The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-30 00:00:00

Mr. J. CHEETIIAM, M.P., supported the proposi-

tion. He said that the proposed bill would add
196,000 electors to the county franchise and 204,000
to the borough franchise. The number of working
class voters was at present about 126,000, and the
proposed bill would increase them to 330,000.
There would still be a minority of them in the
towns and cities, and ti greater minority in the
counties. The spirit of compromise which had
guided the framers of the bill had not been entirely
satisfactory, and the scheme was threatened with an
opposition, headed by a very able man, Mr. Robert
Lowe. The Conservatives expected by that mutiny
in the Liberal ranks to overthrow the bill, but he
had no such fears. (Applause.) Take away those
mutinous Liberals, and their party was never more
thoroughly united, especially since the Government
had candidly stated their existence on the measure.
(Applause.) lie believed that the question of a re-
distribution must follow the present scheme, the
passing of which would only intensify the existing
anomalies and absurdities. Mr. Heelis had said
that Lord Derby's bill proposed to take away fifteen
members from some of the smaller boroughs and
add them to other constituencies. He (Mr. Cheet-
ham) should be ashamed and disappointed if the
promised scheme did not deal with more than twice
that [number. (Applause.) The present number
of electors in Salford was 5,397, of whom 1,808
were working men, and the proposed bill would in-
crease the number of electors to 10,372. The per-
centage of its extension in boroughs was about 26,
and that of 1832 was 31 ; and some members con-
sidered that the estimate of 26 per cent. was too
high. The scheme was supported by the largest
employers of labour, and if they did not fear an
extension of power to their workpeople, he did not
see the reason of others. As to. the idea that it
would create a class interest, he thought that suffi-
cient illustration upon that subject had been given
by the class interest which had moved in the legis-
lation on the cattle plague, the parliamentary pro-
ceedings upon which had shown that when the
landed gentry were willing to unite they could go-
vern the country. At the close of Mr. Cheetham's

remarks,

Mr HEELIS again rose to address the meeting, but
was received with even greater interruption than

before.

Mr. J. D. MORTON objected to the proceedings
being interfered with by Mr. iieelis.
Amidst cries of " Sit down," addressed to Mr.
Morton and Mr. Heelis, the CHAIRMAN attempted to
pacify Mr. Morton, who ultimately took his seat.
While this was going on Mr. lieelis gesticulated, and
appeared to be speaking, but no one could hear him.
At last he was heard to remark that there ought to
be three members for Salford, and that the present
bill would admit so many working men in that
borough that all other interests would be swamped.
The interruption again increased, Mr Ifeelis appeared
like a solitaryfigure in a dumb farce, and not a word
could be heard from him. The audience diverted
themselves with cheers for Mr. Cheetham, a few
groans for Mr. lieelis, and some of them even in-
dulged in an occasional snatch at a song. At last
Mr. Heelis was told by the chairman that he could
not ask Mr. Cheetham any questions which he was
apparently doing, and he thereupon sat down. The
motion was then adopted.
On the proposition of Mr. Warburton, seconded
by Mr. Williams, and supported by Mr. Roberts, a
petition to Parliament was adopted in favour of the
Government bill.

The proceedings terminated after eleven o'clock.

Railway and Other Companies.

ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN.
The following is a more extended report than appeared
in The Sun of yesterday :

The annual meeting of bond and share holders in
this company was held yesterday at the London
Tavern ; Sir S. M. Peto, M.P., in the chair.
_ _

The report, an abstract of, which has already ap-
peared, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving its adoption, said the
Board had deemed it desirable, notwithstanding
that a member of the eminent firm of Messrs. Cole-
man, Turquand, and Youngs, the accountants, had
spent four months of last year in the examination
of the various accounts of the company, and had
thoroughly authenticated them, that that firm
should send one of its members to America again,
and that the whole capital and revenue accounts
should be carefully tested and examined, so that the
accounts when presented to the bond and share
holders should bear the signature of that firm as
vouching their accuracy. So far as he and his col-
leagues on the Board of Control were concerned
they did not deem it necessary for their own satis-
faction that such authentication should take place,
because when in America last year he satisfied him-
self most thoroughly that a more perfect system of
accounts could not be devised than that which was
now in force on the whole of their line. It was
their intention to have a duplicate set of books in
England as well as in America, so that
they might be able from time to time to give full
information, within a fortnight on any point in
the accounts. (Hear.) He thought it his duty
when he had the honour of being chosen chairman
of the Board of Control that they should have the
means of knowing that they were dealing with
realities, because, inasmuch as the capital was
largely held in England and Germany, he felt it per-
fectly right they should always have the means
of knowing how matters stood. One of the
first things theyinitiated was that of sending money
every week from America, so that every month
they might know that their bonded interest was
actually covered by the amount sent over from the
other side. With regard to the traffic receipts, he
thought they were satisfactory in the highest
possible degree. In the latter six months of last
year, with 490 miles only open, the receipts in the
September quarter amounted to £471,509, at the
rate of $6 in the pound, whereas the bonded inte-
rest on the entire line, assuming all the bonds to be
issued, could not exceed £420,000. In the Decem-
ber quarter they had earned £531,364, showing an
excess of at least £111,364 above the interest on
the entire bonded debt. In addition to that
surplus the shareholders had the opening of
7 miles yet before them to look forward to, and
connexions with Buffalo and with the Grand Truuk
Railway
ofankada, the Great Western of Canada,
the New .o
Central, and the New York and
Erie Canal. So the
shareholders might naturally
feel that, although theb
the bondholders might naturally
feel that, though
was u
in reserve
were secure,
a more brilliant future
reserve for them
than even the bondholders could anticipate
When in America, examining e •
eve on their
line, the first thing that struck him was the enor-
mous amount of traffic, and the comparatively
smal
means of carrying it. He found in the Alaho • g
Valley from Cleveland to Pittsburg something like
23 blast furnaces, of which one-half were working
only three days a week, and one-third were blown