The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-01 00:00:00

any portion of that which they enjoyed, which they could ,
ill afford to lose, the best portion of their business would
leave them.—(Hear.) He wished to know on what data
the committee came to the resolution that they
had a monopoly of the goods traffic if they i
lost a portion of their passenger traffic. Besides
the lines would cross each other about a mile
from Norwich . Then he imagined that Yarmouth and
not Norwich supplied the bulk of the traffic, and it was
more likely to go only to Ipswich than to Norwich, be-
cause the line would be fourteen miles shorter, which
might make all the difference whether fish,. for in-
stance, arrived fresh in London or not.—(Laughter.)
It was said in the report that any loss they might
experience would be compensated for by the line from
Wymondham to Dereham, which was a mass of barren
sands. Ho doubted much whether the committee had
not been deluded at Lowestoft by Mr. Stephen-
son as to the greatness of the works, and
had not visited this part of the line at
Wymondham at all. Why, the Wymondham and Der, -
ham line did not pay its expenses.—[A Voice—" And
never will."' The report of the directors read
that day intimated that the directors would not
take upon themselves the responsibility of directly
advising the amalgamation, which he looked upon
as jesuitical, and as not marking out a distinct
line of policy. He blamed them for not expressing their
decided opinion upon the matter. Then if they amal-
gated with the Norfolk, they must amalgamate with the
Eastern Union, on equal terms, which paid its proprie-
tors nothing, and never hear.) He would
conclude with this advice—make no amalgamation, and
take no lease unless the whole of the facts were before
them.—(Loud cheers.)
A MEMBER of the COMMITTEE said his colleagues had
not altered their opinion upon the policy of the amalga-
mation; the matter upon which doubt prevailed was the
terms which should be paid.
Mr. KINNAIRD said, when he came into the room he
did not intend to make any observations, but since the
Northern and Eastern had been alluded to, of which lie
had had the honour of being deputrchairman, he in-
tended to offer a few sentences to the meeting. lie
did not bring any documents with him, because
he did not believe that the matter would be
discussed.—(Hisses.) He did not particularly object to
it, and was not to be deterred by clamour, nor by any
person making faces unlike the face of a man. But the
Hon. Proprietor had stated much that was erroneous.
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Eastern
Counties were bound up. Whether it took place or not,
their prosperity depended upon it. It was perfectly true
that 63,0001. was guaranteed, and would amount to the
whole of that sum when all called up ; but it
was unfair and unjust to compare the amount
of money they had to pay years to come for lines to be
made, and of the traffic of which they knew nothing.
Now, some allusion had been made to Mr. Robert
Stephenson, and an attempt had been made to show that
Mr. Stephenson formed his opinion upon this amalgama-
tion from interested motives; but he was sure Mr. Ste-
phenson was too well known to render any contradiction of
such a statement necessary.—(Hear, hear.) After a
close examination of the matter, the opinion he had ar-
rived at was that this amalgamation would be for the
interest of the Eastern Counties Company. In
the first place, the returns of the Norfolk Railway,
as proved by the committee of investigation, were
120,0001. a year, while the amount of produce which the
Norfolk line brought upon their own railway was no less
than 56,0001. for the year.
The speaker was here interrupted by a terrible uproar,
which called up
The CHAIRMAN, who said he would adjourn the
meeting unless order and silence were kept.
Some degree of order having been obtained,
Mr. KINNAIRD proceeded to argue at some length in
favour of the amalgamation.
Mr. CASH was afraid they were spending a
good deal of time unnecessarily, as another op-
portunity would be given to the proprie-
tors for di:cussing this amalgamation question.
Before another step could be taken in the matter the
sanction of the proprietors must be given to it.—(Hear,
hear.) He asked then fair play for this board. Tne
paragraph in their report proposed to be left could in no
way commit the proprietors to the amalgamation, and he
did hope the noisy disputes would be terminated, and
the business of the meeting quietly and calmly disposed
of.—(Hear).
Mr. WILsoN said a report had gone abroad that the
returns of the Norfolk line were not sufficient to pay its
guaranteed stock. It might be a malicious report; but
he could not help feeling that since there was so much
smoke there must be some flame; and he therefore call( d
upon the meeting to pause before they committed them-
selves to the report.
Mr. GLYN argued that the amalgamation would
be of great benefit to this company in many points. It
would enable them to develope and receive traffic which
must otherwise fall into the hands of their rivals, and
when the time arrived for considering the question, he
was sure the majority of the proprietors would agree
with the directors upon its expediency.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. PRICE thought the accounts were illegal. The
Amalgamation Bill had been thrown out, and therefore
the two concerns were separate, and one account ought
to have been made out for each line. If they would take
his advice they would have nothing to do with the Nor-
folk, and ho hoped the meeting would not allow the
directors to forestall the question in the manner they
had proposed.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. ELLis said the shareholders who dissented from
this amalgamation represented 25,0002 of consolidated
stock, while those who approved of it represented
upwards of 2,ooo,oool.—(Hear, hear.) He had the
honour of being on the committee of investigation who
deliberated on this matter. He confessed he went into it
prejudiced, but he came out of it satisfied with its sound-
ness. Nothing bad further confirmed that opinion than
the opposition of their competitors. They looked
upon this amalgamation as their ruin, and their opposi-
tion was got up with the view of being bought off.—
(Hear, hear.) Those who spoke so disparagingly of the
receipts of the Norfolk line, observing that they were
less per mile than those of the Eastern Counties, should
remember that while the Eastern Counties line cost
77,0801. per mile, the Norfolk line cost only 24,0004 per
mile.—(Hear, hear.) . •

The CHAIRMAN said, after the illiberal manner in
which his name had been mentioned at the commence-
ment of this discussion, and the aspersions that had
been thrown out against him and his personal character,
he felt it his duty to state at once that he was the
nominee of no party, and it ill became Mr. Nathan
to make such a charge in a public com-
pany like this.—(Loud cheers.) Four or five
weeks ago he was placed in the chair by the same
majority that voted on the Norfolk amalgamation.—
(Hear, hear.) He was placed there in the full know-
ledge that he had a large interest in the Norfolk Com-
pany, of which his friend and brother-in-law was the
chairman. At the same time he must also mention
that be had had a largo interest in this company.
no less indeed than 15,0001. of stock, which cost him 2LI.
each.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) It was after having
been an auditor of the company, and after refusing to
audit one, because he was dissatisfied with it, that he
was elected to the office he now filled.—(Hear, hear.) It
was at no solicitation of his own that he obtained it;
onerous though the position was, he did not seek it; in-
deed, he did not admire the situation or its duties.
But he was sought out by many of the very largest pro-
prietors, and almost forced into the office.—(Hear, hear.)
Three times had he refused to take a seat at their
board ; but after he had been elected to the chair-
manship
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able proprietors had done.—(Cheera.) But it was
a source of great satisfaction to him, after what had oc-
curred to-day, to know that the large majority of the
proprietors who had placed him in the chair still ap-
proved of his conduct.—(llear, hear.) Having
said this much with regard to himself, he now
felt bound to state his conviction that the
Norfolk amalgamation would prove highly advantageous
to the company.—(llear, hear.) It was right that he
should tell them that before he came there he was a
director on the Norfolk board, but immediately upon
his being elected to the chair he now filled, he
resigned his seat on the Norfolk direction ; and
he hoped his character and position in the
city of London would be a sufficient guarantee that he
could not be guilty of the acts imputed to him.—(llear,
hear.) It was his duty to repudiate the insinuations SLS
publicly as they had been made, and this must be his
excuse for dwelling so long upon these personalities.—
(Hear, hear.) Now,, the meeting must remembtr
that a property like this, representing thirteen '
millions, was nut to be grasped in a wet k, a month, or
even six mouths; and he could tell them that their affairs
were in such a condition that unless some very strong
hand were brought to bear upon them, the eompany
would become a ruined concern. The gentlemen,
however, who now sat on the direction had
been working for the shareholders during the past few
weeks eight and ten hours a day, and yet they were told,
by a small section it was true, that they were unfit to fill
the seats they occupied.—(No, no.) With regard to
the amalgamation question, after the Bill. had been
thrown out, and in order to save the com-
pany the expense of heavy Chancery suits,
they had taken the advice of counsel, and, acting upon
that advice, they had male a supplemental agreement to
carry out the former arrangement for the term of seven
years. Before, however, any application would be
made to Parliament to sanction the amalgamation,
an opportunity would be afforded to the shareholders
at a special meeting of expressing an opinion either for
or against it.—(Loud cheers.) He had hoped that this
meeting would have gone off quietly; had he supposed
they were always to remain in hot water in this way, he
never would haveconsented totake the chair, but he hoped
now that he had put the proprietors in possession of what
the directors were doing, that in future they would meet
with a little more indulgence at their hands.—(Cheers.)
A PROPRIETOR asked if the original agreement cii,i
not bind them to go to Parliament again next session?
The CHAIRMAN replied—Certainly not.
The CHAIRMAN, in reply to a question, distinctly
stated that the directors could not go to Parliament,
and, indeed, would not, with respect to the Norfolk
amalgamation, without again consulting the proprietors.
A PROPRIETOR inquired if it was true that, during the
present half-year, the income of the Norfolk Company
had been sufficient to satisfy the interest and expenses
of working.
The CHAIRMAN—Not a doubt of it. I know it is
fact.—(Loud cheers.)
A PROPRIETOR said it had been stated that the New-
market line would not pay. If so, it was in consequence
of the high, charges 'of the Eastern Counties. They
charged Is. sd. per mile for locomotive power, whilst
the Dover and Brighton charged 84d. and 9d., and
6001. for management.
A PROPRIETOR said the real cause of all the tumult
that had taken place this day had arisen from the want
of information on the part of the proprietors at to how