The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-21 00:00:00

THE LONDON GENERAL OMNIBUS

COMPANY•

MEETING THIS DAY.
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of this company was
held this morning at the London Tavern.
The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN took a very sanguine view of the com-
pany, and congratulated the meeting on their financial con-
dition, and said he felt that although the dividend declared
was the largest they had yet declared, yet he felt that the
shareholders might safely calculate upon receiving a mini-
mum dividend of 5 per cent. in perpetuity. Another source
of congratulation was, that the directors had closed
the capital account—(hear, hear)—that they had extin-
guished their loan debt—(hear, hear)—and he might also
say that they had benefited by the reduction and abolition
of tolls, and, in fact, the general management of the com-
pany had been of the most favourable description. They
had still their old grievance with the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, but they hoped to be able to bring him to rea-
son and justice: They had sent in 209 petitions against the
duty on stage carriages, which he hoped would have some
effect. The earnings of each omnibus was 11 d. per mile,
out of which the Chancellor of the Exchequer put his
finger on ld., which amounted to no less than a tax of ss.
a day on every omnibus in work. This was levied with-
out respect to whether each omnibus worked at a profit or
loss. The railways only paid on their passenger traffic,
goods not being taken into account. Steamboats were
allowed to go altogether scot free. He hoped that some-
thing would shortly be done to remedy this grievance.
, He concluded by moving the adoption of the report.

Mr. LIILHAM seconded the motion.
Mr. TOLLEMACHE hoped that as they had passed child-
hood they had done with "nursing." He thought it would
be a sound economy to improve the morals of the men, by
looking after their interests.
A SHAREHOLDER—YOU can't do impossibilities.
The resolution was carried unanimously and the divi-
dend formally declared.
A vote of thanks to the directors and secretary closed
the proceedings.

Rio de Janeiro City Improvement Company,

- 10.---

MEETING THIS DAY.

The third annual meeting of shareholders of this com-
pany was held to-day. Capt. Mangles occupied the chair,
and the report submitted for adoption stated that since the
last general meeting there been no interruption to the
successful operations of the company, that the works of the
third district (the first commenced) had been completed,
and that the labours of the contractors were being carried on
with so much energy in the two other districts as to justify
the confident expectation that the whole undertaking would
be completed within the stipulated period. The report of
the engineer-in-chief supplied all the necessary details of
information in respect to the number of houses drained,
the date on which the Imperial decree approving the works
completed in the third district was issued, and the amount
due to the company on account of those works. The
directors need only add that the mail had this day brought
the company a remittance of £11,721 lls. 10d. from the
Government in respect of the first payment due for houses
in which the system was in operation. It was with much
satisfaction the directors stated that his Imperial Majesty
and his Ministers had uniformly manifested a lively interest
in the operations of the company, and that their counte-
nance and protection had materially forwarded the progress
of the works.

British and South American Steam Navi-
gation Company.

MEETING THIS DAY.
At an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders
of this company, the report stated that in the present stage
of the company's affairs, the directors had considered it
desirable to call this meeting, in order that full information
as to the position and prospects of the company may be
afforded to the shareholders. The number of shares
already allotted was 18,580. The directors hoped that
through the instrumentality of their influential corres-
pondents in Chili, Peru, the Brazils, and the Plate, and
by means of the agent whom they propose to send to the
West Coast of South America, the remaining shares of the
first issue would be placed there. For the purpose of carry-
ing out the undertaking the directors had purchased the
S. S. Peruvian, of 2,245 tons and 300 horse power, the
Bolivian of 1,904 tons and 300 horse power, and the
Brazilian of 1,942 tons and 300 horse power, for a sum of
£160,000. These steamers were carefully surveyed
for the company before purchase by surveyors
appointed by the directors, and most favourably re-
ported upon, and having been chartered for the conveyance
of troops from Trieste to Mexico had performed their work
in a most satisfactory manner. The profit which had been
realised by this employment for the company was about
£12,000. The directors had also contracted for the build-
ing of three new steamers, one of which will be launched
in the autumn of the present year, at a price of £27 per ton,
and £5O per horse power. The financial arrangements of
the company for payment of these vessels had been so
made as to relieve the shareholders as far as possible from
immediate hea,vy.calls.