since she was in the service of the Port Walthall association, if so where, if not say if you know why she has not been enrolled?

Ans. I do not know from whom the Augusta was purchased, but have reason to believe it was from the persons, or company that owned her while running on the Potomac. I do not know who purchased her for the stockholders. I do not know by whom, to whom, and at what time the purchase money was paid. As to the manner of paying it, I have understood that it was payable partly in cash, and partly in instalments by the notes of the subscribers for her stock. I am unable to say whether she has been licensed and enrolled according to law, or where she has been licensed and enrolled. As to the ownership of the Augusta, I have seen the list of subscribers for her stock, but do not recollect it sufficiently to state all their names, or the sums subscribed by them. I believe the list or a copy of it, has been filed among the papers in possession of the joint committee, and can be referred to. No papers in relation to her title are in my possession, or, to my knowledge, in possession of the railroad company. I have seen in the last two or three days two documents in possession of Mr. Thomas Dodamead, one of which I understood was the register of the Augusta, what the other was I do not know. I have been informed in the last two or three days that she has not been enrolled since she has been in the service of the association, and that the cause of her not having been enrolled is, the former owners having retained the title to her.

Ques. 10. Has the steamboat Chesapeake been at any time employed in carrying passengers or rendering any other service for the Port Walthall association, if so has any compensation been made to the company by the association, if so what sum has been paid and when and how?

Ans. The Chesapeake has never been employed in carrying passengers for the Port Walthall association. The Augusta having, some time last fall, grounded on a sand bank, the Chesapeake hauled her off, for which service the association paid the sum of forty dollars to the company, on the 30th September 1846. This is the only service I know of having been rendered by the Chesapeake to the association.

Richmond, 1st February 1847.

Ques. 11. What have been the expenses of running the steamboat Augusta since she has been run by the Port Walthall association?

Ans. The amount of her expenses from the 16th April 1846, the date of her first trip, to the first of January 1847, is about 14,250 dollars.

JN. WILLIAMS.

Interrogatories propounded to George W. Munford by the Memorialists.

Ques. 1. Are you an officer of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company? If so what office do you hold and how long have you held it?

Ans. I am a director of that company, appointed on the part of the state by the Board of public works, and have been such ever since 1838.

Ques. 2. State if you know the actual capital of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company at the time that stock was purchased by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company-if the stock was then $ 60,000 how happened it that the stock was of that value? Was it the original amount of subscription or was the stock reduced to that amount? If the latter, for what reason was the reduction made?

Ans. By the charter of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company it was provided that the capital stock of the company shall not exceed $ 150,000, to be divided into shares of $100. I have ascertained from an examination of the books and papers of the company in a hurried manner, since these interrogatories were propounded, that the actual capital at the time of the purchase by the railroad company was 1240 shares of $100 each, making $124,000. In making the contract for the purchase, it was the duty and the interest of the railroad company to purchase upon as reasonable terms as possible. The stock was not believed to be worth the amount of the original subscription. It was thought advisable that the railroad company should have the control of the steamboat concern, either by having its stockholders interested in that concern, or by becoming part owners of the stock. It was proposed, therefore, that the stockholders in the railroad company and the company in its corporate character, should purchase one half of the stock, and it was sold to them by the stockholders of the steamboat company at $50 per share; the whole amount being 1240 shares, one half of which to be retained by the original stockholders would leave 620 shares, to be sold at $50 per share, the amount would be $31,000, the amount paid by the railroad company and its stockholders together. There was no reduction in the amount of stock, it was only a reduction in the actual value at the time of the purchase. We believed that we were giving a fair equivalent for what we bought. Ques. 3. What property did that company own at the time of the purchase aforesaid? What was its value? What amount of debts was then due to the company, and what amount due from it?

Ans. I understood that the steamboat company owned at the time of the purchase two steamboats, the Augusta and the Powhatan, and an omnibus establishment in the City of Washington-I do not know their

value. The debts of the steamboat company at the time of the purchase were not exactly ascertained, and there appeared to be a good deal of confusion in their books, so that they could not be ascertained with precision, but they were represented as not being very great. I have ascertained from our books and from the treasurer, that the railroad company have actually paid on account of these debts $ 10,281 25, and there is no evidence of any other debts outstanding, and it is believed none such exist. From the same source I find that the debts due to the steamboat company and which have been paid to the railroad company amount to $7615 17, and there is a suit now depending against the former treasurer of the steamboat company for $3000, which if determined in our favour will rather more than square the account.

Ques. 4. Has the capital stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company been increased since the purchase aforesaid? If so, how and by whom?

Ans. The stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company has not been increased since the purchase as far as I know or believe. Ques. 5. What boats and other property are now owned by the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company? What amount has been expended by it in building or purchasing boats since the time referred to in the second interrogatory?

The Au

Ans. I believe the steamboat company now own the boats the Mount Vernon and Powhatan. gusta has been sold to the Port Walthall association. They own also the omnibus establishment in Washington. I do not know personally what amount has been expended in building or purchasing boats, but have ascertained from the treasurer and books of the company, that the amount paid for the Mount Vernon and her furniture, is about $ 40,000. The steamboat company now own also $7500 worth of stock in the Port Walthall association which has been paid for.

Ques. 6. What amount of debts is now due from the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company, and on what account are they due? What amount of debts is now due and on what account are they due ?

Ans. I do not know the amount of debt due by the steamboat company at this time, nor on what account due, nor the amount of debts due to that company, nor on what account. I have not had time to examine into this matter-the treasurer of the company will no doubt state them correctly.

Ques. 7. When the stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company was purchased by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company, was $31,000 the sum agreed to be given for that stock; was the sum agreed to be given, either assumed or paid by the railroad company? if so, were the sales to stockholders on credit or for cash? and have the sums constituting the item "bills receivable invested this amount $7000" in the statement of 30th December last, (in 31st report Board of public works,) any connexion with this transaction? if so, how are they connected?

Ans. When the stock of the steamboat company was purchased, as well as I recollect, the president was authorized by the board to pay for it out of the funds of the railroad company, with the understanding, however, that as much as he could get taken by the individual stockholders of the railroad company should be so taken, and that the balance remaining untaken, should be paid for out of the funds of the company. Accordingly 160 shares of the stock were taken by individual stockholders and paid for by them I believe in cash, making $8000. The balance of $23,000 was paid for by the company in a very short time, paying interest for the time.

I have no reason to believe that the sums composing the item "bills receivable invested this amount $ 7000,” in the statement to the Board of public works referred to, has any connexion with this transaction. Loans have been made at various times to individuals as money accumulated and remained on hand idle, but I have no reason to think that it was so loaned with any design to enable the borrowers to pay for this stock. A resolution was adopted by the railroad company 12th November 1844, which has never been rescinded, authorizing money to be loaned when on hand, to the amount of $ 15,000; the loans were required to be secured by the hypothecation of stocks or funded debt of the company under restrictions deemed to be sufficient to secure the repayment of the money at the time wanting.

Ques. 8. Has the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company made any loans or advances to the stockholders of that company in connexion with the purchase of the stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company, or the Port Walthall association? if so, what amounts have been so advanced, and under what contracts?

Ans. I do not know that these loans or any loans have been made in connexion with the purchase of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat stock, or the Port Walthall association; no such matter has ever been brought before the board within my knowledge. I know that loans have been made to stockholders, for I have seen evidence of the fact at different times in examining accounts, but they were asked for by the borrowers I suppose, because they were in want of money, and were granted, because there was unemployed money on hand, and because the borrowers were believed to be able to repay the money loaned, and at the time it would be wanted, and because it was amply secured by the hypothecation of their stock, if they should not.

Ques. 9. State all you know in relation to the purchase of the stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company, or the Port Walthall association, and the transactions of the Petersburg railroad company in relation to the two steamboat companies, and any thing you know of the objects and designs of the Richmond,

Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company in raising up and running a line of steamboats on the river and bay?

Ans. The proceedings extracted from the records of the company and which have been furnished the committee in response to one of their resolutions will afford the information desired, better than I can give it from

memory.

I will state however in general terms, that when the purchase of the stock of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company was brought to the notice of the board, the importance of obtaining control over the steamboat line was presented, and it was considered indispensable to obtain this control, in order to afford proper accommodation to the travel between Washington and Fredericksburg. Complaint had been made of interruptions to the travel from the want of a suitable ice boat on the Potomac in the winter, and the steamboat company either had not the means, or would not use them to procure suitable boats. Under these circumstances it was deemed advisable, that either the stockholders of the railroad company, or the company itself, as I said before, should own at least one half of the stock of the steamboat concern, if it could be purchased at a reasonable rate. The president was authorized if possible, to make this arrangement, and it was effected as I have stated in my answer to the 2d and 7th interrogatories.

With regard to the Port Walthall association and the arrangements made with it, I refer also to the proceedings of the company already laid before the committee, which give as far as I know the true history of the matter. In general terms I state that an agreement was entered into between the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company and the Richmond and Petersburg and Fredericksburg companies and the Potomac steamboat company as an inducement to establish the line from Port Walthall to Norfolk, that the whole receipts from travel on through tickets of passengers proceeding direct from Washington to Norfolk should be given to the Port Walthall association for two years, afterwards to be divided between the respective companies on the line as might be agreed upon-and the president of the Fredericksburg railroad company was authorized to subscribe a sum not exceeding $15,000 to the stock of such a line. That the president subsequently subscribed for $12,500 of this stock. That in consequence of the action of the Board of public works against this subscription, the stockholders of the Fredericksburg railroad company required the directors to dispose of the stock, and that this stock was disposed of to stockholders of said company at par and interest. That another agreement was made by the same companies to allow the Port Walthall association, whenever there should be a disruption of the through ticket between the river and bay boats and the Petersburg railroad company, one third of the amount of additional income which may be received from such disruption, or that the association shall be allowed by the companies $ 16,000 per annum, payable quarterly, the one third or the $ 16,000 to be paid at the option of the companies, as they may prefer.

As to the object and designs of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company in getting up and running a line of steamboats on the river and bay, I believe them to have been principally to break up the through ticket existing between the Petersburg and Roanoke railroad, the City Point railroad, and the James river and bay boat companies. It was known that a considerable amount of the travel was induced by means of this connexion to leave the inland route and take the route by the bay, to the great injury of the state and the stockholders in all the companies north of Petersburg. We had endeavoured to induce the Petersburg company to break up this connexion, but without success. The travel was lost without redemption, unless some bold step was taken. If the Petersburg company continued to charge their whole fare upon passengers, as they did, it was impossible for the companies north of Petersburg to take them at a less price than the bay boats, without reducing their fare to a rate that must produce an absolute loss. It was believed by those who advocated the measure, that the James river and bay boats must also be carrying passengers at a losing rate, and to make them sick of it in the shortest possible time, it was believed that a boat running on the James river, to compete with the river boats for their local fare, and a boat from Acquia creek to Baltimore to compete for the long travel, would soonest produce the effect desired. It was thought too, that by carrying passengers temporarily from Norfolk to Washington for nothing on the railroad might be endangered, and whilst this would prevent a heavy loss to the Port Walthall association, it would permanently benefit the railroad company, by aiding in breaking up this injurious through ticket, and prove the advantage of taking the route from Norfolk to Washington.

Ques. 10. As a member of the board of directors of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company, did you assent to or dissent from the arrangement making the connexion of that company with the Port Walthall association; and did you assent to or dissent from the plan of connecting the said railroad company with steamboat lines on the Potomac from Acquia creek to Baltimore, and from Acquia creek to the City of Washington; and be pleased to state your reasons for such assent or dissent, and all you know of the origin and progress of the course of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company, in running the line of steamboats above mentioned?

Ans. As a member of the board of directors of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company, and of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company, I have generally voted against all the measures embraced in this interrogatory. On almost every question, I had my name recorded in the negative. Sometimes I did not think it of sufficient consequence to do so, but contented myself with expressing my general views against them.

With regard to the connexion between the railroad company and the Washington steamboat company, I thought it a most expedient one, and that the arrangement was judicious, prudent, wise-and that it must be a profitable investment, but I thought the company had not the power to make any such connexions, and that they ought not to exercise such power until it was granted by the legislature. I never examined the question, however, minutely, or as a legal question.

As to the connexion with the Port Walthall association I was utterly opposed to it. I had no idea that we had the power, and I believed it would be a losing concern. I thought it would be better to put up with the loss we had already sustained, than to incur additional loss upon an uncertain issue. But while I would not now enter upon this connexion sooner than I would have done at first, I begin to think from the extra pains taken to put an end to it, that it is not so bad as I at first believed, and I begin to believe that if it is allowed to progress, the through ticket will be broken up at no distant day. If I thought we had the power, I should be willing as a stockholder to try the physic a little longer.

I was equally opposed as a director of the Washington and Fredericksburg steamboat company, to running the line from Acquia creek to Baltimore, because independent of the reasons stated above, I thought we should be competing with ourselves, and that what we would get in one line would only be taken from the other. These are the general reasons that influenced me. There are many others which it is scarcely necessary to give such as a desire to avoid the odium of carrying on severe competition against companies and individuals; my love of peace and harmony; my disposition to conciliate rather than aggravate, and to bring about reconciliation by peaceful, rather than by forcible measures.

It may not be improper for me to explain in connexion with this answer relative to the Port Walthall association, that I was present at the meeting of the stockholders of the Fredericksburg railroad company on the 21st July last, when a report and resolutions were adopted, approving of the proceedings of the directors relative to that association, which are stated to have been unanimously adopted. On that occasion I was willing to let the resolutions pass without my vote against them, not because I agreed with the reasoning of the report entirely, or approved of all the resolutions, but because the money which had been invested by the directors, was directed to be withdrawn, and to be invested elsewhere, and because I did not desire to vote a censure against the rest of the board of which I was a member, merely because I had differed with them in opinion.

Cross-examination by the remonstrants.

Ques. 1. Did you not in the summer of 1846, address a communication to the Board of public works bringing to their notice circumstances connected with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad, materially affecting the state's interest therein? And did you not address during the fall a similar communication to the governor of Virginia? If yea, please to furnish copies of these communications.

Ans. Believing that the interest of the state was seriously injured by the course pursued or permitted by the Petersburg railroad, in regard to the through ticket upon their road, the City Point railroad, and the James river and bay boats, I did address a letter to the Board of public works on the 31st of July last, and another to governor Smith on the 1st of October last, calling their attention to the subject-copies of which letters are herewith enclosed.

Copy of the Letter of G. W. Munford to the Board of Public Works, 31st July 1846.

The Board of public works having honoured me for some years past, by appointing me one of the directors of the state in the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company, I feel it my duty to bring to their notice circumstances connected with that company materially affecting the state's interest, and which I think the interposition of the board may prevent. It is known to the board that while the Portsmouth and Roanoke railroad company was in operation, a destructive competition existed between that company and the companies constituting the inland route between Weldon and Washington. In this competition all the companies north of Petersburg united with the Petersburg railroad company to attract the trade and travel upon their line and to divert it from the Portsmouth and Roanoke railroad. Whatever reduction of fare the Petersburg company desired the other companies immediately acceded to, and the whole fare was divided between all the companies in pursuance of an award by arbitrators mutually selected. The co-operation of all the companies was obtained from the confident belief that the pecuniary interests of the state as well of individual stockholders in the upper companies would be ultimately benefitted, notwithstanding the destruction of the Portsmouth road, and under the firm conviction that all the companies would harmoniously co-operate to attract the travel to the inland line. Under these circumstances the competition was successful, and the Ports

mouth road has for the present been suppressed. But no sooner is this result brought about, though the state and the private stockholders were all the time subjected to great loss, than another competition more injurious than the first is commenced, and which, if continued, will produce incalculable loss to the state.

From causes which it is not necessary here to enumerate, (resulting chiefly from a disagreement between the Petersburg and Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad companies on the subject of a division of fare on the through travel,) an unharmonious feeling was engendered between them, which it was hoped would be corrected by a reference of the subjects of difference to the Board of public works. This reference, which was made at the instance of the Petersburg company in the first place, was agreed to by all the parties. But it is known to the board that as soon as the Portsmouth cars ceased running, the Petersburg railroad company withdrew from their arbitration and stopped the issue of through tickets in connection with the companies on the inland route. It is also known to the Board of public works that there exists a line of steamers which ply between Baltimore and Norfolk, and which connect with boats running up James river to City Point and Richmond, and that this line is the same which formerly connected with the Portsmouth railroad, the very line which the Petersburg company invoked the aid of the other companies to suppress, and which aid for years they cordially obtained. And yet with this very line, since their disruption of the through ticket by the inland route, that company has united, either directly or indirectly, to war against the other companies and to divert the travel from their ancient allies to their former enemies. For a long time, we know, agents of the bay line were permitted to travel over the Petersburg road free, and to use every exertion to induce passengers for the north to leave the line at Petersburg, and to take the bay route. This course, it is said, is not now permitted-but through tickets from Charleston to Baltimore, by the Petersburg road and by the bay boats, are believed in some way to be given by understanding, direct or indirect, on the part of the Petersburg company with the agents of the bay line.

To shew that there is foundation for this belief, I annex an advertisement by " A. Davis," the agent of the Chesapeake bay line in Charleston, in which he professes to give through tickets via Wilmington, Weldon, Petersburg and Norfolk to Baltimore.

"COMFORT AND ECONOMY.

Fare reduced to $20, via the James river and Chesapeake bay line to Baltimore.

The cheapest and most comfortable route to the north, leaving Charleston, S. C. daily, (except Fridays,) via Wilmington, Weldon, Petersburg and Norfolk.

Schedule.

Leave Charleston at 3 P. M.; Wilmington at 9 A. M.; Weldon at 103 P. M. via Petersburg; City Point at 8 A. M. via James river; Norfolk at 3 P. M. via Chesapeake bay; Baltimore at 9 A. M.; Philadelphia at 4 P. M. Arrive in Wilmington at 8 A. M.; in Weldon at 9 P. M.; in City Point at 8 A. M.; in Norfolk at 3 P. M.; in Baltimore at 6 A. M.; in Philadelphia at 3 P. M.; in New York at 9 P. M.

For farther information and through tickets, apply at the office of the Charleston hotel.

June 3d.

(Signed,)

A. DAVIS, Agent."

Also an advertisement of "T. Sheppard," agent of the same line in Baltimore, professing to give through tickets via Chesapeake bay, City Point, Petersburg, Weldon, Wilmington and Charleston.

"Fare still further reduced!!-Summer Arrangement.

Daily line to the south, except Sundays, carrying the great central U. S. mail, by the well known routes via Chesapeake bay, City Point, Petersburg, Weldon, Wilmington, to Charleston, S. C., avoiding all that unpleasant changing, (as on the route via Washington,) with no loss of sleep this side of Weldon.

Schedule.

Leaving lower end of Spear's wharf daily, except Sundays, at 4 o'clock, P. M., in the well known and complete steamboats Georgia, Capt. Cannon, or Herald, Capt. Russell, or Jewess, Capt. Sutton, arriving in Norfolk next morning, after a comfortable night's sleep, at 6 o'clock; thence up James river, with its beautiful scenery, in daylight, in the steamboat Curtis Peck, Capt. Davis, or steamboat Alice, Capt. Skinner, to City Point railroad, (all the above boats and road being now in good order, under the command of skilful and polite commanders ;) to