The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-07 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN RAILWAY COMPANY.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held this morning at the City Terminus Hotel,
Cannon-street, Mr. Parsons in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said that they had all had the
report circulated amongst them, and therefore he
would move that the seal of the company be attached
to the new shares, and also that the report be
adopted. They were in a peculiar position. Many
causes which resulted in the depression of receipts
and traffic were not incident to them. They
were merely a steam omnibus company, if he
might use the expression, and their traffic was
clearly increasing. They as a company did not
enter into engagements with other companies which
were antagonistic to some of their neighbours. In
policy, in finance, and in traffic they were excep-
tional to any other company, and.in their agree-
ment with the Midland Railway there were no
points which, had it been necessary, they would not
have granted to the Great Northern, or any
other line. He had perhaps at the last meet-
ing overlooked some circumstances which would
affect the amount of receipts on the line,
such as the nature of the weather ; when it was fine
a great number of ladies used the line, but when it
was wet their passengers fell off. He might have
been in some difficulty in the matter had it not been
for the economy exercised by the officials employed
by the company, and he must give them great
credit for their exertions. The chairman then went
into a statement of the particular financial accounts
in the report, and congratulatei the shareholders
on the arrangements which had enabled the com-
pany to pay 6 or 7 per cent. He alluded to a
very singular accident which had occurred at
Farringdon-street Station. He did not know
whether they understood the arrangement on that
line. It was this—that one station should signal

that the line was clear before a train
was allowed to depart from an adjoining
station. Owing, however, to the dense fog, r.
collision did take place, and they lost £1,750 by it.
He trusted that it would not occur again. They
now proposed to pay an amount of 5 per cent. on
the preference stock, and 7 per cent. on the conso-
lidated. Bat, leaving finance matters, he would
proceed to the undertakings of the railway, such as
the Hammersmith Extension, and the Metropolitan
and St. John's Wood Railway.
At the conclusion of certain questions which had
been addressed to the chairman, the report was
adopted, and a dividend of 5 per cent. per annum
on the preference and 7 per cent. on the consoli-
dated stock was declared.

The other portions of the report, relating to the
Midland and other railway company's, were
adopted.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKE7—This Day

Market opens steadily at yesterday's rates. Sales
probably 10,000 or 12,000 bales.

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Faris is about at par, and
the short exchange on London is 25.17} per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
i'ra. 104 d. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
at about tha Fame price in Paris aad London.
the course of exchange at New York on London for bills
at 60 days' sight is about 110 per cent. At this rate there
is a profit on the importation of gold from the United States.

Tin REFORM BlLL.—Yesterday a requisition to
the Lord Mayor to convene a public meeting of the citizens
of London to petition Parliament against the Lords'
Amendments of the Reform Bill was in course of signa-
ture. The movement has been set on foot by the Liberal
Registration Association in the city.
A GALLANT ACT.—A few days ago the billyboy
Sutcliffe, of Harwich, was stranded about a mile to the
southward of Cromer, on the Norfolk coast, in a north-
east gale and a very heavy sea which bad suddenly
sprung up. The lifeboat of the National Lifeboat In-
stitution on that station was in a dismantled state at
the time, as she was in course of being painted, and con-
sequently some delay occurred before she was fit to bo
launched. Meanwhile, nearly all the fishermen and
boatmen of the place had gone to the scone of the wreck,
ith the view of rendering assistance in saving the
crow by means of the rocket apparatus or otherwise,
and when the lifeboat was ready to be launched
it was discovered that there was not a sufficient
number of boatmen to man her, and some difficulty was
therefore experienced in forming a crew. However, fore-
most amongst those who volunteered to go off in the life-
boat was the Hon. Auberou Herbert, brother cf Lord
Carnarvon. As soon as the boat was lama:hal she was
struck by a heavy sea, which broke four of her oars, and
drove her nearly broadside on to the beach; some of the
crew thereupon jumped out, squared the boat, and
succeeded in getting her clear of the broken water. After
a long pull through a very heavy sea the lifeboat arrived
abreast of the wreck, but by that time the crew had been
saved by rocket apparatus. The gallant services of Mr.
Herbert aro to be brought under the notice of the
National Lifeboat institution at its next meeting.

A meeting of the Trades' Unions Commissioners
was held yesterday, at 1, Park-prospect, Great Queen-
street, Westminster. Present:—The Eight Hon Sir W.
Erie (chairman), the Earl of Lichfield, Lord Elcho, M.P.,
Mr. Thomas Hughes, M.P., and Mr. William Mathews.
Mr. J. IL Patteson, secretary to the commission, was also
present.