The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-18 00:00:00

GREAT NORTHERN RAIL W_4 Y.

HALF-YEARLY MEETING—(THIS DAY).
The half•yearly meeting of the shareholders in
this company was held this day at the London
Tavern. Mr. Packe, deputy•chairman of the board
of directors, filled the chair.

The usual routine business having been transacted
and the report taken as read,

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings,
stated that the reason he occupied the position he
did at that moment was solely caused by the illness
of their chairman, Mr. Denison. It was a source
of regret, he felt, to all, that he was not present ;
but as he (Mr, Packe) had to discharge the duty of
chairman of that meeting, ho -would acquit himself
of the task as briefly as possible. The capital ac-
count showed that, up to Dec. 13, 1859, the total
expenditure amounted to £11,489,748 6s. 7d. In
the revenue account, it would be seen that
the balance available for dividend, in the
original and A and B stocks, was £168,273
11s. 11d., being an increase over the corres-
ponding half-year of 1858 of £21,237 Os. 3d.
which would leave a balance of £387 15s. Bd. to
be carried forward to the next half-year. The ex-
penditure account showed that the maintenance of
the permanent way and works was £5,153 in excess
of the corresponding period of last year, but this sum
included £5,000, the balance of the "fishing" account
carried forward from last half-year. The total
working expenses of the half-year amounted to
49.53 per cent. of the gross receipts, but by excluding
the items of compensation and bad debts, which were
exceptionally high, the per centago would be re-
duced to 47.1. The Metropolitan Railway Company
had commenced the construction of their line from
Paddington to Farringdon-street, and arrange-
ments were in progress for the formation
of junctions with the Great Northern Railway
at King's-cross. The Chairman having alluded
to the bills in Parliament affecting the Great
Northern Railway, concluded by moving the adop-
tion of the report.
A long discussion then ensued on the increase of
the working expenses of the line.
Mr. GOODEVE said the item of working ex-
penses had increased L 73,000 in three years.
The adoption of the report having been moved,
it was carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN then moved the following reso-
lution, which was agreed to :
" That a dividend, at the rate of £& per cent. per annum
upon the perpetual preference stock of the company ; of £5
per cent. per annum upon the 5 per cent. preference stock
of the company; of Xi 10s. per cent. per annum upon the
4i per cent. preference stuck of the company; of £5 per
cent. per annum upon the 5 per cent. preference stock of
the company ; of £7 per cent. per annum on the original
undivided stock of the company; of £3 per cent. for the
half-year on the ' B ' stock of the company ; and of £4 per
cent. for the half-year on the ' A' stock be declared."
Three vacancies having occurred amongst
the directors by the deaths of Messrs. Arbouin,
Chaplin, and Pym, it was agreed that the number

of directors be reduced to thirteen. The retiring
directors having been re-elected, and thanks re-
turned to the Chairman, the meeting separated.

BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS.

The Board of Trade returns for the month of Decem-
ber were issued yesterday. We subjoin a statement
of the total declared value of the exports of British
and Irish produce and manufactures during the
month and twelve months :

Month of Dec. The twelve months.
1857
1858
1859 10,827,242

The aggregate shipments in December were
larger by £768,473, or 7-1- per cent. than in Decem-
ber 1858, and larger by £3,679,201, or 50 per cent.,
than in December, 1857. Those for the twelve
months of 1859 were larger by £13,831,671, or 12
per cent. than in the twelve months of 1858, and
larger by L 8,37,1,320, or 71 per cent., than in 1837.
Examining the chief items of these exports, we
arrive at the subjoined general figures for the
month, viz. :

Month of December.
1857. 1858. 1859.
Apparel and slops £181,371 £194,191 £223,593
Beer and ale
Books 31,260 29,996 ' 49,424
Butter
Coals and calm 186,121 196,975 194,095
Cottons
Cotton yarn
Counterpanes and small
wares
Earthenware and porce-
lain 81,073 83,115 95,579
Furniture
Glass, common bottles.. 26,215 24,678 30,838
Haberdashery and mil-
linery
Hardwares and cutlery 275,584 293,756 360,549
Leather unwronght
Ditto,wrought 123,502 91,210 132,124
Saddlery and harness 28,256 22,474 26,132
Linens (cloths of all
kinds and cambrics) - 200,114 425,336 369,654
Linen yarn
Machinery, steam en-
gines
Ditto, other sorts
Iron, pig
Ditto, bar, bolt, and rod 155,615 172,927 147,310
Ditto, railway of all
kinds
15,208 49,648 55,842
Ditto, cast
Ditto, wrought 184,535 183,719 240,770
Copper, unwrought 71
Ditto, sheets and nails 72,133 149,260 178,498
Lead
Tin, unwrought
Tin-plates
Silk manufactures (silk
only)
Other articles (of silk
only)
Silk, thrown 21,053 55,673 44,1
Ditto, twist and yarn
Spirits (British)
Wool
Woollens (cloths, &c.)
Ditto (mixed stairs,
flannels, &c.)
Worsted stuffs
Woollen and worsted
yarns
The increase is almost general, but the grand,
movement is still in cotton goods. There is a markt°,
iucrease in the export of haberdashery, hardware!:
beer and ale, and woollen and worsted goods and
yarn. Pig and bar iron show a falling off. Till
exports of linens have also been decidedly Wolf
those for the corresponding month of 1858.
The annexed shows the quantities of the chief
articles of food taken for consumption during til!
month :-

Month of December.
1857. 1858. 1859.
Cocoa
Coffee
Wheat qrs. 486,299 286,906 294,26
„';
Flour cwts. 509,812 237,526 223,81":
Butter cwts. 25,155 28,019 43,531
Rico cwts. 141,258 130,898 95,248
Cheese cwts. 36,083 30,508. 39,3_,01
Eggs No. 7,531,200 7,024,800 7,672,br,
Pepper lbs. 343,814 372,464 320,66 a
Ruin gals. 373,684 417,372 47475?.
Brandy gals. 101,491 111,433 123,1 w
Sugar, unretined,cwts. 614,405 517,390 604,43!
Tea
Winos gals. 433,937 497,178 520,7 w
The consumption of foreign grain, flour, and rio.
has been rather limited. Wines and spirits preseot
an increase. As regards sugar, tea, and coffee—
important articles—the figures are very large.