The Sun. — London, England, 1849-04-12 00:00:00

DER. AT WAKEFIELD TO 3IR. COBDEN. :;„)4.3IANTON, WEDNESDAY MIDNIGF.T.—ThiS even grand complimentary entertainment was given to Mr. e;ubden by his constituents, in celebration of his tri urnpl :rit return for the West Ridint; at the last election. entertainment took piece at the Corn Exchange, where accommodation was provided for he t.,‘,et: 600 and 700 person?. The side walls were °rus with branches of laurel; at the upper end was the Royal cipher, surmounted by an Imperial Crown; and at the lower end of the apartment was suspended a flag with the inscription, " Cobden and the Independent Electors of Wakefield;" in front of the Chairman were emblizoned the mottoes, " Protection is Robbery;" " Thu Twins—Agriculture and Commerce," " Free Trade," &c. At the upper table, which was slightly elevated and stretched the entire length of the room, sat the Chair man, Mr. George Goodman, having on his right Mr. Cobden, M.P.; Mr. Bright, M.P.; Mr. William Brown, M.P.; Mr. George Wilson, late Chairman of the Anti- Corn-law League; Mr. Harrison, Mayor of Wakefield; Mr. Alderman Carnutt, of Leeds; Mr. James Hamerton ; Mr. C. H. Dawson; and on his left Mr. Marshall, M.P.; Colonel Thompson, M.P.; Mr. Salt, Mayor of Bradford; Mr. Henry, I.Y. ; Mr. Kershaw, M.P.; Mr. John Bald ;;n, Mayor of Halifax, iSLe. The following acted as vice-chairmen:—Messrs. W. H. Voiter, of Bradford; F. Crossley-, of Halifax; F. Sehwann, of Huddersfield; C. G. Maclea, of Leeds; Ed ward Baines, of Leeds; R. Solly, of Sheffield; James l&licklethwaite, of Wakefield. The lift of stewards comprised the names of the lead in;.; free-traders of the district. The body of the ball was covered with 15 tables, each accommodating 40 per sons. The dinner was supplied by Mr. Wigney of the George Hotel. oo CHAIRMAN, in proposing the first toast, said—lt is our ptcuiiar happiness and privilege to live under a Sovereign distinguished for many excellences, and de vote:l to the best interests of her country—a monarch Nvh- lives in the affections of her people, and whose de light it is to diffuse as much happiness among them as possible. It has been my delight in all public assemblits of my fellow-countrymen to see the spirit of loyalty which has animated them, and the same spirit will, I am sure, prevail among us on the present occasion. I ate confident you will all join me most heartily in drinking long life and happiness to her Majesty the Queen. Drunk with all the honours. Tee next toast was the " Health of his Royal High ness Prineo Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of tne Royal Family." The CHAIRMAN said—lt was a matter of sincere re joicing to all her subjects that the Queen was blest with a good husband, and they all hoped that the Prince and the royal family would with her Majesty enjoy long life tti*l appiness .:;The usual toasts of the " Army" and "Navy" were no: - . drunk. The CHAIRMAN then, in a highly eulogistic speech, peeposed the " Health of our distinguished and patriotic Aleut her; Mr. Cobden, 'with thanks to him for past in - ealnabte Servicei to' his country and mankind, in the • revise of free trade, and an assurance of the hearty sym r; Ithy of hie constituents in his present labours on behalf of rconotny . Cnd peace.' IC-. COBDEN, who was- received with the most enthu- Sia3fie cheers, said—l feel that it is from me the a ology should come that I have not long ago had t opportunity of meeting the electors of the West 1 liag at home. I ought to have paid m y res p ects t w re ., yon immediately on my return from the con pient, to have thanked you, and my friend in the chair especially, for the most prominent and responsible , salon he filled on that occasian in nominating me and uraing me" When I was thousands of miles away, con 4tifeg on me the most distinguished honour that could le: conferred on a citizen of this country. But, gentle ;Wu, since my return home I have found myself occupied s,itt public avocations ; I believe that my pursuits have 'been your pursuits; that my aim has been your aim; and f have felt assured that, dealing as I have done with a tAody of intelligent and practical men, you have been satisfied, whilst I was in pursuit of what I humbly con ceived my duty and your welfare. You would be satis fied that I should pursue my duties in Parliament, and be content to he together in spirit; though we wore absent in body. Your excellent chair , Man has been good enough to associate my name with three principles free trade, economy, and pe a ce. I beg it to be distinctly understood that in meeting, you here to-day—in having the privilege of exchanging sentiments with you, we do not meet for tt e glorification of any individual or ourselves, but to do homage to those principles which your chair man has enumerated—(Cheers)—to render if possible more secure the attainment of the first of those prin ciples, and to pave the way for carrying out effectually and speedily the other two. I am not going to make a free;trade speech; but an attempt has been made to show that free trade in corn—for that is about the limit of our triumph as yet—that free trade in corn, which we have had for some time short of three months, is a failure. Well, I don't know what we expected free trade in corn to do that it has not done for us, as far as it possibly could have done for us. Did anybody ever ask themselves this question—W hat would have been our position now if we had not carried the repeal of the corn-laws just at the time we did? I have talked to men coversant with these matters, and I 1 - eve put this question to them—Supposing the old sli !ing scale to have remained in operation now, what weed have bean the price of corn at this moment? Aud the general opinion I hear is that wheat would be at 70s. a quarter. What would then have been the condition of England—what would then have been the condition of Yorkshire? Just what it was in 1839, after the failure of the harvest in 1838. Your towns would have been crowded with paupers, and your capitalists would have been meeting together to try and avert impending ruin, as they did in 1839. Now what is the condition of things? I don't say that trade is as good as it-might be, or as I !lope it will be; but asking the condition of the mass of the working population now, and comparing this with what it was in 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, and 1843, I say there is now a state of great prosperity—(Cheers) — nay, .1 doubt very much whether that portion of the labouring el-sises of this county and Lancashire which is fully employed in the mechanical arts, in manufactures, and in other pursuits—l. speak particularly of skilled work reen—ever in their lives were in possession of a greater amount of comfort .in. exchange for their labour, than toey are at this moment ; because now you have not merely food, but-raiment and all those human luxuries which are happily within the reach of the working classes, cheaper Shah; as a whole, at any time when -the trade of this district was peculiarly prosperous. When we . go heck to 1835, and 1836, for instance, though there was great prosperity s the.price of many articles of clothing Was then much higher than now ; cotton goods were about double what they now are. The working classes are doing better than the masters ' et present ; but, however, I hope to see their em ployers deriving a full and adequate reward for their skill and capital; but we did not profess that free trade in corn was a sort of alchemy that was to discover the philosopher's stone or cure all diseases; we never said so. Our opponents have 'said that of us, to try and make us ridiculous. We never said that free trade in corn would prevent the evils that follow excessive speculation in rail ways.—(Cheers.) There is a sore place in almost evil y family and counting-house, arising from these railway speculations.—(Cheers.) We never said tree trade in corn would heal those sores.—(Cheers.) We never said it would prevent civil wars on the continent; or, if civil Wars arose on the continent, we never said that free trade in corn would prevent them from operating injuriously on our foreign trade. We never said that there would be no potato rot if we had a free trade in corn. None of those evils that have fallen on us did we ever profess to avert or cure; but what we did say and do say is this, that whether foreign or civil war happens, or railway speculations turn out disastrous, or potato rot comes, you will be a great deal better able to bear all those evils with free trade in corn than you would have been under the old sliding scale. —(Cheers.) We never said more than that, and, if so much as we professed has been done, who has a right to say that free-trade has been a failure?—(Cheers.) But then we are told there is great difficulty and embarrass ment in certain portions of the agricultural districts.' I think there has been a great deal too much of outcry About_. distress in the agricultural districts.—(Cheers.) I think it is a disgrace to certain portions of those dis tricts that they have made any outcry at all during the great part of 1847 and 1848. The farmers of England were placed under more fortunate circumstances than ever they had been in this country within the memory of man. They had capital crops and unprecedentedly high prices; at least prices without a precedent since the war. B. ar in mind that when in former times they bad • a high price for their cora it was from a deficient crop, lett during 1847 and 1848 they were in the glorious posi tion that the scarcity and high price of corn arose from the failure of the potato, while they had capital crops of wheat. They never had such an opportunity of actually coining money as in the spring of 1848 and during the whole of 1847. In Hampaire corn seas selling at 51. the quarter; 100 shillings the quarter was refused in Chi chester market ; and now those people are meeting and declaring they are all ruined because they have had three or four months' bad trade. It is disgraceful both to farmers and landowners to make that outcry.— (Load cheer s .) you had mor e; a t aa had eight e en months of bad trade, the 7 0 e u ry time they were getting this price for their wheatiny were carrying on your busi ness at a loss,Lancashire losses during those eighteen months must be measuredwas by the extent of tae manufactory. If it w large, the loss was about 1,000/., and, if smaller, the loss was one-half or one-third of that sum per month.— work did not come whining to Parliament; y Qr o P t; ) sto lC d t, you not to goo toraan fully during the storm, and were read o y with the first gleam.—(Cheers.) We do pretend . to say that the farmers will not have a difficulty going throngh the transition state—monopoly to free trade. It is in the very nature of things, that if you have been trying on evil courses for 30 years, the ordeal of getting into a right course must cause one pain. A man does not recovk from a fever without going through a very painful state.of languor. We expected there would be this difficulty in the transition; so did our opposers, or why did they give us the work of a seven years' battle? They have no right, though, to turn round upon us, and say, " Look at the difficulties we have in our arrangements with our tenants and landowners to meet this new state of thingi." We told them they would have difficul ties precisely such as the manufacturers in 1817 ; they had to look about them; they had to adopt a new system of business, make larger returns in quicker time; they had to produce more from a given quantity of Ina cl- inery and in a given space of time; and we tell the farmers and landowners too, they must go through pre cisely the same process, they must have their energies quickened, they must make their land more productive, they must come to terms with each other by which they may have the utmost possible production out of the soil. All these we intend they shreild de--it is for their inte rests, as well as ours, that they should; and whilst they do not, but, instead of that, go whining to Parliament, and talking of transferring the taxes off their shoulders on to ours—whilst they indulge in such child's play, they make themselves simply ridiculous in the eyes of men of business, and we tell them we have no sympathy for any of their pretended distress. They say they can not compete with foreigners in the produce of core. I speak to the backbone and muscle of the clothing districts of England. You have no protec tion, and if you wanted any, I should vote against your having it.—(Cheers.) But there is this difference be tween your case and that of the farmers. You are obliged to sell your cloth so cheap that when it is gone to China or New York it must compete with the pro ducers there even after the consumer pays the cost of carriage and a heavy duty.—(Cheers.) Your production is so good that the consumer prefers to buy yours, pay ing those charges in addition.—(Cheers.) The farmer, on the contrary, has only to compete with the foreigner when his corn is brought into this market after incur ring the expense of carriage. The farmer, therefore, is always sure of getting a higher price for his corn than the foreigner, and you are always certain of getting a lower price for your cloth than the foreigner requires. The farmers may have difficulties, but they cannot be allowed to indemnify themselves out of your pockets, if they cannot make their trade answer.—(Cheers.) I have been watching with some anxiety the course the farmers' friends have taken in Parliament. I thought when they found themselves deprived of protection they would at once begin to join with the free-traders in re• ducing the expenditure of the country; they have not done so, for this reason—they believe still, or find it their policy to affect to believe, they can put their hands into your pockets and indemnify themselves.—(Cheers.) I want the agriculturists and landowners to be convinced that to go back to protection in any shape is impossible. —(Cheers.) We are not now talking the language of a party, but of every party, and there is no party in exist ence which has a leg to stand on in West Yorkshire which is in favour of a return of protection.—(Loud cheers.) When the constituencies of rual counties are satisfied that if they maintain a taxation they shall pay their share out of their own pockets, and shall not indemnify themselves by putting their hands into your bread-baskets, they will join with us in reducing the taxation and expenditure of the country as the only means by which they can enable themselves to meet the competition of foreigners. Up to this time they have not joined ns, and I have been, I confess, astonished to see the unanimity with which county Mem bers uphold the extravagant expenditure of the Govern ment. I made a motion, which I put in a very modest way—l merely proposed that in the opinion of the House of Commons we should return as speedily as possible to the amount of expenditure which was found sufficient for us fourteen years ago, and upwards of a hundred county Members went into the lobby against me, and the county constituencies therefore sent up Members in favour of high taxes. Well., if they won't help us to reduce the expenditure we will take care that they only have low prices to pay high taxes—(Loud cheers) — and if they continue to pay high taxes it shall be their own fault. It is not considered etiquette to at tribute motives for the votes given in the House of Commons. We must not state what we know to be the fact as to what influences votes in Parliament. It is actually forbidden us to say that the counties are repre sented by the aristocracy, whose families are connected with the service by land and by sea, and that the mem bers of those aristocratic families keep up an enormous expenditure for the army and navy in order that their younger sons may find berths. It is considered very improper that any of these allusions should be made, and therefore as - there is a rule that motives should not be attributed, don't let it be supposed that I have imagined anything like what I have stated. We will suppose, then, that these farmers and small freeholders are the men who suppose they have all the interest. We must suppose, looking into our army list, that the staff appointments are all held by the relatives of the farmer and 40s. freeholders. We have 150 admirals ; we never can employ more than 14 of these at a time, and we must suppose that these admirals are all of them near connexions of the tenant farmers. It will not be considered bad taste to have assumed that. Then, if these farmers and 40s. freeholders will support high taxes because their brothers and sons may be admirals, majors, and colonels,—if they choose to keep up such establishments for their interest, we are not going to let them pay for them out of the bread• basket.—(Cheers.) Our friends in the southern counties will perfectly un derstand that we see through the whole case—that we know exactly how the land lies. If the tenant. farmers and the people of the middle class in the south of Eng land really want to reduce taxation—if they want any amelioration in those laws that affect them with respect to game, with respect to occupancy, or in any other way in which legislation can be to their interest, they must join us, but not to impose an Bs. or 12s. duty.—(Loud cheers.) When I see the farmers getting up a row in South Hampshire, and carrying down a Mr. Shaw to be more prominent than the squires themselves in clamouring for protection, I pity them; they are posi tively past all hope of salvation.—(Cheers.) The farmers are a class of the most dependent, politically, on the face of the earth. They every now and then burst into a sort of saturnalia. - These political bondmen—they mean nothing—it ends in nothing. The landlord is merely asked to go to his agent, and say—Tell all the farmers on such an estate they must vote for such a man —and they do it. The whole thing is (Meted by a wink or a nod. It requires no noise. Besides, the farmers form a very small portion of the electors even in a county. We have a return before Parliament of the different kinds of qualifications, and in the most rural the proportion of occupying tenants is about one. eighth or one-seventh, and in Lancashire not more than one tenth.—(Hear, hear.) To set up for themselves with out the middle class is the most hopeless, helpless, childish thing that human beings could resort to. If they want a reduction of taxation, wo will hslp them to obtain it.—(Loud cheers.) Bly friend Bright has proposed to get rid of the game- laws for them. But they don't help him much. It is something like the malt tax caer again. The few men that will support Mr. Bright will be the free-traders; they are the only friends the farmers have in the House of Commons.—(Cheers.) You know what my motion about retrenchment is. It is a very simple case. I put it before Parliament, and I was sorry you found your representative in so small a minority. But I beg you distinctly to understand that I was in good company.—(Cheers.) I had Lancashire with me—l had the metropolis with me—l had Edin burgh and Glasgow with me—l had Middlesex with me. Of all the large towns only Liverpool—" a strange ano maly," seeing that financial reform commenced there, and Sheffield, rather peculiarly situated—(A laugh)— plumped against me.—(Cheers.) Sheffield voted against me under peculiar circumstances, which you will under stand, but that won't occur again. I am very anxious • that you in the West Riding should understand this, and if you will take the trouble to analyse the places whence my supporters came, you will find that en lightened and free public opinion was with me on that motion, as certainly as it ever was with Mr. Vil liers, before Sir R. Peel took up free:trade in corn; and I may boldly say that I never ever expect to be in a ma jority in reducing our expenditure to the standard of 1835. Government will take care of that, as they did on the corn-laws; they will do the work themselves. — (Cheers.)' If we were in the majority, the Queen would have to send for us—(Cheers) —and that would not suit them.—(Cheers.) Some Government must do it for U 3. To be sure our Right Hon. Friend and neighbour, Sir Charles Wood, has only made a beginning—that is his policy. It is intended only as an encouragement for us to go on. Perhaps he could not do more this time, but it is quite plain what he means if you persevere, espe cially in the West Riding. A great deal:more will he done next year, and it will be all done as soon as pos sible.—(Loud cheers.) What I proposed was to go back as speedily as possible to the expenditure of 1835. No answer NI as given to the facts I stated, via., that the successive increases of our expenditure for armaments had all been occasioned by special circumstances, which have all passed away. I stated other changes, which I hope will engage the attention of the West Riding. I want to enlist you in two or three practical questions, but which our opponents will call Utopias. Utopias? The West Riding has a knack of making Utopias reali ties.—(Cheers.) The West Riding made Clarkson's Utopias for the abolition of the slave trade a reality.— (Cheers.) The West Riding made Wilberforce's Utopias for abolition of slavery a 'reality. You made what was called madness in 1839 reality in 1849.—(Cheers.) I want you to take up my other Utopias.—(Cheers.) One of them is to reduce thee expenditure by means which seem to follow naturally out of our free-trade struggle. I want you to raise the cry for colonial reform.—(Cheers.) Depend on it you are as much interested in carrying out reform in our colonial system as the colonies themselves, or as you are in your own municipal affairs, because it is only by the reform of your colonial system that you can ever hope largely to reduce your present expenditure, or be in a position to be safe against an overwhelming ex penditure from any accidental cause that may arise. You may have another war in Kafraria or New Zealand. We must have our colonies put in a totally different position; we must raise the cry of " self-government for the colo nies." Don't give a feeble response to that under the idea, industriously spread abroad, that something tending to a dismemberment of the empire is involved in giving your colonial fellow-subjects self-government. As Eng lishmen they are entitled to it. If you don't separate yourselves from the dominant class—if there be a domi nant class, for it is hardly fashionable to say there is— (Cheers) —if you don't separate yourselves from them in their attempt to keep the colonies as a field of patronage for their younger sons, and that the aristocracy may nominate the Government, you will have wars without end with your colonial fellow-subjects. English people, whether in North America, at the Cape of Good Hope, in New Zealand, in Australia, or in the West Riding of Yorkshire, will govern themselves.—(Cheers.) You cannot take up a newspaper from any point of the com pass without meeting complaints in every direction. I do not wish to be thought attacking the Noble Lord at the head of the Colonial-office. I do not attack Earl Grey. I have a high respect for his personal honour, free trade.—(Cheers.) and for his moral courage and independence. Hs _was one of the first that boldly advocated our principle of rather than the slavery question (Cheers.) Slvonmde himself u t r e ec e o e l m le p e r t e h m e is ar enn doned office r fills Hawes, a man businessinfake no Such a man is en titled to our ro of e *— and honourablyr°nl amongsta charge o le e againstun under e,r % Y. Vhat I do find fault with is that men should ourselves, who v in e d rn u m str e i n otl to do pinerepsoesnseie baililoitwiesth; e it m w se e l n y l e d s to requireb e put omnipotenceinto art ofi a c n d to govern almost to be able, from a street in Londonmnti more than 40 dependencies in every latitudL we had to send up to Sir George Grey to have l ( l ' i P s P iL se thority for everything we do in municipal affairs, would we tolerate such a thing ? And yet we have railway transit that performs the distance between this and London in six hours, and by the telegraph that will com municate with the metropolis in a minute you can talk with the Home-office, and yet you would nit tolerate its interference in Wakefield, Leeds, or Manchester. Flow, then, do ynu think that in Thwiiing-street they can govern the people of New Z-aland and Australis? Before they can exchange communicatio-,s, ten to one the object of those commenic ttiens will have passed away. It is utterly absurd, and it is impossible tor the •ntereft of the colonies, with the inalienable right of Englishmen and the rights of our own interests, that they should be k"pt in a state of pupilage any longer. If the colonists require our sJidiers as a polies they must pay fur it; they must pay every farthing required for their owu defence and their own government; nor would they grumble to do so if they only gave them self-government. No doubt I hear Lord John Russell meets Sir William Molesworth on this subject with an objection which, with all deference and respect, has shown me more than anything else that Lord John is not quite equal to the position in which he is placed. I refer to the puerile levity with which he treated those profound arguments and most carefully col lected facts which Sir William Molesworth and others brought forward on this subject. He ssid twice since, You want something totally different from me_; you want to dismember the empire; you want to make this great united empire a smaller empire by getting rid of your colonies one by one. You are going the right way to accomplish your object." Is it right to treat this question in such a spirit? What is free trade for, if it be not carried out to its legitimate ends? There are some statesmen of our days wh a think tho only object of the Reform Bill or the abolition of the corn-laws was to place them in power—(Cheers)--and that when once in power they are to remain there. The country is to be satisfied that they are there. They console them selves with the belief that the country wants nothing but that they shall be there, and they are utterly incom petent, or what is the same thing in effect, they are unwilling to carry out legitimately those principles by which they have acquired power, and of which they pro fessed to be the champions.—(Cheers.) Our colonies are subjected to an enormous expenditure in order that Government may exercise the patronage. We have five colonial governors, and a Governor in our North Ameri can colonies, with salaries amounting to 17,0001. a'year, while the United States, with thirty governors, paid only 14,3001., our colonies having a population of 2,000,000, and the United States 20,000,000.—(Cheers.) The last appointment made by the United States was of a Gover ner of California, with a salary of WO/. ; our last ap pointment was the Governor of Labuan, with 2,000/. a year. The Hon. Gentleman then urged at great length the necessity of greatly reducing our armaments, insist ing on the policy of arbitration instead of war. He also urged the formation of a convention between England, and France, and America, to prevent the indefinite in crease of our naval force, and concluded an eloquent speech by calling on his friends to attend to the regis tration, as the best means of carrying out their pacific economical views. He sat down amidst loud cheering. The CHAIRMAN proposed, " The seventy-eight sup porters of Mr. Cobden's motion in favour of financial re form, and may the public expenditure be speedily adapted to the circumstances of a heavily burdened people. Mr. J. G. MARSHALL, M.P., responded. He said, after the able and exhaustive speech of their Hon. Mem ber, it would not become him to address them at much length; but, although he should speak shortly, he hoped he would not be found wanting in their estimation in the cause in which they were embarked. Ile felt proud at the welcome they had given to their new representa tive. He had pleasure in bearing his testimony to the sentiments expressed by Mr. Cobden, and had perfect confidence, as he believed they all had, in his carrying out those views with which he was associated. With respect to financial reform, it was clear that they would have to fight the great battle inch by inch ; once getting a large slice, they would go again a second time. He had no doubt that in bringing forward such a measure as Mr. Cobden had done he had laid himself open to many attacks, but, having given it his best attention, he could not find that anything objectionable was embodied in:it. There was great room for a very large reduction in the army and navy. Having had the honour of taking a part with Mr. Cobden in his financial reform move ment, he hoped to go on with him.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. S. SOLLY, of Sheffield, proposed the next resolu tion, which was in favour of international arbitration, as calculated to supersede that unchristian appeal to the sword in the settlement of our national disputes. He was sure if that sentiment were adopted it would be felt as a great national boon. He was happy that Mr. Cob den ;had made such a decided stand for financial re form, and hoped that it would meet with that support which it so justly claimed at their hands.—(Cheers.) Mr. Alderman J. MICKLETHWAITE, of Wakefield, in a short speech, proposed the health of Mr. Bright, the champion of civil and religious freedom.—(Cheers.) Mr. BRIGHT, in taking a respective view of English politics, observed, that the last Tory banquet of any importance which was held in that room was in 1841. The Whigs, as such, had not met at any great public dinner for twelve years past, but the last time they were heard of was when they assembled at Greenwich or some such place, to cat whitebait, or at Brooke's, which they still kept up the delusion of calling the " Fox Club." He contrasted those gatherings with the great and enthusiastic meeting of that day and those assem blies which they had lately held in the adjoining counties. Worn-out principles; he said, the people of England were about to brush away, and with them a great deal of that which had been previously looked upon through nursery prejudices with reverence and awe. He exult ingly spoke of the triumphs of free trade and its teachings to the people, and warmly advocated, at great length, the throe great principles asserted by Mr. Cobden. Mr. FORSTER, of Bradford, then proposed the next toast, for " an Extension of the Basis of Representation." Colonel THOMPSON, in a warm and spirited address, r,sponded. to the prcposal of his health, which was en thusiastically received. " The total Repeal of the Navigation Laws" was pro posed by Alderman CARBUTT, of Leeds, in a speech of some length. Se.veral other toasts were given and responded to amid much enthusiasm; and after three cheers for the chair man, Mr. George Wilson, and the League, The meeting dispersed about a quarter before eleven o'clock. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 12, 1849. THE YORK, NEWCASTLE, AND BERWICK RAILWAY. THE REPOR T OF THE CONIMITTEE AP POINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE GREAT NOR ra OF ENGLAND PURCHASE AC COUNT. ChIirMaH—RoBERT PRANCE. J - TonATIO LOVE. JOHN SHIELD. JOHN CLAYTON. ROBERT DENISON. St - Treat') -E. H. LAWRENCE. The agreement for the purchase of the Great North of England Railway was entered into provisionally in the month of June, 1845, and the Act of Parliament for carrying out that agreement passed on the 27th of July, 1846. At the time when such agreement was entered into, and such Act passed, Mr. Hudson, the chairman of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway, had not any share or interest in the Great North of England Rail way, nor were any shares ever allotted to him. The terms on which the several classes of shares in the Great North of England Railway were agreed to be purchased by the Yerk, Newcastle, and Barwick Rail way company were as follows, the principal of the pur chase-money of each class being payable ou the lst of July, 1850: — The 1001. shares at 2501. each, with interest at 10 per coat. per annum on 1001. in the mean time. The 401. shares at 601. premium per share, with in terest at 10 per cent. on 40/., deducting 4 per cent. on amount uncalled. The SOL shares at 45/. premium per share, with 5 per cent. interest on calls until July, 1847, and 10 per cent. afterwards on 301. until paid off. The 15/. shares, on which 11. 103. only had been paid, at 22/. 10s. premium per share, with interest at 5 per cent. on calls to the Ist of July, 1849, and afterwards interest at 10 per cent. on 15/. until paid off. On the 26th of October, 1846, a special general meet ing of the shareholders in the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway was held at York, when a stock was created on which 6 per cent. per annum was guaranteed till the Ist of July, 1850, in order to provide for " the purchase of the Great North of England Railway and works." The object of this measure is stated to have been to spread the payment for the shares of the Great North of England Railway Company, amounting in the whole to three and a half million sterling, over a apace of three years and a half, instead of making that payment on one day, viz., the Ist of July 1850. After the conclusion of the business of the special general meeting of proprietors on the 26th of October, 1846, a meeting of the -directors was held, at which it was resolved that the shares:in the Great North of Eng land Railway Company should be bought by the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Company, and that Mr. Hudson alone should have the management of the purchases. The directors are agreed that such a reso lution or understanding was come to at this meeting. But no record of it is to be found on the minutes of the proceedings of the directors. The absence of such record is ascribed by some of the directors to their wish to keep as secret as possible the fact of the company being pur chasers of shares; a knowledge of which fact might, in their judgment, have had the effect of enhancing the price of the shares in the market. We cannot, however, admit this as any reason for the omission, particularly as Mr. Hudson has himself stated in his evidence (as the fact was), that it was well known at that time that the company were purchasers of the shares. At this meeting lir. Flews, one of the directors, sup posed from his connexion with the Great North of Eng• land,Railway to be best qualified for the task,was requested to make a calcul at i on o f the value to this company of the differ e nt c l asses of Great N ort h o f En g land Railway shares. On hi s return to hi s place of residence at Dar ng it appears that Mr. Plows prepared a statemen of the comparative value of the several classes of Great North of England Railway shares, showing the separate value (assuming the market price of the day as his stan dard) of each class of share to a party investing money at five per cent. This statement, he believes, he transmitted either on the 27th or the 28th of October, 1846, to Mr. Close, the secretary of the company at York. As this calculation of Mr. Flews has been much re ferred to in the evidence taken before us, we subjoin a fac-simile of it. The sums expended by the directors of the York, Ncwclstle, and Berwick Railway Company in buying Gr. at North of England Railway shares up to the 25th of January last, amount in the aggregate to the sum of 749,5241. 14s 7d. The first sale to the company was by Mr. Hudson himself to the extent of 131,8671. 9s. 3d., to which sale Mr. Hudson has assigned the date of the 27th of Octo ber, 1846. It appears in evidence that Mr. Hudson had early, in r t i h o e u s m o c l u a t s h s e o s of of ct o b Greate r , N l o B r 4 t 6 begun to h , of Eng an d Railway purchase the va shares on his own account, and that on the 27th of October, 1846, being the day after the special meeting, he effected the sale of his Great North of England shares to the company. The prices were fixed by Mr. Hudson himself, assisted by Mr. Close, and the principle alleged to have been adopted was based on Mr. Plews's calculation; but this part of the thransaction appears to be involved in some obscurity as to dates, for if the sale took place on the 27th of October, Mr. Plews's calculation of the value of the shares could scarcely have been at York on that day. We find in the journal of the company, entitled " the Great North of England Purchase Journal," the follow ing entry without date. Sundries, Dr. To George Hudson and others. £ 5. d. ... 36,240 0 0 ... 21,631 10 0 ... 5,187 0 0 ... 67,539 0 0 ••• 990 18 9 279 0 6 1001. shares (151 shares) 401. ►hares (342 shares)... 30/. shares (91 shares) 151. shares (2,874 shares) Brokers' commission Transfer stamps ••• £131,867 9 3 This entry represents the whol e amount of the Great North of England Railway shares sold by Mr. Hudson to the company, and the amount appears to have been paid to him by two cheques on the York Union Banking Company—the one for 81,100/.,dated the 27th of October, 1846, and the other for 50,7674 9s. 3d., dated the 27th of November, 1846, both of which cheques are signed by two directors of the company, M essrs James Richardson and Robert Davies. The cheques have been produced to us, and the payments are entered in the banker's book, and stand in the ledger of the company under their re spective dates. The prices paid to Mr. Hudson f or th ese s h ares , com pared with the market prices of the assigned date of the sale, present the following results, viz. : Per Share. Market Price. Excess. X s. Per share. X. s. S. 151 100 Shares fixed by Mr. Hudson at.......... ..... . 240 0 237 453 0 342 40 PP 13 5 6114 598 10 91 30 57 0 55 132 0 2,874 lb PP 23 10 21 7,185 0 Making a total excess on these several classes of shares compared with the market price of the day of 8,4181. 18s. The difference between the price assigned by Mr. Close to the 151. shares and the market price of the day, and Mr. Plews's calculation, is no less than 21. 103. per share. In the evidence given before us, Mr. Close as cribes this difference to a mistake occasioned by an erro neous combination on his part of figures taken from Mr. Plews's calculation, which gave a result of 24/. 33. 6d. per share as the value of these shares, whilst the market price of the day was only 211. per share, which, in fact, was the value assigned to them by Mr. Plews. As a difference of opinion exists in the committee re specting this explanation, we leave it, without comment, in the hands of the proprietors. The number of these shares sold by Mr. Hudson to the company being very considerable, the company, in this tran th s e ac e ti x o t n e , n p t a o i f d 7 in J e B x s c l ess of the market price injuryoPflTrt thheoisf the t day, to however, cannot be taken as the measure of the arge a number to the of shares by Mr. lludson, on his own ac the company, inasmuch as the purchase of so count, during the month of October, without any ques olifo O n of c c o t to n hb t contributed u i r. b u s te n i d to m e repaid, p t of opnrictehel9th o the 27t h f February last, 2,8741., under the circumstances after stated. rn.halinucedsothne We think it due to Mr. Hudson to append his state ment with respect to this transaction " In fixing the price which I thought in fairness I ought to receive from the company, the price estimated by Mr. Plews, and shown to me by Mr. Close, was 241. 3s. 6d. per share as a price at which it was advan tageous for the company to purchase; and I then di rected Mr. Close to put them down to the company at 231. 10s. per share, and I never discovered that there was any error, or doubted that the transaction was per fectly correct, until Monday morning before the meeting, coming to York, I was looking at the average price put in the statement, it struck me that the average looked very high; but before the statement was sent out it was submitted to a meeting of the board, and although some of the directors went into the calculations, yet none of them made any remark as to the high average of these shares. Upon arriving in York I went into Mr. Close's office, and I stated to him that the average looked very high, and asked of whom had been bought the largest number of th ese s h ares. H e referred to the books of the company, me. I said, Then turn to see what are the prices and stated they were principally bought of given for the same description of shares to other parties,' upon which, seeing that the shares taken of me were at a higher price than those taken of other parti es . I said, I must pay the 11. call due upon them immediately, and after the meeting you and I must go carefully into that account, and we must have the matter set right." Mr. Hudson accordingly drew a cheque on his own bankers for 2,8741., which was paid on the 19th of February to the Great North of England Rail way account, being IL per share remaining uncalled on 2,874 15/. shares. Sir John Simpson confirms this statement thus far: he states—" That he was present at the board meeting of the directors, on the 20th of February last, and heard Mr. Hudson say to Mr. Close, I am sure, or I am ealis fied, there is something wrong in these 15/. shares; we must look into it after the meeting.' " With the power Mr. Hudson possessed of giving this explanation, it is to be regretted that ho should have moved the adoption of the report, including tho Great North of England purchase account, by the meeting of the 20th of February, without making any correction or noticing the eNistence of any error. We have felt it our duty to endeavour to trace the pur chase by Mr. Hudson of all the shares included in his sale to the company, and to ascertain the dates of the purchase, and the price at which they were bought, which seemed to be important with reference to thr principle that Mr. Hudson must be considered as having made those purchases in the character of a trustee fur the company; this inquiry bas been attended , with con siderable difficulty, and has occasioned delay in making our report. All these shares Vern to have been purchased by Mr. Hudson between the sth of October and the l'hh of November, 1846, and not at earlier dat , , s as was origin ally apprehended, and consequPatly Mr. Hodson's profit by the transaction has not been so considerable as it was at first believed to have been. With respect to the payment to Mr. Hudson for these shares by the company. NI e feel ourselves called upon to observe that at the period whea ha received the cheque for 81,100/. (the 27th ol October, 18.16,) he himself could not have paid more than about 25,0001. on account of the purchase of these shares, although he might be called upon to make a further payment of about 70,0001. on the 30th of October. The effAit of this would Le that the. shares bought by Mr. Hudson on his own account, and sold afterwards at an enhanced price to the company, were to a considerable extent paid for in the first iustauce with the money he had received from the company. The impropriety of such a transaction between an in • dividual and a company to which he stanas in the relation of a trustee cannot be doubted. And we are of opinion that the sum charged by Mr. Hud-on for these shares ought to be reduced to the sum he actually paid for them, and the difference repaid with interest. It appears Irons the evidence of the other directors that they were not aware of any purchase having been made by the company of Mr.Hudsoa. And the auditors were also ignorant of the feet ; they having contented themselves with an examination of the books without ascertaining whether any origical contract existed. The next contract of importance is that of Mr. Christian Allhusen, amounting to 218,669/. 12s. On comparing the prices of the shares included in this c,ai tract with the market prices of the day, viz 19th of De cember, 1846, we find the company has paid in excess a sum of between 5,0001. and 6,0001. The rest of the items, composing the sum of 749,5241. 14s. 7d., have been carefully investigated, and we have no comment to make on them. The next matter which required our investigation was the charge for brokerage, amounting to 2,499/. 7s. sd. This sum is reduced to 1,6931. 141. lid. by deducting 8051. 12s. 6d. erroneously placed under the head of bro kerage, which was, in point of fact, a payment for in terest on bills of exchange which were paid as part of the purchase money of the shares sold by Mr. Alihusen to the company. - Of the remaining sum, the sum of 9901. 18s. 9d. was a payment made to Mr. Hudson for brokerage on the shares sold by him to the company. This, according to the statement of Mr. Close, was done on the assumption that the company must have paid brokerage if they had bought those shares in the market, and without refer ence to the consideration, that Mr. Hudson must have paid brokerage if he had sold his shares in the market. The charge for brokerage cannot be justified or main tained. The next item is a charge by Messrs. Lawrence and Co. of 5471. Is. ld., which was paid to them, being the full rate of brokerage; although, in their original con tracts produced to us, they charged only half. We find, however, they returned one-half of this amount to Mr. Hudson, who states he gave the order as Chairman of the York Union Bank Company, and that he paid to the bank the sum he so received. As all the other brokers employed by the company have charged only halt brokerage, we do not consider there is any reason in this case why the company should sustain a loss, and we are of opinion the sum so re ceived should be paid to the company. The remaining liens is that of Mr. Satterthwaite, who sold to Mr. Hudson a parcel of shares amounting to 16,500/., and stamps 100/., making 16,600/., which sum he was paid by Mr. Hudson himself. The particulars of this purchase, as entered in the books of the com pany, are— 250 301. shares Stamps ... Commission £. s. ... 16,462 10 ... 100 0 ... 100 0 16,662 10 Which sums were repaid by the company to Mr. Hudson as follows:- 1847. April 5 ... May 12 £ s. ... 16.562 10 ... 100 0 16,662 10 Being 621. 10a. in excess of the sum paid by him. According to the evidence of Mr. Hudson, he bad in. structed Mr. Close to pay to his credit the sum of 1001. about that time for travelling expenses, and ho could only account in that manner for the mistake we now point out. - We think it necessary to add that the sum raised by calls made and paid in advance was 1,427,8334 10s., of which the sum 749,5241. 14g. 7d. has been applied to the purposes intended by the proprietors in their resolution of the 26th of October, 1846. This sum is about one fifth of the whole amount required to pay off the Great North of England proprietors, and it has been invested in Great North of England Railway shares as follows: £. s. d. 351,822 2 0 155,528 19 4 174,705 7 6 61,586 9 9 In the year 1846 ... 1847 ... 1848 ... 1849 ... £743,642 18 7 There remain, therefore, four-fifths of the entire sum still to be paid. We think a more beneficial result would have oc curred to the company had the resolution of the pro prietors before referred to been carried into effect to a much larger extent at a❑ earlier period. The Great North of England purchase account has been very imperfectly kept. The transactions to which it relates commenced in the month of October, 1846; and yet it is admitted that no books were opened till the month of December or January lust, when a journal and ledger appear to have been begun and posted up, the entries in the journal of purchases of shares being without dates, and being so made as to baffle examina tion without the aid of other materials. The general accounts of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Company, we hope, are dealt with in a very different way. The auditors seem to have misapprehended their duty in auditing those accounts; they limited their examina tion to a comparison of the bank hook, in which are entered the directors' cheques with the entries in the journal and ledger, they have neither required the pro duction of vouchers nor original contracts—a mode of examination which it is obvious must be utterly worthless. The remissness of the directors in the discharge of their duty with respect to this account is very remark able. From the 27th of October, 1846, till the 13th of February last, according to their own statement they remained in entire ignorance of the state of the Great North of England purchase account, and made no in quiries about the matter. A still greater degree of blame attaches to the two directors who signed the cheque for 81,1001. on the 27th of October, 1846, the day after the creation of the stock for the purchase of these shares, without asking for, or receiving any further explanation than that it was for the purchase of Gi!eat North of England Railway shares. Shareholders have a right to expect of gentlemen who accept the office of directors that they should be cogni zint of, and take part in, all important proceedings of the company: . It is not right that they std confer absolute pow er , and impose undivided resp on lit on one of their body, however able and efficient h e g i g The secretary ought not on- be competent to the discharge of his duties, butahould`beltrittly confined to the business of the company. A course of proceeding directly the reverse of that which we have found to have existed with respect to the Great North of England purchase account ought to be pursued both by auditors and directors in the affairs of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company, in order to give to that railway, possessing as it does so many ( ssential elements of prosperity yet undeveloped, its true value, and to insure the confidence of the pro prietors in its management. ROBERT PRANCE. HORATIO LOVE. JOHN CLAYTON. JOHN SHIELD. York, March 29, 1849. ROBERT DENISON. EVIDENCE OF THE WITNESSES. WEDNESDAY, MARCEI 7, 1849. . . It was ordered by the Committee that the Secretary, Mr. CLOSE. be summoned to attend them. Mr. Prance—Explain the first item in the books of the purchase of shares amounting to 131,8671. 9s. 3d. Mr. Close—The shares were originally bought by Mr. Hudson for himself, to the best of my knowledge, between the passing of the Great North of England Act and the special meeting of this company, called to confirm the agreement made with the Great North of England Com pany on the 26th of Oct. 1846; Mr. Plows was requested at a board meeting of this company by Mr. Hudson to furnish a valuation of the value of the Great North of England shares to this company. Mr. Flews sent me a document (exhibited to the committee) giving the value of the shares, Mr. Hudson asked me afterwards what valuation Mr. Flews had put upon the shares. I told him for the 100/. shares 2414 55.; for the 40/. shares, 54 paid, 63/. 53. per share ; for the 301. shares, 151. paid, 57/. 155. per share; for the 15/. shares, 1/. 103. paid, 241. 3s. 6d. per share. Mr. Hudson then told me to mark the shares named in the first lot in the journal, below Mr. Plow's estim ite, viz. of -151 £lOO shares, amounting to £36,243 0 oat £240 0 0 per slim. 312 40 21,631 10 Oat G 3 5 0 91 30 9, 5,187 0 Oat 57 0 0 2,874 15 ft 67,539 0 Oat 23 10 0 „ I added the commission an the stamps of my Own ac cord, but Mr. Hudson was not aware of it. The money was paid to Mr. Hudson's account at the York Union Bank, the date of payment 27th October, '846; first pay ment, 81,1001. on the 27th October; second payment, 27th November, 50,767 L. 9s. 3d., which closed the ac count. Mr. Hudson came to me some time in the month of January last, and stated to me that, as times were so materially changed, in maki ng up t h e accounts of the I Great North o f England Purchase, I mast deduct any profit ho had received on that transaction. He after wards said, before I had the accounts made up, that he had reconsidered the matter, and that the account was not to be altered, in consequence of his having advanced out of his private account a sum cf upwards of 16,0001. on behalf of this company, in the parchase of West Durham shares, for which he had no sanction of the proprietors. And on the 19th February last, being the day before the meeting, Mr. Hudson came to me, and said he %vat . sure there was something wrong in the ac count of the 151. shares. That I was to debit his account with IL (one pound) per share uncalled on the 151. shares on the 2,874 shares which he had sold to'the company, and that after the meeting he would go into the account with me. I wish to acid, that Mr. Hudson delivered to the company two Great North of England 1001. shares, which were not paid for until the 9th of October, 1847, beine the time when I found out the mistake. as they' COURT CIRCULAR. WINDSOR, WEDNESDAY. The Queen, accompanied by their Serene Highnesses the Countess Erbach and the Princess Amelie Hohen luhe Schillingsfurst, walked this morning in the grounds around the Castle. Her Serene Highness the Princess Elise of Hohenlohe Schillingsfurst was prevented from arriving at the Castle yesterday evening. The Royal Family took their usual airings to-day. The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening will include her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, her Serene Highness the Countess Erbach, her Serene High ness the Princess Amelia of Hohenlohe Schillingsfurst, Lord and Lady John Russell, Lady Augusta Bruce, Baroness de Speth, the Marquis of Breadalbane, Sir George Couper, the Commanding Officer of the Grena dier Guards, Colonel Spencer Stanhope; and the Com manding officer of the 24 Life Guards, Colonel M'Douall. The band of the 2d Life Guards attend during dinner. The Queen's private band attended yesterday evening in the Castle and performed the following pieces:— Overture, "Le Domino Noir" Auber. Finale, Ist act, " Marie" Herold. Selection " Iphigenie" Mendels3ohn. Labitzky. w " A a i t z h e a r lie" DKireiegGersenzbote Marsch, DRAINAGE (IRELAND). —A return yesterday pub lished by order of the House of Commons, on the motion of Colonel Dunne, M.P., shows that the quantity of land in Ireland originally estimated to be improved by drain age works amounts to 302,840 acres ; the quantity of land found to he benefited by the proposed works to o ca l n audd t ihtnehges the a i d further w in or t e k r s se , us utmpos on to o ebs ot t ir h a Ir e oaw 3 t e l ed s d t o ams f o D n n e e e y e c , e e mst necessary :6;02 1 a f , 341,567 acres ; the sums of money hitherto expended (2 s , t r6 , 6tl i h. n e - ; completion of the said works, from the Ist day of January, 1849, to 1,027,3531. THE IRISH POOR-LAW.—Since Parliament ad journed for the Easter vacition, two blue-books have been published in due eourse, both bearing on the subject of the Irish Poor-law. The first is the third report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appoint ed on the sth of February last, containing merely the minutes of the evidence hitherto taken, which extend over a space of nearly 200 pages. The second blue book contains the first report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to inquire into the operation of the Irish Poor-law, and the expediency of making any amendment in its enactments. This docu ment is, in like manner, confined to the minutes of evi dence, covering a space of nearly 300 pages. A Sow LIVING FOR FITE WEEKS WITHOUT FOOD. —A farmer at. Brickendon lately missed from his pig gery a fat sow, weighing 16 stone. About five weeks after. a servant, on entering a barn on the premises, heard a noise something between a moan and a grunt; she communicated her suspicions to her mistress that the noise came from the sow; her statement was disre garded at the time, but as she asserted that she heard similar sounds on entering the barn on the following day, it was determined to inquire into the cause. The floor of the barn was taken up, and underneath was disco vered a sow, worn to a skeleton. The barn is ele vated from the ground, being built upon transverse rows of brickwork, and the sow had crawled under the floor ing, till it got fixed between two rows of the brickwork, and was unable to turn. It must have remained in this painful position without food for five weeks. The poor animal, which weighed 16 stone when it was missed, only weighed 5 stone when it was discovered, having wasted no less than 11 stone. When released, it could not rise from the ground; but, after having some milk, it walked, and is now improving rapidly—in fact, getting quite fat again.—Hereford Mercury. [A D VERTISEMENT.] — Amputation again prevented by Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—Extract of a letter from Mr. S. Smith, 69, Capel• street, Dublin, dated March 13,1849. —Te Professor:Holloway : Dear Sir,—l think it only my duty to inform you ant the public, of the wonderful cure your Ointment and Pills have effected on me. For three years I had a dreadful wound in my leg, I tried all the Faculty in this city, but to no purpo4e ; they informed me "that nothing could save my life, but amputation. I was then advised by a cele brated doctor to use your remedies, which in a brief period have healed my leg, and made it as strong as it formerly was. Sold by all Vendors of Medicine, and . at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand, London. NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING.—Three offi cers of thaßoyal Engineers attempted, on Sunday af ternoon, between five and six o'clock, to row through Rochester-bridge against tide, and after being thwarted in two attempts they foolishly endeavoured the third time, and were upset. Two of them laid hold of the boat, the third caught one of the oars, and, assistance being promptly rendered, they escaped with only a duck ing, but at the imminentoftheir ' peril Amu:. I should have been included in the purchaFe above lerred to. Mr. CN.yto7.—Yon st:itecl ftf - ...t Mr. 1.1( ,, ;-; v4ut.d the 151. sL.Iro:;, 11. 10.. pail, at 24g. 5. , . S ' 'are• It apvars to me, from the doeual , •;:t. rut in,ltt -21/ 53. 3 , 1. How 0o 3 ,,, t1 ~ ccount for tbo dis erf puley?—Mr. Plows work-ti out in ciettili the 10'3!. shn.ro, ;he 40/. sharr:s, an.:l the 30/ shars. but not the is!. shares; there art , tNo stat,tu,nts with rtif.]renc'e to the 15/ ,hark, on the side on whi,h the 15/. shares 1:r! - : put; I took from the first line 211., anl 3/. 3 61 from the last line, thinlittg the two tog; ;her r,presental the value of the 15/. shares. Mr. Clayton—l assume you would not be ignorant of the market values of these shares on the Stock Exchange on the 27th October, 1816. Be so good as to state them, and the difference between that market price and the sum paid to Mr. Hudson for these shares?—The price of the 1001. shares in the London market on the 27th October, 1846, was 2371; Mr. Hudson in excess 2/. 15s. per share, or 415/. ss. The price of the 40/. shares was 61i, Mr. Hudson's price being 631, or 1/. 15s. per share in excess, or 5981. 103.; the 30/. shares 55/. per share, Mr. Hudson's price being 2/. in excess, or 1821.; the 15/. shares, the market price was 211 on that day, whilst Mr. Hudson received 23/. 103., being 2/. 10s. per share in excess, making, in the total, 7,185/. Mr. Love—Did the directors at the meeting of the board authorise the purchase of these shires of Mr. Hudson?—There is no minute to that effect. Mr. Love—Have they passed a resolution, authorising the purchase of any shares; and if so, when?-0n re ferring to the minute. book I fail no resolution to that effect. Mr. Love—Were the shares, amounting in total value to 81,1001., paid for on the 27th October, 1846, delivered on that day ?—(After being allowed an opportunity of referring to the books of the company) I believe they were, but cannot be positive. Mr. Love—Mr. Close, please deliver to this committee the certificates of registration fur the shares represented by the sum of 81,1001—I produce the whole of the cer tificates of shares sold by Mr. Hudson, but I urn unable to identify the individual shares represented by 81,100/. paid for on the 27th October, 1846. Mr. FLEWS examined. Mr. Clayton—Mr. Plews, were you a director of both companies, Great North of England, and York, New castle, and Berwick, in Oct. 1846?—Mr. Ptews—l was. Mr. Prance—Do you admit that you were requested by the York and Newcistle board to determine what was a fair price at which they should purchase certain Great North of England shares of Mr. Hudson, of which he had become possessed?—Mr. Oxley and myself, at the board meeting of Oct. 26, 1846, were requested to make a calculation as to the intrinsic value to the company of the different classes of Great North of England shares, but I was not aware the calculations were required to buy Mr. Hudson's shares; I was not aware he possessed any excepting two 100/. shares, which stood in the com pany's books in his name. Mr. Love—As one of the directors of the Great North of England and the York and Newcastle Companies, was there ever a proposition made to you to purchase of Mr. Hudson his shares? Mr. Pie 7f S-Never. Mr. Love—Did you ever know that the company had purchased shares of Mr. Hudson?—l never did. Mr. Clayton—lf Mr. Close, from your valuation, which has been put in, has assumed that you valued 151. shares, 11. 10s. paid, at 24/. 3s. 6d. per share, has ho or not made a mistake?—He has; decidedly so. Mr. Love—Would you have recommended the com pany to have purchased of any party, in October, 1846, the Great North of England 100/. shares at 2401. per share, the 40/. shares at 63/. ss. per share, the 301. shares at 57/. per share, and the 15/. shares at 231. 10s. per share?—lf the current market price at that time was, as I believe, 236 i. I should not have recommended the pur chase at 240; similarly, with regard to the 401. shares, I should not have recommended a purchase at 63.1, having sold my own shares to a friend at 62. The 301. shares I should not have recommended to be purchased at 57, the market price being 54k. With regard to the purchase of the 151. shares, I certainly should not have recommended their purchase at a higher price than my own calcula tion of 211 ss. 3d. per share, the calculation handed in on the 26 h October, and produced by Mr. Close. Mr. Clayton—Do you believe that any one can have paid, or any one received, so high a price as 231 for 151. shares, unless in mistake?—l think not. Mr. Prance—Do you believe the intrinsic value of 151. shares was 211. ss. 3d. in October, 1846?-1 do. Mr. Prance—Can you reconcile this with the fact that you yourself sold 100 shares, September 3, 1846, at 17ii premium ?—I can. I sold my shares because I wanted the money. Mr. Love—Would you not, for the same reason, have recommended the company to have waited until they could have purchased their shares on equally advantage ous terms ?—Certainly, bad I thought the shares would have fallen; but, having made calculations, which I did on the 26th October, and knowing that about 300,00 th must in a few days he in the hands of the bankers be longing to this company, the call having been made on that day, I would have recommended the purchase, even at rather higher than the market price. Mr. Shield—lf you could not have obtained Great North of England 1001., 401., and 301. shares i❑ the mar ket at the prices then current, % ould you in such case have recommended the purchase of these shares at the prices paid to Mr. Hudson ?—No ; I would have given 2401. for 100/. shares. I would have given 0 9 /. 10s. for 401. shares. I would have given 561. 103. for 301. shares. Mr. Shield—How much do the prices paid to Mr. Hudson exceed the estimate ?—I do not know of my own knowledge of any shares bought o f M r . H u d son . Mr. Shiell—ls it your opinion that a very large qul tity of shares could have been bought in the market without any material advance on the prices then current? I should think the market price would be raised. Mr. Prance— Do you think that the sale of any con siderable number of shares would no - , have equally had the effect of depressing the market value?—l think it would, unless there were large buyers in the market at the same time. Mr. Prance—Should not your answer to the previous question, " I should think the market would be raised," have, in propriety, a similar limitation, viz., unless large sellers happened to be a!so iu the market?—l suppose it would. Mr. Love—As director of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company, would you have thought it good policy to have appeared in the market as buyers of Great North of England shares, the moment you had power to do so, at prices, by your own calculation that would leave a very small remuneration to the company, when you had upwards of three years and a half allowed you to take advantage of the market?—The answer I gave to the former' question equally applies—that having 300,0001. in the hai,ds of the bankers, I should have bought the shares at the prices I beforo named, excepting the 151. shares, which I should not have bought beyond 211. 53. 3d per share. THURSDAY, MARCH 8. Mr. PLEW'S Examination resumed. Mr. Prance—Have you anything to correct, or any thing to add to your testimony ?—I sold the residue of my 15/. shares through Mr. Faulconer, whose contract I exhibit, at 21/. per share; and on the 29th October, 1846, I sold forty-five 151. shares belonging to Mr. John Church Boathouse, at 211 53. per share; on the 26th of November, 1846, Mr. Prance bought four 151. shards at 21/. 10s. per share. A charge has been made against me in the public prints of having given a bonus of 2,800 shares to Mr. Hudson to induce him to purchase the I Great North of England Railway. Mr. Hudson never 4keceived one share, nor any director of the York, New ca-stle, and Berwick Railway, excepting Mr. Oxley and myself, who were the managing directors of the Great North of England Railway, and who received twenty 151. shares each. At the time of the agreement for the par chase of the Great North of England Railway, Mr. Ilud son had no shares in the Great North of England Rail way registered in his name. Mr. Love—When did the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company resolve to buy up the Great North of England shares?—To the best of my recollection, I think it would be at the meeting of the directors held 26 ai Oc tober, 1846. Mr. Love—Of c3urse such an important resolution would be entered in the minutes in the company's books on that day?—l suppose it would. Mr. Love—Be so good as to look at the minute-book; do you find on that day, or any subsequent day, any minute of the board of directors directing or authorising the purchase of any of the shares of the Great North of England Company. (After looking through the minute book, M. Plews said) 7 -I do not. Mr. CLOSE re-cx,smined. Mr. Love—Where is the contract entered into between the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Company for the purchase of shares of the Great North of England Rail way Company of Mr. Hudson ? —The only contract I find in my possession is the paper I produced yesterday. Mr. Love—What paper is that?—The paper I now produce is the paper to which I refer:— " DR. YORK AND NEWCASTLE COMPANY. To 151 G.N.E. Old Shares at 240 £36,240 0 0 342 „ 401. „ at 63e 91 „ 30 „ at 57 5,187 0 0 _2,874 15 „ at 231 Stamps Commission Mr. Love—ln whose handwriting is 4 th l i 3 s l :a 6 p 7 er? 9 —ln my handwriting. Mr. Love—When did you show it to Mr. Hudson? — I am not aware that I ever showed it to Mr. Hudson; to the best of my belief I never did. Mr. Love—When did you lay it before the director;? —I never laid it before the directors. Mr. Love—Upon whose authority did you enter it as a purchase on behalf of the company?—On Mr. Hudson's authority, in accordance with the circum stances stated in my previous evidence. Mr. Love—You call this paper a contract, having no date to it, no name of seller; and you enter it the boas of the company without the authority of the directors? —I call it the calculation of the valuation of certain shares based on the paper sent to me by Mr. Plews. Mr. Love—Then you admit it is. no contra:..t?—l con sider it equally binding as a contract. Mr. Love—Why do you think so?—Because, under all circumstances, providing there had been no mistake, it appears to me a fair transaction. Mr. Love—Are you not aware that the prices of the shares in the paper produced are higher than those in the calculation made by Mr. Plews?—l am not aware that they are, except with respect to the error in the 151. shares. Mr. Love—Whose authority had you for the payment to Mr. Hudson of 131,867/. 9i. 3d. for the shares sold by him to the company?—The authority of the chair. man and of the two directors who signed the cheques, Robert Davies and James Richardson. Mr. Love—What mode of calculation did 37, - )u ador in charging the commission?—l think, to the bstof in knowledge, I charged the scale of the Londp brokers, Mr. Prance—Do fool , sition in tW VOl.l as Com. priny is such that you are at liberty to dispose of a sum etnountiog to 1,(.20J., upon your own re.iponsibi ?--I id,r that this is a very p• - ,culiar case, and that I t,in ony jus!,ifi , :d in cliargirg what I thiLlc is :err. Prance—l-, wbrit clues its p:eu l narity ecnsi,t, and echo gave you authority to c..ik , .titute soar..&t . jueige o' its propriet:, ?-1 consider its peculiarity t. consist is its being re, v,eittalion. I had co other autho rity than my ownjudgment. Mr. Prance—Do you conceive yourself authorised, being the servant of the company, to usurp the autho• rity of the executive?—Certainly not. Mr. Prance—Did you not practic7.lly do so in the instance in question?—Certainly; yes. Mr. Plance—ln ) our opinion had Mr. Hudson dis poed of his sinaes in the ordinary channel of business, would he not have had to pay a brokerage, instead of, as in this case, receiving one?—lf he had sold them through a broker he would have had to pay one. Mr. Prance—At what time did you communicate to Mr. Hudson that you had allowed him n'arly 1,0001 in the form of eommi,,sion ?—I am not aware that I ever communicate d the fact to Mr. Iludscn until after the meeting of the 20:h of February. your PO FRIDAY, DIARcu 9. Joint Examination of the Auditors, Messrs. TucB. BARSToW and HENRY IZICHARDSON. Mr. Prance—This committee is appoints d to investi• gate " the statement of Great North of England Pur chae Account," to 25th January, 18-19, to which your signatures are appended as having been audited a nd allowed, we presume this implies previous examination? —We did previously examine it. Mr. Pnince—The first entry in the statement on the Dr. side of the account is 832 100/. shares, averaging 2341. 14s. Old. per share, tofal 195,2711. 175. 3d. HeW did you examine the latter item ?—We took the book. Mr. Prance—To what book do you refer ?—To $ bo, , k entitled G. N. E. Purchase, now on the table. Mr.Prance—The first item states the average of the 1001. shares to be 234/. 14s. Old. per share, from what documents did you arrive at this conclusion ?—We did not calculate the average, but we saw that the sum total and the items composing it were correct, namelfs 195.2711. 173. 3d. Mr. Love—Did you compare the entries in the ledger with the contracts?—No, we did not. We compared them with the banker's books and the directors' cheques. Mr. Love—You took no means, then, to ascertain that the 832 1001. shares actually cost the company on the average 234/. 14s. 04 i.?--We took no means to ascertaia the average ; as previously stated in reply to Mr. Prance's question, we considered it only our duty to se: certain that the sum total was correct, and corresponded with the banker's book and the directors' cheques. Mr. Prance—Are you aware that your signature to the account rendered included the fact that the average price was 2341. 14s. Old., and which fact should be ill' eluded in your attestation to the printed statement pre' sented to the half-yearly meeting?—We were not aware that there was any intention of including the average price in the statement; there was a conversation, and Mr' Close said the average was so and so, but we ourselves went no farther than the books showed—that is, the bona fide cost of the shares. Mr. Love—Had any other sums been inserted in the, journal as due to individual s , an d p a id t o th em , wo uld you have considered the fact of the payment correspond' ing with the entry in the journal conclusive as to th e correctness of the account?--We do not understand th e question. Mr. Love—Have you examined the journal?—We and compared the journal with the cheques and th e banker's book. Mr. Love—What mode do you usually adopt to pra t/ that you have examined a book?—We first compot e , the items in book with :th e c h eques an d the banker book, cast the accounts, and then sign it. Mr. Love—Have you so examined the book marked Journal No. I?—We have examined it, but we ha L le a omitted to sign it, b u t we h ave s i gne d t h e resu l t i n the ledger._ • Mr. LoNe—Then you would not undertake to say 0 3/ all the itvrns iu the journal are correct?—We belief ° they are correct. We compared them with the cheque,t, Mr. Love—What m o d e did you a d opt to aseertsoi that the purchases entered in the journal of the Great North of England shares were correct?—The cheques° the directors. Mr. Love—Did you not compare the purchases will the contracts?—No. We thought that the business 0 the directors. Mr. Love—Have you assumed the fact of payment bi the directors as evidence of correctness?—Yis. Mr. Love—ln the entry of shares bought of Georg ; Baker an d S OD , amount i ng to 19,8051. 4s. 4d., will% vouchers did yo u compare wit h t h at account ?—N ona the directors' cheques ; we never looked at the broker, contracts at all; we th oug h t t h at the duty of the °P, rectors. Mr. Love—Then, in fact, you did not examine or co 0 3; pare any one of the contracts with the entries in tha journal for the purchase of the Great North of Engla o shares, amounting to 747,7851. 14s. ld ?—We did not. • Mr. Shield—Then in f ac t did you limit yolk. exal t, nation of the Great North of England Purchase Aecol l ° to the verification of the fact that the directors had a c ; tually paid the sums of money they professed to h 5 paid on account of these shares?—Yes, we did. hal f yearly Love—Wi t hi n w h at per i od, b efore the last ha yearly meeting, did th e di rectors furn i s h you w i t h t"ke statement of the Great North of England Purchase A u v e count for examination?--W e saw the accounts for t h e first time on the 6 h o f F e b ruary, and audited theo3:°o- that day, as well as thin revenue and construct° accounts. Mr. Love—You are aware that ycu are appointed nu cli° tors by the ge nera l b o d y of the proprietors, for the C 5' i : mination of accounts rendered to you by the directiq that the proprietor s mi g ht h ave some secur i ty for the,..l; correctness?—.Yes, and we executed our d u ty to th e of our ability. Mr. Prance—Do you consider it consistent with 1 . 11 : duty delegated to you by the general body of propel ~s tors, that you sho u ld con fi ne your ver ifi cat i on to 0 " 0 , fact, whereas th e d ocument to w hi c h your signalll. was attached in c l u d e d a l arge var i ety o f facts ,slllc o 3 are actually incl u d e d i n your attestat i on?—We inquired into every fact whi c h we cons i dered it our duty to 1" quire into. Mr. Prance—You stated that you audited and e% fi e l mined, in one day, th e G reat N ort h of England 1111"; chase Ace punt, as well as the construction and revel accoants. If so s h ort a t i me was allowed to you, of you not concei ve i t was a duty you owed to yourself % to refuse to attest the accounts unless sufficient tip and means were allowed you for their investigation? We believed we fully and fairly examined the account; Mr. Love—Your name appears, by the printed Stil t n went, to be app en d e d to t h e G r e at North of Englll"is Purchase A c c oun t. Did you s i gn any document of will% this professes t o b e a copy , or wh i ch may be suppose d be a copy?—We do no; know that we signed any taboi form similar to th e p r i nte d account; but we exarnitleo and signed, in the l e d ger now b e f ore us, every i tem fr° which this tabular statement is constructed. of Mr. Clayton—Where did you examine the itero, o broker's commission, a n d f rom w h ence are t h e particular items forming that charge collected?—We exam i n ed ,d at I,a4e 10 in the ledger, and we coll e ct e d th e partial' items from the journal. Mr. Lave—Are there, in the books themselves, $ l3l / marks of yours to feel assured that you arrived at the conclusion at the time you audited the accounts ?—Car t : tainly, our initial s are a ffi xe d to the commission accoo n page 16, ledger. Mr. Love—Are you aware that the sum of 171. r d f , included in th e comm i ss i on account to which you rel e o " and which you state you have examined, is not the oi l that was paid to Baker and San for brokerage, 113 „ fl o being the w h o l e sum a ll eged to b e paid to them in t" ledger? —We are not aware that it is not the sum. Mr. Love—Be so good as to look at the eighteen et /P n i f tracts now exhibited t o y ou, and see what amount " brokerage is charged therein.-741. 9s. sd. Mr. Love—flow can that agree with the entry made; p. 16, ledger, which y ou say you examined?—We C11'; not explain, as we never before saw the contracts 00 , 0 put into our hand s . W e b e li eve Mr. Close will be able explain. Ou the succeeding day the auditors handed to 1 1 committee the followi ng statement, d rawn up an d s ig°e by themselves, whi c h th ey requeste d t h e comm i ttee to 4p pond to their evidence:— 0 4 We submit that we have fully and fairly seem' . 0 our duty as auditors,' having compared every entry the journal of payments and receipts with the banker o p ass book and vouchers, and afterwards gone thro9g o the ledger, seeing that every item was entered under 1 0 proper head; that we have cast up all Vie sums, and sf e d that they corn sponded, and particularly in thejoirna' li - i the Great North of England Purchase, as is evidenced," the payments being regularly ticked; having been CO pared with the directors' cheques and banker's pass hti with which they actually agree, and which we consit':, suffiiient vouchers for those accounts. We did not of amine the contrzets of sale of the brokers, consider l 3 them entirely within the province and jurisdiction of 1 ,..u 4 directors, and we submit that the accounts, as audited us, contain a true and just exposition of th e pecuoill" affairs of the company. , ' Mr. CLOSE'S Re-examination continued. Mr. Prance—You stated, in your first day's exaro l ° - e$ tion, that you were ordered by Mr. Hud son t o dedu from the price charged for Great North of Eagit t share , , the profit he had mad e b y th e transaction. Wl'- means had you of knowing what profit he had made? 0 I understood Mr. Hud s o n th at t h e prof i t was betviee 7,0001. and 8,000/. , - Mr. Clayton—Yo u h ave state d that you fixed the price of Mr. Hudso n ' s 1 5 1 . s h ares purc h ased b y the e n , pany at 23!. 10s. p er s h are , on t h e assumpt i on that a Plews had valued those shares at 24/. 3s. 6d. per sha r ;;; If you had known that Mr. Plews 's valuation gil o 21/. ss. 33 per share, what sum, acting on Mr. Hudsella instructions to k ee p b e l ow M r . Pl ew s valuation, 1.0 i „ I .r you have fixed the price of the 151 s h ares so ld by Si; Hudson to the company?—My opi n i on i s t h at the Pr '- would have been put down at 211. per share. e Mr. Clayton—What, theref ore , i s t h e excess o f Pr ic r , beyond 211. per share charged to the company for 3 ' Hudson's 151. shares, and what is the aggregate a raoel n t of such exees,?—The excess of p r i ce i s 2/. 10s. p er share, and aggregate amount of excess, 7,185/. Mr. Clayton—Was the sum of 2,874/. returned b tr y Mr. Hudson to the company on the 19th of FebrO ri lest as part of that excess?—yes. " Mr. Clayton—You ha ve s t a t e d i n answer to a questing,,,; put by Mr. P rance , th at if M r . H u d son h a d so ld ~, share .s in the ordi nary way , h e mus t h ave pa id broke, age; if the company had purchased the shares inj, ordinary way, must they not have paid brokerage?- - -i and it was on this consideration that I put down t o brokerage charged and included in the director's cheirl paid to Mr. Hudson. re' Mr. Love—Y,at state that the sum of 2,8741. wa 3 , 01 ,, paid by M r . H u dson to the company on the 19th , 0 ruary, as part of the excess charged on the 15/. 01 1 ;i sold by him ; why was not the whole sum of 711