WELLINGTON AND MANAWATU RAILWAY COMPANY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4323, 4 April 1901, Page 2

WELLINGTON AND MANAWATU RAILWAY COMPANY.

♦ n ANNEAL MEETING OF SHARE, j! HOLDERS. j The annual meeting of tlie* Hiarebold- j , ( rs oi' the AVellingtoa-Manawat n Rail- ( nay Company, Limited, was held at the ] Chamber of Commerce rooms yesterday * at noon. Mr T. G. Macarthy (chairman ; of directors) presiding. j' Tim report of the hoard of directors s l a tos: ‘-Notwithstanding material 1 reductions of rates, the- traffic earnings - for the year, 4,1)0,270 Is, represents the 1 largest volume of traffic handled in any year since Hie opening of the railway. The income from the railway and land has been so satisfactory that the dirco. tors feel justified in recommending the payment of a. dividend ,ol‘ G per cent, for the year. Messrs Kirkoahlie and Plim-j mer are the retiring directors, and, being eligible/ offer themselves for re- 1 election. Messrs Ivcmher and Stuart, the retiring auditors, also them.) solves for re-election*” | The statement of * accounts showed that the receipts amounted to £152,994 Is, including' £41,390 9s 7d balance at the 28th February last year. The ox. | pendifure amounted to £110,883 lls Id, 1 and the cash balances are;—Wellington, Bank of New Zealand, £1294 12s Kid; London. £34,117 12s. Id; in hand, bead off U-e, .amlvalißcitatjons. £O9B. .Ts, or a, total of £3OJIO 9s lid. The hal--ance.sheel. showed the following figures; . ■ —Railway account, ilet profit for year ending 28th February v 1901, £9791 .'is) 8d: land account, net profit for yearj ending 28th February, 1901, £2570 19s. 10(1; total not profit available for divi-i (lends, £31,502 5s lid. Not available for dividends—Land account; As per , balance-sheet 28tb February, 1900, £51,290 0s 7d; net profit from land j f sales for year ending 28th February,! 1901, £4270 13s 9d; total, £55.500 14;V Id. The total assets amonnted to £952,885 12s Bd. TILE CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS.. | The chairman) moved the adoption of the report and statement of accounts.! He s-aid:—ln. submitting for your ap-| proval and adoption the various statements showing the results of our trails--actions for the--past year, I must re- 1 mind you that this is the twentieth annual meeting. of the shareholders of the Wellington and Alanawatu Railway. Company and the fourteenth since the railway was completed and opened for traffic; A Reference' to the. accounts which wefe- ; presented to you on the termination of our first year’s working of the railway shows onr traffic receipts for that year as £46,500. The accounts for this year show bur earnings to have been. £96,270. , Ilf font-teen ’ years our cash, receipts- have more than doubled in amount, despite the fact that rates and fares have been so mat erially; reduced that in many cases they are nowonly one-third ..of the amount charged I when our railway was first opened for, traffic. The traffic tables which will; he distributed to shareholders with the re. port of this meeting will exhibit a. fourfo.v. increase of traffic. Shortly put, in fourteen years we have quadrupled our traffic and doubled our receipts. 1 Our expenditure for this year, £46,562, is tho highest we have recorded. Increased rates of pay to our employees, more train mileage, higher -price for coal, and additional work necessary to : maintain the railway and rolling-stock in full" efficiency are responsible for ith® increase, about ~£2134 more than last year. Our traffic receipts, £96,270, |are also £2225 more than last year, a, | result mostly duojto the large number of country people.', visiting ■Wellington: to witness* the - departure of the different contingents.-'to* Africa. • THE TRAIN BERA’TCES AND' ROLLING STOCK. : Looking' to- oiiL-railway; aceoiMitsj as a whole, I think we have good reasons for regarding the results as satisfactory. Onr receipts arid expenditure exhibit a nearly similar amount of increase, i The convenience and requirements; ofthe public have not been ovei-loolped. During tbe latter part of the year} we have run three trains daily each Way between Ltmgbnm and Wellington, .thereby enabling country people} to visit Wellington,', staying four hpurs there and returp to their homes J the same, riiglit.V. Gap' mail train services have been. materially.. Improved by making ilio journey each way in thirty fiiinutes’ less time' than ‘was required last year, and one hour less than when|the. line was first opened for traffic. Included in our expenditure cn maintenance . is the last portion of the cost .of the deviation of the; line around' No.j-12 tunnel, and the construction of a steel girder viaduct,to. replace a. wooden structural known As ithfe’Tannery bridge, built iby. the Government .-between (|rof- : bon and Wellington. . That the railway line and rolling stock have been wellmaintained is established hy the joint reports of Mr Hales. Government Ejigi-neer-in-Chief; Mr John Coom, Chief Engineer for New Zealand 1 Working Railways;; and Air C. Napier. Bell, M.I.C.E. .Those, gentlemen wore | directed hy the Government to examine and rejiort oh our railway, rolling stock and structures!. " A' -copy of their report will he included'iii' the pampliletj for i warded to ;-shareholders - this year. ; Shareholders, arid’ the public will acefipt this report: as xmrior that the railways has hen well ihairifained. The workj of i equipping giir._roiy.ug._stim-k. ;wjth„i the 1 Westiughouse brake is now well underway. The cost of this equipmentwill,; not he charged, to maintonance, j hut must be a charge on capital account. In order to enable us to handle promptly . and economically the increasing volume, V>f our traffic ww;have ordered two very - powerful'locomotives from* the Baldwin’ Company. We also require more;pari-j seuger--cars, -steel*rails aud Ironbark; sleepers.- * AVe- propose to obtain Suffi. 1 cioiH -for our •requirements during this year. ... 1 LAND pALES. Laud' sold (luring ,the, year realised £13,114, of rwhicli our,gross profits ,were £5735. - Amongst the, fiirgi . sold,, were/ several blocks of well-timbered country;* from which we. expect to. obtain, a largo ameunt of freight, and some; royalty.} Our net income from interest on mort-j gages and royalty on timber and vari-| ou3 deposits is now so satisfactory that- ' we think yve are justified in recom-1 mending the payment of a dividend of 6 per cent, for the year on the paid up capital of the company. , | THE CONTRACT WITH THE I ; . GOVERNMENT. , j When reminding you just' now that; ; our railway had bSeif crimpieted, arid} opened fot-trafficfourteeri years, I had' two-'objects*.in-view—the expediency of explaining in Jew'yvprds the .concli-} t ions' of the contract entered into by ' the promoters p£ .the* Wellington anil Alanawatu Railway arid the Government of ’ the day; defining the conditions under which the Government can purchase: the railway, and placing before you the correspondence that has passed be-| tween tho directors of the coriipany; and- the present; Government, -reining ■ to the sale to the Government- of the whole assets of the company 1 . Dealing, first with :the;ppiitraf;t deed; the Gov-' eminent;, of. thp/.dpy : au|hoi-ised hy the .•• -Railway. ..Construction.-, and’.'Land Art, . tNoi-illZmllfi&Ji) iliv. ‘deeds dated March 20th, 1882, entered into a contract with the directors of this company by which

the company were authorised to construct a 'railway between Wellington and Longhurn, The time for the completion of the railway was limited. In all respects it had to he constructed in accordance with the requirements of the Gmd.-umcnt Railway Engineer. The (•autrart retained for the colony the goodwill of the railway, prohibited the company from selling or ■ in \any waypart iug with tho railway without the sanction ol the Governor in Council, and numerous other conditions henefij cial to the colony, including a power to purchase within throe years of the completion of the railway’. As we all know, this right of purchase was not exercised, hut the colony has a right of iim-ehaso under Part 7 of the (Railway Construction and Land Act, 1881, sectiens, 114 to .120. These sections prescribe the UHwle* by which arbitrators are. to ascertain the value of the ra*'iyvay, and enact that once arbitrators j have arrived at that value. 10 per } cent, has to he.added thereto, ami paid ‘to. the company’. Before leaving this part of my subject, I may as well rej mind you that tho railway’ was comI ploted and opened for traffic in. less than the contract time, in a manner more, substantial and better calculated. to deal economically with heavy trafi fie than any Government line. Now. I" Oh regard to the negotiations between the Government and myself, relating to the sale-,to i lie colony’ hv private contract of the whole of (he assets of this company, the. correspoudcnc-* has been printed and "forwarded to most of the shareholders now present. The | correspondence (not the commencement of the negotiations for salej opens | with a letter dated July 17th, 1900, j from Air O, .Wethered, one of mu- larj pest Homo .shareholders;, to the Rmhr 1 Honourable the Premier. This letter I expresses Hie terms on which some of our Home shareholders were willing to 1 support a sale of tho assets of the comj nar.y to the, colony. Next in sequence : is mv letter to. tho Premier, of Septem- | her 37th. 1900, differing slightly from Air AVothered. I need hardly ’ inform Ivon that, my’ letter ati;l the statements | accompanying it / wofej very carefully considered and approved of hy tic* i hoard before being, addressed to .the i Premier. The whole of’ the corrcspou- : douce just referred, to was printed and laid before. Parliament; last .session, and I rin Act of tho Legislature was passed authorising the Govermnentrto > negotiate with - the company for tho pur dinse of the Wellington and Alanawatu rail- ' way and its assets. The last let'; ir of i tho correspondence, dated March 14th, I 1901, is the re.pjv of the Government to my letter of September 17th, 1900. , The: announcement is made that the Government declines to purchase on the terms: made in my last'letter, the price , being too high, and practically inviting another offer from the company at a less , uric-e. Tho substance of this letter has been forwarded To our London office. W,* expect shortly’ to hare the views of our Heme shareholders thereon. I THE A'ALUEOFTHF ASSETS. , , An - analysis of., the ; balancer Sheet of th ‘ company for last year shows the value of our assets (clear of all liabilities) as £928.924, coma 1 to about ■’9s nor share'. If the Goyenim'ciat had. j purchased our assets on the tonus submitted. shareholders would receiy*e about -‘lss (xl per share, or a premium • of 6s 6d ner share on the balance-sheet value of their .shares, Tho colony would recover tho value of the whole of its > endowments-to the (company and possession of a. railway's',absolutely’ neees- ’ savy to enable the Government to work • P*conoraicallv the whole of tho North Island traffic north,'and' westitord of Eketahnna: , The.’balance-sheet cost of the railway compares most favourably with tho construction cost of the Goveminent railway. As an example, (ho Government line from. Wellington to Eketahnna is shown by the Railways Statements to have cost nearly £3OOO per mile more than ours. The commercial value of our railway may be fairly estimated hy comparing the balancesheet, for 1899-1900 with that for 19001901. Comparison shows that tiie tiuns’aotions for the last year resulted in a profit for the ’company’ of £16,639. \ portion of this money is produced by assets independent of the* railway. These assets could be disposed of at' a price higher than that at which they appear in onr balnnce-.sheet. , THE COMPANY’S STAFF. Before I submit the resolutions necessary to secure the adoption of the report . and '..-..balance-sheet, I must ask you to join -with me in recognising, hy a' cordial vote of thanks, our appreciation of }the good services of our officers arid staff during the, past year. Our secretary and general manager,Mr Hannay, is unremitting in his efforts to promote the prosperity of the company. Early and late, he personally supervises our traffic His long experience in railway work enables him to secure efficient arid economical working of our train service. Air Marchbanks. our engineer, has well earned the thanks of shareholders. During the past an unusual amout of improvements and repairs have been effected without a hitch or riushap of any kind, and much new work designed of material value to tho railwav. Both of the gentlemen I have named were ably’ served by' the staff of employees whom they" control and direct. When all do well, it may perhaps he considered out of place for me to,, select any section of the employees for special mention, but voui auditors at the conclusion of their yearly audit wrote as follows:"On signing the balance-sheet for tin year ending the 28th February, 1901, w congratulate the directors on the re suits. The land ledgers containing ; debit balance in mortgage of £52,00* , are virtually free from arrears, ovei y. due interest amounting to less lliai ’ £25, a state of things reflecting grea j credit ori tho energetic management. I and much praise is due to the accountants, Alessrs Cook and Stephens, for the excellent condition of the bookri of the company.”. This is signed bv Air Henry Kember, F.1.A.N.Z., and Air D. T. Stuart, F.I.A.N.Z. It is not often that auditors express themselves in terms so complimentary to the j staff of an offee with which they have business relations. Personally, I en- . dorse all that the auditors have .written, j Mr C. T. Richardson, who ~pcondpd j the motion, said he considered the re* (port and balance-sheet of a satisfactoi | character, not only’to the colonial bv to the English shareholders, and it wa possible, when the report was receive, • by the English shareholders, they would not be quit© so ready to sugge the I sale of this property to the Government | There was one thing of which no mention : had been made in-the chairman’s speech } tho case of McLeod. They a.i sym- ' pathised l with him on account of the accident which befel him, but they ah : admitted that the action of the diff tors was right. They might now the thing be buried in the past, trusting that AlcLeod had not received so much injury as had been reported. He 1 was very glad that the case was not ! taken to the Court of Appeal in Lon- | don, and thought the-directors were ; perfectly justified in the decision they arrived at. •• , The ...Chairman,, reviewing McLepqls .case., said that the company held an jjir suranee' policy at the time for against) accident toariy of its employ*.'-, but the : directors*in addition placed £IOOO under his -oontrol ' to meet tbe case and arrange matters with AlcLeod. That £IOOO, together with the £SOO

insurance, he thought, most of the shareholders would agree, placed a very him.i'.iriiiie sum in his hands lor the purpose. The basis of his claim was that he had lost I-U sight, and then required professional evidence to support His claim. Mr McLeod was asked to .sub-

mit himself to examination, and the reports which reached the directors with reference to it were conflicting. One report was that lie was difficult to deal wiih'-difficult to examine, fpeared to resist the examination..Mr .llannay saw McLeod, and suggested that lie should come, and see the chairman, as the company did not wish lo escape any liability it had incurred through the injuria, sustained, but from that (lay Mr McLeod had never been near him. Acting under legal advice, Mr Me.Lpod sent in a claim, and his coli-itor wrote in terms which had the effect of keeping them at a distance. 1. uder the circumstance-, it was only reasouiihle that lie should eoine to see the directors, hut he did not. He went on with his ease, ryul said in, evidence that in the locomotive lie had been driving innumerable panes of glass had been broken—he believed he said a. hundred or so. Now the company u-cd sixteen locomotives, and Mr McLeod ■drove one. Any gias-cs that were injured would have had to come out of the company’s store, and the accounts of Inc store showed that only nineteen pieces of glass had been thrown out in the whole of (he sixteen engines, so it, was evident that Mr McLeod ivas dr.icing a long bow there. .'With referenceto the accident, he was under the im-

pression hat none of the company’s men saw McLeod alter the accident. When ho came from the tunnel he stated that his eye was injured, and coveredl it up. His own fireman did not seo it. On reaching the station yard ho ought to have reported himself to (ho locomotive superintendent or the engineer, or to Mr Hannay, and further, ho should have secured the services of a professional man, hut he did not comply with any of these regulations. Under all the circumstances lie was under the impression that McLeod had really received more than he vva.H entitled to. Mr HayhiUlo asked what would Hi' the vahm/ol the shares if the Governmeiit had accepted the offer of the company, with the addition of-6 per cent, interest.

Tho Chairman: 35;.; 6d ; 6s 6d mom than tin balance-sheet value of tho

shares. Mr KcHbcll asked what would be tiic value of the .shares on a 5 per cent, bus is? Tiic Chairman; IL would be a little over 30s.

Mr T. Tvcnu edy Macdonald thong'd i tho tl tree tors deserved to be very much congratulated on the achievements of | the company for the past year, and considered that the results clearly showed that, notwithstanding the opposition on ' the part of the Government, the com- . pany was aide to hold its own, not only in. passenger, hut in goods traffic. H« ■ thouglib all experienced in railway ma ftors must have lung since recognised that the Government were unable—an'd ■would ho unable, chon with the addi- 1 tional rolling stock provided—to grapple with the vast extent of traffic north . of Wellington, if they would persist in , taking it over the Kunutaka. Therefore, ho did not think there should be any '■ nervous, feeling on the part of the ; board of directors in administering tbo railway so as to bring profit to the shareholders. It was a- very remarkable thing to find a London shareholder coming to this colony and approaching the Premier on the question of selling the company’s property, without doing the Wellington shareholders the courtesy of asking the board to meet him and talk the matter over quietly. In all his experience of joint stock companies that, it seemed to him, was Clio most peculiar method over adopted iu reference to a company. It was a most unique performance. If that course had been adopted by a colonial shareholder in reference to a London company, the ICnglish shareholders would have said it was a piece cf colonial impertinence, but as it had been adopted by a London man, ho supposed they mu>t say it was the proper thuig there. (Laughter). Mr Wethered ought to know ilint the colonial shareholders reseated conduct of that U,nd. Speaking of tho statute under which the company operated, Mr Macdonald said the morning paper had given what, to his mind, was an entirely ish- r - impression to tho outside public as to the position of the company. The loading article ’ iu that morning's paper referred to the hard terms provided by I ho statute. What hard terms? The .statute said that tho Government could within a certain number of years acquire the ( lino at the price Paid by the company for its construction, with a commission l of 5 per cent, for the company's labour and trouble in connection with it. and , if, after a certain period, they failed to ; acquire it, they could obtain it on pay- I inent of a commission of 10 per cent, i any time thereafter. Those appeared to him to be extremely reasonable, terms. The chairman had referred to, tho matter in his able letter which ac- , companied Mr Wethered s proposition, I where he stated that if the Govern-1 merit built the ‘ Hue to-day, would. , cost 20 per cent, more than it cost at tho time it was constructed, and that, according to the report of the engineers who examined it, it. was in first - ' class condition, and a.s good as if built ’ to-day, so that tho Government would ' he Lulyiug tho line 20 per cent, cheaper than it would take to build it, and ■getting it for 10 per cent, above coot 'price. ■ Why should they depart from the statute? Those terms were regarded by a previous Government as ex. tiemelv reasonable, and it was uji’douhtod that, the shareholders took np"on themselves a patriotic work and a re'Vnonsil.ilitv which the Government of 'that day absolutely declined, and for the “New Zealand Times” to talk about tho “hard terms” was to show an entire misconception of the position. For ehdit years, while this railway was building and in its earlier stage- the shareholders did n °t receive a penny piece. They stood out o. the money all that time, taking all the risks, and opening up an avenue to. tens of thousands of acres for settlement, and now they were accused of being greedy and asked not to insist on petting their pound of flesh, after eight years’ waiting, and settling tho count r’v which otherwise would never have '--on settled. He was very glad that the offer had boon declined on tho 'dasis of the assets of tho company, helauso tho assets were very much groate* Thau they were shown in tho balancesheets. As a matter ef Fact, the radway had cost £950,000, as might be seen bv statement prepared hv Jlr mnnay ■ but the sum of .0187,000 had been written Off because the directors very properly wanted to bring the value or the railway down to bedrock price, and to avoid paying taxation upon a very ’arge sum of money. But when, the, Nme to sell a railwr.v to other people • iPev had a perfect right to ask the cos of £950,000; but Hie Government had omitted to consider the £187,000 at ah. Then, with regard to the question or lands, tho Government s valuation o. the company’s item rf £o-,000 in 1 10 balance-sheet was £OI,OOO. and he sup- .. posed if they put Those, lands no -or silo to-morrow they would bung T >arcr £IOO.OOO. In offering to scl. t .o assets of the company to the C wernmoiit, they were really offering

• to the Government a railway worth a quarter of a million more-than was shown in the balance-sheet, ami yet the I Government had declined it. He suggested f that the directors should ap--1 preach tho Government on the question, | not of selling the line, hut of .tdmiiiisi lering the railway so as to increase its powers of management and I working with the general railway system :ii the colony, so that ii a man ,! wanted lo get a ticket to carry him along : both the Government and the Manu- \ vatu line, he should Ho able to do so. ! It was only an interchange, which had j been adopted on every railway system I in the world, and he was satisfied that 1 the Him Mr Ward, who, if anything at 1 all, is a common .-eiiso man of business 1 with a, considerable grasp of detail, would recognise that tuc colony demanded that this link of I railway of eighty-four miles should form part of the colonial system, and i enable goods and passenger traffic to I he in'crchatigcd. He considered that i the directors ought to set themselves 'to work to bring that about, Ihe Gov--1 eminent hud a, right--for the conioany ■ were only tenants year by year—to take the property with Id per cent, added, rind it was worth a great deal more than the 10 per cent, to ties Government. He wi-hed to express his dissent in tho mod. clear and emphatic manner from the arguments used by the “New Zealand Times,” that tho company were demanding something from tho Government which they had no right to. The Government had been the obstacle from the very beginning. An entirely wrong view of the matter has been taken from j tho beginning by the heads of the Government in connection with this question. Thev had never recognised tho vast amount of good tho company baa ilouc for iho settlers north of the cit> of Wellington. After Mr Kchhell had asked certain questions, Air Macdonald went on to say that ihe company never got tho land allocation to which it was ontitled under the .statute, and were short CM,OOO in connection with that. This had always been a disgraceful episode! in connection with a. previous ;.ctmiuistration—not the present Government—that, although they had land available to give the company, they never eairied out tho statute, and the shareholders had been deprived ot £25,000 worth of land which they were entitled to got. He might say that ho -as familiar with imo question, as he was selected by Sir Harry Atkinson to act as umpire in tho matter of the alwt;a. lion of land to tho company. _ The motion for thd adoption of tho report and balance-sheet was carried unanimously. The Chairman moved, That n dividend at the rate of (i per cent, tier annum on the paid-up capita! of the company he paid to the shareholders on the Wellington register on and after \\ eduesduy' next, April 10th, and to tho London shareholders on receipt of adview thorc/ 1 , _• .. Mr TTayhitllr seconder! the motion, which was carried unanimously. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS.

On the motion of Mr Perry, Messrs John Kirkcaklio and J. A. Plimmer were re-elected directors. Air Kirkealdie. in returning Blanks, suggested that Mr Ward, tho Minister for Railways now,would do a good thing for the southern portion of the Norte Island if ho interchanged traffic witn the companv, and reduced the time bSTtween Napier and Wellington by something like two hours. That could be vpi-v' easily done, and the speed from Wellington to Palmerston could be reduced "without much difficulty. The traffic would warrant him in doing this, and it would bring much kudos to mm that would be lo his cwn benefit. ELECTION OF AUDITORS.

Mr John Plimmer moved! that Messrs Kemher and Stuart be re-elected auditors, and that their remuneration ho the same as last year. Mr C. T. Richardson seconded the motion, which was earned unanimously. RETENTION OF THE COMPANY’S RAILWAY.

Mr T. K. Macdonald moved the reso. lution published in the “ New Zealand Times ” yesterday. He said he felt very strongly that the hawking about of the company’s property by the London gentleman, who was good enough to do it after visiting the colony and also in London was a very bad tiling for the company, and, he thought, should be discouraged. The resolution was designed! to strengthen the hands of the board in dealing with the Government, and to show the Government that tho shareholders of the company had a proper amount of faith in their own property, and that the Government had ample power to take over the line if they wanted to do so. But he thought the directors should go on improving tho property, and let the Government , pursue their own path, the company merely trying to work with them on as I amicable and friendly lines as possible. !Ho would) propose the motion, but if the directors preferred! not to have their hands tied by it, ho should be glad t° have an expression of opinion from them. 1 Mr John Piimmor, senr., who seconded) the resolution, asked the directors ■ by whoso authority the gentleman who hud been referred to had offered the company's assets to the Government? Ho knew perfectly well, from the long connection he had had with the com. pany, that they had no power to offer tho estate to the Government without the directors’ permission to do it; and ho wanted to know the meaning of it, as he could not understand it. It might pay him well to do it, because he was a Very largo shareholder, but it would not pay the shareholders in general. He knew the price of everything in connection with the railway, and what it was worth. As a proof that he did) know something about it, he might state that what he had told them two years ago Lad! now happened—that in two years they would be better off, before the Government opposition occurred. Mr Hurley thought that every effort made to tie the hands of the directors should! be discouraged, and he suggested to -nr Macdonald that he should withdraw his resolution.

Mr Haybittle took a similar view. Mr Richardson thought it would be unwise to withdraw the resolution. It did not place it beyond the discretion of the directors to deal with the matter as they thought fit. It would bo unwise to spend time in discussing a resolution of -this kind 1 , potent in its effect, and! then, withdraw it.

Mr Kember said the correspondence did nob disclose the least ideas of the Government wishing to buy the line. It would bo quite time enough when the

■ Government made an offer lo the holders to discuss whether they should accept it. , The chairman said that ordinary busi. ness men when they had a property to .dispose of, did not run round and tell ’everybody what the/ would take for it, and that they would not negotiate on any other terms. The Guv'’7;’.r,ient had been in negotiation with the company, and said that they w/mld not give the price that tho company asked. « ith ] reward to the references made to Air !We then id, he might say that he and j ids family wero very largo holders of [stock, and that they were the London agents of the company, with other ■ shareholders. Air Wethered was hete, 'and was in conference with (ho dire.cI tors, but they gave him no authority to (make an offer ‘tjAho Government. In I I lie course of his business he mec the ! Premier and discussed the mat. Iter with him. Ho ascertained what ! the Premier thought the Government ought to do, and the Premier said Iha.t they would approve of an ofier in which there was no arbitration; but an amount to be offered to the shareholders. Li his The chairman's! letter he had stated that Air Wethered was nor the first to mention the matter. A pro. vious Premier had Fairly settled with him a basis on which he should have been prepaied to ask tho shareholders to accept an offer, and that was to take over the railway and not the assets, but to give 5 per cent, on the shareholders investments in the railway. Those terms be should have recommended the shareholders to accept. The directors had had la largo experience with the railway, and Mr Macdonald and' the shareholders would agree with him that there was a time to treat, and a time not to treat; and if they left tho matter over, time would bo given for further negotiations. In his letter of tho 14th Alaroh, the Premier stated; '‘With reference to your letter of the 17th September _ last, I have now the honour to acquaint you that, after having had careful calculations made, tho Government find that tho offer, as contained in your communication under reply, is not such as could be- accepted for the reason that the purchase money would come to considerably more than if the line wore purchased under tho original' agreement.” Ho presumed! ho meant tho purchase money for the line. Tho careful calculation made was probably by some ac. trnry in a Government office, but they could not get the value of the railway on snob paper evidence, and he had! no hesitation in saying that it was worth double or treble. But the Government had power to harass and annoy them, and these wero considerations which they had to weigh. He hoped they would remove from their minds that Mr Wethered had acted as a busybody here. He know that some of the .shareholders in Loudon were consulted by him, for they had sent letters to tho company. They had made an offer which the Government had not accepted, and they must seo what the future would bring forth. As to Air Alac-dona-ld’s remarks concerning tho land, it was true that the Government valuation was £63,000. They had sold some of it, and during the last year made a profit of £6OOO. That was £6OOO more than it was valued at during the pre, vious year. ■- .The chairman went on to say that he mould not agree with those gentlemen who held that the resolution would’not tie the hands of the directors. It seemed to him that it would have that effect. Ho thought from the large experience they had had of the directors, they could surely be entrusted with the discretion necessary in treating with the Government. They could not sell the railway without com. ing to the shareholders for confirmation, iv.icn they would.be able to approve or reject the proposals. Mr Alacdoiiald asked, as' the chairman had stated that the resolution would tie the hands of the directors, that permission should be given to withdraw it, and this was done. .. SHARES.

Mr Hurley said that the balancesheet showed that 104,000 shares were held in London. He asked whether some of those might not be colonial shares, because he remembered when applying for shares, those applying had! the right to registcr either in the colony or in London. The Chairman said they had a duplicate register, and shares were easily transferred from London or from here. There were in l the colony about 70,000 shares, and the balance wore held in London. VOTES OF THANKS. Mr T. K. Macdonald moved a cordial vote of thanks to the chairman and board of directors for their services during the past year. This was seconded by Mr Hurley and carried unanimously. The chairman briefly acknowledged the vote.

Mr Stuart said that perhaps more than a great many other shareholders, he had opportunities of observing the style in which the work had been carried on by tho servants of the company from Mr Hannay, the general manager, down to the humblest cleaner. He considered it was quite a pleasure to. travel on the company’s line, owing io the civility and, attention of the employees. Mr Richardson seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamatiOli; The Chairman returned thanks for the confidence expressed in the board of directors, and said they did not intend to relax their efforts in maintaining the- railway in as efficient a state' as possible. He did not know that they really wanted the new' locomotives that had) been ordered; but they wanted to grapple with the traffic in the best possible manner. The system of working this railway had been the best in the colony, and he might mention that when they first bought the American locomotives they were told that they were rubbish, but they now knew that they were the best to bp obtained, and that the Government were following in their footsteps. Thed had lit their cars with electricity, while the Government used gas. He thought the company’s system was the best and most economical. Again, with regard to the timber for sleepers, the company used Australian hardwood, and he felt sure the Government would have to follow in their footsteps so far as sleepers were concerned. Certainly, with tho new plant they had ordered they could conduct a much larger traffic than at present, and he trusted they should be able to conduct it so that they could keep to time and not run any risk of accidents. He thanked them for tho vote of confidence in the directors and himself.

Mr Perry moved' that a bonus of five per cent, should be given to all the employees who earned under £l5O per annum and two and a half per cent, to those earning over that amount; but the chairman said that such a motion would hamper the directors, and it was accordingly withdrawn.