The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-30 00:00:00

mulanaliisJ

DEMERA.RA. RAILWAY COMPANY.

The annual general meeting of the proprietors of this
company, was held at one o'clock yesterday, in the
Clarendon-rooms, South John-street, Thomas F. Bennett,'
Esq., chairman, in the chair.
The Chairman

fter mentioning that there had been
lo transfer since last meeting, and that this was the
irst meeting of the company in Liverpool, it being
;ailed under the ordinance to transferring the manage-

ment to this town, proceeded' to say, that the directors
had scarcely any thing- to add to what had been already
communicated to the shareholders, in the printed report.
They could state that the mana,gement and working of
the line, by Mr. Manifold, was quite satisfactory to the
direction, and he believed also to the public in Demerara.
He believed that, on the whole, it answered Mr. Mani-
fold's expectations, and the directors hoped that he
would derive such profit from it, as would attach him to
the line, for on him their hopes very much depended.
With regard to the traffic, he was sorry to say that it had
not yet come up to what they expected from it. They
had been led to hope that it would amount to £20,000
per annum, and though the actual receipts came very
near to that amount, being .£18,500, yet the deficiency
prevented them from presenting s . good a report as
they had at first hoped to be able to do. There were one
or two reasons which would account fur the deficiency.
In the first case, the crop had not been large, and in the
next place there had been some confusion and disorder
in the colony for a short time—both of which circum-
stances had had a material influence on the receipts of
the line. The great difficulties which presented them-,
selves to the directors, were the same which the
company had to encounter from the beginning, namely,
monetary difficulties. They had begun in a difficult -
time, 1841, and in October, 1848 had been compelled
to reduce their capital from £250,000 to £115,000.-
That had been done under the exigency of the case to
enable the company to borrow money from the public,
seeing that they could no longer obtain payment of
further calls from the shareholders, and since then the
same pressure had been experienced. They should,
however, take things as they found them, and if they
were only able to pay off their debts, and they were noyi
not very far short of that, they would appear before the
colony in an independant position, and svotiJd soon
feel a turn for the better iii their affairs. They had
power to raise £20,000 on bonds, btit cipii,g to the liberal
and continued assistance which they had deriied from
their bankers, to whom they were now indebted !n the
sum of £14,000, they had been relieved from as yet'
exercising that power. He wished it, however, to be
understood by the shareholders generally, that the
directors should now place those bonds without further
delay, they having temporised in the hope that they
would have been able to place them with the public or
among the shareholders themselves, at a lower rate of
interest than 74 per cent, at which rate the shareholders
who had subscribed were bound to take them., He would
leave them to judge what chance they had of getting the
bonds placed at a lower rate of interest than 71 per
cent • and he would, therefore, strongly recommend the
shareholders themselves to subscribe the sum, not only
as a safe investment, bat as calculated also to support
their existing interests in the line. The present income
of £18,590, not only fully provided for the payment of
the interest on the colonial debt, for the contribution to
the sinking fund, for the interest on the £32,000 already
borrowed, and for the interest on the £20,000, if they
should have to raise that sum even at 71 per cent,'
bat also left a surplus very nearly equal to the
payment of the preference shares, but of course not
the arrears. (Hear, hear) Under these circumstanced
he therefore thought that the possessors of those bonds*
need have no fear about the safety of their
capital, or the regular payment of their interest.
(Hear, bear.) It could not be concealed that
they very much depended on the general prosperity
of the colony, but he did not think that, on the whole,
they had received that favour at the bands of the govern-
ment to which they were entitled. As yet, they had got
no benefit from the colony, all the capital having been
spent there without any return ; but he felt persuaded
that there was now a better feeling towards them there,
and that in the hands of the present governor and
government their interests would receive every protec-
tion and advancement. (Hear, hear.) The great want
in the colony was labour, but with immigration its
produce, particularly on the estates on the east coast,
would be doubled, by which the traffic on their line
would be doubled. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, the
chairman bore testimony to the zeal of the Demerart
committee in the interests of the company, and declared
that it was the intention of the company to carry out the
Mahaica extension, on which £5,500 had been already
sunk, as soon as after the payment of their debts they
felt themselves in a position to undertake the work.
(Hear, hear.)
The report, which has been already circulated among
the subscribers, and the substance of which is contained
in the chairman's statement, was then, together with the
statement of accounts, put and adopted.
Mr. Charles Holland and Mr. Samuel Martin were
re-elected members of the general committee.
Mr. R. W. Sandbach and Air. T. Bona were elected
auditors in the room of Mr. Stephen Cane and Mr. J.

Torrance, resigned.
Thanks were unanimously voted, on the motion of
Mr. Tinne, to the Demerara committee.
Thanks were also voted to the retiring auditors, Sir
James R. Carmichael, late chairmau, and the present
directors, after which the meeting separated.

ADVERTISEMENT.

SMOKE PRE.

VENITON

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NORTHERN TIMES

SlR,—Since my return to town, I have seen Mr.

O'Regan's letter, is your paper of the 21st, and as you have

wisely limited his communications to your advertising
column, I am enabled, without imposing on your space, to
set the public right, as to the misrepresentations that letter
contains. Mr. O' Regan f‘ays, in the specification of my
expired patent of 1839, there is "no such bridge." I did
not speak of a " perforated bridge," but of a "perforated
box," and which may be set in the door, or the bridge, at
has been successfully done in numerous cases, during the
last dozen years:

Mr. O'Regan, however, will find in that specification the
following, and which I here give to enable the public to
adopt it without the cost of any patentee. " I specially
claim as my invention the use, construction, and applica-
tion, of the perforated air distributor, by which the atmos-
pheric air is more immediately and intimately blended with
the combustible gases generated in the furnace."
The use of this perforated air distributor is just what
comprises Mr. O'Regan's imitation ;—one of his perforated
air boxes may be seen at this company's works, side by
side with one taken out of one of our steam vessels.
It is unnecessary to refer to the two remaining paragraphs
in Mr. O'Regan's letter, further than saying they each
contain an untruth.—l am yours, &c.,
CHARLES WILLIAMS.
City of Dublin Stearn Packet Company's Works,
Clarence Dock, Liverpool, 29th April,lBs6.

THE THANKSGIVING DAY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—l see, by your paper of this morning, that the
"thanksgiving day" is appointed for Sunday next; and I
notice, also, that the Londoners intend to celebrate the
return of peace on the Queen's birth-day. Now, I should
feel obliged if you would inform me whether we are to have
a general holiday to celebrate it, too, as there has been no
notification of it as yet, I believe. If we ara not, I think
that the merchants of Liverpool should not be backward to
follow the example set them in the metrop
rolis.—SUYßEou,
LEA.rs

GRETN,A. MARRIAGES

CARLISLE CONSISTORY COURT, APRIL 24.

BELL V. GRAHAM.

The judgment is of the highest public importance.
The chancellor commented, in eloquent terms, upon the
demoralising effect in this district of the Scotch mar-
riage Jaw—a marriage of that kind, however repulsive,
being legal in England because lawful in Scotland. The
chancellor said that it appeared that John Murray, at
the Sark Toll Bar alone, performs, on the average, 400
marriages in the year ; and that on the Martinmas-hiring
day at Carlisle, and a day or two on either side of it,
he splices more than a hundred couple.—Carlisle Patriot.

The Worshipful Chancellor Burton gave judgme
this suit to-day in open court, and in the pres,
the proctors in the cause, and a consideraw
of auditors. The plaintiff and defend-
present. .ant were also

nt in
oco of

-tie number

. The suit was instituted by John 1-
at-Law, and Clerk of the Peace lien, Esq., Barrister-
moreland, to nullify a n for the county of West-
just over the Scotch Boyirris ,
ge at the Sark Toll Bar,
-icier, alleged to have been
solemnised on the 13th of November, 1847, by John
Murray, the bar-keeper.,

The Chanceilo6 judgment is, that the marriage
(intended by Mr. Bell af, a sham) is pronounced valid in
Scotland, the defendar,t herself believing that it was
real ; and, as a valid marriage in Scotland is a legal
marriage in England, it follows, so far as this decision
goes, that Mr. Bell b as found a wife against his will.
The suit was disrnissed.
Mr. Saul, foe the defendant, asked for costs,
The Chancellor said the application was unnecessary.
Mr. Bell must 'pay his own costs as a matter of course;
and he must also pay those of his wife.