The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-27 00:00:00

I 44• N A:Z
bitton
4-4,v

SHERIFFS' COURT,-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Under-Sheriff BURCHELL.)
BAUD V. SOUTHEY.
The plaintiff is a barge owner, and the defendant a
wharfinger and lighterman on the Thames. The action
was brought to recover the sum of 131. 14s. for the hire
of a barge.
Defendant pleaded that he was not indebted.
From the evidence it appeared that defendant's son
had previously been summoned to the Whitechapel
'onnty Court, and he then swore that his father was
iable, and all monies were received and paid in his name,
but he now admitted that he was a partner.
The plaintiff's agent proved that defendant hired the
barge, and that he knew nothing of the son as a partner,
and that the summons had been taken out against the
latter in error, as the clerk thought he was the party,
being always in the business.
The Learned UNDER-SHERIFF said, as the defendant
had net pleaded the partnership, the jury. if they be-
lieved the evidence, would find for the plaintiff.
Verdict for 151. 14s. 10d.

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.
(THIS DAY.)
The usual half-yearly general meeting of the pro•
prietors of the Eastern Counties Railway was held this
afternoon at the London Tavern; Mr. Glynn, chairman
of the board of directors, in the chair. The meeting was
not quite so numerous as we have seen it on former occa-
tioas, but it was nevertheless somewhat noisy and
uproarious.
The advertisement convening the meeting having been
read,
Mr. HELPS complained that a valency had been filled
up in the board without the previous 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 oc-
casions 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 hed been requested to take the chair he now
* filled at the instance of the directors, it was true, but in
aeceptirg that htcour his only motive was to advance
the interest of the concern, and therefore if his appoint-
ment was distastelul to th 3 proprietors. he was quite
ready to place his resignation in their hinds.—(hear.)
Mr. PAULING understood that another new director
had been appointed, or wits about to be elected to the
scat vaaatee by Mr. Bette, and he should he glad to
kilos., if that was to be made without an appeal to the
bbarchoAere?—(Hear, hear.)
Tbs CHAIRMAN said the directora had the power of
asereinement, bat the ii3Ule power also rested with tie
sherehelders, and if the meeting so thought fit they
might S xercise St.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr.' ;'ox esked it it wee true that, an agreement had
hews come to of the nature specified by the two preced-
ing honehrehie proprietors.
Mr. 'Rot:Ey (tbe Secretary) was understood to reply
that he hal temie slight isetoileetion of such an arrange-
mane itaving been tacaly come tsa, but he only spoke
from (Hear ) •
After, some . further discussion of a :similar irrelevens
nature, tee common eeal 340,4 affixed to -he register of
the sitaeehelders, no the, motion cf the Chairman; and
the seioeet of the directors, which has already appeared
in '(lie San, havi,g
1.3 e CilAnimAN proeesded to address the meeting,
claimiee or him.,eli and ell'ethers who e ere desirous 01
adeli easing a fair and impartial heating. al the busieete
to be er eiseets d was of an urgent and importent cha-
racier. —(Lletir, ;sear.) The directors hail nothing to
cameral, they were co-partners with the shareholders,
:aid ifs no degree anxious to keep tuck anything.—
(Heer, hear.) Ai) the, iefermstien ihey were in pos-
ses:eon el was at the- se, vice of the meeting, and be
therefore hepee :here eteuld be as little interruption aa•
pessibie.—(Hear, The report began pith taking
a rather t looiny view of their aff..irs. The Great
North, rn we; opened t 3 Peterberonsh, and took nearly
the whole of their Peterborough traffic. as the Great
Not-hem line was some six or seven lied twenty miles
snorter than the Eastern Ceunties. He eel not wish to
complain
charging lower fares than they, because lie believed they
charged tee much as their Perliemetitary powers would
allow thaw.—(Hear, hear.) Then, again, when the line
cpetied f ova Royston Hitchin, or rather from
Hachin to Royston, there would be another route
to Cambridge, while the opening of the Eastern.
Union line had talon a large portion of their
Norwich traffic away fruit them, since the Eastern
Union route was shorter than their own, and
the Eastern Union Cencpany therefore charged
accordieg to a very lowitariff scale.—(Hear, hear.) They
tad, however, under all circumstanaes, thought it better
to come to an understanding upon the subject, and ac-
cordingly tin y had agreed to a mileage rate of car-
riage eetween London and Colchester, e nich would give
the Eastern Counties Company a iourth and the Eastern
Union three-fourths.—(Hear.) He would net touch
upon the point of uniting the two companies under one
management, because that would form the subject of dis-
cussion at a future meeting.—(Hear, hear.) Now how
could they caetend against such adverse circumstance!:
as these ? By the Great Northern line the fere by first
class was 1e5..1 while theirs was 19s. Again, the fare to
Norwich on the Eastern Union was as 103. 6d. against
les. 6d., and 63. 4d. against St. 4d., and he hoped and
trusted the two, nay, rather tee three companies, would
hereafter always work in unison together as they were
bound up in each other's success. They had tried
what a reduction of fares would do; but the actual loss
reciting from such causes was very serious, as they had
one case been compelled to reduce their fares to 10a.
and 6s. 6d. from 11s. and 9s. The less in their traffic
to Cambridge was nine per cent., and that to
Peterborough fourteen per cent., as be had
already st.tcd, while their working expenses
remained undiminished.—(Hear, hear.) In addition to
these fusses the company had been suffering from the
strike of the engine•drivers, having had to send to Scot-
lamed and Newcastle in search of men, at great expense,
and to convert for a time their plate lay era into a body
of police, so as to prevent any disturbances on the
line.—(Neer.) All these extensive precamions-had been
required for the due and proper working of the traffic,
and because cf :he inconvenience which all this gave rise
to, the dire 'tors had been forced, indeed they had
no other teternative, but to charge the expenses
which it involved to: revenue. (Hear, hear.)
He would now say a word or two with reference to the
East Ang ien line. Since he came upon the direction,
he had made several attempts to come to an amicable
understanding with that line, and be had always bean
met on the threshold with the observation, " Why
don't you pay us the twenty-two thousand
pounds you °ere to us?" -7 (Laughter.) Now,
they were advised that they did not Owe any-
thing of the kind.—(Hear, bear.) That claim, he be-
• liaised, arose out of certain Parliamentary expenses in-
curred by the late board in 1847, and they (the :new
Directors) of course resisted the claim; hut whether
there were or were not any bond fide grounds
for the claiai., it , ought not, in his opinion,
to ;ewe' in the way, sef an amicable arrangement
between the two flues for the working of both,
to be settled by law, er by any other moans which
might be decided upon. Various complaints had been
-
m de that they had u.ed the East Anglian line very ill;
but 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 one of them.
When he happened to be at the board one afternoon he
received a telegraphic message that the sheriff had seized
the rolling stock of the East Anglian line, and he
thereupon 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 cf 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 fan's which were paid by passengers, and they, the
Eastern Company, required them to deposit in their
handi a sufficient sum 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. —(C b eers.) 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 ire the harbour,othte
and the harbour itself was one of the finest, if not
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
say that the Bill promoted by the B!ackwall Company
fer making a railway to Tilbury Fort was now before
Parliament, and had been read a snow.; time. Ho might
mention th,t before that company went to Parliament
with their Bill they made a proposal for carrying their
Bow junction lino into the Eastern Counties line at
Stretford. They offered them (the Eas;ern Counties)
an equal share per mileage after deducting 50/. per cene
fur we:rising expenses. Now it appeared that the result
of such an arrangement would be that when a passenger
paid Is. for his fire, the Eastern Couniies Comnat
would only receive ad. of it for their share.—(Laughter.)
Besides, a junction of that nature would bring an influx
of peoengers to a to int en the Eastern Counties
line where such influx would be extremely dan-
gerous to the public sae ty, and it was on