The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-26 00:00:00

PERNAMBTJCO.

The half-yearly meeting of this companywas held yester-
day at the London Tavern ; Mr. R. Benson in the chair.
A [The report, an abstract of which has appeared in The
Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving its adoption, said that the
question of extending the guarantee remained as before. It
had passed the Chamber of Deputies by a large majority,
and on the assembling of the Brazilian Parliament on the
3d or 4th of May would be submitted to the Senate. The
directors had not been idle in the meantime ; they had
petitioned the Emperor on the subject, applied to their friends
to forward the matter,and had sent out their manager to re-
present the company in Brazil. He (the chairman) had no
doubt whatever that the question would be settled forthwith.
He believedthe extended guarantee would be laid before the
Senate for its sanction as soon as possible, but he did not
expect that they would have an answer until the mail
in August next. If the news should arrive before the
August mail, the shareholders would receive a cir-
cular informing them of the result. So far as he could
judge, there was almost a certainty of obtaining the exten-
sion of the guarantee. The debentures of the company
were quoted at 95 and 96, and it would not do, therefore,
to force them out at a discount. Until they got this matter
settled, or were enabled to issue their debentures at par,
they could not pay the dividends for the two past half
years in cash. They owed 1.40,000 to the bankers, and
when they could raise the requisite sum on their debentures
they would be able to pay off all their debts and liabilities.
They proposed to issue deferred warrants for the proposed
dividend at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum for the past
half-year. They had settled with their late contractor,
Mr. Furness, and an end had been put to a very extensive
lawsuit. He thought, however, that if it had been con-
tinued the company might have got better terms than those
byse thottled E tabray arbitration,zthilenGovernio. ho
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hsiond tvcerebeeeenead a letterpproved
from their acting manager, who stated that the permanent
way was in good order, and they had obtained a native Wood
for sleepers that would stand the climate well, and could be
had for about half the cost of creosoted sleepers. The timber
only required to have the bark stripped off, and to be stacked
in the dry season. The carriages and waggons were also in
good order. The traffic receipts for the month of January
showed an increase of £1,311, those for February an increase
of £716, and for March £973, being together £3,000, or 20
percent. over the receipts for the corresponding three months
of last year. The working expenses in January amounted
to 471 per cent. of the receipts, in February to 50 per cent.,
and in March to 48k per cent. The manager thought the'
receipts might be increased 50 per cent. without incurring a
corresponding increase in the working expenses. The
maintenance of the permanent way would be about the
same cost as at present. The whole staff enjoyed good
health, and the traffic was going on favourably. The
traffic in sugar and cotton was increasing, and the increase
of receipts was shown:at all the stations. If the company
had sufficient rolling stock it was believed that the traffic
would very soon cover the guarantee, but that was a ques-
tion which concerned the Government more than the com-
pany at present, the latter having already supplied alarger
quantity of rolling stock than they were bound to provide
under the concession. They were, of course, anxious to
make the line as productive as possible.

Mr. DICKSON seconded the motion for the adoption of the
report. '

In reply to questions, it was stated that the roads to the
railway were in course of construction. The extended con-
cession would give the proprietors a clear dividend of 6 per
cont. per annum, instead of the 7 per cent. originally ex-
pected. The tariff charged on passengers was rather more
than that of the Great Northern Railway Company, but it
had been fixed by the Government, and was working satis-
factorily.

The original capital of the company was £1,200,000, they
had borrowed on debentures £275,000, and the Brazilian
Government had lent them £400,000 to complete the line,
making together £1,875,000; but about £1,840,000 would
cover everything. The line was opened throughout by
the end of 1862, and the extended guarantee would com-
mence from that time. There would, therefore, be two
years' arrears of interest due to them on that account. The
proposed extension to the harbour of Recife would cost
£130,000, and was under the consideration of the Govern-
ment.

Resolutions were passed adopting the report, authorising
the issue of deferred dividend warrants for the dividend
at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum declared for the past
half year, and on the motion of Mr. Flasher, seconded by
Mr. MGarel, the payment of the allowance to the directors
and concessionaires for their services was to be resumed
from the date of the last payment of it, after the issue of
the debentures.

The conversion of the shares into stock was postponed
until the next meeting, and the proceedings concluded with
a vote of thanks to the chairman and directors.