The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-04 00:00:00

BRITISH TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

The first ordinary general meeting of this company
was held in Carrick's Royal Hotel, Glasgow, on Wed-
nesday—W. Gibb, Esq., in the chair. The secretary
read the report of the directors, which was as fol-
lows :

" The documents under which this company was autho-
rised to commence business having been received from the
Board of Trade on the 13th of January last, the directors,
in pursuance of the powers vested in them by the charter,
proceeded to carry out the arrangements which had before
been provisionally entered into for taking possession of the
telegraphic lines of the British Electric Telegraph Coro -
pany, in order to work and use the same for the benefit of
this company. This was effected on the first day of Ab-
ruary last.
The directors are glad to state that all the conditions
of the charter have, up to tho present time, been fully com-
plied with. The remaining condition—namely, theexten-
sion of the wires to Dublin—is now about being commenced
and will be completed in ample time.

" The snboaa-rino cable, Manufactured for the company
by Messrs. Newall and Co., has been successfullylaid down
between Portpatrick, in Scotland, and Castle Chichester,
near Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast. Tho land wires
between Carrickfergus and Belfast on tie ono side, and
Portpatrick and Glasgow on the other, :tiro being rapidly
proceeded with, and the directors hope that, if the weather
be moderate, the communication between Ireland and the
existing system of the company in Scotland and England
will be completed in a few weeks, thus placing the prin-
cipal towns in the three kingdoms in connection with each
other and the Continent.

" The attention of the directors was next anxiously
turned to the completion of the communication to London
in the speediest and most effectual manner. At this junc-
ture the European and American Electric Printing Tele-
graph Company had just completed the laying down of
their wires from Dover to London, and thence to Liver-
pool and Manchester, and a correspondence having been
opened with that company, they were found willing to
unite their lines with those of the British Company, thus
in connection with their own northern lines, supplying to
the latter, without the delay of construction, the commu-
nication from Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Hull,
Newcastle, and intermediate stations to London, and at
the same time placing those districts in direct communica-
tion with the Continent of Europe.
"The directors of this company have, therefore, entered
into an agreement with the European Telegraph Company
for the whole of their lines, which was executed on the
21st day of July last, from which date the revenue of both
companies becomes divisible amongst the proprietors of
this company.
"The consideration is 130,0001., of which, 100,0001. is
taken in paid-up shares of this company, and the remainder
by cash instalments, payable before the end of December
ensuing.
"By this arrangement the British Company obtains, in
addition to the lines of telegraph already specified, the
benefit of a remunerative contract for supplying wires to
the Admiralty, and the advantage of agreements entered
into with the Submarine Telegraph Companies from Dover
to Calais, and from Dover to Ostend, respectively.
whereby this company becomes the exclusive carrier, in-
wards and outwards, of all messages passing through those
submarine lines to or from the Continent. _

" It has been agreed that the eleven directors of the
European Company shall be elected directors of this com-
pany; and in pursuance of that arrangement, the board
have to recommend to the shareholders at this meeting the
appointment of the following gentlemen as ari addition to
the present board, viz. :—Lord De Manley, Samuel Laing,
Esq., M.P. ; W. J. Chaplin, Esq., M.P. ; the Hon. F. W.
Cadogan ; Sir James Carmichael, Bart. ; Ernest Bunsen,
Esq.; J. W. Brett, Esq. ; Francis Edwards, Esq. ; Rear-
Admiral Sir Richard O'Connor; Robert Gill, Esq.; and
George Edward Dering, Esq.
"The accounts have been made up to the 30th of June,
and have been examined and approved by the auditor, and
a copy of the balance sheet has been fcrwarded to each
shareholder, in compliance with the deed of settlement.
" The revenue accounts shows a balance of receipts over
working expenses on the half-year, amounting to 9951. 10s.
3d., out of which the directors recommend that a dividend,
at the rate of three per cent. per annum, be now declared,
payable on and after the 15th of October next. This
balance is exclusive of several sums due to the Company
on revenue account, amounting in all to more than 3001.,
which were not received at the date of the account. The
directors consider this result of the first half-year's work-
ing of the Company is decidedly encouraging, as the whole
system is necessarily not yet fully developed, and the capi-
tal account includes large items, which at present are not
in productive operation, but belong to the whole ultimate
expenditure.
" With a view to meet the Company's increasing busi-
ness between the important towns of Glasgow, Manchester,
and Liverpool, the officers are actively engaged in erecting
additional wires over all the northern lines, and increasing,
in every way the efficiency of the company's system. Ar-
rangements have been entered into for the laying down a
subterranean line from Manchester, through Preston,
Kciadal, and Lancaster, to Carlisle, in order to give a
direct and instantaneous connection between the principal
stations of the company and the Continent, and in a few
months the directors confidently hope to bo in the position
to execute almost any amount of telegraphic business with
the greatest rapidity and precision ; and they trust that
the portion of the public who use the telegraph will ap-
preciate and encourage a company that has done so much
as the British Company has done for the cheapening and
improvement of this most important means of communica-
tion.

" The auditors, Messrs. Broom and Blackburn, retire- in
compliance with th© deed of settlement, but aro eligible
and offer themselves for re-election, and are willing for the
year ensuing to accept the same remuneration as they have
been paid on the present occasion, vit., twenty guineas
each, which the Directors recommend should be granted.
" The retiring Directors, in compliance with the deed of
settlement, are Samuel Bateson, Henry Fenwick, William
Wilberforce Pearson, William Gibb, Stephen Symonds,
William Crawford, and games Hannan, Esq., who, being
eligible, offer themselves for re-election.
"As the company's creed of settlement authorises the
vesting of any portion of their property in trustees, and as
in carrying on their affairs it will be necessary to do so, it
will be requsite that trustees be appointed by the share-
holders at the present meeting; and the Board beg to
nominate for that purpose the following gentlemen :
James Simpson, Esq., C.E., David Webster, Esq., and
William Wilberforce Pearson, Esq.
" The Directors have appointed Mr. George Saward the
interim secretary of the Company, at a salary of 4001. per
annum ; and, as his appointment rests with the share-
holders, they recommend that his services be continued by
this meeting at the same salary.
"In conclusion, the Directors beg to express to the
shareholders their confidence that this undertaking will
ultimately prove very handsomely remunerative, so soon
as the works now in progress shall have been completed
and fairly developed, considering, as they do, that the
system under which it works is very simple, certain, and
expensive, and that telegraphic business in this country,
though rapidly increasing, is even yet only in its in-
fancy."

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of this report,
remarked that it would be seen from the report that the
Directors came to a resolution to make an agreement
with the European Company. The British Company
were bound by their charter to lay wires between Lon-
don, Liverpool, and Manchester by a certain time ; and
they thought as the European Company had just laid
down wires three months previously, it would be very
advisable not cnly to save the capital required to lay the
wires, but at the same time to do away with injurious
and wasteful competition, and they therefore thought it
advisable to make the agreement with the European
Company which has lately been effected. There was
another reason for their anxiety to carry out this agree-
ment. It brings Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow
into direct communication with the continent. Nothing,
he observed, is more important than that a large manu-
facturing and commercial city like Glasgow should be in
communication efficient and rapid with the continent.
The directors have been most Anxious to make as perfect
as possible the communication between the important
towns of Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, for in no
place in the world is a perfect communication more ne-
cessary than between these towns, considering the im-
mense traffic carried on between them. For the most
part, the produce which is sent to Britain from foreign
parts does not belong to parties living at the ports, but
to parties living in the interior of the country. While
this produce is lying for sale in London, Liverpool, or
Glasgow, it is manifestly most important for the owners
to be put into almost instantaneous communication with
purchasers. This object the directors of the British Com-
pany have most anxiously in view, as well as a judicious
arrangement and adaptation of the tariff. During the
last half-year the shareholders and the public of Glasgow
will see that there has been a reduction of the rates from
5s to 2s 6d. I think the inhabitants of Glasgow and Man-
chester will see that we deserve some credit for this effort
to afford them a means of communication at so cheap a
rate, especially as we are in the case of a new company
fighting our way with other companies. He concluded
by directing attention to the satisfactory state of the
accounts, stating that the directors considered the decla-
ration of a dividend of even 3 per cent. could hardly
have been anticipated so soon, but that the accounts did
not even put the best face upon the company's affairs, as
a large portion of the 60,0001. on which the present
dividend is payable has not yet come into productive
operation—in addition to which upwards of 3001. was
due to the company on profit account on 30th June,
which, not being then paid, is not noticed in the revenue
account. He also stated that the Belfast and Glasgow
communication will be completed in five or six weeks.
In answer to a question by a shareholder, he stated that
some defects have been occasioned in the Glasgow and
London communication, in consequence of their being
temporarily a break in the wires at Manchester, two
systems meeting there, and being differently worked.
He was glad, however, to say that the committee at
Manchester have passed resolutions approving of a con-
nection being immediately made between London and
Glasgow. They expected that the alterations thereby
rendered necessary in the offices at Manchester would
be completed in about a month, and the connection of
the two systems might then be proceeded with. He
believed there would be a meeting of the directors im-
mediately, to consider whether a more central and con-
venient office could not be obtained in London.
The adoption of the report was seconded by James
Hannan, Esq., and unanimously carried.
A series of other resolutions was carried, after which
the meeting separated.

A COUNTY COURT SUMMONS SERVED IN CHURCH.—
On Saturday last, some little commotion was caused
in St. Peter's Church, Blackburn, by one of the bailiffs
of the County Court attending in the church to serve a
summons upon a man who on that day was interring
the remains of his child. During the scuffle the sum-
mons was served upon the wrong person. At the
County Court, on Monday last, the bailiff deposed that
he served the summons personally, but the wife of the
defendant appeared, and stated that the process was
served in the church, and upon another man, not the
defendant. His Honour (John Addison, Esq.), asked
the bailiff where be served the summons. The official
answered, "Not in the church, but in the porch." The
Judge, indignantly, said it was neither a proper time
nor place to serve a summons of that court, and dis-
missed the application to commit the man to prison.—
lif-q*Wer &maw;