The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-30 00:00:00

nouth-Eastern Railway—Meeting This Day.

The ordinary general half-yearly meeting of this com-
pany Was held to-day at the Bridge House Hotel, Lon-
Mr. Watkins, M.P., Chairman of the company,
Presiding.
that
;T:hilteehaort he ore Lit N
report was taken as read.
in moving the adoption of the report,
would have to enter into explanations which
11° document could not contain. The increasein their
‘rafac during the past half-year amounted to £23,025,
the, cost of obtaining that result being £5,226. It would
be thus seen that on the increase of traffic they had ex-
pended only 25 per cent., or, in fact, for every five shil-
inga they laid out they earned fifteen shillings. (Hear,
„ear). There had arisen circumstances during the past
',1.51f-year which prevented a still further development of
their traffic. In the first place there was the war on tho
uoatinent, and the existence of the Cholera in this
country
which seriously affected their passenger traffic,
the
foreigners were afraid of visiting this country during
'be prevalence of the epidemic. They had also to contend
With the effects of the cattle disease, which operated inju-
csualY on the cattle traffic ; but then they have an increase
la the transit of dogs and horses. As regarded the appre-
easion of foreigners of coming to this country during the
cholera, he mentioned the case of one gentleman in Spain
w 0 had to visit this country twice a year, but this year
he sent
serlt his wife. (Laughter.) The decrease arising from
thl,3 cattle disease as regarded the transit of sheep and
other cattle used for consumption amounted only to about
41,000. In accounting for the increase in the expenditure
they had to take into consideration the increase in wages,
Materials, and fodder, which amounted to a considerable
aura, but which could not be prevented. As regarded the
question of compensation, which was a very serious and a
very
important one, he had a few observations to offer
kith the exception of one claim for compensation,
all demands arising from that source had been
settled last year, and the one which remained
wasarranged during the past hall-year. Considering the
subject of compensation, he thought the time had arrived
for joint action on the part of the railway proprietors. In
°es ease this company took two passengers at a fare of £2,
a," one of them, a gentleman, was unfortunately killed.
'll action was brought against the company for £28,000
e4:l2lPensation, but the claim was resisted and the amount
induced to £7,000, which he considered was far too large
an sanount for the company to be called on to pay, consi-
:ring that the fare received was only £2. (Hear, hear.)
heY had also received a bill from a respectable solicitor,
Irlie had conducted the case, for a sum of £5OO, which
had been reduced to £3OO odd; and in the cases of
41eLlteftors' bills, which they had successfully disputed,
""eY had succeeded in reducing the amount claimed in
some instances to one fourth. Having referred to different
Points in the report, he said that on the Ist of next month
4'87 Would open their station in Cannon-street, and also
41,
° Dartford line. Twelve months ago he had proposed
uat they should adopt the exceptional course of lending
the Cannon-street Hotel Company £40,000 with a view to
enable them to expedite their works, so as not to throw
all 7 unnecessary delay in the opening of the station. The
erhs of the restaurant would notbe finished for a month,
so that the company could not avail themselves of it for
abperiod. However, it was considered advisable not to
sY opening the station. The results of that. station
Irould necessarily yield the company a large increase in
their traffic, and as it would be mainly worked by
Awn.
of their present staff the profits might be
-Peeted to be very large. (Hoar, hear) They
Would complete the short line to Tonbridge, which was
erPected would prove very remunerative. As regarded the
''haring-cross station, although it had considerably ex-
ceeded in cost the amount originally estimated, it was to be
te°hed to in reference to the great development it afforded of
e Whole of the Company's system. He went into statis-
ticsg to prove the increase that had taken place in the
traffic since the opening of the station, and contended that
With this 'station and Cannon-street, which was not
-.7431Y to be duplicated, the company possessed the
n'ont door of London for the purposes of the com-
IPanY, leaving only back doors to other companies.
11 reference to the London and Brighton, he said
that at the conclusion of the Parliamentary proceedings
clf last session a correspondence initiated by him had taken
Ptlaeo between him and the chairman of that company, the
°4ect being to promote "friendly feelings instead of con-
'. tt and economy instead of ruinous extravagance in Par-
:an:tent" (Hear, hear.) That correspondence resulted in
memorandum being signed between them, by which they
"greed on the part of their respective companies not to
Promote any scheme before Parliament for twelve months
Which would have the effect of infringing the territory of
.'"each other, or of aiding any undertaking by a third com-
PanY having that object in view. (Hear, hear.) He then
entered into a comparative statement of the results realised
by the company and their future prospects, which he con-
tended placed them in a very favourable position as re-
garded other railways.
The report, having been seconded, was adopted unani-
mously, without any discussion.
dividend at the rate of £2 17s. 6d. per cent. per annum
Was agreed to.
The meeting was then made special for the following
vulPoses :—To consider and approve the heads of the
agreement between the company and the London and
erth-Western, and the North-Western and Charing-
-088 Companies, set forth in the schedule to the North-
., eeteen and Charing-cross Railways Act of 1866, and
Zoso to submit to the approval of the meeting between the
4; "On and North-Western and South-Eastern Compa-
,,,B, for an interchange between their respective systems
•Jk
LIA:1 ay'
I
tl‘ solutions agreeing to these objects were carried, and
toLe Proceedgs terminated with the usual vote of thanks
the chairmin
an and board of directors.

CONEY' MARKET

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE,

TWELVE O'CLOCK.
4L/DCI'ION IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND

RATE OF DISCOUNT.
111 e directors in the Bank of England have noti-
ked another reduction of 1 per cent. in their mini-
-0111 rate of discount. The official q
1. uotation is
vlleh erefore now 6 per cent., and the satisfaction with
this announcement will be received by the
°l7Qlnercial community will, indeed, be of the most
livelyw character. Only a few weeks since the rate
th4B 10 per cent., and a reduction of 4 per cent. in
e charge of discount is a very considerable item ;
but more particularly will this concession afford
b4cis of grateful comment, because it is entirely
ed upon the greater power and strength of the
a ulishraent. The gold has been very considerably
4tn ereased within the past week, and there has been
6the same time a large influx of notes and coin
111 the provinces, while the requirements of the
41 'reantile classes have been exceedingly small.
23Q(Acl to the amount of £141,000 in bars, and
'1)00 sovereigns, was taken to the Bank of Eng-
-`4,(1 yesterday.
The last week's railway receipts, ascertained up
this day, are in round`flgures as under :
441'0%1 Western 1866. 1865.
81,807 76,469
Soot Western 131,542 127,868
Nhton Western 29,275 28,266

ton

aud
Lreath Eastern 29,303 30,032
Northern
4nea
ser and Yorkshire
Wetolt xe and E t
- er 7,907 7,803

Ma Eastern 78,089 74,551
-",.4_lachester Sheffiold, and Lincoln 21.101 20,509
ester,
36,010 35,980
4,1:1°11 and Chatham and Dover 14,829 14,091
These returns, when compared with those of the
ecih.
& -"Pcmding period of last year, are generally of
satisfactory character. On the Great West-
l‘tiorl,,„there is an increase of £5,338, on the
-;;11"-Western of £3,674, on the South-Western
:°°9 ; on the Brighton of £4,026, on the Mid-
o4:l,-,_of £3,636, on the Great Northern of £1,698,
B)3-"40 Lancashire and Yorkshire of £5,247, on the
r £3l and Exeter of £94, on the North-Eastern
c01i7)538, on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin-
the °f on the Great Eastern of £3O, and on
the London, Chatham, and Dover of £738 ; while
South-Eastern shows a decrease of £729.
h4t all extraordinary general meeting of the share-
heidela of the Joint-Stock Coal Company (Limited)
Iva; at the Whittington Club on the 29th inst., it
eab.,lluanimously resolved --" That the nominal
the 1 ef the company be increased to £lOO,OOO by
valuel of 50,000 additional shares of the nominal
shares of Ll each, with ss. on allotment, which
ti shall be considered part of the original capital
be Eit;,,,c°nlPany, and shall rank equally with, and
14 °Pet to the same provisions as those already
ene„
411ela Six per Cent. Loan, 1864.—The
frota Genera
Credit Company are in receipt of advices
Ali,„ their agents, dated La Guayra, the 9th of
ec,4:ta, of duties collected (and remitted) on ac-
-41,754 (),,f the above loan from Cuidad Bolivar,
recent veBC. At the date of this collection the
Yocree of the Government had not reached :0113 olivar.
by this Baring Brothers and Co. have received
(leads
4111411 en account of the New Grenada divi-
1104_ e following remittances :—From Custom-
Saut
41llarta, £4,950; from do. of Car-
.