The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-18 00:00:00

NORTHERN COUNTIES UNION

RAILWAY.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting and an extra-
ordinary and special meeting of the shareholders of this
company took place yesterday at the London Tavern.
Major W. Beresford, M.P., the chairman of the
company, took the chair shortly after twelve o'clock.
The advertisement calling the meeting having been'
read,

•
The CITAIRMLN called upon the secretary to read
the following report :
" Your directors have much satisfaction in meeting
the proprietors, and in laying before them a report of
the operations and of the position of the company, and
especially so at the present moment, when the most in-
accurate and injurious representations are industriously
circulated to the prejudice of the undertaking, and to the
injury of the property of the shareholders. Your direc-
tors are still convinced, as they have been from the
first, of the ample resources of the district, of the im-
portance of the line, and that it will prove fully remu-
nerative to the shareholders.

"Following the course which your directors intimated
at the last meeting, they have, with a view to the con-
venience of the shareholders, incurred as little outlay
as possible. The works have been confined to the
Wath contract, on which the land, with one trifling ex
ception, has been purchased ; the quantity of earth-
work excavated amounts to 40,000 cubic yards. The
culverts and masonry work are in an advanced state.
" Your directors have had overtures from other in-
fluential companies, one of which was on the part of the
York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Company to
lease your line from Bedale to Castle Bolton, a distance
of 15 miles, for twenty-one years, at 5 per cent., or 4 per
cent. and half profits, on condition that the portion of
your lino which is in course of construction should be
abandoned; your directors did not consider these terms
ought to be accepted, and they have every reason to look
forward to satisfactory results from continued negotia-
tions with the same or other parties.
" Your directors have unanimously determined on
proceeding to Parliament to obtain powers to amend
their Act, and it is hoped that Parliament will thereby
enable them to reduce the capital of the company, and
consequently the shares, from 501. to 301. each, and to
give power to the company to direct on what portion of
the line the capital of the company shall be expended.
The Bill as prepared will be laid before you, and your
directors ask your authority to proceed with it.
" Your directors have, in pursuance of the 41st sec-
tion of the t before-named Act, given notice to bring
under your consideration the purchase of the Hagger
Leazes Branch Railway, but subsequent arrangements
will render it unnecessary to ask your sanction to this
purchase.

" Your directors consider it would be to your interest
to open that section of your line from Wath by Bedale
to Leyburn, a distance of nineteen miles, simultane-
ously with the opening of the Leeds and Thirsk line to
Leeds, and the Great Northern line from Doncaster to
Peterborough, so that the large agricultural preduce of
Wensleydale may be taken to Leeds and the West
Riding, and the excellent lime existing in the district
may be conveyed not only to the country bordering on
your line and that of the Leeds and Thirsk, but also into
Lincolnshire. Should your directors be authorised, as
they desire, to concentrate the funds in the hands of the
company on the works of the Wensleydale line, no call
will be necessary prior to the next ordinary meeting.
" Your directors are able to state, that they are
offered favourable terms for working this portion of the
line, so that it will be needless to provide locomotive
power for the present, and a considerable saving will
thus be effected.

" Your directors trust that the line may be open from
Wath to Leyburn in the summer of 1849, and that
this section will of itself pay a profitable dividend upon
its cost.

" The directors do not contemplate an early execution
of the works beyond Leyburn, as the powers of the Act
of Incorporation allow five years and a half from this
time to complete the undertaking.
"Four of your directors go out by rotation at this
meeting, viz.:— John Whitwell, Christopher Other,
Henry Pease, and Marmaduke Wyvill, Esq 3., and are
eligible for re-election.
•• Richard Dutton, Esq., also resigns his office of
auditor, and your directors recommend the appointment
of George Broom, Esq., of 35, Coleman-street, Lodon,
in his stead."

The following is the engineer's report :

" Since your last half -yearly meeting I have, in com-
pliance with your instructions, re-surveyed the line from
Barnard Castle to Tebay, and the necessary plans, sec-
tions, estimates, &c., for this deviation were deposited in
November and December last, in compliance with the
standing orders of Parliament.
" By this deviation I estimate there will be a saving
in the expenditure, when the line is executed, of no less
a sum than 320,0001.

"On the line from Barnard Castle to Tebay, as
sanctioned by Parliament, there were four tunnels of a❑
aggregate length of 4,900 yards, which have all been
avoided. There being only one on the proposed de-
viation, of a length of 500 yards. This has been accom-
plished without materially increasing the total length of
the line to be made, or the quantity of earthwork. The
amount of masonry and brickwork has been conside-
rably diminished. The gradients on the south-west side
of the Stanemore summit, which on the Parliamentary
line were the worst, have been, I consider, improved.
" On the Wath contract, the works are proceeding
satisfactorily, and those now done by the contractors
are executed in a good, substantial, and workmanlike
manner.

" I have made arrangements with the contractors for
curtailing as much as possible the expenditure upon the
works during the winter, as you instructed me to do, at
your meeting of the 23d of December last. As the
spring advances we shall be prepared to continue satis-
factorily the future progress of the works. About one-
sixth of the total quantity of earthwork, a bridge, several
culverts, and about four-and a. half miles of fencing have
been completed. I have much satisfaction in being able
to add, that I shall be enabled to complete this portion
of the line within the Parliamentary estimate, and it can
be opened at any time within a very short period.
" The line on the Leyburn, Auckland, and Tebay
contracts has been staked out, and the plans, sections,
and drawings for these different contracts I have pre-
pared, and could proceed with them so soon as you may
think it expedient to give me further instructions."
The balance-sheet up to the 27th of January last,
showed a balance in hand of 89,021 Z 9s. sd.
The CHAIRMAN then rose to move the adoption of the
report. It was with satisfaction that the directors met
the proprietors, notwithstanding they had been threa-
tened with an opposition to the course they had pursued.
He had no doubt of showing that the directors had done
all that they could for their proprietors, and if other
important lines had proposed to buy part of theirs, and
the directors, seeing a fair remuneration, had agreed to
sell it, he did not see why parties who had not paid up
their calls had any right to question the pro-
priety of the course adopted by the directors. It was
true that many persons who wished well to the company
had not paid some of their calls, but the great monetary
pressure that had taken place he believed was the sole
cause of it, and he was sure if they were not improperly
pressed that they would make good all those calls.—
(Hear, hear.) The worthy and gallant Chairman hav-
ing adverted at some length to the different contracts
that had been entered into by the directors, and de-
fended their conduct in that respect, ex-
pressed a hope that the meeting would adopt
the report. All that the directors had done was
sanctioned by the proprietors at their last meeting, and
he could not see how, with any degree of fairness or
honesty, the shareholders could repudiate their own
acts. The negotiations that had taken place between
this company and others had been carried on with the
fairest spirit, and he thought all would admit that the
interests of ,the proprietors of this company had been
taken care of by the directors. To carry out these ne-
gotiations it was necessary to apply to Parliament
for a Bill. In the last session they had been defeated
in their object of repealing that clause in their Bill,
which was called the simultaneous clause. He thought
they had a better chance of success now, and if they
succeeded in obtaining that repeal they would be
enabled to proceed further in the reduction of their
shares. He had no doubt if they expended 300,000 L
on the construction of the Bagger; Wath, and Leyburn
line they would get a remuneration of 71. per cent.,
and it would not cost the proprietors more than 30s. per
share, added to which there would be no necessity to
call upon the shareholders for any more money till the
next general meeting. The board of directors had car-
ried on the affairs of the company with fairness; they
courted inquiry into all that they had done, and if the
proprietors should think that he (the Chairman) had
not acted for the benefit of the proprietors, he was
ready to resign his seat to more worthy hands.
The worthy Chairman concluded by moving the adoption
of the report, and its printing and circulation among
the proprietors.
Mr. SAMS seconded the motion.
The CHAIRMAN, in answer to a question from a share-
holder, said that the arrears of calls were about 4,000 L

Mr. CanusLE congratulated the directors upon the
report they had put forward, and he could assure them
that it had disabused his mind of all the false reports
that had been circulated to the prejudice of the directors.
He most cordially supported the adoption of the report.
Mr. JOHN BIKER also supported the report. He be-
lieved that their line would be a most profitable one ;
but he begged to impress upon the directors the neces-
sity of being most careful in their expenditure.
Mr. Sams believed if they supported the directors
in their present report they were acting for their
own interest. He trusted that the proprietors would
not be led away by the statements or the circulars
of those who were unknown to them.
Mr. SPACKNAN objected to the report. The Chairman
and the directors appeared to have thrown overboard
altogether the object of the special meeting. He was
the representative of 650 voters, and in addition to that,
he represented between 5,000 and 6,000 shareholders
who had not paid their calls, and never would.—(Cheers
and laughter.) He believed if the meeting adopted the
report, they would be ruining themselves, and enabling
the direetors to make futuro calls upon their purses.
He believed that upon the whole line there was not a
single town of any importance, and bo thought it
the greatest folly at the present moment to think of pro-
ceeding with the line. He considered that.the obtaining
of the Act was a nefarious transaction upon the Legis-
lature

The CIIAIRMA.N called Mr. Spackman to order. He
Could not sit there and hear such statements from any
man.

Mr. SAMY wished to know whether Mr. Spackman had
examined the line and its resources?
Mr. SPACIOLLN had examined the map of the line.—
(Great laughter.) Mr. Spackman then, at considerable
length, opposed the report, and moved, as an amend-
ment, that the report should be received and
referred to a committee of seven shareholders, re-
presenting perionally or by proxy not lese thou