Waimea Plains Railway Company.

Otago Witness, Issue 1805, 25 June 1886, Page 3 (Supplement)

Waimea Plains Railway Company.

The annual meeting of shareholders! iv the VVaiiuea Plains Railway Company was held at Mr R. H. Leary's office on Monday afternoon, when tiieiv were present : Messrs N. Y. A. Wales fin tin; chair), X Ramsay, B. Sievwright, D'Arcy Hnggitt, T. S. Graham, J. T. Mackerras, U L D •liiiston, Robl. Wilson, H Driver, J. Wilkic, J. 3 Sprent (attorney for Mr Joseph Clarke;, an 1 J. Mitchell.

Thu Chairman said, in submitting the report ttsjil balance sheet (already published), very few w >nls need be said. The traffic, they weuld it >tici i , hud increased wonderfully during the [i i->t year, the profits had improved, and the p tying prospects for the future were good. Notwithstanding this the directors felt obliged u> Mibuiit tor the shareholders' consideration :i'nl acceptance a proposal to sell the line to tha Government. In the face of the many difticu' t ies they had had to contend against,especially on !.h<! question of collection of rates and also i s «mi noe I ion with the guaranteed interest, the ■ Mr< «toii» felt compelled to take this course. .\ I the very foundation of the thing the Legislature passed an act which proved to l»- unworkable, and on the faith of this unworkable, act the shareholders had been induced to invest some of their capital in that undertaking, impressed by the assurance that their 7 per cent, interest would be paid to them a> guaranteed by the, act. But as they knew, the result had been that no interest from the ratepayers had been rsii-ed, and the Government quota had been paid with difficulty — in fact, for 20 mouths after the line was opened none had bon paid. Certainly an amending act was passed last session through the efforts of their «<•< retnry, Mr Leary, and one or two of the directors, who went to Wellington for the purpose, but this act they had not well been able to take advantage of until bringing a case before the court to see whether or not the rates were recoverable. Considerin g the legal technicalities which were taken advantage of by the ratepayers to the fullest extent to evade payment, and considering the other difficulties, the directors believed it would be to the interest of the shareholders to dispose of the line on the terms submitted by the Government. That, he thought, was the principal thing of interest to the shareholders at present. If the rates had been got in as was expected, he believed the line would have paid dividends all along — that they would have got at least 7 per cent. — and there would have .been no desire to sell the line. From the way the business had increased he thoroughly believed the line would be profitable, but under the circumstances he thought it better to get rid of it. He concluded by moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. Mr R. Wilson asked for some idea of the amount the shareholders would receive back.

The Chairman said he could scarcely tell exactly, but he presumed it would be about twothirds or a little more. They would probably lose somewhere about one-third. Mr Ramsay : That is a lively state of things. The Chaibman : It is not very encouraging, certainly. Mr D'Ahcy Haooitt seconded the adoption of the report. Mr Mackebkas asked whether £106,674 was the actual cost of the railway.

The Chairman: The rolling stock has to be added.

Mr Mackerras : What about the land i

MrLEAEY: The land is included. The first four items on the balance-sheet are what w» sell to the Government,

Tbe report and balance-sheet were then adopted.

Mt R. Wilson moved the following resolution—" That th-' directors having reported that they have, '•ubiect to the approval of the shareholders, accepted the offer of the Government tc, purchase the railway and equipments at n pue<> ei]U-tl to £110,000, conditionally on the. comp,iu\ foregoing uulf of the four vtais' rate* up to rhe 31st March, 18S6, tht .shareholders herein approve ot the sale, and autbon.it; the director-, to execute .-mill agreements, deed-*, And transfers amay be uewjces^ary to give effect to the same." He was veiy glad to propose i.his motion, u« there was no doubt the Government could woik the line much cheaper than the company The) could work it in with the other two li'iea, and he belie >ed it would be one of the best purchases tli"Y had made in the way of railways He wa-. soit) thu shareholders had lost so much monej , but glad the matter had now been brought to a close

Mr Mackerhas seconded the motion,

'1 he Chaium \n confirmed what Mr Wilson had «aidas to the Government getting agood bargain It was undoubtedly the cheapest line they had purchased or made. There was the evidence of the Government engineer, given before a committee ot the House last session, that the Government railways had cost on an average £8000 per mile — the lines in the level country ot Canterbury cost fully £4000 a mile ; and this line they were buying for under £3000 a mile

Mr Ramsay should support the proposal with pleasure, a» he thought it' was the very best thing they could possibly do ; but he should like to ask, for the information of himself and others, whether the shareholders were any better today in accepting the proposals than they would have been last meeting in accepting the proposals then submitted ; if so, to what extent. The Chairman said to the best of his recollection the offer at that time was £106,000, and that gave them £4000 advantage now. Though tbvro had been interest to pay »ince then, it would not amount to that much. Besides, the} were now getting cash instead of debentures. The motion was then put aud carried unanimously.

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

The Chairman said notwithstanding the sale of the line it would be necessary to continue the directory for some time yet, and there were three vacancies. One director would have to he elected owing to the retirement of Mr Driver, aud Mr Haggitt and Mr Mitchell retired in rotation and were eligible for re-election.

Mt J. Mackerras was unanimously elected to till the vacancy caused by Mr Driver's retirement, and the two other retiring directors were re-elected.

Mr Thos. Callender was re-elected auditor,

The meeting then closed with the usual vote of thanks to the chairman.