The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-20 00:00:00

WEST FLANDERS RAILWAY.-{THIS DAY.

The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders was
held this afternoon, at the company's offices, 61, Moorgate-
street ; the President, Mr. It. TEMPLE FRERE, in the
chair.
The report of the directors states that since the railway
has been banded over to the Societe d'Exploitation they
have every reason to believe, in accordance with the report
of the Directeur-Gerant, that it has been kept in a very
satisfactory condition, and the receipts from traffic returns
have continued to increase. The statement of accounts
for the half-year shows that after providing for the fixed
charges there remains a balance of 8,8171. lfis. 4d., out of
which the directors propose to pay a dividend of 4s. 9d.
per share, payable on and after the 15th May next, and to
carry forward a balance of 2,4631. Os. 7d., which is
not more than sufficient to pay the call upon the
company for bonded interest and current expenses accruing
before the next payment from the Societe d'Exploitation.
In accordance with the resolution passed at the last meet-
ing, the agreement with the Societe d'Exploitation as to
the reservation of certain number of bonds for distri-
bution amongst the shareholders has been rescinded. Ac-
cording to the report of Messrs. Hutt and Browne in 1964,
143 shares were then extant in excess of the statutable
number,. 78 of these have been received and cancelled.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
observed that it had reference mainly to the manage-
ment of the Societe d'Exploitation, to whom the line had
been leased. That company appeared to be looking to the
future as well as the present, and at the
same time there was a gradual increase of traffic.
The arrangement made with regard to the bonds was all
that could be desired. As to the balance carried forward,
though large, it was not too much for the requirements of
the company. Without such a reservation the board
would not be able to meet accruing debts, and hence they
deemed that course preferable to an increase of dividend.
The number of shares in excess of the atatutable number,
after the cancelling of the 78 referred to in the report, was
6.5. They had in their chest sufficient to meet that number.
which would be issued as the 65 came in. The excess did
not arise from any fraud, but from an additional number
which was discovered to have been issued in the ,
ar-
rangements with the Belgian government. In con-
clusion, he stated that it was intended to
' reduce the number of directors to four, the board reserving
to themselves the right of increasing the number here-
after to five, if they considered that necessary
After a short discussion, the reportwerMpted, and a
dividend of 41. 9d. per share declared.

On Tuesday next Mr. Buxton will present a
petition from the civil servants employed in the Revenue
Department, for the removal of the political disabilities
under which they at present labour.

This morning wan issued for the information of
parliament a return, occupying 147 pages, of the annual
amounts of the several manufacturing establishments
under the Wer-ofßee for the year 1864-5.

A blne-book was published to-day, in which is
contained an Admiralty order for assembling a committee
of naval &Boers appointed to examine the design of a sea-
going turret ship submitted to the Admiralty by Captain
Coles. The committee was composed of Vice-Admiral the
Earl of Lauderdale, Rear-Admiral Yelverton, Captain H.
Caldwell, Captain J. J. Kennedy, and Captain H. B.
Plullintoes. The book also contain, the report of the com-
mittee, the minutes of evidence taken before them, and
various earreopondeamo with Captain Coles and others.