The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-10 00:00:00

EAS ['ERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.

0211-N i)AI7.)
The adjourned halt-yearly general meeting of the
Eastern Counties Railway was huld at one o'clock this
afternoon, at the London Tavern, in Bishopsgate-street.

Among those present were Messrs. Waddington,
Anderson, GibbPs, Harrison, Butler, and Wells, Eastern
Counties directors; and Messrs. Paterson, Kinnard,
Routh, Hastie, and Bagshaw, Northern and Eastern
directors.

Long before the hour of meeting the larg hail-room of
the tavern was completely filed with shareholdc r.,,and the
various entrances were besieged with exasperwed proprie-
tors, who were unable to obtain admission. The doors
were guarded by police officers in plain clothe;, and the
scenes of confustun.which now and then took place, both
in the room and out of it, reminded one more of the pro-
ceedings which generally characterise the nomination at
a contested election, or a Jenny Lind night
at the Opera, than a gathering of grave and
far-seeing commerical speculators. A few minutes
after the appointed hour f,:r taking the chair,
the directors, headed by Mr. Waddington, entared the
room by a private door, which was ,trictly guarded by a
strong body of detectives, who had previously exerted
themselves in a very energetic manner to prevent the
seats reserved for the press being invaded by a num-
ber of shareholders, who appear( d to be excessively
indignant that excellent arrangements had been made
for accommodating the reporters. Of course the
entrance of the directors was the signal for an outburst
of yells and hootings that could not be surpassed even
by a disappointed Victoria audience, and which is be-
yond the descriptive powers of any reporter's pencil.
Above the roar of voices might be neard such cries as
" Don't let 'em come in," " Turn 'em out," "Blaze
away," " Knock over the chair," mingled with whoops
and yells which more resembled the war-cry of an Indian
or New Zealand tribe than the articulations of civilized
beings. During this confusion a shareholder roared out
in stentorian voice, " Don't be such fools; act like men
who are looking after the welfare of your pockets, and
don't kick up such a row, as it will be useless going into
business. Let us hear what every body's got to say, and
pitch into 'em afterwards." Another voice replied,
" Oh, that's all humbug—out with 'em at once."
At, length, when some degree of silence was restored,
the preliminaries were entered upon,
Mr. RONEY, the secretary, read the advertisement con-
vening the meeting, but so great was the noise that it
could scarcely be heard.
Mr. WADDINGTON then rose, and was received with
mingle cheers and groans. He said he had come in
Pursuance of the pledge he had given at the last meet-
voice—What about the 2,0001.?) He would
explain all about that presently. His interest and theirs
were identical. He had not a craven heart, and if they
would support him in the chair—(Groans)—every one
should have fair play.—(Noise.) He called upon them
to act like men of business.—(Loud cheers.)
If they did not, they would be sufferers, not him.—
(Cheers.) He asked them to give all a fair hearing, and
to argue the whole of the matters dispassionately. He
called upon the Committee of Investigation to introduce
their report. He should then offer some observations,
and it would then be for the proprietors to do what they
thought proper.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CASH next rose to address the meeting, and put it
to the shareholders whether, as all had had a copy of
the report, it was necessary to have it read?—(No, no.)
Ile then moved the adoption of the report of the
committee, and that its provisions be carried out.
With regard to the mention of his name in the House
of Commons with respect to the 7,6001., he had to say
that he was a member of the Size-lane Committee, but
that not a halfpenny of the money passed through
his hands.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He knew no-
thing about it, but he always understood that the
expenses of the proceedings would be paid by the com-
pany. He believed that thousands would have been
saved if the arrangement with the Northern Railway
had been carried. He had got a list of how the money
had been spent. He was not there either to approve or
condemn that expenditure, but he had made up his mind
to read it. _

Advertising, &e. £1,539 19s.—(" Oh, oh.")
Solicitor 1,619 0 —(" Oh, uh.")
Losses in shares ... ... 3,400 0 —(" Oh, oh.")
Advertising (Barker & Co.) 340 0 —(" Oh, oh.")
Printing, and other expenses 465 0 —(" Oh, oh.")
Balance ... ... 231 0 —(" Oh, oh.")

£7,594 19
The Committee begged to submit the following sug-
gestions for the consideration of the proprietors:-
Ist. To approve of the amalgamation with the Norfolk.
2d. That no dividend be paid at this time.—(Cheers.)
3d. That the directors be reduced from 18 to 12—
eight for the Eastern Counties and four for the Eastern
Union ; that the latter be not paid any sum for their
services, in addition to the 1,0001. awarded them by the
Act ; and that the directors representing the Eastern
Counties be more sufficiently remunerated than hereto-
fore.—(Hear, hear.) _ _

4th. -That the capital account be closed as early as
possible.—(Loud cheers.)

sth. Thai a law clerk be appointed at a salary.
6th. That more efficient pains be taken in the ap-
pointment of auditors, and to consider the propriety of
nominating professed accountants.—(Cheers.)
7th. That the committee be directed to pur-
sue its inquiry as to the state of the capi-
tal accounts, with the view of further investi-
gation, and that it present the results to the next
half-yearly meeting, or forward them by post, or if ne-
cessary, that they request the directors to call a special
meeting to consider the result.
8. Stringent economy in every department.—(Cheers.)
Now, first, as to the amalgamation with the Norfolk.
The committee were unanimous upon that point, and he
might mention that they only held about 5001. worth of
stock. With regard to the dividend, they believed it
would be the height of folly to pay it in the present
condition of the company. No one would object to the
reduction of the directors, while, with regard to the
capital account, it ought to have been closed years
ago, arid the property would be in an infinitely better
condition than it was now. With regard to paying a
salary to a law clerk, that was the only means of keep-
ing down legal expenses. He would not undertake to
say who ought to be appointed, but he thought the best
course would be to leave that point to the Board of Trade
no)—or they might retain their present legal ad-
viser.—(No, no, and a cry " Pay him off, and send him to
the right about.") Having strongly:urged the necessity
of economizing in the future, he concluded by moving a
resolution in accordance with his address.—(Hear.)
Mr. MEEK, another of the committee, seconded the
resolution. The committee rested their recommenda-
tion in reference to the Norfolk Company upon two
grounds—First, that a compact had been fairly entered
into, which it would be a breach of faith to abandon;
and, secondly, because they had been convinced
by inquiry that the future stability of the concern de-
pended upon its connexion with the Norfolk Company.
At all events, if they rejected the proposal, of this he
was convinced, that the Norfolk Company would form
an alliance with a rival interest that would ultimately
prove the ruin of the company, and, therefore, before
the meeting consented to throw over the amal-
gamation, he hoped they would appoint another
committee of investigation from amongst the op-
ponents of the measure to inquire further into it.—
(Cries of " Hear.") Now with regard to the second
point, of not paying the dividend; he knew not whether
the directors intended to object to it, but when he told
them that the present liabilities amounted to no less
than 384,0001., and they had only 105,0001. to meet them
with, how could they pay a dividend of 4s. out of that
105,0001, and reduce the sum available for liabilities
to 35,000/.—(Cheers.) Of this the meeting might rest
assured, that the income of the past half-year had been
more than absorbed in replacing their rolling stock, and
it was calculated that 64,8251. would be required to meet
the present depreciations, and 246,4001., or 50,000/. a
year, to replace sleepers during the nest three years.
Now in such a state of things, could any sane man consent
to take a dividend.—(Cheers.) The committee did not
want them to forego all dividends till the rolling stock
and depreciations had been replaced. All they wanted
the shareholders to do was to give up the present and
consent to a reduction in future dividends.—(Hear,
hear.) Possibly the directors or some of them might
object to this, indeed they seemed to do so in the answer
they had issued to the report of the committee; but what
he said to the shareholders was, don't be further deluded
by shuffling and trickery.— (C e rs. ) Look clearly into
the matter, and try to sift out the motives which actu-
ated these directors, of whom "
he should pre-
sently have something to say.—(Cries of hear, hear.")
Inquiry was necessary in order that they might see how
much of their capital was merely represented by no-
minal figures—to see also, how their money had been
expended—(Hear, bear)—why one person had
received out of their resources as much as
would have remunerated a body o
f dirheecethorsstatfebd
improperly for
twenty years. They had heard that it had
in the House that the money was not ex-
tnded. Now he wished them to be told how that
• 06001. was expended. He wished the directors toex-
tbis•—(llear.) Again money had been swallowed up
i-nuer the dubious name of " extensions." But there was
.
deed of darker dye than,that. The Eastern Counties
I.:ll°letleo,:slieirrete.oafgo agreed to purchase the Wisbeach and St.
The Eastern Counties agreed to take an
one-third of the shares, and the arrange-
Meat Was made in such a manner that the shares could
not get into the market-500 shares were offered to the
directors of the Eastern Counties, and they all availed
themselves of the offer.—(Laughter.) Some taking 500
and the others a smaller number, 2/. deposit was paid.
The Eastern Counties' directors paid 21. deposit, but
sold the scrip at 21. premium.—(Cries of " Shame.")
15,435/, was paid upon the shares issued, so that the
Eastern Counties paid 30,870/., for these shares which was
Precisely the profit they, the shareholders, had paid for
the St. Ives and Wisbeach line. Mr. Hudson came in
too late to share iu this. The Eastern Counties
directors induced the St. Ives and Wisbeach line to issue
fresh scrip, when the bagain was closed, 2,0001. of
their money having been paid for fictitious scrip; but
the statement he was about to make would hardly be be-
lieved. Ile spoke it with sincere pain. The Soli-
citor of the company applied to the St. Ives's Company
to issue fresh scrip, but, let it be said to the honour of
Englishmen that they refused—(Cheer,)—but this did not
thwart the gentleman intent on this dishonest act. Mr.
Hudson and Mr. Waddington signed two orders for
2,0001, as if to represent the payment of deposits upon
scrip representing 1,000/. One was countersigned by the
secretary, but the other was not from, it was believed, an
oversight.—(Cheers) The order was paid in two 1,000/.
notes, and thee paid back to the credit of the Eastern
Counties, as a payment from the Wisbeach Company.
They might make what they liked of it,
but the money belonged to them.—(Cries of " Hear.")
Till then they closed the capital account they would