The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-12 00:00:00

AUGUST 12, 185 g:

s, N._

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT NORTHERN.

The half-yearly report of the directors of this company
states that the capital expended to 31st December, 1857,
was £11,298,655 lls. 6c1.; from January to June, 1858,
£61,789 12s. 10d.; total expended on capital account,
£11,360,445 4s. 41.; balance unexpended, £83,958 15e. Bd.
The following were the chief items of expenditure upon
construction account during the half-year :-Works fir the
accommodation of the Midland Company's traffic at King's-
cross, £17,847 Is.; moiety of cost of Leeds Station Junction
line, purchased from North-Eastern Company, £10,605 7s.
51; granary and station works at Leeds, £3,166 Os. 5t1.;
extension of locomotive works at Peterboro', £4,909 185.8 d.;
additions to stations, &c., including new curse at Belford,
additional platform at King's-cross, station bridge at Don-
caster, bridge over Witham at Lincoln, &c., £6,042 ls. 11d.
It has also been necessary to provide additional tools and
machinery for the company's workshops to the amount cf
£2,042 13s. 10d., and to purchase rolling stock, consisting
of fit.gt and second class carriages, and of luggige and
other waggons, at the cost of £5,::34 19s. 2,1. and
£3,320 19S. 11d. respectively. The gross receipts for
the half-year, 29 shown by the revenue account,
were £587,027 17s. 7d.; for the corresponding period
in 1857, £577,631 13s. 6d.; increase in 1858, £9,306 4e. ld.;
and total expenditure for the half-year was £327,193 lls.
id.; for the corresponding period in 1857, £2296,955105.
Bd.: shoeing an increase in the expenditure of £30,238
*Os. 91 The balance available, effer payment of working
expens-s, is £259,834 6s. 2d. ; to which must be added-as
seown in the net revenue account-balance from the last
half-year, £319 60. Li.% ' • Royston and Ilitchin rent due
from Eastern Counties Company, £8,400; balence of the
Redpath account,' £4,248 9s. Bd.; tote! net revenue,
£272,802 2s. 2d. For the half-year ended 39th June the
sum was £289,076 2s. 10d.; the net revenue account is
therefore less than in June, 1857, by £16,274 Os. 8,1. Of the
above sum of £272,802 2s. 2d. the rent and fixed charges
absorb £107,498 17s. Id., the preference dividends re-
nuire £83,983, the net balance being £81,320 Ee. Id.
This amount will yield a dividend at the rate of £3 7s. 6-i.
per cent. per annum upon the original stock; and £3 7s.
6d. towards £6 per cent. for the year to the holders of B
stock. The directors therefore recommend that these divi-
dends be declared. The general depression of the mercan-
tile and manufacturing interests has seriously affected the
traffic of all railways; and but for the new traffic ob-
tained to and from Manchester, the amount received upon
the Great Northern Railway would have been much less than
in the first half of 1857; even the local traffic of the agricultu-
ral districts (not subject to competition) suffered; 36,500 fewer
local passengers having been carried, than in the corres-
ponding half-year of 1857. The expense of working the
Manchester traffic has of course been considerable; but the
directors believe that the money has been well spent in in-
troducing to the trading and manufacturing public the faci-
lities an advantages of the Great Northern route
between London and Lancashire. The Manchester and
Sheffield and Great Northern Traffic Bill was strenuously
opposed by the London and North-Western Company, in the
committee of the House of Commons, but after a contest of
21 days the committee unanimously passed the bill, having
declared that the agreement of 1854, made between the
London and North-Western and the Manchester and
Sheffield Companies, by which traffic between London and
Manchester by the Great Northern route was obstructed,
was ultra vires, and at variance with public policy. In the
committee of the House of Lords the bill wre again opposed
by the London and North Western Company, but their
lordships unanimously reported in its favour, without al-
lowing counsel for the promoters to reply to the speech
and caw on behalf of the opponents. The bill re-
ceived overwhelming support by witnesses from
several parts of Lancashire and the Eastern Coun-
ties, rs also from several of the most opulent mer-
cantile firms in London connected with Manchester.
The passing of this bill must convince the proprietors of the
London and North-Western Railway that they can no
longer he allowed to monopolise the entire London and
Lancashire traffic. Parliament has thereby declared that
the Great Northern and Manchester and Sheffield Com-
panies were lay justified in establishing a second through
route between London and the Eastern Counties and Lan-
cashire, as suggested by Lord Dalhousie in his report on
railways in 1845. The general traffic of the Great Northern
Company was for several months subject to most severe
competition ; and the directors feel called upon to state
that they made several ineffectual attempts to put'an end to
the very low rates which prevailed between London and
Lancashire. On the 7th April last they and the Man-
chester and Sheffield directors offered to adopt much higher
rates than were then current between London and Man-
chester and other places, and made a public announce-
ment to that effect; but they declined to restore them
to the former high sca'e chalked by the London ant North-
Western. Their offer having been refused by the L-ndon
and North-Western, fens and rates remained very low
until the 16th of June, when it was intimated to the
ditectots that if they would adverli.e the tares which they
had proposed on the of April the Lsndon and North-
Western would follow them. This was immediately done,
and on the 21st of June the farce and rates proposed by the
Great Northern Company in April for Liverpool and Man-
chester were adopted by both routes, and remain so up to
this time. The proprietors will remember that under the
agreement with tue Manchester and Sheffield Company that
company is entitled 101: aeive out oftiseeernings at icing ;:om
through traffic such a sum ea would, wi.h t heir other receipts,
make up the gross sum of £IO,OU per week, subject to being
repaid when their gross receipts exceed £ll,OOO per week.
The Great Northern have accordingly advanced £25,000 on
account to the Manchester and S!tetlield Company, in respect
of the earnings for the year 18,73. The direct route from
London to Huddersfield being about 20 wiles nearer by the
Great Northern route, rid Sheffield and Penistone,
than by the London and North-Western route, and
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company being under
agreement with the London and North-Western Com-
pany to afford the public no benefit from this shorter
communication, the directors deemed it prudent to
petition Parliament for the insertion of throt ;It booking and
forwarding c'ausc • to be inserted in the le!ll for the amalga-
mation of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and Ea-t Lanca-
shire railways. The committee of the House of Commons
inserted these clauses, which would have afforded reasonable
facililies to the Great Northern traffic for Huddersfield and
the we,t, of Yorskshire. The bill, rs thus nmerded, was;
adopted by its promoters"; bit the amnlgamation was re-
jected by the House of Lords, in consequence of the
opposition of other parles, and the clauses were conse-
quently lost. It is evident, however, that the Legislature
will so in put an end to all combinations betwe encom-
panics limiting or restricting the f..ee use of r2ilway com-
munication; and the directors therefore expect Vat the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company will adopt the clear in-
tention of Parliament by acting upon the principle of the
clauses inserted in the bill. The Hertford and Welwyn

Railway was opened for traffic
arrange-
ments have been made for a system of through bookkg with
that company and with the Eastern Counties Com pany, to and
from Victoria Docks, Blackwell, and other places beyond
Hertford. The Hertford and Welwyn, and Lnton, Dunstable
and Welwyn Rvilway Companies, promoted an act in this
session of Parliament for the purpose of uniting the two
undertakings, and they have been incorporated into one
company, under the title of The Hertford, Luton, and
Dunstable Railway.' fhe directors obtained the insertion
of a provision in the act binding the united companies to
offer facilities for the carriage of traffic between London and
any place to which the united rp,lways form the shortest
or most direct route, and to admit the Great Northern
Company to use the amalgamated lines on equal terms
witb the Erstern Counties Company. The Gladstone
aw*d for the division of all receipts from traffic
between London and several towns is Yorashire, &c., which
was renewed in 1853, for fourteen years, was cancelled in
July, 1858, by notice from the London and North-Western
Company; but the directors 8111 hope that competition at
inadequate fares and rates may b?, avoided. Tim Midland
Railway Company are now running passenger trains daily
in and out of King's-croLa Station, and the buildings for
their goods business r"e nearly completed. The directors
regret that circumstances occurred in the caurse of last
winter which rendered it desirable to dispense with the
services of Mr. J. R. Mowatt, as secretary. Mr. Henry
Oakley, formerly assistant-secretary, and lately the accoun-
tant, has been appointed secretary."

SOUTII YORKSHIRE.
The report of the directors of this company states "That the
accounts for the half-3 ear ending the 30th of June last ex-
hibit a gross income of £69,896 earned in connection with
the railway and navigation, at a total expenditure of
£30,233, leaving a balance of £39,533, which, added to
£733 from the 31st of December, 1857, makes a total of
£40,266. From this is deducted £23,139 for interest on
loans and rent, leaving a balance of £17,127. Oct of this is
deducted the dividend for preference shares, leaving
a dividend at the rate of 2i per cent. per annum
on the ordinary capital, and a balance of £216. The
receipts for the past half-year show an increase of
£2,520, and the expenses a decrerse of £543, as
compared with those of the corresponding period of
1857. The quantity of coal carried for the half-year
ending June last was 468,382 tons, against 433,083 in the
same period of 1857, showing an increase of 34,899 tons.
The export trade from Grimsby amounted to 50,867 tons,
against 40,910 tons at the corresponding period of 1857,
showing an increase of 9,957 tons. The report states that
" The past half-year has been one of very severe depres-
sion upon the trade and commerce of the country. Every
railway in the kingdom bas suffered severely from these
circumstances, and it was not to be expected that this un-
dertaking would escape. Accordingly it hrs been found
that the receipts from the canals hare been reduced In the
half-year to the extent of £3,311 ; and the merchandise
traffic on the railway hcs elso fallen off £514. It is matter
of congratulation, however, that the mineral traffic, which
is the staple trade of the railway, has not only not been
maintained, but has shown an increase of tonnage for the
half-year of nearly 05,0(.3 tons as compered with the cor-
responding half °first year. In consequence of the advance
of the rates, together with the increased tonnage carried,
the gross receipts from the mineral traffic have been about
£5,000 in excess of the corresponding period of last year,
and this would have afforded an additional 1 per cent. divi-
dend on the ordinary share capital, bad not the loss in the
canal receipts, from the depm Zion of trade, occurred, and
the interest on the debenture debt been increased."

The capital account shows that £2,223,920 had been re-
ceived and £2,164,878 expended, leaving a balance of
£59,041.

DUBLIN AND DROGHEDA.
The directors intend to declare a dividend for the past
half-year of 41- per cent.

GREAT SOUTHERN AND WESTERN.
The usual abstract of accounts shows the net surplus
revenue for the half-year to be £81,511 O. Bd., out of which
the directors recommend that a dividend at the rate of 5
per cent. per annum be paid to the proprietors of the con-
solidated stock, which will leave a balance of £7,570 115. 6J.
to be carried to the credit of the next half-year's accqunt.

pany. The dividend account shows the income for the half
year to be £4,698 19s. 9d., and an expenditure of £1,656
55. 3d., leaving a balance of £3,032 14s. 61, applicable to
payment of dividend for the half year ending 31st July, 1858.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, the report was agreed
to.

CORK AND BANDON.
The directors declare the dividend in the following
terms :—" The revenue account, made up to the 30th June
last, after providing for all expenses, outstanding accounts,
interest, new laying of rails and sleepers, and painting the
entire rolling sleek, &c., shows a sarplu.N of £1,595 3s. scl.
available for dividend on the No. 1 preference shares, at 5i
per cent., leaving the sum of £275 3s. sd. to be carried to
next half-year's account.