The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-21 00:00:00

CALEDONIAN.

The following is the report by the directors of the
Caledonian Railway, to be read at the half-yearly
general meeting of the company, to be held at Glas-
gow on the 25th inst. :
The accounts show available for dividend,
£313,001 Bs. 10d. Thus—Balance of account for
the half year ending July 31, 1867, £306,259 11s.
; surplus from previous half year, £6,741 17s.
61d. After payment of dividends on preference
stocks, including the stocks of the Scottish Central
and North-Eastern sections, and of the Forth and
Clyde Canal—£2o9,2o6 lls. 9d.—there remains
£103,794 17s. ld. The directors recommend a
dividend on the ordinary stock at the rate of 51 per
cent. per annum (less dividend on that portion of
the stock chargeable against premium account),
£98,291 7s. 10d. ; leaving to be carried to
the credit of the next half year £5,503 9s. 3d.
The receipts of the half year of the whole system,
as compared with the combined receipts of the Cale-
donian and Scottish North Eastern for the corre-
sponding period of last year (before the amalgama-
tion) have diminished £21,719, while the charges
against revenue, including the augmented dividend
on the Scottish North Eastern stocks, have in-
creased £19,538. The sum available for_ dividend is
thus reduced £41,257. The reduction in the receipts
is mainly owing to the following circumstance :
The accounts of the Scottish North Eastern Com-
pany to the 31st July, 1866, included the " foreign
traffic" for seven months, and other items ; and, to
that extent, six months' traffic of this year is com-
pared in the accounts with the revenue for seven
months in 1866. The weekly published state-
ments of comparative traffic contrasted the actual
drawings of the corresponding periods. The
protracted stagnation in almost all branches of
trade and manufactures, and the suspension of
labour in the Lanarkshire mineral districts, owing
to disputes between the pit owners and the miners,
have had a depressing effect on the revenue. Since
the close of the half year one of these causes of
depreciation has, to some extent, been removed by
the return of the coal miners to work, bat one third
of the iron furnaces on the line are still out of blast.
Previous to the 31st of July £372,334 of the Five
per Cent. Preference Stock No. 3 was assigned to
special applicants. Shareholders may have allot-
ments of the remaining portion of the stock at par
on application to the secretary. It will be advisable
at this meeting to give a distinctive title to those
portions of the Scottish North-Eastern preference
stocks which, though created, had not been issued
at the date of the Amalgamation Act ; and, as a
matter of form, a resolution will also be taken
to authorise the issue of mortgages under the
provisions of the Forth and Clyde Canal Acts. In
terms of the 17th section of the Solway Junction
Railway Act, 1867, the shareholders will be asked
to authorise subscription to the amount of £60,000
towards the capital of that railway, for which the
company will receive 5 per cent. preference stock,
ranking next in order to the Solway Company's
mortgages for £126,600, and before all their other
securities. This contribution will enable the Solway
Company to proceed vigorously with the construc-
tion of their railway, which will join the Caledonian
at Kirtlebridge, and secure to this company a large
amount of traffic which might otherwise be diverted
from the line. The contingent agreement under
which the subscription is proposed to be made will
be submitted to the meeting for approval. The
Solway Act of last session authorises the Cale-
donian Company to raise capital for their sub-
scription ; but the shareholders will not at present
be asked to exercise this power. The expenditure
of capital (£482,937) during the half year has
been restricted within the narrowest limits com-
patible with the progress of necessary works and
the supply of plant for new lines.