The Express.
London, England, 1850-10-31 00:00:00

CHEAP OAS.

Yesterday the second half-yearly meeting of the
shareholders an the Great Central Gm Consuaten' Company
nu held at the London Tavern. Cowards of 400 sham

holders were present. Mr. THOUS llnitr, the chairman—
expressed his regret that he had been unavoidably absent
from the extraordinary general meeting held a short time
since. That meeting had been held at the instance of
the directors to obtain authority to borrow mope,
upon mortgage if it should become necessary. The meeting
bad manitested their confelence in the discretion of the
directors by unanimously cent, rring upon them the power
I thei asked. The directors had made an appeal to their share-
holders which had been met by a prompt response, and they
had abstained from exercising their borrowing powers.
(Cheers.) He was happy to say the report the directors
would present was of the most satisfactory deectiptioti.
(Hear, hear.) The company had been stigmatised as a paper
company, and it had been boldly prophesied by their enemies
that • foot of gas would never be applied, and that a
single pipe
false prophets had failed in their predictions, and the
fondd
ee
the hopes)
triumphantTohf t
pe
present
at
success
ktos
drisatootopfryßo
throughoutfl
ofii monopolists
and
wat dht
retehbfo.e
pe
enormousf au
oit
tyury i destroyedfn:pttrot:ho
puts of the company might be reed by their opponents in
thefif magnitude
of
io and
dthpefp,woorl
e
number of gas consumers who had a'ready received, and the
number who were waiting to take the gas so soon as they
could be accommodated. (Cheers.) The Commissioners of
Sewers, who with their officer of health wore laudably em-
ployed in removing from the City all noisanose prejudicial to
the public health, must bail with satisfaction, upon sanitary
grounds, apart from economical considerations, the sew com-
pany, which had already supplied to the citizens a large
amount of gas manufactured at Bow Common In aubsiitutioa
for that which would otherwise have been produced is the
most crowded part of the most crowded city in the world.
The SECRETARY then read the report, which stated.—
. The ordinary channels of public information will bare
acquainted the shareholders with the many sours. of pens-
veriog opposition with which the company has had to con-
tend, but which tau hitherto totally failed in its main ob-
j eau. The proceedings, which have been given at length in
the daily journals of the legal proceedings instituted by the
Chartered Gas Company will have informed the sharehold-
ers how little they have to apprehend from this source, betas
at present there is a negotiation for settlement going oast the
suggestion of the Lord Chancellor, the directors do not deem
it expedient pending the Wire to further advert to this
subject. The financial statement embraced is the re-
' port is necessarily limited by the deed of settlement to a
period six weeks anterior to this meeting, but the directors
have the pleasure to state that since that time 8,5001. has
been received upon the lest call as well as upon Calls in
anew. The directors confidently hope that Iron the con-
tinued support they are thus receiving from the share-
holders it will not be necessary to borrow the sum of
money which they were empowered to take upon mortgage.
The engineer's report stated, that the works were nearly
in a state of completion, and that the expense would, in Mr.
Croll's (the engineer's) opinion, not exceed the estimate.
The delay which had occurred in getting the services and
meters fixed in time to meet the demand of the consumers
throughout the eby was ascribed to delays in casting various
pare of the machinery, partly from negligence and treachery
which had been detected on the part of some of the work-
men engaged in hying the pipes, and partly from the ob-
structions occasioned by the suit instituted by the rival city
gas company. Notwithstanding
.all these impediments to
the full development of an anticipated supply, up to last
night upwards of 2,800 consumers, burning I:000 lights,
had been supplied with the company's gas, which was
acknowledged to be of a superior illuminating power; and,
with a few exceptions in the districts supplied by the city
company, the quantity had been ample. The report con-
cluded with some remarks on the undue pressure alleged to
have been used by the old city company, to which the gas-
fittings in use were adapted, no that it appeared as if the
company's gas (being plated under a moderate pressure)
was deficient in quantity—a defect which would be remedied
by en exemioation and alteration of the fittings.
The report was uranimoudy adopted.
In reply to a question from Mr. MACHIN, u to the re-
muneration of the directors,
The CHAIRMAN said that was a question entirely fir
the consideration of the directors. The subject had been
mooted at the board. The direotore had laboured assidu-
ously in the service of the company for two years, and so
coafident were they of the undertaking paying a dividend
of 10 per Cent., charging their gas at 4s. per thousand, that
they were perfectly willing to continue their services with-
out any remuneration until the shareholders should realise
a dividend of 10 per cent. and they would then leave it to
the shareholders to assess the value of their services at their
own estimate. (near, hear.)
Mr. CHARLES PEARSON would propose a vote which,
while it would enable the directors to defray the petty
cash expenses, would obviously be an ad, gusto recompense
for their labours. He proposed 5001. a year from the
commencement, until they should, at the price °flits. per
thousand,:pay the dividend of 10 per cent. out of profits. After
which he would propose an allowance of 1,0001. per annum,
with a further addition of 5001. per annum, upon their pay-
ing a 10 per cent. dividend, after reducing the charge to 3544 d.
per thousand, which, he was confident, would be effected
within two years from that day. (Great cheering.)
Mr. MACHIN felt the liberality of the conduct of the
directors in proposing to suspend the receipt of any recom-
penes for their services until the dividend of 10 per cent.
should be realised. He, however, had been convinced by
the reasoning of Mr. Pearson that some pecuniary acknow-
ledgment should at once be awarded them for their
valuable exertions. (Hear, hear.) Whether the sum pro-
pued by Mr. Pearson for that purpose was an adequate
remuneration might be doubted. He should second the
motion if it would be acceptable to the directors. (Hear.)
The CHAIRMAN said that the directors having stated
their confidence in the speedy realisation of a 10 per cent.
dividend, and their readiness to suspend all remuneration
until that event, they ehould leave the matter where the deed
of incorporation left it—with the shareholder... (Cheers.)
Mr. George Virtue was appointed one of the auditors,
and other routine loaminess having been transacted, thi;
meeting adjourned.

ANOTHEZ CASE OF POISONING IN LINCOLNSHIRE.
—The lives of not fewer than 15 or 16 persona have been
placed in jeopardy,' near Skirbeck, in Linadnabire, by
poison. A farmer, named Broedberry, resides with his
family at a farm near Cowbridge-bar, in *thirtieth. On
Thursday last, Mr. Broadberry, with 16 men, was engaged
thrashing corn in the barn at the rear of his farm house.
During the forenoon of that day Mr. Broadberry gave dine-
tions to one of his servants to treat the men to hail-a-pint of
ale each. Accordingly, • quantity of ale was drawn
from a barrel by Mrs. Broadberry, which bad been
in the house about • fortnight. The beverage
having been conveyed to the barn, Mr. Broad-
berry was the first person who partook of any, and,
afterwards the men had each their portion given to them,
which was drunk, and the bands resumed their work. In
the coxing of half an hour afterwards symptoms of the most
alarming character set in. At tint • slight irritation was
felt by everyone who had drunk of the ale, and burning of
the throat and stomach speedily ensued, and in about twenty
minutes after the whole party was seised with violent
vomiting and cramps. The utmost consternation then en-
geed, as it was qoite apparent thate unfortunate men were
Pairing from the effects of some deleterious drug. The
atrial alacrity was displayed in sending for medical assist-
ance, and forthwith Mr. Walter Clegg, • surgeon, and several
other gentlemen were in attendance. Owing to their inde-
fatigable exertions the whole cattle sufferers, with the excep-
tion of a man named Burrows, recovered sufficiently
to be pronounced out of danger. That party, it ap-
pears, drank about twice as much as any of the
Oben, which so affected biro that he still remains
fa am exceedingly precarious condition. The exact muse of
the catastrophe remains at present enveloped in mystery.
The ale remaining in the barrel has since been analysed by
Mr. Clegg. the surgeon. Mr. Broadberry states that he ha
occasionally drunk a small portion of it at his meals, and
that he frequently experienced a strange taste in his month
afterwards, accompanied by a burning sensation. The
pitcher used is conveying the ale to the barn, it issued,
underwent a careful cleaning before receiving the liquid.
The first supply of ale sent in the pitcher was found to be
insufficient for all the workpeople. Oise of the wean%
therefore, accompanied Mrs. Broadberry back to the farm-
house, and saw the beverage poured out; and be
consequently had an opportunity of seeing that no-
thing deleterious was added to the same. The keys of
the alehouse were always kept by Mr. Brothberry, or his
wife, so that it seems mat extraordinary how anything pr
seem could have got into the ale. The following is Su.
Walter Cleitg's medical certificate respecting the case:—
" October 29. 1860.-1 have most carefully analysed a quan-
tity of ale forwarded to me by Mr. Taxford, and drain by
him from the barrel which contained the suspected Uglier.
There is nothing whatever of a poisonous or deleterious
nature in the said ale. The fact is, however, undoubted that
severalnok ipersons were severely affected with symptoms of
a
poisoning. I have myself been in attendance upon
six of the sufferers, one of whom is not at present out of
dense. It is tolerably certain that the ale which these
people inesllowed contained arsenic but I am certain the
!knee became poisonous after it had been drawn from the
--t&laseto—W.gass Ciao°, Burgeon," &e.