The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-27 00:00:00

"w•i.--
OVEMBER 27, 1848.
-t

PUBLICATIONS.

On December 1, price One Guinea,
THE POEMS of FELICIA HEMANS.
A New Edition, Chronologically arranged, with Illustrative
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A New Edition. being the Seventh.
HISTORY of EUROPE from
LL the Commencement of the FRENCH REVOLUTION in
[739, to the RESTORATION of the BOURBONS in 1815.

By ARCHIBALD ALISON, Esq.
:n Twenty Volumes Crown Bvo., with a copious Index, price 6/.,

bound in cloth,
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This day is published, in one volume crown 4t0., price 21. 12s. Gd.,
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ATLAS TO ALISON'S HISTORY
OF EUROPE.
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Copies en Large Paper, to range with the Octavo Edition of the
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William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
AMALGAMATION OF THE THREE GREAT
COMPANIES.
The directors of the Great Western Railway have
communicated to the shareholders in that company the
resolutions agreed to by the deput Ition from the three
companies who propose amalgamation, viz., the Great
Western, the North-Western, and the South-Western.
They further state that these resolutions were approved
of by the board, subject to two resolutions, one of which
still forms the subject of a correspondence, and therefore
may be settled. The document is annexed for the in-
formation of the reader.
It cannot, however, concealed that the intention of
the South-Western Company to complete their Rich-
mond and Datchet line to Windsor, and the expr, ssed
determination of the Great Western to offer this course
of proceeding on their part every possible opposition, is
not unlikely to supersede all the arrangements that have
been entered into at the present moment. The resolu-
tions agreed to are subjoined.

GREAT WESTERN.
PA DDINGTON STATION, Nov. 23, 1848.—Resolutions
considered at several conferences held in London, in the
months of September, October, and November, 1848, be-
tween deputations of the London and North-Western,
the Great Western, and the London and South-Western
Companies, in consequence of the unprecedented demand
for additional capital, to be employed in constructing,
simultaneously, many new lines of railway not imme-
diately or imperatively required, the prejudicial effect
thereof on the commercial and manutacturing interests
(as affirmed by Committees of both Houses of Parlia-
ment), and the serious depreciation of investments in
railways thus occasioned; with a view to adopt, as well
fur the sake of the public as of the proprietors, some
immediate and efficacious measure for counteracting
such results:-
1. That it is in the highest degree important to make
arrangements for uniting the interests of the three com-
patdes represented at this conference, in some manner
calculated hereafter to prevent, so far as they are con-
cerned, any wasteful expenditure either in unnecessary
schemes or Parliamentary contests, while they may at
the same time be enabled, by maintaining a fairly re-
munerative income, to provide liberally for the safety
and accommodation of the public, by [means of efficient
establishments under a well-organized system of manage-
ment.
2. That upon a careful consideration of the means
calculated to attain such important public and private
objects the most effectual plan seems to be that of cre-
ating a permanent and absolute identity of interest ,
among the shareholders of the three companies, under
the sanction of the Legislature.
3. That as some months must now elapse before the
Act of Parliament for authorising such union can be ob-
tained and carried into effect, it is essential that an ar-
rangement should be forthwith made for placing the ex-
penditure of the three companies under control, and for
facilitating such measures as may seem conducive to the
accommodation and convenience of the public in the use
of stations and the working of lines connected with each
other, so as best to develop traffic, without interruption,
and with due regard to economy. That for these pur-
poses, as well as for deciding any question relating to the
guarantee or lease of other lines, or the general policy
of the companies, it is requisite to appoint a joint board
of control, consisting of seven directors of each company,
with all necessary powers—that the quorum shall consist
of not less than three members of each company—that
at all meetings a majority shall bind the minority, elind all
absent members, the chairman having at each meeting a
casting vote, and being chcsen by turns from the several
companies represented.
4. That a Bill shall be introduced into Parliament in
the next session for the above purposes, and that the
joint board shall have the charge and control of it, and
shall take such steps as they may deem proper for ob-
taining the sanction of the Legislature but in the event
of at least five of the seven directors, representirig either
company, considering any provision inserted, or proposed
to be inserted, in the said Bill, inconsistent with the
principles herein agreed to, or detrimental to the interests
of their shareholders, it shall he referred to two referees,
ono chosen by the directors of the dissentient company,
and the other by the remaining members of the united
board, or to an umpire, previously to be chosen by them
to determine the matter in dispute. The joint board to
have the power, in case of need, to renew the application
to Parliament from session to session.
5. That no new pecuniary engagements, excepting in
discharge of liabilities already existing, or in fulfilment
of present legal objections, shall be incurred by any one
of the three companies, without notice to and consent of
the joint board; but full freedom of action is reserved
by the South-Western Company as to their extension
into Windsor, the Great Western Company protesting
against such reservation, for the reasons stated in the
accompanying declaration (paper A), and reserving their
rights thereupon, the London and South-Western Rail-
way Company adding as their reply to such declaration
the accompanying piper B. The joint board shall not
be authorised to override any existing pecuniary engage -
[ menu or liabilities of any one of the contracting corn-
. panies, or to compel arrangemel is for the use of sta-
tions, er for the working of connecting lines of railway,
against the protest in writing of five out of the sever
directors representing any one of the companies; it
being, nevcrthi less, in the power of such directors to
withdraw such protest upon arrangements being made to
their satisfaction.

G. That nothing in these resolutions shall be under-
stood to debar any one of the dm e companies, previously
to the passing of the Act, from applying to Parliament
for ext:n sion of time respecting any railway, the powers
of makit g which are about to expire, but so that no addi-
tional liability shall be contracted under such tie e. Act
without the consent of the joint board.
7. That the broad gauge shall be laid and maintained
over the lines for which it has been authorised by Par-
liament, or over any lines in substitution thereof, when-
ever such railways may be constructed; and that no
steps shall be taken, by application to Parliament or
otherwise, tor relinquishing or abandoning the use of the
said gauge as respects those lines, subject to the ques-
tion of any existing engagement to the contrary.
8. That in any united board, to be created under the
Act, each of the companies shall in the first instance be
equally represented in number, and such first joint board
shall continue in office for a fixed term of five years from
the passing of the Act; and that due provision shall be
made in the Act for the local administration of the several
railways.
9. In the event of any of the directors, appointed by
either of the three companies, being unable from any
Call3o to attend any meeting of the joint board; or,
when the Act shall have passed, to attend any meeting
of the first united board, the directors of such company
may nominate another director for the occasion, out of
their own board or committee, to attend such meeting;
and such director shall have the same power at such
meeting as the director in whose stead he may be nomi-
nated would have had.
10. That the functions of the joint board shall con-
tinue during the proceedings in Parliament, and for four
months thereafter, when they shall cease, unless re-
newed by mutual consent.
11. That the principle of the Act to be obtained is for
empowering the three companies, or two of them (not
being the London and North-Western and London and
South-Western Companies), to be united into the com-
pany upon terms to be consented to by general meetings
of the respective proprietors, specially convened for the
purposo; but no amalgamation between two companies
is to be authorised to take place until after the expira-
tion of six months from the passing of the Act.
12. That the general meetings of the three companies
shall be called for Wednesday, the 13th of December
next, to consider this arrangement, and, if sanctioned, to
approve the draft of the Bill to be submitted to Parliament
as required by the standing orders ; and that in the
meantime the solicitors give the requisite notices anal
prepare such Bill.
13. That it be the duty of the chairman of this day,
so soon as the draft Bill is ready, or sooner, if needful,
to convene a meeting of the joint board for its conside-
ration, prior to the general meetings, the companies
being requested to appoint in the meantime their re-
pective members of such joint board.
London. Nov. 1, 1848. C. A. SAUNDERS, Sec.

DECLARATION OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
COMPANY REFERRED TO IN RESOLUTION No. 5,
DATED OCT. 31, 1848.
The London and South-Western directors having sig-
nified their intention to apply to Parliament in the next
session for a Bill to extend their railway through the
Home Park into Windsor, and to authorise a separate
station in that town, without submitting it to the deci-
cision of the joint board already resolved upon, that step
is protested against as betifg at variance with the objects
and principles of the arrangement, occasioning a renewed
contest in Parliament, and involving an expense preju-
dicial to the interest of any united company.
The Great Western directors having been willing to
submit every question of their own to the joint board,
can only consent to the reservation insisted upon by the
London and South-Western directors, upon the declara-
tion that such measure must receive their uncompromis-
ing opposition, if attempted in the next session, s being
injurious, if no union shall be agreed upon, to the Great
Western Company; and, on the other hand, if it shall
take effect, injurious to the united company, inasmuch
as the scheme will render it impracticable to join the
two railways, and will necessitate permanently two dis-
tinct stations, and the maintenance of two separate
establishments in the town of Windsor for the manage-
ment of that traffic.
REPLY OF THE LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAIL-
WAY COMPANY TO THE PRECEDING DECLARATION
(ALSO REFERRED TO IN THE RESOLUTION No. 5),
DATED IST NOVEMBER, 1848.
(B.)
The London and South- Western directors, having read
the paper presented by Mr. Russell at the meetiu4 of
yesterday, feel themselves called upon to affirm—
That they did, at the second meeting of the delegates,
declare their intention to aid in the execution, or to exe,
cute themselves, the extension of the line to Windsor
(say about one mile and a half), and that they cannot
' and never will admit that any proposition, entertained or
approved since that time, precinct, s them from taking
such a course, in respect of the Windsor line, as to them
shall seem fit.
That they do not admit the correctness of the asser-
tion contained in the paper deliTered yesterday by the

•

rea t#estern t. emptily taa sey (the Great Western
Company) have been willing to submit every question
of their own-to-the joint board ; on the contrary, the
Great Western Company have reserved the right of ex-
cluding from the decision of the joint board the ques-
tion of the breadth of gauge on the lines which may
ultimately be constructed, as they have also the right to
prevent the other two companies from amalgamating to
their exclusion.

On the subject of this amalgamation, Herapath's
Journal says:—
" We hear that Mr. Chaplin, the chairmtin of the
South-Western Railway, is anything but favourable to
the monster amalgamation, and has openly expressed his
determination to oppose it as far as he can. He knows,
he says, the worth of his present line, but can form no
idea of what its fate would be if linked to others; he
will, therefore, not peril it. We think he shows his good
sense by so doing. There is a rumour that the North=
Western Company's debenture holders intend to have a
meeting, for the purpose of opposing the amalgamation.
We have talked with several professional gentlemen,
who all conaur in the views we first propagated, namely,
that the shareholders cannot legally alter the securities
of the mortgagees, without first obtaining their consent
and, indeed, the consent of every one."