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

FEBRUARY 28 1851.
ry

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
EASTERN COUNTIES.

The usual half-yearly general meeting of the pro•
ptietors of the Eastern Counties Railway was held
yest:•rdiy at the London Tav:•rn; 11r. Glynn, chairman
of the board of directors, in the chair. The meeting was
riot quite so num.rous as we have seen it on former occa-
sions, but it was nevertheless somewhat noisy and
iproarious.
The advertisement convening the meeting having been
read,

Mr. HELPS complained that a vacancy hal been filled
up in the board without the previous consent of the
shareh deters, which was contrary to the spirit of an
agreement come to at a previous meeting. lie 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 had been requested to take the chair he now
filled at the instance of the directors, it was true, but in
accepting that hanour his only motive was to advance
the interest of the concern, and therefore if hie appoint.
went was distasteful to the proprietors, he was quite
ready to place his resignation in their hands.—(Hear.)
Mr. PAPAING anderatood 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
shareholdere?—(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 honourable proprietors.
Mr. RONEY (the Secretary) was understood to reply
that he had some slight recollection of such an arrange-
ment having been tacitly come to, but he only spoke
from 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
addressing it a fair and impartial hearing, as the business
to be transacted was of an urgent and 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 back anything.—
(Hear, hear.) All the information they were in pos-
session of was at the service of the meeting, and be
therefore hoped there would be as little interruption as
possible.—(Hear, hear.) The report began with taking
a rather gloomy view of their affairs. The Great
Northern was opened to Peterborough, and took nearly
the 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
complain of the directors of the Great Northern for
charging 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
Hitchin to Royston, there would be another route
to 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
had, however, under all circumstances, thought it better
to come to an understanding upon the subject, and ac-
cordingly they had agreed to• a mileage rate of car-
riage between London and Colchester, which would give
the Eastern Counties Company a fourth and the Eastern
Union three-fourths.—(Hear.) He would not 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 contend against such adverse circumstances
as these? By the Great Northern line the fare by first
class was 135., while theirs was 19s. Again, the faro to
Norwich on the Eastern Union was as lOs. 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
bound up in each other's success. They had tried;
what a reduction of fares woujd do; but the actual loss
resaltiag ftom-such causes was very serious, as they had 1
in one case been compelled to reduce their fares to lOs.
and 6s. 61. from I le. and 9s. The lose in their traffic
to Cambridge was nine per cent., and that to
Peterborough fourteen per cent., as ho had
already stated, while their working expenses
remained undiminisbed.—(Hear, hear.) 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 for a time their plate layers into a body
of police, so as to prevent any disturbances on the
line.—(Hear.) All these extensive precautions had been
required for the due and proper working of the traffic,
and because of the inconvenience which all this gave rise
to, the directors had been forced, indeed they had
no other alternative, but to charge the expenses
ehich it involved to revenue. (Bear, hear.)
fie would now say a word or two with reference to the
East Anglian line. Since he came upon the direction,
he had made several attempts to come to an amicable
understanding with that line, and he had always bean
met 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-
thing of the kind.—(Hear, hear.) That claim, he be-
lieved, arose out of certain Parliamentary expenses in-
curred by the late board in 1847, and they (the new
directors) of course resisted the claim; but whether
there 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
ea ale that they had used 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 meseage 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 traffie, 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 hooked 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 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.—(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 ono 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 pi °meted 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 BM 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
t4f such an arrangement would be that when a passenger
paid Is. for his fire, the Eastern Counties Company
would only receive ,td. of it for their share.—(Laughter.)
Besides, a junction of that nature would bring an influx
of passengers to a point on the Eastern Counties
line where such influx would be extremely dan-
gerous to the public sat ty, and it was on
that ground that their Bill of last session was thrown
out by Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Neverthelesa they
had always been desirous to come to an amicable under-
standing with the Blackwell Company. for theybe-
lieved if a fair " give and take" agree
were entered into, they might have the
advan-
tage of the Fenchurch-street Station.—hoar, hear.)
The alr.)
The Bill promoted by the Eastern Union Company
been read a second time, and if they went to a Commit-
tee
with it, the Eastern Counties Company would
probably have io fight those gentlemen, who might
hereafter be their allies, and perhaps at great ex-
pense and trouble. He sincerely hoped this might
be avoided,—(Hear, bear.) The last Bill on the list

[PRICE SD.

was the Shepreth Junction, which was simply a renewal
of the Bill which came before Parliament last session.
He now 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 ha i 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 directors had recommended, in 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 17,000/., thus leaving a balance in hand
9f 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 fittrei--that,--during thf..-Apait yeli;_st Vent
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, be was, however, happy
to say that the aggregate amount of traffic had not
suffered at all, and that there had been little or to re-
duction in the number of passengers or the
quantity of goods conveyel. 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
proprietors, and concluded by moving the adoption of
the report and the accounts appended.
Mr. NATHAN wished to know how much the Eastern
Union owed the Eastern Counties Company?
The CHAIRMAN—Between 11,0001. and 12,0001. The
company bad judgment for the amount.
Mr. Ems (director) said that there was also a consi-
derable sum due to the Eastern Counties Company,
through 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 upon
which subject a committee of shareholders of the first-
named body has been appointed.
The CHAIRMAN deprecated all discussion 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.
After 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. hy, 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-
-3.1 lb. of coke per mile.
A SHAREHOLDER—The traffic of the two lines is totally
dissimilar.
Captain KELLY—Now, if the directors would britig
down the working expenses to the same rate as thcise.a.
the Brighton line, the Eastern Countits Company would
have in their pockets rather more than 20,0001. a year.
from the saving of coke alone. If he looked at the whore
expense of the line as compared with that of the Brigh-
ton Railway, ho found it was as 56} per cent. against
364 per cent. of the earnings. If the shareholders
would take the trouble to calculate they would see that
it this line were worked as cheaply as the Brighton
Railway they would save 85,0001. per annum. Again,
the Norfolk Company took out of the Eastern Counties
net earnings 28,000/. per annum. These two sums toge-
ther made 114,000/. a year, which might possibly be
saved to the company.
A PROPRIETOR—A good deal too promising to
be true.
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
the Eastern Counties, the Norfolk, and Eastern Union
Railways? If these proxies were used, would not,
ho 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 for 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 he hoped the public press would
notice it, that if the result of the investigation of the
committee—
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 bo brought
forward, and the shareholders would be swamped;
their interests might be annihilated, and the company
utterly ruined.
Mr. Howes moved an amendment that a dividend of
Is. per share be declared.
Mr. Box seconded the amendment.
Mr. GEACH 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 anonymous
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 had 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—(CheF•rs)—
but that be came there for other purposes Oen his own
immediate interests he would avow. The stock he held
in that company, though some 3,000/., would not at all
he an indacemont for him to attend 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 had paid a large amount of their shares, and
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 put 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 petition
in two respects: 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 had
been made use of by a previous speaker (Captain Kelly),
he must observe that comparisons of working could not
be made between one railway arid another. Almost
every railway in the country bad peculiarities belonging
to it, which prevented its traffic being brought into fair
comparison with that cf any other line. Ho thought
that a great deal might be saved is the working ex-
penses. The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
Company, of which he was a director, had 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 35,000/. took place in the traffic with an increase
was done
of only 2,000/. in the working expenses. This
interests, and
by taking large views of the companyo'scy them cut
giving power to the executive
possible
tidence of the company, withourt,tte, h
—(hear)—and by that executi9vffle:hheari,v:_iteg
eensent. The proper
it
wthtlese_ntntire con-
to carry out the details of a
rot. business, however intri-
cate,development of traffic required
educa-
tion as any particular tradehat
the
nt:l t;!, much skill and
particular business they
and he did believe t
ey must set about,
i
defects
of management
as well as they could, remedying
wasd thi»—th
had to transact that day
that existed in the present board. rhey were told by
Mr. Kennerd , at the last meeting, that the board of
directors were so disunited, and acted so badly together,
that it was impossible to carry out any business, and
positively unpleasant to sit at the board. The board was
tike a house divided against itself. There were three
vacancies at the board, and the better way was to fill
them up by sending new men into the direction, and let
them with the rest of the board set about perfecting such
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 pretest against
the use of proxies, on the ground that they had been
obtained without a correct knowledge of the entire case
ab att to be decided having been laid before the share-
holders. The chairman had told them that the present
board had had cast upon them odium which belonged to
h
those who preceded them. Why, the present board ad