The Express.
London, England, 1849-08-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Before and After. 2 vols. Newny.
The proper title fur these volumes would have ben
" Our Borough, before end afier Reform and Rail-
ways." It cumprists a chron'cle of the sayines and
doings of the people if Staggerton during the last
quarter of a century, a history in whi'.h, as is very
natural and proper, individual episodes occupy the
largest and most prominent parr. " 13;f ,re and Alter"
is, in fact, a second cousin to Miss Mitford's "Village,"
and a first cousin, or as much more nearly related as
prose can be to verse—soya half-brother--to Crabbe's
"Borough." The author is not quite 83 lavish as
Crabbe of Rembrandtb-h effects, nor does he, on the
ether hand, like M es Milford, take all his sketches
from the brighter side of human nature. Altogether,
he di as with his subject in a more modern spirit; and
records the vicissitudes and vanities of his native
place with a fair mixture of the kindly and the sati-
rical, brim ing the light of a shrewdness, acquired in
the metropolis, to bear upon the curious nooks and
crannies in which borough human nature notoriously
abounds.

The two volumes contain ab:ait a dozen ateriee, each
complete in itself, yet b longing to the same locality,
eceupied partly by the same personages, ar,d coati-
bating to bring ts a denouement the persocal fortures
of the writer himself. The latter is greatly a mr re
talented and experienced person than the simple ar-
rangement and unaffected style of Lis work wouli at
first lead ore to suppose. And havicg red the book
through, we can recommend it as a very agreeable
melange' and well adapted for ceurtry reading at this
time of the year. There is scarcely any of the stories
that is not a good one in itself; while no one can
complain of a want of variety in the clia-acters and
incidents, enticed though they be to the great and
little notables of a town, which appears to have lid
but • sleepy existence until, first, the Ref-arm
Bill, and, secondly, a railway, awoke it into
something like progress and vitality. Where Stag-
gerton is situated our gazetteer foils to inform us.
But there are a pod many towns in most parts of the
kingdom whose residt nts will find their later expe-
rience mirrored in the chronicles of the ancient and
cathedral borough of " Staggerton." As a specimen
of these volumes, we quote the picture of the town
when resuscitated—in fact its " after :"

The changes which have come over individuals are trifling
compared with the utter revolution that has been effected its
the appearance of the place. A long absent native would
doubt its identity and the antiquity with which its town
emancil still boast. Except one or two by-lanes and out-of-
the-way corners, everything seems bright and in.proved.
The principal streets have been widened, and all the rest re-
paysti. One might almust take it fur a burghal " location"
on the Mississippi scarcely a year oll—it looks so new. The
ments of osterhauging .Wrier are filled up; the cockle-
shell faxing, have been smoothly plastered over to imitate
stone-work, tho Leenge windows have been replaced with
plate glass.
The display of shop-fronts alorg the High-street is megni-
ficent, and some of the signs betray the progreseive pre-
tension of the Staggerean saopocracy. Mr. Sulphate's pea-
green lamp new illumines a blazing inscription, d• noting
' that his is no longer a mere erudgi,..'a shop, but " the Me-
-1 dical'l"lit" 'Verde, the draper, has in his dotage caught
the infection, and lengthened the dssignation of' his firm by
the addition of a " Co. ;" although raters body knows that
the only pullet connected with aim a.-1 his establishment
are his sun, his dog, and his housemaid. The exterior of
hi. shop presents a flaring specimen of Arabesque ornamtosta-
tion, and the windows enclose the largest squares uf glaze ever
before seen in the town. Mrs. Tarleton's daughter, having
been sent to the metropolis of fashion for a year, has come
beck " Mademoiselle," and her mother has inscribed her on
an &arising brass plats, as" Ma-demo-sell. Tarletun de Paris,"
no longt-r milliner, but " modiste." Sle lee, the farrier, hes
obliterated the word " blacksmith " ov, r his smithey, and sub-
stituted" veterinary surgeou," above a surgery fur tour footed
p Aleuts. The butcher no lo time owns OWUS himself a butcher,
out a " purveyor of meat," which he dissects in elegant sham
bless, lint d with Dutch tiles, and t dgt d all over with brass. Mrs.
Hawker, again, began her schemes fur enveloping her lesser
half in the tddermanic gown, by enlarging her premises, and
c'.overting her spouse from a hurter into a" grocer and
tra-dealer, wholesale, retail, and far exportation" The
S.affordshirc hawkers and their locomotive baskets are ex-
tinguished by a crockery shop of wonderful pretersions,
with a show room as long as a small street, whole galleries
of pictures displayed upon plates and dishos, and an a.sort-
went of chandeliers that has caused those respectable ilium-
nators of the Blot Assembly-room (erst. unique, and the
admiration of the whole town) to be cut duww alter having
been hanged fir nearly a century.
But the public buildings of Staggerton ! They hays flair
kept pace with the tradieg ones. Thu old yarish cl,urch is
no more. It was carefuity taken down in the third year of
reform and regeneration, and a new one was raised at a
convenient distance from the too odoriferous burial-place
This is a madicevel structure designed by a Puseyite archi-
tect, with pointed windows, eeprese.siting party-col- ursd
saints, with gloves for toes, and all their heads pat on the
wrong way, to imitate with flielity the high art of the
dark ages.
Even the venerable collegiate church has been modern-
ised. The chancel floors have been laid wit's encaustic tiles,
after tee patterns presented by a powerful kaleidescope, and
some of the tomb. have been fretted out with the brightest
arvi freshest possible elements., with the intention of " re-
storing" to their ancient condition ; so that the mind may
ne carried completely back to the slays of the Crusades—by
means of colour laid on last week--just as the palate : jars of
Tubosa reminded Don Qeizote of hi- Duleinta, or the varie-
gated effigy of Peeping Tom of Coventry imparts to the
ant sr tlegical beholder vivid impressions of the charms, life,
and tunes of the Lady 0 diva.
But the change of changes is that which has been effected
on the Town-hall. The Hotel de Vide of ante reformed
Stagg, rtoa did duty for a matket-house as well. It was a
ponderous shed, supported by a peristyle of wooden props,
and sheltering beneath its Ii mr the Fellers of poultry, eggs,
and other perishable commodities, on market days, Now, it
is a substantial—nay, an ornamental—edifice, intensely Ro-
man in style and structure, from the architecture to the
cement. It has • magnificent auembly-room. a court house,
quite as large as the " two pair back' in which one of the
vice-chancellors of the High Court of Chancery holds his
sittings in Londen ; and a lockup, whose elegant propor-
tions and scrolled iron gratings must strike prisoners with
pleasing admiration.
Ni ither had " Progress" contented itself with mere reno-
vation—it had also created. It gave birth to a handsome
mechanics' institution ; an infirmary that dipped into the
county rates to the tune of ten thousand pounds sterling ; a
joint-stock bank ; a splendid orphan asylum, that cost more in
building than would support all the orphans in the county ;
a substantial and serviceable set of baths and wash-houses ;
sued, lastly, there is now before me the prospectus of a club,
which is to be a branch of the huge establishment in Pall-
mall, and is to he called the " Staggerten Reform."
The still life of Staggerton has not more altered than its
active existence. The scenes and groups in the streets pre-
sent an extreme contrast to men and things as they were.
readmits xi no longer appear in white aprons and sleeves,
hut in cravats of the same spotless hue. }semen' daughters
are still seen on market day, not, however, to sell eggs, as of
yore, but to buy music and berlin wool, and to flirt with
sung bachelors in the library. Their paps& breve largotten
tley ever wore galligaskins, and ride such well-bred horses
that spurs have long been obsolete. Squires have resigned
buckskins and "tops" to their grooms, and only one doctor's
gold-headed cane, and one old ladies' sedan chair, are left in
the town, and they are kept in the Mechanics' Institute
Museum as curiosities.
How are all floes: changes to he accounted for ? I Bay to
reform. Elise why did Staggerton stand still from the days
of the Danes up to 18:32, and then to shoot so rapidly a-head
subsequently—else wherefore, in other word., was its " be-
fore" so stagnant, and its " after " to active ?

BONDING PRIVILEGES.—The Revenue authorities
have acceded to an application ri questing that copping ma
be allowed to be landed at one of the wharfs on the south
side of the river, the report of their principal officers thereon
having recommended that copperas may be added to the lilt
of articles allowed to 1)8 landed at all the first-class sufferance
whites on the viva. :ids.
TRIAL OF THE NEW SCREW-PROPELLER &DP
" Tote BOOritOnt.79 "—The trial of this ship, which belongs
to the General Screw Steam Shipping Company, took plena
on Monday, in the Thames. The following ventlem• n
were on board to witness the experiments Capt. W.
Houston Stewart, R.N ; Captain Halstead, R.N. ; Mr.
Chatfield, Head of School of Naval Architecture, Woolwich;
Mr. Humphrey, Chief Mtuvineer, Woolwich; Mr. Dienes,
Inspector of Machinery Afloat; Mr. Smith, Chief of the
Screw Department ; hieurs. Mandalay and Mr. Jack-
son ; Mr. Mare, the builder ; Mr. Laming, ma-
naging director; Captain Ford, superintendent. The
result of the trials, running the measured mile,
was considered by the gentlemen above named as the
most satisfactory that has ever yet been known under simi-
lar circumstances. The dimensions of the shin are
. msg.,
175 feet; breadth, 25 feet; measurement in tons, 631;
h -rse-power, 80; diameter of cylinder, 36 inches; stroke,
24 inches; diameter of screw, 10 feet 6 inches ; pitch, 18 feet
6 inches; mean revolutions, 62.2; length of engine-room,
30 feet, which includes a space for the stowage of 150 tone of
coals ' • draught of water on trial—forward, 6 feet 8 inches ;
aft, 9 feet 6 inches, the screw propeller being 14 inches out
of water. The trials at the measured knot were :
Time.
let knot .... Sat n. lOnee.
2nd „ _ 6min. 21•86.
9rd " Grain. 4440.
4th
stk „

;riving a mean speed of slip in knots 9479 ; speed of screw,
11.348 ; slip in knot., 1.669, or 141 per cent. The Bos-
phorus left Blaekwall about 1 p.m , and proceeded in capital
style down the river, the wind at the time blowing hard
from the S.W. After the trials the party partook of an
eicellent repast, provided by Meson. Maudslay and Co.,
during which it was generally remarked that the vibration
was so trifling, that it was scarcely to be imagined the table
WBS spread in the saloon of a steam-vessel. The elegant
f ,rm of the Bespboras, ber compact, powerful, and smoothly-
working engines, and the great combination of comfort and
taste displayed in her internal arrangements, were greatly
admired. The stsebbrery of the vend wee made by Moors.
Mandalay.

RAILWAY MEETINGS.

CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD.

Y.sterday, the half-yearly gei.eral mo.tiug of the share-
holders of this compmy was held at the Rusmn.equare
S.etion. Capt. Moonsow id the chair. Notwithstanding
the announcement of the chairman that the report was most
unsatisfac'cry, none of the shareholders made a single re-
mark, either upon it or the resolutions su'aiquently pro-
posed, which were adopted in profound silence.
The SECRETARY read tte following report, dated 15th
August, 1849:

" 1. The causes which have operated to delay the comple-
tion of the Britannia-bridge, and with it the opening of the
enure lin^' I.ryond the prriot contemplated by the directors
at the last half-yearly mewing. are explained in the accom-
panying report from your nigh:leer, Mr. Stephenson. The
board much regret that circumstances beyond control should
have retarded a work so seaential to the full utility and
'due of the undertaking.
" 2. The director, bare the pleasure to inform you that the
main tine of the Mold Railway has been inspi cud and ap•
proved by the government en g i..eer,en d was opened yesterday.
The c znstruction of this breath has barn affected at a mode-
rate cost, the full advantage of which will be secured te you
by the tenor of the agreement for the purchase already laid
before you, and sanctioned at the meetutrf 30th Match lust.
Arrangements are in progress for bringing the various coal
warlacgs into connexion with the line.

" 3. fire directors have continued to give unabated attention
to the employment of the stezan packets in coon. Jaen with
the railway. The actual returns of the o unpany'a v. eels are
LOU nearly equal to the government p ckets, although the
latter make twenty-eight, and the former only twelve, tripe
:n the wok; the exp. rience of twelve months in their
working proves that both must be Tanning at considerable
and that all parties would be benefited by the whole aer-
vice heir g performed either by no government or by this
csmpany. The directors stated, in their last report, that
they bad, at the invitation of government, submitted a pro-
poshun for undertaking the whole packet service between
Holyhead arse Hinastown. That tender nct having been
accep.L.d, has been withdrawn, and the qu stion therefore
rem zinc unsettled.

" 4. The following return does not include either the
amount due for tho converoice of the mails or the toll pay-
able by the Shrcwrbury and Chester Compsny. The Post.-
..411a authorities ins:sted upon the amount of remuneration
for the conveyance of the mails, previous to the commence-
ment of the treasury contract being referred to arhitration ;
and, althoug'i the directors appootted their arbitrator in
September, 1848, co decision hag co yet been given, in con-
sequence of ft.. Bog-office not having iurnitled their arbi-
trator with instructions.
The number of passengers eonveyel from January I, to June 30,
bee been—
By railway
„ ELMS beats

... 119,911
„, 6,4117

Making a total of ...

12,,519

The goo receipts hare been—
fr,rn railway. from steam boats.
23,379 10 0 3,281 13 3
2,473 12 2 ...
933 2 11 ...

Pap cm,ers
GoodA

raccia

'55 15 1

131,083 3 1 ... /3,437 8 9

Total
The working charges have
amounted to 223,079 12 10 ... £11,536 10 1
"5. The act authorising the raiaint of further capital, for
which your ruction was obtained at the last half-yearly
meeting, received the royal assent on the 26th June. By
this act the company have obtainel the restoration of the
power of leirrowing on debentures, which had been merged
in the former creation of preference share'', whilst the shares
which the said resolution of the last meeting authorised the
directors to create are reduced from 735,0001. to 525,0001.,
leavieg, however, a discretionary power eventually to capi-
talise the loans by • creation of shares.
"6. In order to meet the liabilities of the company, and
to avoid the eacrifiim which the immediate raising of addi- •
tiosal capital to complete the line would entail, the directors
have solicited the assistance of the London and North
Western Company, who have agreed to advance 100,0001.
on the security of a resolution of the board, pledging itself to
act upon the power conferred upon the directors at the last
half-yeaily meeting, whenever required by the L-ntion and
North Western Company. to repay the loan by means arising
from a further creation of preference shares.
" 7. At the last meeting it was intimated that interest
would be paid on the original shares, until the line was com-
pleted by the erection of It- bridge over the Menai Straits,
in accordance with the emstruction put by the government
upon the c .ntract with the Treasury fur the conveyance of
the made, the commencement of which is dependent on the
same circumstance. But the directors now fe• litto be their
duty to state, that since the fords necessary for the payment'
of this interest could not be provided otherwise than by a
new issue of preference shares, at a rote of discount, or of in-
hanzed interest, whist would render the transaction perma- ,
wilily injurious to the int, rests of the company, they cannot
recommend the proprietors to purchase an illusory advantage
at such a cost. The only mode of meeting the difficulty appearsi
to be by a creation of shares, under the powers of the last act;
4. • eauryeentteo the amount of intarest due, and!
.a..amen., . • " " "t. to
issuing them, dhatargeo .Som toe, paymena ". ea." , • .
proprietors of the orig:nal '...aares. If it should be the,
pleasure of tho proprietors to adopt this course, the directors j
recommer.a that these shares should not be issued until the;
next isoir yearly meeting, by which time the entire line will!
ba nompleted, and dividend will then be payable out of;
traffic.
" 8. The arrears of calls due at the last half-yearly meeting,
amounted to 46,7861, of which 11,6901. have been received.!
Notice of forfeiture has been give° to the holders of 506
shares, upon which, in the aggregate, 8,8921. 10s. have been'
paid ; and the directors are using every means to recover the
balance. although they anticipate but p xtial success.
" 9. By the minoval of the offices of the company to the
Euston station, an annual saving of rent will be effected ;
and the directors have r. vised the establishment, and placed
it upon the most economical footing.
" 10. Agreeably with the intimation-given you in the last
report, power§ have been obtained by the act of this session
of parliament to seduce the number of directors to twelve,
and the board recommending that the reduction be forthwith
effected, have received the resignation of Mr. Col:ett and
Mr. Troduas, which, with the previously reported vacancy of
Mr. Laird's seat, will leave the number of six representing
the general body of the shareholders, and on your approval
of the reduction of the board to twelve, the directois ap-
pointed by the London and North Western Company will
be reduced in the same proportion. The directors recom-
mend that the remuneration voted by the proprietors should
also be reduced.
" 11. It is proposed to declare a dividend of Bs. 31. per
share, on the preference shares, to be made payable on the
20th instant.
" In conclusion, the directoreare compelled to state, that the
causes specific.' in their report of the 16th of March last, u
having disappointed, in respect to the traffic o! the line,
" even the most moderate expectations that were entertained
at the time when this company was formed," have continued
to operate to its detriment. The terrible calamity with which
Ireland has been visited, the consequent depreciation of all
property connected with it, and the diminution of the inter.
coulee between the two countries, is obviously beyond their
control. Your interests have also in a minor degree been in-
juriously effected by the unavoidable delay in the completion
of the Britannia bridge, the tardiness of the procer dines in
forming the Harbour of Refuge and Packet pier at Holyhead, .
and by the competition of the government steam vessele with
those tf the company, at a heavy loss to both parties. The first
of these impedimenta to the deval•pment of the traffic, will
vary shortly lie removed. The second and third it is beyond
the power of the directors to obviate; but they cannot believe
that her Majesty's government will continue to compete fora
traffic, the whole of which, under present circumstances,
would be utterly insufficient to remunerate any other party
than the proprietors of the railway ; but, whilst thus laying
these facts before the shareholders, without disguise, the
directors also feel it to be equally their duty to express
their confident expectation that with the restoration of Ire-
land to its ordinary state of prosperity, and the further de-
velopment of the lecai treiffic, the position of the share-
hollers will be materially benefited, and that the returns of
the railway will be sti.l further improved upon the comple-
tion of the harbour at Holyhead. In the meanwhile the
directors have used their best endeavours to administer the
financial concern, of the company, ai.d to avail the inselues
of its credit, so as CO obviate the necessity, otherwise una-
voidable, of increasing the capital upon teems detrimental
to the interests of the existing proprietors.
"Mr. Philip Hanbury being the auditor who goes out by
rotation, now offers himself for re.electioa."
The SECRETARY then read the engineer'sreport, dated
August 13, 1849 :
" No. 9 Coorraiicr.—Since my last report, the lining of
the Llandagai and Bangor tunnels has been completed, so
that at this moment the !ice may be regarded as entirely
finished up to Bangor station. 0; the works between Bangor
station and the Britannia Bridge, there rem .ins to complete
one tunnel front, which is in a forward state ; No. 12 cut-
ting, which will be ready for ballasting next week ; the re-
mainder of the contract is ballasted ready for the permanent
way, and 220 yards of lining in the Belmont tunnel, which
is commenced, and may occupy six weeks. 'fns cost of
co.npleting this portion of the contract will be 9,0001., and I
have no doubt about the line being finished up to the
Britannia Bridge by the let of October.
"BRITANNIA BRIDOE.—The masonry of this contract is
completed as far as practicable, prior to the floating of the
tubes; awaiting that operation. the nrowress of the remainder
•
will depend upon the rifting. procee tnere
has beta some delay, owing to an unsoundness in one of the
large castings of the new hydraulic press in the Angle:tea
Tower, which occasioned so much leakage, as threatened at
one time to render a new casting necessary, which would
have delayed for several weeks the process of lifting the
tube, which has been, as you are aware, floated into its poai-
tfon for being raised. I have, however, the satisfection of
reporting that the leakage has been successfully stopp• d, and
that the operation of lifting is progressing, and might by
this time have been completed ; but I have deemed it pru-
dent to lift by short stages only, and to build up step by step
underneath with brickwork, in order effectually to guard
against the serious coneequences which might arise from any
&due or derangement of the hydraulic presses, whilst
the tube was suspended from them. Such an acci-
dent I believe to be very improbable ; but, after the
fracture that took place in one of the cross-heads during the
lifting of the Conway tubes (which was fortunately disco-
ver-4i in time to prevent a very serious disaster), Ido not
feel that I should be justified in omitting in the case of the
Britannia tube (where a mishap would, in all probability,
interfere permanently with the navigation of the straits) any
one expedient which caution can suggest, With three feel.
lags, therefore, I hays, with your sanction, resolved to follow
the course alluded to, notwithstanding it will protract the
time of lifting in each tube a fortnight or three weeks be-
yond the penes originally contemplated. The aITUIPMO6iS

for floating the neat tube (which, with thrt already being
lifted. will enable us to complete one line of rolls anon the
strain) are in • very turoard state, and wiil certainly he
ready by the 24th host., with the view of taking advintsir
of the Erring tides of the 7th and 10th of September, if it
ah• url be de used .sp dont to dos'. tpon this Point lam
hardly able to decide pcsitively at this moment, for if any re-
lay should take place from some rotor. rose contingese7, it
easy he edvi able rot to toot the mist tube until the follow
hag flying tides. No pre low of time would ultimately
arise out 9' this gorpoaement, as the interval would be 445-
cupitd is removing the presses from their present positions
into thee* for lining the rend tube; and some aleantage
would be gained by linear/ the time doting which the
principal channel for isaadoei moult be interfered with.
On the other hand, I MIA it cry desirable not to allow
the versa to advance further than absolutely necessary he-
fon the next Retie( takes placer. This letter eons:denten
appears to me is important that we shall not fail to avail
ourselves* the spring tides from the 7th to the 10. h el
B. pteinber, if consistent with the further consideration of
the circumatances l have mentioned as affecting the qui a-
lion. The priori arrangements will, I believe, admit of
one line ef railway being completed in the course of Novem-
ber. This coneluuion is arrived at from the results of our
recent experience, and cannot far anal. ad ; but I am bound
to add, tint the operations are so dependent upon casual-
ties which man cannot control, that the most careful calcu-
lations at to tone may not be exactly vt rifled. Ido not,
however, see any reasonable grounds for doubting that one
line will be finished throughout by VA, dote above men-
Nord, er, at the latest, before the end of the year.—Romthr
Iffracwintsort."
Toe CHAIRMAN rose and acid that the report was so
iisesurging, he might my a dishearu nine, that if he con.
suited his own kellagr, *stead of snoring its ',depth*, be
would leave it to the =motile to adopt or reject at as they
thoight fit, wholly apart from the consideration of the
quarter from which it had emanated. But he thought that
such a course would rot nspectful to the shareholders.
He would, therefore, in moving that the report be adopted.
make • very few remarks on it. It war true that the affairs
of the e osprey did sot bear every cheering aspect, but hey
might have been mush worse. The tube which he saw the
day before yesterday suspended in mid air, slowly
but safely advancing to its resting place, might
have still remained oa the ledges owing to the failure
of ;the h2draulic pavanes—or falling erect be gnarl
at by the pavers by, se a retire obstruction to the naviga.
tioo of the B,raits—• monument of engineering rashneis,
sad the Idly of railway speculators, and an emblem of the
ruined former and blasted hopes of the shareholders. Bat
that tube would be raised; another would follow; the two
small would be joined to the two larger ones; the whole
would form ore tontines line of iron bridge, 1,400 feet
long, and thus their line would be completed. What traffic
would then follow it was sot easy to calculate, but he
thought at might safely be estimated at double the present
ree iris, irrespective of those obtained from the Post-office.
With tree obseivaticas he begged to move the adoption of
the tarn.
Mr. W. JACKSON, M.P., seconded the motion, which
was carried unanimously.
Rewolutiens_, &airing a dividend of Se. 31., reduction the
number of directors to 12, the it future remuneration to
1,0001. per annum, and re-electing Mr. P. Banbury auditor,
were than severally passed, non. con , and the meeting
separated.

GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND.
Hay:yearly Meeting.—Darlington, August 14. Mr.
NAIR. PLIIWA in the chair. There was about twenty pro-
prietors present.
The formal business having been transacted, the usual
dividend, after the rate of 10 per cent. p r annum upon the
amount paid up, was declared.
Mr. BARRIO, of Woodside, read a newspaper pusgraph
which threw some doubt on the ecanpalmry power of the
company to compel the purchase of the line by the York,
Newcastle, and ' Railway Company in 1840, on the
eoiration of A. lease.
p The CHAIRMAN and Mr. HUTCHINSON, one of the soli-
afters of the company, both explained that the sale was mon-
lenry, and that counsel's opinion had been taken which
tally bore rut their statement.
Some discutvion took place as to the probability of the
Turk, Newcastle, and Berwick Company, beirg able to com-
plete their contract for the purchase of the line, and the
chairman suggested that debenture* at 4 per cunt. should be
taken. The meeting then broke up.