The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-08 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN AND BRENTFORD.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the offices, 27, Great George-street,
Westminster ; Mr. P. Davey in the chair.
Mr. C. ELEY,jun. (the secretary) read the report.
It stated that the general depression in trade had
affected this company, and would account for the
tonnage during the past half-year not showing such
an increase as might have been expected. The ton-
nage on which the specified rates of toll had been
charged was, for the half-year ending the 30th June,
1861, 66,238 tons, as against 57,145 in the corres-
ponding. period of 1860. Satisfactory results were
expected to arise from the connexion of the Brent-
ford Dock with the narrow gauge railways of the
kingdom ; the additional rails for effecting this ob-
ject were now being laid by the Great Western
Company, and were expected to be ready for use in
the course of the ensuing month. By an arrange-
ment between the Great Western and West Mid-
land Companies the traffic of a large mineral dis-
trict would be restored to the Great Western Com-
pany, and must have a beneficial effect on the trade
of the Brentford line. During the past half-year
the directors had paid off £12,800 of debentures,
mostly at 54,- per cent., and had renewed bonds to
the amount of £5,000 at 41 per cent., leaving
£7,850 to be reissued when required. The directors
had an available balance of £2,709, with which
they proposed to pay dividends of 5 per cent. on the
preference shares of 1859 and 1860, and of 2 per
cent. on the ordinary shares of the company.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said, in addition to suffering in common
with other lines from the general depression of
trade, they had experienced a loss from the severe
frosts of January and February last, and from the
extremely low shipping freights which had pre-
vailed from South Wales. There had been a general
depression in shipping, but more especially among
the screw colliers, so that freights, instead of rang-
ing at from 9s. to 10s. a ton, had been as low as 75.,
a circumstance which had of course operated very
prejudicially to land carriage of every sort. The
arrangement between the Great Western and West
Midland Companies must prove very beneficial;
and there could be no question that the Great
Western were preparing for a very large increase
of trade, for they had built, and were still building,
additional warehouses at the dock. (Hear.) They
could now state that the entire cost of the railway
and docks would be from £210,000 to £212,000, and
they had sufficient assets in hand to meet all out-
standing liabilities, and all requirements for any
further outlay. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. G. DAY seconded the motion, and it was
carried unanimously.
The dividends to be paid to the different classes
of shareholders were then put and carried unani-
mously ; and the proceedings terminated with a
vote of thanks to the chairman and directors.

CHARING-CROSS.
The half-yearly meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the London-bridge station, the
Hon. J. Byng in the chair.
M. r. SMILES, the secretary, read the notice con-
vening the meeting.
The report stated that the receipts during the
half-year ending the 30th of June amounted to
£121,247, and the expenditure to £120,434. The
sum of £BO,OOO had been expended on land during
the half-year, and possession had accordingly been
obtained of a considerable portion of the property
requisite to enable the contractor to proceed with
the viaduct. The principal portion of the remainder
would shortly b© in the hands of the contractor. The