The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-28 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 28, 1851.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EASTERN COUNTIES. -

The usual half-yearly general meeting of the pro•
prietors of the Eastern Counties Railway was held
yest,erday at the London Tavern; Mr. Glynn, chairman
of the board of directors, in the chair. The meeting was
not quite so num9rous as we have secn it on former occa-
sions, but it was nevertheless somewhat noisy and
uproarious.
The advertisement convening the meeting having been
read,

Mr. HELPS complained that a vacancy ha 3 been filled
up in the board without the .provious consent of the
shareholders, which was contrary to the spirit of an
agreement come to at a previous meeting. He alluded,
he said, to the appointment of Mr. Anderson, whose
election as a director the proprietors had already once
pronounced against.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. ANDERSON, after some irregular discussion had
been suffered to go on, explained that during a period of
intense anxiety in the affairs of the company he took the
chair at three or four of the meetings, and on those on•
easions he received not only the utmost courtesy at the
hands of the shareholders, but what was far more dear
to him, namely, their unanimous vote of thanks.—(Hear,
hear.) He had been requested to take the chair he now
filled at the instance of the directors, it was true, but in
accepting that honour his only motive was to advance
the interest of the concern, and therefore if his appoint-
ment was distasteful to the proprietors, he was quite
ready to place his resignation in their hands.—(Hear.)
I• Mr. PADDING understood that another new director
had been appointed, or was about to be elected to the
seat vacated by Mr. Betts, and he should be glad to
Know if that was to be made without an appeal to the
shareholders?—(Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN said the directors had the power of
appointment, but the same power also rested with the
shareholders, and if the meeting so thought fit they
might exercise it.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Box asked if it was true that an agreement had
been come to of the nature specified by the two preced-
ing bonourable proprietors.
;el& 14oet$Ir (the Secretary)) was understood to reply
that he had some aliglirTecolleotion.of such ati Orange--
ment having been tacitly come to, but he only spoke
..rom memory.—(Hear.)
After some further discussion of a similar irrelevant
nature, the common seal was affixed to the register of
the shareholders, on the motion of the Chairman; and
the report of the directors, which has already appeared
in The Sun, having been read,
The CHAIRMAN proceeded to address the meeting,
claiming for himself and all others who were desirous of
,ddressing it a fair and impartial hearing, as the business
o be treneacted was of an urgent end important cha-
racter.—(hear, hear.) The directors had nothing to
conceal, they were co-partners with the shareholders,
and in no degree anxious to keep hack anything.—
(Hear, hear.) All the information they were in pos-
session of was at the service of the meeting, and be
herefore hoped there would be as little interruption as
possible.—(Hear, bear.) The report began with taking
a rather gloomy view of their affairs. The Great
Northern was opened to Peterborough, and took nearly
he whole of their Peterborough traffic, as the Great
Northern line was some six or seven and twenty miles
shorter than the Eastern Counties. He did not wish to
tomplain of the directors of the Great Northern for
thsrging lower fares than they, because he believed they
charged as much as their Parliamentary powers would
allow them.--(Hear, hear.) Then, again; when the line
opened from Royston to Hitchin, or rather from
Elitchin to Royston, there would be another route
o Cambridge, while the opening of the Eastern
Union line had taken a large portion of their
Norwich traffic away from them, since the Eastern
Union route was shorter than their own, and
the Eastern Union Company therefore charged
according to a very low tariff scale.—(Hear, hear.) They
f sad , however, under all circumstances, thought it better
T, come to an understanding upon the subject, and ac-
cordingly thy 'had agreed- to a mileage rate of car-
riage between Condon and Colchester, which would give
the Eastern Counties Company a fourth and the Eastern
Union three-fourths.—(Hear.) lie would not touch
epon the point of uniting the two companies under one
management, because that would form the subject of dis-
russion at a future meeting.—(Hear, hear.) Now how
could they contend against such adverse circumstances
as these? By the Great Northern line the fare by first
lass was 135., while theirs was 19s. Again, the fare to
Norwich on the Eastern Union was as 10s. 6d. against
14s. 6d., and 6s. 4d. against Bs. 4d., and he hoped and
trusted the two, nay, rather the three companies, would
hereafter always work in unison together as they were
riound up in each other's success. They had tried
what a reduction of fares would do; but the actual loss
resulting from such causes was very serious, as they had
et one case been compell. d to reduce their fares to 10s.
and 6s. 6d. from 11s. and 9s. The loss in their traffic
,o Cambridge was nine per cent., and that to
Peterborough fourteen per cent., as ho had
already stated, while their working expenses
remained undiminished —(Hear, bear.) In addition to
these losses the company had been suffering from the
strike of the engine-drivers, having had to send to Scot-
land and Newcastle in search of men, at great expense,
and to convert fur a time their plate la) era into a body
of police, so as to prevent any disturbances on the
line.—(Heer.) All these extensive precautions had been
required for the due and proper working of the traffic,
and because of the inconvenience which all Ole gave rise
to, the directors bad been forced, indeed they had
-to other alternative, but to charge the expenses
shich it involved to revenue. (Hear, hear.)
He would now say a word or two with reference to the
East Anglian line. Since he came upon the direction,
he bad mode several attempts to come to an amicable
understanding with that line, and he had always been
,net on the threshold with the observation, " Why
don't you pay us the twenty-two thousand
pounds you owe to us?" (Laughter.) Now,
they were advised that they did not owe any-
eiing of the kind.—(Hear, hear.) That claim, he Le-
aeved, arose out of certain Parliamentary expenses in-
curred by the late board in 1847, and they (the new
tirectors) of course resisted the claim; but whether
here were or were not any bond fide grounds
for the claim, it ought not, in his opinion,
to stand in the way of an amicable arrangement
between the two lines for the working of both,
to be settled by law, or by any other means which
might be decided upon. Various complaints had been
made that they had used the East Anglian line very ill;
out he knew of only two instances since he had been at
the board in which any hitch had taken
place, and he was a party to ono of them.
When he happened to be at the board one atternuon he
received a telegraphic message that the sheriff had seized
the roiling stock of the East Anglian line, and he
thereepon directed the superintendent that the com-
pany should cease to book persons further than
Ely. He was sorry to stop the through traffic, but
under the circumstances he thought he was justified
in taking such a course. The stoppage, however, only
lasted from Saturday till Monday, when he gave orders
to the superintendent to resume the through traffic, the
sheriff having ceased to have possession of the rolling
stock, by the use of which alone the East Anglian
line was enabled to convey passengers. The next
cause of difference arose in this way—we booked
passengers from London to Lynn, and they booked pas-
sengers from Lynn to London, each company receiving
the fares which were paid by passengers, and they, the
Eastern Company, required them to deposit in their
hands a sufficient stem of money to meet the differ-
ence in the receipts, which they declined to do.
Now, these differences were anything but hostile,
and on neither side was there any power or control
which could prevent them arising.—(Cheers.) That
company had lately published a notice in the Gazette of
their intention to apply to Parliament for a Bill to lease
the line to another company on a working agree-
ment; but as soon as the Bill was brought before
Parliament, the most important clauses were
withdrawn.—(Hear, hear.) Ever since he had a seat
at the board his great desire had been to work harmo-
niously with all the other lines with which they were
connected, because he believed the course which had
hitherto been too much adopted, of fighting every one
within their reach, had proved most disastrous to the
company.—(Cheers.) After alluding to the passages in
the report detailing what had been done with respect
to the Shelford and Shepreth Junction and the New-
market line, he next referred to the various Bills which
it was intended to promote in Parliament, and which
more or less affected their interests. The first was a
Bill for the improvement of Harwich. Their sincere wish
was to arrive at some means by which the line to Harwich
might be made. The Government had made a splendid
breakwater for the protection of shipping in the harbour,
and the harbour itself was one of the finest, if not the
finest on the whole east coast of England. The next was
the Bill for the Shelford and Shepreth Junction, which
was lost on the second reading. The chairman then
made a passing reference to other Bills, and went on to
*ay that the Bill promoted by the Blackwell Company
for making a railway to Tilbury Fort was now before
Parliament, and had been read a second time. He might
mention that before that company went to Parliament
with their Bill they made a proposal for carrying their
Bow junction line into the Eastern Counties line at
Stratford. They offered them (the Eastern Counties)
an equal share per mileage after deducting 501, per cent.
for working expenses. Now it appeared that the result
of such an arrangement would be that when a passenger
paid ls. for his fare, the Eastern Counties Company
would only receive 4d. of it for their share.—(Laughter.)
Besides, a junction of that nature would bring en tram
of passengers to a point on the Eastern Contrite
line where such influx would be extremely dan-
gerous to the public KJ' ty, and it was on
that ground that their Bill of last session was thrown
out by Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Nevertheles', they
bad always been desirous to come to an amicable under-
standing with the Blackwell Company. for they be-
lieved if a fair " give and take" agreement
were entered into, they might have the advan-
tage of the Fenchurch-street Station.—Hear, hear.)
The Bill promoted by the Eastern Union Company h?:.
been'read a second time, and if they went to a Conerats
tee with it, the Eastern Counties Company would
probably have to fightthose gentlemen, who might
hereafter be their allies. and perhaps at t!,rea exh-t
1 ense and trouble. Lie sincerely hoped this mtg.
to avoided. .—(Hear. hen) The lent Bill on the list

[PRICE SD.

was the Shepreth Junction, which was simply a renewal
of the Bill which came before Parliament last session.
Ho no ,w came to a part of the report which was highly
important—that was the question of the dividend. The
balance to the credit of revenue was very small indeed,
and he had explained the reasons why it was so; but
the sum, small as it was, had been fairly and honestly
earned.—(Cheers.) Every shilling fairly chargeable to
revenue had been so charged.—(Hear, hear.) If he
were determined on one thing more than another,
it was to set his face against anything in the shape of
fictitious dividends or cooked accounts.—(Hear, and
cheers.) The diiectors had recommended, is the
strongest terms, that no dividend should be declared this
half year.—(Cries of "Oh," and "Let's have a dividend.")
But it was for the proprietors to say whether there
should or should not be a dividend; the question was
one which laid entirely in their hands, and they had a
right to determine it as they liked. The amount standing
at the credit of the company for the last half.year was
24,6361, and if a dividend of is. per share was declared, it
would amount to 17,0001., thus leaving a balance in hand
of 7,0001. or 8,0001. Then it should be recollected they
might have to encounter Parliamentary contests, and to
preserve the credit of the company. He might remark
that the directors had to bear a great deal of odium,
which properly belonged to' their predecessors in office.
—( Hear, hear.) • After alluding to these discou-
raging circumstances, he would refer to those 'of
a more Satisfactory nature.—(Hear,- hear.) The di-
rectors had -found that, during the past year, a great
saving might be effected by substituting iron instead of
wood sleepers, and especially at the present time, as
iron was almost as cheap as wood. Though their money
and receipts had been considerably diminished; owing to
the circumstances he had detailed, he wasehowever, happy
to say that the aggregate amount of traffic had not
suffered at all,and that there had been . little or no re-
duction in the number of passengers or the
quantity of gore& conveyei. The Chairman
then observed that the desire of the directors
was-to act uprightly, honestly, and with the strictest in-
tegrity, and not to, conceal anything whatever from the
proprfetbrs and Concluded by
.moving the adoption of
esepesperaied.thteactoceinteefepphndede,, e_ ,
Mr. NATHAN wished to lino* how ,tiatiatt fhb-pastel*
Union owed the Eastern Counties Company ?
The CHAIRMAN—Between 11,0001. and 12,000 L The
company had judgment for the amount.
Mr. &ads (director) said that there was also a consi-
derable sum due to the Eastern Counties Company,
thiough the clearing house, from the Eastern Union
Company. _
. _

Mr. NATHAN introduced matter relating to the pro-
posed agreement between the Eastern Counties, the
Eastern Union, and the Norfolk Companies, and up la
which subject a committee of shareholders of the first-
named body has been appointed.
The CHAIRMAN deprecated all discugsion on this sub-
ject. Everything known to the directors should be placed
before the committee.

Mr. NATHAN, however, persisted in referring to the
subject, and the consequence was a large amount of in-
terruption and confusion.
Mer the lapse of a few minutes,
Mr. NATHAN again rose, and said he wished to know
the motive that had induced the sending out to the share-
holders, at an enormous expense, the voluminous report
of Messrs. Quilter and Ball. Why, one-half the report
was not correct. One thing they said was, that the
Colchester line was not given out to contract, while the
contrary could be proved by a reference to the company's
books.

The CHAIRMAN said the directors were bound to give
Messrs. Quilter and Ball's report to the shareholders in
all its integrity.
Captain KELLY had observed with astonishment the
quantity of coke used upon the line. The Brighton
Company worked their trains—both goods and passenger
—at a consumption of only 20 lb. of coke per mile, while
the consumption upon the Eastern Counties line was
34 lb. of coke per

A SHAREHOLDER—The traffic of the two lines is totally
dissimilar.

Captain KELLY—NOW, if the directors would bring
down the working expenses to the same rate as those of
the Brighton line, the Eastern Counties Company would
have in their pockets rather more than 20,000/. a year
from the saving of coke alone. If he looked at the whole
expense of the lice as compared with that of the Brigh-
ton Railway, he found it was as 561 per cent. against
361 per cent. of the earnings. If the shareholders
would take the trouble to calculate they would see that
if this line were, worked as cheaply as the Brighton
Railway they would save 85,000/. per annum. Again,
the Norfolk Company took out of the Eastern Counties
net earnings 28,0001. per annum. These two sums toge-
ther made 114,000/. a year, which might possibly be
saved to the comp ,ny.

A PROPRIETOR-LA good deal too promising to
be tr ue.

Captain KELLY—He would now ask the chairman
whether it was the intention of the board to bring for.
ward at the special meeting the proxies that had been
placed in their hands, for the purpose of supporting
their views as to the amalgamation of the interests of
thti Eastern Counties, the Norfolk, and Eastern Union
Railways? If these proxies were used, would not,
he begged to ask, the labours of the committee be
fruitless?

The CHAIRMAN called the speaker to order. He
would not answer any question of the kind. He
would act as he thought best fur the interests of the
company.
Mr. NATHAN—We are sold if the proxies are used.

Captain KELLY—Then he inferentially drew from the
answer of the chairman—(Laughter)—that the directors
did mean to use the proxies. Now he would tell the
directors this much, and be hoped the public press would
notice it, that if the result of the investigation of the
commit

The CHAIRMAN again called the speaker to order
—(Great confusion.)
Captain KELLY—If the committee approved of the
agreement for an amalgamation of interests between the
three companies, the proxies of the directors would not
be wanted; but if the committee reported that such an
agreement would be injurious to the interests of the
Eastern Counties, then the proxies would be brought
forward, and the shareholders would be swamped;
their interests might be annihilated, and the company
utterly ruined.
Mr. Hon Es moved an amendment that a dividend of
I s. per share be declared.
Mr. Box seconded the amendment.
Mr. Geecir said it seemed to be the misfortune
of every person who attended there to take part in
Eastern Counties proceedings that he should have
some small quantity of dirt thrown upon him. He
was not going to answer any of the anoeynious
publications having reference to himself, but he
did feel it right to say. that throw as much dirt as they
pleased, none of it would stick.—(Cheers.) He alluded
more particularly to a paper which had been put into
his hands very politely—as he bad no doubt it had been
put into the hands of others—as he came into the place
of meeting. One portion of that paper charged him
with coming there for other purposes than those which
he avowed. That statement was not true—(Che ers)—
but that he came there for other purposes Olen his own
immediate interests he would avow. The stock he held
in that company, though some 3,000/., would not at all
be an inducement for him to atteud there, and give
himself any trouble about the affairs of the company,
because he knew that the better way and the safer way
for him would be, to go on the Stock Exchange and
get rid of his stock, and employ his time more profit-
ably. But there was a large number of shareholders
who bad paid a large amount of their shares, tied
who had called upon him—having some little faith
at any rate in his honesty and in his habits of business
—to attend there and pat his shoulder to the wheel,
in order to assist in getting the company out of the diffi-
culties under which it now laboured. The Eastern
Counties Company was in a very unfortunate position
in two respect.: they had a large amount of property
invested, on which they got nothing, and they were
likewise in a very unfortunate position, inasmuch as the
arrangements of the company had failed to give a
guarantee to the public that the line could be safely
travelled over. With respect to the figures that bad
been made use of by a previous speaker (Captain Kelly),
he must observe that comparisons of working could not
be made between one railway and another. Almost
every railway in the country had peculiarities belonging
to it, which prevented its traffic being brought into fair
comparison with that cf any other line. He thought
that a great deal might be saved in the working ex-
penses. The Manchester, Sheffield, and Liucolnehire
Company, of which he was a director, bad been in a
worse state than the Eastern Counties Company, but
it was now rapidly progressing and developing its
capabilities, which required only good management
to bring it out. In the last half-year an increase
of 35,0001. took place in the traffic with an increase
of only 2,000/. in the working expenses. This was done
by taking large views of the company's interests, and
giving power to the executive officers to carry them °011"..
—(Hear)—and by that executive having the "dr°
%le
fidence of the company, without which it wets_thaleposneiper
to carry out the details of an arrangement. T
development of traffic required as much skillh
tion as any particular trade or business. waenvde however nu tcrai
chaatde,
to
ontdr
alines
adei
td t bhealti edvaeyt that the
this ifttury.aouirf
ur,businesstanseatgmtabout,heeny
as well as they could, remedying de‘ec
werethe boardtold by
that
air. eitnstneadridn,
u(e)utetd nybabdulyintieigAse,tllrd,
theat thpere'lae present
bcnea: tdi.nz,Tthheayt
directors trws
aw9e riemspo,sdsiisbur,:tod,caarnrdy
pitokseitiavelhyouus7ldeai:si,ztdknegsi.tioast,thite b,i,!.ardT.
6.l;th,ewbei)eeereinwieaes
vacancies at the board, acid the bete r way was to fill
them up by sending new men into the direction, and tet
thew with the rest of the board set about perfecting well
a 'system of management as should bring about such a
diminution of working expenses as ought, he said, to
be made; and also take the best means of developing
the traffic which, he believed, was capable of great
increase.

Mr. WADDINGTON, M.P., entered his pretests
the use of proxies, on the ground that they had been
obtained without a corr Pet knowledge of the entire case
eb ,ut to be decided baying been Lid hoore the shsie-
h,,lik.r:,. The hq,rl tt.1,1 ►it n• that !.h0 .-ht
board bad had cast up= Ulm °churn whirl belonged to
those who preceded them. Wby, the pow baud bad

lived upon odium for years past. If it k
4 the odium they bad cast upon himself - an: Apra, ha
all did not know how they could have gut.sms . B
? us
ey had lived upon that odium till their difittiktd had
got beautifully less, and at last the dividend hatecome to
P
nothing. He would tell the shareholders why the di.
)rs were in their present position—it was Impel's°
they did not understand their business. To develop
traffic a man must know what he was about—
A
PROPRIETOR—And he must understand " cooking"
accounts.
Mr. WADDINGTON would explain all about that charge
after the meeting had dealt with the directors' report.
They should have ahipter and verse. With regard to
the management of the line, the first thing which the
directors should look to was to get the confidence of the
public ; but on the Eastern Counties line nobody could
be certain fur how long a period the same trains would
run. The consequence was they had lost the confidence
of the public.
The CHAIRMAN was about to put:an amendment for
the adoption of the report, with the exception of that
part of it which recommended the non-declaration of a
dividend, when
Mr. NORRIS objected to such a motion being pia, as
many persons might be in favour of a dividend and yet
object to various portions of the report.—(Hear.).
An amendment for the payment of Is. dividend was
then put and lost.

Mr. NORRIS then moved, as an amendment to the
original motion for the adoption of the report, ;that the
meeting adjourn till the 18th of March next. •

Mr. Sergeant GASELEE advised the shareholders to
bundle the directors out neck and crop if they could be
found. _ _ _

----After considerable discussion on the question of tul..
journ went,
The CHAIRMAN said the motion for adjournment was
a very important one; and he considered it so much
affected the position of the executive and the financial
position of the company, that he must state—and be did
so without any intention of giving offence, without any
feeling of pique, without intending it in the remotest de-
gree as a threat—that he should, if it were carried, re-
sign his seat.—(Great interruption.)
Mr. M'Lacazis thought that the chairman, if he were
really and deeply interested in the welfare of the com-
pany, would not make such a threat. .He (Mr.
M`Lauren) was prepared to nominate a gentleman to fill
the situation of chairman.—(Cheers).
Mr. &us (a director) should withdraw on the fol-
lowing morning from the responsibility of being one of
the executive if the motion for adjournment were carried.
A PROPRIETOR—The sooner the better.'
Mr. ElsnatErr —Afker what Mr. Ellis has said the
sooner he IN signs the better. •
Mr. WADDINGTON suggested that the mover of the
adjournment should embody in his amendment -antinti-
,mation to she effect, that the t)enina.itttie ot,ebarebulders
*4 jolt:sae* to ronaider,tbe Polar ef'effterkiiren as
working agreement that might be made with the New-
market and Cheeerford and East Anglian fines of rail-
way, and, it so considered advisable, to report thereon
to the meeting to be held on the 18th March.

Mr. NoRRIS- bad no objection toembodyir:his amend-
ment the suggestion made by Mr. Waddington.
The question of adjournment with the suggestion of
Mr. Waddington embodied in the motion was then put,
and

The CHAIRMAN declared it had been lost on a show
of hands.—(Much confusion.)
A poll was demanded.
Mr. MIRGRATE (one of the directors)—l say adjourn
the meeting, gentlemen. Adjourn it if you intend to
say. your property.--(lmmense confusion.)
Mr. BROADBENT (a cirect,r) said that with the board,
as at present constituted, nothing could be carried out.
Some of the members were like the dog in the manger.
It was all talk, talk, and hours and hours were spent
upon the most trifling matters. Adjourn the meeting
(.aid the speaker), if you would save your property.
Mr. SMYTHE (a director) held a large stake in the
companj, and would say it would he most prudent and
desirable to adjourn. _ _ _

It was announced that the poll would take place at a
quarter-past five o'clock.
Mr. MABORAVE (,he director) I wish you to under.
stand that they have proxies to the extent of 5,000.
The Pr.,prietor who had demanded a poll withdrew
his demand.

Sergeant GAsnxE moved the adjournment of the
meeting till the 18th of March.
The motion was carried.
Mr. GEACa demanded a poll.
The meeting was then adjourned till four o'clock this
day, when the result of the poll will be declared.

4 i2oi been
titothera. h.