RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
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 LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

     The report of the directors of this company states that they have to submit on the 27th inst. two subjects of great importance to the shareholders—viz., the expediency of leasing the Staines and Wokingham and the Portsmouth Railways. It also states that the former consists of a double railway (18 miles in length) running out of the company’s Windsor line at Staines, and ending with a junction with the South-Eastern Company’s Reading and Reigate line at Wokingham, and of a short junction railway, now in course of construction at Reading, for connecting the South-Eastern Company’s system with the narrow gauge lines of the Great Western Railway, which approach that town from the north-west. It also comprises the right, granted by Parliament to the Staines and Wokingham Company, of running over the South-Eastern Company’s line between Wokingham and Reading, and of using their stations there. The South-Western Company have for some time past worked the Staines and Wokingham line, under a temporary agreement, and are, therefore, not unacquainted with its resources; and it is on a consideration of these that the directors have arrived at the conclusion that an arrangement of a more permanent character is desirable. The railway traverses a favourite country for residence; a considerable portion of its traffic passes, at scarcely appreciable additional expense, over the South-Western Company’s existing line between Staines and London, and it opens Reading,and the great convergence of railways at that point, to the South-Western system. On completion of the junction before referred to at Reading, it will also afford the best opportunity of transmitting goods without change of carriage from or to London and its suburbs, to or from all points on the narrow gauge railways now worked by the Great Western Railway Company. The lease of the Staines and Wokingham line is proposed to be for 42 year from the 25th March, 1858. The rent is to be half of the gross receipts of the line between Staines and Wokingham, but not less in any year than £7,000, this company paying the toll for the use of the before-mentioned portion of the South- Eastern Company's Railway, and retaining the whole of the fares and rates received for the traffic on that portion. The granting and accepting of this lease were sanctioned by Parliament during last session, subject to the approval of the shareholders in each company. The terms of the lease have been approved by the Staines and Wokingham Company, and the directors now recommend the shareholders of the South-Western Company to ratify the measure on their part. The undertaking of the Portsmouth Company as originally authorised by Parliament, consisted of a line 32 miles in length, commencing from the South-Western Company’s railway at Godalming (34 miles from London); running thence in the direction of the old turnpike road by Haslemere and Petersfield towards Portsmouth, and ending at Havant, 66 miles from London, by a junction with the Chichester and Portsmouth line of the Brighton Company, on which and the joint line of the Brighton and South-Western Companies it relied for its connection with Portsmouth. The Portsmouth Company next obtained powers for the construction of a branch between three and four miles long, from Godalming to the South-Eastern Company’s Reading and Reigate line at Shalford. Thus, through its junctions with the South-Western at Godalming, and with the South- Eastern at Shalford, it proposed to open London by a double route to the country below Godalming, and by its junction with the Brighton Company's railway at Havant, to complete a new line between Portsmouth and London, of 73 miles only, by Guildford and the South-Eastern. Each such route, it will be observed, is considerably shorter than the existing ones (of 94½ miles) by Bishopstoke on the one hand, and by Brighton on the other. The Portsmouth Company, in the last session of Parliament, notwithstanding every opposing exertion of the Brighton Company and this company, succeeded in obtaining powers of running over the Brighton Company’s line between Havant and Hilsea, with the alternative power of making an independent parallel line there, and a junction with this company’s railway at Cosham station; they also  obtained similar rights of running over the joint line of the Brighton and South-Western Companies between Hilsea and Portsmouth; and although they were excluded from the privilege they sought of using the Brighton and South-Western station at Portsmouth, except upon arrangement with its owners, they obtained powers, failing such arrangement, to construct an independent terminal station. The Portsmouth Company have now also brought their undertaking into a state ready for opening. Matters thus standing, the directors were invited to consider proposals for working the line, and for making the necessary incidental arrangements as to the interchange of traffic with it at Godalming, and for the accommodation of such traffic between London and Godalming. The directors, after close and anxious discussion, have at length succeeded in making a provisional arrangement of lease, on terms which they can recommend the proprietors to accept. The Portsmouth directors long maintained that their undertaking deserved a considerably higher rental, and some influential proprietors of that company appear still to remain of that opinion; but although the rent conditionally agreed on (£18,000 a-year) will give no very high return to their shareholders on an outlay of nearly half a million, the directors believe that it is a fair and full rent, and such as should be agreed to by the proprietors in both companies. The lease is proposed to be for 99 years—a virtual perpetuity; the line is single throughout, with land, tunnels, bridges over and under, culverts, &c., for a double line, portions of double way at convenient intervals, and eight stations are to be completed with the necessary conveniences to the satisfaction of this company’s officers. The lease will vest in the South-Western Company the right of exercising all the powers and privileges of the Portsmouth Company (except those relating to their capital and internal regulation) on the same terms and in the same manner as the Portsmouth Company might, if working their own railway, exercise them. If the proprietors desire the agreement provisionally made carried out the directors believe they will be able to bring it and the arrangements incident to it to a satisfactory conclusion. For this purpose they ask the proprietors to confer on them the necessary discretionary powers. In conclusion the directors state that, should the lease of the Portsmouth Railway be taken by the company, the proprietors may rest assured that the directors will continue in the earnest desire to remain on friendly terms with the Brighton Company.