The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-29 00:00:00

conduct of himself and the directors, afterwhich he said he
quite agreed with the meeting- that the railway should be
conducted on commercial principles, and that had been
the olject of the Board of Directors. They di I get a
profit and an increasing income with legs expense. To
1355 they ran passenger trains 2,186,544 miles, and
this year 1,229,228 miles, with an increase of revenue
of 30,0001. at least. They should. bear in mind that
railway traffic was of slow growth, and it was the duty
of the Board of Directors to get as much out of the
public as they could. The question was what they got
on the aggregate of the traffic and not on a specific portion,
because it was a fallac r to suppose they could gain a profit
on every transaction, and that was in accordaLce
with commercial principles. The coal traffic was a re•
munerative one. The expenses were 44 per cent., and
the profits 56 per cent. (Cries of " Oh, oh," and
" Where is it ?") He could only state these facts for
their information, but if they would not believe it that
was their fault and not his. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Ho concluded by saying that lie hoped he bad ratisfac-
torily answered what had been advanced against the
administration, and was about to put the motion for the
adoption and reception of the report, when
Mr. J. T. NORRIS rose to address the meeting. He
said insolvency and ruin stared them in the face, unless
the affairs of the company were properly administered
by dealing honestly and fairly with the facts of the case,
and not by mystifying themselves and others by pretending
they had a glowing prosperity attending them when, in
fact, they were working at an increased loss and a di-
minished dividend. The hon. gentleman called atten-
tion to the vacancy in the directory, and that at the
next meeting two directors would retire by rotation
(Mr. Commissioner Fane and Mr. Eacke), the latter of
whom from ill-health did not intend to offer himself for
re-election, and he (Mr. Norris) urged on the meeting
how much success in working of the line depended on
their selecting proper men as directors. The gross in-
come of the company for the past half-year amounted to
700,0001., and so intricate and extensive was the sources
from which that income came that it would be to the
advantage of the company to appoint a permanent
traffic committee and a stores committee, each
with a chairman, to devote at least three
days a week to their business, and in a business manner,
and not merely walk to the office with a delicate colour
pair of gloves on, dangling a fashionable stick in his
hand, and sign his name to certain documents and then
leave. (Cheers and laughter.)
The report, &c., was adopted which declared a divi-
dend of 2s. per share.

Mr. MALINS then pressed his resolution, omitting
that part with reference to the adjourned meeting ; and
Mr. NORRIS moved, as an amendment, the appointment
of a committee to confer with the directors relative to
the future administration, and to defer any changes
until vacancies arose in the regular state of things.
Several proprietors, before the motion and amend-
ment were put, said committees did no good, and were
very expensive things.

Mr. ICORRIS said he did not intend to put the com-
pany to any expense.
The CHAIRMAN said it was understood that no ex-
pense was to be incurred. He mentioned it because in
a few days—three or four days—when he had collected
his papers together he intended to leave the directory.
(Loud cheers.) He was glad they received his announce-
ment so cheerfully, and he hoped it would add to their
prosperity. (Cheers.) A remark had been made about
dividends, and he took that opportunity of stating that
dividends had been the curse of railways. (Loud ex-
pressions of dissent.) The reason for that opinion was,
that directors knowing and feeling that dividends were
the grand aim of shareholders, bad, on many previous
occasions, (strained the dividends to obtain the approval
of the shareholders. (Cheers, and cries of " No, no.")
The consequence had been, in many cases to which he
could refer, that the evil day had been kept from the
shareholders, instead of its being brought forward and
manfully met at the time. (Cheers.)
The amendment was then put to the meeting, and lost
by an overwhelming majority, on which Mr. Norris de-
manded a poll.
The original motion was put, and carried amidst loud
cheers, the word "disastrous" having first been struck
out.

The following gentlemen were appointed the commit-
tee under Mr. -Malins's resolution :—Messrs. od,
Norris, Malins, J. P. Griffiths, Tuart,
.Mitchell, T.
Tegz„ Tozer, Collins, W. Reed, J. Johnson, and Love.
Mr. H. T. Atkinson was elected auditor of the Til-
bury branch.
Mr. R. Walters was elected a director in the room of
Mr. T. J. Margrave, resigned. The candidates were
Mr. Walters and Mr. Malins, the railway reformer.
497 proxies and 1,331 votes were returned for the former,
24 proxies and 963 votes for the latter.

The CHAIRMAN then explained his reason for resigning
the chair, which, he said, arose from his being unable to
carry out his views for the advantage of the company at
the board, the opposition to which first appeared with
reference to the East Suffolk Railway. He assured the
meeting there was not that blind following of the chair-
man at the board as many supposed, and feeling the time
was come when he should resign, be announced it
through the public press. He warned them against
the danger and ruin that would attend their pro-
perty without their present" policy was reversed. He
advised the committee that had been appointed on the
motion of Mr. Malins to at once look into the matter,
lie had heard from a Maldonite that a survey was being
made in that neighbourhood, with a view to the con-
struction of a line through Maldon to Colchester, be-
tween which and Woodbridge was but a short distance-
After some remarks from Mr. BRUCE, in explanation
of his conduct in asking the shareholders to dissent from
the policy of the Chairman,

A vote of thanks was given to the Chairman, and the
meeting separated.

WEST-END AND CRYSTAL PALACE

RAILWAY.

HALF-YEARLY MEE riNG.-(THIS DAY )

The seventh half•yearly general meeting of the share-
holders in this company was held this day. at
,one
o'clock, at the offices of the company, 24, Old Broad-
street. The chair was occupied by S. Beak, Eig. •
The following are extracts from the report :
The directors have the pleasure to announce that the
line will be opened from the Crystal Palace to the tempo-
rary station on Wandsworth Common, including stations
at Streatham, Bantam, and Lower Norwood, at Most
within six weeks, and from the CrystAl Palace to the Nor.
wood junction with the Brighton line in a short titre after-
wards.

The directors deem it extremely desirable, both with
reference to the agreement with the Brighton Company
and tho general welfare of the undertaking, that the com-
pletion of the lino to the West End terminus should be
pushed on as quickly as possible; and no exertion will be
spared to effect that object.
An agreement has been entered into, subject to the
sanction of the proprietors and of the Bard of Trade, for
the working of the local and Crystal Palace trallic of the
lino by the Brighton Company, on the following terms:—
The Brighton Company to receive 42i per cent, of the
gross receipts on this traffic for the working expenses (in-
cluding the maintenance of the line and works), and the
remaining per cent, to be paid to this company, sub-
ject to the usual deduction of Government passenger
duty.

The gross receipts on traffic between any station of the
West End line, and the stations of the Brighton Company
at Croydon, or any place between Croydon and the j unc-
tion with the West End Railway, to be divided as fol-
lows, viz.:-42. per cent to be deducted by the Brighton
Company for working expanses, including terminal and all
other charges except Government duty on passengers, and
the residue to be divided equally between the two compa-
nies.

The gross receipts on traffic between any station on the
West End line and any station on the Brighton Company's
Epsom line, south of the West Croydon station, to be di-
vided as follows, viz : —421 per cent. to be deducted by
the Brighton Company for working expenses, and the re-
sidue to be divided in the proportion of three-fourths to
the Brighton and one-fourth to the West End Company.
The gross receipts on traffic between any station on the
West End line and the Brighton Company's London-
bridge terminus, or any station between such terminus
And the junction with the West Eud line to be divided as
follows, viz. :--426 per cent. to be deducted by the Brigh-
ton Company for working expenses, and the residue to be
divided between the two companies according to mileage.
The Brighton Company are to pay the West End Com-
pany a toll of 8,0001. per annum for the use of the line for
their long traffic, so soon as it is opened to the terminus at
Battersea.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
stated that he need not enter into any detailed state-
ment of their affairs, as it was so fully entered into in
the report. The confusion that existed with respect to the
Westminster Terminus Railway bad been disposed of,
and their terminus at the West-end would be at the
foot of the new bridge, Sloan-street, and would be
known by the name of the Sloane-street Terminus.
Notices had been served upon the owners of the land,
and they soon expected to get possession of it. He
considered that their difficulties were at an end, and that
the traffic that had been expected on their line would be
fully realised.

In answer to questions put by several shareholders,
Sir S. M. PETO explained the circumstances connected
with getting possession of the land, and suggested that
a man should be prepared by the directors which would
make the public acquainted with the means by which
the railway could be reached.
The motion that the report be adopted was then put
and carried unanimously.
The meeting was then made special for the purpose of
considering and approving, and acting upon, the agree•
ment between the company and the London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway Cmpany, relating to the
traffic arrangements, and for confirming the forfeiture of
certain shares.

The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to
;he chainnan.

LONDON GAZETTE--(This Evening.)

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, AuG 27.
This day had audience of her Majesty
The Chevalier Don Antonio Gonzalez, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from her Catholic
Majesty, to deliver his letter of recall ;
Senor Don Juan de Francisco Martin, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic
of Guatemala, to deliver his credentials; and
The Count Chreptowitch, Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary from his Majesty the Emperor of
all the Russiasi to deliver his credentials ;
To which audiences they were respectively introduced
by the Earl of Clarendon, K.G., her Majesty's Principa