The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-19 00:00:00

last more than ballast money they had embarked in it. He
would appeal ta the chairman if that was not the fact ?
The CHAIRMAN—Yes; the Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate line is a very heavy burden ou us. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. LEVY—Exactly so; but the proprietors having per-
sisted in authorising the directors to lavish their money
away, had no right now to come and complain of the small-
ness of the dividend. (Hear.) Ho saw by the present
report that they were to do something with the Great
Western about the narrow gauge. He smelled
powder there. (A laugh.) What was the meaning
of this? Were they about to carry on a war
between rival chairmen like that now waging between Mr.
Glyn and Mr. Denison ? (Hear, hear.) Wore they the
proprietors, to squander their money to see which had the
most pluck, Mr. M'Oregor or Mr. Russell ? (Cheers and
laughter.) lie advised Mr. M'Gregor, for whom he had 14
the highest respect, to do all he could to retrieve his good pi
name, for at present he could assure him it was falling ge
very low in the City. He had been asked that morning in
the City by several, " Well, what is your friend M'Oregor tal
going to do for you to-day ?" Of course he answered that 111
Mr. M'Gregor was no friend of his, only so long as he con- U.
ducted the business of the company in a straightforward ej.
manner. (" Hear," and a laugh.)
Mr. G. SMITH complained of what he could not but call 112
the lavish expenditure of the last half year, and proposed a "
resolution, in order that it might appear on the minutes, ex- is
pressirc of the disappointment of the meeting at finding 0.1
with so large a gross receipt, and with such expectations as la
they had been led by the chairman to indulge as to the pro-
fitable result of the traffic of the half year they were sew it
palled, in ccessepsenes of the lavish expel limn which hid ,
taken place, to put up with so small a dividend. 6;7
He was sorry to observe that they were borrow-
ing to a great extent. He found they had bor- dt.
rowed. 873,000/., and had paid off only 470,0001., leaving Lt.
them minus, that was, in debt, 403,0001. The chairman, at 5,
the last mectiug, promised that the capital account would II
he closed in January next. Would it be so? so
Mr. GREY submitted that the resolution proposed by at.
Mr. Smith was not necessary. The chairman had expressed ;
his disappointment at the smallne‘s of the dividend. All le;
were disappointed alike, but to place a resolution on the sc.
minutes saying that they were so, could do no good. It
(Hear, hear.) Ss
Mr. CROOK (of the Stock Exchange) said he had been re'
induced to become a shareholder in consequence of the lii
speech made by the chair man at the last half-yearly meet- St.
ing, in which he expressed a confident opinion that the R.
South Eastern would never pay a less dividend than was
then divided—viz., 10s. per share. Either the chairman 10
must have erred very much in his judgment when he ex- at.
pressed that opinion, or he must have said what he did for Se
the purpose of deceiving the proprietors, which he (Mr. 40
Crook) should be sorry to believe, even for a moment. But 16
t.
small as this dividend was, he believed, if they div ided no 811
more than the net earnings of the half year, they would not et.
get more than 6s. a share. Nor was there any prospect of so
improvement, for from all be could see, so far from the divi-
dend never going below 10s. he believed they would never
I see an Ss. dividend again. le doubted even if they would
see a Os. dividend. (Oh, oh.) Why, did anybody expo*
their dividend would increase ?
Mr. LEVY—Yes, I do. (Cheers.) ID
Mr. CROOK, in conclusion, would merely express a baps as.
that the expectations held out now for the future would be SI
realised, and that they would not again have to deplore an
error in judgment so serious as had been committed at the to
previous meeting. et:
Mr. COOMBE considered that the great evil which had la
weighed upon the company had been litigation, and those who 14
knew the extent to which litigation had been carried could Ili
scarcely wonder at the falling off in the value of the shares. IO
(Hear.) There was now a chance of that litigation being 341,
brought to an end, and that being the case he could scarcely
understand Mr. Levy's observation that the report smelled of 11l
of powder. (Hear' hear) Ile believed the report was ge-
nerally considered sistiafactory BB—certainly it was so in his le
neighbourhood. (liege, hear.) Se
A PROPRIETOR inquired how it was the company 111-
SC
went on borrowing on such bad terms ? se
The CHAIRMAN aced hardly tell them that when a U
company was notoriously in the market as a borrower the to
same rule applied as in the ease of individuals—that was, 11;
that the borrower to a certain extent was the servant of ;
the lender. If it were merely required to turn over deben ce
-
tures, the money might be raised at 4 per cent. Some it,
debentures at 41 and per cent. interest had been paid SS
off, and the greater part of the money for that purpose had ...26
been raised at 4 per cent. Ile would not occupy the
thee of the meeting by going into any personal defence. Ile
Ind appoint beam thee now constantly for wren years, •
sal bikedtie auddiadaa of Inswing that he had never
nab a immiserat tie tam Thiel he dui not fully believe to se)
is hosiml either as heti or just expectations. (Loud
Aim) ard if be bad been sanguine in those expects-
Hem as bail deceived se man by them more than he had 004
boa asslaal himself. (Hoar, hear.) If the hon. pro-
Osier Ob. (.Ireek), whose name he did not know, chose to
=Om at • ins of 1,4001., that was his own affair—but he
PlealldlENl) would not advise any friend of his to do so. is
Ma au fat aware, when the proprietors assigned him a
ia addition to any talent he might poems, and 114
so which had never failed m their service— .„
=6.lthey expected him also to perform the
of a prophet. (Cheers., and laughter.) is
Oa Os occasion the hon. proprietor referred to,
be (the chairman) expressed fairly and truly what *
were his views at the time with regard to the future,
Mboss the circumstances before him. That was all
asse, and that was all he could do. (Hear, hear.) di
The bra. gentleman then entered into various explanations, se
which were received with general satisfa,-tion, and 124
The resolution declaring the dividend was carried una-
nimously, and, after a vote of thanks to the chairman,
the meeting broke up.
rival I
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