The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-14 00:00:00

DUTCH RHENISH.

T receipts for the fortnight ending the 30th of
September he
amounted to £10,777, and for the cor-
period of last year to £10,268, showing
responding
an increase of 1:509. The receipts since the com-
mencement of the present year on the Ist of
may, including the above, amounted to £106,947,
increase, as compared with the corres-
pondingperiCd of
last year, of £6,453. The work-
snhlvexpenses for the fortnight amounted to £3,786,
or 35'13 per cent., and for the corresponding period
of last year to £3,593, or 34.98 per cent., showing
an increase of £193. The working expenses from
ef. May last to the 30th of September,
theam Ist
amounted £38,641, or 3613 per cent of the re-
ceipts. The working expenses for the year 1862-
63 were 39'08 per cent. of the receipts.
n to

PERNAMBUCO.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the London Tavern ; Mr. R. Benson in
the chair.
The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.
The CetentuAN, in moving the adoption of the
said the most interesting subject to the share-
halder a
was
the
proposed extension of the guarantee
report,
to the whole of the capital expended, for which they
had waited so long and so patiently. He was sorry
to say that no definite solution of the question had
yet been accomplished. Their manager at Rio had
not been able to obtain the result of the proceedings
on this question. The reports of the commissioners
in Brazil and London on the finances of the company
had been referred by the Government to an engineer
who made an elaborate
oreffipcoerr; oCaapthtaeisnubjleeedtetir:tsh' e Governor. The manager
had sent them a very imperfect document as to the
result which it appeared that
Captain
Medeiros had reduced the addition to the
of that report, from
guarantee of £477,8747 which, added to £1,200,000,
the original guarantee, would make £1,677,000. It
appeared he had disallowed about £150,000 for
over-payments to Mr. Furness, the contractor, which
was important, inasmuch as it gave them a claim to
resist those charges. There was a loss of £B,OOO
incurred in working the railway during construc-
tion, which had been disallowed, and was very unfair,
for when a profit was shown on the working the
Government took advantage of it, but when a loss oc-
curred it seemed they refused to allow it. The money
expended on stores for the railway
was also dis-
allowed; it amounted to £28,000. They thought it
very absurd to suppose that the line could be worked
without a floating capital ; at all events, they should
charge interest against revenue in respect of such
floating capital. As to Mr. Furness's account, they
claimed £55,000 in shares, and they were told by
their legal advisers that they had a strong case.
Putting aside all they might get from the account
with Mr. Furness, the effect of the recent report
would be to reduce the guarantee fro
Tee account
to something more than 6 per cent. m 7 per cent.
of those matters was very imperfect, but it was
understood that the Minister of Public Works would
objected to was for
ISO,OOO.
mthaekseettthleemreenpto.rt
AofneCtahpetraiintemlklederos the basis of
largest
te
adopted.
interest on capital during construction. The seno.llest
those
eanodb
jetchteionlasrwg
the guarantee would be reduced to per cent.,
amount
tinwg was
sh
1:1100th%
but he could not believe the Brazilian Government
would act so illiberally towards them,- bearing in
mind that theirs was the first railway and had cost
about the same per mile as the other guaranteed
railways. The works were quite as good, if not
better than those of their railways, upon which 7
per cent was guaranteed by by the Government.
With regard to the question of interest, ho could
not understand the objection, because the Govern-
ment had demanded and received interest on their
own shares in the undertaking. Of course, what
they receive from the Brazilian Government in re-
spect of the additional capital they would receive as
us a bacre, because they could not demand it. The
directors had reccmmended the proprietors not to

take any dividend at present, and he thought it more
prudent to wait until they had heard the de-
cision of the Brazilian Government on the question
of extending the guarantee. The traffic was not
in a flourishing condition. The expenses were
rather more than the receipts, it being the worst half
of the year, but taking the whole year he had no
doubt a profit would remain. Active steps were
being taken to reduce the working expenses, and
the Brazilian authorities had approved what the
company were doing in that respect. A great
increase in the traffic receipts could not he expected
until they had more rolling stock, and until the line
was extended into the harbour of Recife. There
were no commo❑ roads in the country, and until
they were made the railway would not have its
share of the traffic.

Mr. DicKsoN seconded the motion for the adop.
tion of the report of the directors and auditors.
In reply to observations by Mr. J. Jones, it was
stated that the President and inhabitants of Per-
nambuco were favourable to the undertaking, and
desirous that the company should be treated as
well as the other railway companies had been by
the Imperial Government.
Resolutions were passed adopting the report of
the directors and auditors, re-electing the Hon. S.
P. Vereker and Mr. W. Gladstone, the retiring
directors, and also Mr. E. Cheshire, the retiring
auditor.
Mr. BEECROFT proposed that the allowance to
the directors be £2,000 a year from the 20th of No-
vember; upon which an amendment was proposed
by Mr. Fletcher to the effect that the fixing of the.
remuneration to the dirtors be deferred until such
time as the answer of the Brazilian Government
relating to the guarantee be received.
On a show of hands, 3S appeared for the amend-
ment and 16 against it. The amendment was carried,
and a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors
concluded the proceedings.