The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-16 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE SOUTH-EAST-
ERN AND BRIGH lON RAILWAY COMPA-
:NIES' SHAREHOLDERS.
A meeting of the sharehollers in these two ccenpaities
was held yeeterday, in the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street, for the purpuse of adopting souse measures to
stop, if possible, what was termed " the wasteful and
extravagant expenditure" incurred by the Parliamentary
contacts, Pee., between the South-Eastern Company, on
the one hand, and the London and Brighton, on the
other.
The large room was respectably filled, and a con'i-
• derable number of the snore influential shareholders
were seated at the table.
Mr. CASH was called to the chair. The chairman
said, that he hoped the company would not be considered
as having been called together out of opposition to the
directors. It had been called together for the purpose
of putting a stop to the shameful and ruinous course of
expenditure now geing on on the part of the directors,
—(Hear, hear.) He proposed, on a late occasion that
some arrangements should be come to between the two
companies by which. they should be united. That pro-
position had not been acceded to, notwithstanding the
favourable opinions which were at one time entertained
of that result. having been brought about. He had re-
ceived, on the part of the committee, six hundred
letters from the Brighton shareholders in favour
of an union of the two companies, and representing
shares to the value of 900 0001. and that morning their
committee had received upwards of 1,100 letters from
the South-Eastern Company in favour of an arrange-
ment between the two companies. Those who had
given any attention to the subject, considering at the
same time the state of the money market, had come to
the conclusion that the best course would be to petition
Parliament to prevent any further progress in the ex-
tensions now pending before the Committees of the
House of Commons.—(Cheers.) He thought if the
two Committees had been united, a most wasteful
expenditure would have been saved in the con-
struction of the two lines, whch had received the
sanction of Parliament last session, between Tun-
bridge and Hastings, and which would when
constructed be most formidable rivals to each other, and
in their rivalry would injure the interests of the share-
holders.—(Cheers.) At the same time he must beg
leave to say, that there had been a few letters received
from large shareholders expressing an opinion adverse
to an amalgamation between the two companies. The
committee had prepared a number of resolutions, which
he proposed to read to the meeting, end afterwards to
take the opinion of the meeting on the same.
Sir Z.. GoLDsmID thought that if a motion with re-
spect to the postponement of the question should he
agreed to, it would be unnecessary to enter into any
angry discussion as to the conduct of either of the
companies concerned. He therefore called upon the
meeting to postpone the consideration of the question of
the extensions till another year. He called upon the
meeting, as friends to their country, to the poor, and to
themselves, to consent to the postponement of the con-
sideration of the proposed extensions till another year.
Ile would move that the meeting should petition nr-
liarnent to postpone the consideration of the schemes
before the Committees till another year.
The CHAIR3IAN said that the Hon. Gentleman had
anticipated the resolutions which he purposed to read to
the meetine.
Mr. EDE then read a series of resolutions regretting
the contest which was now being carried on between
the rival comp-aides, and recommending that measures be
adopted calculated at once to put a stop to the wastefnl
expenditure which must result from that contest, and
recommending the meeting to adopt a petition to Parlia-
ment, pray ing the House to postpone the consideration
of the various line., proposed by either company.
The CHAIRMAN then said that a petition to the II ruse
of Commons hail been prepared, which would be ready
for sienature at the close of the meeting.
A SHAREHOLDER said that the Committees of the
House of Commons invariably refused to receive the
petitions of the shareholders, on the ground that they
were represented by he directors, who were suoposed to
be in possession of information which the body of the
shareholders did not possess.
The CIIIIRYIAN nail that the petition prepared by the
committee did not cast the slightest reflectisn upon the
conduct of the company. The committee were perfectly
unbiassed in their opinion towards either comp-my; they
were of opinion that it would be absurd and ridiculous
to waste the money of the shareholders in a contest be-
tween the two companies.
Mr. WHALLEY then moved "That it is the opinion of
this meeting that the time will undoubtedly arrive when
the Brighton and South-Eastern Company would be-
come consolidated," and for this reason he thought it ad-
visable that no further expenditure of' the capital of
either c impany should be expended in opposing each
other.
Mr. WILLIAMS seconded the resolution.
Mr. SAVAGE suggested that instead of the expression
" will arrive" the resolution should be altered to " has
arrived."—(Cries of " no.")
Mr. LEVY s lid that he was one of the persons who
coalesced with Mr. Cash, and he believed that if
the resolutions were put to the meeting they
would meet the sanction of all present. But one
thing he must add, the committee had expended about
2001., and he hoped that, as Englishmen and gentleasi n,
they would not allow the burden to fall upon a few indi-
viduals.—(Laughter and cheers.)
Mr. P. A. TAYLOR said that he had anticipated that
the question they had met to discuss was one of some
fair and equitable arrangement between the companies.
and looking to the resolutions placed by Mr. Cash in the
co
mpany
some of the directors at the meetings of either
some time before, he conceived that the time had already
come for the union between the two lines. Ile trusted
that the object before them would be limited, therefore,
to the one important inquiry of amalgamation. He did
not see that it was necessary to stop the whole of the
proceedings in Parliament, further than to check any
needless expenditure, arising from a contest in which
one of the lines would stiffer, and in which they (the
shareholders) would suffer also. The speaker concluded
by moving an =mime: t, that the word " has" be sub-
stituted for " will," in the first resolution.
Sir I. L. GOLDSMID addressed the meeting agiust the
amendment.
Mr. WISHAW was in favour of the original resolution.
The amendment and original resolution having been
put from the chair, the latter was declared carried by a
large majority.
The second resolution, expressive of the regret of the
meeting that terms of arrangement had not been agreed
upon by the directors of the two companies, was moved
by Mr. Tnomesos, seconded, and carried.
Mr.Wrsitew proposed thethird resolution " That mea-
sures be adepted to stay the contest between the cam-
panics."
Mr. EAST seconded it.
Mr. JENNINGS thought this resolution expressed an
undue interference with the proceedings of the directors,
especially as the shareholders had not had sufficient data
on which to ground an opinion.
Mr. P. A. TANLOR. ObjeCtA to the resolution, because
the shareholders had not been apprised that this course
would be re-weeded with, aed he moved an amendment
"That at this time] it is not expedient to stop the pro-
ceedings of the companies better, Parliament."
Mr. COLEMAN seconded the amendment.
In answer t j certain questions,
The CHAIRMAN salt!, tnat the preponderance in favour
of the amalgamation of the companies seemed to him to
emanate from the Brighton shareholders ; he (the
chairman) li el a greater interest in the Brighton than
in the South-Eastern Railway.
Mr. Wistrew said that the present expenses, in con-
sequence of Parliamentary altercation, was 500/. per day
to either c
Mr. JONAS LEVY, among other remarks, said that a
celebrated cennssl could not find time to reply until
he received 2,000/. with his brief.
Mr. WISHAW, having given way to gentlemen who
had before spoken, was anxious to say one word upon
the amendment which he had seconded. He was morally
certain that not one influential shareholder in the South-
Eastern Company was in favour of the amalgamation
with the Brighton Company. Ile particularly referred
to Manchester, Liverpool, and places further north.
Mr. LEVY created considerable amusement by forcing
upon the attention of the last speaker letters from large
shareholders in the places mentioned, all in favour of a
union of interests.
The amendment was then put to the meeting and lost,
and the original resolution was carried.
The fourth resolution, "That the present committee
should have power to add to their number from the
shareholders of either company," was also carried.
The petition founded on the resolutions was then read,
and it received a considerable number of the signatures
of shareholders present.
Thanks having been voted to the Chairman, the mee
ing separated.

THE BUSH PEOPLE
SOUTHERN AFRICA.
These living types of a race, perhaps one of the lowest in the
scale of humanity, and now becoming rapidly'extinct, offer a
subject of the greatest interest, alike to the man of science,
the student in human physiology, and the curious, as being
the first living specimens of this singular variety of the great
human family—the Ishmaels of the African continent,
who have ever been induced to visit the abodes of civilised
man, and for descriptions of whom, we have hitherto been
entirely dependent up .n the testimony of the few travellers
who have visited their desolate and far-off region. To the
!student in phrenology. these Bush people offer an especially
interesting study,asafibrding strong corroborative evidence in
support of the now almost universally-admitted truths of that
science. The heads of this singular group, and a skull
of one of their fellawe, in the possession of the gentle-
man who has brought them to this country, exhibit
almost as striking
an absence of the intellectual and
higher faculties
as is observable in the skull of that
mockery of hua rity, the baboon; while the preponder-
ance of the
animalmarkeis almost equally great. There is, how-
ever, a
in the mother or theri"ilY of phrenological development
country, over any ofehchild born on their passage to this
much greater degree of intelligence ef"Panions, and she exhibits a
guardian than either; while we
learns from their •nt.hat She is a most excellent
mother, kind and affectionate
tineher disposition, ingly docileothers, on
Tztrary, being very self-
and exceed-
willed and difficult to manage.
with
self-
which they have been treated sineeklnthine:a'rrhi'sZle'd-ts not
by any means appear to have been thrown
scans perfectly happy and contented, and away, as they
on the receipt of
an orange or other, trifle, exhibit the liveliest el
noti4lns of
by kisJing the hand of the donor, and gratitude, n.esto
other unequivocal signs of pleasure. They were fairly "1
toxicsted with delight on the two females being pres;nt„",
with a necklace each, by one of the company present, en,:.
posed of round nsctal buttons. and a smaller one for the.
child—the females exhibiting all that passionate love of
adornment which seems inherent in the breast of every
daughter of Eve, whether civilized or savage; and the males
scarcely less so. in the speechless admiration with which,
so decked, they appeared to reg,ird their spouses. We may
mention that they are natives of the country bordering
the great Orange Ricer, in the interior of Atreet, 1.200
to 1,400 miles from Cape Town ; and their supposed ages
vary between thirty and fifty, the mothen of the child bef:g
the oldest of the group. They have picked up a few words
of Ergli4h and Dutch ; but their iutercourso with their

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