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

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[PRICE SD.

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should piece upon record their dissatisfaction at the _
7," ,
small amount of dividend which was now effered - ar ir
A.
to them; and vrita, that object in view he should ,i. seathzze)
conclude by moving as en amendment that the share-
holders had observed with great disappointment and dis-
satisfaction the smallness of the dividend they were
called upon to accept.—(Hear.)
Mr. IleareeToer seconded the amendmeut, and said he
conceived that the shareholders had no sufficient safe-
guard for their property, so long as those who managed
their affairs exhibited such a total disregard for truth
and the decision of the proprietary.—(Hisses.)
at igo ani nw ht
ine rhe himself'geadr edtpateiorl est dohnotahl
meeting el y 'exn cent
l a
ai fmta eet ads
The CHAIRMAN—As the charges made were directed
whichtahsei they
h thekeyi n hdc
iradct t ' eumn oc-
curred-•
stances took place, which had induced the gentleman
who had spoken to make such extraordinary statements.
The half-yearly meeting in March last was convened
specially to consider the Heading,
Bill, and ti poll being ch mantas!,
,6:?uilford, and Reigate
proprietors voted in
favour of that Bill, and five against it. Subsequently
various alterations were introduced in the framework of
the measure, arid though it was doubtful whether ano-
ther meeting was necessary, still the directors; felt it to be
right to come before the proprietors and ask their assent
to the alterations, lest they should be charged with
a neglect of duty. Accordingly they submitted
the Bill in its amended shape to the proprietary
at the special meeting which was held on the
6th of May. Upon that occasion it was almost impos-
sible for any wan to tell on which side the majority on
the show of hands went.—(Hear. hear, and cries of
‘as aey one could entertain—a majoritrof
e Stuff !" ‘• Nonsense l'') But, in hie judg-
-I;eNenot—, eel"h e spoke with confidence, and with us much re-
spect for troth
hands was held up in favour of the Bill.—(Oh, obi and
dissent). A poll was then demanded, and they knew the
result.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Forty-eight per-
sons voted for 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 anortunity of appearing before the Com-
mittee of the House of Lords against the MI 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-
eider 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
inconsistent with justice, Lord Beaumont, Lord Win-
chester, and Lord Waldegrave. The 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
btheaota
in
thatought
he to(t h
op rocee, d.
chairman) He
wasa
somewhat inte-
rested , hear.) It had
in promoting this Bill; but again he begged to
state, as ho had before stated in that room, that he never
the
hinted Bill
possessed a fraction of interest in that railway, until the
agreement was entered into, when he purchased a 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 is 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 was paid up subsequently to the
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 set at rest.
than that the South-Eastern proprietors should have put
having themselves in the position of repudiated an agree-
ment for amalgamation, and in be dragged
through the courts of law, and consequence
stand disgraced betore
the great body of capitalists who
upon their security.—(Cheers.)
Mr. JOSIAH Weasoet said the chairman had not replied
to the specific charge which had been me ad against him.
That charge was this—the question proposed
the matter should be adjourned; and, upo its binwas,
the chairman declared it not to be carried. Now
shareholders must not be ridden over in that manner,. thit
was not the first time that things of this description had
been done, and ns inorities declared to be majorities. A men
who could declare iu 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 he stood
alone, he would raise his hand against it. Thanks ge-
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,"
and hisses.) His allusion was not to the playhouse; he
meant a railway stage manager —(" Oh, oh") the
manager of their traffic affairs. The mistake they had
made, however, was in having given to Mr. MacGregor
the solo and entire control of their affairs; for although
that gentleman came 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
manana r? Mr. MacGregor. Who the direction? Mr.
MacGregor. Who the secretery ? Mr. MacGregor.
Who the controller? Mr. MacGregor.—(Hisses and
much uproar.) Ho trusted then that the shareholders
would at length open their eyes to the necessity of
looking into their own affairs, and, as a prehminarybtep,
vote for the amendment 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.
Ho also thought that the coal depots 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 PaornenToa,
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 wester 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 spontaneous
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 that which
had been burnt would in futu* be kept by the company.
As to the expense, the directors thought it
distribute it ever several half-years instead was best to
With
of one.
respect to the coal trade it was open to all the world;
and in the Medway Companyoppou
pete with as powertul Mr. ay n
the country
.1. _
That Mr. Chayter madegoodno great
This he was bound coke was mass
to do by contract; but that
good coke ho (the chairman That it was
could affirm.
also economical andmoderate • en by the re-
duction which had taken l might be se
in the consumption by
the en ;
gdle---a result broughtane about ebietlY i n
queue of the purchase of new engines a superitoor he old
and the adaptation of improvements of the day
engines. In the remarks of Mr.
quoted by Mr. Smith, ho entirly.aaa__
as a
come amongst them in the first instsr"as a
—as a proprietor he had rematione:,:in
theira
and a managing proprietor,
had been his constant stu y which had been
GlYnn' cwurired. He© ad
Proprietor,
proprietor,
approbation
d during the last eigkt
ears.—(Loud cheers)
y
did not goo the object to which the
Mr. SAINTSBURY -
d.
Indeed he could not discover
amendment was direcnte
In
d ent at all. He recommended,
that it was an. hi
ashoulde be withdrawn.
therefore, that it
The
only
end the amendment would
Mr. WILIJAIns injure their property. If the meet-
Id be to
would
would stand before the public as p
answer,
R ted it, they
in adopted (Cheers and loud laughter.)
lot of fools.
The amendment
was then pat to a show of hand , % d
by considerable majority.
jaq'h e &AIRMAN was about to put the original motion.
as next in order, when
Mr. J. WILSON again rose, and asked what was the
amou
at of revenue received from the Reading, Guild-
ford, and Reigate traffic?
The CHAIRMAN—There was no separation of that
traffic in the accounts from the traffic of the main line,
and he would give the best of reasons for it. The South-
Western Company were retaining it their hands th
whole of the receipts of the Guildford station belonginge
to this company, and an action was pending against theni
for money in their hands exceeding ama - More-
over,--
the parishes along the Reading, Guildford, and
Reigate line were attempting to assess this company
to the extent of the full rental they
instead of upon the net profit, if paid for the line,
turned.—(A laugh.) In the exercise94l37l which it de:
cretion, therefore, the directorshad of their d'lme
..
the traffic of the Reading and r
withamalgamated
d
athe
traffic of the main line in the Reigate line
et
for
amalgamating the lin ... accounts. The A
ea dissolved the Readings Guild-
ford, and Reigate Company, and conferred upon the
South-Eastern all the advantages which that line pos-
sessed under agreement with the South-Western Com-
pany. But the latter company had disputed this ar-
rangement, and forced the South-Eastern Company to
bring a suit at law to recover the property from them.
That suit was taken into the Court of Exchequer, where
the judges decided in f svour of the South• Eastern Com-
pany, awl the South-Western direction thereupon car-
ried the matter to a higher tribunal
0 word "anomalous"
Mr. 'WILKINSON observed that
Ch°-
was used in the report with
rei erud Continental lic° to the present Pam
sition of the South-Easterna Ste
. that
position w
Packet Company, and mid
?tibte Y know •in what way it Was an
" anomalous" iv
one. He 'slled di
to
was recommended that an amalgamation should be
of with that company, or whether any plan had
been sketched out for that purpose, though not yet
matured?
The
caAismen said the directors made no recom-
mei:edition
A - whatever upon the subject. They had se b-
mitte
d the facts contained in the report to the proprie-
tors, and left them to say, upon consideration of those
facts, whether or not they deemed it desirable that the
matter should be settled for ever.
A Prtorlt*Toß—They had better get the Steam-opal