The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-25 00:00:00

REUTER'S TELEGRAM (LIMITED.)

The report of the directors of this company
states that they had received formal notice from
her Majesty's Postmaster-General of his intention
to take over the telegraph lines on the 29th inst.
The amount of the purchase money payable to this
company under the award of the arbitrators was
£726,000. By the Electric Telegraphs Act, 1868,
it was provided that the sums to be received by the
directors were to be applied in the first instance in
the payment of the debts and liabilities of the
company (if any) other than their current debts,
then in payment of any sums which might be
voted by a general meeting of the shareholders
in recognition of the services conferred upon the
company by any individuals attached thereto,
or which might, with the authority of a general
meeting, be deducted and retained for the
purposes of the general business of the company,
and the residue should be distributed by the direc-
tors among the shareholders. The accounts from
1868 showed a debit of £7,172 carried over. There
was, however, a balance of unexpended capital suf-
ficient to meet this debt without trenching on the
cable purchase account. The legal expenses iu
connection with the negotiations with Government
and the arbitration amounted to about £B,OOO.
There were also other charges connected with the
cable, amounting to £2,000. Those items consti-
tuted the only liabilities of the company. There
was, however, a further deduction from the pur-
chase money for the Noderney Cable on ac-
count of special services. Under this head
the directors recommend that £l,OOO be paid to
Mr. V. Harcourt, their senior counsel, and £2,000
to Mr. G. C. Bompas, their solicitor, as special
personal acknowledgments to those gentlemen of
the remarkable ability and close attention to the
company's interests. They also recommended that
£750 be presented to Mr. F. J. Griffiths, the secre
tary of the company, in consideration of his faith-
ful and efficient service from the commencement,
and that a similar sum be distributed among the
establishment. They f urther recommend that £2,500
be placed at their disposal for distribution among
certain other persons whose services had been of
value in reference to the concession and in promo-
tion of the interests of the company. Several of
the leading shareholders had urged on the di-
rectors the propriety of proposing a special grant
to Mr. Reuter, in recognition of the great advan-
tages the company had derived from his talents and
exertions, and they recommended accordingly that
£5,000 be set apart for this purpose, and that £4,000
should be divided among themselves. The direc-
tors proposed that £l7 per share, representing the
capital outlay for the Norderney Cable and laud
lines, be returned to the shareholders,together with
a bonus of £6O per share, making a total cash
return of £77 per share, that the present capital
of the company be reduced to £BO,OOO, divided
into 10,000 shares of £8 each, and that 9,000 of
those shares be substituted for the existing 9,000
shares of £25 each, leaving 1,000 shares unallett2d
as at present. Every shareholder would, under
this arrangement, receive a paid up share of £8
in addition to the cash payment of £77 per
share on each £25 share ; and £7,000 would be
retained as working capital for carrying on the
original business. The distribution would be made
to all shareholders, whose names were upon the
register on the 26th inst. On £153,000 being re-
turned the £225,000 paid-up capital would be
reduced to £72,000, on which the future divi-
dends of the company would be calculated.