The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-25 00:00:00

Great Northern Railway Meetinz.--This

Day.

The ordinary half-yearly meeting of this company was
held to-day at the King's Cross station—Colonel Packe,
M.P., the Chairman, presiding.

The report, which has been published, was taken as
read.

The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report,
said that it had been his good fortune at every meeting at
which he preSided to congratulate tho shareholders on an
increase in their dividends, but he regretted to stato_that
on the present occasion he had to inform them that the
dividend would be reduced ono half. The company had
earned £50,000 more than they had done the previous
half-year, but to earn that amount they had to expend
£47,000. Tbo increase in the expenditure had arisen
from causes Which the marragomeut could neither fore-
see or control. The capital account had increased duiin,g
tho last half year £766,000, of which £21,000 had been
spent in the incorporation of the West Yorkshire stock.
The carrying on of the works had increased by £335,478,
and the increase as regarded the rolling stock wa5£156,719.
The revenue receipts during the past half-year were not so
profitable as could have been wished. There was, how-
ever, an increase of £621,110 on the coach, mail, and that
description of traffic. There had been a decrease in the
merchandise traffic as compared with the corresponding
period last year, which arose chiefly on the mineral traffic,
and that was caused by the warmth of the weather in
December and January last, which of course had the effect
of diminishing the amount of coal carried on their line. An
increase of £3,456 had been incurred by the relaying of
portions of their line, and the large increase in tha loco-
motive department was owing to the running of 2,090 miles
more than last half-year. Owing to the increase of the rate
of wages their expenses in that department was £13,000, but it
must be remembered they employed about 9,000 men. He
regretted to say that the amount for compensation during
the past half-year was £12,058, although the directors dis-
puted the claims where there was a chance of resisting
them successfully, at the • same time they avoided all un-
necessary law proceedings. The chairman then went in
detail through the different points sot forth fully in the
report.. •
_ _

Colonel DUNCOMIIE, the deputy-chairman, seconded the
motion.

Mr. ULMIIES strongly condemned the policy pursued by
the management, in which he said they were imitating the
practice of the Great Easfern, and would; if they slid not
alter their system, ultimately drift into the bankrupt con-
dition of the London, Dover, and Chatham. (Hear, hear.)
He conterded that the directors wore not carrying out the
wishes of the shareholders. (Hear, hear.) Ho strongly
objected to the system prevailing on two grounds. In the
first place the directors were self-elected, and were not the
nominees of the shareholders, which was contrary to the
spirit of the Act of Parliament. There was a clause in
that certainly which empowered the directors to appoint a
director in the event of a vacancy by death or some other
emergency, but the Act, ho contended, contemplated that
the appointment of directors should be vested in the body
of the proprietary. (Hear. hear.) Notwithstanding, howl
over, the directors continued to elect each other without
any emergency having arisen to justify them in doing so.
In the next place there was an infamous system of proxies.
(Hear, hear.) In fact, owing to that system the share-
holders were rendered nonentities, for tho directors had
proxies in their possession and at their disposal which
gave them a majority at the meeting. In illustration
ho would state that ono gentleman sent the directors
proxies representing £lOO,OOO stock. He wished to know
if the shareholders would sit calmly like penguins and
allow themselves to bo knocked on the head. Ho had,
from the commencement of the present system of manage-
ment, protested against the policy pursued, and ho would
continuo to do so until that policy had ,been altered. In
reviewing the proceedings of the directors, he adverted to
the fact of £300,000 having been lent to the London,
Chatham, and Dover, for which there had been no return,
and also for money lent to the Great Eastern, with a simi-
lar result. He believed that the arrangement entered into
with the London, Dover, and Chatham involved a con-
tract which the directors of the company had failed to
enforce. (Hear, hoar.)
Mr. Valentine Knight, Mr. Nicene, and other gentlemen
supported the views taken by the previous speakers.
The CHAIRMAN, in reply, said in reference to views en-
tertained adverse to the extension of the branches on the
ground that they diverted traffic from the main line, that
he agreed in that point of view, but he believed no loss
had been sustained by the company through the extension
of the branch lines. He reminded the shareholders that he
was one of the original promoters of this company, and
that he was appointed a director by Parliament, and two
or three other directors stood in the same position. How-
ever, the names of retiring directors were always submitted
to the meeting, and they could disapprove of the selection
of any retiring director. He contended that the results
of the connection with the London, Dover, and Chatham
Railway had noeboen'ufiprofitable to the company.

The motion was then agreed to.
Immediately after the ordinary meeting an extraordinary
meeting of the company was held in the same place, when
a resolution was submitted authorising the creation of
new capital to the extent of £1,075,000, under the powers
of acts passed in 1864, 5,6, with a preferential dividend
not exceeding 5 per cent. per annum ; to be allotted rate-
ably to all proprietors, and the payment of calls to bo dis
tributed over a period of about 18 months.
The resolution was carried. s_

A vote of thanks was then given to the chairman, and
tho proceedings terminated.

Embezzlement of more than Three Millions
of Francs.

The approaching trial of the cashier of the Se-
condary Bank of Railways iu Paris (Sous-Comptoir
des Chemins de Fer) and his accomplices, is causing
a great sensation in the French capital, on account
of thelarge amount of the embezzlements, the strange
circumstances which attended the crime, and, above
all, the romantic history and high station of one of
the persons incriminated. First, it is rather difficult
to understand how it was possible to appropriate
fraudulently such large sums of money without
rousing the suspicion of the manager and the board
of directors. The Railway Secondary Bank of
Paris is a branch of the Discount Bank (Comptoir
d'Escompte) ; its relations to the latter are such as
those of the branch of the Bank of England towards
the head establishment, with only this difference,
that the branch possessed a capital of its own and a
separate board. The business of the Sous-Comptoir
consists in making loans to the railway shareholders
upon their shares by means of mortgage deeds. The
head establishment procures the money upon the
security of those deeds. The shares are returned
when the advances have been repaid. The modus
operandi of Berthome, the cashier, was as follows :
—He presented to the managing director the papers
necessary to obtain the return of the shares. It seems
that the manager was in the habit of signing these
papers without making any inquiry. As soon as
the mortgaged shares had been returned without any
reimbursement of the first loan, they were mortgaged
a second time. By these means the cashier Berthome
succeeded in borrowing fraudulently nearly 19 mil-
lions of francs. The balance between the succes-
sive reimbursements and the amount of the loans is
3,300,000 f., which sum represents the actual defi-
ciency of the Sous-Comptoir.

The embezzlements extended over a period of four
years-1862 to 1860; but the amount increased every
year (during 1865 it reached 1,387,000 f.) For what
purpose had the cashier Berthome embezzled such
large sums of money ? It was not for himself, be-
caused he jeopardised first his own modest fortune
for the interest of those of whom he has been the
tool. Berthome had made the acquaintance-of the
Prince De Croy-Chanel, Knight of Saint Louis,
Commander of the Order of Gregory the Great,
Knight of Malta, who claims the crown of Hungary.
He represents (he says) the Arpad dynasty, and coolly
asserts that he descends from Attila, through Stephen
of Hungary. To be impartial, it must be stated that
in 1862 he applied to the Committee of the Great
Seal in France to be recognised as a descendant of
Andrew 11. of Hungary ; let us also add that the re-
port of the committee, drawn by M. Langlais, was
unanimously in favour of his claim. Prince De
Croy-Chanel claims also from the Duke of Modena
large estates, and the title of Marquis of Este, as
descending from the House of Este. To finish the
sketch of that adventurous life, let us remember that
he belonged to the household of Napoleon I. towards
the cud of the First Empire, which did not prevent
him from serving under Louis XVIII. in the body
guard. Afterwards he played a political part in the
Iberic Peninsula, and during a short time he was a
member of the Ministry in Portugal. From Portugal
he went to Spain, became a favourite of Ferdinand
VII., and obtained from that king the exclusive pri-
vilege to manufacture cloth. But he ruined himself in
those speculations. In 1827 he intrigued at the Court
of Frmnce to obtain the Imperial Crown of Mexico,
and he failed only on account of the opposition of
Charles X. During the reign of Louis Philippe he
returned to the Napoleonic ideas, and founded the
journal Le Capitole. He took part in the affair at
Boulogne, and was arraigned before the Chamber of
Peers. He was also mixed up in a forgery of bank-
notes. The Prince Croy-Chanel is now 71; he is now
absent iron France, and his counsel explained 143 ab.