The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

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GREAT EASTERN.
The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the London Tavern ; Mr.
Charles 11. Turner, the chairman, presided.
Mr. Owen, the secretary, having read the notice
convening the meeting, the report, a copy of which
appeared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report and statement of the accounts, said he was
exceedingly glad to see so large an attendance of
proprietors, as it showed they felt an interest in the
affairs of the company. He had to thank the pro-
prietors, both present and absent, for their expres-
sions of confidence, sympathy, and support. The
shareholders had also responded by sending their
proxies, but at the same time he hoped the day
was far distant in that undertaking when proxies
would be used. He regretted that the issue of the
report had been delayed, but they hoped to have
been enabled to announce the final arrangements
for carrying out a measure that would benefit
them. He might an, "" rnr^rf
uue emu part, cr. Luz spew."... flat occasion. They
had suffered in their district from plague, pestilence,
and famine. The cattle plague had caused great
loss to their customers, and injuriously affected
their cattle traffic. The cholera had affected the
pleasure traffic, and the late storm had stopped
their goods traffic for three days, and the passenger
traffic had also been blocked up far a short time by
the snow. They had suffered not only from the
cattle plague, but from the money plague. (Hear.)
While he had warned them of difficulties in the
hour of danger, he could now tell them they might
look forward to satisfactory results. They had
saved in the past half-year £50,000 in working ex-
penses, as compared with the corresponding period.
It was not a saving on necessary expenses, but a
saving of wasteful and extravagant expenditure.
He hoped the shareholders would not consider that
as theultimate result of their saving, but accept it as
an instalment of what they would do. Their thanks
were due to those who so far reduced the expendi-
ture; and they looked forward hopefully to further
reductions when they could be made. If the company's
securities could have been placed at a moderate rate
of interest, it would have made up the £30,000 de-
ficient in paying interest on the preference stock.
To give them some idea of what the ordinary
shareholders might look forward to in the shape of
dividend, he mentioned that in the past half year
they had £30,000, which,'under other circumstances,
would have been available for ordinary dividend, to
which should be added £15,000, the extra high rates
of interest for floating capital they had paid; and
there was also £5,000 for compensation belonging to
previous half years, but only then come into account,
so that there was something like £50,000, which,
under ordinary circumstances, would be available
for dividend to the Great Eastern ordinary share-
holders. With regard to the Whitechapel coal de-
pot, he was happy to say they had money enough
to complete it by July 1 next, when they would have
a large coal trade from the north, via Spalding and
March. Six trains a day would bring a quantity of
coal to that depot that would raise their traffic re-
ceipts £2,000 a week, which would give them a
considerable surplus—say, of 11 per cent. on the old
stock. Then, again, on the import of cattle being
resumed, they would have an addition from that
source, so that they might look hopefully to the
future. The steamboat traffic had also suffered, and
they were anxious to utilise those boats and make
them pay, by running to other ports when necessary.
With regard to the metropolitan lines, they had
done all they could under the circumstances ; those
extensions would add 11 miles to their system, and,
on going into an analysis and comparison with other
metropolitan lines, he found that those lines, when
completed, would be amply remunerative. The com-
pany's metropolitan lines would not only develope
the local traffic, but increase the traffic on the whole
of the company's system. In the locomotive depart-
ment they found the contract system existing, by
which many men got an addition of £9 a month to
their wages, but this had been abolished. Another
matter was the stores' department, in which it was
usual to keep £250,000 worth of stores. The direc-
tors found, by the assistance of Mr. Swartrick, the
general manager, that £lOO,OOO or £150,000 worth
of stores would be ample for everything, and thus
save the interest on the difference, which would be
about £lO,OOO a-year. By not creosoting all the