The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-26 00:00:00

ST. THOMAS FLOATING DOCK.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the offices, Moorgate-street ;
Mr. T. R. Tufnell in the chair.

The report stated that since the last meeting the
construction of the dock in this country had been
completed; the whole of the work, with the excep-
tion of some portions of the machinery, had been
despatched to St. Thomas, and the erection of the
dock there was speedily progressing. Of the six
pontoons which constituted the main body of the
dock, five had been launched without accident of
any kind ; the sixth was already in a forward state,
and the erection of the girders which formed the
sides of the dock was proceeding satisfactorily.
Notwithstanding the recent monetary pressure, the
calls had been promptly responded to, and the direc-
tors thought the shareholders would be glad to ob-
serve that the whole amount paid to them for inte-
rest, up to 30th of June last, was only £2,121 in
excess of the amount that had been received for in-
terest on deposits. In the early part of the present
year the contractor became involved in pecuniary
difficulties, and in the month of May last his affairs
were placed in the hands of inspectors. A long and
difficult negotiation with the contractor, his sureties,
and the inspectors ensued, and the progress of the
work was delayed in consequence. The directors,
however, were happy to state that in the end they
succeeded in making such arrangements as would
insure the completion of the dock without the com-
pany being subjected to any pecuniary loss beyond
that occasioned by the delay. The directors felt
that they could not speak too highly of the zeal and
ability displayed by their legal adviser, Mr. Radcliffe,
in his conduct of this most troublesome affair. The
balance-sheet showed that £62,807 had been ex-
pended, leaving a balance of £10,435.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said the first part of it explained the present
position of the undertaking. The directors had
made every exertion to complete the dock by the
31st of December next. lie had no doubt it would
be ready by that time, and they might congratulate
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the dock. The directors, t. • t.
an icipa mg that
there might be some delay, had made application to
the Danish Government for an extension of time to
complete the works, and he had great pleasure in
stating that the Danish Minister kindly granted
their request. With regard to the additional shares
about to be issued he had received a letter from their
acting superintendent abroad, stating that those
who had taken shares there wished they bad taken
more, and since they had seen the progress of the
works several had applied for more shares. It was
now proposed to issue the 1,000
shares of the com-
pany
which had not been appropriated , tenders
would be received from shareholders willing to take
them, and they would be allotted in proportion to
the applications for them. The proportion to those
already issued was one share for every nine shares
now held; but, as several shareholders held less than
nine shares, it was thought better to offer them to
the shareholders as proposed. About half the £9
share would be required immediately, and the
otherhalf in about a month, after which the remain-
ing £1 per share would be called up.
Mr. KEMSHEAD seconded the motion.
Aftersome observations by Mr. WILSON and other