The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-17 00:00:00

BOSTON, STAMFORD, and BIRM-
INGHAM RAILWAY (STAMFORD AND WIS-
BECLI LINE).—(THIS DAY).
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of
this company was held this day at their offices, No. 18,
Abingdon-street, Westminster. Thomas Macaulay, Esq.,
president of the board of directors, in the chair.
After the usual preliminaries,
The CHAIRMAN said that, although so short a time bad
elapsed since the last meeting of the company, yet as the
present was a regular half-yearly meeting, the Secretary had
thought it right to make a report.
The SECRETARY then read the report, from which it' ap-
peared that the shares had been reduced from three to one,
and that the directors had made a call of 11. 14s. a share. It
also stated that all the Bills alluded to in the report had been
read a first time, and that the balance of assets Ifas 6,4181.
Os. tid., the sum stated at the last meeting.
The CHAIRMAN said it would not be necessary to make
any lengthened observations. It could not be supp( )seil that
since the last meeting the directors had much Ito com-
municate. The directors were carefully superin tending
the progress of the Bills laid before the last .meet-
ing. The latter part of the business mentioned
in the advertisement was a subject for the special m eet-
ing that would take place after the conclusion of the
present meeting. Considerable advances had been made to-
wards the capital of the company, though the period for
the payment of such had not arrived, and there was no
doubt that the requisite capital would be supplied by ;54.ep-
tlemen who knew the value of five per cent. certain, and sac,
per cent. in perpetuity.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Pearson •bau
given his most valuable services to the company as a super-
intendent, for which they proposed to allow him 4001- Per
annum, only 2001. per annum of which would come ontt ei,
the polets of the company. He would conclude by .mo wing
the adoption of the report in the usual form.
Mr. GRIFFIN seconded the motion.

Mr. LEACILILAN proposed as an amendment the it the
salary of the secretary should be increased from 1:.41. to
3501. per annum.
After some discussion the amendment was altered
into a resolution, to the effect that the meeting consi id,ered
it inexpedient to increase the allowance of 1,0001., P
annum for any salary to the managing director.
This amendment was negatived.
The original resolution was then put and carried by a. :large
majority.

This terminated the business of the half-yearly meeti
A special meeting was then held to confirm the agree at out
entered into with the, directors of the Great Nortatern
Railway Company by the directors of the Bcfraton,
Stamford, and Birmingham Railway Company' to
sell and lease their line, with the eaten. si onS
to the former company, which had already been appro v sad
at a general meeting of the shareholders, and also to conl rra
the following Bills, viz.:—
_

A Bill to empower the Bolton, Stamford, and Binning.
barn Railway Company to make a railway from the 33 gat ,on
and Peterborough Railway, at or near Peterborough, to ,•the
Stamford and Wishedh line of the Boston, Stamford, ,rind
Birmingham Railway, in the pariah of Thorney and I:As of
Ely.
-

A Bill to empower the Boston, Stamford, and Birmingham
Railway Company to make a Branch Railway from the
Stamford and Wisbech line of the Boston, Stamford, and
Birmingham Railway, at Wisbech, to Wisbech Harbour,. ;and
to construct certain works at Wisbech Harbour.

A Bill to empower the Boston, Stamford, and Birming,-h,anl
Railway Company to make a Railway from Wisbech to Sut-
ton Bridge, with a Branch to Sutton St. Mary, and to,
prove the .farbour at Sutton Bridge.
The agreement and the Bills wero confirmed without d
is-
sent or discussion.

Thanks were then -voted to the Chairman and thy. Ifi"
rectors.—The meeting then separated.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen and Prince Albert took their usual trill
walk yesterday in the royal gardens of Buckingham Pala ace.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, accompanied by C twat
Alexander Mensdorti, and attended by the Equerry in W sit-
ing, Captain the Hon. A. H. Gordon, rode out on horseh ack
yesterday.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited .liar
Majesty yesterday.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Pr ILI
Alfred, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, took thtir
airings yesterday in the royal gardens.
The royal dinner party at Buckingham Palace yester that
included her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, CotwiC
Alexander Mensclorfr, Lady Fanny Howard, Baroness ode
Speth, the Earl of Hardwicke, Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. C. 33*
Phipps, and Sir George Cooper.
The band of the Coldstream Guards attended at the Pelage,
and performed the following pieces during dinner :
Overture, " Maritana,"—Wallace.
Grand Duo, " 0 Ciel," (Les Huguenots)—Meyerbeer.
Polka, "The American" (on Negro Melodies)—Julliers.
Grand March, from " The Camp of Silesia"—Meyerbeez.
Waltz, "The Hyacinth"—Koenig.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, acootir
panied by the Princess Mary, and attended by Baroneoo
Hammeisteen and Mr. Edmond Mildmay, honoured the
Haymarket Theatre with her presence yesterday evening.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, accompanist'
by his &rene Highness Prince Frederic of Hesse, and. at-
tended by Baron Knesebeck, honoured the Italian Opera
with his presence last evening.
A Cabinet Council was held at twelve o'clock yesterdap at
the Foreign-office. The Ministers present were Lord 010
Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir
George Grey, Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Auckland, Sir JobV
Hobhouse, Lord Campbell, Viscount Morpeth, the Earl et
Clarendon, the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay, and the Right
Hon. 11. Labouchere.
The Council sat an hour and a half.

Sir George Larpent and Lieutenant Waghom, accoine'
panied by Messrs. Boyd, Sutherland, Browning, G. H. 1-'0;
naldson, and Wise (merchants), had an interview with FAu
Grey yesterday, at the Colonial-office.
The Governor of the Bank of England and the Deputy
Governor had an interview with the Chancellor of the Ex...
chequer yesterday.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 16.
INFLUX OF IRISH POOR INTO LIVERPOOL.
The Earl of LUCAN (in continuation) proceeded to say--
Mr. Otway, the Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, suggested to
him that a rate should be struck for the relief of the poor, and
that the doors of the workhouse should be opened for their ad..
mission. But if a rate had been struck, it could not have been
collected, as in England, the day after; a month at least mot
have intervened before they could have been in a condition to
collect it, and even the collecting of it was fraught with diffi.•
culty, owing to the sub-divisions of the land, and the difficulty
of discovering the real persons on whom it should be levied.
Nothing could have been more ridiculous than striking a rate
because the people were in want of immediate relief. He (Lord
Lucan) told Mr. Otway that he was in favour of opening due
house, but as there were no funds to provide relief for
them in the house, and as it was a question of
starvation within, as well as without the houses
he thought it advisable not to open the doors of the workhouse
under such circumstances. It would have been useless striking
a new rate whilst the old rate remained outstanding. It was
more advisable, before striking a new rate, to collect what re-
mained unpaid of the old one. The Noble Lord (Lord Dun-
can) seemed in favour of a paid board; he could not divine his
reason, except that he was desirous to be its paid chairman, Or
to hold some other paid office in connexion with it. One was
scarcely prepared to be lectured by a Scotchman (Lord Duncan)
on the subject of dispensing relief to the distressed poor of
Ireland. He certainly could not possees much knowledge of
workhouses from experience, in his own country, as he (Lord
Lucan) did not believe that there was such a thing as a work-
house in Scotland. He recommended to that Noble
Lord's attention, some voluminous blue books, which
were more voluminous than those published with
respect to Ireland, and which treated of the condition and
relief of the poor of Scotland. He would there find much to
reproach his country with—details of the niggard relief dis-
pensed to the poor; in some cases such wretched sums as 3s. or
4s. a year were given to one family in the course of that time.
When Scotchmen spoke sincerely on the conduct of Irish
landlords, he though he was justified in retorting in this way-
He did not think that the remarks—the splenetic and
misdirected remarks—of the Members for Bath (Me.
Roebuck and Lord Duncan) would meet with much
favour from their constituents at the next election
There was, no doubt, much to condemn • but at the same
time much allowance was to be made. He could state that
the proprietors of Ireland were making every sacrifice they
could, and they were using every endeavour in their power to
co-operate with her Majesty's Government to alleviate the "
existing distress. He could not conclude without saying that
he much lamented the tone and language that had been used
towards Ireland and the people of that country, because he
must candidly say it was calculated to create a hostile feeling
towards Ireland. When all the subjects of the present discus-
sion had passed away, there would be feelings of envy, enmity*
and detestation engendered in the minds of 'the people of
Ireland.
Earl GREY could not but regret that allusion had been
made to what had taken place in the other House, as it was cal-
culated to lower the character of Parliament. Having heard
the observations of the Noble Earl opposite, he felt it to be
his duty to rise for the purpose of stating, which de did sin-
cerely, that the censures which he had so unsparingly lavished
were altogether unjust. The Noble Earl bad spoken of
Mr. Otway, Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, in very un-
measured terms. He accused him of having brought charges
against him (Lord Lucan) which were unfounded. He
(Earl Grey) must say, that he had read all the papers relat-
ing to the subject, and he had heard the speech of the
Noble Earl, and he was bound to say, that his honest and
sincere opinion was that Mr. Otway's censure on the board of
guardians of the Castlebar Union was in so way more
severe than the circumstances justified. He had no doubt
that the Noble Earl, in the steps he had taken with respect to
this subject, was actuated by a desire to do his duty towards
Ireland; but the Noble Earl's own statement showed that the
gravest censure rested upon the guardians of the Castlebar
Union ; and here, he begged to observe, that Mr. Otway's
censure was not of the Noble Earl, but of the board
of guardians of the Castlebar Union. There were
two or three facts which showed that the censure
of Mr. Otway, and the subsequent suspension of
the guardians of the Castlebar Union, were called for.
In a period of the most harrowing distress they would not ad-
mit the paupers, though the workhouse contained a much
smaller number than it was intended for, and even to those who
were admitted into the house the most scandalous usage was
given. It was alleged in defence that they were unable to
raise the necessary funds ; but before admitting that plea, it
was necessary to prove that due efforts had been made to raise
these funds. But even the Noble Earl himself had told them
that some of the arrears were due by solvent persons, and that
they might, if due diligence had been used, been collected.
The board of guardians ought to have taken care that the Tato
was properly and duly collected. But why, he would ask, was
no rate struck? Remonstrances had been made over and over
again to have a new one struck, but nothing whatever was
done. The ground alleged was this : a great part of the old
one still remained uncollected. But every one was aware, that
had any experience of the working of these matters, that the
heavier the rate the more difficult it was of collection. In the
last years of great distress in this country—in 1841 and 1842--
there was great difficulty in collecting the rates, but that was
never put forward as a reason for refusing to strike a rate
altogether. Only two rates had been struck since the Castle-
bar Union was opened—one in August, 1842, and the other in
July, 1845. The amount of the first was 1,061/., and of the
last, 3,362/. ; and it was to be observed, that it was
with the greatest possible difficulty the last had been struck.
He said their Lordships would perceive, from the documents
which he had just read, that this uLion, which was large, and
included a great amount of property, belonging to the wealthy;
that during the years 1845 and 1846, the years in which very
great distress existed in Ireland, only one rate had been struck,
and that rate only slightly exceeded 3,000/. He hoped their
Lordships would compare this with the efforts which had been
made during the years 1840 and 1841 by the small town of
S sized by that town which he had the honour of mitre-
the milt.] floase of Parliament—he meant Sunder-1
Why, was the -rate at which the inhabitants cf
these towns were paying the poor-rate? They were pa}irg
twenty shillings in the pound • but how much were they pay-
ing in the pound in the Castlebar Union? Why,
he
believedalrat'et
was not much more than three shillings, and that small