The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-03 00:00:00

TitE SUN, LONDON,_ MONDAY tVENING,_ AUGUST 3, 1846.
AN-

CORNWALL .., DEVON CEN-
TRAL RAILWAY.

A meeting of the shareholders in this Company waspheld,
at twelve o'clock on Saturday, at the London Tavern, for the
purpose of taking into considerttion the propriety or other-
wise of proceeding with this scheme (which our readers may
be aware was thrown out before the Committee on Standing
Orders on a slight technical error) during the next session

of Parliament.
The meeting, which was most numerously attended, was
called for 11, but the chair was not taken till 12. We can-
not forbear calling the attention of railway companies
to the great inconvenience and loss of time which this
reprehensible practice occasions both to the public and our-
selves. if the parties had stated in their advertisement that
the meeting was called at 11 for 12 o'clock, the shareholders
and file representatives of the press would then have known

how to act.
Mr. H. WILLIAMS having been voted into the chair,
Mr. CROMBIE, the secretary, having etated that the
meeting was properly constituted, and read the advertise_
relent bv which the meeting bad been convened, after which
Messrs :W. Lowe, 11. Beaumont, and John Clapperton were
appointed scrutineers,
The CHAIEMAN said he reed only state to them very
shortly that they had met there that day for the purpose of
taking into consideration the propriety or otherwise of tt is-
solving the Company. The report of the directors would be
laid before them, and they- could then take their own course.
They were all, as a matter of course, sufficiently aware of
the Act of Parliament, which stated most distinctly that they
were to limit their discussion to one object only. The last
time he had the honour of presiding over a meeting
of the shareholders they were stated to have
been very desultory in their proceedings. Indeed,
on some of the points ha believed they were repre-
sented as paving been rather uproarious. That, no doubt,
was somewhat of an exaggeration ; but there were reasons
why they were desultory, They had no main point under
consideration at present however, that was not the
ease, and he sincerly. hoped that they would limit
themselves to one point, being the question of disso-
lution, Whether they were uproarious depended en-
tirely upon themselves. He believed and hoped
most sincerely that no ono had come there for the purpose
of creating an uproar. He believed that their reel intention
was to give the subject a calm and cool consideration, With
that view he placed himself entirely in the hands of the
begged
dtt houcaiclib upon eer, Crombie, the
these-
Conamitteeebegged to
present to the meeting,
cshreatrae4o,ltdoersr,
read,
egthbergepor
Air, CROMBIE then read the report, which strongly recom-
mended the shareholders to prosecute the scheme during the
next session. The report was received with loud applause.
lii 1:41P.F5. trs, 77114 Owr.eLEE, the Dircotors and
Secretary stated that the report had betu seg,ularly drawn
up by the managing coneroittee.
The CHAIRMAN having stated that he was quite prepared
to take any motion that might be made on the report,
Mr. OSBORNE rose and said that, in the remarks which
he should take the liberty of making, he should strictly eon-
fine himself to one subject, in pursuance of the Act by
which the meeting had been convened. He could not
help remarking that the conduct of the managing
and provisional committees was intimately mixed
up with the proceedings of that day. Ile confessed
that he felt much astonished at the report which had just
been read by Mr. Crombie—(Hear, hear)—because he had
always understood that the managing committee of this un-
dertaking was, par excellence, composed of highly honourable
and respectable men, whose words were always to be depended
upon, and whose actions had always met with the approval
of those of their fellow-men who were able to distinguish
between right and wrong.—(Hear, hear.) But he did nbt
mean to say that they were deserving of the highest enco-
miums that could be passed upon them in reference to the
manner in which they had conducted the interests of this
Company. Indeed, that conduct was suprising to him, be-
cause not many months ago in that very room they gave
expression to opinions the very reverse of those which they
had now expressed in their report. In three months those
gentlemen could blow both hot and cold. On the 30th of
April last they met in that room, and said they should feel
most happy it it was in their power to wind up the affairs of
this Company; and now that Parliament bad given them the
power, they stated that they should be most happy to proceed
with the scheme in the next session of Parliament.—(Hear,
hear.) But they had not furnished to the shareholders any
reasons for this extraordinary change in their opinions.
Looking at the circumstanceslthat had recently taken place,
and looking also at the fact that many parishes
were deeply interested in retaining so large a sum
of money as that now in the hands of the Committee, the
shareholders might, however, take for granted what were
the reasons which prompted the directors to recommend the
continuance of the scheme. And that notion the sharehol-
ders might form without being deemed very uncharitable to-
wards the gentlemen on the board of management. It might
be said, why did he notanimadvert on the report of the3oth of
April at the time it was laid before the shareholders? but, in
reply to that, he had to state that he had not then time to
peruse it. In that report the Committee stated that, after con-
sulting the highest legal authorities cn the subject, they had
unanimously come to the resolution of recommending the
dissolution of the Company. The Chairman, at the last
meeting, said (and he would wish the shareholders to
understand that he sat opposite to the chairman,
and took down his words), that it would be a
desirable thing if the Company had the power of dis-
solving.—(Hear, hear.) Now he (Mr. Osborne) put it to
the meeting whether, if that really were the serious opinion
of the chairman and directors in April last, they could
honestly and consistently come forward now and
ask the Company for their sanction to the
continuance of the scheme? What sight had they, after the
opinions which they had expressed at the last meeting, now
to come before the Company and ask for that sanction?—
(Hear, hear.) They then stated that they regretted they
had not the power to wind up the affairs of the
Company ; but now, when that power was
granted to them—when an express Act of Parliament
was passed investing them with that power, the Chair-
man and the committee came forward, and, without as-
signing any reason, stated. that it would be best not to dis-
solve, but to continue the scheme. Under these circum-
stances he (Mr. Osborne) would ask the meeting whether he
had not a right to say that the gentlemen of the
committee, whoever they might be, had not kept good faith
with, had not, in fact, dealt honestly towards a large body
of the shareholders?—(Cheers.) Why should the share-
holders now put confidence in the recommendations of
those gentlemen—why should they take it for granted
that they had been actuated by honest Inotlves, when
they drew up this their last report?—(Cheers.) Why
should they assume that the affairs of the company had been
managed so honestly that no one could "pick a hole" in
their doings? They were told by the printed statement
before them, that the amount of deposits issued-was, in the
gross, 296,708/. lls. 9d., but from that sum there were
several large deductions. There was the large sum of
33,556/. to defray the expenses of solicitors, engineers, &c.,
up to the present time. And first, there was the large sum
of 13,8231. for doing what? For absolutely doing nothing—
(Hear, hear)—for absolutely doing mischief. He alluded to
what had been done in the way of surveying.—(Hear, hear.)
Indeed, the line was so badly surveyed, and so great were
the deficiencies in the plans, &c., that to have
brought them before the House of Commons, they "could not
hold water" for one hour, and yet they were called upon to
pay 13,8231. for surveying the line, and also to express their
most sincere thanks to the directors for the excellent manner
in which they had conducted the concerns of the Company.
—(Her, hear.) The next charge was 2,0001. for the
London solicitor's expenses. Now he did not exactly
understand what was the proper remuneration to a London
solicitor for the amount of work done for this Company
during the last six or nine months; but, for his own part, he
should most certainly not object to receive such a sum for
the same business. He should consider the solicitor fortunate.
—(Hear, hear.) He was not disposed to split hairs in these
matters, but he must say that his opinion that 2,0001. to
one individual was a larger sum than the shareholders of
this Company ought to be charged with. But it
was not the London solicitor alone that had a share
in the funds of this Company.—(Hear, hear.) There
was no less a sum than 4,000/. charged for country
solicitors and agents, for doing what he should wish to be
informed. Why, it was no wonder that these gentlemen
were so anxious to carry on the scheme, when there
was the probability of such a rich harvest as this before
them. He was not at all surprised when he heard
of their purchasing scrip , for the purpose of enabling
them to vote for the continuance of the scheme.—(Hear,
hear.) For the Parliamentary agents there was a charge of
4,809/. What had been done for that sum he was not pre-
pared to say, but he thought it was a vast deal of money to
pay for getting the scheme of the Company thrown out on
the standing orders. He thought he had a right to appeal
to the shareholders and ask them 'whether it was
reasonable to call upon them to pay such a large amount of
money for getting their project thrown out of Parlirment.
Besides, there was no chance of this Bill ever being carried.
—(Cries of " Yes, yes," and " No, no.") Did the share-
holders anticipate that thirty shillings would be returned
to them on each share ? But the directors had
their money in their hands, and they could do
as they pleased; they could say "We have a
sufficient number of votes here to-day on our side, and you
may, therefore, grumble as you please," The shareholders
would get no satisfaction.—(Hear, hear.) There was yet
remaining in the pockets of the directors the sum of 78,111/.
7s. 10d. belonging to this Company. He would now approach
a subject which he must say had created in his mind a great
deal of uneasiness. He did not wish to express himself hi
harsh language, but he felt so strongly upon the topic that
he was about to allude to, that he was afraid he should in-
advertently make use of very strong language; if he
should, he hoped the meeting would forgive him
A large number of shares bad been purchased lately, to the
amount of many thousands, at a given marketable price, by
parties who appeared to be the agents of some company or
some individuals who had a large interest in the success of
this undertaking. This took place at Exeter. Thou-
sands of shares had been purchased by thqse individuals
at 30s. a piece. A man called upon him to purchase some at
the same rate, but when asked who were the parties that
had employed him, he said, "I must not tell."
A DIRECTOR—No broker does that; it's quite absurd.
Mr. OSBORNE—Now, if those shares had been purchased
by the committee of management—
The SECRETARY—They have not.
Mr. OSBORNE—Or by agents for them, or by the South-
Western Company, or the Amalgamation Companies, he
would then ask the shareholders to look at the position in
which they were placed. He would suppose that -those gen-
tlemen had employed their agents to purchase those shares
at 30s. each, whilst those very gentlemen had received
2/. 12s. 6d. for every share. What then must they think of
their conduct?
Mr. MASTERMAI (a director)—The managing committee
I have purchased no shares whatever.
The SECRETARY—They have not purchased a single share.
Mr. OSBORNE did not say they had, but he believed that
he should not subject himself to the charge of
uncharitableness if he said that he believed that those
shares had been purchased with the knowledge, consent, and
approval of those gentlemen, and also of the South-Western
Company ; for he believed the South-Western Company to
be at the bottom of this matter. (llear, hear.)
But the fact was too strong to be disputed that
those 'shares had been purchased at thirty shillings a
piece. He would venture to say that by far
a greater part of those gentlemen then in the room, and al so
of those who authorised the directors to vote werell whoname
in favour of the continuance of the scheme,_very tose
shares
had purchased their shares at 30s. a piyce. Th_
• editable manner to other
he had been purchased in the discr
inst the other
ue had alluded would. be turned that day so!
shareholders,6d a piece for their
„who had given 2/. 12s. • • was
shares.-- Loud cheers.) The directors, inconsistent a
their conduct with regard to the project, cared not for
that, because they knew that they could carry what
motions they pleased. But was it right that these
things should be done? Was it possible to reconciled for
one moment such conduct with plain, straightforward, own-
right English conduct? (Loud cheers.) Must there
not be some interested motive that had induced
them so rapidly to change their opinions?—( • • ns?—(Hear, hear.io)
Were there not some strong reasons that had tempted them
to recommend the continuance of the scheme? His honest
adTico tho Lod ALS Shareiladell Tao, t4at they A told