The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-10 00:00:00

FACTAGE PARISIEN (LIMITED).

An extraordinary general meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the London Tavern for the purpose of
receiving a report on the present position and future pro-
spects of the company as now carried on under the direc-
tion of Mr. Le Brun, the general manager; Sir J. Car-
michael in the chair.

The report stated that Mr. Le Brun's management had
increased the receipts about 2501. a month and decreased
the expenditure one-third of the amount it was when he
became general manager, making already a total benefit of
12,000/. a year.

The CHAIRMAN said that this was probably the most im-
portant meeting which hadyet been held, because the Lord
Chancellor had said that upon their votes that day would
depend the winding up or not of the undertaking. The
directors did.not wish to influence the meeting one way or
the other, only affording such information as might assist
the shareholders in coming to*a proper and unbiassed de-
cision. Previously to their last meeting great difference
of opinion existed between the French directors and their
English colleagues as to the mode of conducting the busi-
ness of the compaay. The English Board thought that it
should be worked on a principle similar in every respect
to the large carrying company of Messrs. Pickford. It
was a very difficult matter for the English Board to
control and reduce the expenditure of a French Board,
who advanced very cogent reasons, saying that as French-
men they understood the wants of their countrymen better
than Englishmen could; they were suffered to go on up to a
certain point, at which the English directors insisted upon
appointing an English manager, in the person of Mr. Lo
Brun, who had been for a long time one of the chief officers
in the agency of Messrs. Pickford. To that appointment
the French directors demurred, and sent in their resigna-
tion, which was accepted, and an English committee was
appointed in place of the French board. Proposals had been
made for the surrender of the succession, that it might be
worked by Frenchmen, but he felt that he could not listen
to any proposal which did not provide for the interests of
English shareholders. Those views not being the views of
Mr. J ,on the occasion of the last call being made he
filed the bill for the compulsory winding up of the com-
pany. If that bill were carried the result would be that
they would lose the whole of the capital embarked in the
undertaking, Since June last, when Mr. Le Brun assumed
the management, he had been engaged in curtailing ex-
penses, and the result was that their traffic was increasing
while their expenses were being lowered. The contracts
which the French manager had entered' into were so un-
profitable that in one case Mr. Le Brun had to pay a con-
siderable sum to get rid of the remaining half of the con-
tract. There was no opposition in Paris, and if they were
successful in obtaining the support of the French public
there would be no doubt of the ultimate success of the un-
dertaking. If they went on for one year under Mr. Le
Brun's management the receipts would cover the expendi-
ture, which result would place the company upon a sound
footing. 't Assuming that they wound up, a sum of at least
40,0001. would be required, as compensations would have
to be paid for determining leases and relinquishing con-
tracts. To continue operations the sum required would be,
basing calculations upon the present receipts and expendi-
ture, even supposing the traffic did not increase, about
13,0001., and an additional sum of 10,0001. to clear off exist-
ing liabilities.
Mr. LB BRUN then gave a detailed account of the very
unsatisfactory state of affairs in Paris when he assumed the
management.
A SHAREHOLDER wished to know if the contract entered
into with the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com-
pany was one likely to prove remunerative.
The CHAIRMAN replied that it was likely to prove remu-
nerative to both companies.
On the motion of Mr. BRADLAUGH resolutions were
passed to the effect that the meeting, believing in the ulti-
mate success of the undertaking, entirely disapproved of
the petition presented to the Court of Chancery by the late
Mr. Jarryd an others ; and that fit was the opinion of the
meeting that the costs of thepetition presented for the com-
pulsory winding-up of the company should not be thrown
upon the company, it being virtually the petition of those
who had withdrawn from the company because their sys-
tem of management had been disapproved.
Votes of thanks were then passed to the manager and
directors, and the proceedings terminated.