NP, RD 11/27A/1861

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch
 
November 27, 1861
Virginia Central Railroad
   The gross receipts of this company for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1861, are $656,406.93, as follows! From passengers, $366,084.08; from freight, $245,582.28; from express freight, $17,467.57; from mail transportation, $23,775.12; from other sources, $3,497.94. The expenses of administration during the year are $278,537.69--leaving a balance of nett revenue of $377,869.81. The earnings of the road are $22,323.62 more than the previous year, which the expenses have increased $3,582.99. The gross revenue of the company for the last year is the largest ever received, but there will not be as much profit as in former years, it being the result of a large increase of transportation for the Government, at low rates, whilst there has been great damage to the rolling stock and the superstructure of the road.
   The Board of Directors have thought it prudent, in the present condition of the country, to limit the dividend this fall to 3 per cent., by which course it is probable that the regular payment of dividends sem-annually here after will not be interrupted. The President of the Company, in his annual report, from which we have gleaned these facts, regards the result of the year's operations as favorable, considering all the circumstances. The surplus on hand September 30th, after paying regular annual charges on the company, was $224,518.70.
   There is but little to do towards completing the last section of the road between Jackson's River Depot and Covington. The last of the rails necessary for the purpose was received before the Lincoln blockade was determined on, the grading is completed, and the ties are ready. The principal difficulty now in the way, is to get the trains of the company released from the necessary demands of the Government transportation, so as to be able to carry up the iron. The completion of the Covington and Ohio Railroad is now an important consideration, not only to the State, out to the whole Confederacy, and the report before us calls the attention of Congress to the subject, expressing the hope that some action will be taken by that body, if it has the power. It is assumed that if this road had been completed, the enemy would never have gotten possession of the Kanawha Valley, and that Kentucky would now be identified with Virginia in the struggle for Southern independence.
   The annual meeting of stockholders of the Central Railroad Company will be held in this city to morrow evening.

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