The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-30 00:00:00

The Great Englfsh and French Railways.

THE PARIS AND MEDHERRANEAN,
If " unrestricted competition" is the order of the
day in regard to English railways—if little heed is
paid to vested interests, and the course of legislation
generally keeps dividends i own to seven or eight
per cent. at the most—if vague generalities are
indulged in with reference to the accommodation
of the public, &c.—it must be admitted that a com•
pletely contrary state of affairs prevails in France.
There they run into the other extreme. Great
State eubventions are accorded, elaborate conven-

tions are concluded, and every care is taken to secure
10, 15, and even 20 per cent. to shareholders. The
company to which we are now about to direct
attention, and which has sprung into existence
under these fostering influences, is the mightiest
railway enterprise which the world has yet wit-
nessed. It would seem that the French, although
they borrowed most of their railway ideas from
England in the first instance, are now determined to
outdo us in the formation of great companies. The
Paris and Mediterranean—or, as it ought more
strictly to be termed, the Paris, Lyons, and Mediter-
ranean—dates from April 11, 1857, when it was

formed by the amalgamation of the two companies
owning the Paris to Lyons and Lyons to the Me-
diterranean lines, the latter having itself concluded
a fusion with the Lyons and Geneva, by the terms
of a treaty dating from January 1, 1857. The cahier
des charges of the company was approved June 19,
1857 ; and the statutes, prepared June 30, 1857,
were approved on the 3d of the following month.
The arrangements made provided for the creation
of 810,000 shares, forming the share capital of
the amalgamated companies. The 90,000 shares
of the Lyons and Mediterranean Company

were exchanged at the rate of one old share
for two new shares, making 180,000; and the

265,000 shares of the Paris and Lyons Company
were exchanged at the rate of two old shares for
three new shares, making 397,500. The number of

new shares thus created was 577,500, and the new

company further issued 115,500 (£2O) shares at the

rate of £29 8s each. The total issue of shares was
thus carried to 693,000 ; and in September, 1863,
the administration further issued 100,000 more

shares at £2B each. These latter shares were sub-
scribed for exclusively by the holders of the pre■

viously created stock of the company. The whole
number of shares thus accounted for is 793,000, and
the odd 7,000 still remain in the " portfolio" of the
company,and will be negotiated when the necessity
arises for bringing them upon the market. These
shares represent in sums actually paid up—lst. The

capital of the Lyons and Mediterranean Company,
£1,800,000 ; 23. The capital of the Paris and Lyons
Company, £5,300,000; and 3d. The amount of the
subscription to the 115,500 shares, £3,395,700; or
£10,495,710 in all. To this amount must be added

£13,377, a supplementary premium, realised for
some of these latter shares ; £211,800, the premium
realised on the old shares of the Lyons Company
remitted to the old Dijon Company; and £2,830,000
for the 100,000 shares issued at £2B each ; or
£3,028,177 in all, which added to the previously
indicated total of £10,495,710 makes a definitive
aggregate of £13,523,887. This would be a re-
spectable capital in itself, but it by no means
represents the amount which the Paris and
Mediterranean has raised, an immense sum hav-
ing been obtained by almost endless issues of
obligations. Thus the company itself has been
authorised to create 2,400,000 of these securities,
bearing an annual interest of 3 per cent., issued at
about £l2 each, and redeemable at £2O each by
annual drawings in the course of 99 years,
from 1860 to 1958. These obligations were
divided into four series of 600,000 each. The first
three series are c)mpletely issued, and of the fourth
series 514,312 had been issued to the close of 1863,
leaving unissued 85,658, a number totally inade-
quate to meet the enormous responsibilities which
the company has undertaken, and which it can only
meet by obtaining authority for fresh borrowing
powers. Of the 1,850,240 obligations issued at
the close of 1862, 1,516,240, representing a foam of
£17,890,480, had been applied to the development
of the new network of lines which the company has
either completed or of which it is prosecuting the
works; 122,900 obligations, representing a sum of
£1,390,178, had been negotiated on account of the
Lyons and Geneva Company, and were applicable
to the repayment of advances made by the Paris
and Mediterranean ; and 211,000 obligations, re-
presenting a sum of 2,568,212, had been eegotiated
on account of the old network of lines. Of the

464,002 obligations issued in 1663, 236,502
were devoted to the requirements of the new net-
work, 133,333 in redemption of the shares of the
Lyons and Geneva, 58,333 in redemp',on of the shares
of the Dauphine, and 45,833 in redemption of the
shares of the Algerian ; for the company, not content
with an immen'e number of lines in France, has

even obtained concessioas of a network in Algeria,
and assumed works undertaken in 1859 or 1860 by
an English contractor (Sir M. Peto). As illustra-
tive of the improved credit of the company, we may
remark that of the 464,002 obligations, or small dea
bentures, issued in 1863, 226,501 were negotiated on
the Paris Bourse at an average of £l2 4s 4d each,
while in 1862 the corresponding average was £l2 is
11d. By a recapitulation of the figures we have
given it will be seen that the total raised by the
company by shares and obligations at the close of
1862 was £35,314,756, and assuming that each
obligation issued in 1863 produced an average of
£l2 45. each, it follows that £5,660,824 was obtained
from this source last year, carrying the total capital
raised by the Paris and Mediterranean Company pro•
per to the close of last year to .£C,975,530. Although
our totals become vaster and vaster, we have not yet
fully reached the definitive "resources" which had
been made available at the close of 1863. Thus the
expenditure incurred on the old network at the
end of last year was £38,601,249, and on the new
network £28,095,122, or, combining these tevo totals
together, the aggregate outlay on the entire system,
December 31,1863, was £66,696,371. The resources
realised to the same date on capital account were
for the old network, £38,423,736; and for the new
network, £27,666,136, or £66,089,872 in all. We
have shown that the amount raised by the com-
pany proper to the close of 1863 was £40,975,580,
and on deducting this sum from the previous
total of £66,089,872, a balance of £25,114,292
remains to :be accounted for. An explanation is
found in the number of loans contracted by com-
panies now fusioned in the general Paris and Medi-
terranean undertaking, and the annual charge of
which it has, of course, accepted.
The first of those loans was contracted in 1852 by
the old Paris and Lyons Company, and consisted of
80,000 4 per cent. obligations, issued at about £42
each, and redeemable at £5O each in 50 years from
the Ist of October, 1852. The second loan was con-
tracted in 1853, and 1856, and 1857 by the Paris
and Lyons, and consisted of 250,000 at 3 per cent.
obligations, issued at prices ranging from £lO 16s.
to £ll 10s. each, redeemable at £2O each by annual
drawings from 1856 to 1905. The third loan was
contracted in 1850 by the Marseilles and Avig-
non Company, and consisted of 30,000 4 per
cent. obligations, issued at £4O each and redeem-
able at £5O each, in 33 years from January, 1862.
Almost the whole of these obligations, it may be
added, have been exchanged against a 5 per cent.
obligations created in 1852 by the Lyons and
Mediterranean Comp Illy. The fourth loan was
contracted in 1852 by the Lyons and Avig-
non Company, and consisted ef 8,000 obliga-
tions, similar to the preceding; they have been aleo
nearly entirely exchanged against 8 per cent.
obligations of the Lyons and Mediterranean. The
fifth loan consisted of 40,000 4 per cent. obliga-
tions, issued by the Lyons and Mediterranean Com-
PanY at £25 each, redeemable at the same rate,
and called Marseilles and Avignon shares, created
in represbntation of the shares of the Marseilles and
Avignon Company.
These obligations have been
almost all exchanged against 3 and 6
obli-
gations
of
the Lsoosand
5 per cent. d
Mediterranean. The
sixth loan was contracted in 1852 and 1853
by the Lyons and Mediterranean Company,
b
and consisted of 264,999 3 per cent. li
Cons, negotiated at £ll 45. each, and redeemableg4
at £2O each by annual drawings from July, 1856
to Jal.7, 1955. The seventh loan was contracted in
1852 by the Lyons and Mediterranean Company,