A meeting of subscribers and others i terested in the formation of the new Company which has been started to take over from the concessionaires the Bangkok-Paknam-Patriew concession granted by Majesty the King to Commodore de Riche-Tiew and Captain Loftus, was held at Mesers. Jucker, Sigg & Co.'s office on the 17th September. Dr. P. Gowan presided and there wore present T.R.H, Prince Devawongee, Prince One Chow Warawan, Prince Krom Mun Damrong, Prince Sa mot, Prince Sanprasat, Prince Putare HE. Phya Samgth; Messrs. Choem Sri Suraraks, Westenholz, Clarke Roland, Me-Carthy, de Richelieu, Mohn, Mrs. Loftus, and several other Europeans. The Chairman said:—"This meeting has been called, as you are aware, with the object of forming a company to build the railway between Bangkok, Paknam, and Patriew, the concession for which is contained in the grant given by sty to Messrs de Richeliew and ow the first thing to be considered is, what is the Company to be called? Mr. Westenholz proposes to name it the Siamese Light Railway Ca. I find this myself a very good name, and it commits us to nothing." A long discussion here took place with regard to what the Company should be called, and eventually it was proposed by H. R. H. Prince Sammot, and seconded by H. R, H. Prince Damrong, that the Company be styled the Barapa Railway Company, Limited. This was unanimously agreed to. (Barapah means, first of its kind, and also east or eastern, both being very appropriate for the, new rail; way.) The Chairman then said the next thing to be considered was the amount of capital required by the new Company. Although the imvcting had the estimates before them it would be dificult to decide the matter before settling what percentage of the paid-up capital should be considered as free shares to the concessionaires. 'They claimed ten per cent, and as, according to the estimates, the line could' be built for 800,000 ticals, the capital would, in that fave to be 11,000 catties. This would giving to the concessional them about 1,100 catties in did not find this at all exorbitant, considering what other companies had pai Tramway concessionaires asked and received 22 per cent; the Electric Light Ca. got 15 per cent, and the present demand could not be considered at all excessive, as in that amount was included the cost of all Enown to have been very heavy, as very preliminary ex} and these were
extensive surveys had been undertaken for concessionaires' account—as the maps on the
the capital should be one million ticals, i table proved. Mr. Mohn. proposed cluding free shares, and that the concessionaires should receive 10 per cent. of the actual capital called up for the time being. Mr. Roland seconded. The Chairman then supported the adoption of this resolution, and said that it might not be necessary to call up the whole of the capital, but that he considered it better for the com: pany to have a surplus above the estimated cost. Of course, in case more capital was re-Prince' Devawongae here suggested that it quired, they could form new stock, H. R.H.
would be the better plan to take over the concession at ten per cent., and give the concessioncires 80,000 ticals for their rights, to be paid them in free shares. This suggestion was seconded by H. R. H. Prince Damrong, and after some discussion, agreed to by Messrs. de Richelieu and Loftus and carried unanimously. (Some very peculiar and rather remarkable statenents wore here made by H. R. H. Prince Warawan, but as the Chairman voted them aa private communications and not connected with the Company, we do not reproduce them.) The next question was as to the money value of the shares. Proposed by Prince Warawan, seconded by Commodore de Richelieu, that these should be at ten ticals each. Carried. It was then proposed by the Chairman, seconded by it. Mohn, and agreed to, hat the scrip should be issued to each shareholder in the most convenient way for the Directors, and if shareholders wished to have such scrip in small amounts, they should pay a ight fee for having the same altered.
This, it was explained, was in order to time and trouble in the signing of the scrip which, it was calculated, would take two directors, working hard'3 hours per day, one year to sign, if all the shares were issued in separate scrip at 10 ticals. The Chairman then rosd out the names of the following gentlemen who had signified their willingness to become directors of the new Company, and left it to the meeting to approve or disapprove of their nomination, 'T.R.H. Krom Mun Damrong, Phra Ong Chow Warawan, Krom Mun Sammot, Krom M: m Sanprasah, Krom Mun Puta: ret; H.H. Prince Prisdang; H.E. Phya Samuth, H.E. Phya Nakanaisee, Messrs. Choem ' Sri_Sriraraks, P. Gowan, J. McCarthy, H. Sigg, F. Clarke, A. J. Loftus, A. de Richelieu. To these was added the name of H.R.H. Krom Hoon Narit, and the list was unanimously approved of and carried by acclamation. The articles of association were then read out and approved by the meeting, after which Mr. Westenholz proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was seconded by Mr. Clarke, and the proceedings then termi-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.