The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-06 00:00:00

RAIL WAY INTELLIGENCE.

WATERFORD, WEXFORD, AND WICKLOW.
The half-yearly meeting of the proprietors in this
company was held on Friday, at the offices, 449, West
Strand. The Earl of Courtown, the chairman of the
board of directors, presiding.
The SECRETARY (Mr. Muggeredge) having read
the advertisement convening the meeting, the seal of
the company was affixed to the register, Mr. Nash
entering a " protest" against the same, in consequence
of the chairman refusing, at the meeting, to permit
him, as a shareholder, to inspect it.
The SECRETARY then read the report. The prin-
cipal recommendation of the directors is, not to pro-
ceed with the line further than Wicklow, and they
trusted to receive the sanction of their proprietors for
taking such measures as were necessary to obtain
legislative sanction of the proposed alteration. The
accounts show a total receipt up to the 30th of July
last of 144,166/. 18s., and a total outlay of 120,837/.
3s. 7d., leaving a balance in hand of 18,329/.125. sd.
In order to meet the convenience of the shareholders,
the directors recommend the reduction of the capital
to 500,000/., to consist of 50,000 shares of the re-
duced amount of 101. each.

Upon the resolution for the adoption of the report
being put from the chair, Mr. Nash entered at some
length into the general position and prospects of the
company, and pointed out the hopelessness of raising
the required capital ; and concluded by moving the
following amendment:—" That whilst protesting
against the legality of the company and the proceed-
ings of the directors, and without prejudice to the
alleged shareholders present, and considering the re-
fusals of access to the books and register, that this
meeting adopts the reports of the shareholders' com-
mittees, and confirms the resolutions of the meetings
of May 4, 1848, February 24, March 21, May 1, and
July 2, 1849, in lieu of and instead of the report and
accounts of the directors.
" That the conduct of the directors and officials
renders it expedient to refer their report and accounts
to a committee of shareholders, viz. :—to report
thereon, as to, and with a view to, and they are
hereby instructed to effect and make, so far as can be
done, a reduction or disallowance of expenditure and
verification of the accounts, and generally to investi-
gate the books and accounts and affairs, and to report
at the adjournment of this meeting.
" And that the payment of calls on further capital
be suspended until after such investigation and re-
port are made."
The amendment was then put and lost by a ma-
jority of three.
Mr. NASH demanded a poll.
An amendment was then moved by Major Comm
for an adjournment of the meeting until after the
Great Western and South-Wales half-yearly meet-
ings ; which upon being put was declared carried by
a majority. A poll was demanded on this question,
and the results communicated at four o'clock were as
follows :
Mr. Nash's amendment—

Shares. Votes.
For • • 91 35
• •
Against . . . . 573 167
Major Court's amendment—
Shares. Votes.
For .. .. 102 46
Against .. • • 563 157
Both the amendments were of course lost, and the
original resolution stands.
After the ballot was declared, much confusion
arose, and a writ o? notice of action was, we believe,
served on the NobleCbaignan.

NEWRY, WARRENPOINT, AND ROSTREVOR.—The
half-yearly meeting of this company was held on Fri-
day, at the office, Moorgate-street, Lord Newry in
the chair. The report stated that the line from
Newry to Warrenpoint was opened on the 28th of
May last, for passenger-traffic. The goods traffic
has since partially commenced. The directors hope
shortly to be able to submit terms for the working of
the traffic. They recommend the confirmation of the
forfeiture of 270 shares in consequence of the non-
payment of calls. The capital account showed that
111,0251. had been received, and 110,0781. expended,
leaving a balance of 9471. in hand. The revenue
account from the 28th May to the 30th of June
stated that 2871. had been received and 2311. expended
—leaving a profit on the working of 561. The report
of the directors was received, but not adopted, and
ordered to be entered on the minutes. The meeting
was then made special, and a committee was ap-
pointed to investigate the affairs of the company and
report thereon, to an adjourned meeting to be held on
the 24th instant. The meeting then adjourned.
DIRECT EXETER.—On Friday the Master in Chan-
cery (Brougham), who has the winding up of this
company's affairs, made a peremptory order for the
payment back into the hands of the official manager
of the sum of 6,0001., paid to the solicitors of this
company, until such time as it could be ascertained
upon inquiry that they were entitled to the whole or
any part of that sum. The representatives of the
parties so called upon intimated their intention of
appealing to the House of Lords. It has been decided
in the case of all those parties who objected to be
placed on the list of contributories, on the ground
that the company failed to fulfil the promises held out
in the prospectus, that they are liable for all the
purposes contemplated by the Winding-up Act.

SECOND REPORT THE AC-
COMMODATION OF THE HOUISE OF LORDS.
By the Lords Committees appointed a Select
Committee to take into consideration the accommoda-
tion
of the House, and to report to the lloile
to whom leave was given to report from timea
to;taimnde
to the House ; and to whom were referred several
petitions relative to the reporting of Parliamentary
proceedings :
" Ordered to report,
"That the Committee have met, and further con-
sidered the subject- matter referred to them.
" The Committee have examined witnesses re-
specting the facility of hearing in the temporary
gallery erected for the convenience of strangers con-
nected with the public press, and, in consequence of
the evidence given by them, the Committee feel
themselves justified in recommending a permanent
structure on the plan submitted to them by Mr. Barry.
" Mr. Dod, the senior reporter, and secretary to
the reporters' committee, states that they bear in the

present gallery of the House of Lords as well as in
the House of Commons, or as well as they ever heard
in any House of Parliament. Other witnesses con-
firm Mr. Dod's evidence.
"But, notwithstanding the success which has at-
tended the experiment made by Mr. Barry, neither
the strangers who are allowed to be in the precincts
of the House, nor even the members present in the
House itself, can expect to hear distinctly, unless
strict order is preserved, both below the bar and on
the steps of the throne.
"The Committee recommend that a portion of the
space at the foot of the Throne be railed off.
" The Committee recommend that the benches
recently placed below the bar remain, and that the
Usher of the Black Rod be instructed to preserve
silence in that part of the chamber during the sitting
of the House.
" The Committee further recommend, that the
standing order No. 18, which directs Lords having
occasion to speak together to go below the bar, should
be altered so as to stand as follows:
" Ordered, That if any Lord have occasion to speak
with another Lord in this House while sitting, they
are to retire to the Princes Chambers, and not to
converse in the space behind the woolsack,' or else
the Speaker is to call them to order,' and, if neces-
sary, stop the business in agitation.
" The Committee recommend that foreign ladies of
distinction should be admitted to the galleries on
either side of the throne on application to the Lord
Great Chamberlain, and that, with this exception,
the said galleries should be appropriated to the exclu-
sive use of the Peeresses, and the unmarried daughters
of Peers, and Peeresses in their own right.
" The Committee further recommend, that the
wives of Peers' eldest sons, and the married daughters
of Peers, and of Peeresses in their own right, be ad-
mitted to the box occupied on state occasions by Peers'
eldest sons.
"As the Strangers' Gallery below the bar is
capable of containing 120 persons, and is seldom half
occupied, the Committee suggest the propriety of
allowing every peer to issue two orders of admission.
" That the Lord Great Chamberlain be desired to
issue his warrant for effecting the above-mentioned
alterations.
" Several petitions have been referred to the Com-
mittee from shorthand writers, and from Parlia-
mentary and law reporters. As these petitions regard
an authentic or official record of the speeches made
in Parliament, and as the reference to the Committee
does not embrace that subject, the Committee have
declined to enter into the question raised by the
petitions.
"July 27,

POOR-LAW INSPECTORS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Six,--Allow me, through the medium of your
justly esteemed journal, to tender Air. Hume, that
good old practical Reformer, hearty, thanks for his
judgment and discrimination in moving last Thurs-
day for a " return of the salaries, travelling expenses,
and employments of the poor-law inspectors" (aim
Assistant Commissioners).
That return was ordered, and whenever it is made
(for Mr. Hume is not the man to lose sight of the
subject) I fully expect it will justify his motion, and
encourage him to follow the same course with every
civil officer whom the Government pay out of the
public purse:until the shamefully overtaxed and un-
equally taxed people of England know, as they have
a right to do, what every public officer's salary is,
and what service he renders for it. This is what
should be done, and it would operate much more
fairly and beneficially than Mr. Henley's proposed
tax of an indiscriminate ten per cent.
When the poor-law passed it was no doubt neces-
sary that the Commissioners, whose whole time and
attention was occupied in London, should have
assistants, who for a few years were very useful ; there
was employment for them, and they were well paid.
But now in most parts of the kingdom, where the
unions have been for the last fourteen years or more
in regular working, they are no longer needed, there
is in fact nothing for them to do, and they know it,
for their visits are always short and few and far
between. At the union with which I have been for
years actively connected as a guardian, we have seen
our learned " inspector" once only in the last two
years, and then he sat in the Board-room less than
half an hour, and must have gone away about as wise
as he came, for he answered no one and asked but
few questions. He travelled on some twelve or
thirteen miles in his carriage and pair, attended by
his livery servant, to the next union, where I under-
stood his labours were equally long and arduous !
And this is the way in which the public money is
squandered to the tune of about 1,5001. a year each
for these hard- worked functionaries. On the con-
trary, if there are any parts of the country where
they are still needed, there they ought to be retained.
Mr. Hume knows, and so should your readers, that
these inspectorships are for the most part mere poli-
tical appointments, filled by men selected from Trea•
sury applicants, totally irrespective of their knowledge
of the poor-law or any fitness whatever for the office ;
briefless barristers, or other relations or dependents
of the Parliamentary supporters of the Government
of the day—for Whigs and Tories are alike corrupt
and extravagant, and will never part, if they can help
it, with the smallest portion of official patronage.
These are the men just adapted for a sinecure berth,
or one in which the labour, if any, is light and pay
large, and this system will continue so long as the
country is cursed with class legislation and governed
by parties, and until Reformers of all descriptions will
learn to lay aside their minor differences and cor-
dially unite to obtain an extension of the franchise,
without which all other reforms are hopeless. Then,
and not till then, may we hope to see our public
grievances redressed, and strict economy enforced in
every department, for we should very soon have a
return to Parliament of a majority of Members as
honest, fearless, and .persevering, as Mr. Joseph
Hume.—l am, Sir, your constant reader,
A COUNTY MAGISTRATE.