The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-21 00:00:00

RAILWAY MEETINGS.

BRISTOL AND EXETER.
A meeting of shareholders in the above railway was held
en Tuesday, at the Comae:lid Rooms, Bristol. Mthunitt
C l3-q.. ii the chair.
TheCHAIRMAN stated that this wetness had been wa-
vered to receive the r. port of the eub.conneittee appointed
at a meeting of shareholders in this company, hill on the
10th inst., ter the purpose of investigstieg the management
of the line, and lairs suet messurn thereupon as they
should deem adviaable. That sub oommittee bad mat sedu-
. lowly and anxiously proceeded to discharge the duties el--
volved upon in and toe result was, its determination to
emonamend to shit meeting to address • letter oontainieg
the views and opinions of the sithcommittee, which he (' he
Chairman) believed to be the views and opini. us of two
1 shareholder penally upon several matters in cliff rent de-
partments of the line, and upon the minion ot the ininsios
of
new blood into the dim:ou. It would be unnecessary lot
him to comment on the did topics mentioned in that
letter. Re should merely call upon the secretary to nth
the letter, and it would then be for the meeting to take
snob course as it should deem most expedient.
Mr. HENRY BRIT TAN then read this following letter:
" To the Directors of the Bristol and Exeter Raiiway.
" Goetlesten,—Although extremely reluctant, as well
from • feeling of respect towards a body of gentlemen into
whim hands we, in common with our brother shareholders,
have easninitted • most important and onerous trust, es from
a regard to our own interests, to do any act which might in
dicate, in the slightest degree, • want of confidence in you
as directors of our company, yet, surveying the pest history,
considerieg the present position, the aspect and In ming ot 1
the times upon,. and the future prospects of, railway
petty, and having had, at this important crisis in the affairs
of our company, Oar attention called to various statements
prejudigimly affectiug the management of our reliever, we
deem it • duty, no less to you than to ou sel,. e, ts call your
attention to the subject matter of these statedienta, in order
that, if the evils compleined of really do exist, they man be
removed, or, if they do not ilia', that the statements in
question may be refuted; and, in either way, any canoe of
aietrust or complaint on the put of the slants lden may
be obviated, toe hands of our director' strengthened, and
the interests of our undertaking advanced. With these'
views and feelings, therefore, we take leave to solicit your
attention to the tullowiag matters : —The first is one which
has, for some time past, caused general shesatielanion, not
only among the shareholders, but to the public at large in
the localities noon end connected with our line. We allude
to the rebate et • pertain per onstage on the summit of
tonnage carried on the railway—a sycein the effect of which
most neatly is te facilitate the creation or perpetuate the
existence of • monopoly, not only to the prejudice of the
traders and public at 'ergo in the western district, but, both
dinitly and in its mon remote einstqlences, to the loos
of our own proprietor; and, as it is well known that
the monopoly so encouraged happens o be In fevour ot
two gentlemen having seats in the diretctory, the system
in question not only militates against the pecuniary in-
terests of the proprietors, hut create, • feeling of dis-
trust on their part, as it is tainted with the far
from desirable appearance that parties having theta at the
board have an undue preponderance of influence in the
executive to their own advantage. We think that, upon
I commercial principles, the demand in the western
district
will always regulate the traffic on our lice, and that,
whether each demand be supplied by one, two, three, or
more persons or firma, the amount of carriage t r tett& on
Our railway will be the same, and that, therefore, no rebate
should be made which can opera*e to the benefit of any
one or two individuals to the prejudice of others. The next
subject to which we would call your attention is that of tie
very heavy engineering expenses on our line. We cannot
hut think that the present staff is too numerous, and that the
salaries paid are too large under tee circumstances. A eatery
of oue half the amount now paid would, we cone lee, be
amply !efficient for our head engineer, who, instead of re-
siding in London, should reside upon, and give his whol- time 1,
and attention to our line, in which case, even it nut at pn-
seat, some of the subordinates might well be dispensed with.
The solicitors' bills is another matter which has been •
frequent object of complaint. We do urge upon you that no
further payment to this account be made until the bills
already delivered have undergone a proper scrutiny, and we
suggest that for the future an arrangemeet, similar to that
made by other companies, even some much larger than our
own, be made with the solicitors, namely, a payment by
salary. Akin to the solicitors are the surveyors bills, re-
'venom which we would urge a similar request, and with
whom we would suggest • similar arrangement for the fu-
ture. We now come to • subject upon which we rewash
with great deference, admitting that it tea point which may,
perhaps, be considered as not rightly within our province.
We allude to the tact that in the distribution of the laboun
of the board, according to its own orrangi mint
between its members, a committee has been formed
bearing the name of the " finance committee," be-
fore which committee we understand many important exe-
cutive matters first come, and are then by that committee
reported upon to the general bond ; coming before that
board stamped with the authority, and supported by the
influence, of that committee, an authority and influence
1 which we know in practice elation always ensure the car
eying out of what such • committee recommends. We are
1 of opinion that no ouch duties should be devolved upon, or
1 powers given to, such a committee ; but that the board, as
named by the sharehol. m, should take all ma:ters of
,finance and general manspment into its own hands • ih
et
no sub-committee should originate any matter, out thould
be confined to the ordinary duties of such a c imMittee—that
is, merely to matters of inquiry, or to the carrying out of
meatuses devised by, and the directions, of the general
board. Another matter which we have heard frequei tly
cauvassed, and not unfrequen ly condemned, is the esteblsh
meet of the coke wens cud workshops of our company at
Bridgwater. With nspect to the former, we thaws we in-
cline to think the directors have formed • sound judgment
—that Bridgwater may be the most convenient, as well as
economical, position for our coking establishment; but we
are at a loss to conceive why our work-hope, melted
of being established in the metropolis of the West,
where labo=ur and materials, booth in abundance and
goodness of quality are to be found, should have been nth-
Wished in • comparatively small erovintipal town. whet-,
the must be cal necessity both a paucity of wo.kmen and
• dearth of materials as compare t with tither Bristol or
Exeter. In addition to this, we understand that Bridgwater
is also made the depot of our stores, and that some por.iou
of those stores are purchased in that town. This we conceive
to be highly improper ; u Bristol, the principal port ot im-
port in tom part ot the kindom. mutt be a bete r market
for the purthave of our stores; and the depot being seta
blisbsdthare, the stores would be, as they and the worathops
ought to be, under the immediate supervision and coatrel
of the board, and secrt tart' of the company. The lest, and
although the last—perhaps the molt important sub.*: to
which we wool i toren is the opinion we entertain in conse
mon with a large body of our co-proprietors, that the re
should re an entertains and substantial change in the
direct rate of our c .miney. We think it unneeneary at
present to state the 'anew grounds upon which we form this
opinion, or to adducts all the arguments which we might
bring forward to prove the expediency of such a change.
We would simply refer to the provisions which legielative
wisdom has made in all railway acts for a change from time
to time in railway directorates, and to the late precedent of
the Great Western Railway in this respect, by balloting out
tour of its director in order that lour others might be sup-
plied by the shareholders, and add that we believe the peat-
est interests in this railway are now held in Bristol and tne
western district, and that it is enentialy a western district
railwa • and that as its beed.office, its board room, is in
Bristol 'it is vitally important that a large proportion ot its
directors should be Bristol and Exeter men, particularly the
former; living on the spot, ready to do the executive part of
the duties devolve d upon a 'die. ctorate at all times and at all
hours of the day, securing punctual and ready attention to
.he butincsa of the company at little expense, and avoiding
the d Mho:ties which necessarily arise from • non-retident
directory.
Teeth are the principal and
upon which we deem it
necessary to address you_,_ and to which we invite your most
sttious °onside/snow We do w t approach you in either •
(odious or a hostile spiel:—our interests as shareholders in
this line are identical with your own. As men of business
1 we address you no men of business, upon the subject and for
the advantage of oar common property. There are many
coesiderattons known to you which may avidity Or toia.ly
alter the opinions which we entertain in r !lotion to toe
management of this our property. It you are wrong, we may
tours- of action on your pen. If we are wrong, you may
by nor euggestions induce a different wad more ben. fi.iel
convince us of our erroneous views, and tus right ; at.d
enable us to do that which you cannot so well do—satisfy
others that their oujectioas to and complaints against your
management are groundless. In either way the minds
pour thermic/den would be set at rest, public confidence re-
of
stored, the character a. d efficiency of your directorate fur-
ther establithed and increased, and the proeperity of our
company promoted.
ti We have, therefore, 'sanest laid our opinions and de-
.ires before you, to beg the favour of year appointing a
time to meet • deputation from this committee, to receive
your reply to, and, if neceseary, confer and discuss with you
on those opinions and desires.
" On benalt of the meeting, I have, gentlemen, the ho-
nour to be, your most obedient servant,
" MICHAEL Cwerws."
Mr. C. E. BERNARD thought it should
ttee be stated that
that letter having been read, the sub-commi considered
their duties at an end. well
approbi
Mr. J. DOW ELL expressed his entire anon 1111
at the sr .riosis topics touched upon in the letter, in at the
and moved that it
should be unwed by the meeting, and signed on its behalf
by the chairman.
Mr. BOUCHER having seconded this motion, it was
tone and temper in which it was written,
carried.
Mr. J. J. MOGO entirely concurred in the views of the
subomm Writes, and moved that the chairman be revisited to
transmit the loner to the b teed, and that the following gen-
tlemen, vi:: 1i sirs Michael Castle, Wm. Fri
to
Wm.
CTOSII, T. W Hill, and Rosy n Britten, be a deputation
wait upon the directors ethane their re. ly, and, it woesaary,
outer and diem.. with, them thereon, and report the t
resul
to the genteel committee.
Mr R. B.
IdANNING swoodat the motion, which was

arid•
Thanks Wen th.n voted to the chairman and the sub-oola.
mitts., and the meeting separated.

RUMOURED RESIGNATION OF MR. JOHN O'CON-
ItlLL.—i• is laid .0 ix, ,he intention of this gentleman soTo
tto
appear *gain In the parliament of the United Kingdom.
his saguain-anc,a he steal that his motives for witndrawal
are the iSen ire inactrntion of the Roam ot Commons to
I.i. very best speeches. and the imperfect way in which they
were repotted is the L .udon papers.--Eorning Paper.

CLERICAL.
THa BISHOF OF IBANcIICSTea holds his nett ordination
on Sunday, Feb. 24, 1550.
The LORD Blaliol. of CHEoTall has issued a licence for
the solemnisation of a &Triages in St. Paul's Church, Wer-
mak, in the palish of Stockport, in the county of Chester.
Toe Luau BISHOP of CHEWILIt has licensed the Rev.
William Clarke, M.A., t i th, perpetual curacy of Firhank,
in the parish of link'iy Lonset, le, in tne ounoty of West-
moreland, on the nominivion of the Rev. John Button
Fisher, vicar of Kirkby Lineable, the patron.
ComikcwartoN.—Un Wednesday, the 19 li inst the Lord
Bishme of Manchester mustarded the new church of St.
John's, Little Bolton. The chuich is a handsome structure,
and has been erect, d mainly through the instrummtality of
his race the Arebbiihop ot Canterbury. The Bishop of
Manchester Cooleeflou the new church at Whitworth on
Thursday, Jan. 3, 1330.
Pnamotrahreve.— Rev. B. RIM, F.S.A , to be Chaplain to
the Bishop of Norwich.
Vela. T. J. Ormerod, Archdeacon of Suffolk, to be Chap-
lain to 'he Buila,:p of N-rwich.
C. %Volley, B A., Fellow of Ring's Coll , Cumbridge, to
be an Assistant Master a'. Eton College.
lint:Age —Belleau It , Lincoloshir,, dio. Lincul I ; value
3901. ; patron, Lord Williughby d'Ereaby : vacant by the
,1 ralh of the Rey. Wil:ouphil J I'. Burrell.—Lowestoft C.,
i Sutlolk, with a title : pat , It-v. F. Cunningham.