The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-17 00:00:00

SOUTH WALES.

A special general meeting of the proprietors of
this company was held on Tuesday at the London
Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, for the purpose of taking
into consideration the proposed arrangement with the
Great Western Company ; and to signify the wishes
of the shareholders with regard to the Bills proposed
to be introduced into the House of Lords.

Mr. TALBOT, M.P., occupied the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, in introducing the subject to the
meeting, said that, before discussing the merits of
the agreement, be ought to state to them that it had
been under the consideration of the directors for
some time, and, with one one exception, had been
agreed to by them. He had stated at the last meet-
ing that he saw no particular difficulty in carrying on
the line to Fishguard, and he had not changed that
opinion ; but he was convinced that it was far pre-
ferable for the interests of the shareholders that they
should take advantage of the present proposal than
that they should go on to Fishguard. He anticipated,
in the first place, an enormous advantage from the
co-operatlon of the Great Western Company, instead
of leaving to that company the power of abstracting
their traffic from the line. This was in itself so great
an advantage that he was inclined to give up any pri-
vate predilection he might have had for any other
course.—(Hear, hear.) His opinion was that by
the proposal now made the shareholders would sooner
obtain the dividend of five per cent. than by any other
course. It was, in fact, merely a question of time,
There was a Bill now before Parliament by which
they hoped to be enabled to connect themselves with
two other lines of railway intersecting their line, and
it would be of the greatest importance to the share-
holders to secure the co-operation of the Great
Western Company to have that Bill passed. They
would, otherwise, in fact, be obliged to abandon the
Bill. In the west, there would be greater difficulties
with regard to the development of the traffic, if they
went on to Fishguard ; instead of which, if they went
on to Haverfordvrest, with the co-operation of the
Great Western, they would open a larger traffic than
could be got by going to Fishguard, and not only a
larger traffic, but also a new class of traffic. They
would open a communication for the American trade
from Milford Haven, and establish a communication
with South Ireland. As to the anticipated reeeipts
on the line, it was known that the receipts upon
the Bristol and Exeter line were 401. per mile per
week; and if the South Wales line only took 35/.
per mile per week between Gloucester and Haver-
fordwest, it would be equal to 6,0001. a week, which,
under the proposed agreement, would pay 5 per cent.
dividend. There was another great advantage to
which he would direct their attention. Under the
old agreement the prospect of a dividend was remote ;
whilst under the agreement now proposed a dividend
would immediately accrue to them, even if there
should be no profits on the working of the line; and
if profits should arise on the working the dividend
would proportionably increase. If they did not rea-
lise 3 per cent. in the first year, be could only say that
the Great Western bad made a very unfortunate bar-
gain. These considerations induced him to recom-
mend to the meeting to sanction and adopt the agree-
ment which the directors proposed. lie should not
consider that he was doing his duty if he did not re-
commend them to do this. But if they determined
to reject the agreement the directors•would do their
best to carry out their wishes. He warned them,
however, that if they rejected it they would make a
very wrong, unwise, and prejudicial arrangement,
He concluded by moving a resolution to the effect
that the agreement should be adopted and sanctioned.
Mr. MATHEWS, a director, seconded the motion.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS, M.P., thought that the whole
agreement should have been printed and circulated
amongst the proprietors before they were called upon
to come to any conclusion upon the question. He
disapproved of the proposed arrangement, and had not
in fact, heard a single argument in its favour. He
contended that it was no question whether the new
agreement was better than the old one, for all that
they had to do was to see that the line should be car-
ried out to Fishguard, when they should receive a
dividend of five per cent, from the Great Western
Company. The question was, whether they would
take one per cent., with all contingencies, and the
possibility of receiving more at some future time, or
take five per cent. as soon as their line was finished,
in terms of the old agreement.—(Hear.)
Mr. GARROW disapproved of the proposed arrange-
ment, and
Mr. TURNER moved, as an amendment upon the
motion, that the agreement should be printed in ex-
tenso, and circulated amongst the shareholders, with
a view to consideration on a future day.
Mr. FRANKLIN seconded the amendment.
Mr. WALTER delivered protests against the pro-
posed agreement, holding the directors personally
liable for a breach of trust.

Mr. DuNcAN approved of the amendment. lie had
no wish to " take in" the Great West.e.rn Company,
which he would be sorry to do if he could—
(Laughter)—but he wished to take from them what
was right and just, and as in two months the line
would be open to Gloucester, the real value of the
property would soon be known. At present the
Great Western had the right to use 6,000 votes in the
company's affairs, and this agreement would give
them a clear mijority, as well as prevent them from
getting through their financial difficulties as well as
they could.
A PROPRIETOR handed in a protest from the in-
habitants of Fishguard against the proposed agree-
ment.

Mr. DARER and another Proprietor briefly sup-
ported the views of the directors.
The CLIAIRMAN said that there were very great