The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-26 00:00:00

CALCUTTA AND SOUTH-EASTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the office, Gresham-house, Old Broad-
street—Mr. J. Borradaile in the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
Ike Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in. moving the adoption of the
report, said they had still to deal in hopes for the
future that their accounts would improve. The
great movement that had taken place in Calcutta
respecting the establishment of the Port Canning
Railway was of considerable importance to the. rail-
way, and would no doubt prove a most powerful
auxiliary to their undertaking. All the works done
at Port Canning by the new company would be of
immediate advantage to the railway. The ships at
that port were about as many as they could attend
to at present, but for the increased traffic they
might soon expect their rolling stock to be totally
inadequate. They had suffered from deficient sta-
tion accommodation, but now it appeared the Go-
vernment were ready to allow the company to pro-
vide the requisite accommodation. There was no
doubt that it would be necessary to double the line
from Calcutta to the Mutlah. On the shareholders
giving authority they would have to raise money
for that and other purposes, but nothing could be
done in that way without the Government guarantee.
He had two resolutions to submit after the adoption
of the report, one was to authorise the directors to
raise whatever sum might be necessary for the pur-
poses of the company under the sanction of the Se-
cretary of State for India ; and the other was to
enable them to reduce the quorum necessary to con-
stitute a meeting of the company. There was now
a certainty of having a bridge across the Hooghly
at a point about five miles above Calcutta, uniting
the East Indian and Eastern Bengal Railways. That
project would not concern them so much as a bridge
across the Hooghly from the East India Railway at
Hourah to the company's terminus in Calcutta,
which, no doubt, would sooner or laterjn done. The
revenue of the company showed a deficiency after
deducting working expenses, but as the past half-
year had been a rainy and unhealthy time he hoped
it would be the last deficiency of that kind they
would have. At the request of some of the pro-
prietors Sunday trains had been run on their line,
and it was found that about the same amount as on
working days had been received, but being entirely
passenger traffic it involved less cost for working
than on other days.

Mr. MARSHAYI seconded the adoption for the re-
port.

Mr. T. ADAMS said the rolling stock of the line
had cost £59,600, and it was generally understood
in England that the cost of the rolling stock and the
amount of one year's traffic receipts on a railway
were about the same in amount, but that did not
appear to be the case in India.
The CHAIRMAN said the additional cost of send-
ing out the stock to India and other matters made
a difference. The Government had recently autho-
rised them to order 150 additional waggons for the
traffic. The report and balance-sheet were then
unanimously adopted, and Mr. J. C. Marshman and
Mr. Mitchell, the retiring directors, were re-elected;
and also Mr. Goodschap and Mr. Johnson, the re-
tiring auditors, with an allowance of £2O each for
auditing the accounts.

The meeting was then made special, and the direc-
tors were authorised to increase the nominal capital
of the company to such an extent as might be re-
quired, under the sanction of the Secretary of State
for India.. It was also agreed to alter one of the
articles of association, so that ten shareholders, re-
presenting £2,500 stockin the company, should at
future meetings form a quorum.
The CHAIRMAN stated that these resolutions would
require the confirmation of another meeting, which
would be held in about three weeks for the purpose,
and the proceedings terminated.