The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-25 00:00:00

make, but he might state, for their information, that the
debenture u 'ebt of the company on the 30th of June last
amounted to .466,990/. If any gentleman wished to ask
.11? would be happy to give him all the
power.—(Hear.)
any questions,
•a
owes.—
not consider the accounts laid before
infmorrm. actnioAs%
them to be sufh,ciently full and explanatory. It ap-
accounts, as laid before them, that
peared from' the
their revenue `vas 10,000/. per annum less, and their
0/. more than it was at the same period
expenditure 3e,Oh'
last year.
Mr. PLEWS was not% aware whether the Hon. Proprie-
tor had understood his "P
Mr. the Hartlepool
accounts were now included in the statement, but were
not so last year.
Mr. CHATon did not see that that made any difference
in the question. If the Hartlepool expenditure was
brought forward so were the receipts, and the compari-
son would therefore still stand good. Under these cir-
cumstances he thought they ought to be furnished with
a list of the officers of the company, and the amount of
their salaries; as, seeing that they had a diminished in-
come and an increased expenditure, it was desirable that
they should practise every possible economy. He could
not -approve of the proposition contained in the report
with regard to the Great North of England purchase.
The CHAIRMAN explained that the proposition before
the meeting was only to receive the report, and have it
entered on the minutes of their proceedings.
Mr. LOVE said, that as reference had been made to
the subject of the arrangement with the Hartlepool Rail-
way and Dock Company, he begged to say that the com-
mittee bad not had time to inquire into it.—(Hear, hear.)
He might state, however, that though the lease had not
been entered into until the 14th of August, 1848, yet
on the sth of January in that year 4.6001. had been taken
out of the funds of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
Company, and handed over to the Hartlepool Company.
He mentioned this circumstance now, that they might
know it was under the consideration of the committee,
and would be reported upon hereafter.—(Cheers.)
It having been explained, in answer to a question by
Mr. Wylie, that the entering the report on the minutes
did not in any way bind the shareholders to an ai proval
of its contents, the resolution for its adoption was put
and (tarried, with one dissentient.
The CHAIRMAN next moved that interest, to the 30th
of June, be paid out of capital on the extension stock
called up on the 16th of January last. That resolu-
tion was only to carry out an arrangement under which
the call bad been paid, and which had, he believed, met
with the approbation of the committee of investigation.
Mr. LOVE having assented, the resolution was put
and carried unanimously.
Mr. SIDNEY begged to ask the Chairman whether the
board were prepared to resign their situation into the
hands of the proprietors, and continue to act only until
the shareholders could legally reconstruct the board?
Mr. THOMPSON, of Moat-hall, said, that the question
had been considered, and the committee were prepared
with resolutions on the subject.—(Hear.)
The CHAIRMAN begged to say, on behalf of himself
and colleagues, that they were ready to resign their trust
so soon as the shareholders had nominated their suc-
cessors.—(Hear.)
Mr. SIDNEY would then move that the resignation of
the directors be at once accepted, and that they be re-
quested to hold office until their successors were ap-
pointed.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN begged to remind the proprietors that
that had been already done, and that the directors were
now only holding office in compliance with a resolution
of the proprietors, passed at the meeting of the 4th of
May.
Mr. THOMPSON thought it would be better, as proposed
by Mr. Sidney, at once to proceed with the reconstruc-
tion of the board, and he would therefore bring forward
a resolution on the subject. When he had the honour to
appear before them on the 4th of May last, he proposed
the appointment of a committee of investigation of which
they had approved.—(Loud cheers.) He wi,u'd now
ask them whether they were satisfit d with the mode in
which that committee had discharged their duties?—
(Cries of " Yes," and loud applause.) If they were
satisfied with the proceedings of that committee, he
hoped they would now approve of the resolution he was
about to bring forward, and delegate pro tempore some
further power to the members of that committee—(Hear,
hear)—in order to increase their efficiency. He would
now therefore move that, as a temporary measure, in
order to add to the efficiency of the board of directors,
and enable them to proceed with such legal proceedings
as it might be considered desirable to adopt, four me m-
bers of the board be requested to resign, end that the
Lord Mayor of York (Mr. Meek) and Mssrs. M'Laren,
Love, Leechmau, and Kipling, be elected, to act in con-
junction with the two remaining directors (Messrs.
Flews and Wood) until the board should be permanently
reconstructed—(Hear, hear)—it being understood that a
new board would be elected on the committee present-
ing their final report.—(Cheers.)
Mr. PRANCE had great pleasure in seconding the mo-
tion of Mr. Thompson.
The LORD MAYOR of York said that it was with the
greatest reluctance that he had consented to be nomi-
nated for a director, even as a temporary measure, and
he should be very glad to be relieved of the office. How-
ever, looking at the position in which they all knew the
company was now placed, and feeling the importance of
an alteration being at once made in the management, he
had consented to act until the 4th of October, when he
believed the committee would be enabled to make their
final report.—(Cheers.)
Mr. WYLIE supported the motion of Mr. Thompson.
The object of that motion, as he understood it, was to
enable the committee to act with greater efficiency in the
performance of those duties which they had hitherto so
efficiently and ably fulfilled.—(Loud cheers.) The pro-
position now made was, in effect, carry ing out a sugges-
tion which he brought forward at the last meeting that
an alteration sht,u!d be made in the board to insure legal
proceedings being Liken against Mr. Hudson, and thus
give effect to the resolution of the proprietors, as the pre-
sent board might naturally be expected to feel a delicacy
in taking proceedings against a party with whom they
had so long acted.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. GUTCH (solicitor to the committee) stated that the
meeting itself had no power of carry ing out the resolu-
tion, but the directors had. They could fir%t elect two
gentlemen to fill up the vacancies at present existing at
the board, and then some of the members of the board
could retire and other gentlemen be elected in their
places. Had notice of the intention to elect directors at
that meetiot! been given, the power would have been in
the hands of the shareholders, but no such motion having
been given, the only course open to them to pursue was
that which be had pointed out.—(Hear, bear.)
Mr. LEEMAN was aware that they had the power of
carrying out the resolution in The manner pointed out
by Mr. Gutch, the directors haying adopted a similar
course in the Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle
Junction Company.—(Ht ar, hear.)
Sir J. EASTHOPE wished to ascertain from the two
gentlemen proposed to be left on the board whether
they were willing to co. operate with the gentlemen pro-
posed to be added to it. in endeavouring to promote the
Interest of the shareholders; and he also wished to know
from the members of the committee of investigation
whether they considered they could act . efficiently and
harmoniously with thoie gentlemen?

Mr. PLEV-78 said that he was not at all aware that he
had in any way acted counter to the committee since it
was first app-Anted. Since the 4th of May he had ab-
sented himself from his home in order to attend to the
interests of that company, and if they adjourned until
the 4th of October, he would continue to do so.—

--
(Cheers.) He would then, if necessary, retire from
their service, but in the meantime he would do every-
thing in his power to assist in carrying on the business
of the company to the best of his abilities.—(Cheers.)
Mr. NiciaoLas WOOD had never had any personal
quarrel: with the committee of investigation, but he had
endeavoured fairly to do his duty to the company ; and
when he had differed from the committee, he had openly
and frankly told them so.—(ClTers.) He would not

pledge him-self to any particular line of conduct, but he
felt it incumbent upon him to bow to the wishes of the
shareholders, which he would endeavour to carry out, so
far as he was able.—(Cheers.) He implored the share
holdrrs as soon as possible to bring about some system
of r. gular and stable management.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. M'LAREN said, on the part of himself and his col-
leagues in the committee of investigation, he might ob-
serve that they had acted harmoniously together for the
last three months, and he therefore had no reason to
suppose that they could not do so for six weeks longer.
—(Cheers.) With regard to acting with the two present
directors proposed to •be left upon the board, he could
state that the committee had .had frequi•nt occasion to
consult Mr. Plews, who they found full of knowledge on
all questions conni cted with the company, and they
coulu not have well done without his assistance.—(Hear,
hear.) Under all the circumstances, however, he be-
lieved that if the shareholders approved of the resolution,
the proposed board would work cordially and harmo-
niously for the promotion of the interests of the company.
Sir J. EASTHOPE and Mr. WYLIE having expressed
their gratification at the explanation afforded to the
meeting, the resolution was pht and carried, with one
dissentient, amidst loud cheers.

Mr. THOMPSON having called upon the directors to
take the necessary steps for carrying out the resolution,
The halficarly meeting was then adjourned until after
the business of the extraordinary meeting had been dis-
posed of
The directors then retired with their law advisers.
During the absence of the directors,
Mr. SHIELD took occasion to enter into a defence of
his conduct in refusing to act with the committee in in-
stituting legal proceedings against Mr. Hudson. He had
only once been casually introduced to that gentleman in
the House of Commons, and bad never been in any way
connected with him either in public or private, beyond
being a shareholder in companies of which Mr. Hudson
was chairman.—(Cheers.)
Mr. G UTCH here entered, and stated that Mr. J.
Meek, Lord Mayor of York, had been elected a director
in the room of Mr. Oxley, deceased, and Mr. Horatio
Love, in the room of Mr. Hudson, resigned, and that the
meeting. This announcement
presenle of those gentlemen wwasagrequested
c h ae
et rae dboard
the gentlemen named retired from the meeting.
Shortly afterwards the other members of the com-
mittee ware also fetched from the meeting. On their
return the Lord May or of York to ,k the chair, and
stated th..t he had been elected chairman of the company
pro tem., but he could only consent to hold the office to
bring the business of that day to a close. Ho would call
upon Mr. Close to read the minutes of a board meeting
which had taken place in another room.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CLOSE accordingly read the minutes referred to,
which announced the retirement from the board of Sir
a nTa edljeocutthri oennre
John Simpson and Messrs. Davis, Richardson, and Tee,
d i the election
specialin-
vestigation
meeting was then further ad-
journed until the 4th of October.

EXTRAORDINARY -MEETING.
An extraordinary general meeting was then held for
(as stated in the requisition) the following purpose:—
" of receiving any report or reports which may be made
to such meeting by the committee of inveatigatiou