The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT WESTERN-
The statement of the receipts and expenditure of
this company has just been issued. It shows that
£23,601,485 had been received to the 31st of Dec.
last on capital account, and L 23,237,554 expended,
leaving a balance of £363,931. The receipts on
account of share capital amounted to £13,029,241
on preference shares), and
(including £4,790,879
£10,572,944 on debentures, loans, &c., making to-
gether £23,601,485. The expenditure on the main
and working stock amounted to Z 10,903,785 ; on
the Uxbridge and Henley branches, to £158,283 ;
on the Oxford, Wolverhampton, and Dudley lines,
£6,715,277 ; on the Wilts, Somerset, and. Wey-
mouth, £1,676,672 ; on the Didcot deviation nar-
row guage rails to Basingstoke, fork at Reading,
narrow gauge junction at Reading, and other junc-
tions, £244,518 ; in subscriptions and disbursements
for the South Wales, South Devon, Glocester and
Dean Forest, Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth,
Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton‘Cornwall,
Shrewsbury, Wycombe, Plymouth and Great Wes-
tern Dock, and North Metropolitan Railway,
£1,943,534 ; and under votes of proprietors for new'
rolling stock, new station at Paddington, and other
station accommodation, £1,595,485 ; making the
total expenditure, as above, £23,237,554. The
revenue account for the Great Western line
for the half-year ending on December the 31st
last shows that £852,948 had been received, in-
cluding £26,834 for rents, dividends, interest on
cash balances, and use of plant ; and £328,702 ex-
pended, including £18,342 for Government duty,
£16,912 rates and taxes, 13,500 towards legal and
parliamentary expenses, and £2,000 reserved for
doubtful debts, leaving a balance for the half-year
of £523,246. To this sum is added £37,174, the
balance from the preceding account ; £3,030,
balance of revenue account of the Kennet and
Avon Canal; £1,883, dividend on South Devon
shares; and £8,236 dividend on South Wales
shares, making together £574,570. Out of this
sum is deducted £20,188 for guaranteed annuities
to the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth, and Kennet
and Avon Canal; £16,864, rent for the Gloucester
and Dean Forest, Hereford, Ross, and Glocester and
• Wycombe Railways, and payment to trustees of
Paddington estate ; £15,803, loss on lease of South
Wales Railway, including £3,543 towards loss in-
curred prior to June, 1854 ; £2,000, being the pro-
portion of Kennet and Avon Canal loss to June 30,
1856 ; £249,041 for net interest charges on loans,
£1,331 interest on Berks and Hants extension
shares, £l5O Henley railway subscriptions, £107,466
interest on Great Western preference stock, and
£15,292 to make up deficiency of revenue on the
Shrewsbury lines; total £428,138, leaving a dispos-
able balance of £146,432. Out of this sum it is
proposed to declare a dividend at the rate of 2 per
cent. per annum on £8,237,276, being for the half-
year £82,373, leaving a balance of £64,059 for the
next account.
The expenditure on capital account of Shrews-
bury lines amounted on Dec. 31 last to £3,477,391.
The revenue of the Shrewsbury lines for the half-
year ending as above amounted to £127,798, after
deducting £6,235 for expenditure in respect to
traffic ever Birkenhead line and at Birkenhead ; and
£73,654 expended, including £2,740 for the recon-
struction of part of Chirk viaduct in masonry in
lieu of wood, and £4,483 for a moiety of the expense
in relaying five miles of the Chester line, including
materials, leaving a balance of £54,144 to meet
£20,448 for interest on debentures and loans, and
£48,987 for dividends on preference and guaranteed
shares, making together £69,435, and leaving a
deficiency of £15,292, which has been paid out of
the revenue of the Great Western Company.
On comparing the receipts of the Great Western
lines for the past half-year with those of the
corresponding half of 1857, an increase of £5,495
is shown, while at the same time a decrease of
£10,562 had been effected in the expenditure,
thus increasing the net receipts by £16,058.
The receipts on the Shrewsbury lines for the half-
year ending December, 1858, amounted to £127,798,
and for the corresponding half of 1857 to £128,642,
showing a decrease of £844, while the working ex-
penses were reduced by £2,372 notwithstaning an
extra expenditure for renewals of permanent way
and bridges, increasing the net receipts by £1,528,
as compared with the corresponding half of 1857.
The commercial depression had a serious effect in
reducing the traffic on railways generally, and
therefore the Great Western Railway suffered a re-
duction of traffic in common with others, particu-
larly during the first half of 1858. The total re-
ceipts
for the year 1588 amounted to £1,597,395,
and for the year 1857 to £1,613,408, showing a de-
crease of £16,013. The expenditure for the year
1858 amounted to £649.532, and for 1856 to £688,522,
showing a decrease of £38,990, which had the effect
of increasing the net receipts from revenue by
£19,980 as compared with those of 1857. After
deducting the toll and expenses in respect of the
Birkenhead line and station, the revenue on the
Shrewsbury lines amounted for the past year to
£233,352, and the expenses to £146,224, and for
the year 1857 the receipts amounted to £252,981,
and expenses to £150,818, showing a decrease in
the receipts for the year of £19,629, and in the ex-
penses of £4,594, notwithstanding an extra outlay
of about 17,000 in the renewal of way and bridges,
leaving the net decrease £15,025. The traffic on
those and other northern lines was considerably
reduced in consequence of the commercial depres-
sion, The further reduction of working expenses
during the year 1858 to the extent of £43,584 on
the Great Western and Shrewsbury lines showed
the successful efforts made by the executive to fulfil
the promises made to the shareholders respecting
the expenditure in conducting the traffic.
The available balance for dividend on the ordi-
nary stock and shares for the past year amounted
to £146,431, including £37,174 from the preceding
account, and to £102,626 for the corresponding
period of 1857, including, £lO,Oll from the pre-
ceding account. Deducting the sums brought
from the preceding accounts, the net amount
available for ordinary dividend from the re-
venue resources of the past half-year would
amount to £109,257, and for the corresponding
half of 1857 to £92,615, showing an increase of
£16,642 in the sum available for dividend in favour
of the past half-year. On comparing the sum paid
for interest on loans and preference shares with the
same item for the corresponding half of 1857, a re-
duction of £10,562 appears in favour of the past
half-year, although the interst is on a larger
amount of capital. As loans fall duo they are, of
course, being renewed at a lower rate of intrest, and
that process will probably continue for some time
to
come, reducing the charge for interest half-
yearly.
Owing to the depression of trade and the strikes
of colliers, the receipts have been diminished on
the South Wales line,
in which the Great Western
have a large interest, and this
circumstance has
tended to reduce, by severali
thousand
e pounds, the
sum available for ordinary aivand
revival of trade and the development
The gradual
t of traffic on
the Great Western system, and lines in
oconnection
therewith, must from time to time tend t increase
the sum available for ordinary dividend.
Appended to the statements of accounts is a re-
port from a special committee of directors on the
subject of fixing the amount of capital likely to be
required for the exigencies of the company. The
special committee consisted of the Ho. F. Pon-
sonbE, Viscount Barrington, the Earl of Shelburne,
Mr. T. Badger, Mr. S. Baker, Mr. E. Leem g-Alr.
ingp
E. W. Mills, and Mr. J. Williams. The report
states that, after an elaborate and minute investi-
gation, the oommittee were of opinion that £77,000
for the completion of certain works should be added
to the amount of capital expended by the company
on 31st Dec. last, making together £23,314,555.
From this sum they deducted £102,000 for surplus
lands realised and to be realised, and added to the
remainder £75,803 for the outstanding and esti-
mated liabilities on 31st Dec., 1849, making a total
of £23,288,358. From the best information the
committee could obtain they conceived that, with
strict economy, the further expenditure of capital
and
,
in providing increased station accommodation
additional rolling stock during the next three years
-also for alterations of the NVestL on don Railway,
would not exceed £130,000 in the aggregate, of
which £20,000 might be required during the current
half-year. This estimate did not provide for doub-
iing any further portion of the single line of the
"lits, Somerset, and Weymouth Railway, nor for
%Y outlay in building new stations either at Bit.-
glum orßeading, for the improvement of which,
however, a comparatively small amount had been
allowed. Theyconsidered it a duty to postpone any
outlay which
long
not produce an immediate
return,
asa the revenues of the company were
insufficient j'tke proprietors a more remunera-
tive dividend. Subject to those observations, the
committee thought
for the
Justified infixing the
capital expenditure
liabilities and
Western lines
proper, including all
of sthand prospective
requirements up to the end year 1861, as
covered ;by a gross sum of 123,420e0 110.
paymentT he for
oe
f•
going did not include any provision'
the remaining subscription, aboturtopioritaro,nooo, autho-
rised for constructing the Me
which was for the present in suspense
ram
suspense, but
e !tat!:
if necessary, would be raised under the Iw)ow.ieer;
granted for that specific purpose. The
were of opinion that no permanent charge for capital
surecemsipwhich hadts would hereafterappeared in tbe requheireaccounts d exceediduring
ng the
They were led to believe that when
the past year.
all accounts were wound up an average difference
of about £330,000 to £350,000 over the actual
capital expenditure would be sufficient for such
purposes. With respect to the Shrewsbury capital
accounts, those now closed to the end of 1858 would

represent; ;is far as the committee could judge, the
total amount which would be required for their
separate purposes. That sum in the aggregate was
£2,287,303, exclusive of the Stour Valley subscrip-
tion. With respect to the average return for the
amount of capital invested, as derivable from the
revenues of the company, the committee state that
during the year 1858 the income o the company,
after defraying every charge and expense and all
fixed rents, had paid on the aggregate capital of
the Great Western and the Shrewsbury railways
a net amount of £969,180, divisable among all
classes whose capital had been employed, equal to
3.62 per cent. per annum. The loan creditors and
the preference shareholders had received, of course,
the full amount of their respective claims, and,
consequently, the ordinary shareholders have
received less than their proportionate part
in the distribution. On the other hand they,
would exclusively derive all the benefits from in-
creasing revenues, inasmuch as the prior engage-
ments of the company had been more than sub-
stantially provided for out of the present income.

NORTH-EASTERN.
The directors of this company have agreed to
recommend to the shareholders that the following
dividends be declared upon the ordinary stock and
shares in the company, for the half-year ending
Dec. 31, 185i3,-viz.:—On the Berwick stock at the
rate of 41 per cent. per annum ; on the York stock
at 4 per cent. per annum ; and on the Leeds stock
at the rate of 2 per cent: per annum. The divi-
dends for the corresponding half of 1857 were at
the rates of 5 per cent., 4 per cent., and per
cent. per annum.

BEDFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.
The Cambridge town council have adopted a
petition to Parliament in favour of the proposed
railway between Bedford and Cambridge, via
Potton.