Five years later—at the end of 1858—the capital paid up was £325,375,507; the traffic receipts were £23,956,749; the working expenses, £11,668,225. Taking the debenture capital as one-third of the whole, it leaves £6,245,310 for dividend upon £216,917,205 share capital—or a very little less than 3 per cent. But as by 1858, fully 25 per cent. of the share capital was preferential, and bore a dividend on the average of 5 per cent., there remains, after payment of a dividend upon this capital of £2,711,450, only £3,533,860 for division upon the £162,687,905 “ordinary” or unguaranteed share capital, that was then invested in railways—not quite 2¼ per cent. On the 31st December, 1863, the capital paid up was £404,215,802; the traffic receipts were £31,156,397; the working expenses, £15,027,234. The amount of debenture capital, taken as usual at a third of the total capital, was £134,738,600, the interest upon it, at 5 per cent., £6,736,930. Deducted from £16,129,163, the amount of the total net receipts, £9,392,233 remains for dividend upon £269,477,202 share capital, or nearly 3½ per cent. This would be satisfactory, as compared with the amount divisible upon share capital in previous years; but, unfortunately, the amount of preferential, in proportion to total share capital, had not only increased considerably between 1853 and 1863, but the rate of dividend had also advanced. The London and North-Western issued some at 5, the Lancashire and Yorkshire at 6; so also the London, Brighton and South Coast, then one of the most highly thought of companies for investment; and the London and South-Western, a company established, apparently, upon a very solid basis, had to issue preference capital at as high as 7 per cent. Nevertheless, although for present calculation, and for that of 1865, next to follow, one-third of the share capital is considered as preference capital, the rate is taken as not raised higher than 5½ per cent. £4,940,414 must therefore be deducted as dividend on preference capital, leaving only £4,451,819 for division upon £179,651,468, or at the rate of just under 2½ per cent. But as several of the companies—many of them large ones—paid dividends of 4, 5, 5½, 6, 6½, and some few as high as 7 per cent., a considerable portion of ordinary share capital received at the rate of 1 and 1½ per cent., and an equally large portion did not receive, as is well known, any dividend at all.