The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-17 00:00:00

SATURDAY

FEBRUARY 17, 1849.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
MIDLAND.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Thursday at the station at Derby; Mr. George Hudson,
M.P., presiding.
The Secretary, Mr. BELL, having read the advertise,
went convening the meeting, the seal of the company
was affixed to the register of shareholders.
The SECRETARY then read the following report :
" The receipts from the various sources of revenue on
the Midland Railway during the half-year ending the
31st December last, have exceeded those of the corre-
sponding half-year of 1847, by 29,5771.; and will, after
deducting the ordinary expenses of working the line,
paying the whole of the interest upon the loan capital of
the company, the dividends upon the guaranteed stock
and shares, interest at the rate of 51. per cent. per
annum, upon a half million of the amount paid up on
the 501. shares, and laying aside 10,0001. for the purpose
of relaying the permanent way, leave a balgric, of
902,3221. From this sum the directors recommend the
proprietors to declare a dividend of 21. 10s. upon each
1001. of Midland consolidated stock, 3/. upon each 1001.
consolidated preferential stock, after the rate of 6/. per,
cent. per annum upon the Erewash Valley shares, and'-
of 11. 16s. 3d. upon each 100/. of the conslidated Bir-,
mingham and Derby stock. This will leave a balance
for the ensuing half-year of about 16,0001. After the dis.
estrous changes which have occurred during the eventful
year just ended, and which have been felt by all classes
of society, but particulary by those engaged in trade
and commerce, the proprietors will not be surprised to
learn that there has been a decrease in the receipts from
the passengers traffic during the half-year, as compared
with the corresponding half of 1847, to the extent of
18,6281.; but it is satisfactory to observe that in the
merchandise traffic there has been during the same
period an increase of 24,600/., and in minerals an in-
crease of 14,6221. The lines in course of construction
are the Mansfield and Pinxton, the Ereviash Valley,
and the Leicester and Swannington Extensions, all of
which it is expected will be ready for traffic in the
course of the present year, and from which the directors
expect a considerable addition to the revenue of the
company. The directors are aware of the attempts
which are making to persuade the shareholders that the
coal traffic upon this railway is being conducted at a
loss; they are, however, satisfied that it produces a con-
siderable profit, and that with the present state of com-
petition in the coal trade, it would be very unwise to
disturb the rates. The directors have taken 10,000/.
from the revenue to form a fund for the renewal of per-
manent way, and they propose to set aside a like sum
every succeeding half-year. With respect to the re-
newal of engines, carriages, and other working stock,
having now obtained what they believe to be an adequate
supply for the working of the main line and branches
(the lines in course of construction, as well as those open
for traffic), no further sums under this head will bo placed
to capital account. The engines, carriages, waggons, &c.
will be kept in repair as they have hitherto been at the
cost of revenue, so long as they are worth repairing,
and when worn out will be replaced with now ones
from the same source. The directors are of opinion
that this will be a much better mode of maintaining
the capital stock of the company, than by forming a
depreciation fund. It may be asked Why then form a
fund foc the renewal of the permanent way?' The an-
swer is that the wear and tear is comparatively unseen
and difficult to appreciate, and if maintained out of the
ordinary revenue might in some half-years form a very
large and difficult item to deal with, whilst in others it
would be very light, and so produce a fluctuation in the
dividends very much to be deprecated, whilst in the case
of the engines, &c., the wear and tear is perceptible and
more readily dealt with each half-year. The directors
are most anxious to reduce the expenses of working the
railway to as low a sum as may be compatible with the
safety of the public, and the efficiency of the service.
They have therefore discontinued several of the pas-
sengers trains, but as some of them only ceased running
in November last, and others only in December, the re-
duction will be more apparent in the present than in the
last half-year. The following extract from the engi-
neer's report will show the saving which has been
effected in the item of maintenance of way The
maintenance accounts for the half-year include 31i
miles more railway than the corresponding period
of the last year. The saving in maintenance
which was expected to arise from taking the
north branch into the company's hands has been
fully realised. The full advantage of the saving does
not appear in this half-year's accounts, because the con-
tracts did not fall due until the middle of August. Never
theless the expenditure under the head of maintenance
is greatly reduced as compared with the year when the
amalgamation took place. At that time the cost averaged
230/. per mile per annum, and it is now reduced to 140/.
per mile, and I anticipate that, when more of the line is
taken into the company's hands, a further and very con-
siderable reduction may be accomplished.' The directors
`are happy to state that they have no Bill before Parlia-
ment this session. They have for some months past
been engaged in obtaining and liquidating the bills out-
standing against the company for Parliamentary pro-
ceedings in past sessions; hence the large item under
this head in capital account. They regret to state that, in
many instances the charges have been most exorbitant.
The subject of the rating of railways has also engaged
the attention of the directors. The fact that railway com-
panies are rated upon a portion of their profits as carriers,
and that they are rated excessively, has long been known
and complained of, but no adequate remedy has been ap-
plied. The pressure of the grievance has now become
so intolerable that an effort will be made in Parliament
during the present session to obtain some relief, and it
behoves the shareholders to render what assistance they
can, by signing the petitions which may be presented to
them, and by making the grievance known to their
Members. The following directors go out by rotation,
viz., Sir Isaac Morley, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Wadding-
ham, but are all eligible for re-election. Under the pro-
visions of the Act of last session, the proprietors have
the option of increasing the number of directors from
fifteen to twenty; the directors have appointed Mr.
Paxton, of Chatsworth, and Mr. Barwell, of Northamp-
ton, and recommend the proprietors to confirm that ap-
pointment. Mr. Jackson, one of the auditors, also re- '
tires at this meeting, but is eligible for re-election."
The report having been read,
The CHAIRMAN said he believed the proprietors had
already received a copy of the statement of accounts,
and it would not, therefore, be necessary to have them
read. The report which they bad just heard went more
fully into details than was usual with the documents
which the directors generally presented to the proprie-
tors of that company, and he should be spared the ne-
cessity of entering into many points of interest at that
moment; he should, therefore, in the first place, confine
himself to moving the first resolution, " That the report
be adopted, printed, and circulated amongst the share..
holders." In doing so he trusted that if any proprie-
tors should be anxious for more explicit or further in-
formation, they would be good enough to put any
questions they might please to the directors, who
he hoped would be enabled to give a full and
satisfactory reply. There could be no doubt that
the time had now arrived when it was necessary
that there should be no doubt or suspicions as to
the honour or integrity of railway directors. The
board of directors of the Midland Company had had the
honour of making the lines, and had been entrusted with
the care of the property of the company, and if in the
course of their guardianship they had committed any
errors, those errors were of the judgment, not of the in-
tention. As he had before said, the directors were there
ready to answer any questions and to offer any explana-
tions, and they wished the proprietors to make all
doubts they might entertain clear by explanations; be-
cause the directors felt that, as railway directors, they de-
rived their authority and strength from the confidence
reposed in them by the shareholders.—(Hear, hear.)
Whilst they enjoyed that confidence they were glad to
serve the interests of the common property, but if they
did not enjoy it they were quite ready to resign. He
should reserve any further observations he might have
occasion to make until a later period of the meeting, and
in the meantime content himself with moving the first
resolution.

Mr. DARIN, who stood at the back of the chairman,
but with other gentlemen occupied an elevated position
upon a platform, proceeded to put a few questions to the
chairman, but from the low tone of voice in which he
spoke, and from the continual interruptions on the part
of the general body of proprietors, who were anxious
that Mr. Dakin should descend into the body of the
meeting, he was very imperfectly heard. He was, how-
ever, understood to object to the items for stock being
placed to the capital account. He further objected that
the coal traffic was, it was to be feared, carried on at a
considerable loss t 3 the company. He objected also to
the several items in the published statements of accounts,
especially to the sum of 36,0001. set down as Parliamen-
tary expenses.
The CHAIRMAN, amidst considerable noise and in-
terruption, defended the propriety of the item above-
named being placed to the capital account. He said
he was also prepared to prove that the mineral traffic of
the line belonged to the most profitable of the work-
ings of the company. As to the item of 36,000/.
for Parliamentary expenses, he should not object to
that being placed to revenue, if that was the wish of the
proprietors.
Mr. WYLIE, of Liverpool, rose and said he enter•
tained no doubt that the inquiries which had been made
by the Hon. Proprietor (Mr. Dakin) had ;reference to
other and more complete inquiries on the same and
similar subjects, to which the anxieties and solicitude of
the general body of the shareholders responded.—(Hear,
hear.) Without entering into the details of minute
questions, such as those which were thus forced upon the
consideration:of the shareholders, they felt that, although
all might have been done by the directors for the best,
still the best results had evidently not followed their
exertions.— (Hear, hear.) They had but to look to the
present position of the company for a proof of the truth
of what he said, and, moreover, that the shareholders
had a right to know by what means it was that the
present position of the company was so far beneath its
original promise. He wished the meeting to believe
that he had every desire not improperly to disturb
the unanimity of any body of proprietors; indeed, he
should consider himself criminal were he to attempt
to trifle with the large interests of the proprietors
of the Midland Company; and it was, therefore, with
'no factious motive that he rose to move the appointment
of a committee of inquiry, composed of shareholderst not
being directors of the company. He was quite ready
thebelieve s
shareholders
rtehhaot
dtehres
hdirectorsonestiy had done f
t,
ari
stshselyi.ar,
n dutyd_ i towards
sso
before said, the results had not been eqduerloagtoattolryetffootrhte
made, he thought, so far from its beings
ocrosmto-
mittee, it should be the anxious wish board to accede to the appointm.enbt
and counsel of their
ooffthseutichireact
come forward and ask L.hee adviceinust,
hoe ever, say, that
proprietary--(
.)the highest testimony to the into-
purpose of the directors, there were
and honest" ofth-e statement of accounts which had
grits
ylst he thuslivpeaairci
many objections to . _
hear.) In that
been that day submitted; in fact, nothing could be more
meagre and unsatisfactory.—(Hear,

respect it afforded a striking contrast to the
published statement of the London and North-Western
Company, for in that document every inquiry appeared
to be anticipated, whilst in the statement of this com-
pany every inquiry was provoked. The state-
ment of the London and North Western Company, iu his
opinion, reflected infinite credit on the management of
that company, which was due to the position its property
held in the opinion of the public, no less than to the
high character, talent, and integrity of their chairman,
Mr. Glyn, whose reputation had never been tarnished
even by the breath of suspicion.—(Hear.) Reference
had been made to the profitable working of the mineral
traffic, and he thought it very desirable that the share-
holders should be informed of the amount of that class of
traffic on the Birmingham and Gloucester line. He
thought the directors might have bean more explicit on
this as on some other points, which,".however, he consi
dered it better not to discuss upon that occasion. He
thought there were suflicienc grounds of support to the
amer.delent to be found in the fact that they v, ere now
proposing to declare a dividend of only five per ct
hear)—ac the same time that they were paying
guaranteed interest of a much higher rate.—(Hear,
hear.) Then, again, their accounts showed a
gross amount of income of 600,0001., out of which they
had only 200,0001. to divide. After enlarging upon the
evidence which such facts afforded of the necessity of in-
vestigation, the Honourable Proprietor concluded by
moving the amendment he had proposed.
Dr. O'Bnisze seconded the motion, and, at the same
time, took the opportunity of expressing the great confi-
dence he entertained in the directors, particularly in their
worthy chairman. He could not, however, avoid de-
claring his concurrence in the disappointment expressed
by the mover, that no satisfactory explanation had been
yet afforded on several matters with which it was highly
important for the shareholders to be acquainted, and he
particularly complained that questions he had himself
put respecting the Birmingham and Bristol" and Glou-
cester traffic, had not been fully or fairly replied to.
Mr. al.'s, the deputy chairman of the board of direc •
tors, desired to make a few remarks on the somewhat
singular proceeding of the gentlemen who had spoken in
support of the appointment of a committee of inquiry,
particularly the seconder, who, whilst ho declared he
had the most implicit confidence in the directors, was
actually concurring in a vote of censure upon their
conduct.—(A laugh, and cries of " No, no.") He
would also make a few observations upon a most un-
founded attack upon some of the directors in the
Midland Company, made in the shape of a letter, which
appeared in Herapath's Journal, under the signature of
Mr. Brancker, and imputed improper motives to the di-
rectors in the purchase of the Leicester and Swanning-
ton Railway. The simple facts of the case were, that
the Leicester and Swannington Railway was sold to
that company, for which a preference was given at :the
time when the Leicester and Swannington directors had
various offers before them for the purchase of their line,
which offers were equally good with the terms proposed
by the Midland Company. The directors of that com-
pany, in fact, thought it their duty to give the prefer-
ence of that purchase to the Midland Company as the
natural ally of the line. He (Mr. Ellis) was a director
of the company at the time, and it was insinuated in the
letter to which he referred, that it was the predomi-
nating influence of the mineral interest of that board
that had led to that purchase, which it was argued was
against the pockets of the Midland proprietors, to the
advantage of the shareholders in the Leicester and Swan-
nington line. He (Mr. Ellis) could say that the only direc-
tors of the Midland Company who possessed any interest
in coal working were himself and his colleague, the
chairman of the company, and therefore there could be
no doubt to whom the insinuations referred. He en-
tirely and absolutely repudiated such an attack.—(Hear,
hear.) He had derived no interest from the purchase,
which he considered advantageous under the circum-
stances, both to the seller and the purchaser. and he
defied Mr. Brucker, or any other man, or set of men,
from Liverpool or elsewhere, to prove that he had ever
" dirtied his hands" in connexion with the Leicester and
Swannington Railway or any other railway with which
he had ever been connected.—(Applause and great con-
fusion.)
_ _

Mr. 13RANCJIER here claimed to be heard in explana-
tion. He called Mr. Ellis to order for the personal at-
tack thus made upon him, and appealed to the chairman
to enforce the call.

The CHAIRMAN decided that Mr. Ellis was perfectly
in order; whereupon
Mr. Maas resumed his observations upon the letter
to which he had previously referred, and at considerable
length entered into details connected with the manage-
ment of the Swannington line. He entered also into
several statistical calculations, to show that the coal
traffic of such a line as their own was in fact actually
more valuable than the passenger traffic. It had also
been made a charge against the directors that the rates
of their mineral. traffic were too low. Why he (Mr.
Ellis) would tell them, that if they were to try to
raise the rate one farthing per ton, they would be driving
their mineral traffic entirely from them. Adverting to
the guarantee of the Erewash Valley line, with the pur-
chase of which the directors had been taunted, it should
be remembered that they did not make the line, but
they were forced to acquire it. -In reference to all
these matters, he (Mr. Ellis) was content to rest his
character upon the knowledge which his col-
leagues had of his transactions in connexion with
railway matters. Turning to the consideration of the
general question, he took occasion to notice that obser-
vations had been made in reference to the reduction in
the dividend of that company, and a comparison had
been invidiously made between the reduced dividend and
the financial condition of the London and North-
Western Company.—(Hear, hear.) The comparison,
however, of a dividend reduced from 7to 5 per cent.
with one reduced from 10 to 7 per cent. did zot, in his
mind, present any very extraordinary preference in fa-
vour of the latter. Mr. Ellis maintained also, in refe-
rence to the very large item which appeared under the
head of Parliamentary expenses, that such an outlay,
although excessive and much to be deplored, had been
called for by the extraordinary emergency of the times.
He could not but consider also the heavy expenditure in-
curred in reference to the gauge question before Parlia-
ment as such, that, possibly, if the same course were to
be gone over once more, might, in like manner, be again
incurred even by careful and prudent men. That expen-
diture, he ventured to say, would have been final and
conclusive if the Government had been but honest and
kept faith with the report of the Commissioners ; but
even as it was, they might be sure that, but for that
opposition, there might even now be a broad gauge line in
the Midland district.—(Applause.) He thanked them
for the patience with which they had listened to him,
and sat down amidst applause and confusion, in the
midst of which several gentlemen appeared to be desirous
of addressing the meeting at once, and some personal
explanations having been exchanged,
Mr. SIDNEY trusted the meeting would not suffer itself
to be led away by personal disputes from the considera-
tion of the real interests of the company.
Mr. BRANCKER was undertood to renew the expres•
sion of his opinion as to the unprofitable nature of the
coal traffic at the present low rates.
Mr. EtuTcruNsoN (one of the managing committee of
the directors) replied at considerable length, and de-
monstrated the value of the mineral traffic, illustrating
the various arguments which he adduced by facts and
figures derived from actual traffic on the Bristol and
Birmingham line.

The discussion which arose upon the question of the
coal traffic occupied considerable time, but we have not
space to insert the useful figures laid before the meeting.
They were, however, entirely confirmatory of the view
of the value of the coal traffic, as expressed by Captain
finish, in his recently published pamphlet, which was
referred to more than once in the course of the discus-
sion in deservedly high terms.
After a good deal of diffuse discussion, in the course
of which several shareholders expressed their fear lest
the appointment of such a committee as was sought
might injuriously affect the value of the property which
it was the common object to promote,
The CHAIRMAN said he was exceedingly anxious to
make a few remarks.—(Hear.) In the very few words
with which he had opened the business of the day he
had carefully abstained from making any unnecessary
remarks, reserving himself until he should hear some-
thing from the gentlemen present in the shape of rea-
sonable ground why the committee should be appointed;
but he must confess that he had listened ;_to nothing
which invited him to look upon the proposition with any
favour. On the other hand, the very mover and sup-
porter of the measure expressed their entire confidence
in all that the directors had done. Ho could not refrain
from noticing the comparison which had been invidiously
put between the reduced dividend of the Midland and
the reduced dividend of the London and North-
Western Company. But upon a survey Of the
price of their stock, there was nothing surprising
or wonderful in such a comparison. The price
of the London and Birmingham was 1371., at a
reduced dividend of 7 per cent., whilst the price of the
Midland stock was 941., at a reduced dividend of 5 per
cent. He (the Chairman) could not, therefore, see any
remarkable disproportion between the comparative divi-
dends of the two companies. He was happy to hear the
high opinion of Mr. Glyn which had been expressed by
the Hon. Proprietor. lie could scarcely believe that
anything could be said too highly in commendation of
that gentleman, but he (the Chairman) could nolt per-
mit the praise which that gentleman received to bet,n2l::leo
the means of attempting to lower the charat7rJ)b
directors of the Midland Company.
iler
felthold (Ira on
how-
ever, to be his duty to put the shareholders
of those
who guard against falling into thel.lows a step which
who might possibly induce them t
would affect the value of theior
had received from
hefporoperty. Op this
point he referred to a letter which.
Liverpool, in which very
shareholders were
of the object which certain of
distintchtemention was made
theytmade the benefit of the
said to have in view whenrete
x of serving their own
general proprietary tleChairmaneP dwelt at some length, and
private ends. Thu
mentionedg s such
as he
as
the conduct of certain gentle,.
with much warmth, upon
men amongst the shareho,ldaerrst,iinvhpormoceehdei
having taken a prchainemp.
had briefly appealing to the meet
he was not at all times ready and willing to
tug whether
ut.,,lect his own private comforts to promote their in-
terests (which was responded to with considerabbliktp-
please), proceeded to remark that when the shareholders
took into consideration the fact, that they had passed
thr„ugh a year of unexampled commercial depression,
that they bad suffered a diminution in their receipts
to the extent of 20,000/. was, therefore, not at
all surprising. They were a commercial company,
and dependent on the prosperity of commerce for their
own; and, therefore, he looked with confidence to the
improvement of their receipts and the activity of their
line with the impulse to be gained front the revital of
trade: In reference to the guaranteed lines of the tcona-
pally he remarked that it was made a subject acorn-
plaint that they had guaranteed interest. Why,; they
had no capital, like the London and Birmingham Com-
pany, or they would not have given guarantees, but they
wanted the lines, without the capital, and they hail con-
sequently paid a somewhat high interest for it. e rq-