The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY CALLS.

Sir,—The stoppage of calls on railway shares is
the great and seemingly the only means by which the gust
mass of mercantile men propose to relieve themselves from
their present embarrassed state; but would not the remedy
partake in a large measure of the nature of the disease?
Would it not, perchance. ,be as bad i The results, indeed, I
need not take up your time by describing--they are obvious.
The question, then, is, is there any mode by which these
evils may be avoided and advantages secured ? I humbly
think there is a made of raising money, or the representa-
tive of capital, by whieh railway companies—at least
those which are paying dividends, as also those which,
when completed, are likely to pay at the rate
of common interest of money, after deducting all
charges for management and working, will be enabled to
carry on their works in progress without trenching on the
capital which is required for the usual purposes of trade.
How do such railway companies at present stand in the
estimation of the public? To answer that question, I have
only to refer to the numbers of individuals, amongst whom
are to be found many of that most fastidious and scrupulous
clam, executors and trurees, who lend their money to them
in sums varying from 2001. to 20,0001., and from periods
of from three to seven yearn, receiving, as security for
payment of interest and principal, a mortgage deben-
ture (or note) guaranteed by act of parliament, which
act compels the directors to provide for the due payment of
the interest, and the repayment of the principal on the ter-
mination 01 the respective periods of tame for which the
various sums of money are borrowed. Now, suppose that
any of these leaders or mortgagees wished to be put in pos.
session of his capital previous to the expiry of the term for
which he had lent it. Under ordinary circumstances, and
an easy state of the money market, no difficulty would be
experienced in obtaining either money or goods ; but under
the present state it would be quite impossible. But a ques-
tion here arises, would it be impossible to obtain money or
goods, whatever might be the rate of interest for the time?
Supposing that the mortgagee, instead of one debenture,
of say 1,0001., held ea many as there are pounds? To illus-
trate what I mean, I shall suppose a railway company re-
quires a sum of money, and the directors, instead of borrow-
ing it and issuing debentures in large sums of 2001. to
20,0001. were to pay away ia their various transactions notes
of one pound each, the receivers and holders of these to
have the same guarantee as the mortgagee : I really don't
see what objection any one could have to receive such in the
way of business. Surely, if so many are found who are
willing to trust the railway companies with their thousands,
tradesmen may trust them for one or two, or any other sum
likely to pass an the way of bunions through their hands.
What the country wants is a currency to answer a tempo-
rary purpose—for domestic use—which for • time will facili-
tate our internal exchanges, by, to &certain extent, filling up
the void in our usual currency caused by its exportation, and
which will, above all, prevent railway works at present in
prover from being stopped, by permitting railway com-
panies, or at least such as I have mentioned before, under
the same regulations and restrictions as the present acts
impose, to become, for a certain length of time, banks of
issue, but of issue only, and that only to • certain extent of
their calls. They need not be prevented from borrowing at
the same time, because when people lend money they do
so because they have it to spare, but a call may be made on
an individual to take which out of hie business might bring
him to • stop. The effects of calls on trade and commerce
are immediate land direct, thew, of loans are indirect and
more remote.