The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-01 00:00:00

RAILWAY MEETINGS.

EAST ANOLIAN RAILWAY COMPANY.

---•
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the share-
holden wu bold oa Saturday last, at the London Tavern,
Bishopigate-atrut ; M. U. Bacca, chairman of the board,
in the chair.

The report stated that the directors had concluded an
agreement with the Great Northern Company, and on the
10th of July the Great Northern commenced working
the traffic over the East Anglian lines in pursuance
of that agreement. The working Mock, machinery, &c.,
have been appraised by Mr. Joseph Cubist, C. 111., no
1 UMW of the Great lierthern and by Mr. J. 8. Va-
twice 1 Mabee, C.E., on When of the Zest lien, Mr. Ore-
-1 gap, C.E., having buss sinieted These n-
ite:ue to impost Os lbw. Mika, end to sole,
port thine% Ai& lo hone as • at he
lessinatien of the mesh shin Se ramp an to is
'Mend te this it he es se (*oaths that they
en in at peneet. &hes Ossedis Ost=iarries ,
by every sum in theft power atoliesped re dew
suanicaties et historic ho emu psiOM se
intedia of * 'meat elf Metethat say's isiViale ,
asselt hes is anansmist with the Greet
The span of the "Towne' Line" of the threat
Northa m. which is to take place next ems, dg
afford • new and important vent for our UM& As
the Bre Aostian have parliamentary power to vas OM al
SWIM Consties line from Wisbeach to Bt. Ives, then
is se huh that that company will be compelled to 11111-
Ems die obstruction which they have interposed, and which
bas towed great inconvenience to the public. The amount
,seeped from the 30th June, 18.50, to the 9th of July,
1211, was 19,3441., and the same amount was paid,
of which 11,6331. was for expenses of arbitration, law costs,
esposse of soinsaittec of creditors and of the receiver,
boat tint. for the creditors in the shape of interest
Me and mortgagees. The new act, which
allaa the royal assent on the 21th July, authorises
the isinthe of interest on the new 7 per cent. pre-
tenses lbws sad a lisp proportion of the issued
shares lases ben surrered far he purpose of
being eisvened lib 6 per Net. shine, on the condi-
tion that the isediesspos to the gossiped arrange-
ment. The Hoerr of uwi baying othohl the clause
lzeti w hieh replied • piths of the bosh to assist of the
holdalls( tie sew ini whin woo mho &proviso in
the esteetrot pespeed the essuilloe efenditon, that
agranalit IMMO MIL tis there/Mt mmlimeMry to apply
to the endlleis he Ibir assent to a new Am% which is now
in seem of befog sired. Notwithstaadbos the dititioltna
the emir y lee int to contend with during the last two
liabilities have not been incensed, further
=the amount spent in law, which new swells the
amount of overdue interest; the total amount of bond and
simple contract debts being under 308,0001., to which is to
be added arrears of interest, about 22,0001. • it is quite evi-
dent that if the creditors had unanimously agreed to the
proposals made by the board there would not now have
been more than half a year's ink rest in arrear. The
line which connects the East Anglian with the Great
Northern at Huntingdon has been completed, at an out-
lay of less than one-third of the estimated cost of that
line as originally planned, and that the present juaction is
much mac convenient and satisfactory to the public
'rho total cost of working, maintaining, and maaaging
the railways, from Ira July, 1850, to 9th July,
1851, has been only 61. lbs. 3d. per mile per week.
The receipts from the Ist January to the 9th July
amounted to 17,5661. 15s. 10Id. The payments were for
repairs of bridges, 311. 6s. 6d. ; repairs of permanent way,
2,1191.45. 10d. • repairs of stations, 1031. • locomotive de-
portment, 1,91141. 101. 4d. ; waste, 1,541. ; repairs and
alterations of carriages, waggons, and horse boxes,
MK In J miscellaneous charges, 5,4621. 13s. 3d. There
tom •• bikini of 5,3661. 17s. lid. The report of the audi-
=Er.. W. Lechmere and T. Kittrick) states that they
the bills of the several solicitors, which have been
,swami to Mr. Das, and approved by him, to be mast el-
usive in charge, and that they certify the accounts entirely
kompeetive of the amounts credited to the several solicitors
Is respect of their charges. They hare looked into the
agreement under which it is proposed that the lines should
be worked by the Great Northern, and, without offering
any opinion upon the validity thereof, they consider such
agreement open to much objection and to much litigation
hereafter, from the apparent conflicting nature of many of
its provisions, and from its extreme verbosity. They state
that they arc happy to hear that the claims of the company
against the Eastern Counties Company are in course of a
speedy settlement.
The CHAIRMAN said that, owing to the delay in re-

ceiving the auditors' report' see the accounts, the
accounts of the solicitors had been entered provisionally,
and the directors bad not had time to enter into
an examination and discussion of the different
items. He would strongly recommend that these
accounts should either be sent back to the au-
ditors, with a request that they would make
their report to the hoard, and that the directors
eiseeiff dim be left to make such arrangements with
the troopers as might appear best, or that eine other
coarse Medd be adopted with a view to a settlement el the
weighty rioters embracing so long a period. With mord
to the remerite of the auditors on the agreement between
that mg the Great Northern Company he must
observe die &meters considered that they best fulfilled
their duty to the shereholders bl submitting that agreement
to some of the MOM eminent men as the bar, and, after
receiving their nmemmee that it was perfectly valid, at
once affixing to it the semosa seal of the company. With
respect to the statement et die auditors that the claims of
this company against the Eastern Counties Company were
in a course of speedy settlement, he must remark that be
did not know whence the auditors obtained their informa-
tion ; it was certainly not from the board or from himself.
Ile hoped that in the course of time those claims would be
settled in an amicable manner ; but it was his daty to
inform the meeting that no progress towards settlement had
yet been made. (Hear, boar.) He would now my • few
words with regard to the general position of thr:igamiantL
Ile had great satisfaction in stating that as
arrangement fur the conversion of debts into a prefer-
ential stock, and of the shares already issued at 7 per eat.
into • 5 per cent. stock, there was every reason to bops that
that arraggement would be carried out. At present
he was unable to say more. He thought the feet
stated in the report that the law proceedings under-
taken by a committee of creditors had actually involved a
cost of 11,6001. in cash, besides their own law expenses,
ought to manner every me that to Plat is sea • course
moil beset salamis to el The peemmeat way,
the pilot mil the buildings bed hew malewasedl is excel-
lent order. They had esti le leek at the lommetive ac-
me& to see that the heavy ypeedle traffic of the ;has—tor it
we in der sacrilege of seek whs sad sheik diet • large
poke eta, Om& comielell—lembei es mew ma-
de* Lei lbs. of Wm per ~Mb tbe
allmergilapseesser teas
times aSiennicr nit He
woadhall me= leplaiThrs= emir amimesption hsemotivOlf
mho meli peril; hem (Illear.) To
him It appeased hipsedllelees es desmk list everythiag mast
have been is seed eonditiem If the maid
with its credits. In the sanerwould "tit=
relieved from debt, and the whole astmell of piefereadel
Mock would be about 330,0001. bearing ive_Jersent. At
present the total amount of liabilities was MAIL ; and,
as in 1849, they apprehended that sets ant
escape for less then 1114,0001., he t die slow
holders would silk that, in the
through which they bed passed, the diseston hen=
anther Weiler walened. He was sorry tow that dark* She
lest year the spisdlsral districts generally bad bus la •
feet deptemed Men. This year the harvest I. Na i& vas
we of post ibulliere, and be thought it wield at all
events Wiwi a imp amount of traffic to be carried over
their Dam Tit sqprotted that he was obliged to advert to
dreamless= connected with himself. During the last
fest yam the directors had received no remuneration
whatever; they had given their dap and nights te
the service of the company without receiving any reward.
He did not think that state of things was consistent
either with then (the directors') position, or with that of
the company ; and he thought it right that,! before the reset,
ing adjourned, the subject should be taken into eatables-
Sou. Before sitting down he wished to observe, that after
that day, the secretary would be the only officer of ths com-
pany, all the remaking staff having been transferred to the
Great Northern Company. If, therefore, there should be
occasional delay in replying to communications, he hoped
that fact would be taken into account. He oonaladed by
moving the adoption of the report.
Mr. SIMPSON thought the auditors would sot have
spoken of the agreement in the terms they had done with-
out due consideration. The agreement was probably a

good ease for the Great Northern Company, bliitisat was
not a consideration which ought to weigh with themselves.
(Hear, hear.) •
The CHAIRMAN had been informed by an eminent
lawyer at the bar that there was no agreement which
was not open to litigation. He believed it would be
found that the agreement in question was in harmony with
the very spirit of railway legislation. It did not prevent
them from allowing any other railway company to use their
line.

In reply to a question from Mr. &Knox,
The CHAIRMAN said it was specially provided in the
agreement that if there was any deficiency of the 15,0001.
in the earnings, that deficiency should not be made a charge
on subsequent years.
Mr. BROADBENT, an Eastern Counties director, said
he bad onneenad with several let/al gentlemen on the sub-
ject, all of whom concurred in thinking that the agreement
was not good, end could not possibly stand. If they
as . ,Ini to awry it out, they would, he believed, soon
find tisdyee in Chancery He would move that the
agreement should be peintoil.asd circulated amongst the
shareholders, and the relatbil edJeozned•
Ms. LETTRICK, an seiktrw said the agreement wee
not consistent with itself. While one clause provided that
there should be no deduction from the 15,0001., another
eostaised a contrary provides, and thus one part of the
agreement overruled the other.
Mr. LBCHMERE, an auditor, believed the 16,0001. a
year would never come into their pockets without litigation.
Mr. BATES maintained that the ogreenesst was good in
law, and likely to rove advantageous to both companies.
In repl to
The C said, the
by kw the bred-year
at
about kaki. Et was reduced by the chesminsto that
1 every claim bri is be met out of revenue . • tbay bed wetter 1
1 mum ef pals.. Aber rederissi their deli era Me la-
tense an tbe-7 pie esat sleek they eon liable Ilse 7111,0101.
i These was a MOW. , ea e pee east reek t• die mares of
, MM. ea 7 per see& eillekell de riereat of 80,0004 sad
this asae iris eM 111. esi 181. Awe&
After row farther searreatlea, the report was
1
On the modes d Xi. RCIIIIININ seess by Mr. Woos.
n-
OM', it was resolved that the dinidsni and the auditors
. should meet again to eassider the solidtoes bills (referred

to in the report). and to endeavour to agree to a settlement,
their decision to be so far final.
It was further resolved that the old 251. and 181. shares
paid up should be converted into consolidated stock ; and
that 1,0001. should be paid to the directors for their past
services.
The meeting terminated with the usual vote of thanks.