The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-28 00:00:00

BREAKFAST.-EPPS'S COCOA.

Elte ervreoo.

TO COILUBTONDZNTS.
ldoiorlinnwels Wended toe The amiss... London livening
most no at the Mos, 10. itouvolio-atreek bj Two
1:1Me on Ws day et pnbileolion.

Tong Emma, TILE BKOK6N-aIIARTED CLUB —A WIFE
WELL WON. awn. Bothern, Buckstoue, Hoye, Kendal,
=, Braid. Weathonlig, &a. ; and Mho Itobertenn.—After
AN LIMA PLIA-VERSION OF THY BILIGAND.

PRINCES'S
Tins Emma, THE OULLEIVI HAWN. Mr. sad MIL Dion
Banclcsalt—After which THE BISECTS 01 LONDON.
Vista& Seem. Murray, Shore, Neville. Forrester, meuoa, Ac.
Wens Elsworthy, IL Berserk Isobel Seam sad JUL Addle.

erRAND.
TIM itTintatl, OLD BALT. Mr. Emety and Wee Netly Moore.
.after which THE CAJAPH OF BA AD. Mews. Thorne
andiron'; Mesdames Ada SwanborouglL Johnstone, Harland,
Holt, ttc.—And COAL AND COKE.

HOLBORN.
Tuls Entsmo, THE FLYING dug? D. Hamra Atkins, }Tice.
Garen, Arthur, Westland, and Wilmott Mesdames Henrade
stombill, and Banndere.--Cutildade with VALINTIMI
AND ORSON. Ydie. Montero, Little Rowell; i.e.

BILTAI
THIN Eenarea, DON QUIXOTWIE LL.
OR, SANCHO PANZA AND
HIS WIFE TERIZA. Mrs. Lana, &Mimes Edwhi et Booth: Pale
tanslntlite Mews. Deena, Lana Newham, and Victerelll . HMIs.
C. Stephan and KW Noes Nathan.—And WHO DID IT

MOH WATIN AT LONDON BILIDON.
TIM DIA —Morning, Oh. 10m..._ _Afternoon, 4h. 31m.
to-Monsow—Morning. itt. glini— —.Afternoon, sh. 2.g.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28.

THE Report of the Brighton Board is of a I
very critical character. The new Directors address I
the shareholders in the tone of a surgeon who is
proceeding to a capital operation. There is the
disease, its fatal character designated by unmis-
takeable symptoms : is the patient prepared to
submit to the painful method which alone can
save him, or must he be left to thoee who will
smooth for him the path to certain death ? The ,
ordinary Brighton shareholders, accustomed to
Six per Cent. Dividends, are now told that the
operations of another half-year have yielded
nothing for them, nor even enough to pay dividend
on all the Preference Stocks. The 8,000,000/.
added to capital during the last ten years has made
the difference between success and failure. True
that, bad as things are, they might yet be made
pleasant ; the late Directors knew how to do it.
They had only to take a " broad, genial, practical"
view of the relations of revenue and capital, and
the charges to which both are liable, so as to let capi-
tal help revenue a little here and there, and the
thing was done. But the present Directors took
office on known principles, and upon them theytake
their stand ; they declare that the undertaking must
live as it best can upon its annual revenue, and
that " they can be no parties to any attempt to
" relieve revenue by making undue charges to
" capital." More than that, they have to
state that the condition of the line when they
took office now proves to have been worse
than they then supposed, or than the share-
holders have been informed. Will the pro-
prietors support directors who proclaim thus freely
the must unpleasant truths ? If they are tired
of investigations which spare nobody, and shrink I,
from radical reforms, they will soon have an
opportunity of showing their disposition. The
I Ward very properly make the endorsement of their
policy a question of confidence. It will be the
easiest thing in the world to get back the old
directors and their policy—but not the Six per
Cent. Dividends, we fear.

During the last six months the total estimated
liabilities have been reduced from 2,323,17 V. to
804,3201. Half a million of this latter sum is
admittedly duo in respect of works and land,
and a quarter of a million consists of disputed
liabilities in connexion with the Surrey and
Sussex and Chichester and Alidhurst Railways.
The directors refuse to disburse any more of
the company's capital in subscriptions to these
lines, and aro endeavouring to make good in the
Court of Chancery the title of tho company to
receive back the sums which the former directors
paid ; but they state that their object in these
proceedings is to bring on a compromise, which,
however, their opponents must propose. They
have expended '200,0001. on capital account during
the half-year upon new lines in progress or in
winding up the accounts of lines recently opened,
but they have done so with a view to closing that
account.

Tho gross revenue of the half-year shows an
increase of 5:1,8961. over that of the corresponding
half of 1866. The gross revenue of 1867 amounted
to 1,21i2,00/., as compared with 1,189,944/. in
1866. So far all is satisfactory ; but when we
proceed to the conversion of gross revenue into
net, we conic upon a rate of working expenditure
of which the proprietors, kept quiet with divi-
dends paid out of capital, have until lately been
permitted to know nothing. The report of
Messrs. Pares, HOLYLAND, and WATERHOVrit,
dated last June, showed that, on the face of the
published accounts, an expenditure of 120,3791.,
which ought to have been charged to revenue, had
been carried to capital, and that the due assign-
ment of that sum would have raised the working
expenses to 68 per cent. of the gross receipts. But
further investigations show that that estimate was
below the mark ; for, notwithstanding the wondrous
outlay of capital of late years, many works of first
necessity have been postponed or neglected. At
the present time engines, carriages, and other
rolling stock, to the value of several hundreds of
thousands of pounds, are standing exposed to the
weather for want of shed-room, and some of the
stations are tumbling to pieces. The Directors
declare their belief that "if all proper expendi-
" ture had been incurred and charged to revenue,
" the real rate at which the Brighton line has
" been worked for some time past has not been
" below 75 per cent., and that during a great
" portion of the tune, while dividends of 6 per
" cent. were being declared on the ordinary
" stock, the company was not really earning enough
"to pay its preference interest." It is by per-
formances of the kind now unmasked that the
rreatest joint-stock interest of the country is
being ruined in public esteem. Such dis-
closures may well excite the indignation
of the shareholders. The Directors are
doing all they can to reduce workng
expenses, but they observe that the reform
of a system which has fallen into such a state
of complete confusion, with arrears and deficien-
cies continually coming to light, must be a work
of time. Working expenses in reality form the
key of the position of the ordinary shareholders of
this company. When it is no longer possible to
eke out net revenue receipts from capital for
dividend purposes, everything will turn on those
expenses. The Directors accordingly devote much
apace in their Report to the conaideration of this
question, and show what they have done towards
its solution ; but they admit that "it is
" useless to disguise from the shareholders
" that the rate of expenses on a line like the
" Brighton is necessarily high." The reason
they give is the proportion which the length of the
branch and cross lines bears to that of the main
line; the lowness of maximum fares, and the special