The Express.
London, England, 1850-08-23 00:00:00

II

s

the amen el Mr. Dunes% dablsdne, we ban greed
eatidestise lo telling din the might wine we them
took is sdll espy ea erne sod dna lbw will
he me imeinee.- It is, polega= gal
te t Misillieh
he fast that then a• GP
Mr. Dwane leek pima balm tide board sae.
The natter is see one latish her have se entrel. It bee
been sobered, as I hanstatee; es bass . %mew in* Nay-
were, ha whenends we hope the men
ieten will leen (t.
Year, bear.) Them are may metiers oseseeted with Mr.
Dineen% keewiedgeof leer aisles will sneer it seam
eery, is ear spines, ibet_the ease sheaf be left there.
(111wer, hem) Ti. MellMilllatenine d this batiste h
'awning bed earieleiney. This Zenon Vain line ham
Dem speed ad you have an merest boo et mean*,
as impend with Ise asereipmetft half of lest year. of
MOM Thus has, me, hese an 111112•10 I. Mar mileage,
whin wee hatmeesi nen fully to develop the teseurees of
the disteiet, ha titbit wee poididp • Wotan Our ppoastition
in relines te dile *seises eseepnbe mend to Mmade
the oda sitnonto et the shareleMsee. We hen •
waling egreemen with the Breen Vain line. With
the sat Anglin Hee we have no egression.
The Great Iforthent Moe is now opened to Peterboroagit,
treeddlag ea your bells es that point, at St. Ins, end at
other plain. By sheemeng the distaine, and lowering the
fame, lb. Cheat Worthen Compeer bars obliged you to ro-
deos year own fares, sod onsequendy you moo not be SU,
ed at a nereepoodieg ism at dams points. The directors
hen, however, nee the time h sae ihr distant when the re.
nurses a *ash sempoey bang fay Mown, sad its position
fully havestigatee, as aseeipmetitie we agreement will take
plan, by wen of wkidt the several sompania will be
Weight together, sad tie proper slated dividend divided
yew=sate. It vreeM set be ible to coned front
with compatellso est M
attided, partirelarly Ines
your trade shall be Upped Cambridge, it will
be • difeselt matter he you to bold your owe.
&teethe to the provides% hod has bean rendered still snore
newsry by the emmeremee a the peel week, is order that
y be able se his, all ear waritnee from the dab, in
width they appear to have enableed against employ en, and
te de thatbethe to then whisk mil prenet seed occurrent,
inMere. I will new amen& by moving the adoption de ripen
Mr. GLYN mended the when
The adoption a the reportrhaa bees seconded. a die-
gamin a:anapest • variety of Isere or less involved
is that notion. The twe points Droned forward
related to the Nodelk linialithestrike of the engine. driver,
and dream. On the Intel these

Mr. NATHAN asked U the directors were determined to
%m bring the
paths of amalgamation with the Norfolk line
again before ediment
The CHAIRMAN replied, that the board had no such
intrados, audit meld be for the shareholders themseivee to
say whether at Nay femme time such ea idea should be enter-
tathed. Ile pledged himself to work that line only as long
as the agreement entered Into with the Norfolk Company
ma Medias, and then to abandon it. The agreement, he
believed, was in foree till May, 1866.
Mr. BOX expressed doubts, upon the authority of Mr.
Duman, the late solicitor to the company, who gave evi-
dence to that effect before a committee of the Home of
Lords, whether the agreement referred to was in forth or
had the seal of the °manly seized to it.
The CHAIRMAN aesured Mat that he was in error.
There was, he said, no agreement of amalgamation; but
there was a working agreement entered into on the 2nd of
May, 1849. It had been repeatedly confirmed by the share-
holders, and approved of by the Committee of Investigation.
The document bad bees drawn up by counsel, and they had
been advised by Kr. Talbot and Mr. Hope that it woad not
be est aside.

Mr. PRIOII expressed a strong opinion that it could be
nullified; but the great body of the shareholders did not ap-
pear to concur with him, and so the matter dropped.
With reference to the strike of the engine-drivers and fire-
men, the fooling of the meeting seemed to be, almost without
exception, in favour of the directors.
Mr. T. WOOD expressed his regret that the board had
not treated the men with • little more courtesy.
Mr. NATHAN said, that he was pleased to find that the
directors were so determined to get new men, for as masters
they ought not to be In the power of their servants. He
would rather me the lime worked only once a day than have
the sensate of the company its masters, and he hoped the
board would not allow than who were cLacharged to return
unless they apologised for their conduct.
Mr. COX said, that he would be disposed to side with the
drivers, as the washer party, bat he felt how improper it
was that any man should be in the power of those whom he
employed. He wee sorry to see in the Times an inclination
to countenance what, after the chairman's speech, he would
call the rank conspiracy of the company's engine-drivers.
The Times led the pablic to suppose that the directors were
liable and would be anawirrable for any accident that might
occur in consequence of the strike. But he (Mr. Cos) said,
tie, were not answerable if tag wars in the right. The
Times itself had not, in its own experience, tolerated such
coodoet He remembered when • combination took place in
the Times office, which was defeated be the Herculean
efforts of the late Mr. Walter. The Times had never
truckled to such conibisations, and he trusted their directors
would not do so. The chairman had Mated to them facts
connected with the strike which the Times could not hays
been in possession of, and especially the circumstance that
the men did not report emotalties when they took place. Mr.
Cox concluded by mressiss We willingness to side with the
men if they nessaMed estehlkiing • cameo( opprertion.
Mr. BOX said, that hitherto the staff had ruled the com-
pany, end it had raised the directors LO per cent. in hie
estimation to see the firm stand which they had taken. The
men should have asked for a committee of inquiry before
they resigned, and it was now too late for them to make
nee a request.
I Mr. HOWSE stated that he had offered his services as •
pesos-maker between the board and the drivers. Having
seen the savants which had appeared in the newspapers,
and heard the explanations which the chairman bad offered,
he also mixed that the time for • committee of investigation
was now put. He had been • muter himself, and knew
that there must be subordination in every establishment.
Mr. M'LLitzti and Mr. Place questioned the present form
of the accounts, and the former proposed a motion which
was agreed to by the meeting, to the effect that the share-
holders should be furnished with an abstract of the agree-
ments binding on the company with reference to the Nor-
folk line.

Me. Cimszamoh and Me. (Mica also addressed the
meeting, the latter urging the necessity that the shareholder.,
while they narrowly watched the conduct of their director.,
should do at with a disposition to believe them honourable
men, and should not on such occasions badger them about
little station. Such a course of procainee would, he
declared, paralyse the energy of any board in the world.
Hitherto the fashion had been to treat every man who was
a director as a rogue ; and he (Mr. (inch) wondered that
helmet men still came forward to fill such an uneviable posi-
tion. With reference to the strike among the men, he would
not enter into the merits of that question, (or they, he be-
lieved, could not be gone into time, but there was an end to
all safety in railway travelling, and to the value of that spe-
cies of property, if the directors were to succumb to their
'savants.

The notion, that the report be adopted and printed, was
carried without one direentient Tao*.

A return of Ike salaries of officials on the lies was then
I promised by the chairman' and after • Tote of thanks to him,
which he acknowledged istappropriate terms, the proceedings
terminated.

It is some time since the proprietors in this company have
bad so quiet and orderly • meeting, and many of them
seemed greatly astoeished that the business had been got over
so smoothly.
A number of the retired engine-drivers were standing
about the door of the London Tavern, and circulated • hand-
bill calling an the sbezeholden to appoint • committer, and
pledging themselves to sabetentiate every charge they had
mad• against the superinteadent.
A letter from the late 'elicitor, defending himself from the
charges made against him, was also extensively circulated in
the room.