The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-28 00:00:00

THE GREAT

SOUTH UNION and BIRMINGHAM
JUNCTION RAILWAY.
A meeting of the shareholders in the above under-
taking was held yesterday, in pursuance of the provisions
(
of Lord Dalhousie's Act, for the purpose of determining
whether the Company should be dissolved or not. The
meeting was held at the Company's offices, in Fludyer-
street, 'Westminster, and the chair was taken at half-
past 11 o'clock, by Edward Hall, Esq.
Messrs. Wynn, Haywood, and Allcock having been ap-
pointed scrutineers, and the usual formalities havingiveri
gone through, the following report was read by L.
T.
B. Stevens, the solicitor to the Company :
" The committee have very little to add to the report
made to the shareholders on January last, to which they
beg to refer. In that report they stated that the en-
gineer's plans and sections were so extremely defective as
to leave no honest course open to them but that of
checking all further outlay, and proceeding to wind up
the affairs of the Company for the present yeisr. In
accordance therewith, your committee immediately
returned to you the sum of 28s. per share,
being nearly three-fourths of the original deposit,
and they have since that time been engaged in ascer-
taining, investigating, and liquidating the claims upon
the Company. In this they have had some difficulty,
owing in several cases to the delay in the accounts being
sent in, and to the exorbitance of the demand made upon
them, and they are sorry it is not yet in their power to
state with any degree of accuracy what the ultimate re-
sult may be. A t present the payments and liabilities of
the Company are considerably more than the funds re-
tained to meet them, but the committee are endeavour..
ing to re.luce there accounts. In compliance with the
wish expressed by many of the shareholders desirous of
being released from all further responsibility, your com-
mittee have called this meeting, to enable you to decide
on. the question of dissolving the existing Company ;
but it has been proposed to form a new company
with as little delay as possible, having for its object the
construction of a railway, with certain extensions
and modifications, to meet existing circumstance;
through such portions of the same line of country as still
remains unaceommodated, and that each shareholder
desirous of being interested therein should be entitled to
a number of shares proportionate to that he had pro-
visionally held in the present Company. The committee
must deeply regret that their labours should have been
rendered abortive, and the hopes of the shareholders
blighted, by the negligence of the engineer, but they
have the consolation of feeling that nothing has been
wanting on their own part to ensure the success of a
line which they confidently believe would have been a
remunerative one, and is still in part requisite to com-
plete the system and accommodate the district."
Mr. HAYWOOD wished to know what was the amount
of the outstanding claims on the Company?
The CHAIRMAN said that the law charges were 1,7571.
9s. ; local agents (subject to reference), 1,160/. ; engi-
neering and surveying, 3,1581. 75.; advertising, printing,
wages, rent, &c., 1,9341. 15s. ; travelling and other ex-
penses, 3301.; total, 8,3401. 135.; 28s. per share returned
on 9,360 shares, 13,104/.; total, 21,4441. 13s. On the
other side there were deposits on 9,360 shares, at 21. per
share, 18,720/. ; 12s. per share on 470 shares, 2821.;
interest, 781. 14s. 5d.; total, 19,0801. 14s. sd.—leavinga
deficit of about 2,4001. They had, however, brought an
action against Mr. Gravatt, the engineer, by which they
hoped to reduce his claim.
Mr. WILLIAMsoN wished is know how many of the
provisional committee had not paid up their calls?
The CHAIRMAN said that there were 84 provisional
committee, 20 of whom had not paid their calls. Some
of them were in France, others non est inventus, and
against some actions had been brought.
It was then moved, seconded, andcarried unanimously,
that the names of those members of the provisional
committee who had paid up their calls should be read, in
order to distinguish them from those who had not done
so Land this having been done,
Mr. WiT.T.TAMSON moved, and Mr. HAYWOOD seconded
the motion, "That the Company be dissolved, and that
the dissolution should not be considered an act of bank-
ruptcy."
- The motion was carried unanimously.
llan ofd repod
Therte Scrthuatitnetehrserethewnepreroc3eZed
rottes lkeprtehseen, votes,ta
whom were in favour of the dissolution of the Company;
3,840 of these votes were in favour of the dissolution not
being an act of bankruptcy, and 30 in favour of its being
an act of bankruptcy.
The CHAIRMAN then declared the Company dissolved;
and thanks having been unanimously carried to him, the
meeting separated.
It may not be unworthy of remark, that the two gen-
tlemen who held the thirty votes given in favour of
bankruptcy, came in after all the business of the meeting
was concluded, except taking the votes.

THE RIVER PLATE.
The barque Melody, Captain Hooper, arrived on the
24th at Plymouth, after a passage of 61 days from Monte
Video, having left on the 24th cf August.
A short time before her departure, Mr. Hood, the
British Envoy, had been in communication with General
Oribe. The interview took place beyond the lines out-
side Monte Video ; it was private, and its especial ob-
Mr.
her Hood was
preparing
ject unknown to the Monte Videans, whose city con-
tinued under
to
depart siegesteamer Electra, for the purpose of negotiating with
General Roses fora suspension of hostilities.
e
Her Majesty's frigate 'Vernon and two other British
for Buenos t h General
Ayres in
men-of-war were at Monte Video ; also her Majesty's
steam-ships Gorgon, Devastation, and Electra. The
Firebrand had left for Buenos Ayres.
About 30 English merchant vessels were waiting for
cargoes, and upwards of 100 other ships of all nations,
including Danes, Swedes, Norwegian, Dutch, French,
Spanish, and Belgian. Freights were quoted at 525.,
but difficult to be obtained in consequence of the block-
ade. There was nothing in the market but hides, and
those very scarce, excepting dry hides, some of which
had apparently been ten years in store. Bread, 235. per
cwt. ; flour in proportion ; beef, not very good, ls. 2d.
per lb.
_

- The Melody has a full cargo of green hides for her
owners, Messrs. Heycroft and Pethiek, of Plymouth ;
and, looking at the large number of recent casualties
among shipping in the Atlantic, she has bad a very
favourable passage. The only rough weather she ex-
perienced was during the last ten days, after making the
Western Islands, from which, and from other recorded
data, it may be inferred that the late fearful storm was
confined to certain latitudes north pf the Azores. The
Melody observed many vessels, especially outward-
bound ships, near the Channel, but spoke none during
the voyage home.

BRISTOL FREE-PORT ASSOCIATION.—This bar
numbers already upwards of 1,200 members. Among
the first to enrol himself, was P. W. S. Miles, M.F.,
whose example has since been followed by the Hon. F.
H. F. Berkeley.

(From the Beligst Northern Whig of Satu.)
We are enabled by the kindness of Mr. Ga rdaybriel,
to give the annexed account of the state of they at
Britain up till noon yesterday. The writer, as the
public are aware, is the gentleman who carried off the
Gorgon steam-frigate, when she got high ashore. In
a former letter tou she expressed his confidence in being
able to do the same by the Great Britain, if the oppor-
tunity of doing so were afforded to him; and he now
reiterates his conviction, stating that two or three weeks
would serve tor that purpose. The following is his
letter :

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN WHIG.
"Dundrum, Thursday Evening.
"Sr,—This ill-fated steam-ship, Great Britain, has
had some very severe weather to contend with during
the last three days. Yesterday it blew a strong gale,
veering from W. to S., accompanied with heavy rain.
At high water, it appears, the ship was struck with
three or four heavy seas, which have moved her stern
from ten to Sfteen feet further in shore, and lifted her
I over the rock which was under her starboard bilge.
Sne has suffered no damage further than a large
dint or bilge on her larboard side. No other vessel
in the world could have stood this 'voucher but herself.
She is still perfectly upright, and reflects the highest
credit for her stability on her constructors. It is very
plain that withal the cannot stand through the winter,
subject to the heavy gales that attend the spring tides
on this coast at that season of the year. It is proposed
to erect a floating breakwater astern of her. This cer-
tainly may tend to her security, but I fear the holding
ground is not to be trusted.
"I still persist in saying that if I meet with due sup-
port from the directors this noble vessel can be saved;
and, in my opinion_, the longer she remains upon the
sands the greater the doubt will be with respect to her
salvation. It is quite evident she must have floated
abaft, or she could never have been hove over the bank
of sand that had accumulated on her lee or starboard
side. Her stores that were landed last week, are, with
the exception of the bonded stores, all embarked for
Liverpool.
" There have been in many of the London journals,
and other periodicals, several animadversions passed
upon the Great Britain's having been placed as she is,
tending, in no slight degree, to raise public excitement.
It is well for those parties who pass' their anonymous
opinions upon such an occasion that they can do so with-
out seeing blue water, or leaving their firesides. The
captain of the Great Britain is a well-known seaman and
navigator. It therefore reflects but little credit upon
any parties (ignorant as they are of the particulars of
the case) making any allusion upon that officer's conduct.
"In conclusion, I beg to state, through your valuable
journal, that I am fully prepared, if supported by those
interested, to place the Great Britain once more afloat,
and that within a space of from one to twenty-one days.
Frid, Noon. " During the whole of yesterday it" ay
blew a fresh gale
from the N.N.W., accompanied with heavy showers of
rain. The Great Britain retains the same position she
took on Wednesday's tide, and in which she will remain
until the next springs, unless some exertions are made
for her rescue. It is the general opinion here that
she will never be moved off her present bed ; but as I
can find no person of sufficient knowledge to convince
me of the correctness of such opinion, I remain still firm
to my own ideas upon this subject, and which I have
before expressed. There is no doubt that if she is
allowed to be knocked about like an egg-shell by every
spring tide between this and next March (which, by the
bye, is a most stormy season of the year on this coast)
there will be but a ' beggarly account' of this splendid
,pecimen of naval architecture.
".It has been the wonder and surprise of every one
here that the parties most closely interested in this affair
have shown such apathy upon the subject of getting the
Great Britain off. Fine weather has now set in, and I
can see no difficulty in putting her afloat, if met with that
cordial support which ought to be shown on such an im-
portant undertaking.—Your most obedient,
" THOMAS S. GABRIEL, RN."