The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-07 00:00:00

OUDE AND ROIIILKUND.

The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held on Wednesday, at the City Terminus
Hotel, Cannon-street, Mr. W. Dent in the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as real
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, explained that in consequence of the delay
in receiving the engineer's report from India, and
the desire of the directors to have the negotiations
concluded with respect to the Nulhatee line, the
meeting had been held much later than usual. lie
was glad to tell them that of the 100,000 new shares
for raising the £1,000,000 of additional capital,
87,800 shares had been taken up in the first in-
stance by the proprietors, leaving 12,200 shares,
which the directors had, with the exception of a
small number, readily placed. The report of the
chief engineer entered into details, but very little
work bad been done beyond the line from
Cawnpore to Lucknow, which was open for
traffic. 'The extension from Lucknow to Byram
Ghat and thence through Jaunporo to Benares with
a branch from Fizabad to Ogde had been carefully
surveyed. On reference to the revenue accounts of
the Cawnpore and Lucknow line the passenger re-
ceipts showed a progressive increase up to April
last, when the Government ordered a reduction in
the third-class fares from three annas five pice per
mile to two annas five pice per mile, which caused
a considerable falling off in the receipts. The goods
traffic continued to increase. It was believed the
company would soon be allowed to go back to the
old fares. As regarded the construction of the
Nulhatee line it bad proved so far successful, but it
was deemed necessary to constructtheLucknow and
Cawnpore line on a 5i ft. gauge. :The Government
had appointed a commission to report on the sys-
tem of construction and working adopted by the
company on the two lines. The report of that
commission was not so conclusive as could be
wished. He might say they had come to the con-
clusion that a more substantial line would be pre-
ferable, and stronger rails than those adopted of
361 b. to the yard. The steel carriages had been
found heavier than was expected, and the steel
axles were too weak to be relied on, so that they
had to get heavier axles and wheels of the ordinary
kind. The steel axles would be no loss, as they
could be converted into tools to be used in the
workshops. They had purchased 40 sets of wheels
and axles at £25 per set from the East Indian Rail-
way Company, and about £2,800 would pay for
the wheels and axles required, and which they could
obtain from the East Indian Railway Company.
In respect of the Nulhatee line, the company had
made a proposal to the Secretary of State, who, he
believed, had referred the matter to the local Go-
vernment. They found that the Government of
Bengal bad urged on the supreme Government the
importance of the Nulhatee line. It was estimated
that the cost of restoring the ordinary road on
which the 1 ulhatee line was laid to its former con-
dition would be £lO,OOO, or say equal to £5OO a
year; the annual maintenance of the ordinary
road when restored would be £2,100 a year, mak-

ing an annual charge of £2,600 a year. The Nul-
hatee line and plant had cost £50,000, and the
interest at 5 per cent. would be £2,500 a year. The
company proposed to the Government that if they
would permit the £2,500 a year to be paid to the
coral any out of local resources, they would under-
take to maintain and work the Nulhatze line, which
was 27 miles in length, as a railway at their own
risk. Ile thought the arrangement would be mu-
tually advantageous to the Government, to the
company, and to the district through which the
line passed, and he hoped some arrangement would
be made for maintaining the line as originally
intended.

Mr. J. A. TOBIN seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report.
In reply to questions it was stated there now re-
mained 1,200 shares on hand.

It solutions were passed adopting the report and
statement of accounts, re-electing the retiring direc-
tors, Mr. J. Pender and Mr. J. A. Tobin ; and also
Messrs. Turquand, Youngs, and Co., and Mr. Max-
well, the retiring auditors.
The meeting was then made special, and the
directors were authorised to create and issue a 4 per
cent. debenture stock, not exceeding in the whole