The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-25 00:00:00

SOUTH WALES RAIL WAY.

The fourth half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of this
company was held yesterday, at the Great Western Railway
Station ; C. Russet, Esq,, M.P., in the chair.
The advertisement convening the present meeting, and the
minutes of the last meeting, having been read by the Secre-
tarYT.LCH.esaseaoesaid that since their last meeting the subject
pthroaptetrhetointtearkeeststl
of the greatest importance which had occupied the attention
of the direetors,vras the arrangement made between the South-
Wales Railway and the Great Western Company. He had
not thought it right to take any part in that discussion, nor
be sufficiently and amply guarded by those to whom the
mhaedetihneg,
negotiations were confided. Those negotiations had been
now satisfactorily. completed upon the terms which they
would find stated in the report. It had also been decided
thbunntghhetfeitlt
by
the Great Western Company, that an application
should
be made to Parliament to enable an interest of
5 per cent. to be paid upon the paid-up capital
for five years, and the agreement at the end of those five
years would secure to them half of the surplus profits in addi-
tion to that interest. There was also a clause in the Bill
which prohibited the payment of interest to shareholders
whose calls were in arrear, and that clause had been found so
harsh, that with the consent of the Great Western Company,
the authority of Parliament would be sought in order to re-
move it. It was proposed, also, to render assistance to many
of the Irish lines, from which their own railway would draw
a very considerable amount of traffic, by taking some of
their shares; but it would not be necessary to hold those
shares longer than the temporary pressure required for its
abatement. The report of Mr. Brunel was very favourable
and it stated that a very considerable portion of their line
was completed, and the remainder would be finished and
open for public traffic in the course of two years.
A considerable portion of the line was already
let out in contracts., and would speedily be in a situation to'
be counted as forming a portion of completed lines. He was
not aware that there were any other circumstances neces-
sary to place under their attention, and as soon as the report
was read by the secretary, he would move its adoption.
The SECHETA itY then read-the report, from which it ap-
peared that the terms of the lease of the South esWa I
Rail-
way to the Great Western Company were as follow :
"The proprietors of the South Wales Railway to receive
interest at five per cent. per annum on all paid calls, and also
upon sums advanced in anticipation of calls. Such interest
to be charged in the cost of construction until the line is
completed.
"After that period the Great Western Company to pay in
perpetuity a minimum interest at the rate of live per cent.
per annum upon the share capital expended, besides defray-
ing all the current interest on loans taken up, not exceeding
the sums mentioned above.
"The lease to commence when the line from Gloucester to
Fishguard and the Newport and Monmouth line shall be
finished, provided (as respects the latter) the Great Western
Company shall also complete their line from Gloucester to
Monmouth by the same time, but not otherwise.
"One moiety of the surplus profits at the end of five years
after the lease commences, is to be divided among the South
Wales shareholders in addition to the guaranteed interest.
" Any partial opening to be worked by the Great Western
Company, and the proceeds applied to the interest charged on
South Wales capital.
"Arrangements for new lines to be purchased or leased, to
be made subject to the consent of the Great Western Com-
pany, and separately provided for."
The report also stated that
" Under the terms of the above agreement, it had become
necessary to consider, in conjunction with the Great Western
Company, how far it would be attended with advantage to
their mutual interests that some assistance should be given
to carry out the undertakings sanctioned by Parliament in
the last session, by contributing to the Vale of Leath, the
Llynvi Valley, the Tenby and Saundersfoot, the Cork and
Waterford, and the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and
Dublin Railways.
"All those measures were of importance to the traffic of
the South Wales Railway, and it had been considered by-
both companies most desirable to support them by taking a
limited number of shares, and holding them so long as might
be necessary to secure the accomplishment of their objects,
and the guaranteed rateof interest by the Great Western Come
pany would consequently extend over any sum which might be
found necessary for those shares, or for any difference when
they were disposed of, over and above the cost of construct-
ing the South Wales Railway, as provided for in the original
agreement sanctioned by the recent extraordinary meeting.
"The purchase of a portion of line in the Swansea Vailey
partially constructed had been also agreed for, with a view to
make an extension of it, as a valuable feeder, to bring the
mineral traffic from that district to the South Wales line.
The owners of the Swansea Valley line were to receive the
suns of 70,000/. in a certain number of South Wales shares.
to be created for that purpose, if Parliament should sanction
the undertaking as a portion of the South Wales line; and
the shares so to be created for, and to be taken by, the
owners of the Swansea Valley line, would, when all the calls
should have been made on them, be adequate to pay, not
only the agreed purchase money, but to defray the addi-
tional cost of the portion of the line which was proposed in
extension of it to the other works up the same valley, viz.,
to the Ystalyfera and Yniscedwyn works, and a short branch
to,loin the Cumtwreh Railway."
fhe receipts of the eampany up to the 31st of December,
1846, were 301,503/. 18s. Od., and the payments up to the
same period, 277,659/, 7e. 3d., leaving a balance or
23,8441. 11 s. 6d.
The report was then received.
The retiring directors on this occasion were—D. A Saun-
ders Davies, Esq. M.P., David Lewis. Esq., David Morris,
Esq. M.P., John H. Vivian, Esq. M.P., but they were re-
elected without opposition.
B. Dobree, Esq. retired from the auditorship, but was re-
elected.

After some further conversation, a vote of thanks having
been given to the Chairman, the meeting separated.

THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RAIL-

WAYS.

The usual half-yearly general meetinc, of the proprietors
of the Buckinghamshire Railways (Oxford and Bletchley,
and Buckingham and Brackley Junction Compa ies) was
held yesterday afternoon, at the Euston-square Station of
the London and North-Western Railway ; Sir Hurry Ver-
ney, chairman of the board of directors, in the chair.
The report stated that the directors had to announce that
they had let their works of both the Oxford and Bletchley
and Buckingham and Brackley lines on satisfactory terms to
Mr. Brassey. The shares of the company, on which 2/. 2s.
had been paid, had, is consequence of the proceedings
in Parliament last year, necessarily been reduced in registra-
tion in the proportion of 1 to 2 each registered share.
After such reduction was credited with 41. 45., as paid, and
including the 2/. call received on the Ist of March, 61. 4s.
per share would thus have been paid on each share of 171.
103. each. The directors had determined to confine their
southern extension to a line from Claydon to Aylesbury (a
distance of ten miles). It was also proposed to extend the
lino northwards from Brackley to Banbury. A Bill had been
introduced into Parliament for power to construct the ex •
tension lines, and in this Bill would be comprised powers to
consolidate the two companies into one. The total receipts
up to the present time amounted to 169,3591. 125., and the
expenditure to 35.544/. 4s. 6(1.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, the report was adopted.
and the retiring directors and auditors re-elected. A resolu-
tion was then passed, placing 3001. at the disposal of the di-
rectors for providing moral and religious instruction for the
men engaged upon the works. This closed the business of
the half-yearly meeting.