The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-19 00:00:00

GREAT 'WESTERN RAILWAY

COMPANY.
Yesterday the usual half-yearly general meeting of the
proprietors of the Great Western Railway, was held at
the station in Paddington, Charles Russell, Esq., M.P.,
in the chair. After the usual formalities had been gone
through,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said, that it was impossible
for the directors to give the proprietors so much infor-
mation at a February meeting, as they could at
one in August, for now they were entering
upon their Parliamentary campaign, while in
August they had usually arrived at its close. He
was in hopes that their Parliamentary course in the
present session might have been rendered somewhat
easy by an amicable arrangement with the London and
North Western Company. At their last meeting, in
the month of December, he stated fully the nature of the
negotiation which had been going on with that company,
but, subsequently, certain statements and observations
imposed upon the directors the necessity of issuing a
full and detailed report upon the subject. To that repot t
the only reply that was made was a short note,
from Mr. Creed addressed to the editor of the Times. In
that note, Mr. Creed declared that he was instructed to
state, that the London and North Western Company
were still as desirous as ever that some arrangement
should be CORN to with the Great Western Company. He
( Mr. Russell) was at Brighton on the 26th December, the
day upon which that letter appeared in the Times, but
so anxious was he to construe it into an invitation to
renew the negociation, that he wrote a note to Mr.
Glyn, proposing that Mr. Saunders and Mr.
Swift should take up the matter where it
began, with a view of establishing peace between the
two companies. The result of that note was an agree-
ment between Mr. Glyn and himself, to the effect that
Mr. Saunders and Mr. Swift should have full power to
conclude such arrangements between the two companies,
as should be considered beneficial to the interests of the
company they respectively represented. He was sorry
to say, however, that the arrangement never reached to
the extent of a meeting between Mr. Swift
and Mr.
,Saunders ; for Mr. Swift, in the first
instance, insisted upon preliminary concessions which
the directors of the Great Western Company could not
consistently make. It was not his intention to go fully
into the correspondence which had taken place on the
subject, but the real substantial and insuperable obstacle
to the arrangement was the possession by the London
and North-Western Company of the Birmingham and
Oxford, and Birmingham and Wolverhampton lines.
Notwithstanding the triumph of the Great Western
Company last Session, the London and North
Western company appeared determined to at•
tempt to exclude the Great Western and the
broad gauge from Birmingham. They wished
to hold the Oxford line jointly with its proprietors, or,
failing in that, to purchase it altogether. It was im-
possible for the Great Western Company to accede to
Joint possession, because that would be in direct viola-
tion of their pledges to the public and their promises to
Parliament. He then alluded to the singular offer the
London and North Western had made for the Oxford
line. At the meeting of the Oxford proprietary,
deputations
tnegotiatea
tions
of t
h viei t ht w
the
which took place in Birmingham on the 30th of
October, the directors of that line were au-
thorised Ganresst,
and
desateftrnr
for the sale of their line ; the consequence was, meetingse
between companies,
the preliminaries had been agreed upon, the bargain
was made and the line agreed to be conceded, as was
well known to the Great Western Company. The
terms were considered just, yet at a meeting of the Bir-
mingham and Oxford proprietors on the 4th of De I
cember, Mr. Mozley, as the mouthpiece of the
London and North Western Company, and what
he then said had been confirmed by the acts of
the London and North Western Company, said he
saw no reasoa why the London and North
Western Company should, in the face of all the facts,
make an offer for that which they had already pur-
chased.—(Cheers.) Under influences, about which he
would not stop to inquire, a new set of proprietors were
invited to combine to set aside that which had been
done by a previous proprietary, who were fully com-
petent to do what they had done. A new set of
directors were to be forced on the management, in order
to repudiatela solemn ;agreement, and, in the event of
failing in that purpose, to embarrass and prevent its
accomplishment.—(Cheers.) Those attempts would
recoil on the authors.—(A cry of "So they ought I")
The agreement required no further act of the
proprietors, no further sanction of Parliament.—
(Cheers.) The agreement with the Birmingham, Dud-
ley, and Wolverhampton, was also completed, with the
single exception that it required the sanction of Parlia-
ment.—(Hear, hear, and applause.) He regretted that
their efforts to effect an amicable arrangement with the
London and North Western Railway Company had thus
failed. What that company had to give them, except
peaceable possession of their purchase, he was at a loss
to understand. What they had to give the London and
North Western Railway Company was an assurance that
they would not extend the broad guage beyond certain
limits to be defined between the two companies.
It was for the London and North Western Company to
determine the value of this concession. It was for them
to consider the wisdom of seeking to recover the loss
they had practically sustained in the last session Of
Parliament, or whether they would be content with
speculating upon the future.—(Hear, hear.) They had
chosen the former alternative as the more wise and ad-
vantageous for themselves ; but he was far from being
sure that they had not chosen the alternative most
advantageous to the Great Western Company.—(Cheers.)
The Great Western Company were prepared to make
sacrifices for the sake of peace, but he knew an opinion
was entertained by many of their proprietors, men
possessing large stakes in the company, that it would be
much better for them to remain as they were, and
extend the broad guage into every available direction.—
(Cheers.) He readily turned from that subject to take
a glance at their internal position. It was highly gra-
tifying for him to perceive that their receipts were
increasing, while their expenditure was diminishing.—
(Cheers.) The number of miles run by their engines in
1845 was 240,000, while in 1846 the number was
346,000.—(Hear, hear.) Yet with this increase of
mileage there bad been no increase of expenditure.that
—(Cheers.) He was glad to say too,
they had reduced the number of their assistant engiF ,
and thus had they not only attained economy, but they
had attained addi:ional security. It would be remem-
bered
that at their last meeting two auditors were ap-
pointed to investigate the accounts. Those auditorsi were
t,
Mr. W. Croawaithe, of Liverpool, and Mr. Wee:
.t
of London, two gentlemen of the highest respectability
e
ts
and experience, and he was glad to say tho
gentlemen had reported that the accounts were
highly satisfactory, and therefore upon a very improved,suffi.
clear, and simple principle—(Cheers)—that was a
cient answer to all the newspaper calumnies, not to men-
tion the imputations of fraud which had been wantonly
thrown out. In conclusion, he thanked the proprietors,
and awarded that meed of praise to the officers of the
company for the diligence and care they had bestowed
upon the affairs of the company.
that
Mr. SAUNDERS then read the report. It stated
the financial accounts and tabular statement, which had
been published and circulated, would have already,innsasto
working known to the proprietors, the result of the r
enable
igof
their line during the last half year, which would.
end of
them to declare at this meeting the usual divid
end
four per cent for that time. With respect to the traffic,
of
it might be observed, that in the corresponding period
end
1845, precisely the same length of line
was
openedthat the
worked over by this company as in 1846,
so
od
the ton-
comparison in the number of paSSengerSl
3 of the in
nage of goods, was a perfectly fair criterion
railways and
crease conveyed over identically the same
indcated
this review of the business of the company
trade,
most satisfactorily the features of progressivetof
en 1845,
when it was remembered that the excitin
with the numberless schemes and the travelling
almost
conse-
quent thereon, was thus contrasted with
the
en-
tire cessation of such speculative had been movementsat during the
latter part of 1846. The increase in 1846
the rate of 503 passengers per diem.
viz. 92,528 for the
976 tons of goods.
half-year, with an additional trade 0f 2
3'
The balance now disposable being 218,855 E 19s. 7d., the
directors recommended that a dividend of four per cent.
'
be declared for the half-year ending
the 31st of Decem-
ber, 1846, payable on or after the Ist of March, to the
proprietors registered on the company's books when they
were closed en the Sth instant, which dividend would
amount to 211,0021. 4s. 9d., and leave a balance of
7,853/ 14s. 10d. to be carried to the
credit of the next
half-year's account. Since the special general meetings
of this company were held on the 6th November and
pursuance of the
4th December last, the directors had, in
'etors, affixed t e common seal
resolutions of the propri
otherwise executed separate
of the company, and
repared to carry out the
deeds, which had been
pßailway and the purchase of
lease of the South Wales
and Oxford Railway, as well as that of
the Birmingham
Wolverhampton, and Dudley the Birmingham, Railway.
The provisions of the Act for incorporating the Bir-
mingham and vay,
f 'powers
on erred
,powers
Oxford Rat, which
on that company, with the sanction of a general meet-
ing, to sell their the Great
line to Western Railway
Company, required
that the rates and
tolls
of this
company should be revised, to a scale not exceeding
thatand Oxford
that of the Birmingham Railway Act, before
the purchase could finally take effect. The directors
consequently,
and in order to carry into effect the pur-
chase of that line, bad entered into
convenant by such
deed, with the Birmingham
.and Oxford Railway Com-
pany, revision made by Parliament,
to have such for
which purpose a now n Act was
before the Legis-
lature, and as samelow
the scale of maximum
rates which was submitted to by the London
and North-Western Railway Company last year,
in order to obtain the amalgamation of the Grand
Junction with the London and Birmingham Railway
Company was now offered by the Great Western Rail-
way Company, and was to be made applicable to all traffic
over the Great Western line, whether from existing or
new railways, there could be no doubt that the Act
would pass into a law, on account of the public benefits
to,be derived from that reduction of rates, upon which
the purchase of the Birmingham and Oxford Railway
by this Company, would have its entire and unqualified
effect under the provisions of the existing Act.
The directors, in conjunction with the Bristol and
Exeter and the South Devon Railway Companies, bad
entered into a conditional arrangement for
affording
some aid to the establishment ef docks at Plymouth, a
measure which they considered would be very service
able to the traffic of the line. The sum agreed to be
subscribed by this company was 7,5001. A Bill for the
consolidation and improvement of the Weymouth
Harbour Trust was before Parliament, in which
power was given to the Great Western, and the
Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Companies,to
assist the Commissioners in raising funds by
their guarantee, to an amount not d•
excee mg 40,000/.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving its adoption, announced
the intention of the company for the future to discon-
tinue the depreciation fund. The honourable proprietor
thought a statement of their liabilities ought to be sent
forth to the world for he believed the public enter-