The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-28 00:00:00

Railway and other Companies.

ANGLO-AMERICAN TELEGRAPH (LIMITED).

The report of the directors heartily congratulates
the proprietors on the result of the great enterprise
in which their capital had been embarked. The
company was constituted on the 2d of March, 1866,
with an authorised capital of £600,000. The con-
tract entered into with the Telegraph Construction
and Maintenance Company was for a payment of
£500,000, with further payments of £lOO,OOO con-
tingent on the successful completion of the cable of
1866, and of £137,140 in ordinary shares of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company, contingent on the
recovery and completion of the cable of 1865, the
contractors engaging to manufacture and Ils'3 their
best efforts to lay the cable of 1866, and to recover
and complete that of 1865, then broken and vary
generally thought, to be irrevoc i'oly lost at a depth
of more than two miles beneath the surface of
the Atlantic. The new cable with the requsite
machinery having been placed in the Great Eastern
steamship, she left the Thames on the 30th of
June, the splice with the Irish shore end was
effected on the 13th of July, when the expedition
proceeded across the Atlantic, and after a pros-
perous voyage landed the cable at Heart's Content,
Newfoundland, on the evening of the 27th of July.
On the 28th of July it was opened for traffic. On
the 9th of August the Great Eastern left New-
foundland to seek the lost cable of 1865, and on
the 2d of September, after great labour and
numerous disappointments, it was recovered, and
the splice having been effected, that cable was also
completed, and was landed at Heart's Content on
the Bth of September. Both cables proved, on
examination, to be, as they still were, perfect in all
respects, and the directors had every reason to
think that they would continue so. The contract
entered into with the Telegraph Construction
and Maintenance Company had been fulfilled to their
entire satisfaction. The organisation of the expedi-
tion was excellent ; every contingency was foreseen
and provided for with skill and in a spirit of libe-
rality which left the directors nothing to desire.
Their acknowledgments were also eminently due to
the able men employed on shore and afloat, by
whom the cable of 1866 was manufactured and laid,
and the cable of 1865 recovered and successfully
completed. The power of the cable to transmit in-
telligeace had far exceeded the most sanguine anti-
cipation ; in the prospectus it was assumed, for the
purpose of estimating the probable earnings, at from
25 to 40 letters per minute, whereas, practically, 100
letters have been transmitted through each cable in
a single minute ; this result had been obtained with-
out resorting to appliances which might be availed
of if necessary. At present the capacity of the cable
was limited by the power of the human eye and brain
to follow and read the transmitted signs. The tele-
graph communication beyond heart's Content, espe-
cially through the uninhabited portion of Newfound-
land and across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was found
to be very defective ; considerable improvement had
already been effected, and negotiations were now in
progress for the laying, by the New York and New-
foundland Telegraph Company, of a submarine
cable between Boston and Placentia Bay, thus leav-
ing only about 70 miles of land line between that
point and the terminus of the Atlantic cable at
Heart's Content. Arrangements had been concluded
with the Electric and Magnetic Telegraph Com-
panies, by which separate and independent wires be-
tween Valentia and London would be devoted ex-
clusively to Atlantic business, and be worked by the
staff of this company messages would pass without
repetition and instantaneously between London and
Valeutia, and unity of management and undivided
responsibility between London and Newfoundland
would be secured. The Board, in the exercise of
the power conferred on them by the Articles of
Association, had appointed Mr. Cyrus W. Field a
director of the company. The profits of the com-
pany since the opening of the line, on the 28th
of July, having been at a rate greater than 25 per
cent. per annum on the capital of the company, the
directors had issued warrants, payable on and after
the 29th of January, for a dividend ou account of
£1 per share, or 10 per cent. on the subscribed
capital. In the accounts to the 31st of December,
no credit was taken for the amounts due to, but not
received by this company, for messages transmitted
prior to that date ; the amount was now ascertained
to be £14,066, which, added to that published in
the accounts, increased the net earnings from
£67,811 to £Bl,BBO for the five months. The capi-
tal account showed that £610,432 had been re-
ceived, including £lO,OOO for premiums on share. 3,
and £608,985 expended, leaving a balance of £1,447.
The revenue account to the 31st of December
showed that £64;342 had been received on account
of rues ages, £.10,417 as rebate on through traffic
fromthe 28th of July to the2Bth of December, £390
for transfer fees, &c., -and £232 interest on deposits
--making together £75,381. The salaries and ex-
penses amounted to £5,484, and interest on mort-
gage bonds to £2,083, leaving a balance of £67,814.