extensive State-owned railway system. It is stated that the Uruguayan Congress is expected to provide for the immediate construction of the Rocha-San Carlos line. PUBLIC UTILITIES. Public-utility development in Uruguay has largely centered in the city of Montevideo, although most of the larger cities and towns throughout the Republic are provided with electric lighting and power systems and with water supply. The electric exploitation has been monopolized by the Government, which operates the lighting system in the capital. In that city there are more than 22,000 subscribers, using upward of 300,000 lights. Profits from lighting in 1912 amounted to 725,500 pesos and in 1913 to 934,795 pesos, from which latter sum sinking-fund payments were made that reduced final profits to 851,453 pesos. A modern water and sewerage system is being installed for the Government in the city of Mercedes, on the Rio Negro, the principal city in the Province of Mercedes. Similar undertakings are being carried out in the cities of Paysandu and Salto, on the Uruguay River. The contracts for these three enterprises have been undertaken by an American firm of contractors, this concern superseding a French firm whose contract had to be canceled as a result of the war. The cost of these public works totals $5,000,000. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 1918. It is stated that the contractors have petitioned the Government for a concession for the working of the drainage systems in the above-mentioned cities for the period of 15 years. A waterworks system is also being established in the town of Juan L. Lacaze. MONTEVIDEO WATERWORKS CO. The water system in the city of Montevideo is operated by a British company, the Montevideo Waterworks Co. (Ltd.), registered in 1878 and long successful. The approximate rate charged by this company is 20 cents per kiloliter (264 gallons) for ordinary consumption and from 12 cents to 18 cents for manufacturing and industrial establishments. The water system dates from 1871, and the supply is taken from the Santa Lucia River. The company serves nearly 35,000 houses, the daily consumption averaging 120 quarts per capita. During the year 1913 the daily consumption of water averaged 4,093,858 gallons. To take care of this service the company has six settling reservoirs with a total capacity of about 27,000,000 gallons; nine sand filters of 1,200 square meters each, through which 10,300,000 gallons of water can pass every 24 hours; two reservoirs for filtered water with a capacity of 4,740,000 gallons; and five distributing reservoirs with a total capacity of approximately 16,000,000 gallons. The total extent of water mains is about 340 miles. Work was begun three or four years ago on two mechanical filters that will be able to purify 2,400,000 gallons in 24 hours and two distributing reservoirs with a capacity of 5,285,000 gallons. The company receives a subvention of £1,275 from the Government each year. Its capitalization is as follows: Securities. Price January, 1918. Ordinary stock (par £20).. 5 per cent first debenture stock (par £100).. Total.. £23 83 81 80 Dividend payments on the stock have for a number of years been at the rate of 8 per cent per annum. This stock was issued at the following times and in the amounts stated: Original capital, £400,000; issued in 1905, £100,000; 1907, £250,000; 1911, £100,000; total, £850,000. The 5 per cent first debenture stock was issued in 1883 and is a floating charge on the property and undertaking; interest is payable June 30 and December 31. These debentures are irredeemable. The 5 per cent second debenture stock is also irredeemable. It was issued in 1889 and is subject to the first debenture stock; interest June 30 and December 31. The 5 per cent consolidated debenture stock was issued to provide funds for the filtering and distributing reservoirs previously described. They are subject in lien to the first and second debenture stock, but are redeemable at 105 per cent at any time after June 30, 1919. Interest is payable in January and July. MONTEVIDEO GAS CO. The gas supply of the city of Montevideo is furnished by the Montevideo Gas Co., a British corporation. The company was founded in 1872, and its original concession expired in 1887. In 1889 its by-laws were changed so as to enable it to engage in other lines of business. In addition to its gas privileges, the Maua dry dock is owned and a general engineering and ship-repairing business is handled. Previous to the nationalizing of the electric-lighting system the gas company furnished the city with a part of its public lighting. The capitalization of the Montevideo Gas Co. consists of £541,920 shares, of a par value of £20, and £28,680 5 per cent first-charge perpetual debenture stock. The shares are quoted (January, 1918) at approximately £8, as compared with £13 10s., the high price since January, 1911. The debenture stock is privately held and not quoted. The report of the company for the calendar year 1916 indicated a net profit of £26,672, and after the payment of interest on the debenture stock and other charges and the inclusion of £13,261 brought forward from 1915, the profit remaining was £30,951. A dividend of 3 per cent for the year was paid on the stock and £14,964 carried forward. Reserve, contingencies, and insurance funds stood as of December 31, 1916, at £32,000, £17,739, and £12,500, respectively. The dividend for 1916 was 3 per cent, as compared with 3 per cent in 1915, 3 per cent. in 1914, 4 per cent per annum in 1913 and 1912, and 3 per cent in 1911, 1910, and 1909. STREET RAILWAY COMPANIES IN MONTEVIDEO. Montevideo is served by an extensive street railway system operated by two companies, the United Electric Tramways of Montevideo and the Compañía Transatlántica de Tranvías Eléctricos, the former British and the latter a German company controlled by the Compañía Alemana Transatlántica de Electricidad of Buenos Aires. In the five years 1904 to 1908, inclusive, the street railways of Montevideo carried, on an average, 33,516,690 passengers each year; between 1909 and 1913 the average was 71,458,542 passengers. The United Electric Tramways of Montevideo owns all of the securities of the Sociedad Comercial de Montevideo, which owns and operates approximately 90 miles of electric railway, its concession expiring in 1978, on which date the municipality may take over the property provided it pays a fair valuation for the power houses, machinery, stations, workshops, etc., or may extend the franchise for 15 years additional, at the end of which period it may acquire the entire undertaking without cost. The capitalization of the United company consists of £500,000 ordinary and £500,000 cumulative 6 per cent preference shares, the par value of both issues being £5. There is also outstanding approximately £970,000 5 per cent first debenture stock, part of an issue of £1,000,000, the remainder of which has been retired through the operation of the sinking fund. This sinking fund will retire the entire issue by 1978. Quotations on these securities have been as follows: The regular dividend of 6 per cent per annum on the preference stock has been maintained for years. Dividends on the ordinary stock in recent years have been at the following rates: 1909, 6 per cent; 1910 to 1913-14, inclusive, 7 per cent per annum; 1914-15, 4 per cent; none since. The gross traffic receipts for the year 1916-17 (year ended Mar. 31) amounted to £330,601, an increase of £17,172, as compared with the year previous. Operating expenses consumed 68.69 per cent of the gross as compared with 63.64 per cent the year previous and 60.86 per cent in 1914-15. Net receipts for 1916-17 totaled £108,898, as compared with £120,220 in 1915-16 and £141,477 in 1914-15. The increase in operating expenses has been due largely to the increased price of coal, the cost to the company in 1917 being approximately 150s. per ton, against 38s. to 52s. per ton the year before. Higher wages and increased freight charges on imported materials also contributed to the decrease in net profits. The company, after making ample appropriations to the various reserves and sinking-fund accounts, carried forward £12,814, as compared with £13,103 brought forward from 1915-16. The company had in service at a recent date 240 cars and 73 trailers. The company's securities are good semispeculative investments. The Compañía Transatlántica de Tranvías Eléctricos de Montevideo is, as stated, controlled by the Compañía Alemana Transatlántica de Electricidad of Buenos Aires (see Argentina, p. 68). The latter company, which is controlled in Germany, owns the 1,688,500 pesos stock of the Montevideo enterprise. The mileage operated is about 85, and the equipment in service consists of 234 cars and 38 trailers. A number of cars on this and the British line are of American manufacture. Information concerning the earnings of the German company is not available. Its business, although a number of important thoroughfares are traversed, is not as large as that enjoyed by the United company. The entire line is operated by electricity. In addition to the two electrically operated tramway lines there is a third street railway system-that operated by the Tranvía del Norte (Tramway of the North). About 11 miles of horse-car lines are operated by this company. Passengers carried in the normal year 1913 totaled 3,359,344, and gross receipts amounted to 140,659 pesos. It is expected that when normal prosperity returns this system will be electrified. Its location is good and a large additional amount of traffic would probably be enjoyed. MONTEVIDEO TELEPHONE CO. Another important British-owned public utility is the Montevideo Telephone Co., one of the two companies serving the capital city and its suburbs. These two companies have considerably more than 10,000 subscribers. The British company's concession allows it to lay wires anywhere within the limits of the Republic. The capitalization of the company, which has its head office in London, consists of the following securities, both classes of which are listed on the London Stock Exchange: For the year ended July 31, 1915, the company earned a net profit of £26,737, including £5,303 brought forward from the previous year, and after paying 5 per cent on the preference shares and 6 per cent on the ordinary shares was able to carry forward to 1916 £5,394. The 6 per cent dividend rate on the ordinary stock has been maintained for a number of years. The growth of the company has been consistent, however, the profits for 1915, as shown above, having increased from £13,000 10 years previous. The company has been in existence since 1888. About two years ago a bill was introduced in the Uruguayan Congress whereby the telephone service would become a Government monopoly, the Government to establish a system of underground cables. |