The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-08 00:00:00

GARAY WENTARN RAILWAY OP CANADA.

The half-yowly meeting of the shareholders in
this undertaking was held at the Leedom Tavern this
day ; lie. Alderman Dams is the their.
The report of the directors stated that the recede% on
;Ataccount during the half-year amounted to
Be. 3d., and the total receipts t• the 81st
Jemmy, 1868, so 5,250,5081. Oa. 74. The
gate expenditure to the same amount2llTo
5,363,772/. Bbl. 4d. From this amountas be en dedated
1,6641. 2s. 24., being the remainder of the amulet doe
from the American linos as cone ibutioa to the narrow
gauge system, and also 1031. Is. 3d., being preened" of
gale of portion of old materials of the steamer Smurfit,
making the actual charge to capital account of Jan. 31,
1868, 5,361,8051. ill. lid., and leaving a balance to the
debit of capital account of 101,2971. 11.. 4d. The outlay
on capital account during the half-year has been 23,240/.
17s. 541. This expenditure includes completion of works.
The receipts end expenditure on revenue amount were as
follows:—Gross receipts, 400.8121. 14s. ltd. ; working ex-
penses, including renewals, 190,6661. 14s. .3d. ; total,
207,1461.0.. Bd.: from which there has to be deducted,
interest cm bonds, &a., 50,910/. 18e. 10d. ; lees on
conversion of American funds, 66,6111. 161. 91. ;
amount charged on account of Detroit fire claims,
4,1091. Ils. 9d. ; Erie and Niagara Railway, defi-
ciency in working, 1,2581. 9e. sd. ; total, 122,8901. 16e. 9d.
'profit on half-year's operations, 84,2561. 3e. 11d. ; add
surplus from last half-year, 1,6811. 7.. ltd. ; available for
dividend, 85,936/. 11.. 10d. From this amount the
directors recommend a dividend at the rate of 41pAr
cent. per annum, free of income tax, which will
80,2111. 3.. sd. and leave a surplus of 5,7251. 6e. sd. The
directors propose to set apart a further sum of 3,0001. as
• reserve for the renewal of the ferry steamers out of the
above surplus, leaving a balance of 2,725161. sd. to be
carried to the credit of the eurrent half-year. This
renewal fund will then stand at 5,0001.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
said the capital account was in by 4,211. 81. 3d.,
entirely on calls and the calls in arrear. The outlay on
capital account was 73,2101, of which 18,306/. was entirely
on account of the narrow goes,. This left only
about 4,9001. to ordinary expenditure, which showed
that they were approaching that great desideratum, a
closed capital account. They had received from New
York a report of the operations in what was called the
Blue line, to which this company contributed the third
line, and had made it continuous from west to east. The
line bad carried no less than 147,052 tons, and the
amount received was 2,692,615 doll., of which
658,051 dole. was received by this company. The
proportion of cars to be furnished by this
company was 150, but asthey had 130 they bad to hire the
remainder ; but their proportion was not made op. With
regard to the income of the lime, the main point was the
increarie of 69,772/., but the loss on the conversion of Ame-
rican funds amounted to 66,6111. as compared with
48,2281. in the corresponding half-year. Nevertheless the
dividend was 4j per cent. per annum, as against
3i last year. The lore in the conversion was what princi-
pally affected them. The total for from this source in six
years amounted to 651,459/., and he thought they could
at length see their trey to a diminution in the loss from
this souroe. The policy of the directors had been to
sustain the line rather than distribute the receipts
in dividend and in the last six years they
had paid 322,0001. for the 'ostentation of the line. The
engineer estimated that for the future 70,000/. a year
would be sufficient for sustentetion of line and plant and
renewals, and when the third rail was laid down be
added 8,000/. a year. In the last half-yeer they had
devoted 43,5891. to this object, being a larger
sum than the estimate. The company owed the govern-
ment 573,6871., and for arrears of interest since 1861
220,000/., leaving 770,0001. The government called it a
loan, but the company preferred calling it government aid,
for without government aid British capital would never
have been invested. The company liadrepaid2oo,ooo/.,and
would have been in a condition, and would have gladly
paid the remainder if the government bad not authorised
the construction of the Grand Trunk, which was a rival
line. Before the construction of the Grand Trunk the
shareholders of this company got a dividend of 6 per mint.
They bad since received a dividend of only 2 per cent.,
and therefore the board felt they had a strong claim on
the government, not only not to preu for the return,
but for a substantial reduction of the capital. He bad only
to add that the Detroit and Milwaukee line was progressing
in prosperitT, and they had reason to hope that soon it
would oontnbute to their resources. The net revenue of
last year was 157,970/., but as they had a closed capital ac-
count they had been compelled to devote it to purposes of
capital— and the amount they bad borrowed of the Com-
mercial Bank must be paid off, before any sum could be
paid to this company.
Mr. H01E.4 wormed, and after a short discussion, the
motion was agreed to, and the proceedings terminated.