The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-28 00:00:00

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS D.U.
TIMES.—It will be seen by reference to an advertise-
ment elsewhere that the directors of the London and
North-Western Railway Company hare responded to at
urgent and general call, by a detailed statement of their
affairs. On the brief inspection which is all we haw
been able to give to this document, we beg to congratu
late the public on possessing at last a full, distinct, ant
intelligible account of the greatest railway company it
the world. We will add, that as far as we are able to
judge, the directors are likely to effect their object
which, we presume, is to assure the useful generation o'
monied men that the North-Western Railway is a safe
and improving investment. The cautious gentry vvhe
" have money
in their pockets against a rainy day," and
who, when the rainy day dues come at last, are too apt to
hold their pockets somewhat too tight, look at an
undertaking in several points of view before they sinl
their capital in it. Is it free from mystification, and
therefore secure from foul play, or considerable errors of
judgment in its conductors 1 Is it sufficiently insures
from a serious depreciation? Are its resources so elastic
and so founded on the national prosperity as to gross
with the growth of the State? But perhaps the question
to which the money-market attaches the most practical
value is the general competency of the undertakers to
their work—a matter which in itself admits only of s
conjectural estimate, but which depends much on th(
weight and frequency of the calls to be made on their
purses. The most profitable scheme in the world may
ruin its shareholders, if the majority of them are men of
straw, unable to meet the demands of even an economical
expenditure. Unless we mistake, the first point to
which all men of business will direct their attention in
this statement is the amount of the calls still likely to
be made, and of work likely to be done. On this point
they will receive unexpected satisfaction. The tabular
statement begins with the original trunk, and proceeds
thence to the fiuished, unfinished, guaranteed, and con-
templated lines. But when we pass to the explanations
below, it will be seen that the directors hasten to allay
the public impatience by inverting the order, and knock-
ing off in a lump all the lines, not yet commenced, in
the fourth table. Fifteen branches, for which
Acts have been passed authorising the directors
to raise, in stock, in shares, and by loans.
3,876,963/., are shelved at once, and evidently wil.
not be attempted without due warning, and without
also much better times. Now, shareholders are occa-
sionally told not to fret themselves on account of a
branch till it is really begun, as they will have an op-
portunity of voting against it at a general meeting. But
notwithstanding this assurance, these branches have
constituted an incubus on the mind of the public. Be-
sides that the mass of the shareholders are not the best
informed and the cleverest people in the world, and do
not always know whether a branch has been commenced
or not, there has been a general impression that the
directors could do just as they pleased, and that general
meetings were very much matters of course. There
was hardly a conjecture as to what branches would be
made, and what postponed ; and as late as last
July, the able and excellent secretary of this very
company could give no more explicit information than
that several, for which the company had powers, would
not be made. Now, it is true there is no express under-
taking in the terms of the present statement, nor, indeed,
can there be, as the directors cannot answer for their
own continuance in office; but the world at large, led as
they are by appearances, will be very glad to see these
fifteen branches put under one category, as lines which
it is not intended to proceed with at present. Proceed-
ing, or rather going back through the tabular statement,
the directors come to No. 3, which exhibits the subsi-
diary lines, in which the company are interested by sub-
scription, contribution, or guarantee. This looks, at
first sight, rather a heavy list, including lines amount-
ing to 641 miles. The total, however, remaining to be
paid is not more than 1,846,798/. The value of the nine-
teen undertakings in this table, or rather of the com-
pany's interest in them, depends upon detailed consider-
ations, which constitute the principal matter of the
remarks appended to the statement. The directors
wish to show either that the risk is little, or that it is
shared with another company, or that its payments
will depend on its own profits. The exposé certainly
does seem likely to alleviate apprehension. Responsi-
bility is a formidable word, and never more so than
when it assumes new and strange forms. In the
column stating the nature of the guarantee will
be found eight different arrangements made with
the shareholders of the subsidiary lines. The mere
sight of No. 3, which is a synopsis of nineteen important
agreements, shows how large a field there was for the
solicitude of those who had to pay calls, and knew little
of partnerships, except that they often comprehend a
knave and a fool. In this case it was generally believed
that the North-Western had too often suffered the Me-
zentian process of union with a dead and unprofitable
undertaking. Even if it were true to some extent, there
can bo no doubt there was great exaggeration. At any
rate the danger is now no longer obscure and indefinite.
People can see for themselves how far they are compro-
mised. On the branch lines and other works in course
of formation it is estimated that there only remains
to be paid 836,896 L Tho total expenditure to which
the company is committed, under all heads, is little
more than three millions, or a million a year, looking to
the probable termination of the works—a very consider-
able drain under ordinary circumstances, and only likely
to be severe in conjunction with many other similar de-
mands, and in times of pressure and distress. The di-
rectors certainly seem to make out their case. Their
weekly revenue on the average of the year ending with
last June was 42,1941. They estimate that when all their
branches and subsidiary lines are completed, and when
also the prosperity of the country shall have somewhat
revived, they will have a weekly average ;of
48,618/ , which will pay 7 per cent. Au increase
of 6,424/. does not seem too much to expect
from several hundred lines of now railway
profitable in themselves, and bringing traffic to the
original line. Drawbacks and contingencies there un-
doubtedly are, but they are taken into account by the
directors, who seem to have made a safe estimate, and
to be anxious to understate, rather than exaggerate, their
probable resources. There can be no mistake in as-
suming a certain regular increase of traffic from the in-
creasing rate of population and trade; and though in
half-a-doyen years there will be some serious competi-
tion in the field, the
will do much tocfiulilar territory of the North-
WesternPe r
up the gap. And now a
word for our own part in this muter for we have
been misrepresented. We have been Called enemies
a
of the railway interest,
we know not what besides.
How stands the fact? In
again at the In 1845 and 1846, and
beginning of last year, we did
our very best to limit railway speculation and
railway Acts within
_practicable bounds. We con-
tinually urged on the Legislature the duty of counting
the cost, and providing a rough but sufficient estimate
of how much the country could bear. We predicted
that the Bills actually
such passed would be found to exceed
the capital free forpurposes—especially if war,
famine, or other disaster should
result ? The greatest andintervene. What is the
strongest
in the world is obliged to throwyerailway
r for
the
present,compr
branches to the amount of 3,876,963/. how much
money has been lost in obtaining the Acts and driving
rivals from the field ? Looking to all the re-
sults, we have little doubt the North-Western
would gladly give 'half a million that our ad-
vice had been taken in time—at the beginning
of the session in 1846. But for the last twelvemonth or
more we have scarcely said a word about railways. It
was no longer of use. The Bills were passed, and the
lines were in progress, or at least at the mercy of di-
rectors. During the long decline of railway prices we
have let that simple fact tell its own tale, and have not
said a word that could add to the ruin or the bitterness
of the unfortunates who had invested their property in
this slippery material. About a fortnight since, in this
month of October, as proverbial for its commercial
bleakness as November for its physical gloom, shares
had been depreciated to a preposterous and absurd
extent.
We were well aware that the depre-
ciation was not' justified by the state of the
undertakings themselves. The sellers, however, had
it against them. It was notorious at the same time
that there were capitalists enough looking about for in-
vestments, and finding none to theta. mind. There was
no waut.of money, nor is there at this moment. It was
evident—and every well• informed person in London will
foasl
several
v enr not
tlu
manytr
com-
panies, bear us out in the belief—that the want of good railway
information aggravated the crisis, and discouraged
capitalists from. a field in. which hidcihreetthoerys
oc
their own judgments.
particularly the North-Western, had promised
information. .Nevertheless, none acillearedi; but the
Weekly Share List, published by the authority of the
Stock Exchange, volunteered some statements, which
showed at least industry, and some degree of care. As a
matter of news they were inserted in our City intelligence.
We took the opportunity of calling the attention of the
railway companies to the mystery which had contributed
ation of the shares, and their con-
so much to the depreci
sequent difficulties ; and at the same time invoked the
good sense of capitalists to discover rho real worth of the
property which they seemed so afraid of touching. So
far from adopting the statements of the Weekly Share
List, we expressed our distrust of them, We said," We
will not mention names, nor will we commit ourselves to
the statements of anxious and possibly suspicious scru-
tineers. But in declining this responsibility we only
mark our sense of the unfairness practised or permitted
against the public. That unfairness consists in the
continuance of a mystery and entanglement where there
need be none, and where there should bo noonday pub-
licity." Further on wo lamented the ruinous effects
of a needless panic—" Any extensive depreciation
of private property is sure to prove an universal
disaster; and even an exaggeration of its value will lead
to mischievous results. It is the former evil under which
*
we are now suffering."
" But what can the public do in the matter, and how can
they mitigate an evil by which the whole nation is more
or less affected? We reply that the public may inter-
fere to demand the utmost possible information on the
subject. If railway shares rose and fell in the market
simply according to the prospects of railway traffic, the
abundance of money, or other palpable considerations,
there might be no call for public interference. But con-
fessedly there is an almost inscrutable mystery upon the
financial state of our great railway companies. That
mystery excites alternately the wildest hopes and
the most frantic fears. At present it works in

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