The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-10 00:00:00

//:Z.

/7-

i should place upon record their diseettsfactl,
1 small amount of dividend which Was now
Ito them; and with that object in view he
leshanolliidesedfarnusthinanril
tohbesers=lisenistsh3 gorcfattdhir
conclude by moving as an amendment that te.
eon to accept.—(Hear.)
Mr. HA-MILTON seconded the amendment, and
guard for
affairsf or th eeixrhpirhoi
exhibited
property,
sashso laong total a s
disregardtle ose who
PdPir°iidr4ntrjudt:a't
conceived that the shareholders had no star'
thci
and the decision of the proprietary.—(Hisses.)
The CHAIRMAN--As the charges made were .
against himself personally, be claimed their kind atten-
ntinornrewdhiielerhegeadrodtateiletdhethme
eeextiancgt
stances took place, which had induced tho gentleman
afteewtshiacshththeey hcirdcuome:
who had spoken to make such extraordinary statements.
The half-yearly meeting in March lest
wes cenvened
specially to consider the Reading, G uilford, and Reigate
Bill, and a poll being demanded, 63 proprietors voted in
favour of that Bill, and five regales; it. Subsequently
various alterations were' introduced in the framework of
the rusesure, and thouge it was doub:ful whether ano-
ther meeting was necessary, still the directors felt it to ha
right to come before the proprietors and ask their assent
to the alterations, lost they should be ehart;,,d wiqi
a neiglect of duty. AesterSiegly they :submitted
the Pell in its emended shape to the, proprietary
at the special meeting which was held on the
6th of May. Upon that. oecasion it was almost impeue
„hie for eny Lean to tall e,.! weieth a,i e the' reejerity on
the show of hands weet.—(Hear. beer, arid cries of
"No, eo!" " Stuff !" " Nonsense !") But, iu his judg-
ment—he spoke with confidence, and wtth as much re-
one could entertain--s mejerity of
y knew the
Forty-tight hsPaencdtsfowratsrtle.'hidus liai)nY favour of the Bill.—CA, oh! and
dissent). A poll was then demanded, and the
result.—(Rear, hear, and laughter.) P
per-
sons voted fur the Bill, and thirty-seven against it. On
the following day the matter was considered by the
Standing Order Committee of the House of Lords, to
whom an application was made to dispense with the
Standing Orders and allow the Bill to go on. Lord Redes-
dale sitting alone, however, declined to accede to the
application, and ordered that the dissentient proprietors
should have an opportunity of appearing
before the Com-
mittee of the House of Lords against the 0111. A cir-
cular was then forwarded to every proprietor upon the
subject, and Lord Redesdale summoned the whole of
the Members of the Standing Order Committee to con-
sider it. The Committee met on the 18th of May—there
being present, besides Lord Redesdale, who, he felt
assured, was .incapable of doing
anything which was „aha
inconsistent with justice; Lord Beaumont, Lord Win-
chester, and Lord Walclegrave. Tee company's case
having been stated by their Parliamentary agent, and
the agreement to amalgamate produced and verified,
Mr. Wyatt was heard on behalf of 20 dissentient peti-
tioners, and Mr. Josiah Wilson on his own behalf; the
Committee were, however, unanimous in coming to the
decision that the Standing Orders did not apply, and
that the Bill ought to proceed.—(Hear, hear.) It had
inbtuhts again he begged to
room, that he never
t
been hinted that he (the chairman) was somewhat inte-
srteasttee,d a ins he promoting
had
possessed a fraction of interest in that railway, until the
agreement was entered into, when he purchased a quali-
before this
staßteidll
quali-
fication, in order to act as one of the finance committee
for administering the funds spent in the construction of
the Reading, Guildford, and Reigate line. Than his
conduct in that transaction no act of his life had been
more patent to public observation. There was not a
gentleman on the Stock Exchange who was not ac-
quainted with the progress of the measure from first to
last, and knew that the capital of the Reading, Guildford,
and Reigate Railway
amalgamation with this company. And he put it to the
meeting whether it was not better for their united in-
terests that this matter had been for ever
e set at rest,
than that the South-Eastern proprietors should have put
themselves in the position
went for amalgamation, anodfih.naving repudiated an agree-
consequence be dragged
through the courts of law, and stand disgraced before
the great body of capitalists who had advanced money
upon their security.—(Cheers.)
Mr. JOSIAH WILSON said the chairman had not replied
to the specific charge which had been made
against That charge was this—the question proposed
him.
was,
that
the matter should be adjourned; and, upon its being
the chairman declared it not to be carried. Now, phthte,
shareholders must not be ridden over in that manner. Is
was not the first time that things of this description had
been done, and re inorities declared to be majorities. A man
who could declare in a public room that a majority was
a minority should not have his (Mr. Wilson's) confidence,
and when the time came for a vote of thanks, if ho stood
alone, he would raise his hand against it. Thanks go.
nerally went with confidence, and he had none to offer.
He believed the affairs of the company had gone
on from bad to worse, and that worse was still impend..
ing, unless the shareholders determined upon effecting a
change in the administration, and took the power out of
the hands of one man, who was at present superior to
all, and paramount in his influence over the whole of
the subordinates on the line, and he included in the list
of subordinates the gentlemen who were termed direc-
tors under him.—(Strong expressions of disapprobation).
The 2,0001. a-year they gave to their manager was the
greatest mistake they had ever committed. He did not
mean to say that for that sum the gentleman in question
might not be an excellent stage manager.—(" Oh, oh,"
anti hisses.) His allusion was not to the playhouse; he
meant a railway stage manager (" On, oh") the
manager of their traffic affairs. Thu mistake they had
made, however, was in having given to Mr. MacGrefor
the sole and entire control of their affairs; fur although
1 that gentleman cent° before them to day, and treated
them to a good deal of humbug about their opinions and
their wishes, what was the use of that? Who was the
manager? Mr. MacGregor. Who the direction? Mr.
MacGeogor. Who the secretary ? Ur. MacGregor.
Who the controller? Mr. MacGregor.—(Hisses and
much uproar.) Ho trusted thee that the shareholders
would at length open their eyes to the necessity of
looking into their own affairs, and, as a preliminary step,
vote for the ameudmint proposed by Mr. Smith.
Mr. HELMORE alluded to the diminutions which had
taken place in various items of expenditure in the course
of the past half-year as an earnest of the desire of the
directors to economise, but expressed his regret that the
South-Eastern contined a private contracting company.
He also thought that the coal dep&ts at the several sta-
tions of the company should not be in the hands of one
person only, Mr. Chayter; and with regard to the fire
at the Ashford station, was of opinion that the entire
sum on that account ought to have been included in the
present year's revenue account, and not spread over a
series of years.
In answer to a
PROPRIETOR,
The CHAIRMAN said the fire at Ashford took place in
a fire-proof room—(A laugh)—from a singular combi-
nation of circumstances. A repair was going on at the
end of a pipe at the time, and the supply of water was
cut off to allow that repair to be finished. Whether
the fire arose from a small stove which was in use there
for the purpose of heating stamps for marking the pro-
perty of the company, or whether it was spentaneous
from the rays of the sun striking through the glass roof,
ho had been unable to ascertain. The building it-
self the directors did not propose to replace. The
system of managing the stores had been entirely a -
tered, and in fact no such stock as thatwhich
had been burnt would in future be kept by the company.
As to the expense, the directors thought it was best to
distribute it over several half-years instead of one. With
respect to the coal trade it was open to all the *worlas
and in the Medway Company Mr. Ch t had to com-
pete with as powerful oppone ts ay. ter
the
country
That Mr. Chayter made
(rend
cokeasany in
great
merit.
This he was bound to do bbo vra-sbnuot that it wag
contract,
good coke he (the chairman)That it was
could affirm. also economical and moderate might be seen by the
re-
duction which had taken place in the consumption by
the engine.—a result brought about chiefly in conse-
quenceer of the purchase of new engines of 611paritoortphoewold
and the
adaptation of improvements of the day
h had been
engines. In the remarks of Mr.
"14 cwurrled. He had
quoted by Mr. Smith, ho entirely. cnocno
as a proprietor,
come amongst them in the first a t
ids aane as a proprietor,
—as a proprietor he bad remaine
gain their approbation
t
and a managing proprietor,
to
during the last eight
had been his constant sudy
years.—(Loud cheers.)
a d not see the object to w hic the
Mr. SAINTSBURY ei
d.
ne a
amendment was direcntedweat at all. He recommended,
that it was an
therefore, that it deed he could not discover h
should be withdrawn.
8 In
The only end the amendment would
Mr. WILLItcr be to injure their property. If the meet-
answer, •sc"' ould stand before tho public as 8
ing adore°
lot of fools.—
t d it, they w
The ar"--- e
lost by _.!
The UHAIRM
(Cheers and loud laughter.)
Tidal nt was then put to a show of han's , 1 d
considerable majority.
r in ord.r, when
AN was about to put the original motion
"Er:j. WILSON again rove, and asked what was the
amount of revenue received from the Reading, Guild-
ford, and Reigate traffic?
The CIIAIRMAN—There was no separation of that
traffic in the accounts from the traffic of the main line,
and ho would give the best of reasons for it. The South-
Western Company were retaining it their hands the
whole of the receipts of the Guildford station belonging
to this company, and an action was pending
against them
for money in their hands exceeding 5,0001. More-
over, the parishes along the Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate line were attempting to assess this
to the extent of the full rental they paid company for the line,
instead of upon the net profit, if
which it re-
turned.—(-A laugh.) In the exerciseaqa Y'
cretion, therefore, the directors
had of their
amalgamateddis-
cretion,
the traffic of the Reading and se • h
Reigate line with t a
traffic of the main line in the accounts. The Act for
amalgamating the lines dissolved the Reading,. Guild-
ford, and Reigate Company, and conferred upon the
South-Eastern all the tadvahtag ' s which that line pos-
sessed under agreement with the South-Western Com-
pany. But the latter company bad disputed this ar-
ra,g a suit ar-
rangement, and forced the SoutlnEesteru Company to
baulaw to rs cote r the property
from them.
That suit was taken icto the Court of Exchequer, where
the judges decided in fevour of the Seutp•Eastere Co m-
n
gany, and the South-Western directiou thereupon car-
ried the matter to a higher tribueal.
word
~
anomalous.
Mr. WILKINSON observed
tight ti
to the puffed po-
was used in the repel with referenceeed Continental Steam
hition of the
undoubtedlySouth-Eastern 00d
that position t+ as an
Packet Company, and to know ' •
in what way it
" anomalous" one. lie wished
amalgamation should be
effected with that comp
Was recommended that an
any, or whether
any plan lad
been sketched
out for that purpose, though not yet
matured? said the directors made no recora-
The CHAIRMAN
whatever upon the subject. They had sub-
mittedmendation in the
tors, the facts contained
left them to say, upon consideration of those
and
facts, whether they
or not deemed it, desirable that the
matter should be settled for ever,
A i'lloilusrroß—TheY had better got the Steam-boat