We desire in this communication particularly to call your attention to the fact that the freight from Charleston to the town of Timmonsville of a car load of fertilizers is $27.00, while to this point it is $32.50. The result of this discrimination against our town, and these high charges, is, as shown by the books at the two depots, that the business at this place, in spite of many advantages, has been largely diminished, while that at Timmonsville has been greatly increased. Placing these facts before you for such action as you may deem proper in the premises, We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Col. B. D. TOWNSEND, President Cheraw and Darlington Railroad, Society Hill, S. C. DEAR SIR: We would respectfully call your attention to complaint of Intendant and Wardens of the town of Darlington, a copy of which is herewith inclosed, and to the Railroad Act in connection therewith, and to ask that you let us hear from you at your earliest convenience. Yours very respectfully, M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, CHERAW AND DARLINGTON AND CHERAW AND SALISBURY RAILROADS, DRAR SIR: I have received your favor of the 22d instant, covering a renewal of the complaint against the management of the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad by the Intendant and Wardens of the town of Darlington, S. C. You will remember that when the original complaint was made last Fall I endeavored to answer every allegation frankly, unreservedly, and I had hoped satisfactorily. Observing in your Report, upon the showing made on both sides afterwards, that the response had not been entirely satisfactory in some respects, efforts were immediately made to give, if possible, better satisfaction to all interested. In this we must have, to a considerable extent, succeeded, as the present complaint only specifies an absence of sufficient accommodations for passengers at the Darlington Depot. It is not denied that we are now, and have been since the hearing last Fall, receiving and forwarding all the produce offered for shipment promptly, and that goods sent up are also received and delivered with dispatch. As to enlarged accommodations for passengers and the more convenient handling of freight, in order to comply with this demand new buildings are required, and these require time and money to complete them. The managers have had the matter under consideration for some time, and the General Supervising Engineer has been requested to prepare suitable plans for the improvement. Respecting the difference in rates on fertilizers between Timmonsville and Charleston and Darlington and Charleston, I have this to say: That the rate on fertilizers from any point on the Cheraw and Darlington Road to Charleston is the same, including Cheraw 30 miles higher up; and as the Northeastern Road charges $2.70 per ton from Florence to Charleston, surely the additional charge of 55 cents per ton is not unreasonable for delivering fertilizers at stations on the Cheraw and Darlington Road. As to the charge from Timmonsville, a station on the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad has no more right to change or modify rates on that road than it has on any other road in the State, both of them being separate and distinct corporations, managed and controlled by different Boards of Directors. It will be observed that a compliance with the demand of the Town Council of Darlington, to make the rates on fertilizers from Darlington and Timmonsville uniform, would involve the necessity of hauling them for nothing on this line, the rate being the same from Timmonsville as from Florence. Very respectfully, B. D. TOWNSEND, President. OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Col. B. D. TOWNSEND, President C. & D. R. R. Company, Society Hill, S. C. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 26th inst. is received, and in reply permit us most respectfully to say that we fail to see that the complaint of the Intendant and Wardens of Darlington, referred to therein, "only specifies an absence of sufficient accommodations for passengers at the Darlington depot," or that "it is not denied" that you are now and have been since the hearing last Fall receiving and forwarding all produce offered for shipment, or that goods sent up are received and delivered with dispatch." The complaint sent you cites: "We see no appreciable change in the action of the railroad company." "Our town still suffers from same want of convenience and accommodation at the depot, and, in seasons of pressure, from the same difficulty and delay in the reception and delivery of freight," etc., etc. We note what you say in respect to enlarged accommodations for passengers and the more convenient handling of freight, and that suitable plans for the improvement have been called for, but you do not state when the work will be done. It is now four months since you were furnished with the decision' of the Railroad Commissioner in the matter of the complaint from Darlington, which covers this point, and we now respectfully ask to be informed whether the erection of suitable buildings for that purpose will be commenced at an early day. The discriminations in freights referred to in the first and in the second complaints from Darlington we will not act further on for the present, as our Freight Tariff and Rules will, we hope, as soon as issued remove the cause of complaint. To other points in the decision, against your company, we again most respectfully call your attention, with the hope that they will be complied with promptly. Yours very respectfully, M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, CHERAW AND DARLINGTON AND CHERAW AND SALISBURY RAILROADS, SOCIETY HILL, S. C., April 3d, 1883. Hon. M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Railroad Commission, &c. DEAR SIR: Your last letter of 29th ultimo came Saturday, and in reply I trust you will allow me respectfully to reiterate the truthfulness. of my former representations in every particular. That correspondence was promptly submitted to Captain Divine, General Superintendent, with request that it would be shown to Colonel Bridges, General Manager, and to Mr. Emerson, General Freight Agent at Wilmington. Up to this time I have heard nothing from them on the subject. Of course you will recognize the propriety of my consulting with other officers associated with me in the management of the Cheraw and Darlington Road as to improvements of the kind in question, involving a considerable expenditure of money and due deliberation as to suitable plans for the proposed improvement. OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Col. B. D. TOWNSEND, President C. & D. R. R., Society Hill, S. C. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 3d instant came duly to hand, and we were disappointed that our query as to the erection of buildings at the Darlington depot remained unanswered. Colonel Bridgers, however, called on us yesterday and mentioned that he had advised you to go ahead with the work. Will you please let us know whether you intend to adopt his suggestion? Yours very respectfully, M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, CHERAW AND DARLINGTON AND CHERAW AND SALISBURY RAILROADS, SOCIETY HILL, S. C., April 13th, 1883. Hon. M. L. BONHAM, Chairman Board Railroad Commissioners. DEAR SIR: I returned from the North yesterday and found your letter of the 5th instant ou my desk. Excuse me for observing that your last two letters appear to me to question my good faith as to the proposed improvements at the Darlington depot. Allow me to say that I have personally been quite as anxious as you or the Town Council of Darlington to expedite these improvements, but I have to confer with my associates in the management, and some time is required to fix upɔn and to prepare suitable plans, as well as to provide the material for building. The ways and means" also have to be considered. I have been obliged already this year to purchase a locomotive for the road, and have just ordered two hundred tons of steel rails, to be delivered as soon as possible, besides making other considerable outlays on the road bed and rolling stock. These improvements I have regarded as of more importance than those urged so repeatedly by you, because the improvements I have been making involved the safety of human life and property, whereas the Darlington improvements proposed are for convenience only. I do not deny, therefore, that the latter has been regarded as of secondary importance, but I have intended, in good faith, to make the improvement at Darlington as soon as practicable, and am expecting very soon to get the plans and to have the work commenced and hurried to completion. OFFICE OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS, Colonel B. D. Townsend, President C. &. D. R. R., Society Hill, S. C. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 13th is received, and in reply we beg to disclaim any purpose to question your intention. We simply desired from you such a statement as you now make, viz.: that you expect very soon" to have the work commenced and hurried to completion." In explanation of our letter of the 5th instant, asking whether you intended to adopt Colonel Bridges's suggestion, we desire to say that |