The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-06 00:00:00

15bitto,

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

IATTERSALL'S-THIS EVENING.

Srx O'CLOCK.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE STARES.
8 to 1 agst Legerdemain
12 to 1 agst St. Rosalia
15 to 1 agst Clothworker
CHESTER CUP.
12 to 1 agst Rhesus
40 to 1 agst Beehunter
40 to 1 agat Nancy
50 to 1 agat Due an Darras
DONCASTER HANDICAP.
4 to 1 agst Chantrey
4 to 1 agst Achyranthes
DONCASTER STEEPLECHASE.
4 to 1 agst Maria Day
4 to 1 agat Abd-el-Kader
6 to 1 agst Mulligan
TWO THOUSAND GULNEAS STARES.
11 to 10 agst Grecian
3 to 1 agst Nawminster
DERBY.

6 to 1 agst Grecian
6 to 1 agst Prime Minister
12 to 1 agst Mountain Sylph colt
25 to 1 agst Marlborough Buck

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWA
(THIS DAY.)
The usual half-yearly general meeting of the pro-
prietors of the Great Northern Railway was held this
morning at the London Tavern; Mr. E. B. Denison,
M.P., chairman of the board of directors, in the chair.
The advertisement convening the meeting having
been read, and the minutes of the previous meeting con-
firmed, the common seal of the company was affixed to
the register of proprietors.
The following report of the directors was then sub-
mitted to the shareholders:—
" The accounts exhibit a balance on the net revenue ac-
count amounting to 52,552/, 17s. 7d., but as there is a
charge on this balance amounting to 16,164/. 13s. 9d.,
for dividend due to preference shareholders, to 31st De-
oember last, and 15,8984 159. 4d. for interest due on
mortgage debt to the same period, the available balance
will only amount to 20,489/. Ba. 6d., which your di-
rectors propose to carry forward to the credit of
the current half-year. It has been the earnest endea-
vour of the directors to economize expenditure as much
as possible, but the requirements of an increasing
traffic, and the necessity of making ample provision for
a considerable expansion of it in the present year, have
called for an immediate and larger outlay in additional
sidings, buildings, and other works, and in rolling
stock, than was originally contemplated. To provide
for this extra expenditure, as well as the deficiency es-
timated at the last half-yearly meeting, and all future
requirements, your directors propose to take powers at
the present meeting to raise 750,000/. of additional
share capital. The share capital being paid up, the
directors recommend the conversion into stock
of the 251. original shares and the A and the B half-
shares of 121. 10s., to take effect from Ist of May next,
at the rate of four of the original and eight of the half-
shares, for each 1001. stock of the various denominations,.
transfers not to be allowed for a less amount than 101.
stock, and to be for sums only that are equal multiples
of 101., except in cases of balance; and as the object has
been long since attained, for which the privilege to di-
vide the 25/. shares into A and B half-shares was
created, the directors have decided that such di-
vision of shares shall cease on the 30th April next.
The works on the Towns' line are progressing satis-
factorily; and in behalf of the body of labourers em-
ployed over the several contracts of the Towns' line,
about sixty miles' the directors recommend a vote of two
hundred pounds for their moral and religious instruction.
The arrangement with the York and North Midland
Company, referred to at the last general meeting, has been
ratified under the seals of their respective companies; and
the Great Northern trains have been, since August last,
regularly working over the York and North Midland
line, to and from York. The directors have steadily en-
deavoured to make traffic arrangements with various
companies, and whilst they have sought to protect the
interests of this company, they have deemed it wise to
concede something for the sake of arrangement, rather
than risk the expense and loss which would result from
active competition. With reference to the traffic from
Edinburgh, Newcastle, and other places north of York,
your directors have come to an arrangement with the
London and North-Western, the Midland, the York,
Newcastle and Berwick, the North British, the Cale-
donian and the Carlisle Companies, for a division
of this traffic. With regard also to the
traffic from Yorkshire and Lancashire, for which
the Great Northern Company competes with
the Midland and the London and North-Western
companies, your Directors have made a proposition for a
division, which is under consideration. The subject of
traffic arrangements with the Eastern Counties Company
I%as been renewed since the last meeting, and a deputa-
tion from this company came to an understanding with
a deputation from the Eastern Counties Company, upon
all the points in which the two companies would compete
with each others; and your directors dwelt with the
question upon a basis which they considered liberal
tow ards the Eastern Counties Company, in the hope
that a permanent arrangement might be made to
Ey.icure the harmonious action of both. It is, however, to
'oe regretted that the Eastern Counties Board have not
ratified the arrangements made by their deputation.
This company, it will be remembered, possesses the
right to work over the Eastern Counties line, between
Peterborough and Wisbeeh ; and your directors have
made arrangements with the East Anglian Company by
which they will work the East Anglian line from Wis-
bech to Dereham and to Ely, thus enabling this company
to communicate to and from their main line to the
northern parts of Norfolk. This contract is made upon
the terms of paying to the East Anglian Company 40
per cent. of the income derived from the East Anglian
line, with a guarantee that the amount thus paid shall
not be less than 15,0001. a year, being about the net
profits earned by the line for each of the two last years;
th a per tentage to increase upon an increase of traffic. The
affic of that line has been depressed by the want of free
'communication to the west and to the south, which will
be furnished by the Great Northern Line, and there
can be no doubt of its improvement under the arrange-
ments with this company. This company having
received from the Royston and Hitchin Company
the line 'from Hitchin to Royston, has been work-
ing it (since the month of October last, and the
Extension to Shepreth will, it is expected, be ready for
traffic in May next. Your directors, feeling the impor-
tance of the completion of the line into Cambridge,
deemed it necessary to deposit in Parliament a Bill for
an extension from Shepreth to that town, and for a junc-
tion there with the Newmarket line; the Bill was, how-
ever, opposed by the Members for the University of
Cambridge, upon an assurance by the Eastern Counties
Company that the line granted to them should be opened
for traffic in June next, and the Bill was upon the second
reading withdrawn; and your directors trust the commu-
nication by the Great Northern line to Cambridge will not
be delayed beyond that period. With the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company, your directors
have been unable to come to any definite terms•, and as
long as that company continues bound, under their pre-
sent contract with the Midland and the London and
North-Western Companies, to withhold from this com-
pany all facilities for traffic in respect of which the Mid-
land and the London and North-Western com-
pete, it is improbable that any permanent or satisfactory
arrangement can be made. Your directors have
had under review their relations with the South
Yorkshire Railway Company, and, finding the
arrangements connected with the coal traffic
involved many constantly recurring matters of difficult
adjustment, whilst the limited mileage (about 25 miles)
of the South Yorkshire Company, naturally disinclined
that board to second the extensive arrangements re-
qaired by the Great Northern traffic, thought it better
to make propositions for permanent possession of the
South Yorkshire line, and have been enabled to satisfy
the South Yorkshire board that the mineral traffic,
which forms their chief source of income, may be safely
left to the management of the Great Northern Company,
upon the basis ultimately agreed upon; so that your di-
rectors will henceforth, provided the arrangement meets
with the sanction of the shareholders, take the management
of the South Yorkshire line, to work it in conformity with
the traffic arrangements on the Great Northern lino.
The basis agreed upon is, in effect, that the Great
Northern Company shall guarantee to the South York-
sbire Company a dividend of 3 per cent., and be entitled
Lo carry 200,000 tons of coals, the present extent of the
traffic, to their railway; and that the dividend shall be
increased by one-half per cent. upon every additional
100,000 tons carried, until 800,000 tons shall be carried,
is to 6 per cent. paid; any quantity carried beyond this
L° be entirely free of charge. The dividend, when it
net once reached 44 per cent., is not to recede, but is
liable to fluctuate between 6 and 44 per cent., according to
cach half-yee,estraffic. Any South Yorkshire shareholder
willing to accept 4 per cent. as a definitive dividend, is to
have the option of doing so. The present outlay on
the South Yorkshire line is about 500,0004, and the
Great northern Company
will henceforth take the ma-
nagement of all further outlay, which may probably
SLMOUnt to 200,0001. or 700,0001. in all. The earnings of
the South
Yorkshire Company, for the last half-year,
yielded a dividend of 25 per cent., and the effect of the
arrangement agreed to will be that this company will not
pay more than a per cent., except as the traffic
in minerals to the Great Northern line increases;
;end the Great Northern shareholders have this satis-
factory security, that for every additional pound paid by
them to the South Yorkshire Company, they will be
own
earning, upon an average, at least 51. on their I
line. The coal traffic on the Great Northern line, though
be a source of great and
ent is now yielding 1
oily in its commencement, g s2OOl.
week; and appearing likely to
permanent income, it requires very extensive as
well as
economia 1 arrangements in the principal coal field, freed
from the embarrassments which would be occasioned
by the interposition of an independent company.
John Cattley, Esq , one of the auditors, is in turn to
retire. but is eligible for re-election, and is willing again
to undertake the duty. This is the period at which a
fourth of the number of directors, in rotation, retire,
and the '
following five are the gentlemen now in turn to
retire; Ulf 7
being eligible, offer themselves, and are re-
commends d by the board fcr re-election, viz :—Major
Amsinck; Charles Chaplin, Es q.• Colonel Colquhoan;
James Meek, Esq.; and Thomas 'Wetherell, Esq.
The CIZAIRM4N, in mo
vtng the adoption of the report,
said the directors had endeavoured to embody in it all
that could be interesting to the proprietors, and it would

THE

therefore be only necessary to make one or two general
remarks.—(Hear, hear.) No doubt the accounts on the
whole would be satisfactory. It should be remembered
that the line was only opened to Peterborough last sum-
mer, but still the revenue returns displayed an increase
over expenditure.—(Hear.) That increase amounted
to about 20,0001, but under existing circumstances it
was not thought desirable to divide that balance ;
and he hoped that conclusion would receive the
sanction of the meeting.—(Hear, hear.) A few figures
would illustrate the rise and progress of the line. In
October last the weekly receipts were 22,8661.; in Nov.,
23,5161., and in December, 33,5411.; showing that the
opening of the Peterborough line had not only proved
advantageous in itself to the public, but it had greatly
increased their average receipts.—(Hear, hear.) No
doubt the meeting would remember that when this un-
dertaking was in Parliament the line from Peter-
borough to London was strongly opposed.—(Hear.) It
was resisted on the ground that it would never pay, but
the company convinced the Legislature that it would,
and the line was granted in its integrity.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, what had been the result? Why, before the Peter-
borough line was opened, the returns were 221. per mile
per week, but directly the communication was opened
from Peterborough to London, the average returns rose
to between 30/. and 341. per mile, and he had no
hesitation in pronouncing that in five years' time
the southern division of the line would pay as well, if
not better, than any other portion of the scheme.—
(Hear, hear.) The proposed splitting of the 501. shares,
he could not help feeling, would prove beneficial to the
proprietors generally, and he trusted the recommenda-
tion of the directors in that respect would be freely fol-
lowed.—(Hear.) At all events, whatever independent
proprietors might do, it was his intention to act upon
the suggestion of that report, and he looked for-
ward to the day when the A and B shares
would be comparatively more valuable than the 501.
(Hear, hear.) The meeting would perceive that the di-
rectors required additional capital, and they therefore
proposed to take authority for raising 750,0001.; but the
proprietors might rest satisfied that no more of that ad-
ditional capital would be expended than was abso-
lutely necessitated by the wants of the public and
the increase of the traffic.—(Hear, hear.) The
Town line would be opened towards the lose of the pre-
sent year.—(Hear, hear.) The arrangements referred
to in the report as having been come to with other com-
panies would have the effect of averting ruinous corn-
petition.—(Hear, hear.) The arrangement with the
London and North-Western and the Midland was to
last for a period of five years, while that with the East
Anglian was to continue for twenty-one years, and he,
with the directors, were not in the least apprehensive that
these contracts or agreements would turn out disadvanta-
geous to either one side or the other.—(Hear.) He re-
gretted that the negotiations with the Eastern Counties
had fallen through; but as the directors are still open to
overtures from that company, he yet hoped the time was
not far distant when the two concerns would come to
work amicably together.—(Hear, hear.) The Bill for
connecting the Great Northern with Cambridge had
been successfully opposed by the University autho-
rities, urged on by the Eastern Counties Com-
pany; but the directors were in no way disheartened
by that circumstance, because the opposition had pro-
mised to join with them in forcing the Eastern Counties
Company to complete their Royston and Hitchin line
without delay.—(Hear, hear.) He, as well as the di-
rectors, could not help thinking that the Sheffield, Man-
chester, and Lincolnshire Company had rejected a most
favourable offer which this company made to them, but
it would seem that the Sheffield, Manchester, and
Lincolashire were under an arrangement to the
London and North-Western Company, which
prohibited them from rendering any facilities in assist-
ance to the Great Northern line.—(Hear.) The agree-
ment which the directors proposed would have thrown
a large additional traffic upon the Sheffield, Manchester,
and Lincolnshire line; and as the excuse of Lord Yar-
borough and the other directors of the Lincolnshire
Company was based upon arrangements which Parlia-
ment never contemplated when it sanctioned the
Sheffield, Manchester, and Lincolnshire line, and which
could not legally be maintained.—(Hear, hear.) How-
ever, the offers of the Great Northern board had been
rejected, and as the other side had accused him and his
brother directors of a want of courtesy in conducting the
negotiations, it was not improbable that he should even-
tually feel it necessary to publish the correspondence
which had passed between the two boards.—(Hear.)
The arrangement with the Yorkshire lines would increase
traffic upon both this and the Yorkshire lines. The na-
ture of the arrangement was fully explained in the re-
port, and it was therefore unnecessary for him to go
into its details, but he might as well mention that the
arrangement was intended to be perpetual.—(Hear.)
These were all the observations he had to address to the
meeting, and it now only remained for him to move the
confirmation of the accounts and adoption of the re-
port.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. PRESTON wished to move an amendment. At
the last meeting some allusion was made to a gentleman
at the board, and it was stated that he was a jobber, or
speculator, on the Stock Exchange. Now he thought
such a man was not a fit and proper person to sit on the
direction of the company, and he should therefore move
as an amendment that in future no person should be
eligible to a seat at the board who made a practice or
profession of speculating on the Stock Exchange.
Mr. WATERS seconded the amendment, fully concur-
ring in the opinions expressed by the Hon. Proprietor
who had moved it.--(Hear, hear.)
_ _

The CHAIRBIA.N admitted at once that as a rule the
direotors of a railway company ought to have nothing
to do with the Stock Exchange, but it was unfair to
attack a gentleman at the board in this way.—(Hear,
hear.) The gentleman against whom this amendment
was directed was a most useful and efficient member
of the board, and he should be sorry to see the company
lose the benefit of his services.—(Hoar, hear.)
Mr. PRESTON insisted that his amendment had not
been answered. It was not denied that the gentleman
in question was a speculator on the Stock Exchange,
and he must therefore take the allegation as true.—
(Hear, hear.) Now a railway director should be like
Caesar's wife, " not only pure, but above suspicion," and
he hoped the meeting would adopt his proposal.
Mr. WATERS reminded the meeting, that in the early
career of this company a gentleman, who wished to be
on the board of management, was rejected on account of
his being connected with the Stock Exchange.—(Hear,
hear.) Now the director whom he now had in his eye
it was notorious kept a Bull
,account in; the Stock Ex-
change, and the 1,000 shares which he was said to hold
in this concern were not held in a ionic fide manner.
The CHAIRMAN said all that he knew was that Mr.
Parker, the gentleman referred to, held a sufficient
qualification in stock to entitle him to sit on the direc-
tion.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. PARKER emphatically denied the imputation of
Mr. Waters. It was wholly unfounded in truth, and
nothing more than a pure fiction.—(Cheers.)
The amendment, after some further discussion—the
majority of the meeting protesting against this prying
into the private affairs of the directors—was withdrawn.
Mr. WATERS moved an amendment negativing that
portion of the report which referred to the arrangement
with the Anglian Company, as he was firmly con-
vinced, if carried out, it would result in clear
loss to the Great Northern of 15,0001. per an-
num.—(Hear.) He declared that the East Anglian
had never made 15,000/. per annum, and the statement
in the report to that effect must be an error. The line
had never made more than 13,2661., while, according to
the returns of the East Anglian Company, the last three
half-years yielded only 20,689/. 16s. 11d., and it should
be remembered that these figures were irrespective of
the legitimate deduction that should be made for wear
and tear of rolling stock, renewal of way, &c.—(Hear,
hear.) They had hampered themselves already with the
Lincolnshire lines, which had proved a:dead loss to them,
and if the shareholders did not take care these gua-
rantees would sink them to a level with the Eastern
Counties.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HERAPATH gave it as his opinion that the com-
pany had no power to graat guarantees either to the
East Anglian or the South Yorkshire, and he would
suggest that the question of these contracts should be
deferred for the consideration of a special meeting.
Mr. PRESTON thought the board ought to examine the
share register of these two companies before they made
any guarantee; and the same source of information
should be open to the proprietors.—(Hear.)
Mr. BAGSTER, the solicitor, said the contracts were
quite legal.
Mr. HERAPATH still insisted that they were not. The
company had power to enter into working contracts, but
not to make guarantees.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. BACISTER said the power was not derived from the
special Act of this company, but from a clause which was
to be found in the General Clauses Consolidation Act,
The proposed arrangement, however, did not partake of
the nature of a guarantee, but it was simply a contract
for working and appropriating the receipts in a particu-
lar manner.—(Hear, hear.) It was unfair to make the
basis of this arrangement the present receipts of the East
Anglian line, because, owing to mismanagement, no less
than 60 per cent. of the gross earnings had been swal-
lowed up by the working expenses.—(Hear, hear.)
This company, however, could work the line for 50
per cent., and therefore the difference between 60 and
50 would be profit of the proposed arrangement.—(Hear,
hear.) Besides, the East Anglian was at present shut
up at its two termini, but directly this contract came
into operation the line would be thrown open at both
ends, and then it could not fail to become a most
profitable undertaking.—(Hear' hear.) The meeting
should recollect this, that they could not base by
the contract, while it would place 67 miles of additional
railway under their control to develop as a tributary.
Mr. GROVES told the meeting that one of the effects of
their guarantees with a Yorkshire company was to com-
pel them to run trains into York , which did not pay
working expenses; and to run trains between York and
Doncaster, which did not even pay the men's wages.—
(Hear.) Those two significant facts, he trusted, would be
sufficient to induce the meeting to pause before they
rashly sanctioned either the contract with the South
Yorkshire or the East Anglian.—(Hear, hear.) Lie
was afraid too many of the directors were interested in
it the South Yorkshire.—(Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN, assuming that they had the power to
make the East Anglian contract, wished to bring the at-
tention of the meeting back to the policy of that ques-
tion. Now it had already been remarked that practically
the East Anglian line had been shut up at both ends,
but remove that blockade, and the line would at once
become profitable.—(Hear, hear.) Granting that the
line onlygiv e yieldedthem
14,880/.71.10t so.
meetper mile e
perua
rwal
ne2erkep,
eorwoonisulloldempnlel
But the line had paid 101. and eveng
week, and let them once get this agreement con-
firmed, and they might depend upon it the
line would become extremely profitable.—(Hear, hear.)
Fe, therefore, thought the proposed contract was sound
and
politic, and he had no hesitation in strongly recom-
mending the meeting to sanction it.—(Hear, hear.)
With regard to the statement of Mr. Groves about the