The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-16 00:00:00

Great English and French Railways

THE GREAT NORTHERN.
. The next arterial English system which we have
to pass in review is the Great Northern, a steadily
extending and highly prosperous enterprise. The
Great Northern is one of the youngest of the great
systems of the British Empire, the company having
only been incorporated June 20, 1846. It was pro-
jected in the mania year 1845, and had to sustain
a !severe Parliamentary contest in that Session.
Notwithstanding all the exertions made by the pro-
moters, they only succeeded in getting their bill
through the House of Commons in 1845 ; but in
1846 they returned to the charge in the Lords, and
after further severe opposition their enterprise re-
ceived legislative sanction. It may be said, how-
ever, that more serious difficulties had then to be
encountered. Railways were in 1846, 1847, 1848,
and 1849 in decidedly bad odour as investments,
and it was found to be a most onerous matter to
raise the very large capital which the construction
of the line involved ; but the sustained perseverance
of Mr. Edmund Denison and his associates proved
invincible, and section by section the Great Northern
main line was carried to completion. When once
traffic was commenced upon it, it was soon found
that it was a thoroughly sound enterprise ; and, al-
though a certain shock was given to the undertaking
by the discovery of the shameful frauds of Leopold
Redpath in 1856, it may be truthfully affirmed that
the history of the company since 1850 has
1862,1863,
none
of progressive prosperity. The traffic in
and
1864 will be seen, from the annexed statement
of the rough receipts acquired, and the working
expenses incurred, to have steadily advanced during
that period
Year. Receipts. Expenses. Profits.
1862 .£1 524,771 ... £758,304 ... £766,467
1863 ...
1;594,169 802,987 ... 791,182
1864 ... 1,825,296 ... 919,798 ... 905,498
The past year was thus a highly prosperous twelve-
months for the company, and in the current year
the traffic has made a considerable further progress.
It is right to observe that the figures given above
embrace as part and parcel of the Great Northern
system the following affiliated lines, some of which
have lost their individuality by amalgamation with
the present undertaking :—The East Lincolnshire,
the Nottingham and Grantham, the Leeds, Brad-
ford, and Halifax Junction, the Boston, Sleaford,
and Midland Counties, the West Yorkshire, the
Horncastle, the Stamford and Essendine (whichhas
this year cut itself adrift), the Norwich and Spalding,
the Bourn and Essendine, and the Ramsey. At the
close of 1864 the total amount of capital raised by
the Great Northern proper was £13,971,806, of
which £5,808,204 was ordinary stock (£2,478,188
original stock, £1,159,275 A stock, £1,159,275 B
stock, and £1,011,466 new ordinary stock, 1864) ;
£4,673,262 preference stock (11,294,225.5 percent.
perpetual preference stock, 1849-50 ; £745,284 5 per
cent. preference stock, 1851, redeemable at 10 per
cent. premium ; £804,722 41 per cent. preference
stock, 1852-3, redeemable at 10 per cent. premium ;
£996,850 5 per cent. preference stock, 1854-5, re-
deemable at 5 per cent. premium ; £359,781 5 per
cent. irredeemable preference stock, 186 r ; £30,000
41 per cent. perpetual preference stock ; 1861,
£218,400 Hertford, Luton, and Dunstable pre-
ference stock ; £200,000 Boston and Sleaford 4i
per cent. preference stock ; and £24,000 5 per
cent. Bourn and Essendine preference stock) ;
/2,723,289 4 per cent. debenture stock, 1853 ; and
£767,051 debenture loans. The progress made
in the issue of debenture stock will be seen in the
fact that at the close of 1862 the amount out-
standing was £2,323,769 ; at the close of 1863,
£2,598,513 ; and at the close of 1864, £2,723,289.
The debenture loans outstanding at the close of
1862 amounted to £1,092,640 ; at the close of 1863,
to £846,085 ; and at the close of 1864 to £767,051.
The excellence of Great Northern finance is seen in
the fact that £1,011,466 was received on new ordi-
nary stock in 1864, no less than £149,137 of this
amount being obtained in premiums. The rates of
interest on the debenture debt at the close of 1864
were as follows :—£15,600 at 5 percent., £140,250
at 41 per cent., £457,724 at 4f per cent., £100,817
at 4-per cent., and £52,660 at 31 per cent. To re-
capitulate the general results disclosed in this rather
long array of figures, we may observe that of the
£13,071,806 raised by the Great Northern at the
close of 1864, £5,808,204, or 41.57 per cent. of the I
-whole, was ordinary stock; £4,673,262, or 33.44
per cent. of the whole,, preference stock ; and
£3,490,340, or 24.99 per cent. of the whole, deben-
ture stock and debenture loans. The ordinary stock
thus bears a large proportion to the whole amount
of capital raised, although the company does not
stand in this respect so well as the Lancashire and
Yorkshire or the London and North-Western.
Ilitherto we have confined our analysis to the close
of 1864, but if we bring it down a little later—viz.,
to the 30th of June, 1865—we find that the company
had at that date raised £14,362,607. Of the
£390,801 raised in the six months ending the 30th
of June, £254,493 was derived from new ordinary
stock, and £119,118 from debenture stock and de-
benture loans, leaving £17,190 raised by new pre-
ference stock. The directors thus appear to be suc-
cessfully pursuing a policy of steadily adding to the
ordinary stock. The capital amount of the Great
Northern proper, at the 30th of June, 1865, will
be seen to have been not far short of £14,500,000,
and as last session amalgamations were autho-
rised with the Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax
and the West Yorkshire—which had raised between
them 2.1,200,000—we may safely conclude that the
aggregate capital of what is known as the Great
North ernßailway is now very close upon £16,000,000,
while in 1816 the original promoters of the under-
taking set out with an intention to raise £8,000,000.
In 20 years the concern has thus assumed double its
first proportions ; but this is not a matter of any im-
portance, seeing that the net profits this year bid
fair to range between £950,000 and £1,000,000, or
sufficient to yield 6 per cent. upon every shilling
embarked by the share and debenture holders. So
excellent has been the management of the Great
Northern that the ordinary shareholders have not,
in nautical phraseology, " gone by the board," as
has
often been the case in other companies, but they
have participated fairly and steadily in the growing
prosperity of the undertaking. Thus, in 1858, they
received £4lss. upon every 1.10058
stock, for theyear;
in 1859, £5 3s. 9d. ; in 1860,
££6 10s. ; in 18638.£96 dlos.in; and in
1861,
£5 15s. ; in 1862,
1864, £7 2s. 6d.
Comparing 1864 with 1858, we
have thus an improvement in the dividend on' the
ordinary stock of £2 7s. 6d., or exactly 50 per cent.
in sii years. In the presence of such a fact it is not
surprising that the directors have found it an easy
matter to raise a large amount of ordinary stock at
a considerable premium. But it is obvious that this
result could never have been attained without a con-
stant increase in the receipts of the company, and we
may recal the fact that, while in 1864 the revenue ex-
ceeded £1,800,000, in 1858 it amounted to only
£1,257,495. The amount of capital—shares and loans
combined—created at the close of 1858 was
£11,710,330, as compared with £13,971,805 at the
close of 1864, showing an increase of £2,261,475 in
six Years. While, therefore, the traffic increased 45
Per cent., comparing 1864 with 1858, the capital was
only increased to the extent of rathermore than 19 per
cent.
The working expenses of the system have
always been rather high, having been 55.73 per cent.
of the receipts inthesix
months ending June, 1858;
50.64 per cent. at o December,
ecember, 1858; 55.32 per cent.
at June, 1859 ;
per cent. at December, 1859;
55.08 per cent,
at June,ss pe
18r60 ; 51.67 per cent. at
December, 1860 ;
Icen6t at June, 1861 ;
47.84 per cent. at December,
8
at June, 1862 ; 49.57
per cent. at7l).7es2clem.4hoeprerlcBe6 at
n2t;
June
re cenlBt.64
54.72 per cent. at June, 1863 ; 4
December, 1863 ; 52-94 per cent. at
:pee
opfro1p8o5;
r
and 49.28 per cent. at December, 1864. If we
compare 1864 with 1858
wfeorfintlicie
thatwh
tion of workingexpenses
was 53.18 per cent., and for the whole of 1864
5111 per cent., showing a saving of 2.07 per cent.
in the latter year. Considering the facilities which
the Great Northern enjoys in respect of cheap sup_
plies of combustible, the proportion of working ex-
penses to receipts appears high. It may be observed,
however, that the system is relatively a small one,
while the amount expended at the charge of revenue
in the maintenance of way and the renewal of roll-
ing stock is commendably large.
If we go now into a few further details of the