The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-04 00:00:00

MA Y 4, 1846.

PRICE :SD.

CORNWALL and DEVON CENTRAL

RAILWAY.

The following report was read by the Secretary of the
above Company; at the meeting held at, the London
Tavern, on Thursday last:-
- " The Committee of the Cornwall and Devon Central
Railway Company are desirous of bringing distinctly before
the proprietors the actual state of the Company, in order to
enable them to judge for themselves at to :the course to be

_
pursued.
" The Cornwall-and Devon Central Railway Company ori-
ginated in the proceedings of a public meeting of the'county_
of Cornwall, held at Bodmin on the 28th of August last, in
consequence of the Great Western Railway Company having
definitively refused to comply with the repeatedly-expressed
wishes of the county in favour of a central line. The pro-
moters of the direct lines through Salisbury and Yeovil to
Exeter were invited to attend.. At this meeting, which was
presided over by the High Sheriff, and most numerously and
respectably attended, resolutions were passed unanimously
recommending the formation of an independent Cornwall and
Devon Central Company. -
The Company thus formed received an unprecedented
amount of local support both from the principal landowners,
and also from the towns and inhabitants generally of the
counties of Cornwall and Devon : as a proof of this, it mak-
be sufficient to refer to the petitions from the two counties
in favour of the Bill presented by Lord Brougham to the
House of Lords in the month of March last, which contained
50,000 signatures, including a great majority of the prin-
cipal landed proprietors, and of the registered electors of the
octant?? of Cornwall.
"lbe Committee think it important to refer to these facts,
because they establish a broad line of distinction between the
Cornwall and Devon Central, and many of the schemes
which were got up about the same period with a view merely
to a speculative investment of money.
, -
"The Cornwall and Devon Central was pre-emtnently a
bona fide project, originating in the wish of an important
district to obtain the benefit of railway communication, and
as such it was announced to the public.
" The applications for shares were unusually numerous, and
within a few weeks after the formation of the Company, a
deposit of 10 per cent, was paid upon the number of shares
required by the standing ordertof.r.'arliawn.t. • ,• •
."'Uncrec these. Circumstances,- tile: catuAllteew could hart
no hesitation in acting upou the belief tilt' the Compsfty
was oxe which had obtained a firm standing both in the dis-
trict and in public opinion, and in proceeding accordingly to
take such steps as in their judgment appeared calculated to
insure the ultimate success of the undertaking.
" The first step was to conclude an amalgamation with the
London, Salisbury, and Yeovil, and Exeter. Yeovil, and
Dorchester Companies, whose interests were obviously identica.
with those of the Cornwall and Devon Central Company, and
whose co-operation was necessary in order to go before Par-
liament with an integral scheme.
" The next step was to negotiate a purchase of the Bod-
min and Wadebridge Railway for the sum of 85,000/., the
possession of that line being very important, with reference
to the contest with the Great Western Company for the
trunk line through Cornwall. The committee were reluctant
to conclude any purchase which was not conditional on
their Act being obtained, but circumstances at the time
left them no option but to conclude an absolute purchase,
or to see the line pass into the hands of the rival interest.
As the amount of purchase-money was not large, either
with reference to the capital of the Cornwall and Devon
Central Company, or to the extent and value of the pro-
perty acquired (which with sidings included 17 miles of
railway, and gave access to one of the best harbours on
the coast of the British Channel, and most favourably
situated for intercourse with Cork and the south of Ireland)
they did not hesitate to exercise the powers entrusted to
them, with a view to similar contingencies, by the sub- i
scribers' agreement, which expressly provides that the Com-
mittee should have power to enter into such bargains or
contracts with any existing railway or canal Company as in
their judgment might be advisable for facilitating the oh •
taining of an Act, and for the success of the undertaking.
"It must be also remembered that the possession of the
Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway was absolutely necessary
in order to carry out the object announced by the prospectus
of making a branch to Padstow, and that if this railway had
fallen into other hands, this great object of the Company
would have been defeated.
.—.

" The third and most important step taken by the com-
mittee was that of concluding, in concert with the London,
Salisbury, and Yeovil, and Exeter, Yeovil, and Dorchester
Companies, an arrangement for the amalgamation with the
London and South-Western Company
"The importance of an arrangement with that Company
was manifest both as securing the support of a powerful
established company, and as enabling the united companies
to go to Parliament with an integral scheme on the narrow
gaup all the way from London to this Land's End.
" The details of this arrangement, the principles of which
were affirmed at the last meeting of the shareholders, have
been already made public, and are no doubt known to most
of the shareholders, but it may be well to repeat the con-
ditions.

"The companies agree to be bound to each other for two
years to prosecute their respective applications to Parliament,
and, if successful within that period, to amalgamate on the
following terms

" Twtiatocks to be created in the amalgamated company,

ViZ:

" Ist.—Old §outh Western Stock, or Stock A, being the
capital which the South Western Company have already
called up, or may have power to call up on shares.
M.—South Western Extension Stock, or Stock B, being
the capital required to complete the Extension scheme from
Basingstoke to the Land's End.
The South Western Comrany to subscribe one-fourth of
such extension capital, and the rest to be provided by the
new companies. _

"When completed the net earnings of the whole scheme,
including the present South Western Railway, to be thrown
into one fund, and applied in paying dividends on the Old
and Extension Stocks, in the proportion of 8i to 4i, or of
17-26ths to 9-26ths, until the dividend on the Old Stock
should amount to 10 per cent., after which all further sur-
plus to be divided equally.
"The basis of the arrangement was therefore a sort of
partnership between the Old South Western Stock and the
Extension Stock, in which the old stock, in consideration of
its existing advantages, was, in the first instance, to obtain a
higher proportionate rate of dividend.

As the traffic of the existing South Western Railway
yields at present a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent. on the
actual paid-up capital, with a prospect of corresponding in-
crease upon the further outlay of capital on authorised
branches or extensions, an arrangement upon this basis ap-
peared clearly equitable.
"It was stipulated that the mortgage debt of the South
Western Company, amounting to 630,0001., should not be
capitalized, and also that in the event of the new lines to the
westward of Basingstoke ever yielding from their own re-
sources a dividend equal to that now earned on the old South
Western line, all distinction between the two stocks should
for ever cease.

"As regards the immediate interests of the Cornwall and
Devon Company, it was considered by the committee that
the effect of the arrangement was very similar to that. of a
guarantee of four-and-a-half-per cent. with half-profits;
their dividend could not fall below this amount without
the earnings of the existing South Western Line being
brought in aid of the dividend on the extension capital, in the
proportion of nearly two to one, to the dividend on the old
South Western stock; in other words, the dividend on the
new stock could not fall to three-and-a•half per cent, without
bringing down the dividend on the old South Western
paid-up capital from ten per cent., its present amount, to six-
and-a-half per cent. This result appeared so unlikely, as
to afford an ample guarantee for all practical purposes,
that the minimum dividend of the new stock could
not by any possibility fall below four-and-a-half er five per
cent. On the other hand, looking at the vast accession of
traffic which would be brought over nearly 50 miles of the
South Western Railway, in addition to its present traffic, by
the continuation of lines from Exeter and Falmouth, joining
it at Basingstoke, it seemed highly probable that this portion
of the line would yield greatly increased profits, in which,
under the arrangement in question, the Cornwall and Devon
Central Company would participate.
" On the whole, after the most mature and anxious consi-
deration, the committee are satisfied that the arrangement
was one in principle and advantageous to both parties,
while it was calculated to give additional confidence anda
sta-
bility to the new undertakings, by pledging the revenue
carrying
resources of the South-Western Company toss ale ~_,,._
out of the integral scheme, upon the succp of Uplinc;a7iy'e
prospects of the Cornwall and Devon Central
mainly depended.
" Although one of the new
Exeter, Yeovil, and Dorchester, agreed compates, takveiadefixed
t rentthe
of
five-and-a-half per cent., which was secured to them ac•
cordingly, the committee of the Cornwall and Devon Central
as well as the committee of the London, Salisbury, and '
Yeovil Companies considered the arrangement already de-
scribed for a participation of profits, as more desirable.
" The above is the general outline of the arrangement,
f highlythe ad-
vantageous
which
iareolsovefocrrointtthwaeiasnepd
Cornwall
rprovided,
severalvide da
n, otdht hart:
Devon
ivnotn h
Central
stipulations
event
o
Comp.afaniylu re
of any of the lines between Basingstoke and Exeter, so as to
interrupt the continuity of the trunk line to Falmouth, either
the Cornwall and Devon or the South Western Company
should be at liberty to cancel the agreement; but, on the
other hand, in the event of the lines being sanctioned between
Basingstoke and Exeter, and the Cornwall and Devon Central
Railway Company failing to obtain an Act within the time
specified, that the shareholders in the Cornwall and Devon
Company should still have the power of having their capital
taken in as South-Western Extension Stock at the first time
when capital was required for the construction of further
extensions or works of the said amalgamated Companies.
" The committee feel satisfied that every shareholder who
will carefully examine for himself the details of the arrange-
ment, will arrive at the conclusion that it was decidedly
beneficial for the Cornwall and Devon Central Railway
Company, and that the committee would have been justly
liable to the charge of having neglected the interests of the
undertaking, if they had allowed the opportunity to pass of
concluding it.
tion with
permanent character, and involving an amalgamation " The nature of the arrangement thus concluded being of a
On all parties
any existing railway company rendered it inil
introduce a provision that it should be. binding
fairly the
' ht be sufficient to test
mpeansable to
for such a period as might
decision of Parliament upon the
Land'sme End.rits of the proposed
' integral scheme from London to the
" The South Western Companyuld not have been ex-
of the three or four Bills
ground, in the event of any wwhich would fall to the
pected to enter into an
.?n oneengagementowin out
g
being postponed for a semi
Bills are subject in their passage
casualties to which all
hand, would it have
Parliament; nor, on the other.
to any of the numerous
through South
been at its obligations
should be set free from all
under
Western Company
e had express powe.r, .
all desirable for the New Companies that the .
'ppliciation to
their a
the subscribers' agreement to prosecutebut in any subsequent sea-
in such an event. The committee
Parliament not only in the next a bond fide sawse istprfoo-r
Sion, as is usually the case when
gemenor the
within the gritsp and letter
they acted strictly
tcenteringt in accordance with
two years,acted s .
question. They also ac .
posed ; and accordingly,
into all the ar-
deed in in concluding
been which have
t with other compan,
lided : `that the provisional
rangemen , s
men-
tinned, it being expressly m%
the spirit and letter of that deedser
P - full ower to enter
references to ap
rbitration, ar-
into any bargains,
con
t with landowners, railway or canal
mreernents
rangements or a„
corporations, promoters or proprietors of othe
committee shall be at libertyracts : nd haNe u
cowponies,
be advisable, for facilitating the
,ob
in their judgment
may or Acts of Parliament, and for the Accom-
plishmentsimilar existing or competing schemes or undertaking& whit
taining of an Act
railway communioation,?or any
aforesaid
of the

part or parts thereof.' The
_ although the management. of t 1.., .-u-corn anti prentritinari
stages is, as is usual in such cases, vested' entirely in the
- provisional committee, they have taken every opportunity
of communicating with the proprietors and ascertamilig their
sentiments. A public meeting of the proprietors was held.
at the London Tavern on the 13th of November last, at
which resolutions were passed unanimously approving of the
arrangements made by the committee with the Exeter.
Yeovil; and Dorchester, and London, Salisbury,rand, Yeovil
' Companies. At the same meeting the purchase ofthe Bod,.
min and Wadebridge Railway was announced, and favourably
received as a measure for the advantage of the Company.
Previously to the breaking up of the meeting it was further
announced, that the negotiations which had been ix progress
for amalgamation with' the South-Western Company had
been concluded.
" The subsequent proceedings of the Company .
are well
• known to the shareholders. In common with many other
schemes of undoubted merit, the Bill has failed.for the pre•
sent session, on account'of non-compliance with the standing
1 orders. 'This failure, which the provieional committee
deeply regret, is not, however, attributable to any. want of
exertion on their part or on the part of those employed under
them, but t 9 the extreme difficulty, amounting almost to
impossibility, of complying with all the technical requisites
of the standing orders'in regard _to-engineering details in a
scheme of such magnitude, brought forward at such a late
period. The fate of the rival projects in the west of Eng-
land, most of which have been rejeeted on account of non-
compliance with standing orders, may also serve to show
that the above
the part of the committees not attributable to any neglect
Mt
" Neither under ordinary circumstances would it afford
any ground for discouragement in regard to the ultimate
prospects of the concern, since it is evidently desirable rather
than otherwise that the commencement of the works should
be postponed for a year.
" Having thus briefly explained the proceedings -which
have taken place, the committee wil,l proceed to lay before the
shareholders the actual position of the Company ; and first., as regards the financial position of the Company, the follow-
ing balance-sheet will show the receipts and expenditpe up
to the present time.

Dr.
•
To Deposit received on 112,742.5hare5...: 5hare5...:..... £295,947 15 0
Interest ...... . 760 16 9

£296,708 11 9

Cr.
By Cash paid for engineering expenses and
surveys ..... ...... 13,823 c 9
Ditto London Solicitors
Ditto Country solicitors and agents 4,000 0 0
Ditto Parliamentary agents and expenses
of
witnesses... ................... .
Ditto Preliminary expenses, including bank- 4,809 13 1(.0
ers' commission, office furniture,
And miscellaneous expenses ......
.Ditto brokers'. coloipissiOn -pa allptment 1,111 I*. 11
*. • • •
atf Abares
... ... . - 3,315' ,2' :
Ditto for Advertise
.I;noks, iaCts, •-• • ••
fionery, &c. ..............................•1,574* ii •to
Ditto for rent, salaries, and office expenses 1,21') 2 3
Ditto for travelling expenses of deputations
to London, Exeter, and in the
county of Cornwall, and expenses
of provisional committee ..... 1,691 15 lo
Ditto for Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway 35,000 0 0

£68,53G 8 l7l

BALANCES—
Parliamentary deposit £220,610 0 0
Bankers, &c 7,562 2 10

298,172 2 10

£296,708 11 9
" The above balance-sheet shows the actual expenditure
up to the present time, but there are, of course, a variety of
accounts still outstanding. On the whole, however, the c,om.
mittee estimate that the total expenses of the Company, ex-
clusive of the purchase of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Rail-
way, will not exceed ten shillings per share, which,- consi-
dering the magnitude of the undertaking, the short time al-
lowed for completing the survey and preliminary proceed-
ings, the distance of the locality adding much to the expense
of many of their proceedings, and contrasting with the
amount of expenditure in other similar cases, may be
safely appealed to as a proof that the funds of the Company
ehcao,y,neso
eibnceyoen.nd
lapplied by the committee with a due regard to
Y', as regards the engagiments and legal liabili-
ties of the Company; as has been already stated, an engage-
ment has been concluded with the Bodmin and Wadebridge
Railway Company for the purchase of their railway; also an.
engagement with the South Western Company to prosecute a
bentvide application to Parliament for an Act, for two years,
and to amalgamate in the event of an Act being obtitined.
Of course, this latter engagement is without prejudice to the
right of the proprietors to withdraw from the undertaking,
by declining to execute anew subscription contract before the
next session of Parliament, as is required by the standing
orders. But subject to this, the committee are advised that
it constitutes a valid obligation in law, as it was undoubtedly
intended to do by all parties at the time, to prosecute the ap-
plication to Parliament for the present or next session, or
until a decision is obtained upon the merits.
" Under these circumstances the committee feel that it
is very desirable that some arrangement should be at once
made, with the concurrence and support of the shareholders,
by which the circumstances of the case may be best met, and
the interest of the shareholders most effectually protected.
While on the one hand it is neither desirable nor practi-
cable at once to abandon the whole undertaking under the
influence of a panic, on the other hand the shareholders
have a right to expect that the large amount of deposit-
money should not be locked up uselessly, and that they
should be placed in a position in which they can see their
remaining liability reduced to a definite amount and a defi-
nite period; accordingly, they are prepared to recommend
the following arrangement :
" 1. That the sum of thirty shillings per share be immedi-
ately returned to each shareholder.
" 2. That each shareholder shall hereafter have the option
either of retaining his shares in the undertaking, upon com-
pleting the requisite deposit and signing the new subscription
contract, or of withdrawing altogether from it.
"3. That in the latter event he shall be entitled to receive
such further balance per share as may be remaining ,-. Lea
the accounts are finally closed.
"4. That in the meantime the expenditure be limittd to
opposing the competing lines before Parliament this session,
and to such objects as are necessary in order to keep the pro-
ject alive,and to enable it to be presented to Parliament in the
next session, if then thought desirable.
" 5. That :in the event of the Company prosecuting the
Cornwall and Devon Central Railway, it shall be a condition
that such Company shall take the Bodmin and Wadebridge
Railway at the price paid for it as above, so as to allow the
purchase money of 35,0001. to be added to the ultimate
balance for distribution among the retiring shareholders.
" 6. That in the event of this arrangement being approved
of, each shareholder shall receive thirty shillings per share
as soon as the transfer of the deposit money from the name
of the Accountant-General can be effected, upon delivering
up scrip, and receiving in return a certificate, stating his
right under ,the arrangement to an option of renewing his
shares, and to a rateable share of the ultimate balance re-
maining for distribution.
"The advantages of this arrangement are obvious ; in the
first place, the shareholders will at once receive back by far
the greater part of the available balance in hand ; by any
different course all the delay and expence of litigation and
of official proceedings would be incurred, which in the pre.
sent case would be greatly aggravated owing to the legal
difficulties arising out of the relations with other companies.
" In the neat place all further liability of the shareholders
would be strictly limited to the small balance per share re-
maining unappropriated, and could not be renewed or ex-
tended except by the voluntary act of the shareholder him-
self in electing to retake shares and sign a fresh subscrip-
tion contract, and finally, the engagements of the company
would be honourably fulfilled, the footing which it has at-
tained in the district would be preserved, and the option. of
going to Parliament next session with an almost certain
prospect of success would be secured.
"Upon this point the committee entertain the strongest
opinion that it would be impolitic to sacrifice precipitately
the advantages which have been already secured. Nothing
has occurred to shake their confidence in the intrinsic merits
of the scheme ; on the contrary, it is apparent to them that
the line is one of those great national trunk lines which must
inevitably become, at no distant period, a valuable property
to those by whom it is constructed. They cannot but recol-
lect that the London and Birmingham, Grand Junction, the
Manchester and Leeds, the London and South-Western, d_
in fact, most of the great lines which have sincesoNrtoecta
so highly remunerative, were at oneo tunerogexp
Tsihmeilarpanic,
enterprise much less
committee to render the
and were on_ the ey±estfernb
Company also
the capital
appears to the arrangement witk the South-Western
on capital ;
invested beyond the ordinary rate
they cannot but feel that if the
under these circumstances, hazardous, and to secure in
e'sconnexion with the South-Western Rail-
way,lines to Exeter, in any event
naf return
intereston
valuable property ; and that
linemust become a
should be sanctioned, the Cornwall and Devon Central
ii would be unwise when a very slight additional expense
will be sufficient to keep the question open until next year,
to foreclose it at once bly a precipitate resolution adopted
at a period of panic. he state of the rival projects is
such, that a slight opposition to the Cornwall Coast and West
Cornwall line will, in all probability, insure their rejection
or postponement, and the expenditure already incurred by
this Company will, to a great extent, be :available for
another session ; before that period, however, it will be better
seen what are the prospects of the money market, and what is
the result of the contest for the lines to the east of Exeter,
and the shareholders will then be in a position deliberately
to decide on the policy of continuing or finally abandoning
the undertaking. Meanwhile the committee appeal to the
shareholders generally to continue to them that cordial and
unanimous support which has been extended on former occa-
sions in carrying out the proposed arrangement, by which,
as they believe, a greater amount of immediate relief will
e _
given to the shareholders than by any other way of p ed
ing, while at the same time their engagements with other
parties will be respected, and theultimate ts
interests of the un-
-
der aking saved from premature and unnecessary sacrifice."

.......—,-------
SERIOUS ACCIDENT FROM MACHINERY.—A dreadful
' accident happened on Saturday last to Mr. Harris, of Brook Mill,
near Tavistock. He was in the act of greasing the cogs of the great
' wheel of his mill, when by some means his shirt became caught,
• which gradually drew him within the lathe and crushed his breast and
broke his ribs. The man at work observing the machinery impeded.
stopped the mill and discovered his master in the above situation.
He was immediately removed, and, to the astonishment of all, was
found not dead. Faint hopes are entertained of his recovery.—
, Plymouth Journal.
WAKEFIELD CORN MARRET, MAY I.—The market
is again thinly supplied with all grain. There was a good inquiry
for fresh and fine samples of wheat, at an advance of Is. per quarter,
common descriptions also participated In the Improvement. heavy
barley rather dearer ;in other sorts no alteration. rineasma cans
—l-14TRP(X)4
vaietruifls epiiheigehs.er,M.Olatteseeaynde,ilshee.lling each in better request t Y Pro-
st satisfactory trial trip of 24 hours'
about noon to-day, after a most T .
ujiTHE.DA y .
_ T .STEAMSHIP
steam-ship
(treatGREAT
Britain
tßainitlT,,A7ernNt....
Mersey
aa
rr raidvea I awarsiv"eritnflesatsedCrObSsiny a Crossing a the
this m cen. vesee
.. rim dly on the flood past the crowded pier, was most r -
tmen
onwards through the ass Tfe,Criareailt.
rendered it
marks
le
Opposite the r p , .
tacle of agmfi . -
yed. She escaped by
stream tovrards the Lancashire shore lay directly in the path of the
neefacMarYility
endwuumreaebtipeioeriloif_n_s.pthieect4ltrtiosrsh ,Cahnadr: nethinLecl:ssepr.ec
Great Britain, and, but for the flne steering capabilities of the shin.
the helm. The new screw
withfraore merely
whichlya few
the
lying oil' the George's plerhead, and happily n mass -- :--"—.
immense fabric yields to the direction of
Query expectation, so far
13mi. arils,'ieh atvTe el;
maintainlloibiL °t
rtuacilitierornd coarseest h
This is entirely attributable to the wonderful o mischance occurred.
has answered ev
raises but little commotion astern of the al'
it has yet been tested. It
New York on the 9th of May next. the ship. She sails hence fos
AFFECTING
the schooner John Bromley
Dock, through the was
passing out of the St. Katharine's
on board,
Who
Was lock,
man into the river, the wife of one of the seamen
sue-
they farewell of her husdballgic on the quay, being anxious to take any.
hours previous, pier-head deck
made a
seda,denrolincewhomm rifle lfidartedtoabou
of the schooner. She fell with great violence
on the main hatchway,
and I% •
as stunned by the fall. Her husband, who was aloft doing
duty in the maintop, and who saw the accident, immediately de-
scended to the deck and assisted in conveying his devoted but unfor-
tunate wife to the Bull's Head public-house, where she was attended
by a surgeon. Her head and face were cut in a dreadful manner,
and she bled profusely from the wounds. Her husband, to wlietn
she has only been married a fortnight, had her conveyed to her home
in a cab, and then returned to his ship, which he did not reach MB
she got below Greenwich.