The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-12 00:00:00

last evening that " a most suspicious-looking craft"
had been observed at Bunerana, that she seemed to
be about 600 or 700 tons burden, and had first been
observed near the mouth of Lough Swilly. No
alarm has been excited by this mysterious piece of
information.

RAILTV .1Y IN7 ELLIGEN

EAST LONDON.

An extraordinary meeting was held yesterday, at
the Terminus Hotel, Cannon-street, for the purpose
of disposing of certain forfeited shares.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. W. Hawes), in opening the
business, said that when he called the meeting he
expected that his duty would have required of him
very few observations ; but a circular which had
been issued by Mr. W. Hartridge, giving notice of
an amendment, rendered it necessary to go at some
length into the position of the company. He had in
his hand the original prospectus, and was enabled to
declared his adherence to everything stated in it—
not a very usual thing for the chairman of a company
to be able to do in these times, when everybody was
almost as anxious to be out of joint-stock compa-
nies as two years ago they were to be in them. Mr.
Hartridge quoted the following sentence from the
prospectus —" The cost of construction is fixed be-
yond doubt by arrangements concluded with Messrs.
Brassey and Lucas and Wythes, for a contract at
prices which will make the total cost of the works
considerably less than the amount allowed in the
Parliamentary estimates." Well, it was perfectly
true that the railway was being made by Messrs.
Brassey ; and it was being made in a manner which
was as creditable to them as it was satisfactory to
the directors. What, however, Mr. Hartridge really
meant by this quotation was to call attention to
the circumstance that this was what was called a
"contractors' line," and that the contractors had an
undue influence over the board. But that was not
the case ; the directors were in reality per-
fectly independent of the contraltors. He had
mentioned this fact to Mr. Hartridge, and his re-
ply was very singular—" So many directors have
said, and the public did not believe them." He
trusted, however, the meeting would believe him
when he stated that the contractors had no influ-
ence at the board ; that they had never nominated
a single director ; that every director had been a
member of the board before the contract was made,
and that every member of it retained every shilling
of his interest. (Cheers.) As to the cost of the
construction, he had every reason to repeat his
belief that the £1,866,000 of original capital would
be sufficient to do that which he had contemplated
doing, and to open the works to a point which would
secure them a revenue at a comparatively early
period. The only portion of the line as to which
the cost was not ascertained was the bit from the
London Dock to the station of the Great Eastern
Company at Shoreditch, and the spur northward to
the Metropolitan line. As to revenue, he repeated
his previous statements, that the experience of the
Metropolitan Company justified the anticipations of
the prospectus ; besides which it must be recollected
that since those calculations were made the earnings
of the Metropolitan had risen from £740 to between
£9OO and £l,OOO per mile. He, therefore, adhered
to his previous statements with all the proper per-
tinacity of a man who had been convinced by long
thought, and who believed that what he stated was
true. (Cheers.) As to the finance of the company,
he asked for it the most searching review ; only he
asked that due allowance should be made for the
altered circumstances of the tines. Nothing, in
fact, could be more simple than their finance. They
had raised so much money—there were no deben-
tures, no Lloyd's bonds, no securities except a
sum borrowed from their bankers upon the land
sales. flow, then, had the necessity for this
meeting arisen? In 1865, following the example
of larger companies who had acted on the advice of
those eminent solicitors, Messrs. Baxter and Messrs.
Burchell, they had asked for subscriptions on scrip
certificates. Now scrip was entirely outside the
Act of Parliament ; and they had no power
to sue the scripholders for their calls. The only
course they had left them if they wished to avoid
tedious, expensive, and uncertain litigation, was,
therefor,., to forfeit the unpaid shares and to reissue
them. This they proposed to do in the first instance
to the shareholders, and if the shareholders would
take up the whole of them there would be no loss to
the company at all. Of course, if the general public
took up any portion of them a loss would, pro taut°,
be sustained by the shareholders. Anyhow the shares
must be re-issued before the borrowing powers of
the company could be exercised, and without the
exercise of those powers the line could not be com-
pleted. Then Mr. Hartridge drew attention to the
fact that Messrs. Chadwick, M'Kenna, and Adam-
son had been advertised as the financial agents of
the company. That was quite true. The board
had in the first instance applied to a number of
financial companies, the highest of which had asked
the modest sum of £250,000 for undertaking the
responsibility of bringing out the scheme. The
lowest asked £130,000 or £140,000, besides certain
privileges. Messrs. Chadwick's bill, after all, was
only £27,000, or hardly more than a fifth of the
lowest sum asked by the financial companies. No
doubt it was a large item, but it had been printed
in reports and passed meeting after meeting. Mr.
Hawes, in conclusion, moved a formal resolution re-
specting the forfeited shares.

In answer to SHAREHOLDERS.
Mr. ll.twEs added that the shares forfeited were
22,795, on which £76,000 had been paid. It was

proposed to allot them at 11 discount ; in other
words, the £2O share would be treated as if £ll had

been paid up. This, which was a discount of 35 per
cent., followed the precedent of the successful ope-

ration recently effected by Mr. Laing.
After some remarks from Mr. T. E. KNIGHT,
approving of the course proposed by the board,

Mr. lIAP.TRIDGE said the chairman had used the
same cleverness and dexterity as he had shown on
former occasions. He had told the meeting a great
many things they knew, but had not given them
information they desired. A large number of share-
holders had not paid their calls ; but he believed
a vast number had written for shares that had
been refused. He should like to have some
explanation of the circumstance. On the whole he
required a full inquiry, and if the board would grant
that he should be relieved from the necessity of stat-
ing things that might not be pleasant to hear.
The CHAIRMAN declined the proposal.
Mr. lIARTRIDGE, resuming, said he had prepared
a speech setting oat some matters of detail, but he
would reserve them for another occasion ; and he
would now merely move the amendment of which he
had given notice :—" That the recommendations of
the directors be not adopted ; that this meeting be
adjourned, and that three proprietors be appointed
a committee (with power to add to their number),
to confer with the directors and to inquire into the

present financial condition of the company, to ascer-
tain the circumstances under which certain scrip
shares were originally allotted and subsequently
forfeited for non-payment of calls; to consider the
terms upon which it is proposed to dispose of such
shares, and to exercise the borrowing powers of the
company, reporting thereon at an early meeting of
proprietors. Also to make inquiries and report an
opinion upon the postponement of some of the works
authorised by Parliament, and upon the amount of
capital required for the future purposes of the corn -
pony, and generally upon any matter affecting the
interest of the proprietors.
A SHAREHOLDER having seconded the amend-
ment pro forma, a brief discussion ensued, at the
close of which
The CHAIRMAN said that if the resolution were
agreed to he had authority to subscribe for £28,000
of the re-allotted shares ; and he would undertake
that the quota of the directors should be taken up
by themselves or by their friends. The money which
the resolution would enable them to raise would
carry the works to Shorediteh, and if the Great
Eastern were not able to complete the line to Broad-
street their powers would lapse next year. This
company would then apply to Parliament for leave
to take them up, and they would acquire on most
advantageous terms the land which had been bought
and cleared by the Great Eastern.

The amendment was then put, but no hand ex-
cept Mr. Hartridge's was held up for it.

The original resolution, which provided that the