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

Railway and other Companies.

GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA.
The half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the London Tavern—Mr. W. J.
Hamilton in the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said he hoped they had read it with satisfac-
tion. The traffic for the past half-year amounted
to £617,969, against £313,175 in the corresponding
half of 1864, showing an increase of £304,794, and
the net receipts amounted to £249,582 for the past
half-year, or more than at the rate of 6 per cent.
on the capital expended on the open line. During
the last half-year the great increase had been in the
merchandise, £252,360 in the receipts, and 128,000
tons in the weight carried. It had been stated that
the enormous amount of receipts had been caused
by the conveyance of cotton, and that they must
not expect that trade to continue, because when
American cotton came into the market
they must expect a smaller return from
that source. But what were the facts ? The
total merchandise carried during the half-year
was 526,000 tons, of which 37,000 tons only were
of cotton. The total receipts, as he had stated,
amounted to £617,000, of which £185,000 was from
cotton, which showed that they were not wholly de-
pendent on cotton. He believed they had not been
able to carry one-fourth of the cotton, certainly not
one-third, of what was offered them. A considerable
quantity of cotton came by the old route and ordi-
nary means of conveyance. The company had only
a single line and a limited amount of rolling stock.
They had sent out rolling stock as fast as they could
get it, and the deficiency was now being remedied.
They had been sending out waggons as fast as they
could be made. Another difficulty with the cotton
traffic was that it was sent loose in bags, so that each
waggon could only bring two tons of cotton, but
when the whole of the cotton could be pressed before
sending it by railway each waggon would bring four
or five instead of two tons. Thelreturns have been
improved to some extent by the maximum charges
that had been allowed them. But their agent had
been very careful in increasing the rates so as not to
injure the traffic, all their charges being still below
the amount sanctioned by the Government. The
expenditure had been reduced from 73.26 per cent.
in the corresponding half of 1864 to 59.64 per cent.
in the past half-year, being a decrease of 13.65 per
cent. At the same time the directors thought the
expenses were still very large. He was glad to say
that their locomotive superintendent had the gratifi-
cation of appointing some natives who had been 12,
17, and 18 years in their employment to the post of
engine-drivers. Considering the difficulty and ex-
pense they had in getting drivers from England and
keeping them in India, it was gratifying to have the
prospect of turning native talent to account in that
department. The permanent way was a very great
expense, from the inferior timber for sleepers they
were obliged to use originally, but these were being
replaced by teak and iron pot sleepers ; 51,478
sleepers had been replaced during the half-year.
The compensation amounted to £25,000, but only
£B,BOO belonged to the past half-year. The rest
consisted of claims for preceding half-years. Those
claims for damages were occasioned by robberies
and fires, and they hoped in future those causes
would entirely disappear. The spark-arresters on
the engines would prevent fires from that source,
and the robberies would be checked or prevented
by the new system of police which had been
adopted, with the assent of the Government. On
the whole, he thought they might fairly congratu-
late themselves on the financial affairs of the com-
pany for the past half-year, considering that the
monsoon lasted during three months of it, and their
net receipts were above £249,000, which would go
towards the reduction of the interest account with
the Government. With regard to the interest ac -
count, it amounted to £2,500,000, and would have
to be repaid to the Government out of half the
surplus profits above 5 per cent., the shareholders
taking the other half. Questions hod been asked
as to when, and how far, the company would be
able to deal with that surplus. Some thought the
surplus profits were not to be divided until the
railway was completed. He might state they were
not obliged to wait until the construction of the
line, as the contract with the Government was
quite clear on that point. The surplus profits were
divisible in any half year when the net receipts from
the railway exceeded the amount of interest paid or
payable by the Government on the total capital for
that particular half-year. One moiety of the sur-
plus would go towards paying off the debt due to
the Government for advances of interest, and the
other moiety among the shareholders in addition
to the 5 per cent. guaranteed interest. There was
every probability from the progress they were
making that a division would take place sooner than
some supposed. During the current half-year, from
the Ist of January last to the end of the first 11
weeks, the traffic had averaged about £56 per mile
per week, or £38,000 per week. The guaranteed
interest would amount to £360,000. At £38,000
a week the gross receipts would amount to
£988,000. Taking the working expenses at about
£368,000, or the same as last half-year, there would
be a net amount of £620,000 ; at all events, if the
expenses were more, there was every probability of
a good surplus above the 5 per cent. They would
shortly open 80 miles of additional line. As to the
certainty of maintaining the £38,000 a week average
he could only say that the stations along the line
were blocked up with traffic, and from the traffic
now going along the ordinary roads, the £38,000
average per week would be fully kept up for the
rest of the half-year. Every effort was being made
to obviate the evil, and to carry if possible all the
traffic brought to them, by increasing the rolling
stock as fast as possible. By this means and the
doubling of the line they expected to be able at
least to double the present capability of the
company for carrying the traffic brought to
them. With regard to the works in course of
construction, he thought they would be able to open
at the rate of 100 miles every six months. Early
in 1867 woald be completed 111 miles to Estarsee,
and to Jubbulpore, 162 miles, in the spring of
1868. This would complete the whole of the north-
east line ; the junction with the Madras Railway at
Raichoor, 159 miles, would be completed in the
course of 1869. So that 499 miles would complete
the whole undertaking, and it would be all open for
traffic in 1869, in about 20 years from the date of
the first contract, which was on August 12, 1849.
Mr. J. G. FRITH, deputy-chairman, seconded the
motion for the adoption of the report.
In reply to Mr. 11. SMITH, it was stated that the
simple interest on the £2,500,000 advanced by the
Government to the company on account of the
guarantee would have to be paid out of one moiety
of surplus profits until the whole was liquidated.
The company had power to borrow an additional
sum of £1,000,000.
_

The report was unanimously adopted ; the retir-
ing directors, Mr. Frith, Mr. Ayrton, and Colonel
Holland, were re-elected, and also Mr. G. Smith,
the retiring auditor.
The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to
the chairman and directors.