Series 4 > Scottish industrial history

THE NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY INQUIRY l6p
dear sir, - I have read more than once the whole of your
statement, and there is much of it that I am working hard to effect.
Nothing renders this more difficult than the slightest encourage¬
ment to those with whom we have to deal, to think that we are
wavering, or can be influenced by such appeals as are made by Mr.
White and his coadjutors. It is this that makes the Cal., when pre¬
tending to seek peace, seek to cheat.
I do not admit your estimate of the cost of the Bridge of Forth,
unless you join to it the Tay Bridge and Glenfarg line, as well as
other approaches. If it were to cost i| millions, I would not make it;
but the fact is that, without the Bridge, the wealth of Fife never
can be developed, and the existing traffic is no criterion whatever.
As to the knowledge of the Finance Committee, a little knowledge
is a dangerous thing, and in some cases much knowledge would be
much more dangerous. I think they know quite enough, and will
not readily provoke expenditure. I will, till money is cheaper, keep
from new contracts, except for rolling stock; and even yet, if no
faltering become visible, I hope to set aside a very large proportion
of this session’s prospective expenditure. -1 am, yours,
RD. HODGSON.
I am studying and consulting Mr. Rowbotham as to the value of
the s.n.e., with your statistics in hand.
February 24, 1866.
In August last the Secretary, when informing the Accountant of
the amount of Dividend accruing on Preference Stock, to be
charged against that half-year, inquired how the Accounts were
likely to stand, and was informed by him that the Chairman looked
for a dividend of ‘three per cent., with -£15,000 over’. From his
knowledge of the financial position of the Company in his own
department, and of the increased expenditure in the Locomotive
Department, into which he had examined and reported on to the
Board, Mr. Walker was convinced that such a result was im¬
possible, and sought an interview with the Chairman; and as he
believed that no Dividend could honestly be paid on the Ordinary
Stock, he pressed the Chairman to abandon his intention of de¬
claring such a Dividend, and to submit the matter to the Board.
The Chairman having declined to do this, the Secretary thereupon
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