The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-12 00:00:00

N ORT H-MIDLAND RAILWAY
COMPANY.

The half-yearly General Meeting of the Directors and
proprietors of the North Midland Railway Company took
place on Friday last, at the City of London Tavern,
-Bishopsgate-street, for the purpose of receiving the Report
of the Directors, and for the election of Six Directors in
the room of those who went out by rotation.
The meeting was attended by all the Directors, a large
number of Shareholders, and by the Engineer, Solicitor,
and other officers of the Company.
Shortly after one o'clock the Chair was taken by GEORGE
CARR. GLvlsr, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The CHAtastAN said, the present meeting had been con-
vened in pursuance of the Act of Parliament, which re-
quired that meetings should be held half-yearly—one in
the month of February, and the other in the month of
August. He should now call upon the Secretary to read
the advertisement which had been inserted in the papers for

that purpose.
The SEcaETAav having read the notice, then proceeded
to read over the minutes of the proceedings of the last half-
yearly meeting, which had been held in the large room of
the' commercial Buildings, Leeds, when the common seal
of the Company bad been affixed to the Register of Pro-
Report of the Directors read and received,
prietors, the
and the sale of 2.36 forfeited shares authorized.
The proceedings of the last meeting having been con-
firmed,
The CIIAIItHAN observed that it would not be necessary
to detain them many minutes before proceeding to take
into consideration the report which the Directors had pre-
pared upon the present occasion. The Directors had pro-
ceeded in the usual manner, which was that of not conceal-
ing or withholding from the body of Proprietors any thing
which might be interesting or important to them, or which
they had it in their power to communicate.—(Hear, hear.)
So long as the present Directors had the honour of re-
presenting them, not an iota of information, whether good
or bad—whether against the calculations they bad origi-
nally made, or in their favour, would ever be withheld.
They had always acted and would continue to act upon
the principle, that they were merele the stewards of the
great body of the Shareholders, and every thing that oc-
curred should be made known to them at the periodical meet-
ings held for that purpose. That led him to remark, that
the Directors had felt it their duty, in the Report which
was about to be submitted to them, to state that they were
likely to exceed the estimates originally made. There was
Do doubt that, in the course of a few months from the pre-
sent period, a satisfactory. explanation would be afforded of
the different heads under which that increase took place,
and it would be perhaps premature to anticipate that ex-
planation. He would remark, however, that it was the
custom with most Companies, after the Act of Incorpora-
tion had received the Royal Assent, to prepare what were
called revised estimates—in fact, throwing overboard the
Parliamentary estimates, or, in other words, adding what-
ever increase in the expenditure the engineer might think
likely to occur. He would not now stop to, discuss the
question of whether such a course was or was not advisable,
but he would remark that the Directors of the North Mid-
land Railway Company had not pursued that course—they
were rather inclined to wait the:result of the actual letting of
the contracts than leave thu matter to the speculation
of the engineer. He had now to apprise the meet-
ing, that, estimating from the works in progress, and
the contracts that had been let, there would be a de-
cided increase in the amount required. That increase
los not speculative, but it was one which had been actu-
ally ascertained.—(Hear.) He should be most happy,
after the Report had been read, to render every
information, so far as it might be deemed advisable
or prudent at the present moment, concerning the works in
nrogress, or any other matter.—(Hear.) There was only
one other point in connection with the Report, upon which
be would trouble them with any observations ; and he
plight add, that he only called their attention to those
points which, by some proprietors, might be deemed disad-
vantageous to the Company. He would leave the sweets
to speak for themselves. Some of the proprietors present,
who had not attended the meeting at Leeds, were not per-
il lip, aware of the nature of the opposition the Company
had met with from the Aire and Calder Navigation Com-
pany, although all must know thtt they are one of the most
influential and poWnrful Companies in the kingdom, and
that they had for many years past exercised a great mo-
nopoly in the water conveyance of goods and merchandise
over great part of Yorkshire. Like other powerful Com-
panies, they were not willing to allow anything like rivalry
to approach them ; and accordingly, the opposition the
North Midland Company had received from them during
the progress of the Act through Parliament was most un-
ceasing and inveterate. He did not blame them for that
opposition, which was natural. In the House of Commons be
would say that the North Midland Company had met with fair
play, but the opposition the Bill met with in the Committee
of the House of Lords was very great. The Aire and
Calder Navigation Company was connected with many of the
first families in the North of England, and their influence
among
ff the Peere was very powerful. They did not indeed suc-
ced in
disproving the case of the North Midland Company,
fore it was founded upon truth and fact ; but they had con-
trived to hamper them by the introduction of certain clauses
which had been found injurious to the well working of the
concern. It became the duty of the Company, therefore, as
soon as the Bill had received the Royal assent, to endea-
vour to come to some arrangement with the Aire and Calder
Company, and a proposition was made to them on terms
which, after a great deal of deliberation, the Directors of
the North Midland Company thought exceedingly liberal.
lie was afraid however he must be compelled to say that
the proposition was not met in a similar spirit. When he
was a school boy he thought it extremely unfair to be
compelled to pay for the rods with which he was to be
whipped, and the Aire and Calder Company appeared de-
sirous of acting upon the schoolmaster's principle, by re-
quiring that the whole of the Parliamentary expenses in-
curred by them in their opposition to the North Midland
Railway Bill should be paid by the latter Company. The
Directors had refused to comply with that demand, and the
negotiation therefore remained in abeyance.—( Hear.)
Under these circumstances the Directors of the North
Midland Company had thought it their duty to turn their
attention to such a plan as might free the Company, in a
great degree, from the annoyance to which they were likely
to be subjected by the Aire and Calder navigation. The
consequence was, that in the present Report they had
alluded to the probability of applying to Parliament for a
Deviation Line in the part adjoining the town of Leeds.
He could not of course speak definitely upon that
point, because their decision depended in a great
measure upon the conduct which the Aire and
Calder Company might pursue towards them.—(Hear.)
All he wished at present to call the attention of the pro-
prietors to was, that if they found the Aire and Calder
company determined to persevere in their hostility, they
were prepared to go to Parliament and ask for another line ;
by which every purpose of the Company would be answered
in an engineering point of view, and which could be executed
at a cost rather under than over that originally selected.—
(Hear, hear.) With these few remarks he would now beg
of the Secretary to read the Report ; and when that had
been done, if any gentleman present wished to put a ques-
tion to. himself, or any of the Directors, they should be
happy to, give the most satisfactory answer in their power.
The Si:cal:my then read the Report, as follows :
REPORT TO THE PROPRIETORS.

It is the wish, as it is the duty, of the Directors, in now
meeting their Proprietors for the third time, to lay before
them the most explicit and clear statement of the progress
of the undertaking. At the present moment, this must
possess a peculiar and exclusive interest ; the proceedings
which the Directors have now to describe, constituting the
foundation upon which the success of the whole work must
rest. It is, therefore, with satisfaction, that the Directors
now declare their confidence in the result of these proceed-
ings, and trust that the statement now presented will meet
with the concurrence, and be sanctioned by the approbation
of the Proprietary.
Tho Engineers having now finally set out the works for
execution, the Directors are enabled to report that the
favourable character of the gradients, which distinguished
the Parliamentary line, has been preserved, whilst in point
of curves a material improvement has been effected, though
it has added in some degree to the cost of the works.
Since the last meeting, at which it was reported that five
contracts had been let, comprising 14 miles of the line, the
Directors have entered into 17 other contracts, which, to-
gether, complete the letting of 58:1 miles of the whole line
of 72 miles, leaving only 131 miles to finish the distance.
The expectations which the Directors expressed in their
last report, that a favourable competition would take place,
have been fulfilled ; and these contracts have been made
upon satisfactory terms ; upon the whole, within the estimate
delivered by the Engineers at the time of receiving the
tenders. It is right, however, here to state, that these
contracts have been let considerably above the Parliamen-
tary estimate, which arises in part from the scale of prices
being higher than the Engineers had then reason to con-
template ; and from the increased quantity of work which,
upon a more careful revision of the line, has been found un-
avoidable.
It may, however, be confidently stated, that most of the
contracts have been made on such a scale as to insure the
Company against being subjected to any considerable in-
crease for the amount of extra work.
Attention has been particularly directed, in working
these contracts, to insure such a combined and regular re-
turn from the contractors, as well as the Resident and
Assistant Engineers, that the Directors will be enabled to
exercise the strictest superintendence over the works, and
to obtain the most authentic information of their comparative
progress—comparative as regards the-- completion of the-
whole ; and they will thus be enabled to detect immediately
any delay which may occur, and form a just estimate of the