The report of Messrs. Pochin and Whitworth on the affairs
of the Metropolitan Railway suggests extreme carelessness in the management of the Company's affairs. The books appear to have kept themselves, the solicitors have handed in unexpected claims for £65,000, while they announce that they have £60,000 in their hands of which the Directors had not heard. The land valuer claims £39,390, the engineer £11,765, while stores have been bought without inquiry its to price and sold without atten- tion to the consequent loss. "Several thousands of pounds per annum may be saved upon the items of gas and water alone." Everybody, in fact, has shifted the tiresome business of checking subordinates upon somebody else, and the consequence is that a Company with a matchless traffic, and long trains running every four minutes or so, is declaring a dividend of about 1 per cent. A Shareholders' committee is to be appointed, we see, to assist the new Chairman, Sir E. Watkiu, but some radical reform in the method of appointing the governing body would seem to be required. We still believe that the direct election of the Chairman with a veto on the Directors would at once strengthen his hands and induce the Directors to watch his proceedings more closely.
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