The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-20 00:00:00

RAILWAY _INTELLIGENCE.

An important meeting of the stockholders of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was held in
this city on Tuesday, April 30. The meeting
was probably the largest ever convened to delibe-
rate upon the affairs of that great corporation.
The committee to investigate the condition of the
company made their final report. As the com-
mittee originated out of a spirit of hostility to the
road, this report was anxiously awaited, and their
conclusion, based as they are upon the most tho-
rough investigation, will be received by the great
body of the stockholders with infinite satisfac-
tion, and will, without doubt, satisfy the most
sceptical that our great railway corporation
has been wisely and economically managed
by Mr. Thomson and his associates. Cer-
tainly the results attained by these gentlemen
during twenty years of uninterrupted prosperity
should be, and doubtless are, satisfactory to the
shareholders, for the road has paid annually since
its organisation six per cent. cash to the stock-
holders, clear of all taxes, and in addition thereto,
as stated in the annual report for 1866, over forty-
six per cent. of additional dividends. Can any
other railway corporation of similar magnitude
show as large dividends, and yet present to its
owners a property and assets worth millions of dol-
lars more than they now stand the stockholders ?
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, we are
informed, owns and controls, by lease and owner-
ship of stock, over fifteen hundred miles of rail-
way, all of which is connected and of the same
guage ; is well equipped, with engines and cars,
and contributes directly to the development of alarge
portion of our State and the interests of our city.
By referring to its reports, we find that the annual
increase of freight traffic moved during the past five
years has averaged nearly 20 per cent. per annum.
It is truly a useful and magnificent corporation.
The committee substantially endorse the whole
policy and management of the company, thus pro-
nouncing the corporation to be in a sound and pros-
perous condition—indeed, much more so than the
stockholders supposed it to be. We are glad to find
our great corporation coming out of the trying
ordeal, to which it has been subjected by its ene-
mies with such a clear and satisfactory record.
Great credit is certainly due from the stockholders
to Mr. Thomson and his able corps of officers and
employes for the results attained under their ma-
nagement. We doubt whether there is another
corporation of equal magnitude, in this or any other
country, that can show equally good results.
The Hudson River Railroad earned last year 18
per cent., and a better result is anticipated for the
present financial year, which closes on the 30th of
September.
The four consolidated companies which monopo-
lise the transportation business in New Jersey under
the name of the Consolidated Railroad board, held
on the Ist January, of undivided earnings
$2,250,000 against an aggregate debt of
$11,250,000. Ashbel Welch is the president of
y5ea22r5.,000
powerful corporation, and receives an annual
salary P°aryowf
slo,ooo.moTrehethEarniefoirttahileroAadprirleocef theived last
preceding The work of laying the track on the Union Pa-
April
Pa-
cific Railroad in Nebraska, suspended in conse-
quence of the recent floods, has been re-commenced,
and trains are now running regularly to the North
Platte. It is intended to go on with the grading
of the road at the rate of 'two miles a day. The
Government Commissioners have accepted the
seventh section of the Kansas branch of the Pacific
Railroad, which extends to Salina, Kansas, fifty
miles north of Fort Riley, and passenger and
freight trains have commenced running to that
point.
The Western and Worcester Railroad Consolida-
tion Bill and the Hoosiac Tunnel have lately occu-
pied the attention of the Massachussets Legislature.
The Railroad Consolidation Bill has passed to a
third reading in the upper branch by a vote of 26
to 6, but it has been considerably amended since it
came from the House, and, whereas it was once
acceptable to the railroad
companies,b it is likely to
be made distasteful to their
conditions tacked on. The y the innumerable
appropriation for the
Iloosiac Tunnel has been further discussed without
action, and has been strongly
P °
Governor Crapo of Michigan
of railroad aid, which was lobbiedovetoed
p stehdrobusy,
through the
X 24,000,000
of Bird.
Lo oe.
gtilature. 0