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

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

EAST INDIAN.

Tile half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the London Tavern ; Mr. R.
W. Crawfurd, M.P., in the chair.

Mr. Noad, the managing director, having read the
notice convening the meeting, the report, an ab-
stract of which has appeared in The Sun, was taken
as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
repo-it, said the directors met them on that occasion
under circumstances which justified them in congra-
. Wilting the shareholders ou the prosperous condi-
tion of the company's affairs. They had been con-
gratulated in the report that the last of their great
bridges over the Jumna had been completed, and
also that the main line in accordance with the con-
tract had been finished, so that a passenger in Cal-
cutta could cross the river to their present terminus
at Howrah, and by one of their trains proceed direct
to Delhi, in the same carriage, the whole distance.
They would see by the statement of accounts after
paying all claims forintereston capital to 30th June
last there remained surplus profits of £50,000 above
the usual dividend. A similar sum of surplus profits
also belonged to the Government in return for inte-
rest paid to the company during construction. lie
cculd not say what the profit would be during the
current half-year, but he thought their profits would
increase in succeeding half-years. The number of
passengers carried in the past half-year was less than
that foe the corresponding half of last year. He did
not know the pause, but supposed they travelled
longer distances ; the goods traffic had shown a
small increase of 10,000 on 391,000 tons carried in
the corresponding, half-year. The gross receipts for
passengers and goods during the past half-year
showed an increase of £245,866, of which £152,131
was net receipts, frem which they had deducted

the large increase in the company's receipts to the
completion and opening of the great bridge over
the Jumna at Allahabad. (Hear.) This was a sa-
tisfactory result, as it showed they were doing a
larger business between the upper provinces and Cal-
cutta owing to the improved facilities afforded by
the completion of the bridge in the conveyance of
produce to a port of shipment, and also indicated the
future stability of traffic on the railway. The per-
manent way and works had been efficiently main-
tained at a cost of 84d. per train mile, as against
10fd. for the corresponding half of last year. The
whole of the working charges had been carefully
checked, and the result was they did not exceed 41}
per cent. of thegross traffic receipts, leaving 58i per
cent, as profit on the working. He had compared
the items of their working expenses with those given
in the Board of Trade return for 1865 of all the
railways in England, which amounted to 48 per
cent. of the receipts. He had made a comparison of
the working expenses on seven principal railways
having their termini in the metropolis, by which he
found that the East Indian line was worked-10 per
cent. cheaper. It was true the latter company was
not exposed to competition ; it was also free from
the items of rates and taxes, Government duty, and
parliamentary expenses, which amounted to 4.88 per
cent. ; happily they had no charge of that kind.
They had written off £9,166 on account of a bad
debt, and they had some slight loss from steam fer-
ries. They had also a charge for the Audit Depart-
ment in Calcutta, which exercised a most efficient
control and check on the expenditure. This depart-
ment more than amply repaid them the cost of it by
the services it rendered to the company. When he

met the proprietors in June last he ventured to
speak with confidence that the surplus profit would

be about £50,000 ; that statement went abroad, and

the result proved it was correct. Their excellent
friends the Great Indian Peninsular Railway Com-
pany announced at their general meeting in October
last that they were the first of the railway compa-
nies in India to divide surplus profits over the 5 per
cent. guarantee, but they would see that this com-
pany had also surplus profits to divide for the same
half-year. The sum set aside to meet a bad debt
bad been necessitated from giving credit to a transit
association company for au amount beyond the sup-
posed value of the security deposit2d with the rail-
way company, and until that was realised they
could not tell the actual amount of the bad debt. lle
then referred to the Nulhattee line belonging to the
Indian. Branch Railway Company. It was on a
different gauge to the East Indian Railway, and
would require to be reconstructed before they could
work it with their engines and carriages. A great
outcry in India had been made last year that the
East Indian Railway Company had not sufficient

rolling stock to work the traffic, but on examina-
tion, and on a comparison with other lines, it was
found to be amply provided with locomotive and
carrying stock. Had the additional rolling stock
been provided that some persons asserted was ne-
cessary to work the line, it would have cost £750,000,
and the interest upon it would have absorbed the
whole of the surplus profit. It was the duty of the
directors to keep a check on the expenditure of capi-
tal, and they had done so. They had made arrange-

-
meats for the gradual supply of 225 additional loco-

motives on reasonable terms, and they had already
sent out 24 of them. There had been difficulties in
diverting the traffic from the ordinary routes and in
making arrangements for its conveyance by the rail-
way, but those difficulties had been got over to a
great extent, so that he hoped there would be no
complaints under that head in future. Their engi-
neer-in-chief for the Bengal division, Mr. Power,
had called attention to the necessity of a bridge
over the Hooghly at Calcutta to the company's ter-
minus at llowrah ; his views on that matter were
given iu his report to the directors, and should be
read and carefully weighed by the shareholders.
About the end of June last two of the company's
bridges had been carried away by floods, and were
being replaced by bridges having a wider water way,
so as to provide against such contingencies in future.
The railway itself was a very great work ; it passed
through densely-populated districts, had a great
traffic, was worked economically, and was, in fact,
iu a position that 99 companies in 100 might envy.
In the course of time he believed the company would
have very considerable dividends. They would be
allowed in future to charge as much as other compa-
nies for the conveyance of materials over the railway,
and also be allowed interest at 5 per cent. per annum
on their monthly balances in the Treasury of Bengal.
(Hear, hear.) Allowing 42 per cent. for working
expenses, these balances would amount to about
i 120,000 a month, which would be a consideration,
and add to their revenues. Against which there
would be the interest on the increasing amount of
capital expenditure. He then adverted to the re-
moval of the offices to Nicholas-lane, the present '
offices in Alderman's-walk being required for a new
railway. The death of their lamented colleague,
Capt. Nairae, who had never been absent from the
Board meetings of the company for upwards of 20
years, had caused a vacancy at the Board, which
they had filled by the election of Mr. Noad as ma-
naging director, in acknowledgment of his valuable
services to the company during 22 years. (Hear.)
Mr. J. BEAUMONT seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report.
_ _

Mr. WILSON hoped the directors would give up all
idea of making the bridge across the Hooghly, which,
he said, would cost between £1,000,000 and
£5,000,000.
Mr. FRANKLIN trusted the directors would not
commit the company to any new undertaking with-
out first obtaining the consent of the shareholders.
Ids thought that a smaller bridge about 30 m iles above
C.!alcutta would answer all the purposes of the large
bridge, and enable the company to bring their traffic
into Calcutta over the Eastern Bengal Railway, in
which he was interested.

The CHAIR 3IAN said the directors did not intend to
undertake new works without the sanction of the
shareholders, and never did so. The terms of any
proposed undertaking would be submitted for ap-
proval, and would have a separate capital. He
thought it would not be wise to transfer to another
company 30 miles of their traffic into Calcutta.
Mr. GODFREY said he could understand why
shareholders in the Eastern Bmgal Railway should
oppose the bridge at Calcutta, and recommend one
30 miles from Calcutta, so as to tap the passen-
ger and good's traffic of the East Indian Railway at
that point and bring it over their line. They