The New York Times/1901/08/01/Americans Want Lease of a British Railway

612238The New York Times, 1st August, 1901 — Americans Want Lease of a British Railway

AMERICANS WANT LEASE OF A BRITISH RAILWAY.


Offer to Guarantee Dividends to South Eastern Road Shareholders—The Line Now Running at a Loss.

LONDON, Aug. 1.— Mr. Lander, a shareholder of some magnitude in the South Eastern Railway, announced at the half-yearly meeting yesterday that an American syndicate desired a forty-year lease of the line, and was ready to deposit £1,000,000 as a guarantee of a 3 per cent. dividend during the first year and ultimately a 5 per cent. dividend.

This statement was made after the Chairman of the company, Henry Cosmo O. Bonsor, had reported that no dividend could be paid this year, that the accounts showed a deficiency, and that it was necessary to issue, additional stock to the amount of £l,666,000.

This issue was authorized, Mr. Lander caustically commenting upon a state of affairs showing no dividend after sixty-five years of working.

Although nothing was done with reference to the proposal announced by Mr. Lander, the latter, after the meeting, told a representative of The Daily Mail that the last had not been heard of it.


The South Eastern Road has now 608 miles in operation. Its London termini are Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Victoria and London Bridge. Trains runs to Tunbridge Wells, Dorking, Guildford, Reading, Canterbury, Ramsgate, Margate, Dover, and other points south of London and on the south coast.

The road operates a fast service to the Continent, via Dover and Calais.