The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-06 00:00:00

Great Western Railway of Canada.

Yesterday the ordinary annual meeting of this
company was held in the London Tavern, under the
presidency of Mr. Alderman D akin, chairman of the
board of directors. There was a numerous atten-
dance of proprietors.

The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said he felt there was some difficulty in
doing so, seeing that there was a paragraph in it
which stated that the balance in hand was not suffi-
cient to enable the board to declare a dividend. He
felt confident, however, that, when he had made the
statement it was his duty to submit to them, the
shareholders would feel the fault did not lie with
the directors, and that the absence of a dividend
was caused by circumstances beyond their control.
The accounts were so stated as to require very
little explanation on his part. The receipts on
capital account were small, £1,138; and the outlay,
£16,158, had been spent, as the board believed,
for the advantage of the company. Part of it had
been laid out in the roiling mill at Hamilton, the
increase on the estimate for which was owing to the
discovery that more machinery was required and a
heavier steam hammer. Their engineer had reported
that the mill was capable of turning out 180 tone
per fortnight, and that the cost was 22 dole. per ton,
which they had been accustomed to pay, and as there
were 115 miles of road still to be re-laid and 11,000
tons of rail to be reerolled, they would see that they
would soon be half recouped the cost of the mill.
The half •year's return on the traffic had been satis•
factory. The increase over the corresponding half-
y year of 1863 had been £21,872 92 sd. •The local
freightshowed an increase of £8,436, and the through
freight £30,538; and he specially drew their atten-
tion to the fact that although they had carried 17,066
tons less freight they had an increase on the amount
taken. They would see that the working expenses
were reduced as compared with the previous half-
year to the amount of 2 per cent., a fact which he
thought was satisfactory, as showing that their
officials in Canada were ably and zealously conduct-
ing the business there. No doubt, however, they
would say," With this increased traffic and dimi-
nished charges, how is it that you cannot give us a
dividend ? " His reply was, the directors had done
the best they could in that direction, but for reasons
which they could sot declare, a dividend was be-
yond their control. It must be remembered that
they had to pay working expenses, to pay interest
on the bonds, and in each euceehbive year to contri-
bute £32,000 for renewals, the necessity for which
had been caused by former neglect. They had also
suffered a loss by the depreciation in the currency to
the amount of not less than £14,000 during the half..
year. This loss would have been equivalent to the di-
vidend which they had desired to give—viz., 5 per
per cent, In July, 1862, they had a dividend of 3 per
cent. and a fraction ; in Jan., 1864, of 41 per cent. and
in the present half-year, but for the loss on the ex-
changes, it would have been something over 5 per
cent. In the year 1861 they had an absolute profit on
the exchanges of £2,099 1 ls. ld. They had thought
it desirable to leave a very large balance with their
New York bankers uninvested. It must be remem-
bered that since they last met gold had gone up to
292. When he and Mr. Faulconer went to New
York the price was 199, but Mr. Chase's Gold Bill
was introduced, and while they were at New York
gold went up to 250; and it seemed to them, as they
had no urgent demand for money, that they ought
not to sacrifice the funds of the shareholders by con-
verting them at those enormous rates, and they had
therefore, in the exercise of their discretion, left the
money in the hands of their New York bankers
rather than submit to a heavy depreciation. They
had several interviews with the bankers, and it ap-
peared that it was not the custom of the New York
banks to allow interest on deposits unless the de-
posits were made for six months or more. It was
fortunate they did so, because if the balance was
invested at 220 they should save £3,809, and if cons
Yerted at 200 they should save no less than £6,984
2s. 4d. This difficult matter of loss by exchanges
brought them back to the point on which they had
so often had disquisitions in -that room, and
that was that of the through rates. It
was very possible that a time might come
when the rate of exchange would be so high
and the loss upon it so great, that it would be im •
proper to carry American traffic at a loss. This the
board had steadily set its face against. They watched
it very carefully during the past halfsyear, and the
previous half-year, and the entire business of the
company had been done at a profit—a small profit,
but still a profit—and while it could be done at a
profit the idea of stopping what had taken ten years
of effort, and expensive effort, to obtain was not to
be thought of. During the last half-year MieFaul-
coner and himself had visited America, and had
interviews with the leading authorities there, with
the representatives of the Michigan Railway and
of the New York Central, who, they were delighted
to find, still held fast to their allegiance to the Great
Western ; and he believed that if they were true
to themselves they would tide over their temporary
difficulty, and hereafter secure a very good dividend.
One of the leading objects they had in view in going
to America was, if possible, to bring some influence
to bear on the railway authorities there, and to
point out to them that they might be obliged to
stop the through traffic unless some increase was
made on the rates. In consequence of the represen.
tations thus made, a convention was held in New
York on July 20, at which all the rates were put
up and a fresh classification of goods made, which
would have the effect of raising the rates from 20
to 40 per cent, ; and they had received a letter from
their agent, dated Sept. 19, stating that a farther
advance on freight had been determined upon. lie
was bound to say that the American authorities
found that the cost of materials and labour had been
greatly enhan2ed, and in self defence they were com
pelled to increase the rates in order to keep up their
dividend. With regard to their own railway, he
wished to point out that without the through traffic
they would not be able to pay the interest on their
bonds,and that they would otherwise be in a bad con-
dition. He read a statement of the traffic, showing
that about 38 per cent. was derived from local traffic,
while 62 per cent. was derived from through traffic,
If they had only their local traffic they would have
but £44,000 to meet a fixed charge of £Bl 891, and
there would be a deficiency of £36,988. One of the
first difficulties they encountered when they met