The Express.
London, England, 1850-04-04 00:00:00

NORTHERN OF FRANCE.

An extraordinary general meeting of the share-
holders of this company was held in Para., on Tuesday,
Baron J. de ROTIP•CHILD, the president, in the chair.
The meeting having been declared duly constituted, 902
shareholders being present, reFresenting 80,275 shares, the
chairman; rase and, said that: the meeting had been con-
voked for the purpose of having submitted to it the draft of
a treaty, provisionally entered into by the compsny with the
government, relative to verions matters connected with the
Use; and further, for the purpose of having the terra of the
concession extended to 99 years. M. E. Pereire, the secre-
tary, would read the report of the board of directors on
these matters.

M. E. PEREIRE then proceeded to read the report:
It commences by giving articles of the treaty, which is
stated to be agreed to by the Minister of Public Works on
the one hand, and the Northern Railway Company on the
other. They run thus:
Art. 1. Toe treaty entered into between the state and
Northern Company, on Aug. 11, 1848, is to be modified as
follows :—The bonds subscribed by the company to the trea-
sury are to be replaced by new ones, which shall ensure the
complete reimbursement of all sums due to the state in the
delay of one year from the promulgation of the law approv-
ing of tr e present convention. The company she.' have the
faculty of arranging its payments as it pleases, provided that
the whole sum be paid within the assigned period. The
interest of tire whole of the expenses incurred by the state
for the company shall, in conformity with A•t. 2 of the
cahier des charges annexed to the bill of July 15, 1343, be
regulated at the rate of 3 per cent., and it shall reckon for
the totality of these same from the date of the approval by
the government of the concession to the Northern Company
—that is, from September 10, 1845. The amount of such
interest shall be added to the principal of each bond, is order
that the payment may be effected within the same period of
one year.
Art. 2. The Northern Company engages to construct at
its cost, risk, and peril, a railway, which, starting from St.
Quentin, shall join, at the frontier beyond Maubeuge, the
Belgian line from Charleroy to Erquelinea. The line to be
taken shall be determined by the government authorities, on
proposition sent in by the company.
Art. 3. The purchase of land, works of art, and earth-
works, of the said railway, shall be effected for two lines of
rails; nevertheless, the company shall not be bound to lay
down the second line, on the demand of the government,
until the gross receipts of the exploitation shall amount at
least to 18,000 fr. the kilometre.
Art. 4. The construction of the railway from St Quentin
to the Belgian frontier must be finished and opened to the
public in its whole extent, within a delay of eight years from
the promulgation of the law approving of the present con-
vention, _

Art. 5. The Northern Company also engages to construct
at its cost, risk, and peril, at farthest within two years after
the said delay of eight veers, a branch line of from 25 to 343
kilometres (15i to 161 English miles) in length, the direction
of which shall be determined by the government authorities,
the company being previously heard.
Art. 6. The claw.' and condition, of the erthisr des
charges, marked B, of the Creil and St. Quentin line an-
nexed to the bill of July 15, 1835, and relative either to the
construction or the exploitation, shall be applicable to the
railway from St. Quentin to the Belgian frontier, se well as
to the branch line just mentioned.
Art. 7. In return far the engagementaithus entered into
by the Northern Company, the duration of the concession of
the Northern line, together with the branch lines from Lille
to Calais and Duck :rl4, as well as that from Creil to St.
Quentin, shall be prolonged to 99 years from the date of
the principal line, that is, from Sept. 10, 1845. The con-
cession of the railway from St. Quentin to the Belgian fron-
tier, and of the branch line already speken of, shall finish at
the same time.

Art. 8. At the expiration of the 38 years, at present form.
ing the duration of the concession of the railway from Paris
to the Belgian frentivr, the part of the tariff of that under-
taking comprised under the denomination of sundries (objets
divers), shall be replaced by the corresponding tariff of the
Paris to Strasburg Railway (Law of July 19, 1845). In order
to be admitted to profit by the reduction of the tariff thence
resulting, the Amiens to Boulogne Company must be brought
to consent to the same reduction towards the Northern
Company.
Art. 9. In case of total or partial non-execution on the
part of the company of any stipulation mentioned in the pre-
sent convention, the provisions of Art. 7, above mentioned,
relative to the prolongation of the concession for the principal
line, and from that of the line from Creil to St. Quentin,
shall be null and void, and the concessions of the two lines
shell expire at the periods fixed by the laws and ordonnances
which established them.

Art. 10. Tne present convention shall not be definitive
od valid until atter it has been ratified by a law.
Paris, 4th Feb., 1850.
(Signed) BINZAV• (Signed) Jewett DR RITHSCRLD,
J. hlsr.A.Err P. HOTTINOrIB •

The report then proceeds to detail the various phases
through which the above treaty had passed before arriving
at the terms just mentioned. The negotiations bad eon-
meaced on the 10tb of September, and terminated in
February, as stated above. At first, nothing whatever had
been said of the branch-line of from 2.5 to 30 kilometres ; it
was in consequence of the improvement in public credit in
the five months during which the negotiations lasted, that
this additional charge was imposed on the company. The
report then treats illOCeSliTely the various claims which the
company bad to some amelioration in the original condition
of its concession, such as the grave elvers committed in the
government estimates; the non-execution of the railway from
Fampoux to Ilszebrock, which rendered the branch-line to
Calais of so much less value ; and, finally, the grave circum-
stances under which the line had to perform its various en-
gagements. The report reminds the meeting that the
orieinal estimates of the government for the northern line,
were 130 millions, including seven millions for ready money
expenses. The committee of the Chamber of Deputies
ultimately fixed the cost at 140 millions, exclusive of any sum
for current expenses; but by the accounts presented at the
general meeting held on the 28th of April, 1849, the whole
expense, it was shown, would amount to 203 millions, or,
deducting twenty-six millions for the branch line, from
Creil to St. Quentin, to 177 millions, being not less than
37 millions above the government ultimates. This augmenta-
tion would alone, the board lad thought, warrant the de-
mand which they had made for a prolongation of the con-
cession to 99 years. Bat, not tit iog able to obtain the terms
which they sought, they bad at last signed the above treaty,
subject however to the examination and approbation of the
shareholdsrs. If the company were to pay off in the space
of one year the 42 millions due by it to the state, on the Ist
of Jan. 1860. • necessity would exist to call for the full
amount of 500 fr. for each share. If the treaty should not
be agreed to, the 400 fr. per share, now paid up, would be
amply sufficient for every demand. Even should the treaty
be accepted, no tall would be made before 1861. The board
declares that, looking at all the circumstances of the cue, it
was with en extreme towns that it submitted to the share-
holders the terms of the treaty given above, and recommends
that no resolution should be Dome to hastily on the subject.
The report having been read,
A SHAREHOLDER observed that it would be advisable
to have the report while k had just been read printed, and
distributed to the shareholders, in order that they might be
able to examine at leisure the various pinta of the treaty
alluded to.
The CHAIRMAN replied, that it was the isthatiott of
the board to adopt that coarse, and the more so, that the
directors had determined to propose to the shareholden to
postpone all decision on the tees of the treaty until the
ordinary annual general meeting, which was fixed foe the
3011 of April current. He should now propose to the as-
sembly to adopt formally the adjournment of which he spoke.
The adjournment was then put to the vote and adopted
unanimously.
No other business being on the ruder of the day, the
meeting then separated.

TALLOW MARKET.—THIS DAY.
Illarkst la steady to-day, with a large speculative &-
sing for Y. C., for delivery at tn. end of the rat, but no
sellers to any extent. The (otations at present ruling an
as follows Petersburg T.C. ell the Vet, 371. t October to
Dtosaabor, 38., to 38e. 3d.
$ •
1.3 4 I