The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-28 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND.
The report of the directors states that the revenue
for the half-year ending the 31st January amounted,
to £48,850, and the expenditure to £18,643, the ia..
terest on loans to £11,028, and the balance of re-
venue to £19,178. From this was deducted £10,846
for dividend on the first 4i per cent. preference
shares, and £7,277 for dividend on the 5 per cent.
preference stock, leaving a balance of £1,055, to
which was added a balance of £2,761: from the
preceding half-yeas, making £3,816. From this
was deducted £1,889 for loss on working the Strath-
spey line, and £1,254 for interest to bankers, leav-
ing £673. Out of this was deducted £545 for
dividend at the rate of per cent. per annum on the
second 4i per cent. New shares B, leaving a balance
of £l2B. The directors deeply regretted the posi,
tion of matters, which necessitated not only a
temporary suspension of dividend on the original
shares, but that the B shares must also suffer in the
present half-year. The result was due to a dinfinit—
tion in the company's net receipts arising from the
opening of the Highland line, the withdrawal of the
through mails, the great disappointment in the
traffic of the Strathspey, Keith, and Dufftown, and
Morayshire railways, and the loss of interest on un-
productive capital invested by the company in those
lines, together amounting to nearly £15,000 for the
half-year. The high rate of interest recently
charged by the banks had further increased the
amount of net loss. The traffic derived by the mp.in
line from the branches south of Keith—namely, the
Formartin and Buchan, Alford Valley, Abctrdeen
and Turriff, Banff Extension, and Banffshire lines
—last year amounted to £29,654, while the interest
at 5 per cent. on the productive capital invested by
the company in them amounted to £8,273, leaving
a surplus of £21,381. The Strathspey, Keith, and
Dufftown, and Morayshire lines in the same period
yielded a traffic ;to the main line of only £7,000,
while the annual loss sustained by the company in
working those lines and interest of capital invested
in them amounted to double that sum. The exten,
sion of the Formartin and Buchan line to Fraser-.
burgh (16 miles) would be opened next month, and
yield a further revenue to the main line between
Dyce and Aberdeen. The capital account showed
that £1,708,670 had been expended, including
£599,689 subscribed to and expended on undertak.
ings, leaving a balance of £99,870.

. OTTOMAN (SMYRNA TO AIDIN).
The directors in their report mention the payment
of the guaranteed interest by the Imperial Ottoman
Government, due on Jan. 1, 1864, amounting to
£19,508. The accounts of the subsequent half-year
were now before the finance department in Con-
stantinople, and payment of the interest to that
period would, no doubt, be made very shortly. The
gross receiptS of the line for the half-year ending
Dec.3l, 1864, amounted to £13,749, against £9,651
in the previous six months, and £11,682 for the cor-
responding half of 1863 ; while the net profit in the
past half-year amounted to £1,776, against £172
for the corresponding period of the preceding year.
The directors were using every exertion to complete
the line to extend the traffic, and thereby to reduce
the workingexpenses. The works, though somewhat
impeded by the difficulty of procuring and retaining
in the country the necessary skilled labour for the
tunnelling, were now proceeding with increased
vigour, and assurance was given by the contractor
and engineer that the line might be ready for traffic
to Aidin by the spring of next year. The report of
Mr. E. Clark, the consulting engineer, stated that
during the past half-year the work on the new con-
tract for the completion of the line between Ephesus
and Aidin had regularly progressed throughout the
whole of the mountain pass, and was now in such a
forward state that, with the single exception of the
summit tunnel, he had no doubt as to being com-
pleted very early in 1866. With respect to the sum-
mit tunnel, the contractor had had to contend with
very considerable obstacles, arising partly from the
nature of the rock, and especially from the difficulty
of retaining the services of the necessary miners. As
large parties of skilled labourers had been sent out
from this country, the contractor expressed a very
confident hope that the tunnel itself would also be
finished in the spring of the year ; the contractor had
moreover determined, for the purpose of transport-
ing materials andiplant to the other side of the pass,
to construct a temporary tramway over the summit
tunnel, which would render the establishment of a
through communication between Smyrna and Aidin
by the spring of next year a certainty, The capital
account to Dec.3l showed that £1,084,479 had been
expended, leaving a balance of £150,617.