES, M.P., in the chair.
Mr. HORNE, the secretary, read the report, which stated that the works upon the railway between Godalming and Haslemere have, since the last meeting, been constantly advancing towards completion; and the section between the junction with the South Western railway and Witley can be completed without difficulty in three months. The tunnel at Buriton is finished, except the facing; and the cutting and embankment near the spot are carried on without intermission. The section of the line from Godalming to Whitley was at the early part of the year pressed forward in order to its being opened in the autumn, but a negotiation having been commenced with the South Western Company with a view to their working the same, the board of that Company, while stating that they were prepared, ‟whenever a reasonable extent from this Company’s line at Godalming southwards shall be ready for opening, to work it at cost price,” declared their opinion, ‟that the very short distance proposed to be opened, from Godalming to Whitley, does not justify its being worked at present.” The Directors much regret this opinion. They thought, and still believe, that the traffic upon this section of the line would have been remunerative to both Companies. Great delay has arisen in the final settlement of the contract with Mr. Brassey, but all points of difference have now been satisfactorily arranged, and the contract has been signed with the provision that the entire line shall be completed by the 30th of September, 1857. The Directors much regret that, owing to the circumstances of the times, and especially to the dearness of money during the war, the progress of the Company’s operations has been hitherto so much slower than might otherwise have been expected. But, even during the period in question, the confidence of the board in the intrinsic goodness of the undertaking never abated; and now that the Directors are in a position, with adequate funds at command, to look forward to the completion of the line within a very moderate period, they feel they are justified in congratulating the Shareholders on the improved prospects of the Company. The report of the engineer, Messrs. Locke and Errington, states that at Buriton the tunnel through the chalk ridge is finished, and 40,000 cubic yards have been excavated. At Haslemere, where the heaviest work occurs, 212,000 cubic yards have been excavated, which is about one-half the total quantity. At Whitley nearly 100,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel have been removed to embankment, which is rather more than one-half the total quantity of excavation. The capital account showed that £160,403 had been received, and £142,491 expended, leaving a balance of £17,914.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said the Directors, owing to the circumstances of the times through which they had passed, had not been so stern as they would have been in enforcing the payment of calls in arrear. As the pressures on the money market had now been removed, the Directors had determined to enforce payment of calls in arrear by every legal means in their power. He hoped those in arrear would up, in order to save expense, and to place themselves on a footing with other Shareholders. Their accounts did not look so well as they might, because Mr. Brassey, the contractor, had 4,000 shares in the line, and he only paid 20 per cent. out of his receipts for works, so that when he received £1,000 for his works he paid the Company £200 in respect of calls on his shares. If they had all been paid up to the present time they would have amounted to £32,000 more than the accounts show; the total receipts would have been £184,000 instead of £152,000. There was another large item of £12,000 due from two Shareholders who had taken them into Chancery, which would be soon paid. There was no doubt that they had full power within themselves to press forward the works and complete the line within a year from the present time. He felt that the South Western Company were from position their natural allies, and that their line from its proximity to that railway should by some means fall into the hands of the South Western Company. There were however conflicting interests at work, and that would account for the caustic answer they had received in respect to working the line. There was some very foolish gentleman who had held out to the South Western Company that the Portsmouth line would never be made. The South Western board had listened too much to that representation. One gentleman had been advised by a Director of the South Western Company never to pay another call, and to sell his shares in the Portsmouth Company at any price to get rid of them; other gentlemen had, no doubt, been similarly advised, and, of course, if a sufficient number of the Shareholders could be prevailed upon to do the same, the prophecy would be fulfilled. The Directors of the South Western had been deluded by these representations, and that was one great cause of the conduct of that Company towards them. It was right that the public, the Shareholders, and Parliament should know that there existed a most unholy alliance between the South Western, the Brighton, and South Eastern Companies to monopolise the whole of the traffic in the southern district of the country, and with a view to shut out the landowners from making lines to accommodate local traffic. He would mention two facts bearing on that point. In the session before last the Portsmouth Company applied to Parliament for power to extend their line from Godalming to Shalford, on the Reading and Reigate railway, with a view to be, in some respects, independent of the South Western Company. They all knew that the Reading line paid the South Eastern Company very badly, and it was clearly their interest to encourage such a junction as the Portsmouth Company proposed, as it would bring them in connection with Portsmouth, Petersfield, Haslemere, and other places. It was reasonable to expect the opposition of the South Western Company to such a junction, but they hardly thought it possible the South Eastern should oppose so advantageous a junction. He was sorry to say that the South Eastern Company opposed the junction as vehemently and as pertinaciously as the South Western. He could not believe they would have done so unless an unholy alliance existed. It would be seen that they were opposed to any additional accommodation of an enormous tract of country lying between those lines. The country gentlemen got up a scheme for supplying railway communication between Epsom and Leatherhead of three or four miles in length. A deputation waited on the Brighton board, and the latter were reported to have said they would be glad to see the line taken up independently, but when the line was brought before a committee of the House of Commons in the last session the Chairman of the Brighton Company was put into the witness box to give evidence against the line, which, if constructed, could not fail to increase the traffic of the Epsom branch. Notwithstanding this opposition the bill was obtained. There were such things as running powers and facility clauses in acts of parliament, and it was not likely that those three Companies, however strongly they might unite, would be allowed to shut out such towns as Petersfield, Midhurst, and other places of importance from the advantages of railway communication. Between Cucksfield on the Brighton railway and Bishopstoke on the South Western railway there was a country 54 miles in extent without railway communication. This was a state of things that was not to be borne, and he would have the Chairman of those Companies brought before a committee of the House of Commons to state what the natute of that alliance was—( Hear, hear). They were called robbers by the South Western Company because they were constructing a line to Midhurst, Petersfield, and other places situated between 20 or 30 miles from a railway. They had every desire to deal fairly with the South Western Company, who were paying 5½ per cent., and would soon pay 6 per cent., dividend to their Shareholders, but they might depend upon it they would not be able to shut out a part of the country 54 miles in width from railway accommodation, neither would the Brighton Company be allowed to do so. It was evident that such a policy would prove injurious to the Shareholders involved in that alliance. The Portsmouth Company would go on steadily to complete their line; they would look about for friends, and see how their traffic was to be developed. The reason the established railway Companies paid their Shareholders so little was the enormous expenditure of capital, and not the want of traffic. The South Western had expended about £50,000 a mile on their lines, whereas the cost of the Portsmouth railway, as a double line, would not exceed £15,000 per mile; so that almost any traffic would pay them a dividend. It was necessary the public and Parliament should know these things in order that a remedy might be devised. They had at present 11 Directors at the board; they proposed to increase the number to 14, and to fill up the vacancies at the board. They proposed to elect the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor (Mr. D. Salomons), Mr. Blyth, and Mr. W. Jackson, M.P., Directors of the Company.
Mr. SOLOMON said he hoped the Directors would not stop for anything, and that they would make those in arrear pay up, forfeit the shares.
The report was unanimously adopted.
Three of the retiring Directors—Mr. H. B. Carter, Mr. G. Young, and Admiral Sir J. Stirling—were re-elected; Mr. F. Mowatt, M.P., having retired, the Right Hon. D. Salomons, Lord Mayor, was elected a Director, in the room of Mr. Mowatt; and Mr. Blyth, and Mr. Jackson, M.P., were also elected Directors.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.