The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-24 00:00:00

connected with the loans that the board of directors
had made to themselves and others, out of the
funds of the company, which it would be seen he had
collected from a Parliamentary return, and called upon
the auditors to give some explanation of the circum-
stances under which the loans were made. He con-
cluded by stating that at a meeting of the Manchester
shareholders, those whom he now represented came
to the following resolution :—"That any investigation
to be satisfactory to the shareholders at large, as cal-
culated to re-establish confidence in the board of di-
rection, must be full, searching, and impartial, em-
bracing all the affairs of the company and ma-
nagement and proceedings of the directors, and
must be conducted by shareholders of known
and acknowledged character and station, wholly un-
connected with and un'nfluenced by the directors,
and that the directors ought to pledge themselves to
give in person such information as may be required
of them, as well as to produce and show without any
reserve all books and accounts under their care and
control."

Mr. R. D. MANGLES, M.P., wished to say a few
words, and they should be but a very few, as his time
was valuable. He had come there to investigate
charges of fraud against the directors, and he pro-
tested against all idea of their going into investigation
of the past policy of the company.
Mr. KATE protested that neither he nor his friends
had made any charges of fraud against the directors.
Mr. R. D. MANGLES, M.P., was not present at the
last meeting, but he certainly understood that the
charges were charges of fraud. Now the
Chairman had admitted that his board had
fallen occasionally into error in prosecuting some of
their undertakings; but he asked at the same time
what other railway board in the kingdom had not
committed similar mistakes ? The Hon. Gentleman
might have gone further, and asked what body of
railway shareholders was there in the country that
had not fallen into error ? Why, he remembered the
day when the shareholders were loud in throwing
out taunts against the directors for not
proceeding fast enough with now schemes and
as for the advice that came from Manchester, let them
remember this—that not a bankruptcy had taken
place of late years hi the north which was not
attributable to the bankrupts having entered too
largely in railway speculations, and he therefore
could not help feeling that this advice came with a
bad taste from the Manchester proprietor.
A PROPRIETOR here rose to order, but before he
could utter a single word, the vast majority of
the meeting rose en manse, and set up a
deafening cry of " Turn him out." The proprietor,
however, stood his ground for some time, but to no
purpose; the yells and shouts ultimately beat him
down ; and
Mr. MANGLES proceeded with his address, observ-
ing that the present policy of railway shareholders
reminded him forcibly of the conduct of a child, who,
when he ran up against a chair, turned round and
pummelled it. He protested against their entering upon
the sea •f general policy. The question must be
narrowed into a personal one, and in order to come
at once to it, the best thing they could do was to
agree, without further delay, to the original resolution.
Mr. Sergeant GASELEE, amidst renewed confusion,
claimed the right to address the meeting, but it was
some time before he could obtain a hearing.
At length silence was restored, when the
Learned Sergeant was understood to say,
that both the statement and the pamphlet
of the Chairman were capable of refutation. He
would not, however, endeavour to enter upon it then,
but leave it for the committee to dispose of all the
questions that had been raised, either for or against
the directors. Let it be distinctly understood what
the ,directors were charged with. Those who im-
pugned the past policy of the directors, did
not attribute the falling of in the receipts
to the carrying out of extensions to the
south, but to their wasteful expenditure
upon the Waterloo bridge, the Windsor and Brent-
ford, and such like lines, and if the directors could
succeed in satisfying the minds ef the committee
upon the points connected with those lines he and
those who acted with him would be the first, not
only to support a vote of confidence in them, but to
vote each of them 2,0001. a year for life if the share-
holders so wished it.

The CHAIRMAN having heard patiently the state-
ments against him and his brother-directors, now
wished to explain to the meeting the animus which
had characterised the proceedings and actuated the
feelings of the committee appointed at the last meeting.
Mr. Kaye, not content with looking into his (the
Chairman's) own private affairs as disclosed by the
books of the company, had the indelicacy to go to his
bankers and question them as to the cash balance he
had in their hands on the occasion of their .paying
to the company on his account a sum of 50,0001.—.
(Shame.) But that was not all. lie understood
that the committee entered upon a lengthened inves-
tigation upon the pass-system, but, not content with
the pass-book, they sent down an especial commission
to Basingstoke to examine the station-master there
upon the subject of his (the Chairman's) family pass-
ing along the line free.—(Shame.) Now, he put it
to the meeting, were such men fit to govern this
company ? _

Ain LOCKE, M.P., the former engineer of the com-
pany, amidst some confusion protested that the
statement of the chairman was unfounded. He had
sat on the committee referred to, and he
had no hesitation in stating that the
statement he had just made as to the
pass system was entirely unfounded. The fact was
there had been whisperings out of doors as to the
manner in which the Chairman distributed his passes,
and the investigation referred to by him was insti-
tuted by himself, and at his own request, to get rid of
the insinuations that were indulged in out of doors.—
(Hear, heer.) Now with regard to the immediate
question under discussion, he would at once
state that he did not believe the resolu-
tion moved from the chair would be pro-
ductive of no good, nor would it result in clearing
the characters of the directors. He was free to
admit, with the Chairman, that he had frequently
advised policies that had proved most suicidal ; and
with the same frankness he would confess that he
had no confidence in the existing board. He did
not mean to impute to them any misconduct—
they had been only guilty of errors of judgment,
like himself, but in the altered circumstances of the
time and the undertaking, they were not fit men to
manage this great company. What he wanted was a
thorough change; but no personal inquiry of this
sort could produce that change; and if the directors,
for whom he entertained the highest respect, were
really desirous of receiving the confidence of their
shareholders, and the respect of the world, they would
at once adopt the course he:had suggested.
The CHAIRMAN accepted the explanation of the
Hon. Gentleman, and expressed his deep regret at
having misunderstood the matter relating to passes .
After some further discussion,

Captain MOORSOM, who stated that he represented
34,0001. worth of stock, announced his intention to
vote against the original resolution, believing with
Mr. Locke, that the only method to establish the
stability of the company was a thorough change in
the system of management.
Mr. Horse was at a loss to know what charges
had been made against the directors. He certainly
had heard none, and he, therefore, could see no reason
for inquiry.
Mr. SMITH replied, that at the last meeting the
directors were charged with misappropriating the
funds of the company during the panic, and that was
the charge to be inquired into.
Mr. BAKER, who was accused of making this
charge, repudiated anything of the sort. He made
no charge, he simply asked the Chairman, at the last
meeting, whether it was true or not that such and
such sums had been appropriated in such and such a
manner.

Mr.! Under-Sheriff Wsun supported the original
resolution, believing that the directors would come
out of the inquiry with clean hands.
After some further discussion, the amendment was
negatived, and the original resolution carried by a
large majority.

The re% election of the committee was then entered
upon. After a good deal of discussion, a resolution
was passed appointing the committee, to consist of
the following gentlemen :—Mr. H. Currie, M.P. ;
Captain R. D. Mangles, M.P. ; Mr. Sergeant Clarke;
Mr. Hutchins • and Mr. East.
Mr. D. W. Wias then moved a vote of thanks to
the Chairman, which was agreed to, and
Mr. CHAPLIN having briefly acknowledged the
compliment,
The meeting then dispersed.

THE CRYSTAL CURTAIN AT DRURY LANE THEATRE.

—The interior of old Drury was brilliantly fitted by
Mr. Frederick Gye for Jullien's masked ball. The
circle of chandeliers low down and beyond the central

light, and the garlands of flowers suspended by butter-
flies, which filled the upper part of the house, produced
a charming effect. What we have to notice, however,
as new in decoration, and it is scarcely possible to go
anywhere without finding something which may be use-
fully mentioned to our readers, is the " chrystal cur-
tatn," as it was called, which fringed the upper part of
the proscenium. This was formed wholly of chandelier
d rops, or spangles, with gas in devices behind, and when we
mention that its width was 42 feet, and that it descended
16 feet at the sides and 11 feet in the middle ; it will be
seen that it must have swallowed up an enormous num-
ber of them. The ground-work took as nearly as pos-
sible 100 to the square foot, but adding the drapery,
lines, tassels, &e., which were formed by other layers
on the surface, and then the fringe, which was repro-
rented by a quantity of " lobs," as they are called, com-
monly uied to surround war-light lustres for chimney-
pieces, the number cannot have been less than 80,000.
It seems that Mr. Gye obtained the greater number of
them from Bohemia—finding they could be had cheaply
there—without any precise intention, but simply with
the idea that by different arrangements they might be
made useful in decoration, and this was his first and
very successful §ttempt with thopu—The Builder.