The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN.
The directors have this day resolved to recom-
mend to the proprietors, at the halt-yearly meeting,
to be held on Friday, the 22d inst,, a dividend at
the rate of 31- per cent. per annum, carrying for-
ward a balance of £4,080,

GREAT WESTERN.
It appears from the financial statement of this
company for the half-year ending the 30th of June
last that £13,755,495 had been received on shares,
and £11,102,982 on debentures, loans, 63:c., making
the total receipts on capital account £24,858,477.
The total expenditure on capital account in respect
of the various railways, works, and plant belonging
to the company amounted to £21,938,334, and in
subscriptions and disbursements for other under-
takings to £2,199,822,making together £24,138,156,
and leaving a balance of £720,321. The capital
account of the Shrewsbury lines now belonging to
the Great Western Company shows that £3,647,015
ha.l been expended upon them. The joint capital
account of the Great Western and West Midland
Companies shows a total outlay of £695,272. The
joint revenue of the Great Western and West Mid-
land Railways for the half-year ending the 30th of
June shows that £1,244,728 had been received, and
£618,405, or 49.68 per cent. expended in working
the traffic, &c. ; L 31,705 paid for rent-charges 11
branch railways, also £16,347 for interest on capi-
tal expenditure on joint account, and £88,250 for
fixed rent and allowances for plant, &c., of South
Wales Railway, leaving a balance of £541,202 for
division between the two companies. Of this the
Great Western receives 82-.1 per cent., or £446,492,
and the West Midland Company, 17f per cent., or
£94,710. From the £446,692 received by the
Great
Western they first deduct £2,500 towards and legal expenses, and
00
for doubtful debts, leaving £442,492. To this is
added £10,424 brought forward from the preceding
half-year; £12,000 a portion of baler:lces reserved.
from revenue account prior to June 30, 1861 ; and
£12,438 for dividends on shares in other companies,
making the total £477,354. From this sum is de--
ducted £20,189 for guaranteed annuities to Wilts,
Somerset, and Weymouth Railway, and Kennet
and Avon Canal; £20,666 for rent-charges of the
Gloucester and Dean Forest, the Hereford, Ross,
and Gloucester, Breatford Dock, Wycombe Rai:l-
- and trustees of Paddington Estate; £65,638
in respect of interest and dividends on the Shrews-
bury lines ; and, finally, £347,440 for interest on
loans and preference shares (exclusive of £12,799
charged in joint account), leaving a disposable sum
of £23,420—0ut of which it is proposed to pay a
dividend at the rate of a half per cent, per annum,
being for the half-year ending the 30th of June last,
£20,593 ; leaving a balance of £2,827. At the
corresponding period of 1861 the disposable sum
was £95,069; the rate of dividend 21, per cent. per
annum, being for the half-year £92,669, leaving a
balance of £2,400, showing a decrease in the dis-
posable sum of £71,649, and an increase in the
balance carried over of £427. This comparison is
not of much use, because the circumstances of the
Great Western are quite different now from what
they were at the corresponding period of 1861.
On the Ist of July, 1861, the Great Western and
West Midland commenced working together on joint
account, and at the end of the half-year, Dec. 31,
the total receipts were £1,212,201, and the portion
divisible between the two companies was £714,510,
of which the Great Western took 821 per cent., or
£589,471, and the West Midland 171 per cent., or
£125,039. The result was that the Great Western
Company had a disposable balance of £133,983,
out of which they declared a dividend at the rate of
3 per cent, per annum, which absorbed £123,559,
and left a balance of £10,424, with which they
commenced the past year. On the Ist of January
last the two companies jointly commenced to lease
and work the South Wales Railway, paying the
latter a minimum rent of £170,000 a-year, and also
certain allowances for plant and expenses. The
payment to the South -Wales Company under this
arrangement for the past half-year ending the 30th
of June amounted to £88,250. The first half of
the year being the least productive by £lO,OOO or
£12,000, the rent fell heavier on the receipts of the
past half-year than it will in the mat half-year.
'his, however, is but a small matter as compared
with the loss over the combined systems of the
three companies during the half-year from the
great depression of trade in the mineral and
manufacturing districts. The deficiency on the
Shrewsbury lines was increased from £12,142 to
£22,494, making a difference of £10,352 against
the Great Western, instead of, as formerly, showing
a reduced amount of deficiency payable every year.
It appears from the traffic returns of the Great
Western, 'West Midland, and South Wales Rail-
ways combined, during the first 22 weeks of the
past half-year, that there was a decrease of £3,488
as compared with the corresponding period of last
year, but during the four following weeks in June
the receipts were so increased by the operation of
the International Exhibition that an augmentation
of £20,100 was produced on the receipts of the 26
weeks as compared with the corresponding period
of 1861. Under ordinary circumstances it is pro-
bable that an increase of about £60,000 might have
taken place in th 3 receipts of those lines during the
past half-year ; at all events, the traffic receipts in
the current half-year are much more encouraging,
for they amount in the aggregate for the first five
weeks to £333,402 against £288,413 for the corre-
sponding period of last year, showing an increase of
£44,989, or about £5,000 per week.