The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-22 00:00:00

NORTH BRITISH.

A general meeting of the shareholders of the North
British, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Monklands
Railway Companies, now amalgamated as the North
British Railway Company, was held at Edinburgh
on Wednesday ; 900 shareholders attended. Mr. '
R. Hodgson presided.
The CHAIRMAN expressed his gratification at hav-
ing so large an attendance, and said, with regard to
those shareholders who had not been able to attend,
that they had with great unanimity expressed their
confidence in the new Board, in the names sub-
mitted to them, and in the principles announced.
The proxies committed to him and to those asso-
ciated with him amounted to about three millions
and a half of capital, by far the largest amount of
capital ever represented by the North British direc-
tors at any of their meetings. He said that for 10
years the North British had worked for its indepen-
dence against
powerful combinations • but they had
fought and won, and the crowning point of
their successful battle was the amalgamation with
the Edinburgh and Glasgow. They could now
afford to " rest and be thankful,,, and totbheeiart peace
with their neighbours always, provided
neigh-
bours would be at peace with them. Heonl
wished the Edinburgh and Glasgow they had 10
long wooed had been won long ago, but their
poal-
tion and not their will had tied them to the Cale-
dorian. Looking to the competition which the
latter had for a time instituted for the traffic be-
tween Edinburgh and Glasgow, it had been sug-
gested that it might be renewed now that the Edin-
burgh and Glasgow was separated from the Cale-
donian alliance. But the competition, which might
be vital to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company
standing alone, was only incidental to the amal-
gamated company, and the latter might retaliate by
cheap rates between Glasgow and Carlisle and Perth
and Carlisle. He would tell the Caledonian now
that sixpenny rates between Edinburgh and Glas-
gow meant corresponding rates between Glasgow
and Carlisle. He wia glad to think that, by the
City of Glasgow union, they would form another
junction with the Glasgow and South-Western,
through which they might exchange an enormous
amount of traffic with that friendly company. He
found that three companies now forming the North
British Company had obtained power to construct
48 miles of new railway, including the Bridge of •
Forth, at the very large expense of £1,100,000, in
addition to their subscription to the City of Glas-
gow Union and the Blanc Valley Company. He
found that the Caledonian and Scottish Central had
been
authorised to construct 70 miles of railway at

the expense of about a million and a half, they also
had agreed to contribute a considerable amount to
other lines, including £200,000 to the line to Oban ;
and they had also powers to contribute to the line
to Dingwall and Skye, and one or two more of that
sort. The Glasgow and South-Western had got
power to construct 111 miles of railway, to cost about a
million and a quarter ; and they also had large sub-
scriptions to other companies—the City of Glasgow
Union, and the Portpatrick and Girvan—to the
amount of nearly half a million more. The Caledo-
nian projects included the Cleland branch, by which
their line to Glasgow would be greatly shortened.
The North British had not opposed this project ;
claiming the right to improve their own routes to
Perth, Dundee, and elsewhere, they could not con-
sistently oppose the Caledonian improving their line
to Glasgow. With regard to the Bridge of Forth the
directors had resolved to proceed cautiously, and in
the first place to erect one of the piers of the bridge
next spring, at an expense of £17,000 or £lB,OOO,
in order to test the stability of the foundation and
the cost of the undertaking, which he hoped would
yet be completed within the original estimate. He
concluded by proposing the following list of direc-
tors :—Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Sprot, Mr. Craven, Mr.
Kinloch, Mr. Leishman, Mr. Trotter, Mr. Roland,
Mr. Muir, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Adam, M.P., Mr. Beau-
mont, and Mr. Wilson, of the former North British
Board, and Messrs. Dunlop, Ewing, and White, of
the former Edinburgh and Glasgow Board.
Considerable discussion took place on the subject
of the small number of Edinburgh and Glasgow di-
rectors proposed, and especially on the exclusion of
Mr. Blackburn, the former chairman of that com-
pany, who complained of the manner in which the
list had been made up. It was stated that the list
had been carried at a meeting of the united Boards
by 14 to 8, and the chairman, on being appealed to,
having stated his intention to use his proxies for
the list, all opposition was abandoned, and the list
Was carried without a division.

On the motion of Mr. Fildes, M.P„ it was agreed
that the allowance to the directors should be £4,100
a year.

A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the pro-
ceedings.

NORTH-WESTERN.

The report of the directors states that irregulari-
ties of various kinds had been discovered in the corn-
pany'saccounts,which in the absence of certain books
or papers not yet found, the directors had not been
able hitherto satisfactorily to account for, and pend-
ing the final investigation of these accounts, the di-
rectors recommended that the dividend on the B
stock, amounting to 12s. 6d. per cent. for the past
half-year, should be retained, being that portion of
the guaranteed dividend which, by the company's
Act of 1864, would be liable for any losses by de-
falcations, or otherwise, the company might at any
time sustain. As at present advised, they had rea-
son to believe that they would be able to keep it in-
tact for payment to the shareholders at the next
half-yearly meeting ; but pending the completion of
their-investigation, they deemed it only prudent to
recommend its retention for the present. They there-
fore recommended that a dividend at the rate of 5
per cent. per annum be declared on the £471,336.
A consolidated preferential stock, payable on the
first day of September next, and that the sum of
£1,964, which would otherwise have been available
for dividend on the B stock, be carried forward.