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

Itzll7, TVA Y IN TELL IG'ENCE.
a•
GREAT WESTERN.
The 3tlternent of the receipts and expenditure of
this company hats-jirlt been i.--sned. It shows that
123,601,435 had been received to .the 31st of Dee.
last on capital account, and £23,237,551 expended,
leaving a balance of £363,931.- The receipts on
account of share capital amounted to £13,029,241
(including £4,190,879 on preference shares), and
£10,572,241 on debentures, loans, &e., making to-
gether £23,601,485. The expenditure on the main
and working stock amounted to £10,903,785.; on
the Uxbridge and Henley branches, to £158,283;
on the Oxford, IVolverhampton, and- Dudley lines,
£3,715,277 ; on the Wilts, Somerset,
,and
Wey-
mouth, £1,676,072 ; 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,
Shrelyabitty,*Wycombe, Plymouth and Great Wes-
tern Dock, and Ntirth Metropolitan Railway,
£1,94-3,534 : 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, £3,500 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 £20,183 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, 185-1; £2,000, being the pro-
portion of Kennet and Avon Canal loss to June 30,
1856'; £219,011 for net interest charges on loans,
£1,331 interest on Berks and Hants extension
shares, £159 Henley railway subscriptions, £107,466
iuterest. 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 over Birkenhead line and at Birkenhead ; and
£73,634 expended, including £2,740 for the recon-
. struction of part of Chirk viaduct in masonry in
lieu of wood, and £4,483 fora 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 £128,612,
showing a decrease of £844, while the working ex-
penses werei.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 £232,981,
and expenses to £150,818, showing a decrease in
the receipts for the tear of £19,629, and in the ex-
penses of £1,591, notwithstanding au extra outlay
of about £7,000 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 £43,581 on
the Great Western and Shrewsbury lines showed
the successful effnta made by the executive to fulfil
the puoini..3e-, made to the shareholders respecting
the cxpcnditu:e in conducting the traffic.
ho'l available balance for dividend on the ordi-
nary stock and shares for the .past rear amounted
to £146,431, including £37,174 from the preceding
account, and to £102,626 for the corresponding
period of 1837, including, £lO,Oll from the pre-
ceding account. Deducting the MUM brought
from the preceding accounts, the net amount
available for ordinary dividend from the re-
venue resoarce3 of the past half-year would
amount to £109,257, and for the corresponding
half of 1857 to £92,615, showing an increase of
£16,612 in the sum available for dividend in favour
of the pet half-year. On comparing the sum paid
for intcreA on loan.; and preference shares with the
same ittl-n f)r the correSpnlinr,r' half of 1857, rvre-
duetion of v 10,512 appears in-ftrour of the past
half-year, • although the interst is on a larger
amount of capital. As loans fail due they are, of
being renewed at a lower rate of intrest, and
that p:•,3:.•;33 pro')ahly continue for some time
to -come, reducing the charge for interest half-

pearl y.
Owiag to the deprecsion of trade and the strikas
of enlliers, the receipts have bean limini_s_lV.g
the-South Wales line, in which the Greg! NN t
have a large interest, and this circumstance has
tended to redline, by several thousand pounds, the
sum available for ordinary dividend. The gradual
revival of trade and the develop-tient of traffic on
the Great 'Western system, and lines in connection
therewith, must from time to time tend to 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 lion. F. Pon-
sonby, Viscount Barrington, the Earl of Shelbiume,
Mr. T. Badger, Mr. S. Baker, Mr. E. Leeming, Mr.
E. W. Mills, and Mr. J. Williams. The report
stateA that, after an elaborate and minute investi-
gation, the committee 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 £23,314,5545.
From this sum they deducted £102,000 for surplus
lands realised and to be realised, and added to the
i-Tiainder ..4275„803 for the outstanding and esti-
-4 . liabilitie3 on 31st Dec., 1849, making a total - mate(
o total-
, the -best information the
of r .
-eo obtain they conceived that, with
c°Till`"?'" .„-,„ti c farther expenditure of_ capital,
strict ge0110"1.7'
iA,II station- accommodation and
in providing inereli
additional rolling. stuck during the next three years
—also-for alterationq o,f the West London Railway,
would not exceed '130,000 in the aggregate, of
which,X2o,ooo might be required during the current
half-year. This estiniate did
g. not
f
the
provide for. doub-
lin any further portion of th
Wilts, Somerset, and Weymoue single line o
th
nor for
any outlay in building new stations tither at Bit'
mingham orßeading„ for the improvement hich n
been
however,. a comparatively-small amount ]padt of W,
allowed.- • They considered it a duty to postpone any ,
outlay which would not produce an immediate )
return, so long as the revenues of the company were '
insafßeient to pay the proprietors a more remunera-
tive dividend. Subject to those observations, the
committee thought they were justified infixing the
capital. expenditure for the Great Western lines
proper, including all liabilities and prospective
requirements up to the end of the year 1831, as
covered by a gross 'sum of V23,P0,060-. The fore•
going did not include any provision for payment of
the remaining subscription, about £140,000, autho-
rised for constructing the Metropolitan Thilway,
which was for the present in suspense, but which,
if necessary, would be raised under the powers
granted for that specific. purpose. The committee
were of opinion that no permanent ehargefor capital
receipts would hereafter be required exceeding, the
sums which had appeared in the accounts during
the past year.
Tia‘y were led to believe that when
all accounts were wound up an average difierance
of about ;.C330,000 to £350,000- over the actual
capital .expenditure would be sufficient for such
purpo6c. WWI respect to the Shrewsbury capital
accounta those now closed to the end of 1858 would

represent, as far as the committee could judge, the '
total amount whieli would be required for their
Feparate purpo:,:es. That sum in the aggi-cgate Nva
E 2,287,303, exclusive of the Stour Valley subierip--
-lion. With respect to the average return for the
amount of capital invested, as deriva le 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, divisablc 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
could 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.