The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-09 00:00:00

TILE SUN,

GREAT NORTHERN OF FRANCE
RAIL WAY.
A general meeting, ordinary and extraordinary, of
the shareholders of this company took place on Satur-
day, April 3, in the Salle Ste. C6cile, Rue de la
Chaus*ee d'Antin, Baron James de Rothschild, the
president, in the chair. Near him were seated the
following directors :—The Duke de G alli4-ra, the
Marquis Dalon, M. Delebecque, M. Hottinguer, M.
E. Pereire, M. July de Barnme%ille, M. Adam, M.
de S:. Dither, M. Mallet, and M. Lebobe. The
business before the meeting was of an exceedingly
varied character, partly relating to the operations of
the last half-year, and partly to matters connected
with the extension of the concession of the company,
dependent on the ratification of the treaty signed on
the 19th of February last between the directors of
the company and the Minister of Public Works, for
the execution of several lines to complete the railway
net-work of the Northern Company. In order to
render the bearing and importance of the various new
lines proposed more evident, a map of the northern
part of France, with the direction of each marked
carefully on it' was distributed with the accounts to
each shareholder as he entered the room.
At half-pact two o'clock, the hour appointed for the
meeting,
The PRESIDENT rose and said that whilst the scru-
tators were examining if the meeting had been regu-
larly convoked, the drawing would be proceeded to
of 275 debentures of .500 f. each, to be reimbursed at
par on the Ist of July, 1852, to the shareholders of
the Boulogne Company, in conformity with the treaty
entered into in July last between that company and
the Northern.
When, however, the persons appointed for the pur-
pose proceeded to place the great mass of numbers in
the wheel, it was found to be too small to contain
them. In consequencs the board decided that the
drawing should take place this (Monday) morning at
ten o'clock, at the office of the company.
The CHAIRMAN then stated that nearly 600 share-
holders being present, entitled to 1,107 votes, and re-
presenting upwards of 30,000 shares, the meeting
was duly constituted.
M. BRAUDE, in the name of the committee of ac-
countability, then read a report on the accounts of
1850, which were declared to be perfectly correct,
and kept with the most scrupulous regularity.
The accounts of 1850 were then put to the vote
and adopted unanimously.

M. PEREIRE next proceeded to read the report of
the board of directors. In consequence of the amal-
gamation effected last year with the Boulogne Com-
pany, the length of the concession of the lines at pre-
sent worked by the Northern Company expired at
three different periods—that of the main line to Calais
and Dunkirk in thirty-five years and five months; of
the line from Creil to St. Quentin in twenty-one
years and nine months ; and of the Bou'ogne line in
ninety. one years and seven months. In addition, a
special clause empowered the state, on certain condi-
tions, to take back to itself each of these lines after
a delay of which not more than ten or eleven years
had now to run. This latter provision, in the eyes of
the best judges, aggravated considerably the critical
situation caused to the Northern Company, by the
extreme shortness of its concession. By the new
treaty, these two points had been most satisfactorily
disposed of, since the concession of all the lines is to
be for ninety-nine years, and the clause allowing the
state to take back the lines was not to come into
effect before February, 1876, or in twenty-four years
hence. The treaty further sanctions the amalgama-
tion with the Boulogne line, and authorises the
Northern shares to be limited to 400 f., as the share-
holders so ardently desired. Finally, the Govern-
ment has re-established at 3 per cent. (in place of 5
per cent. imposed on the company after the revolu-
tion of February), the interest to be paid by the
company on the sums expended for works on the line
at the charge of the company ; and this without
capitalisation at the end of each year, as was required
from the company after February. As the reim-
bursement to the state had for the last three years
been constantly effected by anticipation, there re-
mained due by the company on the 31st of December
last, only 16,538,600 f. of capital, and 8,548,089 r. of
interest, or, in all, 2.5,082,689 f. It bad been formerly

pulated that the company should give four millions
a year in payment of that debt, but, by the new
arrangement, it would have to pay only two mil-
lions a year. In adding to the 25,082,689 f. men-
tioned above, the interest to become due until the
repayment of the principal, the whole debt would
amount to 27,243.288 f., and all would be paid off
by the end of 1865. In return for such advan-
tages, the company engaged to construct-Ist, in
tour years, a railway from St. Quentin to the Belgian
frontier by' Maubeuge, 8,5 kilometres in length (53
English miles) ; 2dly, in four years, a branch line
from Nuelle, on the Boulogne line to the port of St.
Valery, 5 kilometres (3i English miles in length) ;
3dly, in six years, a line to unite together that of
Maubeuge with that of Valenciennes, by Somain and
Le Cateau, with a possible variation to take in Cam-
bray, the length being 38 kilometres (22k English
miles) ; and 4thly, a junction line between the St.
Quentin and the Strasburgh Railways by La Fere
and Rheims, the length being 80 kilometres (50
English miles), and the time allowed for its execution
nine years. The report then enters at considerable
length into an examination of the advantages likely
to accrue to the company from the completion of its
railway system by the addition of these new lines;
and then goes on to say that the total expense
of the four lines is estimated at 69 millions, looking
at each as a special undertaking, relying individu-
ally nn its own resources. But as the company
had effected an economy of four millions in the con-
struction of the line from Creil to St. Quentin, re-
presenting a reduction of 15 per cent. on the esti-
mates of new lines, it conceived that it would be able
to construct them all for from 65 to 60 millions. In
order to cover the interest and sinking-fund of that
capital, it would be sufficient for the new lines to
give a return for themselves for 2} per cent., or
1,500,000 f., and to augment by an equal amount the
present traffic of the principal lines, making up
3,000,000 f in all--certainly not an extravagant pro-
vision. The first effect of the extension of the con-
cession would be to reduce the sum placed aside each
year for the sinking-fu❑d, from 2,326,384 f. to
168,200 f. That change, joined to the reduction of
the interest to the state from 5 to 3 per cent , rendered
it necessary to modify the accounts of the preceding
years. The sums kept back in 1848, 1849, and 1850
for the sinking-fund, amounted to 5,584,562 f.; but
calculated on the basis of 99 years for the concession the

sinking-fund for those three years ought not to be more
than 403,7691. Consequently, there remains disposa-
ble on the sinking-fund account a sum of 5,180,7931.;
and if from that amount be deducted the balance of
the interest of capital employed during the construc-
tion of branch lines to Calais, Dunkirk, and St. Quen-
tin, namely, 548,004 f., there would remain a total
balance of 4,632,78911, applicable to the reimburse-
ment of the sums due to the state. As to the ac-
count of interest on the said sums, if calculated at 3
per cent., from September, 1845, to December, 1851,
it would, at that date, give a total of 8,544,089 f. ; and,
as sums had been set down on that account, up to
December 31, 1850, to the extent of 7,778,655 f.,

. .
there remained to be set down to the debit of the
working, for the year 1851, 765,4341. The whole
debt to the state would be completely liquidated by
the year 1865. In order to provide ways and means
for the construction of the new lines, the board pro-
posed that the meetiag should open to it a credit of
60 millions, to employed successively as occasion
might require. The board required at present only
25 millions, and to meet the expenses of the first two
or three years "The first issue," says the board,
" which we will make, in virtue of the credit which
we ask for, will consist of 75,000 debentures of 500 f.
each. These debentures will bear 15f. interest, and
tuli ca I gs
withge
will be reimbursable at par (500 f.) by means of 74
equalort annual payments, composed of the interest and
fund. In
wlhnicfhacwt,ethehyavweillalrbeeadpyerfeccrtelyateiddenin-
-Ist January l
Place of the Boulognerf shares. They will be issued at
specie, butythoeanst.
the price of 380 ~ with right to the interest of the
The payment is to be effected in
Subscribers will have the faculty of
of
third at the moment of their sub-
Paying call
scription, and
their conveiencePaying the remaining two-thirds at
delay not going beyond July
paymreceivingents
ve
theerred. The shareholders of
July
iideani:
1, 1853, the comp:: a
beefeyence for the new de-
ctheente.oomnptahneypsahy
shareholders tto ily
coupon
of admitted
v in payment
thTeherceouwill
.idaenddtheinter-
est falling due on
debentures wy ill
months
ttihoenlaalst delaytw o..thoirfdsfifteenwill permit
to the purpose the coupons due on Jan. 1 and ojuaFILT
2f for the
iynew
belBexceptinn ,
, and on
account of the anticipate
employment
which ”u
make of the coupons ofdividendfalling due
ou
so3pe nfr Theom subscription April 5 to
may
the Ist of July next, we will write to the syndic f
the agents de change to have that coupon detached
forthwith at the same time that the loor. which are
"
now nominally quoted shall be removed. The receipts
ed.
umtati
of the line during the past year show
VVI
an a461,31g6fen withon
-
over those of 1850 to the extent of 1,461,
out including 1,168,347 f. for the second half-year of
the Boulogne receipts; but, including these latter, the
augmentation would be 2,629,553 f. Whilst the re-
ceipts l' have thus increased, the expenses 'Ave been re-
duced. This result is owing to the saving produced by
the amalgamation with the Boulogne line. The report
enters into details connected with the working, showing
that the whole increase of produce over that of the
preceding year is not less than 4,800,0001., and
then proceeds to state that the receipts for the year
have been 25,107,060 f. 89c., and the expenses.
9,210,192 f. 23c., giving a gross profit of 15,896,862 f.
6,8 e.; or, after all the charges of interest, sinking
"11°4, &c., were defrayed, 20f. a share, which, with
the gum of 161. per share paid for interest, Wolild give