The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-19 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE

PERNAMBUCO.

The directors, in a circular to the shareholders,
state that the extraordinary meeting summoned for

the 23d inst. was convened thus late in the expecta-
• tion that Captain de INledeiros would by that time
be authorised by the Imperial Government either to
submit to the directors a proposal for the purchase
of the undertaking, or to conclude with the share-
holders such arrangements as might in the mean-
time be provisionally come to between himself and
the directors. Captain de Medeiros, as an agent of
the Imperial Government empowered to treat with
the company, suggested on the 11th inst. that,
" The company should make a fair proposition to
the Government, such as to have in bonds an
amount giving to the shareholders an interest
between the two extremes, 3.8 per cent., which
it appeared to him the company had now
on the total capital spent (according to the
last balance-sheet) ; and 5.5 per cent. which
they would get if the increased capital
were to have the Imperial guarantee of £5
per cent. It was clear to him that in the case of

the said proposition being accepted, as he thought
it would be, the inevitable consequence would also
be the winding up of the affairs of the company ;
and in that transaction a part of the bonds would
be kept for the, repayment of the loan of £lOO,OOO,
and the money raised by the company on deben-
tures." It would be for the shareholders to sty
whether they regarded any arrangement based on
terms ranging between the above extremes as a fair
equivalent for the railway. It "appeared to the
directors that the terms above suggested by Capt.
de Medeiros did not meet the merits of the case, or
satisfy the just claims which the company had upon
, the Imperial Government. The directors had re-
ceived by the last mail from Brazil a report from
Mr. Mann, the company's manager, in which he
stated that during the past year, from January to
November, 25,213 sleepers had been renewed, and
,
.1 7,800 cubic yards of ballast had been put down.
The rolling stock was in fair working order. The
receipts for November last were £6,308, against
£4,419 for November, 1864, showing an increase of
£1,889. He was now certain that a clear profit at
the end of 1865 would be over £21,000. The re-
ceipts on the line for the 11 months ending Novem-
ber, 1864, amounted to £41,632, the expenditure to
£40,836, showing a balance of £797 ; and for the
11 months ending November last the receipts
amounted to £53,325, the expenditure to £35,106,
and the balance to £18,219. He also anticipated
that the traffic for the year 1866 would leave a
clear balance of £50,000 in favour of the company.
Although the company's reduced tariff rates had
induced many to send their produce by rail, thou-
sands of tons were still sent to Recife on horseback
or in lighters, from not being able to offer still fur-
ther advantages to those people to give up their old
means of transport, arid this entirely from the want
of rolling stock. With additional means of con-
veyance, and other conveniences, the prospects of
the line were at present beyond calculation. One
thing was now very certain to every one on the
line who had the means of judging, that the line
would not only pay 7 per cent. on the whole of the
capital expended, but that it would year after year
go on increasing.