RAILWAY AND JOINT-STOCK BUSINESS OF THE MONTH. RAILWAYS. BUSINESS, in relation to the above undertakings, has been very quiet during the month. Speculation in railway shares is almost at an end, and none but those of first-class companies can obtain purchasers. Prices still keep depressed, though there is an evident improvement as compared with the preceding month. It is now pretty generally considered that we have seen the worst; and as the effect of the Hudsonian cooking system is gradually removed, we may expect a return to something like fair prices. Of course, the restoration of the halcyon days of 1845 and 1846 is out of the question. There have been but few meetings of companies in the past month, and those, generally, of an unimportant character. Below will be found all that happened of a material nature. DUNDEE, PERTH, AND ABERDEEN RAILWAY.-The halfyearly meeting of this company was held in Dundee on October 30th-Lord Kinnaird in the chair. There had been a falling off in the passenger traffic amounting to £674, chiefly 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 recommended a dividend at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum for the past half year. The report, after a short speech from the Chairman, was unanimously carried. PRESTON AND LONGRIDGE RAILWAY. The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of this company was held at Preston on October 30th, when a dividend of 12s. 3d. per share, clear of income-tax, was declared. YORK AND NORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY.-A special general meeting of the shareholders of this company was held at York on October 31st. The business was to receive the third report of the Committee of Investigation, and to consider the conduct of the Directors. A rather stormy discussion took place, which ended in the adoption of the recommendation of the committee, against re-electing Mr. Meek on the directory, by a large majority. SHREWSBURY AND HEREFORD RAILWAY.-A general meeting of this company was held at Chester, on November 6th. From the report submitted, it appears that the company are authorised to raise £800,000 in 40,000 shares of £20 each. The number of shares on which a deposit of only £1 has been paid, 34,799; the number on which the first call of £1 per share and the deposit has been paid, 21,989; the amount received on the second call of £3 per share, paid by instalments, £6,263; the number of shares forfeited, 4,943; the number of shares not issued, 5,201; the number of shares unclaimed, 146. It is proposed to construct the railway with a single line throughout; the estimate for which, with the necessary sidings and electric telegraph, and including the amount already expended, is, as stated in the last report, £485,804; to reduce the share-capital to £450,000, which, with the usual borrowing powers, will make a total capital of £600,000; and to make the number of shares 45,000 of 10 each, instead of 40,000 of £20 each, thereby diminishing the liabilities of the registered shareholders to one-half the present amount. The accounts from the formation of the company to the 30th of June last, show receipts by deposit on 34,799 shares, £34,799; on first call, £21,798; on second call, 43,362; total, £61.856. Expenditure-Works, Shrewsbury station and bridge over Severn, £21,500; expenses of obtaining Act, £25,884; balance, £6,874. The report was adopted. NEWCASTLE AND CARLISLE RAILWAY.-An adjourned meeting of the shareholders of this company was held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on Nov. 7, to receive the report of the proceedings of the Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company, held at York, on the 25th of October. The following report was submitted:-"The directors reported that the York, Newcastle, and Berwick have made no proposal to adopt the agreement entered into by Mr. Hudson for a lease of the Newcastle and Carlisle, or to enter into any other arrangement under which the lines might continue to be worked together. Mr. Hudson, who entered into an agreement for a lease of the Newcastle and Carlisle line, which will expire on the 1st of July, 1851, has offered to this company the alternative of accepting a surrender of the existing agreement at the end of the current year, or of entering into a treaty for an extended term. The directors recommend the acceptance of a surrender of the existing agreement at the end of the current year." The report was adopted unanimously. SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY.-A special meeting of this company was held at Exeter on Nov. 6th. The Chairman said it would be idle to conceal from the shareholders that this meeting was likely to be decisive of the fate of the company. Claims were pressing upon them from all quarters, and unless the present proposals were agreed to, he did not know what they were to do. He was glad to state that the debenture holders acquitted almost unanimously the directors of all blame as to the way in which the money had been spent. The debenture holders, or at least some of them, said they had a hold upon the company by Act of Parliament; and if their claims were not paid in full they could have recourse to the remedy which the law allowed them. No doubt, if all the debenture holders were to hold that language, the result would be ruin, even to themselves, for their property would be lost by legal proceedings; but, on the other hand, the shareholders would be sorry to lose that which, with moderate prudence, might be made a valuable property. He had no doubt that the line would pay the whole amount of 6 per cent. for the proposed new shares of £468,000, as any one might see by looking to the nett revenue of the last year. He now moved that the report of the directors, with the prospectus, be adopted, that the directors be empowered to take such measures as may be necessary, and particularly to apply to Parliament for powers to carry it into effect, and that a copy of these proceedings be sent to each shareholder, with a strong recommendation that they assent to the resolution. The resolution was put to the meeting, and unanimously agreed to. AUDIT OF RAILWAY ACCOUNTS-DELEGATE MEETING OF DIRECTORS-LORD LONSDALE IN THE CHAIR.-This meeting was held in London, November 8, to consider the best means of securing a more efficient system of auditing railway accounts. The meeting was very numerously attended. After considerable discussion, it was proposed by Mr. Glyn that, in order to afford the proprietors of railways a more speedy means of examination into the conduct of their respective undertakings, it should be competent for any number of proprietors holding stock or shares to the value paid up of not less than one-third of the total capital of the company, to appoint, within a month after any general meeting, two of their number, for the purpose of making a special examination into the accounts of the current half-year; and such auditors so specially appointed, together with the public ac countant selected by them, shall bave the same power of examination in every respect as he has by the proposed and other acts granted to auditors appointed in the ordinary course by a majority at general meetings. It was finally resolved that the resolutions be published, and transmitted to the secretary of every railway company, with a request that the opinion of the shareholders be taken upon them whether for or against. DUNDEE AND ARBROATH RAILWAY.-The shareholders in this line held a special meeting in Dundee, on Nov. 10th. The report stated that the directors of the Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen had represented to the directors of this com pany that they were unable, from the great depression in railway property, and the dispute with the Caledonian, to continue longer to pay the 8 per cent. stipulated in the agreement. They proposed that the guaranteed dividend for the lease of the line to be paid by the Perth Company on the paid-up capital of the Arbroath Company, instead of being at the rate of 8 per cent., should be at the rate of 6 per cent. for five years from the date of the last dividend, and thereafter 7 per cent. per annum in perpetuity (free of income-tax); with the condition that, if in any year there should be a surplus of revenue from the Arbroath line, atter paying such dividend and the necessary expenses, such surplus should in the first place be wholly paid to the Arbroath Company till the dividend amounted to 8 per cent.; and the surplus, if any, to be divided equally between the two companies. SAMBRE AND MEUSE RAILWAY.-A special meeting of this company was held in London, Nov. 13. The chairman regretted that the hopes which they had entertained had been disappointed. The traffic receipts averaged only £170 per week, and the expenses amounted to £210 per week. Up to the present time they got nothing by working the line; they had incurred a debt of £5,000, and they were adding to that debt every week. Under these circumstances, Mr. Sheward, the managing director in Belgium, gave notice to the Minister of Public Works that the company would cease to work the line at the expiration of the twelve months. When the company commenced to work the line, certain expenses were 19,000f. (£760) per month, but they had been gradually reduced to 10,000f. (400) per month. The £20,000 raised by the issue of preference shares had been expended, and there was not one shilling left when they opened the line for traffic. The iron works were out of blast, and property which at the time the money was lent was worth £100,000, is not now worth 410,000. The Chairman proposed a resolution to the effect that in the present position of affairs it was inexpedient to continue the working of the line, unless some arrangement be made with the Belgian Government, leading to a reasonable conclusion that it would be worked at a profit.-The resolution was unanimously adopted. Names of Railways. 0 47 to 48. www 10% to 11 10 to 11 9 to 949 to 9 25 0 Shrewsbury and Bir. 12 0 SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.-This company held an adjourned meeting in London, on Nov. 14. The Chairmau informed the meeting that the South Wales intended to introduce two bills in the next session of Parliament to amend their Acts, to extend time for the purchase of lands and construction of works, and to authorise certain deviations. With regard to the bills promoted by the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, and Dublin and the Vale of Neath, the directors of the South Wales could know nothing. He further remarked that the proper time to discuss the merits of the bills would! be when they were submitted for the approval of the share-York, Newcastle, and holders. A resolution for adjournment was then agreed to. AMIENS AND BOULOGNE RAILWAY.-This company held a special meeting in London on November 20th-M. C. Lafitte in the chair. The object of the meeting was to obtain certain concessions from the French Governmcut, to which they considered themselves fully entitled. EAST ANGLIAN RAILWAY.-A meeting of bondholders be longing to this company was held in London on the 21st of November. The chairman stated that the amount of bonds now due was £62.000. On the 31st of December, £15,000 more would fall due. The gross receipts for traffic in the first half of the present year were £17,569;|| from the 1st of July to the 11th of November the receipts had been £14.240. The average receipts were about £720 a week; the actual working expenses were £120 a week, leaving a balance of £300 a week, which was sufficient to pay every bondholder 5 per cent for his money. After some discussion, a committee was appointed to protect the interests of the bondholders, and to report to a future meeting on the best course to be adopted. WINDING UP.-Fifty-seven defunct railway companies are in the course of being wound up, under the operation of the railway and joint stock companies. South Wales... 16 10 0 25 0 18 to 18 15 to 17 14 to 14 16 to 154 Berwick ASSURANCE COMPANIES. 16 to 17 18 to 18 ENGINEERS', MASONIC, AND UNIVERSAL MUTUAL LIFE AS entertained, at the Freemasons' Tavern, on Tuesday evening, the SURANCE COMPANY.-The directors of this company recently members and friends of this society. The chairman mentioned that, since the formation of the society on the 7th of June, 1845, it had received 889 proposals for policies. Of these 75 had been declined, 5 were under consideration, and 760 had been completed. The annual income of the society thus amounted to £6,237. The following Insurance Companies are being wound up, under the recent act:-Agricultural Cattle, London and Westminster Life, Tontine Life Assurance, York and London Assurance. Banks that are undergoing the same operation:-Isle of Wight, Marylebone, North of England, Sheffield and Retford. THE GRESHAM LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.-The First Annual Meeting of this society was held last month, at the office, 37, Old Jury; William Taber, Esq., in the chair. The report submitted APPLICATIONS TO PARLIAMENT.-It appears that notices of stated that "The business transacted during the year is as follows:application to Parliament in the ensuing session have been Gross sum assured by 419 policies, being the number issued to given for sixty railway bills. There are five notices for new lines. The notices for amalgamations are the Cale- July 31, £149,160, producing an annual income of £5,615, 11s. 8d. donian and Edinburgh and Glasgow; the Scottish Cen- Total amount of business transacted or submitted during the tral with the London and North-Western, Lancaster year:-Proposals made to the society for assurance (amounting and Carlisle, Caledonian and Edinburgh and Glasgow in the aggregate to £339,724), 932; incomplete and under conCompanies; and the Edinburgh and Bathgate with the Edin-sideration (amounting to £91,452), 229; declined (amounting to burgh and Glasgow. 499,112), 284; accepted, and upon which the premiums have been paid (each policy averaging £356), 419. It will, no doubt, be interesting to the shareholders and policy-holders to be informed of the number of first-class lives assured relatively to those upon which an increased premium is payable. Your Directors, therefore, furnish the following statement of each, viz. :-Policies issued at ordinary rates, the assurance being on first-class lives, 237; ditto, at increased rates, the assurance being on lives supposed to be somewhat below the average, 182; making the total number of policies for the year (as above stated) 419." From this statement it will be seen that, had the Society's business been limited to what, in assarance language, is termed first-class lives, its success, from the con fidence placed in it by the public, would still have been very The fact of between 900 and 1,000 proposals for insurgreat 7 ance having been made to the Society in the first year of its existence is one which, if not altogether unparalleled, is a proof of very decided success; since only one or two instances can be foundand those of recent date-which at all approach to such success. The chairman stated that the sum invested, up to the 11th of October instant, was £15,051 8s., of which £2,629 16s. had been repaid; and, consequently, there was available for claims under policies the sum of £12,421 12s., besides the premiums on new assurances effected, which, as a matter of course, are accumulating daily. The report was unanimously adopted. 10 to 11 64 to Uto 6 27 to 294 30 to 32 0 0207 to 212210 to 215 South Coast 100 0 Lon. and Greenwich 12 15 Lon. and Nor. Wes. 100 0 Lon, and Sou. Wes. 50 60 to 62 97 to 99 4 www 55 to 56 92 to 94 57 to 58 96 to 98 9 to 11 31 to 721 to 781 764 to 77 00 SCOTTISH AMICABLE SOCIETY.-This mutual and old estab lished office has opened a London branch. The whole profits in this office are divided amongst the assured. THE LIVERPOOL MARINE ASSURANCE COMPANY, it is understood, will be dissolved. The paid-up capital, it appears, has been entirely lost, together with an additional amount of about £26,000. PRINTED BY GEORGE TROUP, 29, DUNLOP STREET, GLASGOW. |