The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-23 00:00:00

LONDON NECROPOLIS AT WOKING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BUY.
SlR,—Observing in The Sun of Saturday a notice,
copied from a morning journal, of the special general
meeting of the Necropolis Company, held on Tuesday
last, you will oblige me by giving ingertion to the an-
nexed document which, in the form of a printed circu-
lar, has just come to my hands.
Although the meeting was called for purposes of a
public character, viz., to remove Lieut.-G-eneral Briggs
and others from the office of director; to annul a vote
of 2,000/. to Mr. Voules for retiring from a chair which
he has never filled except by usurpation ; and to nomi-
nate a committee with power to investigate, and report
upon, the state and affairs of the company, not only
was the press excluded, but also my solicitor, Mr. Col-
lette (of the firm of Prichard and Collette), who attended
with my proxy, and who, had an opportunity been
afforded him, would have enabled the shareholders to
understand correctly the misconduct of the parties who,
for upwards of two years and a half, have so
managed the company as to bring it into its present
shameul condition of disrepute and collapse.
It is proper that the public should know that, as the
principal originator of this great scheme, and co-founder
of the Company, I have, since April 1851, repudiated
and disallowed whatever Mr. Voules and his associates
have done under the self-assumed name and functions of
directors ; and so soon as the two factions calling them-
selves " directors" have fought out their battle in the
Court of Chancery, it is my intention to compel the com-
pany to a specific performance of covenant as regards
realising the necropolis project in its entirety as devised
by me.
The paragraph noticing the meeting on the 17th,
states that " the company has purchased nearly 1,900
acres (the Daily News says 19,000 acres) at Woking."
This is not the fact—the company only acquire 1,500
acres for burial purposes, and 50 for other purposes, the
residue being leased to myself and colleague. Neither
is it correct to state that " 500 acres would be more
than sufficient to meet the demands for burial
purposes of all London for an indefinite period,
218 acres at present sufficing, of which not one
half has been used in the several suburban cemeteries."
The metropolitan burial grounds (including the ceme-
teries), make collectively 500 acres ; and unless the re-
volting practice of burying 12, 16, or 18 corpses in one
common grave-pit is to continue, neither 500 nor twice
500 acres will suffice indefinitely to bury a mortality ap-
proaching rapidly to 70,000 yearly. The Necropolis,
however, which will be equivalent to 42 cemeteries of the
average extent of the eight existing suburban cemeteries,
will supply London with'a cheap, wholesome, and conve-
nient sepulture for a period sufficient to render unneces-
sary, for generations, a multiplication of petty ceme-
teries within or near the "Metropolis," as defined by
the Burials Act of last session.
The statements embodied in the letter of the Solicitor-
General to Mr. Taylor, renders it unnecessary for me to
add more than simply the expression of my hope that
the public will refrain from taking shares in the Necro-
polis
public until
confidence,such ti
andme
a staff of o
as aßoardof Direction
competenttionworthy too
ampapnoaing
te 0
dt h.
Lle
remain, company's
sir,a ffayirosu,
raore d b e
ditively n.tEnominated and
art.
Sphinx-lodge, Chelsea, May 23, 1853.

TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE LONDON NECROPOLIS AND
MAUSOLEUM COMPANY.
_ _ _

Pending legal proceedin;::s, which will necessarily
occupy a few days, the attention of the shareholders is
requested to the following copy of a letter from the
Solicitor• General to John Stirling Taylor, Esq., and read
by that gentleman to the meeting of the Shareholders on
the 17th inst

20th May, 1853.

-..
wititihmpmouscs hi b
lreegforer tmteh at
tot
aI t
tfie
nndd t
inl ley m pe
eutbi
nl igc
to-day.
duStiiers,—relnltdtei
is
a most important crisis for the sharehold-
ers : the preservation or total loss of their property de-
pends on the resolutions they may come to. I can
assure them from my own personal knowledge, that the
state of their share list, and the depressed and neglected
condition of their great undertaking, are attributable to
one cause only—want of public confidence in the direc-
tors of the company. In my opinion, the reason for
this general distrust is well founded. No coancfitdse
an
nc
de
can be placed in men whose management ofwhtihlle,
latffrauisrst,
of the company has been attended with sduc
fpurlolyceeexdpinlgaisnastoytohuehaeaveeemdheltaedileedhatroehmoel,dan
I wish it to be understood that I haveereno. t taken your
statements upon trust, but have ascertained their car-
ythentire confidence. It
wreicilt,nhesosw, aevnedr,thbaet
hyuotujir
the at
also inquire before they determinee shareholders
theonly
that can redeem the coy determine
the present directors, namely, the dismissal of
terton, and the for ept yourself and Colonel nationChat-
of a new board of
ment. The legal and best course to adopt wirlabneagteO
move an amendment, that the report of the directors be
not received, but that aeommiirtteeotfshareholders be
at
ol)l3r:ipnoter td ftuollyi nlo'nestti
the state thtatee affanda condition of company,honditioentheieo a and
d
on the proceedings of the directors
since the formation.
s
of the company, and the step
that ought to be taken
for the formation of a new
board.
You will be so good as to state my opinion to the
Shareholders, that they are at present without any di-
rection, for that the persons who assume to act as
directors are not legally competent to form a board.
If the course I have recommended be adopted, I have
reason to know that this great national undertaking will
be regarded in the light in which it ought to be placed,
that a large amount of additional subscriptions will be
immediately obtained, and the success and prosperity of
he company placed on a secure basis. I have the
II
John Stirling Taylor, Esq.
(Signed) RICHARD DETIIELL,
onour to be, your very faithful servant, .
Lincoln's Inn, May 17, 1853.

FEENC II PLAYS.
ME. MITCHELL'S BENEFIT.—WEDNESDAY NEXT.
Under the Gracious Patronage of Her Majesty.
fR. MITCHELL respectfully announces that
his BENEFIT is fixed to take place on WEDNESDAY next,
May 25th, 1853, on which occasion will be presented, for that night
only, the favourite Comedy of LE MARIA A LA CAMPAGNE,
and (for the last time it can be repeated) LE BONHOMME JADIS,
in which Mons. Regnier will repeat admirable performancef the
of
" Le Bonhomme Jadis ;" being also the last night but Two o
Comedy Performances. Mr. sSitche.ll solicits the favour of an early
application for boxes and stalls.
Royal Lifirary, 33, Old Bond-street, 19th May, 1853.