The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-01 00:00:00

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER.

The committee of B and C shareholders of the
Metropolitan Extension undertaking of this company
state in their report that the first point to which
they gave their attention was the actual amount of
cash realised' out of the various amounts of capital
authorised by Parliament to be charged on the me-
tropolitan section, which was found (including
£748,883 103. transferred from the common fund
capital account, and £200,000 received from the
London rand South-Western Railway Company)
to amount to £4,612,318, and that the actual
cash payments were £4,329,019 ; leaving a balance
of £283,229, exclusive of £128,074 which the com-
mittee claim to have been improperly debited to
the Metropolitan Extensions. The claims for land
unpaid for on the Metropolitan Extensions
were £124,936, and for costs £67,114, together
£192,050; which, had they been paid, would still
have left a balance of £91,248 in favour of the
Metropolitan Extensions. The money received for
the Metropolitan Extensions was, by the several
Acts of Parliament, directed to be applied only for
metropolitan extensions ; and the committee there-
fore found that it had been misapplied to the ex-
tent of £283,229. The balance of £58,902, due
for metropolitan traffic to the 30th of June last,
was also retained by the late directors, or misap-
plied by them, instead of being made available for
the debenture interest then due, and the committee
anxiously await the adjustment of this balance. To
preclude a repetition of wrongs and for the protec-
tion of the Metropolitan Extensions, the committee
had suggested for the consideration of the directors
that provision should be made by the bill now
pending in Parliament :
" That these Metropolitan Extensions shall be distinctly
and effectually represented at the Board. That the liabili-
ties of each section shall be distinctly confined to such
section. That the liability to interest on any money bor-
rowed shall be confined to the money actually expended
on each section, That the through tolls and short traffic
tolls shall be rearranged in Parliament; these tolls having
originally been fixed on an estimated outlay of £2,200,000,
whereas the outlay sanctioned by Parliament has been
£5,733,000. That the cash duo to the Metropolitan Ex-
tensions shall be recognised by the pending bill as a debt
due to the Metropolitan Extensions, ',and shall be secured
accorlingly ; and that such other provisions shall be in-
troduced in the-bill now pending as the counsel for the
committee shall consider necessary."

The Committee stated that they had 'received the
distinct assurance of the Board of their concurrence
in those views that the Metropolitan Extensions
should be protected against any greater amount of
liability than for the amount expended on or for
the purposes of the Metropolitan Extensions. The
Committee felt convinced that it was to the in-
terest of the B and C shareholders that the Board
of Directors should be supported in every
legitimate way ; that should the proposal of the
directors be defeated, then that the deben-
ture and shareholders in the Metropolitan
Extensions should apply to Parliament for authority
to raise by preference, stock a sufficient amount of
money to discharge the liabilities of the Metropoli-
tan Extensions, and for the severance of the Metro-
politan lines from the general undertaking, on the
ground of the unparliamentary and reckless issue of
their capital, the misapplication of their moneys, the
mismanagement of their affairs, and the inability of
the general undertaking effectually to work the line,
giving to the general undertaking running powers
into London, but subject thereto, authorising the
Metropolitan Extensions to enter into a working
agreement with the Great Northern, the South-
Western, the Great Western, the Midland, and the
Metropolitan for the user of the Metropolitan lines,
and to which the Brighton Company might also be
admitted. The Committee impressed upon the B
and C shareholders that the present net earnings of
the Metropolitan lines were now equal to paying 4
per cent. on all the debentures charged on the
Metropolitan section ; that they were induced to
subscribe under false representations, and that
£2,075,860 of the shareholders' capital was absorbed
in rebates. The Committee, after considering the
claims of B and C shareholders against illessrs. Pcto
for the interest accrued on such shares to the 31st
of December last, had thought it their duty to pro-
ceed against Messrs. Peto, and proceedings had been
instituted accordingly.
The Committee appointed by the main line share-
holders (Beckenham to Dover) have also just issued
their report. It states that the late board of directors
and the alleged agents had involved the main line by
improper issue of capital, unauthorised expenditure,
and likewise in serious claims, 'for which the share-
holders could not be held responsible. The Kent
Coast and Sevenoaks agreement for working leases
did not appear to have been properly entered into.
The Committee were of opinion that, but for the
new engagements contracted by the late directors
in and subsequently to the year 1860, the original
shareholders might at the present time have been in
the receipt of a satisfactory dividend. The commit-
tee believed that much might be altered and ad-
justed, as the shareholders were not legally bound
to continue some of the existing arrangements.
The committee could not discover any parliamen-
tary sanction or authority for the issue of some of
the capital in the manner specified in the report of
the late Committee of Investigation, and state that
some of the recitals in the Acts of Parliament for
obtainingcapital powers werepositively untrue. The
committee had already taken steps towards the
preparation and introduction of a bill into Parlia-
ment to authorise certain necessary changes, and for
placing the management of the main line under the
control of the shareholders. The committee be-
lieved it would be entirely in the interest of the
various sections secured upon the main line to assist
them in their efforts, and that it was especially so of
the debenture holders secured upon any portion of
the main line. In the contemplated bill in Parlia-
ment provision was intended to be made for autho-
rising a full inquiry into the past management of
the company, and for adjusting the rights of the
Metropolitan Extension and other sections in a satis-
factory and expeditious manner, and also to provide
for raising the means for completing the unfinished
parts of the undertaking. The committee agreed
with the directors of the company in thinking that
each section of the undertaking could best regard