Page images
PDF
EPUB

He

We had, indeed, almost forgotten, that the French Republic has expelled a number of the Poles; and that the British flag has been disgraced by O'Ferrall at Malta, and Ward at Corfu, in the refusal to allow the Roman refugees a temporary shelter. The conduct of O'Ferrall, who cheerfully received the foes of freedom, but excluded its friends, has been defended in one of Lord John Russell's paltry letters; and no great man can do a little action with more spite than his lordship. pretends that Mr. More O'Ferrall was afraid that fifty or sixty Roman refugees, without arms, money, or even motive, would attempt to take Malta from a numerous and well-appointed British garrison. The pretence is meaner than the act. The refugees, he says, belong to a school who spread insurrection everywhere, and who would take as much pleasure in a fight at Malta as in Berlin or Baden. Other people remember, if his lordship chooses to forget, that the school was headed by a near relative of his own—a British Minister of State not long ago-and whose travelling expenses were paid by the nation.

Mr. Ward had more reason to be afraid of his guests than Mr. O'Ferrall. One insurrection had occurred in Cephalonia, and another was promised which has since then appeared, and been, most probably, suppressed. Henceforth the Ministerial press of this country will have nothing to say respecting General Haynau's proclamation to the Hungarians, since Mr. Ward has merely made a paraphrase from one of the worst of these death's head and cross-bones documents, for the use of the

Cephalonians. The insurgents may have required that discipline, but the insurgent Haynau thought that the Hungarians also needed sharp practice. Mr. Ward appears to have made a liberal use of the gallows in his Cephalonian tour.

An attempt has been made in the United States to form an independent party of pirates for the capture of Cuba; but the Government have in the meantime prevented the armament, which may go forward, however, when it suits the fancy of the free buccaneers, with whom the idea originated. The plan, we suppose, will not be agreeable to the Spanish bondholders in this country, whose Spanish securities are sufficiently attenuated without the loss of Cuba.

The condition of Ireland is little improved by the visit of her Majesty, or any other remedy. A civil war against the payment of rates and rents rages furiously. The peasantry and farmers cut their crops and convey them away out of the agent's or the tax-collector's sight. This conduct is, of course, only adopted in the disturbed districts; but the poorest profession that a man could follow at the present day is to hold and let land in one of these disturbed districts. He is either shot or famished; but the latter plan of despatching the obnoxious is now generally adopted, as cheaper and safer, for lead costs money, and the non-payment of debt costs nothing.

The pestilence in England absorbs all attention. It intervenes in all engagements. It seizes witnesses against criminals, and threatens to interrupt the course of justice. The names of men who oc

cupy places of trust before the commercial world on one day are in the dead list on the next. The rapidity of the destroyer terrifies his victims. The activity and health of morning may be gone, and their late possessor shrouded, coffined, and buried at evening. Such scenes have been seen in England during the last month. Men are appalled, and turn at last to the only practical remedy that human science offers those sanatory reforms that, undertaken long ago, might have arrested this calamity; and that, neglected now, will leave us victims of a plague.

COLONIAL POLICY UNDER THE GREY

DYNASTY.

No Government ever enjoyed equal opportunities of putting an end to the borough-mongering system of colonial management-of abolishing the abuses by which Court favourites and a needy aristocracy preyed upon the outposts of the empire. No Cabinet ever made a worse use of its opportunities than the Russell Ministry.

The ruin or the loss of the colonies to England will be the leading feature in the future history of the "Family Government."

More than three years ago, an eminent merchant wrote to Lord Elgin through the newspapers, warning him that if the policy of the day were continued, he (Lord Elgin) would be the "last Governor of Canada.” The prediction seems near its accomplishment. Public opinion has been in abeyance on the subject. On all great colonial events, from the conquest of the Punjaub to the threatened revolt of Canada, the "public" have been content to believe and to talk exactly as the Government organs bid them to do. Apathy and ignorance are good materials for a jobbing Cabinet. The Ministerial press really has a sort of right to dictate to the nation, from its being "first in the market" for the run of public opinion. The Government organs drive certain opinions; and the bulk of the press, like a flock of sheep, follow the bell wether.

The Times, the other day (September 24th), said, "when Cuba shall have been wrenched from Spain, then will Spain be poor indeed." If the Times were quite at liberty to write with candour on English affairs, we would probably have reflections on the spread of the British race over the globe, carrying into every land commerce, civilization, and Christianity. The decay of British power would be deprecated, and the Times would say that "when the British West Indies and North American provinces shall have been wrenched from England, and annexed to her republican rival, then will England be humbled indeed." At present the Times cannot afford to be candid; for, once a month or so, space must be given to a colonial article from a patron, different in style from an ordinary "leader”-so very peculiar, in fact, that the articles have been alluded to as the "drunken articles" in the Times. The first of them appeared in May last, after the Elgin affair, and since then, at irregular intervals, on the same subject; their design being to annoy, to alienate, and to exasperate the colonists to that degree that they shall declare themselves independent, preparatory to joining the United States.

The people of England are too good-natured, too

The Australian towns have not yet been commanded to consider themselves no longer British, but to hold themselves in readiness to become stations for the American whalers and their peddling skippers.

The Cape of Good Hope has not yet been surrendered to the Boors, or Natal been given back to the Caffres; but these changes may not be distant-if the Ministry are consistent and firm, these events must be quite at hand.

careless, or too obtuse to perceive that such is the||to set their house in order, and, because "colonies are design of the Government organs, from the Times, || expensive," to give up the Punjaub to the Sikhs, Nordownward to the Economist and Examiner; but the thern India to the Afghans, and the Eastern Territory colonists see clearly through it, weigh every paragraph, to the Burmese. and fearlessly publish the name of the Minister to whom those "drunken articles" are attributed. The Times, when sober, used to say that "we could not afford another American Revolution," and will write|| the same words again whenever the English nation is awakened, and made acquainted with the dirty work that has been going on- -the treasonable plotting-to|| "wrench" these provinces from the empire; and, under|| the pretence of "preparing them for independence," throwing all their weight into a scale already much too heavy in the matter of territory. The very idea of Ministers of the Crown suggesting a revolution, and dismemberment of the empire, appears so atrocious that at first we can hardly entertain it. We have We have all always protested against such a general been quite accustomed to hear it said that the co- breaking up of the empire. breaking up of the empire. If the process of disorlonial policy was suicidal, or it was madness, &c.; but|ganization be continued, no solid objection can remain it is something new to suspect that "if this be mad against repeal of the union with Ireland. The French ness there is method in't." ought to be invited to colonize Ireland, and plant penal settlements there.

The recent declarations of the Times, Economist, and Examiner, have been reprinted in Canada, and are received as the final answers of the Russell-Grey Cabinet to the appeals of the Canadian people.

These newspaper paragraphs, it is true, are not public, legislative, or official acts; but, unfortunately, they may have even greater force, because though no individual is answerable for them, yet such is the tremendous power wielded by the "responsible Ministers" of this limited monarchy, that even the anonymous announcement of its opinions or intentions, through certain newspapers, acquires as much, or, indeed, greater force than the solemn acts of Parliament. And yet we have the bypocrisy to rail at the despotisms of Prussia or of Austria, while we are so insincere as to deprecate the arbitrary nature of a Russian ukase, or pretend to wonder at the tyranny of a dictator of Paraguay, while we succumb to the anonymous dictation of an official organ, and crouch like serfs before the Ministerial press.

The people of England have never been asked "whether they wished the transatlantic extensions of this country to be gifted away" to Yankees, Ellices, French Canadians, or to nameless friends of Colonial office clerks. The Parliament of Great Britain, favourable though it be to Ministerial intrigues, and highly indulgent to Ministerial recklessness, has never been asked to pass a bill declaring the colonial system to be utterly at an end, our distant settlements repudiated and insulted, and the British Empire broken into frag. ments. The nation has never been consulted upon this "new light;" the capitalists have not been consulted upon the repudiations and bankruptcies consequent upon a general cutting off of colonies; the manufacturers have not been asked whether they wish the colonial markets annihilated; the merchants have not been invited to assist in the transfer of their colonial trade to the hands of New York and Boston jobbers; the industrious classes of Great Britain, the working masses, have never been called upon for a "demonstration" of their eagerness to repudiate for ever their relatives who have emigrated, to declare them aliens, rivals, or enemies; the Honourable East India Com pany have not, so far as is yet known, been commanded

"If a principle be a good one, go through with it." If the principle on which Canada has been treated be a good one, the general breaking up of the empire must take place immediately.

Scotland ought to demand emancipation from the centralization of London, and be allowed to set up that "self-government" which has been conceded to Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Canada. The Isle of Man should be given to the Yankees to careen their ships upon, and the Orkneys restored to their original owners, the Danes.

Gibraltar should be given to the Barbary pirates! Malta to More O'Ferrall and the Jesuits, and Cepha|| lonia to the Austrians.

Our theory of colonies is practical and simple. They are not for the Court and aristocracy, but for the masses. "England wants room." The colonies are just the extensions of Britain, explored, cleared, or acquired by the British, to be united and regulated by British laws. In short, we should present to the world the front and power of a great united empire, like that of the United States, which extend to the remotest location under the flag, the same laws, the same customs' duties, the same protection. The infant settlements and the wealthy cities of the Republic are equally protected, and enjoy a free trade with each other.

The Americans boast, and with truth, that they are the most colonizing people in the world; and yet, to all their colonies are granted the privileges of the metropolis.

Britain might advantageously imitate ancient Rome in giving her colonies all the rights of citizenship, similar laws, equal taxes and trading facilities, legislative representation proportioned to the taxes paid, directly or indirectly, to the imperial treasury. The metropolitan and provincial debts to be adjusted, as the State debts of the U.S.A.--local debts and burdens to be provided for locally, by extending the plan of self-government or municipalities, in contradistinction to that of centralization, the error of France and the vice of jobbing Whigs.

At all events, and by all or any honest means, the monstrous project of getting up Government quarrels in all the colonies, in order to get rid of them, must be protested against. This country has vested much property in these possessions; and no newspaper traders nor swindling servants of the crown should

be permitted to make presents of entire countries. Noli The Canadians bought land, cut canals, borrowed mischief-mongers, however "feelosofical," should be money, and made vast improvements; thousands of tolerated in a wholesale incendiarism, merely that people from this country settled there, on the faith of they may be amused by the devastations of revolt. that country remaining British. Our Government have Efforts must be made to keep on friendly terms broken faith with them; they are enclosed by a comwith our colonies. The working men of England and | mercially hostile country; Britain has abandoned her of Scotland have only to WILL IT, and the colonies || children; they purchased our goods; their returns to may yet be saved as outlets for their labour-as fields us are in grain. Suddenly we treat them as foreigners for new enterprise, and openings for an increasing and aliens, and allow them no preference, no advantage population in seasons of distress. over the foreigners, whom we must pay in gold, and disturb the whole fabric of their trade in doing so. This plan of treating our friends as aliens will, if persisted in, very soon make them both aliens and enemies.

The people of other lauds are competing closely and severely with us in every branch of industry. We cannot afford to destroy our present markets, or gift them away to our rivals. We are engaged in a war of tariffs, and cannot afford to be continually defeated. The nation that of all others owes most to England, shows no desire to follow our liberal example. English capital has made the United States a great commercial power; the only check we hold upon her exorbitant tariff is our trade in the St. Lawrence, and the ad mission of British goods into Canada at moderate duties. Allow Canada to be annexed, and the duties are equalised and augmented; for the low duties of Canada annoy the New Yorkers.

Annexation will be followed by a rise of the United States' tariff to 40 per cent., or higher, if need be. Not only protection, but ultimate prohibition on the United|| States' principle. A committee of congress has already settled this question.

The colonies must be retained, India must be retained, that we may be emancipated from our degrad· ing and perilous dependence on America for cotton. We ought to give bounties for its re-introduction in the West Indies, and specially encourage it on the fertile mainland of Guiana.

The absurd and tyrannical restrictions on the im portation of labour into the British West Indies should be removed; if not, these islands will follow Cuba, and slavery will be restored with all its

horrors.

Why has it not occurred to us earlier, to supersede the slave trade on the African coast by planting African colonies, and spoiling the slave-market by setting thousands of negroes to raise cotton under the protection of the British flag?

RAILWAY AND JOINT STOCK BUSINESS OF THE MONTH.

used to believe in the permanency of high dividends and premiums, in connection with railway speculations, and the result is scen on the Stock Exchange, where none but a few favourite undertak

And there are many indications that matters will be even worse than they now are ere the year closes. Altogether, this has been the most disastrous year for the holders of railway property since the commencement of these undertakings, and it would be well if they could see any immediate prospect of improvement. This, however, is distant and obscure.

THE half-yearly meetings of these companies have now nearly closed, and their results have seriously affected the market price of all shares. The dividends have been generally lower than they ever were before; and this, added to the fresh exposé of Mr. Hud-ings reach par, or command a dividend of or above five per cent. son in the second report of the York and North Midland Investigation Committee, and the continued want of confidence felt by the public in railway management as at present conducted, has occasioned a partial panic. Out of eleven principal companies which have made returns of their traffic, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, though their mileage has been increased, but three show any increase of receipts. Two causes have been assigned for the falling-off-the cholera and the weather; but these can only be accepted as a partial explanation. The recent opening up of so many competing lines has also considerably to do with the falling off. The following table will present the actual facts in relation to these lines:

[blocks in formation]

The principal meetings of the past month have been the York and North Midland, the Midland, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire. The first was peculiarly interesting, from its connection with Mr. Hudson-the report of the Committee of Investigation

and the non-declaration of a dividend. The particulars of these, with the other events of the month, will be found in the Decreased | | following summary:Receipts.

L

350

1,309

1,740
1,437

209

[blocks in formation]

960 1,000

40

Lancashire and Yorkshire

Dover ...

Brighton

770 Increased Receipts.

[blocks in formation]

Every day is rapidly dispelling the hallucination of those who

Leeds and Thirsk Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Leeds, August 25. The directors congratulated the proprietors on the completion of the original line from Leeds to Thirsk, and its opening for public traffic on the 10th of July last. The gross receipts from traffic for the halfyear ending June 30th were £6,846 9s. 3d., and the balance remaining, after payment of working expenses, £2,812 12s. Gd. The receipts, to the 30th of June last, were, on account of calls, £1,386,834 8s. 3d.; loans, £377,741 2s. 5d.; miscellaneous re ceipts, £8,465 11s. 11d. Of this total sum of £1,773,041 28. 78. received, only £6,720 11s. 11d. remains in hand. The report was adopted, after which the meeting was made special, when it was agreed to raise £450,000, by an issue of £10 preference shares, at 6 per cent., for three years, and 5 per cent. in perpetnity.

Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe, and West Yorkshire Railway.— The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Blackburs, Angust 27th-Mr, W. H. Hornbey in the chair, After deducting

year.

all the working expenses, and paying the interest on the borrowed || and £17,697 expended, leaving a balance of £3,162. No divimoney, the balance to the credit of revenue is £3,099 11s. 11d. dend was declared, and the balance was carried to the next halfup to the 30th of June last. The receipts, in calls and in loans, || had been £857,319 18s. 8d.; added to which are the acceptances and debts owing to the company, amounting to £78,463 11s. 3d., making an aggregate capital of £935,783 9s. 11d. The disburse- || ments amounted to £914,521 16s. 8d., leaving a balance on capital account of £21,261 13s. 3d. The receipts for the half-year on that portion of the line opened (13 miles) amounted to £10,278 19s. 8d., and the disbursements to £5,653 10s. 6d., leaving a balance of £4,625 9s. 2d. The report, after a short discussion, was agreed to.

Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Junction Railway.-The|| half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Preston, August 27th. The receipts for the half-year ending June 30 had been -for calls and arrears, £125,448; interest, &c., £2,197 4s. 9d.; Preston and Longridge Railway, £3,295 12s. 11d.; total £130,940 17s. 8d. The expenditure in parliamentary expenses, engineering, &c., were £120,161, 1s. 1d.; balance, £327 148.; leaving a balance of £2,588 1s. 6d. due to the bank. The whole of the line, it was expected, would be completed by November. The report and statement of the accounts were unanimously agreed to.

Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway.--The halfyearly meeting of this company was held at Manchester, August 29-the Earl of Yarborough in the chair. It was stated that there had been £5,800,000 expended on the scheme, of which but £1,224,000 was borrowed. During the last half-year, the receipts were £64,729, and the expenditure £36,055. The increase of receipts was £7,789, and the diminution of expenditure £1,127. The working expenses in 1848 were £65 6s. per cent., and in 1849, £55 10s. 11d. The report was adopted, and a dividend of £7 10s. per cent. per annum declared on the Sheffield and Manchester No. 1 shares.

Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Chester, August 29. The total receipts from the commencement to 30th of June last, amounted to £61,856 14s. 5d., and the total expenditure, including £25,884 6s. 7d. costs in obtaining the Act of Parliament, to £29,098 3s. 5d., leaving a balance of £6,874 4s. 5d. The report was agreed to, nem. con.

behalf of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway, it was agreed to adjourn the meeting till after the reconstruction of the Board of that company.

Maryport and Carlisle Roilway.—The half-yearly meeting was held at Maryport, August 29. As the main business to be tranSouth Devon Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of the share-sacted was to consider the leasing of the line by Mr. Hudson on holders was held at Plymouth, on August 28-Mr. T. Woolcombe in the chair. The capital account, to the 30th June, showed tha £1,957,843 16s. 10d. had been received, and £1,927,685 14s. 6d.t expended, leaving a balance of £30,158 2s. 4d. The revenue account for the half-year showed that £41,255 had been received, and £26,785 expended, leaving a balance of £14,470,|| from which £10,831 was deducted for payment of interest on debentures, leaving a profit of £3,638 for the shareholders. The report was unanimously adopted. No dividend was declared, though a hope was expressed that next half-year would show a better result. The atmospheric system has been entirely abandoned on this line; connected with the attempted application of which there has been a great loss.

East Indian Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company took place in London on August 28. The proprietors have concluded a contract with the East India Company. This contract has been printed. The interest of 5 per cent. per annum, guaranteed by the East India Company, will, on and from the 17th of Angust ult., include the preliminary deposit of 5s. paid on the existing shares in the company, and upon which, hitherto,|| no interest has been paid. The board of directors have, in accordance with the pledge given to the proprietary, reduced the shares in the company from £50 to £20, and have made a redistribution of the capital into £50,000 shares of £20 each. The report was unanimously adopted.

Taw Vale Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company was held in London, on Monday, August 28-Mr. J. Sharland in the chair. The report stated that, up to the date of the account presented, there had been £157,000 expended in the works, and that £255,000 more would be required to complete the undertaking; this would make a total expenditure of £447,821, or an average cost per mile of £12,795. After some discussion, the report was agreed to.

London and Blackwall Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company was held in London, August 28-Mr. J. N. Daniel in the chair. The report presented the following sketch of the traffic for the last six months, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year :-

[blocks in formation]

1,273,969

£22,022 17 10

3,553 17 0
3,530 10 8
4,140 12 10

995,137 £17,51 12 6 -The sum of £1,150,465 had been received on capital for the main line, and £1,080,878 expended, leaving a balance of £69,587 in favour of the company. The receipts on the extension line account amounted to £214,305, and the expenditure to £236,586, leaving a balance against the company of £22,281. The liabilities of the company are stated to be £263,567, and the assets £201,621, leaving a balance to be provided of £61,946. The cost of relaying the line, &c., amounted to £43,784. The revenue account for the half year showed that £20,860 had been received,

South Wales Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company took place in London on August 30. The total cost of the portion of the line between Chepstow and Swansea, a distance of 75 miles, is estimated at £1,560,000. To this sum are to be added the amounts which may have to be expended upon other portions of the line up to the period of this opening, &c., £960,000, subscriptions to other lines, at about £140,000, making a total of £2,660,000. The company may calculate upon receiving £2,260,000 upon shares, after all due allowance for arrears and unproductive shares; leaving a balance to be raised upon debentures, of which about £100,000 are already issued. The total receipts up to the 30th June was £1,816,302 Os. Cd., and the expenditure £76,658 14s. 3d. An amendment was proposed on the directors' report to the effect that a committee of investigation be appointed, which, after a somewhat hot discussion, was passed. The report of the directors was subsequently adopted. The meeting was then adjourned till the first Thursday in October.

East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway.-The usual halfyearly meeting was held at Knaresboro' on August 30th. The works are fast approaching completion, and on the portion opened eight months ago, the gross earnings had been £2,743 17s. Od. The charge for working the line, by the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company, during that period, was £2,133 16s. 3d. The total outlay had been £222,287 Os. 9d.; the receipts, £222,291 12s. 8d. The report was agreed to.

Bristol and Exeter Railway.-The half-yearly meeting was held at Bristol, August 30th. The clear profit on the half-year was £24,633 19s. 10d., out of which it was proposed to declare a dividend of £1 11s. 6d. per whole share, or at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum on the £90 paid up. This left a balance of £1,008 19s. 10d. to be carried to next account. The report was unanimously adopted, and the dividend, in accordance with its recommendation, declared.

Sheffield, Rotheram, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Goole Railway.-The half-yearly mecting of the shareholders was held at Wakefield, August 30. The report generally stated that the works were in satisfactory progress, and would in all probability be completed by December 31st.

Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen Railway.-The half-yearly meeting was held at Dundee, August 31st. There had been a falling off in the passenger traflic in the past six months, amounting to £674, arising from the prevalence of cholera in Dundee. The goods traffic showed an increase of £4,560 over the corresponding period of last year. The directors recommend a dividend at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum for the past half-year, under reservation of a right to the guaranteed dividend. The report and dividend recommended were adopted unanimously.

Scottish Central Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Perth, August 31st. On account of the arrangement entered into with the Southern Companies, the meeting was adjourned till October 10, when the actual business will be transacted.

Eastern Counties Railway.-The twenty-sixth half-yearly || 24d. per share on the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury £100 shares meeting of the proprietors of this company took place in Lon-of £1 14s. 64d. per share on the Manchester and Leeds £100 don on August 31st. The report contained the following statement of the monetary affairs of this company:

Earnings of the half-year,

Interest chargeable to revenue...

Leaving net

The surplus remaining after payment of the dividend for the half-year ending 4th July, 1848, namely

Balance remaining at the credit of revenue account for the half-year ending 4th Jan., 1849,

£173,980 3 0
148,498 3 10
£25,481 19 2

3,589 9 5 6,323 13 0 £35,395 1 7 Out of the clear balance, a dividend of 2s. per share on each £20 consolidated stock of the Eastern Counties and Norfolk Companies was proposed. The report went at considerable length into the history of the recent proceedings of the directors, and intimated that, though the House of Lords had rejected the Norfolk Amalgamation Bill, they would be prepared to renew the application next Session. A long and stormy discussion ensued on this portion of the report, which ended in an amendment to strike out that portion. This, on being put, was declared to be lost, and the original resolution, that the report be received and adopted, carried by a majority. A poll was demanded, which was ordered to be taken on the Monday following. The meeting was resumed on the 3d; 4,230 votes were in favour of adopting the whole of the directors' report, and 826 votes in favour of the amendment. Majority against the amendment, 3,404 votes.

shares of 17s. 74d. per share on the £50 shares-of 7s. 04.
per share on the £25 shares-of 3s. per share on the £20 shares
or fifths of 2s. 94d. per share on the £32 shares or extensions
—of 13. 24d. per share on the West Riding Union £20 shares
--and of 7s. 6d. per share on the Liverpool and Bury £50
shares, deducting the income tax, and to be payable on the 25th
September instant." It was further resolved to raise £500,000
additional capital by way of mortgage. And we would respect-
fally recommend the directors to put their affairs into one stock
at once.
The preceding resolution implies a most unbusiness-
looking batch.

West London Railway.—The half-yearly meeting was held in London on September 6. The receipts to 30th June show £288,811 11s. 44d.; the expenditure, £287,547 7s. Old.; the balance, £1,264 4s. 4d. The assets of the company amounted to £5,088, and the liabilities to £3,224, leaving a balance in favour of the company of £1,864. The report was adopted.

The York and North Midland Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of this company took place at York, September 6. The meeting was also special to receive the second report of the committee of investigation. The committee's report, which was a most voluminous document, seriously inculpated Mr. Hudson; but as the committee threaten legal proceedings, we shall hear the whole story together. Like every other piece of scandal, it must have two sides. People who do not choose to look after their business are sure to be cheated in the long run; and this seems to have been the case with the now angry shareholders of the York and North Midland. For the half-year the receipts amount to £182,653 7s. 1d.; the expenditure was £75,850 for

bonds; £33,000 Hull and Selby rent; £19,435 interest ou Hall and Selby preference shares, leaving a balance of £17,574 12s. 6d. After a very stormy discussion, the report, which proposed no dividend, was agreed to.

Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway. The half-working the line, &c.; £35,604 88. 8d. interest on mortgage yearly meeting of this company was held in London, Aug. 31. The report of the committee of investigation, previously appointed, which was read to the meeting, stated the probable cost of the line at £3,250,000; but suggested a saving of £250,000. The sum of £1,500,000 would still be required, in addition to a sum for the use of the Stour Valley line; and these are the sad results of the connexion of this company with the Great Western Company, and of the want of foresight and policy on the part of the directors. The report further seriously attacked the general management of the directors throughout the whole course of their transactions. The chairman intimated that the directors would reply at length to the allegations of the committee of investigation; and to enable the whole affairs to be fully entered into, the meeting was adjourned till October first.

Cockermouth and Workington Railway.-A special meeting of this company was held at Cockermouth on Sept. 5th, at which it was decided to raise £25,000 more capital, in preference shares of £6 13s. 4d.; which was agreed to.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.—The half-yearly meeting
of this company was held in Manchester, on Sept. 5th. The
accounts to the 30th of June last show the following results:-
Received on account of calls....
£6,804,551 17 3
792.477 10 0
2,568,757 11 2

Ditto 6 per cent. Preference Stock..
Loans......

[blocks in formation]

The estimated outlay to which the directors limited themselves.....

The actual outlay up to the 30th of June last

was....

0

11,253,000 0 0 10,063,862 0 0 The balance of estimated outlay yet to expend, 1,189,138 0 0 The works represented by the above capital comprise about 200 miles of railway, and 16 miles of canal. The gross receipts for the half-year had been £309,115 4s. 11d., which, after providing for the working expenses, and the interest on guaranteed capital, left a net surplus of £22,868 78. 7d. The report was agreed to, and the following resolution, relating to the dividend, subse quently carried:"That a dividend be now declared for the half-year, ending the 30th June last, of 5s. 3d. per share on the guaranteed or £10 shares of £2 per £100 stock, and so in proportion on such of the Manchester and Leeds £6 5s. shares, and Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole £50 and £25 shares as have not yet been paid up and converted into stock-of £1 174.

[ocr errors]

Midland Railway.-The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of this company was held at Derby on September 7. From the report submitted, we learn that the total trame receipts for the past six months have been £546,087 7s. 4d. This, added to the balance brought forward from the previous halfyear, made £573,390 18s. 2d. After working expenses, and guaranteed rentals, or dividends, there remained a balance of £114,682 2s. 10d. It was proposed out of this to pay a divi dend at the following rate :

£6,554,529 9s. 7d. consolidated stock, at £3 per
cent. per annum

£978,533 9s. Birmingham and Derby stock, at
£1 12s. 6d. per cent. per annum...
£25,000 Midland preferential stock, at £6 per
cent. per annum

2,900 Erewash Valley £50 shares, at £6 per cent.
per annum, 30s. per share

£98,317 18 10

7,950 11 8

750 0 0

4,350 0 0 £111,368 10 6

A somewhat stormy discussion took place respecting the Leeds and Bradford lease; but ultimately the report was adopted, and the dividend as above declared.

Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock Railway.—The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at Greenock, September 7. The report showed £13,791 Ss. Id. on the half-year. From this sum there falls to be deducted the interest on debenture bonds and dividends of 6 per cent, on the preference shares, which amounts to the sum of £9,784 14s., leaving £4,006 14s. 1d. for division among the ordinary shareholders of the company. Therefore the directors recommended that a half-yearly dividend of 4s. per share on the £25 shares, and 2s. per share on the £12 10s. shares be declared.

Manchester, Buxton, Mallock, and Midland Junction Railway. -The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at the Midland station, Derby, on Tuesday, September 11. The capital secount to the 30th June showed that £349,869 9s. 9d. had been received, and £333,894 18s. expended, leaving a balance of £15,974 11s. 9d. In another month, in was said, the arrange ments for the earringe of goods and minerals would be completel, and that the line was in good repair. The report further stated that the receipts for passenger traffic only for cleven weeks, from June 4th to August 19th, had been £2,058, or £190 a-week. The report was unanimously adopted.

« PreviousContinue »