The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-10 00:00:00

L61.4D0,14:--Tid1:0110AY:
.10, 185.6.

GREAT 'WESTERN OF 'CANADA
RAILWAY: , •

Yesterday the proprietors of this company held their
ordinary half yearly meeting at the Landon Tavern; J. B.
Smith, iBRq., M. P:; the Chairniim of : the Enilish Board,
presiding.'

Tho report, which was published iii The Sim of Tuesday,
was then read.

The CHAIRMAN Observed that the' 'recent act of Parlia-
, ment 'required that'. the half-yearly meetings should be
held in Canada; but so large an amount of the stock was
now held in this couutry that it was thought' fitting to hold
half-yearly meetings also in London. I The report, which
he bad read with some satisfaction, was kvery full, and;
he believed, a very honest statement of the conditiotrof the
property. The traffic 1114 been very great. The railway
had developed. itself at a- much earlier period than perhaps
even the most.sgnguine had Anticipated. There had been
some temporary suspension during the past winter in con-
Sequenee of the unprecedentedly severe weather in Canada
and throughout the United. States. They could-scarcely,
form ate idea of the mischief tvhich ensued bathe American
railways from the eXtreme. Cold: The Michigan Central,
out of 71 engines had had 42 disabled -in consequence 'of'
the cast iron wheels,; which were generally used in the
Americin engines, being br 'ken by.i the frost. The Atae-
tican engines of this company had also suffered, but fortu-
nately a coneiderabin'portion'of the engines were of Eng.:
:dish ,manufacture, the wheels of Whieh being' made of
wrought ir•oni; withstood the eff6Ald'of the cold betterthau
the cast wheels,: and be might add, that, anticipating da-
mage freni this cause, the directors., had sent our. wrought-
iron wheels, which were now on their way to the colony,
for rill their American' 'He thought they might
look to. a _considerable increase of traffic as soon as the wea-
ther moderated.. ,By the last return they were informed
tjiat a thaw had set in, and that in consequence there had•
'been an increase of 50 per cent.. as :compared _with, the
. corresponding, period of the: previous. yearK-
.The- trafli
would, no doubt; continue to increase, but to.d.,veltape it
.fully, a coosi:_leralifle addition to the engines; rolling stock,
. and station accommodation would'be - The di-
rectors, however, were at .present• auxiOns abevir. all
-things to keep down the capital kccoust. ti Until they saw
their 'way elear to an adequate return for- the.ontlay, they
wishedle avoid adding to the expenditure. on account of
capital ; acting upon that view, theY had snsPended .for
the present the doubling of the line as had been intended.
The larger portion of their troth coneitited,'of what was.
called foreign traffic, commencing at Detroit and doing on
to the Niagara Bridge. Now, the Michigan Central, with
which 'their line wars connected on the one aide, and the •
iNew York-Central; which joined them on the Other, were
beth, of themainglErlines, and neithet of them was.,:ade-'
qnstely provided, with rolling stock, the consequence of
WhiCh was thatttpe traffic wassoinetinies delayed -at both
entis','the connecting lines being :unable to take ,on as. it
'arrived. • TherM'ore to spend-half a million in doubling the
line and ping/I-Eng rolling stock, until their neighbours dirt
the same,-: would be to:invest. capital where therawas no
prospect of an immediate return. .• The Londen board had,
however, requested the Canada'directors to communicate
withlhe ComPanies he had named, to Ascertain' what their
intentions were in-regard to doubling their lines, and in-
creasing their rolling stocks, and of cOurse,they would act
Accordingly. The directors had distributed the remaining
portion of the, napital stock,' considering; first; that the
existing shareholders were entitledl to: participate' In any
beneficial interest arising. from that stock, and secondly,
that it would place the finances of the company on a sound
and stable footing, and enable them at the proper time to
.go into the market-arid borrow'money upon the host terms.
Anticipating the.returnof a period when the public would
be anxious to invest in securities of the sound and stable
Character which-this company could offer, and innr.ler to
be prepared fer it the board had requested the, directors
on the' other side of the water to ascertain from the Co-
lonial Government: whether they Would 'allow thecoMpany
to pay off, the debt due- to. them, and to grant an act of
Parliament aothorising the .raising of the funds• in such
'Manner 'as the directors and the shareholders might deem
most expedient: That question was now under the con-
sideration of the Canadian board, and iu due time the re-
sult would be known. -The board set aside the sum which
was payable: aennally to the Colonial Government,. re-
demption of the debt as a deprcciation'fund, being about
equal to the amount of the depreciation the permanent way
might'be sup Posed to sustain. This mould enable them
at all times honestly to divide the whole net amount of
profits, and to offer to the investing Ohne such a security
as no other railway could presenthy assuring then that
they could not be called upon, .as, in many caseS•the pro-
prietorS of English railways had been, ,to pay out of cur-
rent profits' the expense of renewing the line,. which the
shareholders who progeded them ought to have paid. In
conclusion, he 'moved that the report of-the proceedings of
the general meeting, held at Hamilton on the 12th'March,
be received and adopted.
The motion having been seconded, •
Mr. HERAPiTII thought some explanation should be
given of the loss of 2 per cent. arising from the working of
steam-boats on Lake Ontario,

• The CHAIRMAN• attributed the steam-boat specnlation to
want a experience on the part of the Canadian directors.
The neighbouring lines had established steam-coats in the
expectatibn that it would
,bring traffic to the lime. The
Canadian directOrS of this company had followed that ex-
ample, but in each•case the result had been disappoint-
ment. His own opinion had been that 'the" steam-boats
would be a, failure from the first, and ho .had felt this .so
strongly that whon the, 50,0011/. had been spout upon the
boats he had stated that the best, thing for the company
to do with them was to barn them. , _

Mr. CADOGAN inquired what amount of, profit had ac-
crued on the sale of shares and issue of bonds. from the
commencement of the. concern? and, if that infermation
could not be given, perhaps the secretary would state what
had bean the amount of profit from this:source in the last
half-year.
The-CHAIRMAN replied that it was stated in the report
that the profit from this source in the last half-year had
been •2,8391."

Mr. O.A.DOGAN would discuss that; but he could state
from other information that 64,0001., or 5.i per cent. upon
the whole of the capital, had been made to the good since
the commencement by those sales and issues. It appeared
that 22,0001. had been placed to the capital account as a
liquidation fund, or to meet the depreciation which sb.
sorbed the half-year's profit from the sale of shares, and to
issue debentures was illegal and unfair. It was profit like
any other profit, and the shareholders were entitled to the
2 per cent. extra which that amount would have given to
them. The issue of the scares reduced the dividend on
the one hand, while on the other they wero mulct of
so much dividend as this 22,0001. odd would have
afforded. He urged the attention of the shareholders to
this point, because if the principle were good as to the
22,0001. it might become convenient to extend it to the
64,0001 He suggested that this appropriation of the money
of the shareholders in Canada might arise from the power
being in the hands of the Canadian di'rec ion, and its be-
ing exercised without reference to the fact that the London
shareholders hold 9-10ths of the whole of the stock. The
London board ought to, take a high tone in dealing with the
Canadian board, toinsist upon a strict superintendence of
the. expenditure., The Great Westin nof Canada Railway
was in such a position that it did not require to take 2 plf
ecennatb.lefrtohme
companngs
y%mboll
l place it
own.etit
to the credit of capital to
Mr. L. HEYWORTFI admitted that this money belonged
to the, present shareholders and should not be placed to the
credit of the future shareholders, which was the effect of
the course takers., 'lie was an advocate for keeping the
capital and profit and loss accounts distinct. There might
have been losses, but he would say let those lo tus-bs ascer-
tained and paid out of these exceptional profits, and the
balance handed over to the shareholders.
Mr. HAwes contended that the mode in which the ac-
counts.were kept wa's most objectionable. It must not,
however, he supposed that the whole of the 61,0001. was
profit, for the sale of the shares and bends, it appeared, had
cost in commission and expenses the enormous 'sum' of
44,000/. The English sharehelders had not that influence
in the management which their numbers and the large pro-
portion cf stock held bYi hem entitled them to. The board
had
appended
.s
to the touti\lr.
Bridges;
whose 'name ho observed was
not report, and ho could only suppoSe that
the reason was, disagreement -with the Canadian directors,
arising from his zeal fe.iritth:ali:tgeornesetsinof
priet6rs. IL; complained that of the increase of 238 0001.
exthpeenEsensg;lilsehn, leaving
in the traffi6, 70 per cent.
only 26,000/. tie . ''He'could not titideigtand why they
should forego 2 per cent. of what was (leek them, for the
benefit of these who came after there.

Mr. POTTER made some remarks condemnatory of the
steam-boat speculation, And urged the importatice of corn-
pletiii`c, the Sanai branch, in order to- meet the competition
ofs.
ieno rnr
company,
1.:a;)1Bmyl itethi
at wvTiEt
sourcess dtirtsaipl
ffiaunte
tdshhet
oh
uieel
g(oi
iptbii opinion
soahtti:thatbusiness
s profit redos
divided;
!Its
•
it ought to go to the credit of capital. ;
Mr. HERAPATH and several other proprietors took the
contrary view.
The CHAIRMAN explained that during the confsitorumcttiohne
p
of the line the shareholders received 6 per cent. interest
on calls paid in advance. ,This absorbed 150,00 W., in'ad-
dition to which 44,`021. had been expended in:agencies on.
the sale of the bondi and(ie stvhootie rheest,lhi
moneynutildha arising
he contended
onte thesed e d
chargesthat. behorontietat;octioushartier'tswonis.
bonds 'to
which had attended the, construction of the line. The
Sanai branch was going on, and would probably take 18
months or two years to complete.
Mr. GILL (a director) held that the 6 per cent. interest
paid:on:calls s properly a charge upon capital. tie could .
not admit that profits were to'b'e reduced
.t,ia order to re:
place that ',charge. There had been a question At the-board
whether the profits made from premiums upon the gale
shares and bonds should.be written off frofromgapital account
or t,
and it Was the general feeling that it should, go
the present to a stittpense account, leaving it to share-
holders hereafter to deal ivitb it as they thought At.
shared in:the feelinrof dissatisfaction expressed lyy several
proprietorse at the A
dividend of 8 per cent. per annum, con-
sidering the business Which had been,done. I 1 thought
they ought'to have 10 per cent. at least.
In reply to a qtestion,
The-CHAIRMAN stated that Mr: Ratcliffe;the vibe-presi-
dent, represented the -English board 'in Canada, and -lAA'
their, entire confidence, .and received a salary of 1,5001„
a-year currency., Mr. Bridges, the manager, received, the
same salary. • '
Mr. CADOGAN moved; as an ainendinfint to the adoption;
of the4eport, that the appropriation or the profits made
by the sale of shares and the issue of bonds to capital con,
struction account was unjust to the sharehokl-eis; and an
unwarrantable deviation from the constitution of the com-
panY, and faat the 22,8001., the balance arising therefrom,
A in the /A half-year, shdud be 'placed to a snspense
count, to be dealt with hereafter at the pleasure of the
• • '
- The amendment w,its seconded, and afteeseveral
tors had, spoken, souse for and SOlDO.,against Lit, the latter.
appearibg to be the majority, ' • 7 • • •
Mr: ti AWES redotnniended that the arnenc4nq4 should ,
- be withdiawn.'
Mr. CADOGAN cortsentekl, biit'justineu himselr, RH' pro- •
posi,ng ikby.thed'aet:that the board therueelres lad' take&
the
.p4rnp. yipW i-
a lettert tAPy had addressed Aci,thEr Cana-
fdian directors.
The briginafietiortttieifii•as then put and carried, and the
dividend Ihiifiiigulleiii'a6eisied, a resolution *is e,tilopitteli

senissi of the eleven directors in London and in Coinada
should be 2,00 W. currency, instes,d of I,ooW..currenp- as
heretofore.''
A vote of thankslo the chairman closed the proceedings.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETUI?Ng.

.

LONDON AND SOUTH-EiSmot RAILWAY:—Traffle re-
turn for the week ending Apr4l4, 1856 216.151 1 '2
Corresponding week last year 17,162 18, •6
Decrease in 1856
LONDO,N, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return forthe week ending April 4,
1856 £11,957 i 4 0
Corresponding week last year • 13.899 i 8 11
Total of the half-year to this date, 1856 148,049 1.11
Total of the half-year to this date,lBss
GREAT NORTHERN RAlLWAY.—Traffie return fort the
week ending March,3o, 1856 - .221.826 9 7
Corresponding week last year. 20,796 8 2
LANCASHIRE AND 'YORKSHIRE, RAILWAY. —Traffic tie
turn for the week ending April 5, 1856 £21,130 17 L 7
Corresponding week,last year 19,430 810
CHESTER AND HOLYFIEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic return 1r;
tha yypeli ending April 5, 1856 • • • .24,827 17 al
Olrrespv.lipg week year..., - ''s 4,546 15 7
Icoreass ein 18.56,..

,
GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAITAVAX.—Traffie re-
itil-n'tOr the week ending April 5,1856 ,C 6.194 , 8 1
`lorresponding week last ,year .5,351 19 -7:
' Tneresise in 18.56'
CORY IND BANDON' RAILwAT.--Traffio return for 'sleek
-ent;ing April 5, 1856
Corresponding week last year 2.7a.19 , 6
~.,
...., . -
'GREAINLU/lIMBOURG 111.ILWAT.—Iralne retarn.for the
.week *Ailing -April 6,:.1.856 '• ~..1391 14 0
LONDON GENERAL Ot!NIBUS COMPANY.--Traffic Te•,
turns for the week ending 'April 5, 1856 —(Average num-
ber of omnibuses working daily, 4)1) £7,742,13 1

PARLIAMENTARY DIM

.;•.: ..

HOUSE OF COMMONS.--APRIL 9.:
OATII OF ABJURATION BILL.

• 1 •,•

Orderforlecodd reading read;' motion made and question
proposed, "that the bill be now read a second time
Amendment propesed,"to rave out the word " now," itud
at the end of the question to add.the words " upon this day
six months." -Question put, "that the Word now 'stand.
part of„the question." . The house divided. Sir F. nisi-.
ger, one .of the tellers for the Noes, stated:that Mr. Wyke-
ham Ainxkin, member for, Rochester, was with tho Noes in
the left lobby, but had refused to vote with them ;• *he
upon Mr. Speaker deSired the tellers to bring Mr. WY
'ham 'Martin to the table, The hon. member having co
to the table, was'aiked by Mr. Speaker. if he had heard i
'question put,'!and'on replying in the affirmative was
formed by him that, having gone forth into the loft lobl
bismote•must be recorded with tho Noes. Whereupen 1
tellers announced the numbers-Ayes, 230; Noes 195

one
the
Y.
the