The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-14 00:00:00

Railway and other Companies.

CALEDONIAN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
in Glasgow, on Tuesday ; Lieutenant-Colonel Sal-
keld in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN congratulated the shareholders on
the increased receipts, which enabled the Board to
recommend a dividend for the past half-year at the
rate of 64/ per cent. on the ordinary stock, as com-
pared with 6i per cent. at this time last year. In-
terest had also been paid during the half-year out o f
revenue upon the unproductive capital invested in
new lines, the greater portion of which would very
soon become remunerative, for the Rutherglen and
Coatbridge branch was now on the point of being
opened for traffic. In addition to the dividend the
directors recommended tbat a bonus equal to 208.1
on each £lOO of ordinary stock be also paid, so that
the contingent fund, the savings from the resources
of many previous half-years, which had been
hoarded up with great care in order to meet any
unforeseen emergency might be divided among
shareholders of the Caledonian before their
funds became entirely merged with those of the
other companies with which they were now amal-
gamated. (Cheers.) The last Session of Parliament
bad for this company been the most important of
any that had happened since 1851 ; but the merits
of the various amalgamations and extensions for
which acts had been obtained having been already
considered at former meetings, it was not necessary
to dwell upon them at any length. No less than
five hitherto independent companies had now be-
come amalgamated with the Caledonian—viz., the
Scottish Central, the Dunblane, Doune, and Cal-
lander, the Crieff Junction, the Glasgow General
Terminus, and the Dumfries, Lochmaben, and
Lockerby Junction ; and he fully expected that all
those advantages which had been so often spoken of
as likely to result from these amalgamations would
in due time be fully realised. (Hear.) The most
important of the extensions for which acts had been
obtained was the Clelland and Mid-Calder line, the
works on which would be commenced immediately,
so that the line might be brought into profitable
operation with the least possible delay ; and the
other works, when once commenced, would be pressed
forward in such a way as that they might yield a
revenue upon the capital to be expended thereon at
the earliest possible date. He had read a report of
the speech which was delivered in Edinburgh a short
time ago by the chairman of the North British Rail-
way Company, in which Mr. Hodgson very justly
remarked that for the last 10 years the North British
Railway had been what people called an aggressive
company, but he was glad to find from that speech
that the North British was now prepared to assume
a peaceful deportment towards their neighbours,
provided their neighbours would live at peace with
them. This was the most gratifying piece of
railway intelligence which had reached him for
some time past, and if Mr. Hodgson be sincere
in the declaration he made he (the chairman)
did not think the North British Railway would
suffer from an interval of rest. The announce-
ment he had made ought to bring joy and glad-
ness to every railway shareholder in this part
of the kingdom ; for when a railway which, for the
last ten years, had been avowedly aggressive, was
now prepared to live at peace with its neighbours,
the directors and officers of other companies whose
time had hitherto been almost entirely occupied in
preparing and conducting a series of Parliamentary
struggles with this belligerent neighbour, might
now turn the whole of their attention to the im-
provement and economical working of their traffic
on their respective systems, and to the development
of the traffic of these districts the whole of his col-
leagues and himself are most desirous for a peace
policy not only with the North British, but with the
Glasgow and South-Western Railway. (Hear,
hear.) And if the Board of the latter company
should be influenced by motives of a similar nature,
he saw no reason why they should not endeavour to
emulate the good example recently set by the Great
Northern and Great Eastern, which companies have
for some years been at war, but which now, by
mutual concession, had become the best of friends.
(Cheers.) The Board was extremely anxious, if
possible, to concentrate the whole of the traffic of
this company in one station in the heart of Glas-
gow ; but in order to accomplish that many ob-
stacles must be overcome. In the first place, the
engineering difficulties were considerable. That,
however, had also been remitted to Mr. Blyth, Mr.
llawkshaw, and Mr. Graham ; and when their re-
port had been received by the Board, they would
take immediate action on the subject. The centre
of Glasgow was, he thought, the most desirable
place, in the event of the engineering difficulties not
being such as to defeat their object.
The report was then adopted, and on the motion
of the CHAIRMAN the board of directors was re-
elected.

Mr. J. JEFFREY then said—The time had now
come for fixing the remuneration of the directors,
and as so many companies had been added
to the original company the duties of the
Board must be largely increased. lie there-
fore moved that the remuneration of the Board of
Directors of this Company be 3,000 guineas.

A SHAREHOLDER—What is the present remune-
ration ?

Mr. JEFFREY—£I,IOO a year.
Mr. M'GAvIN said if the sum was £3,000 he
would cordially second the motion ; but if the meet-.
ing thought the payment should be in guineas he
did not object to second it ; and
The motion was agreed to.

This closed the business of the ordinary meeting.
The meeting was then made special to authorise
the directors to raise capital for the construction of
the Clenand and Mid-Calder Railway and branches.
The CHAIRMAN said they proposed to raise
£450,000 at a premium of £2l. This would give
each ordinary shareholder at least a premium of
£lO. The £2l premium would be set apart for the
payment of dividend on the new stock until the line
came into operation.

Resolutions authorising the raising of the addi-
tional capital were then agreed to.

'The CHAIRMAN, in reply to a Tiestion, stated
that they calculated the dividend on the Caledonian
stock would probably amount to 7 per cent. per
annum for the next three years.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

SAMBRE AND MEUSE.
The hall-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the offices, Moorgate-street ; Mr. G.
Shewa
rd, the president, in the chair
The
Secretary read e --eretary th report, '
which stated that
the directors had but little to communicate to the
shareholders on the prese occasion, except that the
payments on account of the company pany had been duly
made, and that they proposed to make the usual
dividend, payable on Oct. 2, ra tuvtaidedtea sufficient
number of shares required by
s be repre-
sented at the meeting to be held in
B
Sept. 25, to insure which they urged the on
the share-
holders to return the proxies duly signed at th
earliest moment. The capital account showed that
£1,121,057 had been expended. The revenue ac-
count showed a balance of £74 from the preceding
account, to which was added £20,700 guaranteed
by the Great Central of Belgium Company, £229
dividend on 1,143 shares, and £16,897 interest and
exchange account, making £37,900. Out of this
was deducted interest on loans and preference
shares, rents, taxes, and other expenses, leaving a
balance of £22,998. The loan redemption account
showed a total of £655,600 in loans and debentures,
of which 298 bonds were redeemed by drawings to
the 22d of March last, amounting to £11,920, leav-
ing a balance of £343,680.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said the business was merely to approve the
dividend and elect the retiring directors. Nothing
could take place to alter their position until that
time twelvemonths. There could be no action taken
until after the end of 1865, the rent could not be
less than it was at present, but might be more in
future years. He would not indulge in prognosti-
cations as to the future, because every shareholder
could form his own opinion on the subject.
Mr. AUSTIN seconded the motion for the adoption
of the report.
Major-General STUDD said, it appeared to him