The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-01 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

OTTOMAN (SM YitNA TO AIDIN).
The half-yearly meeting of this company was held yester-
day at the London Tavern—Sir Macdonald Stephenson in
the chair.

Mr S. J. Cooke, the secretary, having read the notice
convening the meeting, the report was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN said that if patience and perseverance
brought, as they were assured they did, their reward, they
might confidently lock forward to a happy termination to
their labours upon the Ottoman Railway, which undoubtedly
demanded the exercise of both those qualities, to an extent
they had little anticipated at the outset. It was too late to
regret the original error in selecting the first lino, which
was to show the value of railways in Turkey, and which
should have been short, easily, and quickly completed, The
remunerative prospects of the Aidin line probably overrode
all other considerations, and they had now no alternative
but to work and wait its due completion and development.
The frequently recurring difficulties and discouragement
experienced would have sufficed to dishearten most men,
but the enlightened views and liberal policy of the Ottoman
Government had done much to neutralise the effects of
those obstacles and to encourage them to greater exertions.
The working expenses exceeded the revenue, but on this
point it must be borne in mind that the taking over the
maintenance of the way and works from the contractor,
involving a considerable amount for renewals, had brought
a new and heavy charge upon the revenue, which would be
reduced as the traffic increased. A considerable reduction
had been effected in the cost of the staff, upon the recom-
mendation of Gen. Tremenheere, who went out for the pur-
pose, but of which the benefit would only be felt hereafter.
Now that the whole charge of maintenance upon the 48i
miles to Ephesus had to be borne by the revenue, the ex-
penditure would be unavoidably heavy, and disproportioned
to the receipts, until the line was carried across the hilly
range which separated it from the traffic districts of the in-
terior. It was a subject which had engaged the serious at-
tention of the Board, but during the progiess of construction
the open line could not show satisfactory results until the
completion of the works to Aidin. This would secure the
whole of the now divided traffic, augment the revenue, and
proportionately reduce the working expenses. The results
of inquiries into the traffic of the country, now in progress
by the company's engineers at the board's request, showed
the proportion already transferred from the camels to the
railway. In the month of August they found that of a
local traffic of 718 tons, 675 tons went by railway, and 43
tons by the road. Of the Cayster Valley traffic, being a
total of 978 tons, 210 tons went by railway and 769 tons by
the road. Of a total of 630 tons by the Meander Valley,
423 tons went by the railway and 207 tons by the road,
August being the worst month in the year for traffic. The
traffic of August and September amounted to 8,585 tons,
of which 3,788 tons were conveyed by the railway, and
4,797 tons by the road. The Cay,ter V alley, being out of
the line of railway, would requite a branch, to which sub-
ject the board would, when the main line was completed,
request the attention of the shareholders. This was exclu-
sive of the Buuja and Sedikoi trade, which in September
amounted to 12,966 camels and horses and 23,362 passen-
gers. The truffle manager in a report that arrived too late
to be printed, stated that the yield this season of the Aidin
district would be about 7,000 tons of cotton, 6,000 tons of
figs, and 7,000 tons of valonia--together 20,000 tons—that
the cultivation of the land continued to progress in districts
connected with their railway, and that the introduction of
cotton gins and machinery was rapidly extending. The
rivalry between the railway and the road would unavoid-
ably continue so long as the distances traversed were in-
considerable—but the trade was extending, and continually
increasing, and it was believed that the opening of the line
throughout would secure the bulk of the traffic, which was
now the great object in view, to place the property of the
company in its right position in public estimation. He con-
cluded by moving the adoption of the report and statement
of account.

Major-Gen. TREMENHEERE seconded the motion.
Mr G. S➢IITH was glad to perceive that the attention 01

the chairman and his colleagues continued to be directed to
the interests of the company and the well doing of the un-
dertaking. He had looked from time to time with great
anxiety on the difficulties which the directors had sur-
mounted, and he thought they were deserving of great credit
for having made such arrangements with the Ottoman Go-
vernment as to enable the company to receive the guaranteed
amount. The honourable manner in which the Turkish
Government had kept faith with them was very gratifying.
The report was unanimously adopted.
The CIIA.IRMAN, in reply to a question, stated that their

traffic manager had considerable difficulty in securing a
share of the existing traffic. In one instance, where 6,000
loads of figs had to be conveyed, he got 3,000 loads for the
railway at 20 piastres a load, out of which he had to pay 3
piastres for delivery at Smyrna ; while the esmel-drivers on
the road got 80 piastres a load, and at present retained the
greater part of the trEffic ; but that would not be the case
when the line was completed to Aidin.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the
chairman and directors.