The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-24 00:00:00

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RAIL WAY INTELLIGENCE.

SCOTTISH NORTH-EASTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company -w as
held yesterday at Radley's Hotel—Mr. Stirling. in
the chair. •
The secretary read the minutes of the last tiir o
meetings, which were confirmed.
The report was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of t he
report, said the expenditure on capital accou
during the past half-year was very small. Some, of
the outlay had been for cottages at level crossly igs,
by which greater economy and safety in work lug
would be effected, and another portion of the
outlay had been expended on refreshment ro oras
at Aberdeen, which would give them a good i re-
turn in the shape of rent. When they looke ri at
the increase of £4,400 in their revenue for the past
half-year, as compared with the correspeni ling
period of last year, he thought it very satisfactory,
considering the depression that had prevailed at • the
principal places on the line. There was an iner ease
in nearly every item of their traffic, and th.ey had
every reason to expect that the traffic would con-
tinue to increase. The through rates to Inverness
were established in November last, but very little
had resulted from them to the present time. They
had carried only 374 tons of through tral,fic in the
that the increase in their reeeipts
R hau uee ohiefly obtained on their own line. - The
through traffic would require'a considerable time
to develope it. The increase in -their w orking ex.
penses had been £2,137, of which £1,86 7 consisted
of items which were not to be found in. the corre-
sponding period of last year, so that the actual in-
crease in their working expenses was not above
£3OO to earn the £4,400. The directors had exer-
cised the strictest economy in working the line, but,
on the other hand, they had expended a larger sum
than usual on improvements in the permanent way.
They had nearly constructed two new enginei out
of revenue to replace two old engines of the Ar-
broath and Forfar Railway that had mot been
worked on the line for four years. One of the new
engines was now running on the line. Their work-
ing stock was not sufficient for the traffic, and
consequently repairs were being continually made
which would not be requisite if they had a greater
number of engines and carriages. He did not wish
to open the question respecting the Dundee and
Arbroath lease, but he hold the same opinion of it
as at the last meeting. He was sorry to say they
were compelled to oppose some bills in Parliament,
but he trusted that some arrangement would be
come to with the Scottish Central Railway Com..
pany which would render further opposition unne-
cessary. They were also anxious to protect the
rights of the Scottish Midland portion of their
company in respect of running powers over the
Newtyle Railway, which question was now before
Parliament. In adding up the arrears of guaranteed
interest on the 6 per cent. stock, it was found that
a mistake had occurred to the extent of £2,152, •
which it was proposed to add to the £71,000 of 31
per cent. stock which had been created for the pur-
pose of paying off those arrears. The interest on
the £2,152 had been reserved out of revenue, so that
the above addition to the 31 per cent. stock would
not increase their preference charges.
Mr. MILLER seconded the motion for the adop-
tion of the report.
Mr. KINLOCH advocated the establishment of in-
creased facilities for persons travelling from Lon-
don or Edinburgh to Inverness; at present there
was a day lost at Aberdeen in consequence of the
want of a proper arrangement of the trains to con-
vey persons onward to the north. When the facili-
ties were increased the through traffic would in-
crease. He recommended an alliance with the
Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Company, and also
with the Dundee and Arbroath with a view to
secure the traffic to the south. He thought the
prospects of the railway were good, and that they
were in a similar position to the North British some
years ago, when they paid no dividend, but by
good management they had since paid 21 per cent.,
and would pay more.
Mr. ADAMS thought the passenger traffic might
be considerably increased by a more judicious
arrangement of the trains and fares.
Mr. HARTRIDOE thought the directors endea-
voured to do the best they could, and he was of
opinion the company did wisely not to lease the
Dundee and Arbroath Railway, because the traffic
on that line had become less every week since, with
the exception of one week, as compared with the
corresponding period of last year. He would be
glad to see the traffic increase on that line, as it
would be an indication of their own traffic increas-
ing. With regard to the proposed lease of the
Dundee and Arbroath Railway, he thought the
directors should not have disguised the fact from
the shareholders that if they had entered into that
agreement the rent would have taken precedence o f
their preference shares, which were not yet covered
by the net revenue.
Mr. SPICER had at a former meeting expressed
himself decidedly opposed to leasing any line, or
forming alliances with other companies. Let them
keep free, accommodate all the traffic they could get,
and afford every facility for through traffic.
The CHAIRMAN explained that the Dundee and
Arbroath could have earned sufficient to pay a
dividend of 6 per cent. per annum at the last meet-
ing, but they only divided 5 per cent. With re-
gard to the observations respecting the route from
London or Edinburgh to Inverness there were some
disputes pending between the Post-office authorities
and the Edinburgh and other lines respecting the
mails, and when that was settled it was probable
the requisite facilities would be afforded for accom-
modating the through traffic. The directors did
everything they could to facilitate the traffic, but
the cause of the delay rested with other companies
north of Aberdeen. The passenger traffic had been
affected by the depression of trade at places on their
line very considerably. They had endeavoured to
afford facilities to every company sending traffic
over their line, and would continue to cultivate
friendly relations with all.
A proprietor said it was the Great North of Scot-
land that stood in the way of improved facilities
for the through traffic.
Resolutions were passed adopting the report, de-
claring the dividends on the 6 per cent., 7 per cent.,
and 31 per cent. Aberdeen preference stocks ; and
at the rate of 41oer per cent. annum on the Scottish
Midland stock for the past half-year.
The meeting was then made special, and the
directors were authorised to create £2,152 of 31
per cent. stock in addition to the £71,000 of that
stock already created in accordance with a former
resolution of the company.
A vote of thanks to the chairman and directors
concluded the proceedings.

EAST SUFFOLK.
A special meeting of this company was held on
Tuesday at the offices, Parliament•street—the Earl
of Stradbroke in the chair.
The solicitor read the heads of the bill for a pro-
posed branch from the main line at Leiston to Ald-
borough. The length of the branch would be 41
miles, and the cost about £40,000. The main line
fromWoodbridge toYarmouth would soon be ready
for traffic.

On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, a formal reso-
lution approving the bill was carried unanimously.
In reply to questions, it was stated that the
traffic would be sufficiently remunerative to pay a
fair return on the outlay.

OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVER-
HAMPTON.
The receipts of this company, including the
Stourbridge Extension and Stratford-upon-Avon
Canals, for the fortnight ending the 13th of
March, have been £8,594, while those for the cor-
responding fortnight of 1858 amounted to £7,701,
and the expenditure to £3,798, being at the rate of
44.19 per cent. ; while that for the corresponding
fortnight of 1858 amounted to £3,839, or at the
rate of 49.85 per cent. The aggregate receipts for
the first five fortnights and two days of the half-
year amounted to £43,583 as against £40,043 for
the corresponding five fortnights arid three days of
the previous year; and the aggregate expenses for
the first five fortnights and two days of the half-
year amounted to £19,283, being at the rate of
44.24 per cent, as against £19,710 for the corre-
sponding five fortnights and three days of the pre-
vious year, or at the rate of 49.22 per cent.

BRUTAL CONDUCT ON BOARD AN AMERICAN
Smr.—Thomas Parrington, second mate of the American
vessel Samaritan, was brought up on remand at the LiTer-
pool Police-court on Tuesday for harsh and cruel treatment
towards Win. Campbell, a coloured seaman from New York,
belonging to the same vessel. The complainant was in a
very enfeebled and helpless state, and the surgeon of the
hospital stated that tke man.was labouring under a concus-
sion of the spine and other internal diseases. Mr. Snow-
ball appeared for the prisoner, but failed to elicit anything
which appeared to be in favour of his client, and Mr. Mans-
field committed him for trial at the present aaaizes.—Liver.
pool Courier.

SPAPEE.

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17A ft'r
And watild-the abolition tit it be
thing in the matrimonial world, intro4tittiView
wardness, giving-room for the growtlPol :11. lingo
which ought not to be dreamt of, and gc .ner ally
taking away from the security and domesti City of
the connections arising from marriage ? that
case our widower's grievance is no sufficient reason
for abolishing such a law. We are sorry for_ him if •
he has incautiously allowed an attachment to rise
up in him for a lady whom the law does noti t allow
him to marry, but his case of grievance is not
made out.--,Tires.