The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-05 00:00:00

and slay their tens of thousands, the crime of mur-
der on the largest scale must go on unpunished and
unrepented. Yes, unpunished in this world. But
our Heavenly Father bestowing free-will on His
creatures hath declared them :accountable for its
abuse; and, administering justice in mercy to-
wards the numbers deceived or compelled into blood-
guiltiness, He condemns those that have betrayed
or forced them as their accomplices or their instru-
ments to the unspeakable and enduring torments
of hell.

The Sections commenced their meetings soon after
his Lordship concluded.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the London Tavern—Mr. E. W.
Watkin, M.P., in the chair.
Mr. J. M. Grant, the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting,:the report, an abstract
of which has appeared in The Sun,was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said that at the last meeting they were in-
formed that the policy of the board would be to re-
duce the engagements of the company to the least
possible amount, and to have sent to England all
assets that were properly available for interest on
bonds and stocks. The net amount charged to capi-
tal during the half-year was only £4,000 on 1,335
miiesof rail. So far they had acted up to that policy
and avoided increasing obligations. With regard
to the net profit, he was glad to say they were en-
abled to pay the full interest on cash on the first
mortgage bonds and first preference stock. He would
have been delighted if he could have done the same
with respect to the interest on the second and third
class preference bonds. When they looked at the
events of the latter months of the past half-year it
was gratifying that so much progress had been made,
and, notwithstanding the disadvantages they had
had to contend with, the net profit on the working '
amounted to £207,720 for the past half-year. He
might mention that the net receipts for the half-
year ending June, 1860, amounted to £46,003 ; for
the half-year ending June, 1861, to £46,785; for the
half-year ending June, 1862, to £63,436 ; for the
half-year ending June, 1863, to £133,289 ; ending
June, 1864, to £181,791; ending June, 1865, to
£139,602 ; and ending June, 1866, to £207,720. In
the first three half-years they had not included there-
venue of Buffalo and Lake Huron line. Those figures
showed large increase in the net receipts towards the
payment of interest. As to the gross traffic on the line
for the half-year, it showed an increase of £22,549,
or 3.65 per cent., as compared with that of the
corresponding half of 1865. But it was necessary
to explain how that increase was made out. The
increase in the passenger traffic, mails, and express
receipts amounted to £43,612, or 21.63 per cent.,
but from this was deducted £22,346, or 5.87 per
cent., the decrease in the merchandise traffic, chiefly
in the foreign or long traffic, leaving with other
items the above figures. The falling off was in the
exchange traffic from the American lines, and arose
principally from the termination of the Reciprocity
Treaty. The increase in the gross receipts of
£22,549, or 3.65 per cent., was earned by an addi-
tion to the working expenses of £6,393, or 1.61 per
cent. The receipts for goods carried in the same
half of 1865 averaged 17s. sd. per ton, while in the
past half-year they averaged only 15s. 10d. per ton,
owing to the falling off in the interchange traffic
with the American lines. On the other band,
there had been an increase in the receipts per pas-
senger. In the same half of 1865 the receipts per
passenger amounted to es. 3d., and the past half-year
to 7s. The operation had been to increase the pas-
senger traffic and to decrease the long traffic in
goods. With regard to the loss on. American cur-
rency, it had been much less in the past half-year,
being £14,264, against £35,849 in the correspond-
ing half of last year. Since 1862 the loss on Ame-
rican currency amounted in the aggregate to
£228,556. The traffic receipts in the last two weekly
returns showed a falling off ; but from the Ist of
July to the 15th of September the total traffic re-
ceipts on their lines amounted to £283,620, and for
the same period in 1865 to £285,112, showing an
increase of £3,478. There were causes at work to
lessen the traffic ; the discontinuance of the Reci-
procity Treaty had affected their long traffic ; there
was a deficient harvest. arising from the continuance
of broken and wet weather both in the Western
States and in Lower Canada. The adverse state of
the weather had prevented the farmers from saving
their crops in anything like good condition. They
must not feel disappointed at the traffic, as the cause
of the falling off was known to them. The amount
paid to the holders of postal and military bonds was
larger than usual, owing to the disturbed state of
the country by Fenian movements. He thought the
time would come when it would be advisable to come
to some arrangement with the holdersof those postal
and military bonds and to replace them by a new
class of bond. They could in the meantime turn
the matter over in their minds, and at the proper
time they would be prepared to consider the eines-
, tion. The weather in the last three months had been
very wet iu France, in the Western States of Ame-
rica, Lower Canada, and other places, so that the
Grand Trunk had suffered in common with other
railway companies, but they had suffered much less.
There was a falling off in the receipts on the Erie of
$334,000 ; the Illinois Central, the Michigan Cen-
tral, and other American lines had also suffered
from a fall off in traffic. Unfortunately, there had
been a great fire at Portland, which had destroyed
about one-fifth of the whole town. The trade
had suffered in consequence, and the com-
pany having a terminal station in that impor-
tant place felt the effect on their traffic to some
extent, but he was happy to say they suffered no
loss by the fire. Their officers and servants in
Canada and the States had subscribed among them
£l,OOO for the relief of the poor sufferers by the fire.
He thought this was most creditable to them, as it
showed the good feeling that existed between their
officers and the American people. He had been asked
how they were to make up the loss for the termina-
tion of the Reciprocity Treaty. He could only say
that Mr. Brydges, their manager, had visited New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and other
places, and found that there was a very large field
for a new trade between those places and Canada.
The United States had at present a considerable
trade in those places. With regard to the Fenians
he was afraid the Government had not treated the
matter with sufficient gravity. Great surprise had
been caused in June last by the invasion of the soil by
lawless men, and blood had been shed. The officers
and men employed on the Grand Trunk Railway had
volunteered their services to defend the company's
property ; they had been organised accordingly, and
would be ready to act in case of emergency. There
had been more threatenings, and he believed Canada
was prepared to defend herself. Mr. Brydges had been
assured by a distinguished and veteran General of
the United States that nothing would be wanting on
their part to check those movements. It was admitted
in Canada that the Grand Trunk was one of the main
positions of defence. The company's officers had
exerted themselves night and day to forward the ne-
cessary movements, and both the press and the people
of Canada had testified as to the great services per-
formed by the railway. In reply to a question, he
stated that the repairs of the permanent way during
the half-year amounted to £62,606, and for renewals
to £26,285, making about £90,000 for the half-year,
or about £lBO,OOO a year. Full justice had been done
to the line. All the renewals of the line were superior
to the original permanent way. He never expected
that railways in Canada eould be maintained and
worked at
.a low rate. They had no renewal suspense
account now, everything
Mr. T. BARING, was paid out of revenue.
M.P., seconded the motion for
the adoption of the report.
In reply to questions by Colonel Beaumont,
Mr. Adams, Mr. Harley, and Mr. Moxon, it was
stated that the arrangement Act specified the order
and mode in which the dividends were to be paid .
Estimates were being carefully prepared of the pro-
bable outlay that mould be required during the next
three or four years for renewals of permanent way
and other works. It would be ready by the next
ordinary meeting of the proprietors. They did not
propose to entertain the question of the Interna-
tional bridge at Buffalo at present. The directors