DIVIDEND CONJECTURES.
This is the more probable in view of the fact that if the traffic receipts for the past six months are compared, not, of course, with last year, but with 1925, the results are by no means encouraging. Passenger receipts have fallen, notwithstanding the increased population, and although there is some rise in the revenue from goods traffic, it is scarcely as much as might have been expected to accrue from the mere increase in freight charges. So far, therefore, as the Great Western and London Midland and Scottish are concerned, the market is not disposed to look for more than about per cent. increase in the forthcoming interim distributions, though in some quarters there is a disposition to hope for better things when it comes to the final dividends at the end of the year. The North Eastern Company is in the position of having had to make exceptionally heavy drafts on its reserves, even to maintain fixed charges, though earnings are now better and it is hoped that important economies are being effected. The brightest spot, perhaps, is the Southern Line, where revenues are growing and where the management is obtaining some measure of success in popularizing the system.
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