PORTSMOUTH RAILWAY.
A meeting of the shareholders of the Portsmouth Railway Company was convened for Thursday, when R. D. Mangles, Esq., M.P., took the chair. A sufficient number of the shareholders, to form a meeting, was not in attendance, and the only business done, therefore, was to present the following report :
Your Directors have to report that the works at the two points of the line where the greatest labour is required—viz., at Buriton and Haslemere— have been steadily advancing during the last half-year, and that measures have been recently taken to increase the rate of progress at the latter place, where there is a very heavy cutting, and generally to hasten the construction of the line between Haslemere and the Junction with the South Western Railway, immediately to the north of Godalming. Orders have been given for the purchase of the land for the whole line, and the Company’s Land Agents are proceeding with as much despatch as is practicable in making agreements with the Landowners for the purchase of the land required. During the spring and summer it is intended to press forward the works from the Godalming Junction to Haslemere with a view to the completion and opening for traffic of the first section of the line from Godalming to Witley in the autumn, and the simultaneous progress of the heavy work Haslemere above alluded to.
By the Bill which they introduced into the House of Commons last year, this Company sought for powers to deviate near Liphook from the line authorised in 1853; but owing to local opposition, the attempt was defeated before the committee of that house. The great importance which they attached to this measure induced your Directors to submit it again to Parliament, and a Bill has now been brought in to enable the Company to make a deviation somewhat different from that of last year, so as to obviate the objections raised against that scheme, but securing its substantial advantages; and your Directors have great pleasure in stating that the landowners, whose opposition was fatal to the former measure, are assenting parties to the present Bill, which, in consequence, as far as it relates to the deviation in question, will be unopposed.
It may be in the recollection of the proprietors that during the passage of the Shalford Extension Bill through the House of Lords last year, the committee of that house, being apprehensive that danger would arise from the proposed crossing of the Farncombe Road upon the level, inserted a clause to compel the Company to carry that road by a bridge over their line, and over the London and South Western Railway also. As this bridge would render the use of the road inconvenient to the public and would entail considerable expense upon the Company, whilst the danger apprehended might be obviated without incurring such an outlay, the repeal of this clause is sought for by the Bill now before Parliament.
The time limited by the agreement entered into with the Direct Portsmouth Railway Company for the purpose of winding-up the affairs of that Company, has now expired; and, although the final settlement has not yet taken place, your Directors are able to state that pecuniary advantages, with a view to which they entered into the arrangement in question, will be secured to this Company.
Edmund Robins, Esq., one of the auditors who retires according to the provisions of the Company’s Act of Incorporation, offers himself for re-election.
The following report of the engineers will shew the state of the works upon the line, and the progress made since the last meeting of the shareholders.
TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE PORTSMOUTH RAILWAY COMPANY.
GENTLEMEN,—As requested at the last Board meeting, we now beg to forward a report on the progress of the works up to this date.
The most important points are at Buriton and Haslemere.
The only tunnel on the line is at Buriton; the total length is 480 yards, entirely through chalk, and of this length the driftway has been carried 420 yards, and the masonry of the tunnel has been completed for a distance of 220 yards. From the excavations in and adjacent to the tunnel, embankment has been formed to the extent of 20,000 cubic yards.
In the Buriton and Petersfield districts preparations are made for burning 2,000,000 bricks for the completion of the masonry of the tunnel and for the bridges in that neighbourhood.
The cutting at Haslemere is now fairly opened, and 40,000 cubic yards have been carried to the embankment, and clay has been excavated from the cutting for £3,000,000 bricks.
At Godalming about 2,000 cubic yards of embankment has been formed, 10,000 lineal yards of fencing has been supplied along the line, and a large stock of contractor’s materials is on the ground; 240 men and 40 horses are at present employed on the works.
Your obedient,
JOSEPH LOCKE.
J. E. ERRINGTON.
The accounts showed that the receipts up to the 20th March were £74,765 7s. 1d., and the expenditure £60,671 10s. 9d., leaving a balance of £14,093 16s. 4d.