The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-27 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN.

The report of the directors of this company for
the half-year ending the 31st of July last states
that the revenue account shows the follo,wing results
as compared with the corresponding half-year of
1865 :

RECEIPTS.
1865. 1866. Increase.
From passengers, mails, &c., £812,817 £851,570 £38,573
Prom merchandise, coal, &c. 809,993 879,381 69,388
From parcels, warehouse, rent, &c. 77,573 92,076 14,503

£1,700,383 1,823,027 122,644
EXPENDITURE.
Maintenance of Way £151,866 .£179,864 £24,998
Locomotive expenditure 195,437 205,259 9,822
Traffic expenditure 373,760 410,738 36,978
Other expenditure 77,067 80,811 3,744

- -£801,13-0 —B-76T6-72 —5754 i
Total
The balance available after providing for all fixed
and preference charges will admit
of the
payment
Western
,
of the following dividends—viz., on Great
Consolidated Stock, at the rate of £2 per cent. per
annum ; West Midland (Oxford) stock, 175. ditto
West Midland (Newport) stock, 17s. ditto ; sow;
Wales Consolidated Stock, £3 ss. ditto. The
balance to be carried forward will amount to £7,458.
The improvement both in the passenger and goods
traffic has been steady throughout the half-year.
The outlay incurred during the last two years in the
purchase of new rolling stock and in the extension
of sidings and station accommodation has enabled
the directors to meet the increased traffic with com-
parative ease and efficiency. The increase in the ex-
penditure is attributable to a general increase in the
rate of wages, and in the consumption of materials
for the permanent way, and to an addition of 387,963
miles in the number of train miles rill' during the half -
year. The high rate of interest which has so long
been maintained has also increased temporarily the
charge under the head of " Interest Account."
The bills promoted by the company "for conferring
further powers on the Great Western Railway Com-
pany in relation to their own undertaking and the
undertaking of other companies, and for other pur-
poses," and " for the amalgamation of the Vale of
Neath Railway
become law.
Railway
necessitated The Company, andl
3oba n"
Y.
thCeom
Neath Bill last year have not
by the Great Western and Bril:ti:lg
act has also been
com-
panies jointly of the Bristol
with the Great Western
for other purposes," have
withdrawaliectionable provisions which
thed construction
of the Vale of
an Exeter passed
authorising
been inserted. An
Harbour Railway.

The provisions :in the Great Western act in re-
ference to the raising of additional capital, and to
the alteration of the gauge, have been sanctioned
substantially in the form in which they were in-
troduced. Strong representations have been made
by influential traders, especially in South Wales,
of the inconvenience resulting from the want of uni-
formity of gauge throughout the Great Western
Railway ; and there can be no doubt that a
break of gauge is urged as the excuse for the
prosecution of competing schemes with which the
company session after session is threatened. Apart
from the comparative merits of the two systems,
which need not now be discussed, the directors can-
not but feel that the great extension of narrow gauge
lines which has taken place during the last few
years, renders the adoption of thatgauge on portions
of the Great Western broad gauge system, especially
where circumstances favour au interchange of traffic
with other companies, an object very desirable to be
obtained at the earliest period consistent with the
economical use and convenience of the existing roll-
ing stock. Such an extension of the narrow gauge
will undoubtedly tend to increase the traffic, and in
the bill which has just been passed power has been
obtained to deal with the question, specifically on the
Wycombe and Ely Valley lines, and generally on
such other parts of the broad gauge system as may
from time to time be thought advisable. The direc-
tors propose, with the sanction of the proprietors to
convert the Hereford, Ross, and Glocester, and the
Ely Valley lines, from broadgaugetonarrow gauge,
and to lay the narrow gauge on the main line from
the junction of the former at Grange Court to
Glocester, and from the junction of the latter at
Llantrissant to Cardiff and to Newport, at as early
a period as the funds attheir disposal will allow. An
arrangement has also been made with the Pembroke
and Tenby Railway Company under which the nar-
row gauge will be laid between Carmarthen and
Whitland, a distance of about 15 miles. Without fix-
ing at this moment a definite period for the exten-
sion of the narrow gauge on other portions of the
broad gauge system, they would propose to deal
with the question from time to time as the necessi-
ties
of each case appear to be most pressing, and
circumstances will permit. The Act of 1866 con-
tains provisions authorising the creation of new
and the conversion of old capital, the exercise of
which will improve the general financial position of
the company, and enable them greatly to reduce, if
not to extinguish, the temporary loan debt. But
the recent period at which the act containing these
provisions became law would render it difficult for
the directors to take complete action upon them at
I present ; while the improvement which has already
taken place in the state of the company's finances
has rendered any immediate proceeding unneces-
sary. The directors, therefore, propose to ask
the sanction of the proprietors for the autho-.
rity necessary to the exercise of the borrow-
ing powers authorised by the act. Although
the resolution as to the exercise of the borrowing
powers will extend to the whole amount au-
thorised so to be raised the effect of it will be
to increase the powers already exercised by no
more than £386,000. In accordance with the
terms of the agreement with the Wycombe Railway
Company, and under the powers of the Great
Western Railway (Wycombe Transfer) Act, 1866,
a resolution will be submitted to the meeting
for the creation of rent-charge stock to the
amount of £420,000, bearing interest at the
rate of 5 per cent. per annum. The Wycombe
Company will be dissolved on the 31st of January,
1867, and the undertaking will from that date be-
come transferred to and vested in the Great Western
Company. It is with much satisfaction that the
directors are enabled to report the settlement of the
long-pending suits in Chancery between the company
and the representatives of Mr. M'lntosh, the con-
tractor engaged in the construction of portions of the
original Great Western Railway. Mr. M'lntosh
claimed a sum of between £300,000 and £400,000 in
excess of sums which had been paid to him, while the
amount for which the company were prepared to ad-
mit their liability scarcely reached £lOO,OOO. After
more than 20 years of litigation, 111 r. M'lntosh's
representatives have agreed to accept the sum of
• £120,000, which has been paid by the company in
full settlement of his claims, including Costs. The
capital account to the 31st of July shows that
£27,659,345 had been received on stocks and shares:
£13,207,691 on debenture loans, and £1,136,219 on
temporary loans, making together, £12,003,258.
The expenditure on capital account amounts to
£41,609,400, and the balance appears to be
£393,858.

The revenue account for the half-year ending the
31st of July last shows that £1,832,092 had been
received, and £876,673, or 48.09 per cent. ex-
pended, in working ; the rent-charges for 25 rail-
ways amounts to £110,302, the joint interest to
£97,489, the law and Parliamentary to £11,557,
the accident account to £lO,OOO, and canals to
£6,159, leaving a balance of £719,912, of which
the Great -Western portion amounts to £529,783,
the West Midland to £112,378, and the South Wales
to £77,750.