The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

THE BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD

JUNCTION RAILWAY.
RENEWAL OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE
GREAT WESTERN AND LONDON AND

NORTH WESTERN.

On Saturday afternoon, at two o'clock, the usual half_
yearly meeting of the Birmingham and Oxford Railway
Company took place at Dee's Hotel, Birmingham. As
it was expected that the quarrel between the two great
c irnpanies, the London and North-Western, and the
Great Western, would be re-opened, most probably, with
greater violence than ever, there was a very strong
muster of the friends of both companies from ....iverpool.
London, and all parts of the country. Among the per•
suns present we observed Lord Hatnerton, Mr. Charles
Russell, ALP , chairman of the Great Western ; Mr.
Spooner, ALP. ; Captain Carnegie, M.P. ; the Hun.
J. C. Talbot ; Mr. Muntz ; Mr. Brunel, engineer of the
Great Western ; Mr. Saunders, secretary of the Great
Western ; Mr. Mosely, of Liverpool ; and several of the
directors of the London and North-Western Company.
Mr. Muntz, chairman of the company, and brother of
Mr. Muntz, M.P., took the chair.

The SECRETARY having read the advertisement
calling the meeting, and also the report, which %as
very brief, and merely referred to the measures which
were being taken to forward the works, and to the cir-
cumstances of a call of 5/. being about to be made,
The CHAIRMAN rose to move the adoption of the
report, and in doing so, begged to state that every effort
would be made to complete the line as speedily as
possible. Some unavoidable delays had taken place, but
he had no doubt that the line would be completed
within the specified time. With regard to the delay
which had taken place in getting the transfers made,
and regarding which there had been many complaints.
he begged to say that the delay arose in consequence of
the impossibility of getting the transfers completed as
rapidly as they were applied for. For some time they
had had as many as one hundred and fifty applications
for transfers in one day. The call had been
met with a promptitude never surpassed in the
history of any company. Indeed, so eager were some
gentlemen to make sure of having paid their calls, that
they actually wished to pay them twice over—(Loud
laughter)—and he was sure the forthcoming call would
be quite as well responded to. lie wished to take that
opportunity of stating, that since the agreement with
tha Great Western had been completed, an offer had
been made by the London and North Western Company,
of much higher terms than they had received from the
Great Western. He felt it his duty to make this inti-
mation to the shareholders, in order that they might
officially be acquainted with all the circumstances con-
nected with the case. It was the more necessary he
should do so in consequence of what had since occurred.
The directprs could not accept of the offer of the London
and North Western to take the line at 151 premium,
because they had previously ratified the bargain with
ofthe
London who
and
Great Western Company. Mr. Moseley was the
gentleman
gave
1 dNorth-Western thefiLrh.stvvinetsitmerantiocnomofptahleiyinto testicm
make
this tar T.

Mr. MoSELEY---I beg to state
ei thati the offer was made
and North- West.-rn. I wish this to
by me, but not in the name or n e
bh
ea ldf i
sotfi
ntchtel
y Luonnddeorn.
stood.—(Order,—eriaie Ldn and
ndohenar,ohear.)
The eIIAIR
North-Western
had since th.'n made the same offer in a letter from that
cianpany.—(hear, hear.) I deeply regret that the offer
has been made ; fur th© offer havinu born made after the
line had been legally sold to the Great Western Com-
pany, it had only had the effect of creating a great deal
of unpleasant feeling.—(Hear, hear.) I must also al-
lude to a letter which some time ago appeared in the
public journals with the name of Mr. Moseley attached
to it. I presume Mr. Moseley will acknowledge the
letter.

Mr. MOSELEY—I do.
various T h e
circumstancesiitmA N th,
tshtaatteml
eettn,tr.of theH e
dwelt with much emphasis on the fact the t in October
last sear, at a meeting of the shareholders, they unani-
enallwuednetd intotoini
mously, not even excepting Mr. Moseley, called on the
i
directors, indeed morally compelled them, to enter nto
negotiations for the sale of the line, and even named the
Great Western as the only company with which they
were to negotiate.—(Hear, hear) This was not only
without the knowledge of the directors of the Binning
ham and Oxford Junction, but it was against their incli-
nation. They merely agreed to negotiate with the
Great Western, because they felt they were bound to
accede to the unanimous wishes of a meeting of the
shareholders. He denied that the directors had done
anything wrong They had but carried out the wishes
of the shareholders, and the agreement being made, 'hey
would abide by it. Ile now moved that the report be
adopted.
Mr. CROSSWAITER, of Liverpool, seconded the motion
for the adoption of the report.
Captain CARNEGIE, M.P., wished to ask, before the
question was put, whether it was the intention of the
four directors, who, according to the Act of Parliament,
were to retire at that meeting, to retire from the board ?
The CHAIRMAN—The point as to whether they are
legally bound to retire at this time is one which we anti-
cipated might lead to some misunderstanding in that
room that day, and we have therefore taken the precau-
tion of getting the opinion of the Attorney-General, the
Solicitor-General, Mr. J. C. Talbot, and Mr. Godley,
and they are unanimous in the opinion that none of the
directors are bound to retire.
Captain CARNEGIE said that a body of shareholders
had also taken the opinion of the most eminent counsel
on the point, and that opinion was, that if the usual
number of directors did not retire, the directors would
occupy their places at the board illegally. (Loud cheers.)