The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-22 00:00:00

Foreign Mail Packet List.

&WWI& and New Ze
nod, vcinapivaresrediBll.egy
MalaAnldL, SviaDSUouEt.hampton.....SePt• 19.
Brazil and eßritish k Oec. H.
pack et ..........Oct. ....00t. 4.
Ditto, by French packet
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and nt. lielena Sept. -7.
Chins., Penani!,,..
and Singapore, via Sou.hampton bept 19.
Ditto, via Xarseilles Sept. 27.
ifaikland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton Sept.,l9.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Sept. 19.
Ditto, via Marseilles
India (Bombay), via Southampton. Sept. :c7.
Ditto, via Xarseilles .. .................... ....Sept 21.
Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Sept. 19.
Ditto, via Marseilles Sept. 2i.
Ifanritius, via Southampton
Ditto, via Marseilie3_ Oct. 14
,ewtoundland ._ _ , ~ept. 26.'
Portugal ................
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon
United States and British North Aineriea, by Bri-
tish packet

"•••••

RAILW

.Y INT.

MENGE.

NORTH BRITISH.

The chairman of this company, Mr. Richard
Hodgson, has issued a circular to the shareholders
explaining the course he and the board had adopted
in the interests of the company, with a view to esta-
blish the Waverley route portion of the undertak-
ing. No sooner was the route from Edinburgh to
Carlisle opened throughout than every possible
obstruction was thrown in the way of its use.
Through rates, through invoices, and through car-

riages were refused; traffic consigned to it was di-
verted systematically to the rival line ; and after
upwards of „c„.1,0G8,000 had been spent upon it (in-
dependently of the cost of-the Border Counties
Rail-
way to Ilexhain), it was doomed to be a dead weight
en the company's hands, unless it could be forced
into recognition by those companies who ought to
have been, and he believed now would be, competi-
tors for its favour. It became therefore a necessity
to establish a system of trains, in point of quality
and cost, in excess of even the natural requirements
of the traffic, if fairly encouraged by foreign com-
panies, and greatly in excess of the traffic acquired;
and hence from the first an inordinate amount of
working expenses in all departments was incurred in
the unequal struggle of competition. But this would
have worked a cure; traffic was thus attracted in
spite of the unfair obstructions in its way—the com-
petition did becomeformidable; and then the notable
device was adopted of crushing the growing influence
of the Waverley route by the exercise of a power
under the Clearing-house Act, to place every shilling
of its earnings in connection with the forbidden
traffic in suspense. The North British could not be
prevented from carrying, but they were not to re-
ceive a penny of the freight; the only escape from
this tyranny being to leave the Clearing-house as a
company altogether, and thus give a colour and ex-
cuse to the refusal of through rates. But the North ,
British directors were not intimidated ; they deter-
mined to obtain, by the establishment of steamboat
communication with Liverpool and other places, the
participation in through traffic, which they knew to
be essential to the remunerative working of the west- 1

em part of their system; and although this also en-
tailed an expenditure in working traffic, unjustifiable
in other circumstances, they did not hesitate to incur
it, as a means of upholding the existence of the Wa-
verley route, well knowing that if the traffic were
once lost it never could be regained. Further, the
object in view, however important, could not be
realised without a corresponding series of trains
north of the Forth, under N orth British control,
and likewise in character, speed, and consequently
in expense, superior to what would have sufficed un-
der less exceptional circumstances. The Midland
Company handsomely seconded the efforts of the
North British, but in competition with the Caledo-
nian and the London and North Western, it was
absolutely indispensable that the natural imperfec-
tions of the ferry route between England and the
north of Scotland should be balanced by extra effi-
ciency of service in other respects. He had endea-
voured to establish, first, that the Border Union line
being once constructed, it was absolutely necessary
to make it effective for the purposes of through
traffic between England and Scotland ; and,
secondly, that to do this with anything like an ordi-

nary rate of working expenses was impossible. The
only alternatives were to place a portion of the ex-
penditure in suspense, or debit it at once to capital.
The Border Union Railway was opened on the Ist
July, 1862 ; its struggle for independence termi-
nated successfully on the 28th July, 1866. He ex-
plained that the effect of these efforts and the course
adopted had been to place in suspense account
£200,000. He held that, under the circumstances,
the extraordinary outlay in establishing the right of
the Waverlcy route was just as much a portion of
original or capital expenditure as the construction
of the line itself. He proposed that this sum
in suspense should be dealt with by setting it against
the value of the company's surplus property not
actually used for railway purposes—the value of
which was estimated at upwards of £200,000, and
as from time to time portions of this property were
sold off to apply the proceeds in liquidatioupro tanto
of the debt in suspense. In conclusion, he felt
bound to place his seat at the board in the hands of
the shareholders, expressing his sincere belief that
a year's patience would prove that the company's
affairs were no subject for despondency, and that
the objects of the policy of the last ten years having
been attained, and the lavish expenditure in Parlia-

mentary contests at an end, every half-year would
show an improvement.

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA.

The report of the directors of the company states
that the gross receipts upon the whole undertaking
including the Buffalo and Champlain lines, had been
£637,425, from which was deducted £403,419, or
63.29 per cent., for ordinary expenses, and £26,286
for renewals of the permanent way and works in the
half-year, all of which had been debited to revenue,
leaving an available net balance of £207,720. Out
of this was deducted £28,286 due to the holders of
postal and military bonds, £14,264 for discount on
American currency, £16,087 for interest on certain
loans, £32,786 for Atlantic and St. Lawrence rent,
£11,250 rent of Detroit line, £10,523 interest on
equipment bonds, £35,920 fcir Champlain and the
Buffalo proportions of receipts, £58,355 for interest
in full on first preference bonds and stocks, and
£4B short charged on second preference bonds and
stocks in previous accounts, leaving a balance of
£2OO for next account. The gross receipts and the
net balance in the half-year were in each case the
largest ever earned in the June half of the year.
The gross receipts (£637,425) exhibited an increase
over those of the corresponding half of 1865 of
£22,549, or 3.65 per cent. The sum of £lB,BlO of
this increase was payable to the holders of postal and
military bonds, and did not augment the net revenue
available for preference bonds and stock interest,
but it was satisfactory to know that so much revenue
had been earned, notwithstanding the serious loss
and disturbance, and suspension of all business
caused by the threatened Fenian invasion in March,
and the actual violation of the soil of her Majesty's
dominions which took place in June last. All
shades of political opinion had borne testimony
to the invaluable services rendered in these trying-
times by the Grand Trunk Railway c0n:4,3,11y.
The Reciprocity Treaty expired on the 17th of
March last, and the directors watched with
anxiety the results upon the traffic and the net
revenue following so large a change in the course
of Canadian trade. It was satisfactory to state that,
notwithstanding the Fenian raids the traffic of the
15 weeks from March 17 to June 30 showed only a
small decrease under that of the corresponding pe-
riod of last year, while the receipts is the nine weeks
from June 30 to September 1 showed an increase of
£8,224 over thecorresponding period of 1865, when
the treaty was in full operation. The results of the
fall or autumn trade would further show how far
internal could supply the want of an international
interchange of the products of the soil, and would
also exhibit the results of the new demand from the
lower provinces for the flour and grain of Upper
Canada. The ordinary working expenses showed an
increase of ss.
Q6,eue, or at the rate of 1.16 per cent.
as the cost of earning the increased traffic of 3.65
per cent. The loss on American currency of £14,264
during
the past half e
x35,8w iar contrasted favourably with
the loss of
n the corresponding half of
1866. The loss fromAmerican..6 currency from the
year 1862 had been £228 5f10n..t The price of gold
during the half-year hacipricee uoafte
jcl between the
rates of 125 and 166 ; the
une 30 having
been 153. The net debit to capital account in the half-year was only 4,000. The directors propoaosed
providing for all bankers' charges, interest on l land rents, the lease rents of the Atlantic and nsst,
Lawrence and Detroit lines, the equipment mort-
gage interest, and all the proportions due to the
Buffalo and Champlain Companies, to pay a cash
dividend on the first preference bonds, which would
absorb v 58,335, and leave £2OO to be carried over
to next account. The interest on the first preference
bonds and stock would be payable on and after Oc-
tober 15. By the Arrangements Act, 1862, the in-
terest not paid in cash for the June half-year re-
mained undealt with until the close of the December
half-year. ller Majesty's provinces on the American
continent having concurred through their Legisla-

tures in the basis of a general confederation
there could be little doubt that early next session
this great measure would be completed by the legis-
lation of the Imperial Parliament. The bill for en-
abling the fusion of net receipts between the Grand
Trunk and Buffalo and Lake Huron Companies re-
ceived the assent of the Governor-General in Council
on the 15th of August. The bill would be submitted
to the proprietors at a future special meeting. It
would be satisfactory to those who had waited so
long and patiently for a return on the large capital
invested in the Grand Trunk Railway to know
that, despite every cause of embarrassment and
anxiety, the undertaking was steadily improving in
stability and income, and now fully demonstrated
its necessity and value to British North America as
a great highway of communication both in times of
peace and war.

The capital account to the 30th of June showed
that £17,025,387 had been expended, leaving a ba-
lance of £530,242.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL.

The financial statement of this company for the
month of August showed that 10,513 acres of land
had been sold in the land department during the
month for $120,972 ; and that the cash collected in
August amounted to $193,848. The total traffic
receipts on the company's railways for the month of
August amounted to $586,074, and for the same
month in 1865 to $661,190, showing a decrease of
$75,116. --
ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN.

The traffic receipts on this company's lines for the
week ending the 31st of August amounted, on 507
miles, to $156,642, and for the corresponding week
last year, on 490 miles, to $177,114, showing a de-
crease of $20,472. The total receipt from Ist Jan.
to the above date amounted for passengers to
$875,735, for freight to $2,613,800, and from other
sources to $124,543, total $3,614,078, against
$3,259,261 for the same period of 1865, showing an
increase of $354,817.