The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGITST 13, 1859.

tent of their liabilities. (Hear, hear.) He was '
not a large proprietor, but he knew the grievous
loss which had been entailed on his family, several
of whom were of the weaker sex, by the diminu-
tion of the dividends, and he was afraid there were
but too many instances of that kind.
Mr. EDWARDS said the motion for the appoint-
mint of a committee was tantamount to a vote of
censure on the auditors of the company, implying,
in fact, that they were incompetent to the discharge
of their duties. The capital account had been di-
nishing, instead of augmenting, during the last
half-year ; the affairs of the company were progress-
ing satisfactorily ; and he thought such a commit-
tee was totally uncalled for.
Mr. E. HARPER, an auditor, explained that
£5,081, part of the £11,533 odd mentioned by
Major Court, had become chargeable in the past
half-year, in excess of the ordinary interest which
would have been charged against the half-year in
consequence of some bonds having been paid off, on
which interest had been paid up to the time of their
having been discharged. He also explained how
by the treatment of another sum of £6,800.in the
accounts, which Major Court had not taken into
account, the discrepancy of £11,500 odd, of which
the major complained, was reconciled.
Mr. SAUNDERS, in further explanation, said in
1849 a committee of consultation required from the
directors a statement of the amount which then be-
Came payable in respect of the company's liabilities.
An hccount was thereupon stated of the whole
amount the company would have to pay on the one
side and that which they would have to receive on
the other, and a balance was struck. In 1850, with
the full assent of the committee of consultation,
£350,000 was stated as the balance which the com-
pany would have to pay, and which would be
paid gradually. Every half-year subsequently the
amount paid and received had been shown. Tho
company had paid a total sum of £315,000 ; but
they had received £41,362. Practically speak-
ing, when they declared on the face of their accounts
the balance of their liabilities to be £350,000, they
showed also they had paid £315,000. They had
paid £315,000 on account of £350,000, and they
had shown in the accounts that they had received
£41,362. He pledged himself that there had been
no " cooking" of the accounts.

Major COURT protested against the accuracy of
Mr. Saunders's figures, and was about to state his
reasons, when being reminded that he had already
spoken, he resumed his seat, remarking that the
statement he had made was founded on infallible
truth.

A PROPRIETOR suggested that thP dividend should
be paid without any deduction in respect to income
tai, which might be paid out of the balance in hand.
On a show of hands, Major Court's amendment
was lost, and the motion for the adoption of the
report carried, with few dissentients.
The CHAIRMAN said, in answer to Mr. Giles, the
question of an increase of third-class accommodation
should be considered by the board. That of the
second-class carriage accommodation had been con-
sidered by them already, and orders had been given
to increase it. With respect to the question of gua-
rantees, he did not consider a line such as the
Abingdon came within that category. It was a
question of a working arrangement which was re-
munerative to the Great Western Company. The
Birkenhead line again was a ease of positive trans-
fer, and must be considered on its own merits.
With respect to Mr. Brunel, at the time he became
consulting engineer to the company there were
questions pending affecting it, involving vast sums
of money, and his services had been extremely valu-
able. These services had occupied so much of Mr.
Brunel's time that if he had had to make out a bill
for his trouble and loss of time it must have amounted
to much more than the salary he received. He also
gave evidence before railway committees, for which
the company would otherwise have had to remu-
nerate him. As to Mr. Gooch, no doubt he was
connected with the Rhuabon Coal Company, and
other enterprises. That gentleman intimated on
a former occasion that if there was the least idea
on the part of the directors that his services to
the company would be interfered with by his
connection with other subjects he was perfectly
ready to resign his situation. The matter was well
considered by the board, who were then, as now, of
opinion that if Mr. Gooch were to resign the com-
pany would be the first to- suffer, for they would
lose a valuable servant whom they would find great
difficulty in replacing. .
A proprietor asked what Mr. Gooch's salary was.
The CHAIRMAN replied £1,500.
Mr. SAUNDERS, in reply to Mr. Nicholson, said,
touching the Metropolitan Railway, he had within
the last few hours seen a very influential gentleman
connected with the city, who had taken a very
active part in the project, and who had assured
him that by the middle of September the arrange.
ments would be complete for carrying it out:

Mr. NORRIS, M.P:, said, with the view of dissi-
pating any doubt as to the bona fides of the Metro-
politan Company, they had obtained an act of Par-
liament extending their power, and had nearly, if
not entirely, completed their subscription list, to
which the corporation of London had engaged to
contribute £200,000. (Hear, hear.)
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, it was resolved
that a dividend at the rate of £2 per cent. for the
half-year ended on the 30th of June be paid on and
after the Ist of September next on the consolidated
and ordinary stock of the company and on the
Windsor shares. 6

It was also resolved, on the motion of the CHAIR-
MAN, that a sum be set apart annually, until the
aggregate amount reached £20,000, to be applicable
to all losses by fire.

On a vote of thanks being proposed by the CHAIR-
MAN to the auditors, one of whom, Mr. Atkinson, at
the solicitation of gentlemen in the meeting, agreed
to forego an intention he had previously intimated
of resigning, and to continue to act for anotheryear.
Mr. H. TAYLOR said he considered the ceremony
of auditing the accounts a piece of humbug. (A
laugh, and some disapprobation.) The auditors
came at stated times, walked about the room, had
their lunch, and then they went away. (A laugh,
and renewed disapprobation.)
Mr. SAUNDERS, in reply to this charge, bore his
testimony to the stringency, efficiency, and extreme
impartiality of the audit. _

some further discussion took place on the subject,
but it had little public interest ; and eventually the
motion was carried almost unanimotsly.
Mr. NiciioLsoN proposed an addition of ,E5O
a-year to the salary of each of the auditors.
Mr. ATKINSON, the principal auditor, expressed
his thanks; but said he did not wish an increase of
salary, and would not accept it. (Cheers.) He had
consented to act, he said, because a considerable part
of his property had been embarked in the under-
taking since its commencement. He had retained
that property in the hope of better times ; they
ought to have better times ; and if the capital ac-
count was kept down they would have in three years
a dividend of from £3 to £4 per cent. (Hear.)
A discussion ensued on a motion of Mr. NORRIS
M.P., to set apart £3OO a-year for the support of
the church and schools at Swineon, where about
1,000 persons in the employment of the company
live, and where some 700 children are receiving
education in the schools ; but it ultimately fell
to the ground, the chairman engaging, however, on
a suggestion by Mr. Saintsburv, to consider, with
the rest of the directors, how the necessary funds
might be raised by voluntary contributions on the
part of the shareholders.

The meeting was then made special for the pur-
pose of considering and sanctioning an agreement
for the transfer of the Birkenhead Railway Com-
pany to the Great Western and the London and
North-Western Companies.
The CHAIRMAN said the meeting could have little
doubt as to the policy of the proposed transfer.
The Birkenhead lines formed, in fact, already a
portion practically of the Great Western system,
for without them the Great Western could not
have access to one of its great natural outlets to
the sea. If this agreement were not carried out
this company would still be deprived of that out-
let, and be liable to a diversion of its traffic and
various other inconveniences.

From the summary of the proposed agree-
ment between the Birkenhead and the London
and North-Western and Great Western Com-
panies, it appears that the undertaking of the for-
mer is to be transferred to the two latter com-
panies, as from the Ist of January, 1860, for which
they are jointly to assume theliabilities, amounting
to £512,000, and to pay dividends half-yearly, on
a capital not exceeding £2,000,000, at the rate of
2 per cent. for the years 1860 and 1861, at the
rate of 3+ per cent. per annum for the four follow-
ing years, and in 1866 and thereafter at the rate of
4 per cent. per annum. There are also contingent
advantages dependent on the increase of traffic.
After some discussion as to the advantages of the
measure, and the facilities it would afford to the
Great Western traffic, not only to Birkenhead, but
to Manchester. a formal resolution authorising the
directors to carry the agreement into effect was
unanimously adopted.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

the right to use the Sheffield station of the Man-
chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company; and
in buildings at King's-cross for the use of the Mid-
land Company, that company paying interest on
the sum expended. On the credit side of the capi-
tal account satisfactory progress has been made in
the issue of the new 4 per cent. irredeemable de-
benture stock, nearly £400,000 having been re-
ceived on that account during the past half-year,
in addition to £271,907 previously issued. The
call on the 5 per cent. preference stock, redeemable
at 5 per cent. premium, appointed to be paid on
the 11th of July, has been properly responded to
by the proprietors. The asset and liability state-
ment shows that the company had, on the 30th
of June, available powers to the amount of X 311,000.
The total receipts on revenue account for the half-
year ending the 30th of June last amounted to
£596,939 against £587,028 in the same half of
1858, showing an increase of £9,911; the total ex-
penditure amounted to £330,243, against £327,194,
showing an increase of £3,049, leaving the net re-
venue £275,232, against £272,802, showing an
increase of £2,430. The fixed charges amounted
to £193,950 against £191,482, showing an increase
of £2,468, leaving the available balance for divi-
dend on the originable A and B stocks £81,282.
The dividend, therefore, would be at the rate of £3
7s. 6d. per cent. per annum on the original stock, '
yielding 3 per cent, for the half-year to the B, and
7s. 6d. per cent. to the A, leaving a balance of
£337. Although the dividend will be the same as
in the corresponding half-year of 1858. it should be
observed that the sum available for division in 1858
was exceptionally increased by receipts from the
Redpath estate and other sources to the extent
of about £15,600. The increase in the traffic
'receipts of the past half-year was £21,313,
while the decrease in sundry receipts was £15,651.
The coaching traffic receipts exceeded those of the
corresponding half of 1858 by £27,000, and the
merchandise traffic by £15,000: but the coal traffic
yielded less by £21,000, owing to increased compe-
tition by other companies. Since January last 84
milts, principally on the " up" line, have been
" fished" at the cost of £15,000, £lO,OOO of which
has been charged to revenue, and the balance
(X 5,000) will be charged to the current half-year.
The bill promoted by the company for an improved
junction with the North London Railway, as ap-
proved at a Wharncliffe meeting of the proprietors,
has become law ; but that introduced by the Lon-
don and North-Western Company, jointly with the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company
and the Great Northern Company, to render per-
manent the arrangements entered into last year,
after being passed by the House of Commons, was
rejected by the Committee of the Lords. The
Lancashire and Yorkshire and East Lancashire
Amalgamation Bill, which was rejected last session
by the House of Lords, was this year promoted
' successfully. It contains the important " Through
Booking and Forwarding Clauses,", inserted last
session at the instance of this company.

NORTH LONDON.
It appears that a net balance of £25,549 is avail-
able for dividend out of the past half-year's traffic,
which will admit of a dividend at the rate of 5 per
cent. per annum, leaving a balance of £1,174.

_ -
works or plant, losses by accidents, &c.) as occa-
sionally to subject the holders of tlic; preferential
shares so restricted to abatement from their
dividend, to the subsequent advantage of the
ordinary shareholders." If it could be sup-
posed. that capitalists are to be duped like
children into parting from their money without
taking these things into account, some glim-
mer might be gained of the intentions of the clause,
and this actually seems to have been the idea.
Sixty millions of preference capital was already in
existence subject to no such restrictions (the wis-
'dom of Parliament having been at fault on the
matter up to 1858), and the possibility of making
new and inferior issues which the public would
suppose to 13,:, as good as the old is the only con-
ceivable temptation that could have led to the
change. As a remedy Captain Galton suggests
that companies should, at all events, be compelled
to insert the new condition in whatever certificates
they may issue, and, although it seems hard that
traps should be set by legislation, and that further
legislation should then be required to give warning
of them, this is obviously a safeguard that will
become essential. Meanwhile the practical results
of the tehder care thus exercised have already been
illustrated in the fact that the Hertford, Luton,
and Dunstable Railway Company, after having
procured in their Act of last session the insertion
of the clause in question, applied this session to
have the restriction repealed, " on the ground that
it has tended •to prevent their disposing of the
preferential Stock so restricted." But the House
of Commons are stubborn upon the principle, and
have refused them relief, telling them that if,.
owing to the obnoxious clause, they cannot get
money at 5 per cent. they are at liberty to give
6, but that the clause must remain intact. Unifor-
mity, however, is evidently not the object, since,
apart from the fact that 60 millions of capital
exists without the new restriction, some of the
acts now passed limit the preferential dividend to
the profits of a whole year, and others to the profits
of a half-year only. Captain Galton, regarding
capital in its true light as a commodity, suggests,
moreover, that " it is not apparent why such a re-
striction should be applied to a company's contracts
for money rather than to their contracts for works
or services, or to their contracts for money raised
by means 'of preference stock rather than to their
contracts for money raised by means of debentures
or debenture stock. The principle, too, if it be cor-
rect, should be extended to all enterprises, and espe-
cially to all connected with passenger traffic. It
would be convenient to the great mail steam com-
panies if they could get funds on preference shares
and occasionally by paying no interest on them
make up for the loss of a ship worth £120,000.
Parliament, to be logical, must afford the same
thought and protection to all. Otherwise, instead
of sending out to instruct the authorities at Cal-
cutta in finance, we had better retain every means
at our command for enlightenment at home.— Times'
City Article.