The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY

THE QUEEN INSURANCE COMPANY.
156, Leadenhall-street, London, E.C.
Queen Insurance-buildings, Liverpool.
Capital ONE MILLION STERLING.
At the Annual Meeting of the Proprietors, held at Liver-
pool, on the 21st October, 1861, BERNARD HALL, Esq..
Chairman of the Company, in the Chair, the Directors'
Report for the year stated—
That the Fire Premiums for the year amounted to £70,300
being an increase over the precedin:z year of 22,580
That the Life Premium Receipts for the first three
years were
and for the past three years
being xn increase in the latter triennial period
over the former of
That the amount accumulated since last Meeting, as
a Fire Reserve Fund, was 23,427
and the amount added to Life Fund was
That during the past five years the Company had paid
for Claims
file Actuary reported that the Life Liabilities had been
valued on the soundest principles, viz., Net Premiums at 3
per cent. interest, and that the Bonus to part•cipating Policy-
holders averaged as much as 46 per cent. per annum of the
Premiums paid, while in some instances it was as high as 65,
70, and even 75 per cent.
A dividt nd was declared to proprietors at the rate of 8 per
cent. per annum.
J. MONCRIEFF WILSON, Manager and Actuary.
JOHN E. LEYLAND, Secretary.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held yes-
terday at the London Tavern—Mr. W. J. Hamilton in the
chair.

Mr. WATT, the secretary, having read the notice conven-
ing the meeting, the report, au abstract of which has ap-
peared in The Sun, was taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
congratulated the proprietors on the steady progress that
had been made with the works. Their chief engineer had
just arrived from India, and would give them any informa-
tion they required on the subject. The Bhore Ghat incline
had been opened on the 21st April last for goods traffic, but
it t mild not be opened for passenger traffic until the works
were properly consolidated. Some settlements, as expected,
had taken place during the monsoon, end had interrupted
the traffic for some time. He considered that the report of
Mr. Graham, their chief engineer, was on the whole ex-
tremely satisfactory as to the progress of the works, and
also with regard to the last paragraph in it, relating to the
completion of the surveys of the alternative line to Hydera-
bad, instead of the original one to Moodgul. He thought the
proposed line to Hyderabad was of so much consequence,
both in a political and commercial point of view, that he
trusted the Government would sanction its construction.
The object of the extension line was to form a junction with
the Madras Railway at a point near Hyderabad, and thus
complete a through communication from Bombay via Hy-
derabad to Madras. The alternative line would be about 60
miles longer than the originally proposed line via Moodgul,
but when it was considered that it would pass through a
rich and populOus district, while that to Moodgul was a
barren and unproductive district, there could be no difficulty
in deciding in favour of the best line. The distance from
Bombay to Madras was between 800 and 900 miles, so that
an increase of 60 miles in that distance to secure those ad-
vantages was not important. He believed the Government
of Bombay, as well as that of Madras, were favourable
to the best route being adopted, During the past half-
year the receipts for traffic amounted to £290,000, out of
which they had to deduct /56,000 for carrying traffic over the
Ghat, leaving £234,000, which was an increase of £67,000
over the corresponding period of last year. No doubt the
working expenses were very considerable. The increase in
the working expenses was £45,090 during the past half-
year, of wnich £25,000 was paid by the oompany as com-
pensation for damages. He thought it satisfactory, notwith-
standing the increased cost of working and damages, that
the net receipts were £21,000 more than for the correspond-
ing half of 1862. The loss by damaged cotton arose in two
ways. The first loss amounted to £lO,OOO from fire, while
a heavy train of cotton was passing through an arid
and barren district, and, in spite of all the exertions made to
extinguish it, nearly the whole train was consumed, involv-
ing an additional loss in the destruction of rolling stock.
But the great loss which occurred to them took place just
before the setting in of the monsoon ; and in alluding to
this question it would be necessary for him to advert to
the conduct of the Bombay Government, which he did not
think was fair or just towards the company. Immediately
prior to the monsoon a great quantity of cotton was brought
to their railway at Etregauni and Egutpoora. The natives
brought their produce in large quantities, partly in conse-
quence of its being the period of the year for sending
it to market, and partly stimulated by the high prices
in Bombay. There was no doubt some want of manage-
ment in the traffic arrangements ; but when the great loss
from damage to the cotton had been reported the Govern-
ment sent an engineer officer to inquire into the matter,
and immsdiately published his report in the newspapers
without giving the company's committee in Bombay an op-
portuuity of explanation. Not only did the Government
authorities do this, but they made very serious charges
against the company in language neither fit nor decorous on
their part. He then read the resolution of the Bombay
Government, in which they expressed au opinion that the
conduct of the company was very discreditable. On the
first opening of the cotton trade, in wnich all the arrange-
ments had broken down, not only causing great loss,
and that the management was disgraceful, inasmuch as
4,000 bales a day should have been carried, while the rail-
way never carried more than 2,000 bales. Of course, as
soon as the statement appeared, the committee in Bombay
proceeded to give an explanation of the circumstances. The
Government ought to have inquired of the committee for
an explanation of the matter before publishing the report
referred to. With regard to not having efficient traffic ar-
rangements, there was an enormous amount of business
brought to the railway, and it could not be ccnveyod away
at once. So far back as the middle of last year the com-
pany applied to the Government to allow them to send out
two additional traffic managers, as they expected to lose
one, and they had since lost the services of Mr. Cooper.
When the proposal was made to the Government they said
it was premature and better to defer it, thereby putting off
the appointment of :additional superintendence and leaving
them without sufficient assistance to carry on the traffic.
Not having sufficient cover at the station, great loss was
sustained. The natives brought immense quantities of cot-
ton to the railway, and actually covered several acres of
land with cotton in bales from four to six deep; but, on the
other hand, the Government had refused to allow the com-
pany to make sidings for the accommodation of the traffic.
By the advice of the Government consulting engineer the
requirements of the company in this respect had been re-
duced, and the estimates had been cut down. The com-
mittee in Bombay had proposed to the Government certain
requirements for the traffic, and pointed out what was
likely to occur and which had occurred. On the opening
of the Bhore Ghat, the contractor for carrying the goods
had all his carts released, and also a large number of addi-
tional carts, so that he was enabled to bring dowh to the Thull
Ghat so much cotton in two or three days as the company
could carry away in three or four weeks on a single line of
railway, having but a limited number of waggons to meet
this extraordinary pressure. The company had been in nego-
tiation with the Government during the past ten years, re-
specting a goods station at Bombay, but nothing had yet
been done. He hoped, however, that in the course of
another year there would be something tangible done in this
most important matter. The committee had applied to the
Government to allow the company to store the cotton in
some of the Government stores in Bombay, but a most ex-
travagant price was fixed upon by the officials. Complaints
had been made that a number of third-class passengers had
been left behind at one or two stations. It was impossible
for the company to provide for a large addition to the num-
ber of passengers without running additional trains ; and
the company were prevented from running additional trains
without authority from the Government. With respect to
the fares for third-class passengers they were exceedingly
small, less than a farthing per mile, and they carried about
40,000 0e50,000 third. class passengers a week. The average
distance travelled by third-class passengers was 39 miles,
and the average fare 9d. each passenger. The fare was very
little more than the cost of their conveyance. This was
ttmmEchwonee.engeetal.xplanation he had to give. Under these circumstan-
ces the presence of one of their colleagues, Mr. Ayrton,
settlemente
e
a,
htnhiadnae Bebooeolfmem,sht
phbeuaeancryogyv,
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daawrpni ooadtu lnuo
the
company
hs,
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jo
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remainingm e Government.
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evtlueie services
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the citation at Bombay and the alteration of the fares were
of the utmost importance to the company. The Govern-
!,
cheet such
generalpower
charges
fa
r gfixingesmanager.i ratesi:uhteuyir in
el
looked
as
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with great satisfaction, and hoped they should not
gen-
tlemanlhi pub-
lished onbayyms the Government.

Mr. J. G. FRITH, in seconding the motion for the adop-
tion of the report, said there had been a great want of fore.
thought in the Government authorities, and the result had
been very disastrous. The interference in the internal ar-
rangements of the railway company had been attended with
the most injurious effects on the interests of the share-
holders. He hoped the experience they had had would have
the effect of removing these obstructions to the successful
working of tfie railway.
,
The motion was then carried unanimously, and the
rrs wasl der
unanimously
a vote of
thanks for-
feiture of certaia shares for the nonpayment of calls was
confirmed.
Afternks to some
the dairecsiltoaeho
carried.
The CHAIRMAN, in acknowledging the vote, explained
observations by
that his objection to Government control was only in re-
spect to undue interference in the management of the n
other respects he thought -
in-
ternal affairs of the company. T
the control of the Government beneficial to the share-
holders, as it prevented an improper waste of their funds