The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-16 00:00:00

COMMER,CIAL INTELLIGENCE.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)

The International Financial Society has not
been without its mistakes. The advance made to
the Northampton and Banbury Railway is one of
the most glaring, and does not say much in
favour of that care, prudence, and knowledge
which every good man of business ought to pos-
sess ; it shows that the directors have-not always
time sufficiently to examine for themselves the
value of the security given before advancing a
portion of the capital of the company. However,
the company has at its head a chairman of no or-
dinary capacity and foresight. The speech he
made on opening the annual meeting, held on
the 25th of January, and the answers he made to
questions put in the room, give a candid and fair
estimate of the value of the securities held by
that society. The balance sheet shows that
£369,738, 16s. 10d. is the amount of advances
made upon securities ; a fair proportion, consider-
ing the capital paid up, £750,000.
The greatest speculation is that 'of the
Metropolitan Sewage Scheme, which will absorb
£llO,OOO of the company's capital. It is in-
tended to carry the works a distance of
31 miles—an ample tract of country in which
experiments are being made to prove its value.
Sewage, the wash out of London, when applied
to agriculture, must be very valuable. The chair-
man explained that the results of one of these ex-
periments proved that, at the end of the twelve
months, the balance sheet of the experimental farm
would show a capital outlay of £9,500, and esti-
mated returns which would be sufficient, after
paying a penny a ton for the sewage employed,
to leave a profit of some £2,500, or more than two
hundred per cent. upon the price paid for the
sewage. This is a most wonderful statement,
and one, perhaps, not readily believed by the ma-
jority of farmers and country gentlemen. If
true, it proves the value of London sewage. The
public have not as yet examined this affair ; the
shares are in the hands of the society and of the
eminent firm so well acquainted with the value of
guano, which, when first brought into notice in
this country, was received with as great a suspi-
cion as the sewage of London. There can be no
doubt of the value of London sewage for agricul-
tural purposes ; tfie best meadow in every village
is the one so placed that it can receive the wash
out of the village ; a meadow so situated will
always command the highest price, an excep-
tional price, when brought to the hammer. The
public will have full time to consider this valua-
ble investment when reports of the experiments
now making are published. It is the intention of
the company to carry their work at first. some
forty-four miles through the country before con-
tinuing them to the outlet into the sea on
the eastern coast. Throughout this distance the
sewage will be available for the lend, the farmers
will soon learn its value, and the result will be
large dividends. This manure is particularly ;fit
for the -growth of grass crops, however poor the
land ; even a gravelly soil (but the gravel must be
first loosened three feet deep) will become first-
rate meadow land under its powerful fertilizing
qualities, and it will bring the land into such
a high state of richness as, at the end of three,
four, or more years will enable the farmer to
break up the land, should it lie high and dry, so
that it may take a heavy crop of oats, and by one
single deep tillage in November or December,
receive he benefit of frost.. The farmer must
sow the seed on the furrows, harrow both for-
wards and backwards, and repeat the same
crossways, taking care skilfully to make cross
furrows to carry off rain water. The oat
crop may be succeeded by another oat crop, or
by corn or barley, and even the third year a

good grain crop may be expected. Every
farmer knows the profit of a grain crop produced
without any expense for manure. Weeds, how-
ever, must be taken into account. Some soils are
so prolific in weeds, that after the oat crop a
hoed crop may be necessary. After the second
or third year the land can be put back to grass,
and the second year it will be in the same state
of richness by means of the sewage as before the
grain crops. The share capital of the sewage
company is represented by £2,000,000. It is pro-
oposed to commence with £1,000,000, of which
'say one-half belongs to the International Society.
This will 'easily be raised by calls, which will be
readily paid when the value of the sewage is
known. On the other hand, every intelligent
landowner possessing property on the line of the
works ought to become a shareholder in the coin-
"pany. His land must become double in value wher-
ever the sewage is carried; he will, therefore, do well
to lose no time in becoming a promoter of this un-
dertaking, and in exerting his influence to get the
company to construct their works and carry them
through his farms. There can be no doubt his re-
turns will be double at the end of the first year.
When his neighbours see his .fine crops they will
regret that they did not apply in time to secure
the first contract. Those who come second will
have to pay the extra expense of works to bring
the sewage upon their land, and in time applica-
tions will be so numerous that not one drop of
this rich sewage-water will reach the sea, and this
sewage scheme, so much dreaded, like guano of
old, by the International Finance shareholders,
shall become their brightest jewel. The Credit
Foncier of England is one of those puzzles that
would require a Chinaman's head to solve. In
their last report issued to the shareholders alist of
the securitiesheld by the company is printed in large
letters, with just enough information to make one
wish for, more ; but attempt to obtain it, and
you will find yourself in a circle out of which
there is no escape. Should you take the trouble to
call at the Varna Railway office to ask for the last
report, the question will be met by another ques-
tion—Are you a shareholder? No. Then you
cannot have a report. So no kind of information
can be obtained ; it must be left to time to solve
the question of the value of the securities.
Judging by the quotations in the Stock Ex-
change list, they are valueless, and, therefore, it
is not surprising that these Credit Foncier of
England shares are at such a heavy discount.
Great Luxemburg! The gross receipts far:the half
year to 31st December are £147,218, against
£155,282 in the same half of 1865, and £125,991
in 1864—the net earnings being respectively
67,987, £80,202, and £69,060. After deduct-
ing £35,589 for interest and the reimbursement
of obligations, and £1,595 for the Ourthe line,
there remains £30,122, or six shillings per share,
for the shareholders. So the obligations appear
secure, since those of £4 sell for £3 10s., and
give 5 per cent. ; they yield at the present price
a little under 51 per cent. ; and, taking the
yearly drawing into account, when the shares are
paid off at £5, these obligations are not a bad in-
vestment. It has been calculated that the aver-
age gives one share drawn in 300 ; so, taking
that into account, or a bonus of £1 10s., these
obligations pay fully 54 per cent.

The debate in the House of Commons, on the
motion made by Mr. Crawford, the member for the
City, on the subject of railway debentures, is most
interesting. Ile showed that " the capital em-
barked in -railways in the United Kingdom on
the 31st December, 1865, was £455,000,000.
Of that sum £357,000,000 consisted of share
capital, and £98,000,000 of debenture and other
loans. The number of miles over which these
railways extended was 13,289, and the number
of passengers carried in 1865 amounted to
252,000,000, or 800,000 a day. The whole sum
taken for passengers and goods during the year
1865 was no less than £36,000,000:" It may be
possible that Parliament, by taking advantage of
the present distress of some of the railway compa-
nies, mayinduce them to accept a scheme which
in time, and without risk to the country, may
pay off a portion of the National Debt. But the
question to be studied is, whether the railway
companies have not a remedy in their own
hands without placing themselves under any Par-
liamentary obligation. The plan proposed for
paying future dividends by debenture warrants at
4 per cent., is not a bad one ; these war-
rants would sell say at 10 per cent. discount,
but the price of stock would increase in proportion,