The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-26 00:00:00

revival of the guidon at the assaig lasHin of the share-
holders. "Joint 1111•311, Chairman."
Which brought the following:—
Roams from Use board uslantse, Nth November, 1849.
" The committee of investigation laving requested the board
to Worm them whether the directors will sanction the re-
vival of the question of ldr. Meek's retirement from the
board at the ensuing meetiag of the shareholders, the beard
deems it tinapedisea to pledge itself as to the acne which
the interests of the emnipaisi may require the directors to
take Ow that OneatiOu. Wee. OUT, juts. Beeretary."
It would theeracre seem that, netwithstandiag Mr. Meek
hos, within two months, Ivies recorded his resignation
the board minutes (ea the first octagon in deference to the
opinion of the committee, and on the wand in deference to
that of the ahanholden), sad has now stated hie deters&
viatica to retire for the third time ; la king at the cons-
spondee's which ha passed between them and the oilman,
I yam aussmittee cannot confidently rely upon the point being
eads&
Year committee consider it Demean to sash' some allusion
le the remarks which fall from Mr. Crawshay (am of the
!Wears), at the last meths; of the shareholder., that your
Mathiettee had objected to the removal of a portion of the
eeeepeay 'a account to another bank, which the directors had
suggested should be done for the purpose of keeping the
eapital and revenue accounts distinct from each other.
Separate bank books for these two accounts have been always
k-pt by the company, end can be continued so equally
wet. with one banker es with two; while the keeping the
account with two bankers will be attended with this serious
disadvantage that the company will often have to pay a high
rate of isternt on the one account, while receiving a low
rate of intern: on the other, which will be the cue whom
ever the one account is in debit and the other in credit;
whereas, with Gay one Maker, the balance to the debit of I
the one account will be set off by the balance standing to the
credit of the other.
Without discuteing the question of soy practical "dean-'I
tags in keeping two separate baclobaoks for apical'
and revenue, 7011 f committee bad strong /111144111 at the
time (and which they stated to Mr. Crawehey and Mr.
Meek, who waited upon them on the subject) for not as-
tertainiog the proposal of the directors to opus
aimed bask meant. Your committee were then "best
ts emstism bee she pat Cashiers accounts of the coa-
-1 gamy, Nish they have uses done, and have satisfied them-
elves of their perfect correctness, although not altogether se
I &Wearies to the system upon which they have been kept ;1
they therefore had a statement of the account from the Ist a
January, 1847, prepared upon what they considered a awe i
equitable principle ; and had a coafensos with the aasegties
of the bank thereon, wto met the views et the committee
most fairly, and, after a full ezplanation, they agreed not
only to adopt for the future the system recommended by
your committee. but have virtually carried back the principle
to the lit of January, 1847.
Your committee consider it doe both to thentselvn sad the
'beta Adeis by whom they wen appointed, that they shooter
notice the circuities' ance of the el:gelation by the directors of
the accouut of the meeting of the 31st ultimo, through the
medium of the Yore Herald newspaper of the 3rd of No-
, vember a copy of which was forwarded to inch shareholder.
I Not only is the report of the meeting which that paper 'sou-
-1 tabu a partial and garbleo one, but it is accompanied by a
'leading article of virulent abuse of the committee. Your
committee flud it difficult to understand under what circum
names the editor of a newspaper should consider it to ems
within his province to abuse them, as Sage appointment was
simply one of business, and as eachl it has been conducted,
' without any ulterior object, for they have neither sought to
make it a vehicle for par y or banking purposes, or to derive
any personal aggrandisement therefrom. Your affairs, sad
their annege "sent, have alone engaged their attention; and
yews committee tilt retore consider that tt.ty have reason to
eumplair, that the directors have been the means of *Amnia
ties such calumnious abuse as appears in that newspaper.
Had the newspaper been left to. its ordinary issue, it would
have teen behead% notice ; it is its circulation by the direc-
t,'" that renders it of any importance.
Your commitice recommend that the directors should
abs airs from the use of newspapers for the future to circulate
the proctedion of the company.
Your committee consider that in the future management
of the company, private and local interests should be co-
chided as much as possible, and it is with this view that the
committee are milieus that the board should he varied in
As character, which in their opinion, is the best safeguard ;
and they therefore recommend that the present vacancies
should be filled up by the appointment of shareholders from
Vcalities not at present represented, and whir: your in-
terests require especial protection and apart.
Your committee are inherited by the secretary of the com-
pare, that the newspaper slips of the ',pat of the meeting
were forwarded to the direct to for inspection and refesion.
Ton have, nevertheless, omitted any mention of the fact
that the chairman of your committee offered, at the meeting,
to es i hdraw the adoption of all the points objected to by the
directors, esntained in the first part 'tithe third rt• part, a' d
to t the the opinion of the meeting simply upon the question
of its approval, er otherwise, of Mr. Meek continuing the
chairman of the hoard. This proposal the directors
declined, but the circumstance ought to have been men-
tioned in the report.
Your committee have compared the payments for land
with the conveyances and find them cogent.
Your committee may remark, in conclusion, that, in addi•
tion to the sums to be reoovere d by the directors acooreing
to your cumaittee's reports, the con recovered by your com•
mitt. is has been 11,4.501. 161. 111.—vis
Overpayment on iron rails
Return oe interest overpaid as debentures
By arrays's' with York Unica Bank 1,380 0 0
Amount of York, Newcastle, and Berwick
Company's cheek, dated 16th January,
1847, debited to this company in error 640 0 0

L 11,450 18 1
(Sigatil )--Joffig SWANN, Chairman, JOHN BILOOKI,
lIIDIRT BELL, OEOIOI KINNEEIL EDWAILD LLOYD, NI.
EMAIL DTOCIII.-0101101KINO, SICTELO7.

Pummel) NORTU Devote Liren.—A meeting was held
at the Guildhall, Barnstaple, on Saturday, to aid the prn.
posed North Devon line. The Mayor took the chair; and,
after some observations, Mr. Bremriage, M. P., moved—
"That it is of the wisest importance to the district of
North Devon that railway communication should be esta-
blished ; that the proposed Taw Vale Railway affords the
only prospect of the district obtaining such ccmmunication,
and therefore it is hignly desirable that such railway
should be completed with as little delay as possible."—Mr.
Buckingham, of Exeter, seconded the resolution, which was
adopted.—Mr. Geo. Buck moved " that from the statement
made on the port of the TawVale Railway Com pant it is evident
that the line will not be proceeded with unless assistance be of
Untied from the district; that it is therefore meat di citable that
the landowner and eccupienon theline shculd take shares in
tee company for the amount of compensation that may
accrue to them, and that the merchants, traders, and in-
t abitants generally of the district shall also some forward
to subscribe for shares." The above resolution having
been seconded by the Rev. Henry Wrey, was put from the
chair and carried unanimously. An undertaking to sub-
scribe for shares was then handed round the table, being to
the following effect:—" We, whore names are under-
signed, do agree to take shares in the Taw Vale Railway
and Duck Company to the amount set against our re-
spective names, on the following conditions :—That no calls
than be made on such shares until an act shall have been
obtained to divert the line, in order to avoid the expensive
tunnels—the question of gauge settled—the land &treed for
—and contracts for making the line entered into." The
above undertaking received many subscriptions, and a com-
mittee was appointed for the purpose of prosecuting the ap-
peal through the district. A resolution was then adopted,
pledging the necessity of the strictest economy in all the fu-
ture operations of the company, and a committee appointed
to ascertain from the landowners on the line the terms in
which they would be disposed to negotiate for their respec-
tive interests. The thank. of the meeting having been voted
to the chairman, the meeting broke up.
UsaaT NOZTIOMN.—Aboat 60 miles of the permanent
way of this company's main line, between London and Peter-
borough, are already laid, and it is expected the whole length
of it will be open by August next.

BOILER EXPLOSION NEAR ROCHDALE.
DESTRUCTION OF A NULL, AND LOSS OF LIFE.

An alarming accident occurred on Tuesday evening
lea, at the mill of Mr. James Tweedale, near Spoilt Bot-
toms colliery, in she township of Codeine. The building i•
known as the Roach corn mill, and is situated near the
banks of the ' , about a mile from Rochdale. The acci-
dent to which we allude wee the bursting of a large boiler,
but in order to render our account of the catastrophe more
intelligible, it may be necessary briefly to deieribe the pre-
Mum. The corn mill is a large atone building, four storeys
high, adjoining which is a spacious warehouse, of three 1
storeys, used for housing grain. This building is of unusual 1
strength ;the walls nearly two feet in thickness, and the
floors supported by beams of immense dimensions, *Ass. I
lated to sustain with safety the enormous pressure to whiMi
when the warehouses were full, the floors were subjected.
Behind this warehouse, which extends from front to bock
about forty feet, end in width nearly the same, runs a mill-
stream, • divenion of the water of the &itch, which wee
frequently used for turning the machinery. The engine-
house and boilers were built under them premises, the
boiler•house °peeing out to the front of the warehouse, the
ground floor of which wee embed end supported by pillars.
A few yards from the front of the warehouse, and about ten
yards from the end of the boilers, Komi small offices are
erected, and a short distance from the end of the building
stands the chimney, and a gasometer used for the sundae.
hare of gas for the mill and the premises adjoin-
ing. The building has been erected and used by
Mr. Tweedale as a corn mill for a number of yeah.
1 The sill ie worked both by water and steam power. The
oughts at present in use is a condensing engine of
forty-horse power, and there are two boilers, the
am a eireular boiler, with the flue running through
it, and the other (the one which burst), one of the
old-fashioned waggon boilers, underneath which the flue was
constructed. This trifler was about ten or eleven years old.
It was about ten yards in length, and eight feet in diameter.
It appears that foe some time past the mill hes been at
week night and day ; amm name John Matthews was the
gli .. . : suit the day, and a young man sassed Robert
eMeleted at night. About half-past nine o'clock en
Tani, mewing, the people at work in the mill were alarmed
ley a terMis el:elusion, which shook the building to ins founds-
Yee, sad hemediately afterwards a fearful crash wee heard,
messiessi, se it was found, by*, falling of the adjoising ware-
house. Raving recovered from the state of alarm into which
they were momentarily thrown, a lumber of the workmen pro-
ceeded to the boiler-house,which it was not difficult to coojec-
tura was the scene of the accident. There a frightful stated i
things was discovered. The end of the waggon boiler had WM I
completely tc rn cif and thrown against the offices in treat ; 1
bricks and rubbish won strewed shoat la all diresikee. li•