The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-06 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the Paddington Station ; Sir
Daniel Gooch, M.P., the chairman, presided.
Mr. F. G. SAUNDERS, the secretary, having read
the notice convening the meeting, the reports of
the directors and of the committee of consultation,
abstracts of which appeared in The Sun, were taken
as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of those
reports, said that when he met the proprietors on the
last occasion he entertained the hope that on this
occasion he would have been enabled to pay the
dividends in cash. The events that happened in
October and November, which enabled them to
renew debentures at 4i per cent. to the amount of
£300,000, strengthened the hope of being enabled
to pay them cash dividends. In order to meet the
debentures falling due they had had to trench on
the receipts of revenue. On the Ist of December a
decision in the Court of Chancery tended to throw
doubts on debenture securities, which was followed
by an announcement that the Midland Railway
Company would require an additional capital of
£5,000,000 to carry out their works. The money
market was so sensitive that it produced a depressing
effect on the process of renewing debentures. They
had renewed or paid off £2,591,000 during the
year, and bad paid off £685,500 of temporary loans.
They had paid off £330,000 debentures out of re-
venue, and they had renewed £200,000. The floating
debt, which about two years ago was £1,400,000,
had now been reduced to the comparatively small
sum of £173,500, and he trusted it would soon be
wiped out. In the report of the consultation com-
mittee it was recommended that every effort should
be made by the company to convert the terminable
debentures into a debenture stock, and if £1,000,000
of the debenture stock could be taken up at once
the directors would be enabled to pay the present
dividends in cash, as the revenue had been used for
capital purposes. They would thus get rid of the
remainder of the floating debt, and place the com-
pany in an improved condition. He thought that
a 5 per cent. debenture stock of the Great Western
Company was a security that every one ought to be
glad to get hold of, as it must be at a considerable
premium before long. (Cheers.) It was as good a
security as any in the world, and he hoped the
shareholders would make an effort to subscribe for
it among themselves, and not let strangers have it.
He urged them to assist themselves, and enable the
directors at the same time to pay off all claims
against the company, and leave the net receipts in
future available for paying dividends in cash. If
the public saw that the shareholders were anxious
to protect their property and place it on a sound
basis, the public would soon come in and subscribe
for as much of their valuable stock as they could
get. The directors were most anxious to
place the company in a sound position, as no
shareholders held more largely in the concern
than did the directors. It was for the benefit
of every class of holder to get the company
out of its difficulties, so as to resume cash divi-
dends. In the case of " Hoole v. the Great
Western," it was clear that the whole matter
rested with the shareholders. He thought when
the Judge had to decide against the company, at
the same time admitting that the directors had
shown every desire to keep good faith with every
one concerned, it showed they had not transgressed
the law much, and that no better course could have
been adopted under the circumstances. However
much they might regret those law proceedings, the
directors felt compelled to lodge a bill in Parlia-
ment to legalise what they had done as to the issue
of stock to pay dividends to those who chose to
accept it, and to enable them to carry out their en-
gagements. The directors thought that a majo-
rity of three-fourths of the shareholders interested
at a meeting convened for the purpose was a suffi-
cient check to an improper exercise of the pro-
posed powers to issue stock in payment of divi-
dends in case of emergency. The preference share-
holders would also have power to vote on the ques-
tion. Unfortunately the bill was not lodged be-
fore the 12th of December, and it therefore had
been reported as not having complied with the
standing orders. The standing orders had been
suspended on Friday last, and they hoped to get the
bill before the House to-morrow. He hoped they
would be able to carry the bill through ; and they
proposed to adjourn the meeting for a month, with
a view in the meantime to send a special circular
to the shareholders, offering them rateably
£1,000,000 of 5 per cent. debenture stock, which
he hoped they would take up at once. If they did
not take it up—but he trusted they would—they
would have to consider the issue of deferred divi-
dend warrants for the various dividends mentioned
in the report. The revenue account for the past
half-year, he thought, was satisfactory; it showed
an increase in the receipts of £46,625, and a de-
crease in the expenses of £3,669, giving them
£50,000 net increase. Against this, however, there
was £2,884 charge on the canals, £1,453 for rents,
and another item amounting to nearly £5,000 which
deducted, left a balance of £45,241 to the good.
The charge on the canals would not occur again, as
some one found out that the canal was short by one
mile, and claimed for back tolls about £3,000 ; the
rent charges had increased by £12,000, the loss on
the Cornwall line was £1,874, guaranteed for the
payment of preference dividends on the Cornwall ;
but at all events there remained, after these and all
other deductions, a net balance of £11,540 of the
increased traffic available. There was a decrease in
the permanent way account of £lB2, as compared
with the corresponding half-year. This brought
him, with deep regret, to the loss the company had
suffered by the death of Mr. Lane, their highly
valued engineer, who had served them faithfully and
zealously for about3oyears. He was always ready to
adopt the most advantageous course to benefit the
company. The next item was an increase of £4,140,
under the head of enginemen and firemen, that
was caused by the disturbance some time
ago in their department. During the half-year
they had built sixteen new engines in place of
old ones, and in doing so they bad constructed nar-
row gauge engines in place of the old broad gauge
engines, with the view of gradually altering the
stock to the narrow gauge. (Hear.) They had 38
of these narrow gauge engines now in place of the
old broad gauge engines ; six other engines were
nearly ready, and 12 more engines were in progress.
They were thus gradually converting the broad
gauge stock into narrow gauge stock. There was
£2,614 increase in the waggon department, having
built 75 waggons of eight tons each in place of as
many old six ton waggons, and charged the whole
to revenue. They had also converted 20 other
waggons, and rebuilt 25 carriages out of revenue.
They had also put steel tires on the carriage and
waggon wheels, instead of iron, which were more
durable, and charged them to revenue. There was
a decrease of £10,670 in the traffic charges, but
there was an increase of £2,500 in the rate and
taxes over which they had no control ; and on the
whole their working expenses were 48.62 per cent.
of the receipts, against 49.97 per cent. in the cor-
responding period ending January, 1867, showing a
decrease of 1.35 per cent. There were several other
items of small amount, but it was unnecessary to go
into them. The bill they had before Parliament
was for the abandonment of certain lines and the
extension of time for others. (Cheers.) They re-
quired power to make about a quarter of a mile of
line, that would cost £3,800, at Swansea, to get into
the docks ; there was a branch line at Stourbridge
they proposed to abandon, and utilize the old line by
converting it at less cost into a useful line. The ar-
rangements with other companies were progressing,
and the bill of last session was to be revived authoris-
ing the interchange of traffic between the Bristol
and Exeter, the South Devon, the South-Western,
and the Great Western Railway Companies, and
he hoped the arrangement would be sanctioned and
brought into operation for utilising each other's
lines. There was also a similar arrangement going
on between the Great Western and London and
North-Western Boards by which he hoped a con-
siderable saving of expense would be effected by
both companies in working their lines. They had
Just cempleted 30 miles of line betweer! Wellington