The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-30 00:00:00

SMYRNA AND CASSABA.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the offices, Adelaide-place, London-
bridge ; Mr. C. Gilpin, M.P., in the chair.
The report alluded to a temporary falling off in
the traffic receipts after the first few weeks from the
opening of the line. The directors found that the
falling off in the receipts was owing to the cessation
of that portion of the passenger traffic which had
been attracted by the novelty of the line, and also
to the wet and hot season during which travelling in
Asia Minor was avoided as much as possible. This
cause led to a reduction in the receipts from passen-
gers, while the receipts for goods remained nearly
stationary, at the low figure with which they had
commenced. The receipts were at the lowest point
in the mouth of July, during which the weather was
very unfavourable for travelling—the passenger
traffic averaging only £482 per week, and the goods
traffic £165, together £647, or £lO 16s. 2d. per mile
per week. The returns received since that period
had greatly improved. In the month of August
the average receipts per week were £569 for pas-
sengers and £230 for goods—total, £799, or £l3 ls.
Bd. per mile ; in the month of September the weekly
receipts averaged £639 for passengers, and £376 for
goods—total, £1,015, or £l6 12s. Bd. per mile, and
for the week ending Oct. 7 the passenger traffic
amounted to £590, and the goods to £sl3—total,
£1,103, or £lB is. 6d. per mile. With a view to
develope the traffic agents had been appointed in
Smyrna and in the interior of the country to make
arrangements for sending goods traffic by the rail-
way. The line was still in the hands of the con-
tractor. A commission had been appointed to exa-
mine the railway and report thereon to the autho-
rities, prior to its being taken over by the Turkish
Government, which was delayed by some formalities
that had to be gone through. The engineer-in-
chief had reported on the completion of the works
by Mr. Price, the contractor, and on the supply of
rolling stock for working the traffic.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the re-
port, said the temporary falling off in the traffic had
been fully accounted for in the report, but with re-
ference to the present position of the railway it
came up, so far, to all the directors had anticipated.
The traffic returns had continued to increase since
July up to the latest return they had received. The
great difficulty in developing the traffic of a new
railway was to induce the people in the district to
give up the old system of conveyance and to adopt
the new and more rapid one. The Turks were
rather slow in that respect, but means were being
taken to obtain additional goods traffic, which he
had no doubt would prove remunerative. The
goods traffic had gradually increased from £165 in
the week ending the sth of July to £513 in the
week ending the 7th of October. If they could in-
duce the camel owners to go further into the in-
terior, and bring the goods to the railway at Cas-
saba, they would have work for double the present
number of camels. The company had a good line,
and he believed it would prove a profitable one.
The report was then adopted unanimously.
Mr. BURCIIELL remarked that the railway had
been honestly made and honestly paid for, and it
was now being honestly worked to earn a dividend.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the directors.

SCOTTISH NORTH-EASTERN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on Saturday at Aberdeen ; Mr. Stirling in the chair.
The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN said this was the last meeting of
the company. The act passed last session fully
authorised the agreement for amalgamation with the
Caledonian Company. He then referred to various
items in clearing up the accounts to the date of
amalgamation. There was £1,400 still due to them
by the Post-office. He believed some of the Aber-
deen shareholders were rather disappointed that on
the Aberdeen stock so small a dividend had been
recommended ; but the old Aberdeen Company
had a larger amount of borrowed money than any
of the others—about 75 per ccut. of the whole—
and of course the Aberdeen had a larger amount of
interest to pay. If made up as formerly he believed
all the classes of shareholders would have had the
same dividend as at the corresponding period last
year. Ile concluded by expressing thanks to the pro-
prietors for their very cordial support during the 10
years he had occupied the chair. The account 3 were
honestly stated, and he congratulated the share-
holders on the termination of the company.
Col. CHRISTIE seconded the adoption of the re-
port, which was agreed to. Dividends were declared
on the Aberdeen original stock at the rate of 1 per
cent. per annum, on the Midland stock at the rate
of 5f per cent. per annum, and on the Dundee and
Arbroath stock at the rate of 81 per cent. per annum,
leaving a balance of £lO,OOO. The meeting was then
adjourned to Feb. Ist to receive the final dividend.

LEVEN AND EAST OF FIFE.
The half-yearly meeting was held at Leven on
Friday—Mr. J. Haig presiding.
The report stated that the free revenue for divi-
sion among the Leven shareholders was £1,731, from
which it was proposed to pay a dividend of 81 per'
cent., and that the proportion of free revenue falling
to the East of Fife shareholders was £865, from
which it was proposed to pay a dividend at the rate
of 3i per cent.

The CHAIRMAN moved approval of the report,
which was unanimously carried, and the dividends
were declared accordingly.

MIDLAND.

A special train of this company left the Derby sta-
tion yesterday morning, conveying the superinten-
dent (Mr. Needham), the goods manager (Mr.
Walklate), and a staff of stationmasters, porters, and
others, for the purpose of posting the men at the
various stations and making the necessary arrange-
ments for the opening of the new line to Manchester
on Thursday, Nov. Ist. The signals on the line
were carefully inspected, and also the line and sta-
tions. The inspection of the line by Captain Rich
was made a short time since, when the Board of
Trade upon his report sanctioned its opening. Mr.
Bradley, the superintendent, and Mr. Smith, the
goods manager of the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway, also accompanied the train
from New Mills, at which pcint the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line commences.

MA,NCITESTER, SHEFFIELD, & LINCOLNSHIRE7
The total expenses of this company's railways
and canals, including rents, tolls, duty, &c., from
July 1 to Oct. 21, 1866, amounted to £154,659, as
against £141,622 for the corresponding period of
1865. The proportion of the South Junction re-
ceipts accruing to this company from July 1 to Oct.
21 amounted to £13,187, as against £12,990 for
the corresponding period of 1865, and the expenses
to £6,553, as against £6,176.

CONTINENTAL UNION GAS.
The ordinary general meeting of this company
was held
Cubitt in the ehl at the Loudon Tavern—Mr. L.
The report stated that the working during the
past year had been
sisfGactory. The public lights
had iacreased from
88'069 to 10,157, and the pri-
vate lights from
86,466. The revenue
showed a steady increage as° eme,rapared with the pre-
vious year. The extensive a carried out dur-
ing the year had caused a veryorkpliaarg.e outlay. The
g 5,049 of the
directors had only succeeded
10,000 seven per cent. preference shelan
however, been able to make temporary They had,
"[lents to meet the requirements of the rYcoarrange_
but it was necessary to place the remainignagmcipePiinYoS
of the shares in order to meet the engagements
entered into. The net profit, after carrying £1,31;
to the sinking fund, left £20,162, out of which the
directors had already paid an interim dividend at
the rate of 8 per cent. per annum on the original
capital, leaving available £11,162, and out of this
it was proposed to pay a dividend of 7 per cent. on
the preference shares, and to declare a dividend on
the original shares at the rate of 8 per cent. per
annum, leaving a balance of £620.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, congratulated the shareholders on the im-

provement which had taken place in the receipts of
the company during the year. The profits had been
20 per cent., and he had no doubt they would fur-
ther improve. It was two years since a call had
been made on the original shares, but they would
shortly have to make one. The preference shares
not having been taken up satisfactorily the board
had been compelled to borrow money. The debt
was now falling due, and the directors had decided
upon calling £5 on the original shares.
The report was unanimously adopted, and divi-
dends recommended were declared.