The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-16 00:00:00

L4NCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at
Manchester yesterday ; Mr. H. W. Wickham, M.P., pre-
sided. The report was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN said the hopes
_indulged in from the
traffic of the first half of last year had not been realised in
the second half, in consequence of the paralysis of the trade in
cotton goods, so that from an increase of £5,000 or £6,000 per
week at the beginning this traffic fell off to a decline at the
end of last half-year; but, notwithstanding this unfavour-
able state of things, there had been received an increase of
£70,000 over the corresponding half-year of 1863, making
the aggregate a larger amount than had been attained in
any half-year. It was, in fact, £1,341,635 ; against
£1,031,631 in December, 1860, which was at that date the
largest amount the company's lines had over earned. The
intervention of the cotton famine reduced this total in De-
cember, 1861, to £982,000, with a dividend of 5 per cent. ;
in December, 1862, to £9o3,ooo,iwith a dividend of 31 per
cent. ; in December, 1863, to £971,000, with a dividend of
41 per cent., and it had now risen to £1,041,000, with a
dividend of 6 per cent. To earn the increase of £lO,OOO
over the same half of 1860, their trains had carried
1,299,816 more passengers and 414,977 more tons of mer-
chandise. Had not steps been taken to enlarge stations and
increase the working stock they could not have had such a
traffic nor such an increase of dividend, and it was evident
that if they were to go on increasing their traffic and divi-
dend there must be a further supply of rolling stock and
further enlargement of stations. Acting upon this convic-
tion the directors asked for £75,000 towards enlarging sta-
tions in the coming half year, and of £50,000 for engines,
carriages, and waggons. The increase of working expenses
was £17,095 for earning an increased revenue of £70,100,
or 251- per cent. There was cause for congratulation that
the antagonistic schemes coming before Parliament this
year were not very numerous nor of very great importance.
Some of these would have to be opposed, and others
watched, with a view of rendering them as little objec-
tionable as possible. With reference to the applications of
this company, it was the wish of the directors to have had
as few as possible. If they had been let alone they would
have been content with the existing lines, and to have
done their best to serve the interests of the various dis-
tricts through which the lines pass. The Doncaster and
Wakefield, the York and Doncaster, the Hull and Don-
caster, the Blackburn and Chorley, and other lines, applied
for or threatened with a view of denuding this company's
lines of their traffic, had rendered it necessary for the
directors again to introduce into Parliament bills for
lines of railway more or less important with the object of
preserving the traffic on the existing lines and of opening
additional sources. The most important application
was that for the Lancashire and Yorkshire and Great
Eastern Junction line, which had many advantages passing
through a level country, which would have the advantage
of the expensive and commodious stations of the Great
Eastern, without contributing a penny to their cost, and,
with the excellent passenger station which the Great Eastern
Company would shortly have in the metropolis, it could
not fail to have a satisfactory passenger traffic. For goods
traffic the Great Eastern had great advantages in London,
and for coal traffic their position was such as to insure
them the command of that portion which was intended for
the eastern part of London, where the chief of the manu-
factories, breweries, and gas works were situate ; and tak-
ing the small cost of the line into consideration, say £12,000
a mile, it was evident that a comparatively small traffic
would make a large return upon the cost. It might be
said that they would be provoking other companies to re-
taliate, but he appealed to the past to show that no consi-
deration for this company had ever prevented others from
invading their territories where it was to their interest.
The CHAIRMAN concluded by moving the adoption of the
report.

Mr. G. lirmsoN. seconded the motion, and after a few
words from Mr. Roberts, Mr. J. Fielden, and Mr. Lever (of
Manchester), who mostly spoke in approval of the policy of
the company, it was carried.

Resolutions were carried declaring a dividend on the capi-
tal stock at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum ; re-electing
Messrs. Wickham, Andus, Barnes, and Blacklock to the
board ; re-electing Mr. E. Harper one of the auditors ; and
(the meeting having been made special) authorising the
directors to borrow .C 57,000 on mortgage.