The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-19 00:00:00

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN.

The half-yearly general meeting of the shareholders of
this company was held yesterday, at 12 o'clock, in the
large room at the station—Major-General Anson, M.P.,
was in the chair.

After the usual preliminaries,
. The CHAIRMAN said, before proceeding to read the re-
port, it had been usual for the chairman to address some
observations to the proprietors on the general state of
their affairs ; and if it had hitherto been advisable to
adopt that course for the purpose of placing the proprie-
tors in possession of information which might be pecu-
liarly interesting to them, he thought it was particularly
necessary at the present time, when this company had •
arrived at a magnitude which was never contemplated
by its original projectors, or even by those who succeeded
them ; and when, moreover, it sought for powers to be
enlarged by means of amalgamations with other coin=
panics, to an extent which must increase its importance
both as regarded the interests of the proprietors and
those of the public ; for though the public were not
actual partakers in the property, they must be deeply
concerned at any time in arrangements which might
materially affect their comfort and convenience, and
at the same time affect the mode of conducting
the whole internal traffic of this great kingdom. (Cheers.)
They had been accustomed on former occasions to have
all the matters interesting to them so ably stated, and
so clearly explained, when explanation was necessary, by
his hon. friend the late chairman—(cheers)—that they
might well understand how deeply he felt the serious
responsibility which now devolved upon him, and he
trusted here he might be allowed to repeat those expres-
sions of regret which he ventured to offer at the last
special meeting, at the retirement of his hon. friend from
those duties, in the performance of which he succeeded in
fully attaining the confidence of the shareholders, and in
also acquiring a title to their general approbation, as
well as to the thanks of the country. (Cheers.) If he
followed his own impulse, he would say more on this
subject, but he believed it would be more gratifying to
the feelings of his hon. friend, and be infinitely preferred
by him if he proceeded at once to the business of the
o.ay, but before he did so, he must say that he would
"leave his hon. friend in the hands of the meeting, be-
cause he felt assured that before they separated to-day
they would bestow on him such an acknowledg-
ment of their regard, and of the recollection of the
services to which he had devoted himself for a
great many years on behalf of the company, as would
far exceed anything he (the Chairman) could say.
. (Cheers.) There were also other reasons why, in ad-
verting to the different topics in the report, he should
have, himself, to claim the patience and forbearance of
the proprietors. Everything connected with the company
was of such importance and interest, that whether as
regarded its past progress, its present position, or
future prospects, it was extremely difficult to select
any particular topic on which to call particular atten-
tion; but in the first place he would advert shortly to
the statement of accounts which had been placed ix their
hands. The most foremost item was the capital stock of
the company. In this there was a considerable increase
since the last half-year. The final call,"which amounted
to 500,0001., was paid up in July last, and the whole con-
solidated stock was now 4,200,000/. The interest payable
on the amount called up in July made an additional
charge to the revenue to this half-year of 21,000/. With
respect to the capital account, the increase was f very
small, being only 87,0001. It was satisfactory to find
that the charges under this head had been gradually di-
minishing during the.last four or five years. There was
an increase upon the debenture debt, the amount being
3,292,6561. That might appear a largetsum, even taking
into account their large powers of borrowing ; but the
greater portion of the money was raised for subsidiary
. lines, and if they desired tol realise their property and
apply it to this debt, they could reduce the amount con-
siderably. Taking the full market value of the shares
o'n the lines to which these debentures referred, it would
'be found that if the property were realised, there
would hardly be a difference of 300,000/. against
them, which, in a company with such a great
capital as this, was not a matter of much consideration.
(Rear.) By paying off those debentures on which the
average interest was now 3/. 195., and by getting money
at a half less per cent., they might effect a saving of
25,0001., or thereabouts. On the whole, therefore, the
debenture account was in a very satisfactory position,
and, he ventured to say, it would bear comparison with
that of any other company. The number of miles
worked last half-year was 903,000, as against 866,000 of
the previous half-year. The amount charged to capital
in the last 6 months of 1852 for their stock, was the
same as the corresponding period of 1851, notwithstand-
ing they were enabled to add to their stock 21 engines,
20 carriages, and 186 waggons. He now came to the
revenue account, and he would first take the receipts.
The total receipts from the traffic on their line during
the half-year was 1,309,797/. It would be unfair to
make a comparison between that account and the re-
ceipts during the Exhibition year, but it was at least sa-
tisfactory that wherever the extraordinary results of that
year were not particularly felt the traffic had maintained
itself extremely well, although competition opened upon
them at several points, and absorbed a portion of what
they had formerly possessed. The receipts from mer-
chandise had increased by 65,0001., and that was
attained without any increase in the working charges.
The receipts from other sources were rather greater than
before. The North Union Railway, for instance, showed
a gain this half year of 9831.. versus a loss of about 8001.,
(luring the last. The total receipts were, under all
heads, 1,366,0001. On looking to the other side of the
account—the expenditure—the first item to be seen was
for the maintenance of way. This showed an increase,
which was owing to the floods, which had committed
serious injuries on various portions of the railway, but
chiefly on the Peterborough and Trent Valley lines,
which had alone cost 4,0001. for repairs. On this sub-
ject there had existed a great deal of misapprehension ;
and he had heard it stated that their losses in this re-
spect were between 50,0001. and 100,000/. He had,
however, the authority of the persons who superintended
the maintenance of way for saying that as far as the
North-Western Railway was concerned, the cost would
probably not be more than 15,0001. (Hear, hear.) He
believed he was also justified in stating that there was a
diminution of 25,0001. in the working expenses. The
next was a very awkward item, and one which he deeply
'deplored—namely, 9,0001. compensation for accidents
and losses. About 6,0001. of that was for damage sus-
tained by the goods traffic, and about 2,0001. for the fire
jat Coventry. What, therefore, remained for personal in-
urys not large. He would take that opportunity of
:w refuting the charge made by the public newspapers,
that directors evinced an entire indifference for the lives
of persons who travelled along their railways. They re-
gretted most deeply all catastrophes which endangered
life or limb, and they had adopted every possible precau-
tion to avoid accidents, and among other things had ap-
pointed a committee of their own body to inquire into
the-many inventions which were brought under their no-
tice for obtaining some communication between the
guard and engineer ; but though
many were very pretty
ingenious toys and contrivances, none were found to be
of any practical use. He could not himself see why di-
rectors of railways should be held more responsible for
accidents than the' managers of coal mines, in which a
much greater loss of life took place, though' they admit-
ted of more certain remedies against accidents than rail-
ways. An express train travelled with such velocity, that it
was almost impossible not to fear that something would
happen before it got to the end of its journey. The
legitimate law expenses only amounted to 4,8421., but
there was a formidable charge of 24,3621. for the ex-
penses of proceedings in Parliament. He thought the
shareholders would agree that the course of policy which
had led to this outlay was justifiable, and could not be
avoided. (Hear.) When competition threatened them
on every side, and wished to make use of their lines and
stations, with the avowed object of abstracting their
traffic, it was surely not s: time to remain inactive.
(Hear.) They were not the aggressors, but merely
actiJd on the defensive, in order to protect their own pro-
Perty. (Hear, hear.) Though the directors were not
t.ble to give the sahie amount of dividend as on the
last occasion, he confidently trusted that increased receipts
would put them in a position to do so at the ensuing
meeting in July. That the dividend was not more satis-
factory. this half-year might be attributed to the want of
Inper o legislation with respect to railways, rather
t any mismanagement on the part of the directors.
N"-"r. He thought the best system the Legislature
could) adopt was
Company,
and
not
ttot allot a certain district to a railway
fere with it. (Hear,
00aarllowh any other company to inter-
this would be mono'poly,earb)ut iSfomeParliament
think
d
ass some measure of that kind would
anies would be- willing to be placed railwayde cogein-
w euxenreireeda
by
yrther
and more efficient. control than was no•
Government. In. allusion to the committee of the House