The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-17 00:00:00

LONDON AND BLAOKIVALL.

The half yearly meeting of this company was held
on Tuesday at the London Tavern ; Mr. J. N.
Daniell in the chair.

Mr. J. F. Kennel, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting, the report, an abstract
of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said that the progressive condition of the affairs'
of the company was, he trusted, as satisfactory to
the shareholders as it was to the directors. The pro-
gress of the goods traffic had been greater than that
of the passenger traffic. Since he joined the company
the directors had had great difficulties to encounter ,
in their endeavour to open their line to the traffic of
other companies. In those endeavours they were
met with objections on every side, and at length
they had gradually come to a position which must be
satisfactory to all the shareholders, and they were on
the eve of being allied to a large company. In look-
ing over their financial features the most important.
were in the accommodation they had afforded for
-warehouses, sidings, and the goods traffic of other
companies on their railway. This was not the case
at all with respect to the passenger traffic, which had
not shown much increase. They had now certain
plant on the railway for which they would receive
the interest of the money expended, so that for pas-
senger traffic nearly everythinc, that came to them
ought to be profit. It would be the interest of the
leasing company to throw all the additional traffic
they could on the line, with a view to make the pro-
perty more valuable than it was at present. The
accounts were so clear that he thought they did not
require explanation from him, although he was ready
to give any information in his power. The working
expenses were about 33 per cent. of the receipts, and
he did not know that there was any other point to
mention.
Mr. MacNaonTEN seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report.
Mr. JEGGINS said he was glad to find that the ex-
penditure in working the line had been so little in-
creased, and he thought, therefore, some credit was
due to the present manager for that result. Unless
there was some peculiar reason for carrying over so
large a balance as £2,498, he would move that the
dividend be at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum,
instead of 3; per cent. per annum for the past half-
year.

The CHAIRMAN said that no one would be more
ready to receive 4 per cent., instead of 3:t percent.,
than the directors ; but the object of proposing the
latter arose entirely from prudential motives. On
the 31st of December next they would be called
upon to hand over the undertaking, to the Great
Eastern Company, and it would be necessary to
square up the debenture account ; and, in doing so,
they would have to pay about £5,000 at the end of
the year for interest, as it were, in arrear, which
arose from some of the interest on debentures falling

due in April and October, instead of on the Ist of
January and Ist of July, to which dates the half-
yearly accounts were made up. They tfcught it
therefore better to carry over the present balance
than to declare a larger dividend than was proposed,
especially as a similar sum would have to be taken
out of the profits of the current half-year to make
up the difference.

The Secretary, in reply to a question, stated that
the year's interest on loans was about £20,000, and
that the arrear mentioned had existed since 1842,
but that in every succeeding year the full year's in-
terest had been paid out of revenue.
The report was adopted ; a dividend at the rate
of 4 per cent. per annum was declared on the
preference shares, and at the rate of 34 per cent.
per annum on the ordinary shares for the past half-
year, payable on the 16th inst.

The meeting was then made special, to consider
the propriety of sanctioning the lease of the under-
taking to the Great Eastern Company.
Mr. TYREMAN, the solicitor to the company, read
the principal portions of the lease, and explained
nearly the whole of it to various shareholders. The
object was to lease the London and Blackwell Rail-
way to the Great Eastern Railway Company for
999 years at a rental equivalent to 4i per cent. on
the ordinary capital of the company ; the lessees
taking on themselves all the liabilities, and guaran-
teeing 41 per cent. on the nominal capital of the
London and Blackwell and Millwall Extension
Railway, which was sanctioned in the last session of
Parliament. The first half-year's rent would be
due on the Ist of July, 1866, and from which there
could be no deduction except for income-tax or
property-tax. _ _ _

Alter some discussion, in which Mr. J. M. Par-
sons, Mr. Jeggins, Mr. G. Smith, Mr. Whetham,
and Mr. J. R. Frewer took part, the resolution ap-
proving the lease of the line and property to the
Great Eastern Company and authorising the seal of
the company to be affixed thereto, was carried.
After a recommendation from the meeting that the
present auditors be continued in office during the
construction of the extension lines, the proceedings
concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman
and directors, and to Mr. Tyreman, the solicitor,
for their attention to the interests of the company.