The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-23 00:00:00

The directors of this company have just issued
their report. It states that the gross receipts for the
half-year ending July 31 amounted to £630,435,
including £27,474 for steamboat traffic, as compared
with £596,895 for the corresponding period of 1864,
being an increase of £33,540. The ordinary work-
ing expenses during the half-year amounted to
£266,895, the rates, taxes, tolls, and Government
duty to £43,633, and the working of the steampacket
service to £13,994. After providing for the fixed
charges against revenuethereremained a net balance
of £111,012 available for dividend on the ordinary
consolidated stock of the company. A dividend of
2i per cent. per annum would absorb £95,253, leav-
ing a balance of £15,760. The directors recom-
mended the payment of that dividend on the 11th
September next. The balance proposed to be car-
ried over was unusually large, but the directors
thought it right to recommend that it should be re-
served to meet claims for compensation arising out
of the calamitous accident which happened at Staple-
hurst in June last. The increase in the gross receipts,
as compared with the corresponding period of 1864,
amounted to £33,540, and the increase in the ex-
penses to £54,170, but this includes £32,171 for com-
pensation. The sum paid for compensation during
the past half-year amounted to £34,360, against
£2,189 for the corresponding period of 1864. The
total number of passengers conveyed during the past
half-year was 7,878,970, and for the corresponding
half of 18647,440,046, showing an increase of 438,924
and of £19,294 in the receipts. Of the 7,8f8,970 pas-
sengers, 5,230,275 were third class, 1,725,960 second
class, and 922,735 first class. The total receipts for
passengers amountedto £400,304, of which £148,568
was for third class, £106,416 for second class, and
£145,320 for first class. The increase of £6,781
under the head of rents and sundries arose
principally from the letting of arches and property
along the Charing-cross Railway, an item which
might be expected to exhibit a large increase in
future half-years. The company's steamers had
performed their voyages between Folkestone and
Boulogne during the past season with their accus-
tomed regularity. A portion of the direct line to
Tunbridge, extending from Lewisham to Bickley
and Chiselhurst, was opened for public traffic on
the Ist of July last. The works on the remainder
of the line as far as Tunbridge were proceeding
satisfactorily, and were expected to be completed in
the course of next year. Various causes had con-
curred to delay the completion of the City branch
and terminus, but the works were now well ad-
vanced, and it was expected that the City station
would be available for traffic by the beginning of
next year. The interest on unproductive capital
had from time to time been placed to suspense, in
respect of interest on capital expended upon works
in progress and unproductive. As this burden was
one not fairly chargeable against revenue the direc-
tors intended for the future to carry such amounts
directly to capital. The directors had recently suc-
ceeded in disposing of the principal part of the St.
Thomas's Hospital estate for the sum of £170,000,
of which £150,000 had been received and credited
to capital account, and the balance of £20,000
secured by mortgage on the estate. Of the measures
opposed by the directors in Parliament in the course
of last session, the most important was a hostile
scheme promoted by the Brighton Company, through
the district of tly7s company, for a new line from
Croydon in the direction of Tundridge-wells and
Hastings. Notwithstanding an amicable agreement
entered into between the two companies, the directors
of the Brighton Company took the first opportunity
of fostering and supporting the hostile scheme of the
Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway. As this line,
when constructed and opened, would have the effect
of establishing a competition for this company's
traffic at Godstone, Edenbridge, Westerham, and
Tunbridge-wells, it would be necessary for the di-
rectors to take such steps as might seem best calcu-
lated to protect the company's interests in the mat-
ter, and to neutralise the injurious effects of such
competition. The agreement entered into with the
London, Chatham, and Dover Company was to
avoid the injurious effects of undue competition be-
tween the companies, and to provide for the econo-
mical and effective working of traffic in which both
were mutually interested, dividing the receipts in
the proportions specified in the agreement. The
directors had entered into a provisional agreement
with the London and North Western Company for
the working and maintenance of the North-
Western and Charing-cross Railway (connect-
ing the system of the London and North-
Western Railway at Euston station with that
of the South Eastern Company at Charing-cross),
on such terms as would secure interest on the bor-
rowed capital of the company, and a dividend at
the rate of 5 per cent. on its share capital, which it
was intended to offer in the first place to the pro-
prietors of the two working companies.