The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-03 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 3, 1851.

THAMES.

EXA971,10 ON TIM ition..l4r. Wood, pawnbroker, of
Ratelitfe.highway, appeared to an information, charging
hint with taking more than his legal interest.
Charlotte Backhouse stated that she called upon Mr.
Woad a few days since, to release a gold ring which had
been pawned for 4%. last February. She tendered him :ii.,
and received back 2d., being three farthings Into than he
ought to have giren.
Mr. Wood admitted that he had made an overcharge, hut
his shop being dark, and a good deal of but.ineao being done
at the time, he thought the twelve months had expired.
Had his attention been drawn to the fact, he would
have remedied the mistake. .

Mr.s Ingham—Don't tell me of your attention being
drawn to the fact. It was your duty to we to
it. The poorer people do not know, and cannot
calculate, even if they did know, the enact legal
amount of interest to which pawnbrokers are entitled. If
you will undertake the basin,. of a pawnbroker you must
undertake its duties and responsibilities, and I am antis-
tied that there was no mhtake in the ease.
Mr. Word—l court yen, sir, there was.
Mr. Ingham having asked whether there had been any
prtrious complaint against the defendant, and firing an-
swered in the negative, said that, had the fart been other-
wise, he would have tined him the full penalty. of LW. It
arms 44 the utnuct importance that the humbler dames
should and protection in matters of this kind. As it was,
the dirrndiait must par a line of 21. and coats.
The lino was instantly paid.

SHREWSBURY AND
RAILWAY.

MEETING OF SIIARICHOLDERS AT BIRMINGHAM.
A m. ei og of the shale holders in this undertaking,
convened by a circular signed by a dozen of the largest
shareholders resident in Birmingham, was held at the,
Union Inn, in that town, on Saturday, "to conaider the
course it is desirable to take for the interests of the share-
holder. at the next general meeting, which has been pre-
cipitately railed for the 12th of March," The attendance
of shareholders was large. Mr. J. WEBSTER was called to
the their.
Mr. CHESSHIRE moved the following resolution:
" That this meeting being dissatisfied with the present po-
sition and management of the company, deem it essential
that at the neat tecneral meeting a committee of share-
holders uncsmneeted with the direction should be appointed
to Inquire into the nature and validity of the agreements
made by the directors, and generally into the present
poei-
lion of the company, and with power to reopen negotiations ,
with the London and North-Western Railway Company.
and to report at an adjourned meeting what stew
are in their opinion necessary to he taken for
the preservation of the property of the shareholders."
After some introductory remarks, he went on to say, with
Teference to this motion, that a number of the largest
shareholders in Birmingham hail consulted together, and
that they felt in every way dissatisfied with the manner in
which the property was managed. They hail mot met for
the sole purpose of czars:aim an opinion on the subject of
an alliance with the London and North Western Company,
but to devise means for protecting their property ; and in
this spirit, the object of this meeting wash) obtain the sanc-
tion of the shareholders for taking the necessary steps to
obtain the appointment of a committee at the ensuing hair-
y, arty meetin whom, business should he to investigate the
differences ,
which existed with the London and North
Western Company. and to see whether an end could not be
pot to the frightful and minion, competition that was
going on. (Hear, bear.) In his opinion, the Great Western
alliance would be minus., whilst on the other band an
alliance with the London and North Western Company
would prnmotetheinterestnof the Shrewsbury and Birming-
ham Company. (Applause.) All that was sought by thin meet-
ing was to ulna in the appointment cif a committee, in order that
all differences, and causes of differences, might be inquired
into; fir his own part, and it was the same with other., he
had a large stake in the concern, and he was anxious that
it should ito placed in such a position that something might
be nulisett.
Mr. KNOX said that he should pleasurcably hare se-
conded the resolution, but fur the first paragraph iu it. lie
tilt satisfies.' that the entire policy of the csompany could be
as fully justified that he thought there was scarcely • mem-
ber of the board who would tut approve of Mr. Cheshire's
motion.
Mr. J. LLOYD said that the position in which the con-
cern at present stood was chiefly lining to the aggressive
policy of the London and North Western Company. All ,
the 7, al decisiona had been in favour of the Shrewsbury
and Birmingham Company ; he thought that they had a
fair right to compete for the Liverpool traffic; at the same
time he objected to the present motion because it tied up
the proposes' committee to negotiations with the Lorh em
and North Western Company, and he thought it injudicious
to pledge it too a particular course of action.
Mr. (MACH, a director, said that he had endea-
voured to understand the true policy of the company. and
haling dune that he should have been glad could he hose
told them that the course which hail been pursued was the
right and proper one. (Hear.) Instead of that, however,
be now told the shareholders emphatically that in his
opinion the entire management of affairs was wrong ; it
VOA such • one as was likely to fritter away the property,
and unless the shareholders took it into their hands at once,
there would, at no distant period, be eery little left.
(Hear.) It was no use going into old questions—that
would be fully ; the question for consideration wee as
to the future. Here was a line of railway DI miles long;
of that the last 101 had only been partly made by this com-
pany: the grow expenditure on this was 1,200,000 i., or
something like 48,000/. a mile ; now, leaving out of consi-
deration the subscription to the Stour Valley railway to
pay 5 per cent. on this outlay, they must take 2,400/. per
mile clear profit. (lkar, hear.) It must be remembered,
too, that • portion of this expenditure was raised by means
of preference shares, the holders, of which would of course
take interest beg arc the original shareholders could get a
farthing. Mr. Grath next explained, with reference to cer-
tain allegations, that his interests were so identified with
the London and North Western Company that he was
of • consequence immoral to the Great Western, and
ter an alliance therewith by this comjmny, showing that
these rumours were the reverse of the truth ; he condemned
the alliance with the Shrewsbury and Chester company,
which had, he said, been entered into without the consent
of the shareholders, and had resulted in a successful move
oa the part of the Board of Direction in that undertaking.
to put an end to the warfare in which the Shrewsbury and
Birmingham Company was engaged. lie condemned the
ageressire policy of this company. admitting that Mr.
Knox, the secretary, was a eh seer general, but meat
generalship would not do in railway matters, (Hea-,
bear.) Instead of competing with the London
' and North Western Company at reduced fares, they
would have gained as much for passenger traffic at full
Gm, and have been on friendly terms with the London
and North Western Company. instead of at enmity.
He had the fullest conviction that it was the inten-
tion that the negotiations with the London and North
Western Company should be broken off, although be be-
ttered that had those negotiations been carried on in •
spirit of confidence, such an arrangement would ulti-
mately have been come to with the London and North
Western Company as would have restored this property to'
item full value. (Applause.) Mr. Leach entered at great
length into a detailed statement of all matters eon
netted with the management of this line. He com-
plained that though • director, information was sys-
tematically withheld from him; that the secretary per-
sisted in his refusal to furnish him with a copy of the
agreement with the Great Western Company, although as
a director he had a right to go to Wolverhampton and take
a copy of it from the books at an, rinse, and Mr. Knox had
at that moment a transcript in his pocket, but refused to
give it him (Mr. (leach) without the consent of the board :
he complained also of • gross breach of faith on the part of
the director, fur having entered into this binding agreement
as far as they could legally do so without the consent of the
shareholders; and he concluded by declaring that he woe
convinced. after the fullest consideration, that the arks
chance of the shareholders obtaining • fair return IR thi
capital invested was by an entire change in the
meet. and h an agreement of some kind with di=
and North Western Company.
A long discussion ensued, in which Mews. Chamblee,
Holton, Lloyd. and others took part.
Mr. KNOX replied to Mr. °each at some length. Ilia
denied that any secret had been made of the n•
with the Great Weeters CmeNtre at the time that wis

the London and North Western wu going on. The heads
of the agreement had been communicated to Capt. Builds,
but the secret of the differences lay with the Liverpool
traffic. If the shareholders were willing to give up this
they could have an arrangement with thtiLondon and North
Western Company any day. As for the agreement, there
could be no doubt it was a valid agreement, but the direc-
tors had not exceeded the it powers in making it ; and, after
all, it was a traffic agreement only.
Mr. GEACII rejoined that if, as there could be no doubt,
this agreement put a stop to negotiations with the London
and North Western Company, it was a fatal arrangement
for this company. Ile insisted, too, that it had been en-
tered into with indecent haste, whereas it ought not to have
been touched at all until every chance of an understend-
ing with the London and North Western Company had
been exhausted. . _ _

An amendment was moved by Mr. LLOYD, but ulti-
mately the resolution was all but unanimously carried; as
was also the following:
" That the shafthoiders, generally, be invited to co-
operate wish this meeting, land that the shareholders who
signed the regob.ition calling this meeting be request. d to
act sa a committee to obtain proxies fur the general meet-
Ai may be mentioned that in the course of the meeting
several of the speakers strongly censured the London and
North Western Company for neglecting to open the Stour
Volley line.