The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-27 00:00:00

more like a number of boobies than sensible men
in allowing the directors to go on making those con-
stant additions to the capital account. With a view
to prevent accidents he had suggested on a former
occasion that the directors should visit the line and
stations more frequently ; but when he mentioned
this matter to their highly-respected chairman, Mr.
Denison, he would not admit of any such service
being placed on directors.
Mr. R. WOODS believed that the directors were

in every respect as honest as the shareholders, and
thought that both should do their duty to them-
selves and the company. He believed the chairman
might have safely taken a much more hopeful view
of the prosperity of the company than he had,
as the company had not suffered so much in divi-
dend as other companies.

Mr. NICHOLLS said the shareholders should
strenuously oppose continual expenditure on capital
account. He wished to know whether the chair-
man and other directors had given their full sanc-
tion to the further additional expenditure of
£1,075,000, or whether any of the directors were
opposed to it. He believed some of those proposed
lines would never pay working expenses. llethought
too in the face of the rapid progress of the Midland
extension line into London, and their grand metro-
politan station, which would abstract a large por-
tion of the traffic from the Great Northern, it would
not be right to lay out so large a sum as £400,000
for the improvement of their London and other sta-
tions. He thought they should follow the example
of the Great Eastern Board and go next session to
Parliament for powers to abandon some of the un-
profitable branches and extensions. (Laughter.)
Mr. V. KNIGHT thought the directors had done
many worse things than lending the £300,000 to the
Chatham Company, even if they did not get the in-
terest regularly paid. The Great Northern had
power to develope their coal traffic and run over the
Chatham lines to Victoria station and the Crystal
Palace.

The CHAIRMAN, in reply to observations, said
there was scarcely one of their extensions which the
company had not been driven to make, with the ex-
ception of those to Manchester and Liverpool. The
Great Northern had at one etxremity of its line a
population of 3,000, and at the other 1,500,090,
each yielding an enormous traffic. He might tell
them at the present moment they were getting one-
third of the goods traffic between Liverpool and
London, and at Manchester they divided with the
London and North-Western, but carried more

than their proportion. He was at a loss to see
where the increased dividend could come from if it
were not for these important extensions of the
line. It was not the wish of the directors to add to
the extent of the undertaking, because it would add
considerably to their trouble and anxiety. As to the
observations by Mr. Hughes about the directors be-
ing self-elected, he, for one, certainly did not owe
his appointment to any of the shareholders, for he
was one of the original promoters of the line, and
was nominated as director in the Act of Parliament.
The shareholders had the power at any of the Feb-

ruary meetings of electing or rejecting the gentle-
men recommended by the directors. The railway
traversed very extensive districts of the country ; it
was desirable, as far as 'possible, to have gentlemen
in the direction connected with every one of these
districts, and it was a task of no small difficulty for
the directors to find gentlemen of commercial influ-
ence to act upon the direction. As to the London,
Chatham, and Dover, the Great Northern ran traffic
over that line, and they deducted out of the tolls for
so doing the money due for the interest on the loan
of £300,000. The receiver had been ordered by the
Court of Chancery to pay the amount as a rent-
charge upon the line, and there was no doubt as to
the ultimate payment of the interest. Since the com-
pletion of the through communication by the Me-
tropilitan the Great Northern had sent over the
Chatham and Dover line 62,900 tons of coal,
although there were at present no coal drops pro-
vided. In respect to the £400,000 to be raised un-
der the Company's (Additional Powers) Act, it was
required for various works on the line necessary for
enabling them to carry on the traffic. All that was
required of the Great Eastern at Cambridge was to
double the line for about three miles and lay out
about £3,000 or £4,000 to accommodate the Great
Northern traffic there. As to closing the capital
account, he could not hold out any prospect of that.
When proprietors complained of increase of capital,
they should also remember that they enjoyed, also,
a large increase of revonue. At present there was
£1,000,000 locked up because the works were not
completed, but which should become productive
when the necessary works were completed. llis
firm opinion was that the dividend would recover
itself, and keep up to its former rate. his
great object was to see the line maintain a 7
per cent, dividend, and if he succeeded in that he
thought no one present would have cause to com-
plain. (Hear.)

The report was then adopted ; the dividends for
the half-year on the 14 preference stocks of the com-
pany were declared, and also at the rate of 5 per
cent. per annum on the original undivided stock of
the company ; at 3 per cent. for the half-year on
the B stock, and of 2 per cent. for the half-year on
the A stock ; being the balance after payment of
£3 per cent. to B stock.
The meeting wes then made special, and after
some discussion and the rejection of an amendment
by Mr. Hughes, it was agreed to authorise the di-
rectors to create and issue, under the powers and
for the purposes of ten acts of Parliament,
£1,075,000 permanent 5 per cent. preference stock,
the dividend to be payable half-yearly. Any defi-
ciency in the first half to be made up in the second
half-year ; but no deficiency in any year would be
made good out of the profits of any subsequent
year. The stock was to be paid up by five instal-
ments, the last being the 31st of March, 1868.
The proceedings then terminated.