The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY JR)VENING, NOVEMBER 30, 1855.

untouched have been sold for 'old stores, and that on occa-
sions when these transactions were taking place the com-
pany were buying fresh goods at from 10 to 40 per cent
above the highest market prix us. Illegal additions are re-
presented to have been made to the capital accounts of
69,6061. which belong to the Norfolk Company. Prefer-
ential contracts have been et tered into with individual
firms to carry coals, cattle, &o ~ at a positive loss to the
shareholders, and also to the ds image of regular traders, who
were thus shut out from fair competition. In one of the
concerns thus favoured—the :Norfolk and Eastern Counties
Coal Company—the locomoti-ve superintendent was a part-
ner, and his certificates were actually taken as to the qua-
lity of the coal he himself supplied. The Tilbury and
Southend line has been leased, in the opinion of the com-
mittee, on improvident terms , and the arrangements with
respect to the Woolwich line, Lowestoft Harbour, the
steamboats of the Eastern Un ion Railway, and the steam
traffic between Harwich and Antwerp are strongly con-
demned. With regard to the locomotive superintendent,
it is recommended that a claim on his part of 3,1931.
should not be paid until the justice of payments to the
amount of nearly 20,0001. in ade to him for percentages
since 1850 shall have been settled by arbitration, and
that his existing engagement be referred to the law officers
of the company with a view -to its termination. An ad-
vance of 8,0001. to the corporation of Harwich and com-
mitments to an outlay at that place of 30,0001. are involved
in obscurities which the committee have been unable to
fathom. Since Mr. Waddingtoat became chairman, in 1851,
the additions to capital have been to the extent of
1,213,952/., or at a rate which the committee consider
would, if it were continued, soon destroy the dividend
available for unguaranteed shareholders. A considerable
portion of this amount should not have gone to capital at
all. In relation to the maintenance of the permanent way,
which the last committee of investigation recommended
should be met by an annual apportionment of 32,0001., it
appears that the amount appropriated for the purpose in
1855 has been only 3,2001., and that an outlay is now ne-
cessary of 150,0001. The examination of the accounts for
the last half-year has resulted in showing that instead of
57,581/. being, as represented, divisible for dividend, the
amount was only 21,263/. Previous returns are believed
to have been of the same delusive character, and the audit
by the professional auditors has been imperfect and, in
the opinion of the committee, entirely useless. Finally,
it is unanimously submitted that the election of a chair.
man at a salary of 2,000/, a-year has acted most preju-
dicially to the interests ofethe company by decreasing the
influence of the individual members of tho board, and it
is likewise pointed out that another great evil consists in
• the fact that out of the 15 directors of the company only
8 represent its regular interests, 5 representing the North-
ern and Eastern Company, and the remaining 2 the East
Anglian. Accompanying the report if a mass of evidence,
containing extraordinary revelations of the system pur-
sued during the past five years ' • and when it is remem-
bered that the Eastern Counties line was one of the first

to obtain dearly-bought experience of the necessity of
looking, above all things, for integrity of management,
the entire document will 1)3 regarded as one of the most
singular that. has ever been presented in connexion with
a public enterprise.