The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-11 00:00:00

DEMERARA RAILWAY.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the share-
holders of the Demerara Railway Company took place
yesterday, pursuant to the Act of Incorporation, at
the London Tavern, for the purpose of receiving the
report of the directors, and for the transacting of the
general business of the cempany.
MICHAEL M'CimenT, Esq., the chairman of the
•ompany, took the chair at one o'clock, and the usual
routine business having been gone through,
The SECRETARY read the following report :
" The directors have to call upon the proprietary body,
assembled at this general meeting, for their most serious
consideration of the present position of this company.
"It will be seen by the annexed statement of ac-
counts, made up to the 30th ultimo, that while there
are existing and pressing liabilities to the extent of
36,301/. sa. 4d., the sum reoeived upon calls falls short
of the amount payable thereon by 35,3121 10a., and
that there are no immediate funds available to carry on
the works.
" Every exertion has been made by the directors to
collect the arrears. In addition to urgent appeals made
to those shareholders who, having been regular in their
earlier payments, have since neglected to meet their
calls, suits have been instituted against the defaulters of
the longest standing, while the shares of others, who,
it was ascertained, had not the means of paying, have
been subjected to forfeiture. Of this latter class 570
shares have been absolutely forfeited ; and with regard
to 790 other shares, on which notices of forfeiture have
been given, the directors still reserve to themselves the
option of proceeding at law.
" Of the suits which were instituted, several produced
the desired results, and in others judgments have been
recovered ; bat the directors have abstained from acting
on those judgments from the present inability of the
parties to meet them, and the hope that by indulgence
the money would be forthcoming.
" The directors, in their last report, apprized the
shareholders that they had been obliged, from a
deficiency of funds, to suspend, in a great measure,
active operations upon the works ; and a continu-
ance if that cause, arising from the nonpayment
of the calls, has so retarded the progress of the
line, that it has not yet advanced beyond Plaisance,
a distance of five miles from George Town. That point
has now, however, been reached, and instructions were
lately sent out to the engineer to work this section of
the line, if it could be advantageously accomplished.
The progress of all the other works has, of necessity,
been absolutely suspended, and the result of this day's
meeting must decide, whether the project is to be
abandoned, and a sacrifice made of all the capital
(126,6ea1. 1 Is. ad.) which has been expended upon it ;
or whether, by a cordial co-operation on the part of the
shareholders with the directors, the undertaking may be
yet brought to a speedy and prosperous termination.
" One means which has presented itself to the direc-
tors of assisting the undertaking in its present diffieul •
ties, is that of which notice is given in the advertisement
convening the present meeting ; viz., the reduction of
the capital of the company, from 250,0001. to 175,0001.
The details of this measure will be more properly consi-
dered at a subsequent part of this day's proceedings ;
but it is expedient now to state, that the immediate
object which the directors have in view in this
proposal, is to put tho company in a position to
borrow money upon the security of the railway works, a
power which they do not possess at present, as one-half
of the existing capital is not, as required by law, paid
up; whereas the borrowing powers of the company
would come into immediate operation if the capital were
reduced to 175,000/, more than one-half of that sum
(viz., 80,637/. los.) having been actually collected from
calls. :It has been fully ascertained that the lesser
=mat of capital would enable the directors to corn-

'dew the line.
" The shareholders are aware that the directors have
been in negotiation with her Majesty's Government for a
loan. Their endeavours in this respect have unfortunately
proved abortive for immediate purposes; but it may be
brkfly stated, that although no direct promise of pecuniary
assistance was actually given by the Government, the result
frequent communications with the authorities at the
Colonial• office had led the directors to entertain a confident
belief that advantage would be taken of the passing of
the West India Half-Million Loan Act to ensure to this
company a definite portion of that fund; and it wa3 only
at the eleventh hour, after Parliament had separated,
that a letter was received from Earl Grey, referring the
matter altogether to the decision of the Combined Court
of British Guiana.

"A copy of this letter is appended, and it will be ob-
served that his Lordship expresses his opinion, that the
pronswi,m of this undertaking would be a very proper
purpose to which to apply a part of the money which the
Combine,: Court may decide upcu raising, under the gua-
rantee of Pzrliament.'

" The directors have no reason to doubt that if, on

the re- asSembling"of the Combined Court (whose sittings
have been temporarily suspended owing to same differ-
ences 7::th the Colonial Department), the claims of this
company to participate in the loan to be raised under the
Act referred to. were brought before the Combined
Court, they would ba readily and ihyourably entertained;
&ad at the sarno time their assent will doubtless be given
to the leg-:slative guarantee of six per cent. upon the
czpitsl expended—the principle of that measure having
already received the sanction of the Court of Policy.

"Shout-1 the shareholders cJusider it advisable to
pursue the coursa here adverted to, the question will
arise, How, in the meantime, is the company to be
carried on, and the property protected from the claims
of the creditors ? The liabilities are immediate and
heavy, and cannot be further postponed ; and the
directors can see no way of meeting them, but by
the prompt, resolute, and combined exertions
of the shareholders themselves. If all those who
are now in default. but 'able- to meet their calls, will
forthwith pay up their arrears, and if the remainder of
the calls to the extent of the reduced capital be punc-
teal!), met, the directors feel confident that—with the
money which they will be enabled to borrow on the
security of the works, to make good any deficiency in
tho collection of the arrears on the part of those who are
adtuaily unable to meet their calls—the railway will be
successfully completed, even yet, at a cost within the
engineer's estimate.

These prospective ad►antages must, however, be
asantioned, and the valuable property already embarked
be altogether lost to the present shareholders, unless
immediate funds are raised by them to meet the liabili-
ties. It is right to remind the shareholders, that had
the calls been punctually met, the company would at
this moment have been free from debt, and the line have
teen in profitable operation.
" The directors have performed their duty in submit-
ting these facts thus plainly to the shareholders, and the
fate of the undertaking is now in their hands. If this
last appeal should not be responded to, and the pro-
perty of the company be left to the mercy of the cre-
ditors (from whom further forbearance cannot be ex-
pected), the shareholders must still recollect that,
after such a sacrifice has been made, they would
not be relieved from their liabilities to the full extent
of their shares under the existing capital, while a single
creditor remained unpaid in this country or in Deme-
rara ; and that the first and most imperative duty
of the directors would be to enforce payment of all
arrears due on calls made, or to be made, without dis-
tinction of persons, by the use of those legal
powers which have been conferred upon them for
that purpose, by the company's Act of Incorporation and
Deed of Settlement. But if, on the other hand, the
shareholders concur with the directors in thinking that,
by a united and vigorous effort, this important project
may yet be carried successfully through, they may con-
fidently rely upon a continuance of those exertions on the
part of the directors to promote the interests of the
company, which, they can conscientiously state, have
been hitherto unceasingly given to the utmost of their
ability."
The following is the copy of the letter from Earl
Grey alluded to in the report :
" Downing-street, 14th September, 1848.

" Sir,—l am directed by Earl Grey to acknowledge
the receipt of your letters of the 9th and 12th instant,
applying, on behalf of the Demerara Railway Company,
for a portion of the loan of 500,0001. to be advanced to
the sugar-growing colonies, to enable them to
complete the line of railway which has been com-
menced in British Guiana. In reply, I am to
acquaint you that the Act of Parliament only
authorizes the guarantee of loans to be contracted
by the authority of laws to be passed in the colonies
for such objects, within the description of those sanc-
tioned by Parliament as the local legislatures may select.
It will, therefore, be for the Combined Court to deter-
mine whether it will charge upon the colonial revenue a
loan part of which shall be applicable to the railway.
And Lord Grey can only express his own oninion, that
such a loan would be a very proper purpose to which to
apply a part of the money which the Combined Court
may decide upon raising under the guarantee of Par-
liament.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
servant, "HERMAN MERIVALE."
" To M. McChlery, Esq., &c., &c., &c."
From the general statement of the receipts and ex-
penditure, it appeared that there was only a sum of
2,226/. 4.5. 11d. now available for the purposes of the
company.
The CHAIRMAN, after shortly adverting to the
report, stated his readiness to hear any observations
from the shareholders, and observed that the directors
were determined to enfore the payment of all
calls in arrear by legal means, unless the share-
holders, by coming forward, prevented them from
doing so. The line would have been opened long ago
if the shareholders had promptly answered to their
calls. The line was at present completed for five
miles, and instructions had been sent out to work it
if it could be done with profit. The whole
extent of line was 20 miles, and it only wanted about
50,0001. to complete it. It was entirely the fault of
the shareholders that the line had not been completed.
A PROPRIETOR could not consent to such an asser-
tion. He thought, in justice to those shareholders
who had paid their calls, some exertions ought to
have been made by the directors to enforce the pay-
ment of the calls in arrear.

The CHAIRMAN said that everything had been done
to enforce the calls, but without HICCQSS. With re-
spect to many of the persons holding shares,- ft was
found to be the height of foil* to take prtiOeedings
egainst them, as they had literally n4hing to pay
with.

Mr. MAYNARD, the solicitor of the company, said
that he considered it his duty not to run the company
to expense for the purpose of proceeding against par.
ties whom he was convinced were not in a position to
pay. He was a large shareholder himself, and had
paid up all his calls.

- After setae further discussion,
Colonel WARREN trusted that the shareholders
would come forward and pay up their calls. There
were some items in the account to which he objected,