The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-29 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

NOTTINGHAM AND GRANTHAM.
The half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the London Tavern—Mr. J.
Wyles in the chair.
The report, an abstract of which appeared in The
Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said it showed their position at the present
time, and the accounts explained their operations
during the past half-year. The Act of Parliament
had altered the na.me of the company from the Am-
bergate to the Nottingham and Grantham. The
provisions in tYle Act would enable them to dis-
charge the exiqing debts of the company, to reduce
their £l2 10P,. shares to £l2 each, reduce the num-
ber of the Hoard, and to make other minor arrange-
ments. Although called the Nottingham and
Grantham, it formed part of the through line from
the important town of Nottingham to London. The
direc'tors had looked with great interest to the pro-
greFis of their railway, which now appeared to be
going on very satisfactorily. He thought the Great
MA-them were very sincere in their efforts to de-
v elope the traffic on the line. The mineral traffic
•showed a considerable increase, and should it go on
at the same rate he felt sanguine that their expec-
tations under the agreement would be fully realised.
He could see enough to convince him that the-anti-
cipated traffic would be attained if their line con-
tinued to be fairly and systematically worked. He
had no doubt that in the course of three or four
years the line would yield more than the 41 per
cent., at which the Great Northern had the option
of taking the line. He should feel very much dis-
appointed if the line did not fully realise that
amount ; but they had no fear of the result if pro-1
perly worked. With a view to improve the divi-
dend on the share capital, the directors had it in
contemplation to pay off the debenture debt as
it became due, by calling up portions of the re-
maining two pounds on each share. There was
a sum of £BO,OOO which would become due in
October next, and it was proposed to make a
call of £1 per share to pal- off the debentures
to that amount. The interest upon which aver-
aged 49 per cent., while their present dividend was
only 3t per cent. ; the difference would increase
the dividend on the shares, and tend to improve
their value. When they paid off their debentures
they would have £5,000 or £6,000 a year available
Ito increase their dividend on the ordinary shares,
`which would then be fully paid and converted into
stock. The capital woull consist of ordinary stock
only, having neither loans nor preference shares.
He considered the position of the company now
much better than it had ever been, and he hoped
and trusted that the traffic would continue to pro-
gremi and give them more satisfactory dividends
than at present.
Mr. BEASLEY seconded the motion for the adop-
tiun of the report.
31r. HUGGINS did not see the object of paying
off: the loans to reduce the capital, because the pre-
s ent share capital would be increased by the
amount of the loans, and the company would still
retain the power of borrowing the money again
and thus increasing the capital.
The CHAIRMAN said it was the intention of the
directors to have no borrowed capital, and in that
respect they would be in a better position than any
other company. They could not avoid having the
power to borrow to the extent of £265,000, but
they did not intend to exercise it ; at the same
time it might be a great advantage to the company
to be able to borrow at some future period any sum
they might require to improve their property.
They proposed soon to call up £1 per share, but
any proprietor might pay up the £2 share in full,
upon £1 of which in advance of the call he would
be allowed interest at 4 per cent, per annum. In
about six or eight months more another call would
be made, and the whole of the borrowed money,
would be paid off within 12 months from the pre-
sent time.

Resolutions were pdssed adopting the report,
and declaring a dividend of 3s. 6d. per share, being
at the rate of 3,1 per cent. per annum, payable on
the 4th of September.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, seconded by
Mr. WILKINSON, a formal resolution was passed
authorizing the consolidation of the whole or any
number of the shares into a general capital stock of
the company when fully paid up.
The retiring directors, Mr. J. Wyles, Mr. J. F.
13urbridge, and Mr. T. Calvert, were unanimously
re-elected, and also Mr. Austen, the retiring auditor.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, thanks were
voted to Mr. Thornton on his retirement from the
board, for past services, and it was agreed that the
vacancy should not be filled up.
The proceedings concluded with votes of thanks
to the chairman and directors, and to Mr. Gough,
the secretary, for their able service and attention to
the interests of the company.

WEST CORNWALL.
The report of the directors states that there is a
continued increase of traffic, notwithstanding that
all the contemplated arrangements for carrying
through traffic have not as yet been completed.
Comparing the half-year's accounts with those of
the corresponding period of 1859, it appears that
48,953 additional passengers have been carried,
producing- £1,100; in the amount received for the
carriage of parcels, which include fish, there has
been an increase from £6Bl to £1,563, and in gene-
ral merchandise 3,055 tons more have been carried,
yielding in money £785. There is still an increase
in the coal carried, but a further falling off in the
copper ore. The revenue account shows a total re-
ceipt of £17,740 as against £16,140 in the corre-
sponding period of 1859, being an increase of £2,600,
while the disbursements show an increase of £1,165
0n1y,,, leaving a balance of £6,000 to be carried to
the credit of general revenue account as against
£4,564 in 1859. The balance standing to the
credit of the general revenue account is now
£9,509. The aggregate of this profit has been
appropriated in the form of a suspense account, to
provide means for the extension of the business of
the company. It is necessary, therefore, that some
other mode should be devised for providing capi-
tal for such purposes before the profits which
accrue from the working of the line can be available
for division among the proprietary. The directors,
with a view of meeting the wishes of those proprie-
tors who consider that the current profits of the
company should be divided, and at the same time
preserving unimpaired the credit of the company,
are strongly of opinion that the wisest course would
be to obtain power to issue the shares held by the
company as preference shares. If this plan meets
the e approval of the proprietors, the Board will take
tne steps necessary for making an application to
Parliament in the ensuing session for a bill to en-
able the company to issue such shares, or portions
thereof, as preference shares, as from time to time
the proprietors may see fit. In the application to
Parliament the directors would also ask for power
to convert the debenture debt into debenture stock.
The directors feel every confidence that if this plan
should be carried out the necessary capital can be
obtained on easy terms, and the company would
thus be enabled to divide the profits among the
shareholders. The directors continue on good terms
with the various railway companies with which
they are now in communication, and also the same
good understanding exists between the directors oft
the Cornwall Railway Company and themselves.

DUNDALK AND ENNISKILLEN.
The report of the directors stated that the gross
receipts for the half-year ending June 30 amounted
to £18,838, and for the corresponding period of
1859 to £17,086, showing an increase of £1,752.
After deducting working expense, there remained
£10,567 applicale to payment of interest and divi-
dend, leaving a balance of only £920, which the
directors recommend should be carried to the next
account. In the state of transition in which the
company is placed, in regard to its recent junction
with the Londonderry and Enniskillen Company,
and the advantages to be derived from that junction
not having yet been realised, the balance of profit
does not enable the directors to recommend for this
half-year any dividend on the original shares. The
engines and rolling stock have been maintained in
good and efficient order, and, notwithstanding some
extensive renewals and a greater mileage run, the ex-
pensee are less than last half-year. The works on
the Cootchill branch are nearly completed; the
whole of the land has been procured for the Cavan
Extension, and the contract for the works has been
let on fair terms to Messrs. Greene and King. The
sTstern of through booking with England has been
istabliched, and passengers and goods are no
booked from most of the company's stations on the
Dundalk and Londonderry lines to all the chief
towns in England. Since the last half-yearly
meeting the Canadian Steam Packet Company have
arranged to make Londonderry a port of call for
*it' weekly railings to and from Liverpool, there
to take on board passengers and mails. Arrange-
rnen td hare been made with this company, in con-
junct ion with the D. ahlin and Drogheda and Belfast
Junction companies, to run
special trains for the
convey:in cc of mails and passengers, to and from
Londonderry and Dublin. Although the lease of
the Londonderry line to this company commenced
on the 31st of December last, yet the half-year was
considerably advanced before the terms were agreed
upon, and some questions of detail still remained
unsettled. The directors did not • assume the
management of that line until the close of the
pre.
sent half-year, and they could not therefore give
the details of the aceounts on the present occasion..
A committee of the Board recently visited London-
derry, and, in conjunction with the traffic manager
and locomotive superintendent have made arrange-
ments for the working of this line in conjwictiol

with their own, by which a very large saving will
be effected, increased facilities afforded, and, they
trust, a combined, harmonious, and beueficial work-
ing of both lines secured. The capital account
showed that £820,695 had been received, and
£800,026 expended, leaving a balance of £20,669.
The Clones and Cavan Extension capital account
showed that £12,000 had been received from four
subscribing companies, and £9,674 expended,
leaving a balance of £2,326.

COLEFORD, MONMOUTH, USK, AND
PONTYPOOL.

The half-yearly meeting was held at Monmouth
on Monday; Mr. Crawshay Bailey, M.P., the
chairmain, presided.
Mr. WADDINGTON, the secretary, read the report,
which stated that the traffic had gradually deve-
loped during the last year, but until the Forest of
Dean ore was reached no great increase of traffic
could be expected. The directors, however, had the
satisfaction to state that the river Wyse was already
crossed, and in the course of three months they ex-
pected to open the extension to Redbrook, and
when the additional length to Coleford was carried
out shareholders might reckon on the certain suc-
cess of the undertaking.
The accounts showed the expenditure had been
£168,300. The share capital paid up amounted to
£114,700; the debentures to £50,000; and balance
due to bankers, £3,600.

The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the re-
port. He congratulated the proprietors that 161
miles of railway had been complete d for £168,000,
while a neighbouring line—the Newport, Aberga-
venny, and Hereford—had cost £30,000 per mile.
The revenue account was really satisfactory, both
as regarded passengers and general traffic, consi-
dering the country through which the railway
passed. He alluded to the small amount of sup-
port extended to the directors, and in calling upon
the public to assist in carrying out the extension to
the Forest of Dean said, that effected, there could
be no doubt of a satisfactory dividend.

Mr. J. RUSSELL, a director, said, he and several
of his colleagues feltlthat if additional aid were not
forthcoming they would prefer that the line should
remain as it was, even if no return were yielded
upon the large capital the directors had expended.
The report was adopted, and a vote of thanks to
the chairman and directors concluded the proceed-
ings.