The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-21 00:00:00

(Hear, hear.) He was not an advocate for sus- toriously an expensive half-year. The cost of one
pense accounts, he disliked them, but he believed item of expense alone had amounted to £13,000 odd.
the one they had just got rid of was absolutely The rise in price of coke and coal for locomotiveuse
necessary at the time it was created to meet the had caused an increased expenditure of £9,000, and
cost of extra works, and to enable the directors to there was an increased cost of £4,000 for the addi-
pay the shareholders their dividends. They had tional mileage run. The increase in the revenue
continued to reduce its amount, and had now not had arisen notwithstanding an important reduction
only wiped it off, but gave the proprietors the same in first-class fares which was made last year, and
dividend as at the corresponding period of 1864. notwithstanding a very slack trade in the iron dis-
He hoped they would never again require such an trict. The minerals on the whole showed an increase
account, but that they would in each future half- of £11,372. There was a diminution in certain
year be able to pay out of revenue all charges for branches of the mineraltrade, which had been coun-
the renewal and maintenance of the permanent way. terbalanced by other branches. The receipts of the
Mr. Johnson, their engineer, had not only repaired coal traffic in the half-year would have amounted to
the permanent way, but had likewise relaid a portion £300,000 if it had not been for the falling off in the
of it with 357 tons of steel rails, and 1,833 tons of ironstone traffic and the coal for furnace purposes.
rails of 801 b to the yard, in substitution of rails Many of the leading railway companies had shown
which were only 751 b to the yard, all of which had a diminution of dividend, but this company hadbeen
been charged to revenue. (Hear.) With respect able to show an increase of dividend. At the same
to Mr. Sturrock's department the expenses were time, he would remark that the shareholders must
very heavy, but when they cook into account the not expect a rapid increase of dividend. Thepolicy
great increase in the number of trains run, and the of the company was the safest, and the only policy
extra cost of coke and of various materials, they by which they could calculate on a permanent and
would be convinced that the increase in the expen- steadyimprovement in the value of their undertaking.
diture could not have been avoided. They had run They had spent large sums of money in self- defence,
308,122 train miles more during the past half-year and so long as the company was prosperous, and the
than during the same half of 1864, at an additional district progressive, so long would people be anxious
cost of £16,200. They had been obliged to hire en- to get into the district. They had made arrange-
gines and waggons to carry on the heavy traffic, ments with some of the leading companies, from
which had involved an expense of £5,741, and like- which they hoped all contests in the future would
wise to incur an additional cost for repairs, in con- be avoided. The whole amount expended on
sequence of having so small a stock of engines. new works since the amalgamation in 1864, was
There had been a diminution in the law and Par- nearly £7,000,000, which involved a serious amount
liamentary expenses, the rates and taxes were about of liability, but the result was highly satisfactory.
the same, but the amount paid for compensation He called their attention to the amount of dividend
was nearly. £5,000 less. As to the result of the last paid on £lOO Berwick, York, and Leeds stock, for
session of Parliament, he could not but congratulate the first 5 years of the amalgamation, and the
them with having passed through that ordeal in a amount paid in the second 5i years. On the Ber-
most satisfactory manner. It proved that they wick stock there were paid in the former period £24
did not apply to Parliament for useless and un- 12s. 6d. ; York, £lB 10. ; and Leeds, £6105., mak-
necessary bills ; and that bills promoted by ing a total of £49 12s. 6d. In the second period
other companies required insertion of clauses the amounts paid were, on the Berwick stock, £2B
to protect the interests of the Great Northern £l3s ; York, £24 12s. 6d. ; Leeds, £15.115. 3d.,
Company. He then alluded to the advantages of making a total of £6B 16s. 9d. He would look at
the Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax and the West the matter in another point of view, and that was
Yorkshire amalgamation with the Great Northern the increase of capital. In July, 1854, the gross
Company ; they would in future be worked toge- value of the £lOO stock in each of the above com-
ther at much less expense than formerly. The ar- panies on the London Stock-Exchange was £l6l,
rangement with respect to the Cheshire lines ad- but in July, 1865, that value was £286, being an
nutted the Midland Railway Company to partici- increase of £125. (Applause.) He thought there
pate with the Great Northern and Manchester, were exclusive proofs that though they had been
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Companies in laying out a great deal of capital they had not laid
the ownership of those lines, each paying one-third out more than was in proportion to their means.
of the expenditure. In the Acts passed last Session During the next three years important reductions
for amalgamating the Caledonian and Scottish would be made in
_the fares, and that was a reason
Central, and the North British and Edinburgh and why they should not look for a great increase of
Glasgow Railway Companies they got clauses in- dividend.
serted which would protect the interests of the Great Mr. LEEMAN, M.P„ seconded the motion for the
Northern, and allow them to go northward, as far adoption of the report.
as Perth, by which they expected to secure a fair Some discussion then took place, and Captain
share of the Scotch traffic. The next important Trotter observed that they had reason to be thank-
bill in the last Session, and which considerably ful to the board of directors for the general policy
affected the Great Northern interests, was promoted they had pursued.
jointly by the Great Eastern and Lancashire and The report was adopted, and the dividends re-
Yorkshire Railway Companies for a parallel line to commended by the directors were agreed to.
the Yorkshire coal fields. The Great Northern di- The meeting was then made special, and
rectors used every endeavour to reconcile the Great authority given to subscribe £175,000 towards the
Eastern Board and to induce them to come to a fair construction of the Hawes and Melberry Railway,
arrangement before the second reading of the bill, and £lO,OOO towards the construction of the Hex-
but all their efforts were in vain. Finding that to ham and Allendale Railway.
be the case, they determined to oppose the second The meeting then separated.
reading, and were successful in doing so. While --
on this point, he must say that he considered both
the public and the press took a very one-sided view
of the matter, and leading articles were written in
which they were spoken of as monopolists ; but the
writer forgot the river and the sea were open to all ;
that the Midland Company went to a coal field ;
that the London and North Western Company
went to a coal field ; and that the Great Northern
did the same. They forgot, too, who were the first
parties to open the coal trade of the metropolis.
(Hear.) These circumstances considered, he thought
it was rather hard that they should be called mono-
polists. The Great Northern, however, succeeded in
getting the bill to which he referred thrown out on
the second reading, and that was one of the most
beneficial things which could have happened to in-
duce the Great Eastern directors to come to a fair
arrangement with the Great Northern Company ;
and; accordingly, on leaving the house after the bill
was rejected, he said to some of the Great Eastern
directors whom he met in the lobby that he was as
ready then as he had been 24 hours before they sus-
tained their defeat to enter into an arrangement with
them_. 41-Tatir, boas_] I ria_nicinfinnild 4.4.
that he lost no time in his endeavour to bring about
a peaceful arrangement. He trusted, however, that
they had at last come to an arrangement which was
equitable for all parties, but which could not be kept
unless it was carried out on fair terms. They ontheir
part had consented to open the coal traffic to the
Great Eastern Company, so that he hoped they would
not hear anything more about their being monopo-
lists. The Great Eastern might run their coal
train at the same rates and prices as the Great
Northern, or they might lower them, just as they
pleased. This arrangement was, of course, subject
to the approval of the proprietors.
Colonel DUNCO3IBE seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report.

SOUTH-WESTERN.

The directors of this company are applying Mr.
IV. H. Preece's system of electric signals to the car-
riages generally on their lines, the working for seve-
ral months of experimental trains having given
highly satisfactory results. The following is a copy
of printed instructions which have just been issued
by the company :—" This train is fitted up with an
electric communication between passengers and
guards. In the event of something of a serious
nature occurring, which urgently requires the stop-
page of the train, the passenger may break the
glass,' and ring' by moving the bell-handle in the
direction denoted by the arrow. Thereby a bell
will ring in each guard's van in the train, and also
on the engine. When the guards and engineman
hear the bell ring they will at once look carefully
along each side of the train, and in case any violent
oscillation be seen, or a carriage be on fire, or other
occurrence of a serious character be observed, the
train will he stopped as speedily as possible, and,
when stopped, must be protected by signals as pre-
scribed by the rule book. Should, however, the
wards and ringinorrian fail tc, obaorvo ftnything
Witch really necessitates an immediate stoppage of
the train, their duty will be to stop the train at the
next station or junction, so as to protect the train,
when stopped, by the fixed signals. When the train
is stopped the passenger who broke the glass and
rang the bell will communicate with the guard, but
should he fail to do so, the guard will detect the
compartment from which the passenger gave the
alarm by looking for the broken glass, and in case
the alarm has been mischievously and wantonly
given, or from insufficient cause, the names and
addresses of all the passengers in that compartment
will be taken, in order that the law may be enforced.
Passengers are earnestly requested themselves to
protect the communication from improper and mis-
chievous use, as it is very important that it should
not be used without real and urgent necessity."

Mr. HuGHEs wished to know if the Great Northern,
like some other companies, had exceeded their bor-
rowing powers, and how much the law expenses had
been reduced.

Mr. GIESLER thought it would be difficult for them
to maintain their present dividend if they went on
increasing their capital at the present rate.
The CHAIRMAN, in reply to questions, stated that
the eompany had never exceeded their borrowing
powers, but, on the contrary, had constantly kept
within their borrowing powers. In fact, the direc-
tors would rather go their own bankers and borrow
money, if they wanted it, than deceive the public
by issuing a debenture for a single sixpence be-
yond the company's borrowing powers. (Hear.)
No doubt Mr. Hughes forgot the borrowing pow ers
of the East Lincolnshire which they had assumed.
The reduction in the law and Parliamentary charges
was £B,OOO as compared with the corresponding
half of last year. The whole amount of them was
£15,417. The Great Eastern would be at liberty
to carry coal at whatever price they wished, but the
price must be uniform, so much per mile over the
whole distance from the collieries to London.

TAFF VALE.
The report of the directors states that after placing
the usual sum of £750 to the credit of the deprecia-
tion fund, the directors were enabled to declare a
dividend at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum upon
the ordinary stock and the " C" shares, payable on
the 6th September, leaving a balance of £767. As
the new works occasioned the outlay of additional
capital, the directors considered that the time had
arrived for reissuing the £120,000 preferential stock
paid off in January, 1864. They proposed that it
should be issued as a perpetual preference stock,
bearing interest at 41 per cent. per annum, payable
half-yearly, on the Bth of January and Bth of July.
The Penarth dock was opened on the 10th of June
last. The two leases—one of the railway and har-
bour, and the other of the dock, had been settled
by counsel. The Cowbridge Railway was opened
for goods traffic in February last. The capital ac-
count showed that £1,590,819 had been expended.
The revenue account for the half-year showed that
£145,578 had been received, and £70,702 expended,
leaving a balance of £74,876.

The report was then unanimously adopted, and
the usual preference dividends of various denomina-
tions were declared, and also dividends on the ori-
ginal undivided stock at the rate of £2 15s. per cent.
for the half-year ; on the B stock at the rate of £3
per cent. for the half-year, towards 6 per cent. for
the year; on the A stock at the rate of £2 10s, per
cent. for the half-year, and at the rate of 51- per
cent. per annum on the proportion of new ordinary
stock entitled to dividend.
The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks
to the.ghairrnan and directors.

DUBLIN AND BELFAST JUNCTION.
The report of the directors states that the traffic
receipts duringthe past half-yearproduced £34,674,
against £33,330 for the corresponding half of 1864,
showing an increase of £1,344. The total income of
the company for the half-year amounted to £35,931,
the working expenses to £14,105, and the total ex-
penditure, including interest on loans and rent, to
£21,213, leaving as profit £14,718, being £2,468
more than for the corresponding half of 1864. The
1 disposable balance was £17,185, out of which the
directors recommended a dividend at the rate of 3i
per cent. per annum, less income tax, leaving £1,899.
During the half-year the directors concluded an
agreement with the Postmaster-General, under which
the company would receive £6,000 per annum for
mail services over the line during a period of five
years from the Ist of June last. The day mails were
now conveyed between Dublin and Belfast in four
hours. The expenditure on capital account was
£1,119,154.

NORTH-EASTERN.
The half-yearly meeting of this company wag
held at York on Friday, Mr. H. S. Thompson, the
chairman, presided.
The report was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN said it had frequently been his
duty
to move the adoption of half-yearly reports of
this company, but he never did so with greater
satisfaction than on the present occasion. The
great_ success of their Parliamentary measures had
pucaretn. such as to call for some special remarks on his
aonstyimwpaosrttahnt of the measurespromoted
by this
e NaNdi'netset.dioi
lairtttloepothoelmams
several
snitraotniogn.realsioenhsadwbhiefc
measure in giving them the cotntarolonirotofstthiemcl3:rrataunt
a
nication with all the north-eastern p
en-
able them to follow out that policy they hadso
as tl o w
ayB
advocated and pursued—viz., to put all the
ports
on an equal footing, and they had prevented that
port from being the nucleus of another company.
This amalgamation was supported by the traders and
merchants in the district almost unanimously. This
company, during the late session of Parliament, had
almost unexampled success in opposing measures
promoted by other companies which would have af-
fected the interests of the North-Eastern. In 1864
the revenue of the company had increased by more
than £300,000 over that of 1863. They had seen in
the past half-year an increase of £65,000 upon the
very extraordinary increase they had in 1864. This
had been realised in a half-year which had been no-