The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-18 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN.

The general half-yearly meeting of this company was I
held yesterday, at the Paddington Station ; Charles •
Russell, Esq., the chairman, presiding.
After the usual preliminaries had been gone through,
The CHAIRMAN addressed the meeting as follows :
Gentlemen, the accounts which we distributed among
you on Saturday are quite as satisfactory as the directors
expected they would be. We were always aware—and
we often so stated to you—that the years 1852 and 1853,
when we opened onr northern lines, and before the traffic
on them and on the South Wales line could be fully de-
veloped, must of necessity be years of pressure to us. It
was for this express reason that we reserved a larger
balance than we were in the habit of maintaining ; and ,
I think we have cause to be satisfied that we have been
enabled to pass over the first of those periods by
drawing to so small an extent on the amount '
so reserved. The most prominent event of the
last half-year has been the opening of the line to
Birmingham. We were very much pressed by our
Shrewsbury friends to hasten the completion of that
portion of the line with the sincere object, I am satisfied,
of accelerating and bringing , into action the traffic
arrangements which were entered into between the three
companies ; but that object, I am sorry to say, has been
defeated by the delays and obstructions which were in-
terposed to the opening of the Stour Valley line. There
were other considerations, however, which made it im-
portant to us not to delay the opening of that line. By
the terms of our purchase of the Oxford and Birming-
ham and Wolverhampton and Dudley lines, we are com-
pelled to pay to the proprietors of these lines 5 per cent.
for a period of six months, after the opening of any por-
tion of them ; and while money is easily obtained in the
market at the rate of 3i per cent., it becomes, of course,
extremely desirable that we should accelerate as much as
we can the completion of that portion of our contract.
The general results of our half-yearly account may be thus
broadly stated :—We have charged to our revenue account
the interest on 1,347,0001. on account of the Birming-
ham and Oxford line, from the day that it was opened,
and we have still maintained our dividend of 4 per cent.
by drawing on our reserve to the extent only of 9,0001. ;
and we are enabled to carry forward 64,000/. as a balance
to meet the exigencies of the present year. (Hear.)
This, too, we have been enabled to do, although we have
been obliged, in conformity with the provisions of the
Legislature, to reduce our charges not with reference to
the Birmingham and Oxford only, but -on our entire
line, from one end of it to the other ; although we have
as yet opened our Birmingham line for passenger traffic
only, with very insufficient accommodation for that
traffic, and during a season peculiarly unfavourable to
travelling, although we have -as yet had scarcely any
mineral traffic from the South Wales, and although we
have had no merchandise whatever brought by our
northern friends. ,(Hear, hear.) I think, combining
all those circumstances together, the directors are justi-
fied in expressing to you the great satisfaction
which they feel at the financial position of our
company. The question as to the Oxford, Wor-
cester, and Wolverhampton Company, and as to the
Shrewsbury lines remains very much in the same state in
which they were when we last met you. Indeed it
could hardly be otherwise, for we every day feel more
and more convinced that that question is of a magnitude
and character which can only be settled by the interven-
tion of the Legislature—(hear, hear)—and since we met
you there has been a short November session of Parlia-
ment, in which, of course, no railway business was
transacted. From the bills introduced by the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton, and by the London and
North-Western Company, we infer that the policy of the
former company is to be the same as that which so sig-
nally failed in the last session. It appears to be still
resolved to endeavour to dissolve those relations with the
Great Western which are clearly enjoined by the act of
ncorporation, and to seek new powers to form alliances

if they think fit with the London and North-Western
and other narrow gauge lines, or to make a new
access themselves to the metropolis by means of the
Mid-Western Railway, which was rejected by the
House of Commons last session of Parliament. It is,
gentlemen, no fault of the Great Western that we are
obliged to appeal again to Parliament. Immediately
after the doge of last session by desire of my colleagues,
I addressed a letter to the chairman of the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Company, expressing
our desire for the renewal of a friendly arrangement
with that company, and suggesting modes by which we
thought it might be carried into effect, and I am sure
when I mention them to you you will not consider
they were at all unreasonable. We offered them, first,
if they still desired to lease that line, that wo would
take it on terms the same in principle, and better in
amount, than thos_e which were actually accepted from
the North-Western Company, but to which the law
would not permit them to give effect. We offered them,
secondly, if they were prepared to dispose of the line,
that we would become purchasers of it, but on
its actually ascertained value, when it should
have been opened and the traffic fully de-
veloped, and that we would work it for them in the
meantime under such an arrangement that every shilling
of profit should go into their own pocket. (Hear, hear.)
We offered, thirdly, if they should prefer it, to enter
into an arrangement with them similar to that which
they had made with the South Wales Company, and
which I believe practically succeeds to the satisfaction
of both companies. We offered, lastly, if they were not
inclined to adopt any one of those arrangements, that we
would save their capital—an object of great importance
to them—by providing stock for working their line, and
under such, an_ arrangement as might be determined to

be equitable between the parties. My letter r
we r
to the
chairman was dated the 23d of August t last,
but
ceived no answer to our proposal until the beginning of
November, and then they intimated to us in express
terms that they preferred renewing the same struggle in
the present session of Parliament
swhich they had to en-
counterloft to
usThere
rightswanost alternative
in
but th
toe ldefenda ourin the
then
be
thatmanner we
. weree st able,ern
Railwaye
tfhe
iesl
ypeear perfectly etcht
al yt convincedit di d.
giveand
endeavourt h e same
tvoerednifcotreeuwtheernep
and we
stillMid-
gls h
rtur e
perseverew ilibroowvi'sdiOvnilis
the Le-
gislature
of the act of incorporation, by which they
work their line continuously with the Great Westernto
Company. (Cheers.) In the course of •
to the Mid-Western Railway session our opposition
list of Parliament,
we contended, as we had done successfully *
the districts between Birmingham
andLo in
London 1847, that
better supplied with railway communication by
y means
could be
of the " dropped" lines of the Great Western than the
.
lines passing through the midst of them tis neces-
sary that we should take every precaution iin our power
to give effect to the system which was approved of on
both of those occasions, and it is necessary
n there-
fore that we should go to Parliament i
order
to
obtain an extension of time for making
to Uxbridge and Henley-. Nearly in the same category
may be included a short line from Melksham to
Devizes.
All those lines do not exceed a few miles in length. We
have already entered into a contract for the purchase of
the land over which they will run, which must be carried
out, whatever other arrangements may be made, as we
have incurred various expenses. We always contem-
plated the completiontof those lines. With us their corn.
pletion was but a question of time ; and we really believed,
putting aside every other consideration, that, in an eco-
nomical point of view, the best thing to do was to com-
plete them at once, and get them out of hand. The
confidence of the directors in the ultimate success of our
Shrewsbury line has in no degree been shaken by the
proceedings which took place at the meeting on
the 31st of last month. It has been our
purpose from the beginning, and it is now
our purpose to give effect to that affiance, and I
sincerely hope we shall be able to accomplish it in the
ensuing session. lam sure the directors of that com-
pany will admit that we made large modifications on our
original engagement, with the view of propitiating the
I support of their proprietors. We had consented to waive
all technical obstacles to their proceeding with their bill,
provided only that the London and North-Western Com-
pany would enter into an engagement in no way to im-
-1 pair our legal rights. We went even further : we
our-
de-
parted from the principles we had prescribed for
the
selves, and assented to give a qualified guarantee in
interval if the proprietors would support the alliance
, with the Great Western. I said it was argued at that
meeting that it was extremely unjust and unreasonable not
to give the same guarantee to the koprietors who
opposed us as to those who supported us—that is, that
we should waive the entire consideration for which
nten-
ialone
the guarantee was to be given. But it is not my
tion to enter into a controversy which someke. of
The
the
speeches delivered on that occasion might provo
letter we sent after that meeting contains the ar gu hink mentit
s
on our part fully and fairly stated, and I do not t
would be possible for me to add
fit to
tthe
d force of it.
terms
The
Shrewsbury proprietors thought o e
not sorry they
cline the
and for myself I avow frankly that I am
did. I have myself individually the greatest objection
to guarantees. (Cheers.) They often act n;lost injuri-
ously and unjustly to the companies who give them, and
particularly in the present case, where, though the
guarantee was to be given by us, the line was to remain
in the hands of their directors. Now, far be it from
me to impute to those gentlemen anything dishonour-
able or unfair ; but I am sure it must be obvious
to them, as well as to every one who hears me,
that
there cannot be the same security for careful manage-
ment, for just and fair rates of charges, on a line where
the proprietors happen to be sure of obtaining a dividend
from another company, as on a line where the proprietors
depended entirely upon their own resources. (Hear.)
I, therefore, think we were right in declining those pro-
positions. The Shrewsbury Company
.having refused
our terms, we now fall back on the original agreements
—first the traffic arrangement made with them iee n Jan.,
1851 ; and, secondly, the amalgamation agrme
which we entered into in May in the same year. lam
happy to announce to the proprietors that we haveH this
year introduced very few bills into Parliament.
(ear,
hear.) Almost all, at least all the most important ones,
are with reference to the Northern lines, and for the
purpose of giving effect to the Shrewsbury Act. We
have a bill confirming the'traffic arrangement, a second
confirming the amalgamation agreement, another seek-
ing running powers, and for laying
fordown the broad
gauge over the lines, and a fourthb making some
trifling deviations These W p .
am ton and that part
of the country. These are the most important bills
which it will be our duty to carry forward by every means
in our power. Our earnest endeavours shall be devoted
to settle those long-pending questions in the ensuing
session. In those efforts we feel satisfied we will be
supported by the good faith which has invariably actu-
ated the proprietors of the Shrewsbury Company. I
do not, however, overlook the difficulties that are to be
encountered, but the to
proprietors cannot re-
proach us if, yielding to extrancouo inflUera or Alain
_ g