The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-22 00:00:00

RAILWAY SPECULATION.

no following is a further extract from the pamphlet
we quoted in our City Article of Friday, entitled " A
Short and Sure Gv;.de to Railway Speculation," and it
is worth attention from those who are interested in such
transactions:—

" As regards the purchase of shares in established
lines, we have simply to compare the market price of
the share with the csividend which it pays ; and the
comparison is the more easy, as railway dividends have
hitherto been less liable to diminution than those of
any other description of Stock. It will be remem-
bered that, within no very remote period, the dividend
on Bank of England Stock has been reduced from 10
to 8, and from 8 to 7 per cent. ; but upon few, if any,
of the great lines of railway have the dividends ever
been reduced, except by spreading them over new crea-
tions of capital ; and as the shares into which this
new capital has been divided, have usually been distri-
buted amongst the Proprietors at par, when they were
selling at a considerable premium, the bonus thus given
has been more than equival6nt to any reduction in the
dividend. The calculation, then, is within the capacity
of a school-boy. Taking the value of money at four
per cent., the shares in a railway that pays six per
cent. per annum are worth 150/. each. If bought below
these prices, the purchaser is receiving, pro tanto, a
better rate of interest than four per cent. ; and he
will expect this better rate, in proportion to any doubt
he may have with respect to the dividend being main-
tained. This will apply to purchasing for investment.
In purchasing the share of an established line on spe-
culation the same rule may be adopted. If shares
already at a premium are expected to rise, they may
be purchased with safety, should the dividend yield
three or four per cent. upon the price of the day, in-
eliding the premium ; as, should the buyer he disap-
pointed in his expectation of an early advance, he is
at least receiving an interest of three or four per cent.
on the amount he has invested, and may, therefore,
wait patiently till the rise takes place. With this view,
shares of 1001. each, paying five per cent. dividend,
may be worth buying at from 1251. to 1651. a share, and
others in the same proportion, provided there is a rea-
sonable prospnt, either of better dividends, or of any
other improvement in the value of the property. The
shares of lines which are not paying any dividend, or a
very trifling one, may be a good investment in the
hands of those who are acquainted with the causes of
the failure, and know that there is a probability of their
being removed : but these remarks are not intended fur
theta ; they are merely addressed to the inexperienced.

CHAR ING-CROSS BRIDGE.
On Saturday a lung and stormy meeting of the share-
holders of the abo ive company was held at the office,
Hungerford-market, to consider the propriety of leasing
to the Central Railway Terminus Company.
The meeting was exceed_ngly cro.vded.
Mr. W. Hawes, Chairman of the Directors, having
taken the chair, the report of the Directors was read. It
stated that the Deputy-Chairman had, subject to the
approval of the board, agreed to lease the bridge to the
Central Terminus Company on the following terms—
namely, for 186,000 L, being 160,0001. for the bridge, and
26,0001. for the debt of the company, reserving the right
of the Market Company, and to each proprietor the right
of taking a portion of the shares in the Central Terminus
Company. This offer being approved of by the hoard,
it was resolved to submit it to a general meeting of
the proprietors. At the previous half-yearly meeting
of the shareholders it met with their unanimous sup-
port. On the 18th instant, a letter was received from a
gentleman connected with a company about to be formed
offering higher terms for the bridge ; but the Directors,
conceiving that they had already completed, as far as
they could, an advantageous treaty with the other Com-
pany, declined to entertain the proposition until the
determination of the Shareholders on the resolution to
be submitted that day had been taken, and which the
Directors believed would be much to their interest. The
Chairman then moved that the offer of the Central Rail.
way Terminus Company be accepted ; after which Mr.
Stutely, Deputy-Chairman of the Hungerford-market
Company, said that the Terminus Company would have
a very prejudicial effect upon the market, fur they in-
tended to make a passage from the bridge to the Adel-
phi, which would seriously injure the market. He also
observed that the subsequent offer by the other Company
was 20,0001. more than the Central Railway Terminus
Company, and would do them no injury whatever. He
moved an amendment, that it was inexpedient to accept
the oiler of the Central Railway Terminus Company.
After a lengthened discussion of about three hours, a
show of hands was taken, when the majority was found
in favour of the original motion. A poll was demanded,
proxies being included, when the amendment was de-
clared carried by a majority of about 80. The meeting
then separated.

MR. O'CONNELL AT DARRYNANE.—An English
gentleman, with whom we have conversed, has given us a
very animated account of a day at Darrynane, the great
episode of which was a hunt with those celebrated " little
beagles," which have so often formed the theme, and we be-
lieve with justice, of the Agaator's praise. Nothing could
be more complete than the transformation of the " embodied
thunderbolt ofi Conciliation-hall"—such was thefigure made
use of by our English friend—and the merry hunter of the
Kerry mountains " inhaling the ocean breeze that comes
freighted with health and vigour from the coast of Labra-
dor." In the evening a large party of Englishmen, Irish-
men, Frenchmen, and Italians, Tories, Radicals, Conserva-
tives, and Repeaters, sat down to a board, which, said our
friend, " bore all the characteristics of that of an Irish
Prince." "It was," he added, " a real Conciliation-hall,
from which all those topics with which this extraordinary
man sets the world by the ears were carefully excluded.
Every man felt at home with his neighbour, and, above all,
with his host, and when the old retired for the night. with
that bland and affectionate expression which he throws into
his face at his own fireside, those who would have battled"
with him foot to foot on the political or religious arena, could
not restrain the wish that his lot had been cast in those quiet
scenes of domestic life which he seems above all men hying
most suited to adorn." Sixty strangers were entertained
and slept at Darrynane Abbey on Wednesday night.—l ra,,ee
Chronicle.
LOVE AND MESMERISM, DY HORACE SMITE(' EsQ.,
AUTHOR OF " BRAMBLETYR HOUSE," &c.—To Mr. Smith,
for many a long year, we have been indebted for numerous,l
interesting and valuable works of Aw n; andwe sincerely
hope that he may yet indulge us with many volumes as full
of interest, as full of beauty, as those which are now before
us. " Love" is a very charming tale of Venice—of Venice
during the first campaign of Bonaparte in Italy, Amelia
Lamedano, its heroine, is one of the loveliest and most grace-
ful of all Mr. Smith's creations; and her character is very
finely contrasted by that of her friend Ippolita, the sister of
the hero, Cosmo di Molimella. The characters are greatly
varied, and ably sustained throughout. " Mesmerism" is a
production of altogether a different class. - -Bordering on the
supernatural, it is exceedingly curious in its constructi,in,
excites an Intense and thrilling interest, and, with much of
admirable oral,
understood
it throws
ject of much
animalliglit n uponotieletiosmbs.Lurye
aai
and:
as
and military Gazette.