New-York tribune., 1900-03-21

THE receiver. answered Mr. Grant repre-
sents the Court ! have had no official knowl-
edge of the assumption by the Metropolitan
people Of a controlling interest In the Third
Avenue road. My information up to date has
come from reading the newspapers I suppose
the Metropolitan people will make the necessary
showing to the Court before the receivership
will be done away with, and do not know how
soon that Will be brough, about. Tt rests with
the company"
Frederic p Ocott chairman Of the Creditors
Protective Committee. said yesterday: Il think
the prospects Of the creditors getting their
money are considerably improved by the
developments. We cannot do anything until the
Metropolitan people make the first move. The
creditors are ready to release all their claims
against the Third Avenue company as as
the friends OF that company come forward with
the necessary money
William Lanman Bull chairman of the Stock
holders Advisory Committee. said "Our COM
mittee Is awaiting developments. We have held
no meeting. All points considered l think the
new order Of things Is a good thing for the
stockholders. There are number of economies
possible under a central management for both
properties. and no doubt the Metropolitan peo-
pie VIII make the road pay
Frederick UhImann, also of the Stockholders
Advisory Committee said: Il am not at ell sur
road has passed into Metropolitan hands De-
spite repeated denials 1t is q well known fact
that the Metropolitan interests were willing to
take the property II they could get it at their
price. The result justif1es my oft repeated opin-
ion, and / glad that the mateer has turned
cut this way. There is no doubt that it will be
good thing all around. The Metropolitan Of
fcfals understand their business better than any
other people in this country If not in the world
and in doing so will bring about many econo-
mics. 1 have no idea how this will affect the
position of the receiver. but it seems to me that
matters ought to be facilitated all around
TALK WITH Mr.. vREELAND
I'VE did not pay anywhere par for the
stock" said President Vreeland yesterday. Il
said a month ago that the Third Avenue had
no attractions for us, and I meant 1t, as it was
then held at too high a figure. Neither did we
care for 1t when the Third Avenue people came
TO US and tried to get to take it up. They
had an extravagant notion Of the value of their
property, and IL needed the receivership proceed
ings to bring them to realization of the facts
We didn't take their figures A careful study
of the receivers figures warranted our investing
In the stock at a low price I consulted Mr.
whitney and suggested that the stock be ac
quired Mr. Whitney said that if 1 thought the
stock safe investment, to go ahead and acquire
it. The actual buying, however, was done by
Mr.. Whitney and Mr.. Ryan In the ultimate
control of the road the separate organization of
the Third Avenue will probably be maintained
The natural thing for the Metropolitan company
to do would be to lease the new line, and of
course. under those circumstances we should
have to guarantee certain percentage TO all
the stockholders. When we took hold of the
Second Avenue line and guaranteed the stock
holders per cent dividend rdculed
The dividend has been paid however. Hence it
seems to to be feasible to lease the Third
Avenue road on a somewhat similar basis.
We are in perfect harmony with Receiver
Grant of the Third Avenue railroad, and will
leave everything to him to do as he sees fit in
connection with that road. 1t has been my wish
for years to control the Third Avenue and we
saw this chance and took It. We have probably
about ninety thousand shares of the one hun
dred and sixty thousand total number. We have
also an option or control of many more thousand
THE statement that Receiver Grants receiver
ship would be vacated as soon as possible so
that could control all the business is prob
ably incorrect. Mr. Grant will continue in charge
OF the Third Avenue Railroad Company until his
work is finished. and then will take charge.
BY the purchase of the road we take COM
plete control of the enormous debt of over
s6OOO0O00 $4,000. 900 of which is from the de-
pendent railroads. We have looked into the
matter carefully and where can pay off
the debt and pay dividends on the road we'll"
Mr.. Vreeand would not make any definite
statement about the transfer system, but he said
that he hoped, after the Metropolitan had Sc
cured complete control of the Third Avenue
he would be able to provide far better trans
fer system than the one existing.
MASTERY OF THE SITUATION"
It was said yesterday by a director of the
Metropolitan company that that company Sc
cured Go per cent of the entire 100000 shares of
the Third Avenue company, and this with Mr.
Hart's block OF 5000 shares. gives the company
complete mastery of the situation. It was
rumored yesterday that Mr.. Hart's holdings had
been disposed Of by the pool. but this denied
last night by those in a position to know. Mr..
Hart's arrangement with the pool was supposed
to be that the stock would be held for him and
be delivered to him at par at any time within a
year. At time, when the criticism against
the Third Avenue fercest and when the
stock touched the lowest figure. 1t is said that
Mr.. Hart was importuned to sell all his stock
and get out as the market for Third Avenue
seemed to have no bottom Edward Lauterbach
urged Mr. Hart 10 hold on to his stock fact
which no doubt accounts for the happiness ex-
hbted by Mr. Lauterbach yesterday when he
met his friends
Another representative Of the Metropolitan
company. in the course of a conversation with
Tribune reporter yesterday afternoon while
refusing to say exactly how many Third Avenue
shares his company had bought said they
amounted nearly possible to 60 per cent
of the total issue. The Whitney syndicate. e"
| he continued, has been buying quietly for some
time past. and it until Monday after
noon that they were able to complete their ef-