The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-07 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN .RAlLWAY—(Yesterday.)

The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders was held at
one o'clock, at the London Tavern; Mr. W. A. Wilkin-
son in the chair.

The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN moved its adoption. He commenced by
expressing regret at the delay in the opening of the line,
which he said would be easily understood by those who
were acquainted with all the difficulties which had been en-
countered. However, within. the last two or three days Mr.
Fowler had carried them through the line. (Cheers.) As
regarded the necessity for more money, that arose partly
from the novelty of the undertaking, and partly from alte-
rations and extensions. The making of the line as origi-
natly proposed, he was happy to say, had not exceeded the
estimate. (Hear, hear.) When the line was commenced
no one expected the present number and character of sta-
tions. The board felt that they must do everything in
their power to entice the public. Omnibuses ran over the
line almost the whole way, and great efforts were required
to compete with them. The company had taken land
which for the present added to their burdens ; but he be-
lieved would ultimately prove remunerative. Owing to
these various causes they required £300,000 more, and they
appealed to the meeting to give them the means of raising it
Mr. PARSON (deputy chairman) did not think any apology
was needed for asking for additional capital. Original
capital to the extent of £lOO,OOO had provided for works
not contemplated at the outset, and the shareholaa.s were
now asked to replace it. The extension of the I;_ne to Smith-
field was a matter of great importauco. T'ae bargain with
the corporation was complete. There were negotiations
with the Great Western Railway company, the object of
which was to secure to that (tke Great Western) company
more than half the substructure of Smithfield ; and if
they were successful, the result would be very beneficial
to the Metropolitan Company. They had surplus land
of the value of £lOO,OOO, and they had been obliged to
purchase 20 houses in the vicinity of Baker-street
Station, and 20 more in the vicinity of Gower-street Sta-
tion. The lino would be opened on the Ist of October, anti:
almost everything was already paid for. (Cheers.) The
line had in fact been constructed under the original esti-
mate. Adverting to the contemplated extension to Moor-
gate-street, he observed that there were other parties who
were prepared to meet them there by a line running east-
ward. The Great Northern Board considered an exten-
sion of the Metropolitan line to Earl-street, Blackfriars,
where it would meet the London, Chatham, and Dover
line, even more important than the extension to Fins-
bury, and that matter was under consideration. If it
had not been for the Fleet-ditch accident the opening
of the line would have taken place immediately after that
meeting. The immediate money damage from that disaster
was nothing compared to the loss of time; but the matter
was one over which they had no control, It was satisfactory
to know that one effect of this delay had been to place the
Fleet-ditch in a state which secured them against ac-
cident in future ; and it was fortunate that the defects of
that ditch were discovered before the line was opened for
traffic.

The report having been adopted, it was announced that
the line would be open on Saturday, the 30th inst., to the
inspection of the proprietors, and that they would be in-
vited by circular.

The meeting was then made special, and a resolution was
passed authorising the raising of £300,000 in 30,000 shares
of £lO each, bearing a preferential dividend of 5 per cent.
pet annum, £2 10s. to be paid on the 31st August and the
remainder by three equal instalments, there being an inter-
val of four months between each payment, the proprietors
to have the option of paying up at once in full.