| From the Wilmington Journal |
| |
| November 26, 1862 |
| |
| President and Directors' Report |
| President's Office, W. & M. R. R. Co.
{Wilmington & Manchester RR} |
| Wilmington, N. C., 26th Nov., 1862 |
| |
| To the Stockholders: |
| The President and Directors'
submit for the consideration of the Stockholders the Fifteenth Annual
Report upon the affairs of the Company for the fiscal year closing
with the 30th of September last. |
| Annexed will be found the
usual Abstracts of Receipts and Expenditures, as also the Tabular
Statements. |
| The Abstracts of Receipts will
show that the earnings for the year have been as follows, from the
following sources: |
| Through Travel |
$297,213.53 |
| Way Travel |
103,842.15 |
| Freight and minor sources |
225,200.54 |
| Mails |
31,051.36 |
| Total |
$657,307.58 |
| As compared with the
same sources for the previous year, it will exhibit a gain
from |
| Through Travel |
$108,086.16 |
| Way Travel |
45,986.37 |
| Freight and minor sources |
43,577.97 |
| Total |
$197,650.50 |
|
| A loss from Mails of
$13,806.77. This loss is owing to the diminished compensation paid for
carrying a single daily mail under the contract entered into with the
Confederate Government, in lieu of that paid for carrying a double
daily mail under the former contract. The new contract having taken
effect from the 1st July, 1861, and consequently embracing a small
portion only of the previous fiscal year, thereby producing receipts
for a greater portion of that year under the former compensation. |
| The Abstract of Expenditures
shows that the total cost of operating the Road for the year has been
$230,955.91, leaving a net revenue amounting to $426,351.67 -- being
for operating 35:13 per cent. of total receipts. |
| This is a very
considerable reduction in the per centum of cost in this respect, much
below what it has heretofore cost to operate this Road, and much below
what it costs to operate railroads generally. Fifty per centum of
receipts is regarded as an economical average cost of operating. This
ratio, however, for this year must not be considered as one that can
be maintained in ordinary times. For though the prices of all Railroad
supplies have greatly increased, and we have had to pay these high
prices for what we have purchased, yet there were many things which it
was desirable to purchase and much needed, but they could not be
procured. Had they been, the proportion of operating expenses would
have more nearly reached the above indicated standard. |
| The foregoing shows an
increase of gross receipts for the past over the previous year of
$183,843.73. An increase of net receipts, under a like comparison, of
$167,410.07. |
| The net earnings have been
17.14 per cent. upon the entire cost of the Road. After deducting
interest paid they have been 15.88 per cent. Upon the Capital Stock
they have been 37.27 per cent. Deducting interest paid they have been
34.53 per cent. upon the Capital Stock. |
| The number of Through
Passengers carried during the year has been 67,359. The number of Way
Passengers has been 65,105. |
| The Roadway is in good order.
There have been a number of new ditches cut during the year, on either
side, for drainage, and the old ones cleaned out and renewed. |
| The Track has become somewhat
worn. At the close of the previous year it was reported that three
hundred tons of new rail would be wanted in order to maintain track
thoroughly. A contract was made for the delivery of one hundred and
fifty tons of English rail in exchange for old. This has been received
and nearly all laid down during the year. {While
it is possible that rail was purchased in England and run through the
blockade, I have seen no indication of such. This appears to be in
reference to the rail purchased from Tredegar, in Richmond. If so, it
raises the question of whether that rail is English rail or English
style rail -- did Tredegar make the rail or import it and resell it?} It will be desirable to
procure the remainder needed for laying down during the coming year. |
| The
Bridges are all in good order. At the close of the last year a new
side track had been constructed at Lynch's Creek and arrangements made
for replacing the former bridge at that point. A new bridge -- Howe
Truss -- has been erected there resting upon permanent foundations of
piling, on which there are abutments of granite masonry. The span is
130 feet long. It is enclosed with weather-boarding and covered with
juniper shingling. This bridge is built in a very superior manner, the
dimensions of the material used being more than ordinarily
substantial, and will altogether prove a durable structure. The bridge
at Green Swamp will probably need considerable repairs during the
course of the year, and, perhaps, may require to have to be entirely
renewed or replaced. |
| The
Trestles have been kept in good order also, being repaired and renewed
where required by substituting new timbers in place of old ones. That
at Pee Dee, the most important one on the line of the Road, is now in
as good order as it has been at any time since its completion. It will
be remembered that at the last meeting it was reported that a
considerable portion of this trestle had been filled in, that portion
of it contiguous to the western bank of the river swamp. This filling
has remained firm, saving a slight natural and expected shrinkage
which has been adjusted by redressing. It has undergone a severe trial
from the extraordinary freshets which inundated the swamp during the
last spring, covering it with water many feet deep, and remaining
there for several weeks. But it caused no breaks in the embankments
and no determent to the work. |
| There
has been anew Water Tank erected at Mullins' Station. Also the
one at Flemington entirely renewed, and in conjunction with it two
Wood Sheds now in progress of construction 30 by 60 feet each. |
| In the
early part of the year, finding a demand for housing freight which was
being offered at Pee Dee Station by Planters, which had been hereto
fore carried outwardly to Charleston, it was deemed expedient to erect
a Warehouse at that place, and accordingly one was built -- a wooden
house, 30 by 60 in dimensions, set upon a trestle work foundation. |
| The
necessity for a commodious Warehouse at Wilmington is urgent and
indispensable. It would have been built but for the present condition
of the country forbidding it. And there is also a like necessity for
suitable Passenger sheds and officers at the same point, being delayed
by similar causes. Attention will be directed to these at the earliest
day that it can be properly done. |
| There
have been 30,472 Cross Ties renewed, and 390,000 feet of timber
consumed in reconstructions and renewals. |
| The
Motive Power of the Road, as was expected, from the amount of
transportation which has employed it and from inability to
procure the requisite materials for repairing and replenishing it, has
become worn. The existing war depriving us of the means of procuring
supplies from those sources whence they have been heretofore mostly
derived, and the blockade cutting us off from obtaining them from
abroad, it will require the most vigilant and active exertions on our
part to collect materials for this purpose. |
| In
addition to this, we have been visited with epidemic yellow fever in
its most virulent form for the past two months or more, which deprived
us of the aid of our Mechanics in the Machine Shops and Carpenter
Shops, who at all times and under the most favorable circumstances are
essential to the proper maintenance of the equipments of a Railroad. |
| We have
been exempted from the occurrence of any serious accident during the
year, saving one which happened to several of the employees of the
Road during the last winter, which resulted from an unfortunate want
of precaution on their part in running upon a hand car, at night, in a
rapid speed and coming in collision with a train which was backing out
from the Depot. Since the close of the year, within a few days past,
the boiler of an Engine, which had been in use upon a gravel train,
was exploded at Florence Station, killing several persons and
disabling seriously the Engineer. The cause of the explosion has not
yet been explained, owing to the disabled condition of the Engineer.
But there has been no accident to life or limb to any passenger
traveling upon the Road. |
| The Treasurer's Exhibit
will show that the entire amount which has passed through his
hands for the fiscal year has been |
$929,167.24 |
| His Disbursements have been |
$452,593.52 |
| Assets in hand at close of the year |
476,573.72 |
|
$929,167.24 |
| These disbursements are composed of the
following items: |
|
| Operating expenses of Road for the year |
230,955.91 |
| Balance of Interest paid |
31,250.87 |
| Amount of Debt reduced for the year |
32,699.52 |
| Interest on anticipated payments on Capital
Stock paid in Stock |
8,473.61 |
| Amount paid on account of Construction |
1,932.61 |
| Amount paid on account of filling Trestle |
6,365.75 |
| Counterfeit money received |
265.00 |
| Amount paid on account Dividend No 1 |
95,009.00 |
| Amount paid on account Dividend No. 2 |
45,641.25 |
| Aggregate disbursements for the year |
452,593.52 |
| To which add assets on hand |
476,573.72 |
| Total |
929,167.24 |
|
| The
Capital Stock of the Company has been increased this year to the
amount of $8,702.05; of this $8,473.61 has been paid in accrued
interest on anticipated payments on account of Capital Stock. The
remainder, $228.44, has been paid in cash. |
| The
amount charged to construction has been absorbed towards the erection
of the Warehouse at Pee Dee and a temporary Work Shop at Sumter. |
| It will
be observed that the amount paid for interest falls short of what it
has heretofore been. This is owing to the fact that on the breaking
out of hostilities the interest falling due upon much the larger
portion of the Company's Bonds, which had been usually paid at the
Bank of the Republic at New York, most of these Bonds being held by
alien enemies or foreigners, was stopped, and notice given in the
public prints that thereafter the coupons would be paid on
presentation by the Treasurer at the Company's office in Wilmington. |
| The
coupons of such Bonds as were held by citizens of the Confederacy were
generally presented and paid here, and a small amount held by citizens
of Maryland were sent in and upon proper assurances being given that
they were characterized by a bona fide ownership of our own
citizens and not an alien ownership, they were also promptly paid.
Some of our Bonds, and we think a considerable amount, are held in
England, Germany and Switzerland. In the beginning of the war,
communications were received fron several foreign holders making
inquiry as to how, where and when the coupons, as they fell due, would
be met. Replies were made to the effect as abovc stated, that the
customary stipulated place of payment, being within enemy's territory,
was transferred to this point, and that it was desirable that the
coupons of Bonds held by them should be presented for payment, as the
company were, as they had theretofore been, prepared and desired of
taking them up as they matured. They have not, however, been
presented, so that the interest due upon these and the others referred
to remain unpaid. This interest has now been accumulating since June,
1861. It amounts to $65,000. |
| The
indebtedness of the Company is as follows: |
| First |
Mortgage |
Bonds |
$596,000.00 |
| Second |
" |
" |
200,000.00 |
| Income |
|
" |
164,000.00 |
| Bonds secured by hypothecation of
stock in Wilmington & Weldon Rail Road Company |
|
75,000.00 |
| Bills Payable |
|
|
601.?? |
| Other liabilities (see Treasurer's
Acc't Current) |
|
22,830.?? |
|
|
$1,058,432.?? |
|
| The
finances of the Company are in good condition. The aggregate revenue
has amounted to $657,307.58, being $183,843.73 in excess of any annual
revenue for any previous year, or equivalent to 38.32 per cent. upon
the highest. The expenses being much less, leaves a net revenue of
$426,351.6? against $258,941.60 for the net revenue of 1861, this
latter being the largest up to that period. The President and
Directors declared two dividends during the year; one of 9 per cent.,
payable on the 1st November, 1861, and another of 4 per cent., payable
on the 1st May, 1862. Since the close of the fiscal year they have
declared the third dividend of the Road of 10 per cent., payable 22d
November, just past. The last, of course, will not fall within the
accounts of the year, but be embraced in those of the current one.
From the available means at command it may probab ly be thought that
the dividend lately declared might have been judiciously made larger.
Possibly it might, but they to whom you have confided the management
of your affairs, through abundant caution and what they considered a
prudent discretion, deemed it proper to retain an amount sufficient to
meet any future contingencies, now unforeseen, but which may
eventually occur. The floating debt of the Company has been
extinguished, excepting a nominal sum, which could not be reached.
Whenever the obligations of the Company could be paid, it has been
done, in order to reduce its indebtedness as much as possible. The
reduction in this respect for the year has Been $32,699.5?. It is in
fact some five thousand dollars or more larger, that sum having been
sent to the Exchange Bank of Virginia, in Norfolk, for the settlement
of negro bonds payable there, for which the Treasurer holds the
Cashier's acknowledgement, but ownig to the capture of the city by the
enemy, the Bonds, which doubtless have been paid, could not be
returned. The Income Bond indebtedness has been diminished by ten
thousand dollars, constituting part of the above. |
| The
large item of $180,384.65, charged as due from the Confederate
Government, thus stood at the close of the year, but since that time
the most of it has been paid. In consequence of the great pressure of
business upon the Quartermaster's Department at which we have been
having our accounts audited, there was some delay in obtaining
certificates upon the Treasury prior to the close of our fiscal year,
for the respective amounts for which those accounts were approved. But
it is hoped that this will not hereafter occur. There has been
seventy-five thousand dollars (75 Confederate Bonds) set aside as a
sinking fund, ten thousand dollars of which has already been devoted
to the purpose for which it was intended; the remaining sixty-five
thousand is still held by the Treasurer. |
| In view
of the rapidly augmenting prices of all materials and supplies used by
Railroads, it may become necessary to raise the rates of fare and
freights, in order to preserve a considerate and safe proportion
between receipts and expenditures. |
| The
stock held by this Company6 in the Cape Fear and Ocean Steamship
Navigation Company (one hundred and fifty shares,) has been disposed
of. It was sold at its par value of one hundred dollars per share, the
payment made, and the transfer executed to the purchasers. |
| The
General Superintendent of the Company, Mr. Robertson, was taken sick
the first of August last. He was prostrated by a long and enervating
attack of typhoid fever; went into the up country for the restoration
of his health, and was only able to return to the Road on yesterday.
This will account for the absence of a Report from him. |
| Thos. D. Walker |
| President |
|