The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-28 00:00:00

GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA RAILWAY.

A special general meeting of the shareholders and
bondholders of this company was hell yesterday at
the City Terminus Hotel, Cannon-street. In con-
sequence of the illness of Mr. Edward IVatkin, the
president of the company, the chair was taken by
Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P.

The CIIAIRNIAN, in opening the proceedings, ex-
pl • ained that a committee of proprietors had asked
for a copy of the list of bondholders and share-
holders, and that the board on that requisition had
by a circular letter consulted all those whose names
appeared on the register of the company upon the
policy of the request. In that circular they put to
the proprietors three questions. The first que,tion
wos, whether they wished to have the list i)rinted
every year ? In reply to that question, 406 pro-
prietors, representing £018,0:O, replied in the
negative ; and 235 proprietors, representing
,00,000, replied in the affirmative, so that nron
the poll thus condicted that arrang,,nnent was
condemned. The next question was, whether
the li t should be supplied on application
at the office, upon the payment of a fee
sufficient to defray the cost of making out the copy ?
On that question the poll was as follows :—" Yes,"
423 proprietors, representing £1,228,738 ; " No,"
191 proprietors, representing £423,916. The third
question was, whether the proprietary would abide
by the offer of the board to afford every facility to
those who wished to
.communicate with their co-
partners ? Upon that question 219 proprietors, re-
presenting £643,000, voted one way, and 241 pro-
prietors, representing £476,655, voted the other.
It was thus evident, he said, that the wish of the
proprietors was that those who wished to obtain the
information referred to should pay for it; and there-
fore he had, in deference to their views, to move
that a copy of the list of shareholders and bond-
holders be furnished to any proprietor who may be
willing to pay the expense of making out the copy.
Mr. SWIFT seconded the motion.

Sir H. JERVIS preferred a long bill of indict-
ment against the management of the company. He
could not, he said, see any possible objection the
directors could have to the publication of the list of
their copartners in the concern. He wished to know
if Mr. Watkin, as president of the company, bad
any powers ultra of those possessed by the chair-
man of an English line of railway. He found on
inquiry that that gentleman was connected altogether
with five great companies, and if they divided the full
working time—ten hours each day—by five, they
would find that he cuuld only devote two hours of
his time to their business, which was of sufficient
importance to require the whole of it. Nothing
but a strict and rigorous control of the officials in
Canada could be of any avail. To them the rail-
way which returned nothing to the shareholders had
proved a regular mine of wealth. He would there-
fore move as an amendment, that a printed list of
the shareholders and bondholders be supplied to any
shareholder who may require it on the payment of
a fee of 2s. 6d.
Mr. BECKER seconded the amendment.

Mr. K. HODGSON, M.P., considered it would be
useless for the company to go to any such expense.
The register was constantly undergoing changes,
and therefore, if the list was to serve any purpose,
it would have to be furnished weekly.
Mr. C TRUS LEGGE thought the list of the share-
holders and bondholders should be sent out with
each report.

Mr. CRAIK considered that would defeat the ob-
ject of the committee, which was to consult with
the proprietary previous to the next half-yearly
meeting in October. That could not be done if the
list were kept back until the time for the publica-
tion of the report.

Mr. ADAMS insisted upon the necessity of having
the list published at once.
The CHAIRMAN explained that the directors had
no object whatever in view. They wished to be
guided by the views of their constituents, and it
was with that motive they issued the circulars ; and
it was in accordance with those views that he moved
the resolution before the meeting. If, however,
they wished to accept the amendment of Sir Ray-
mond Jervis, it was nothing whatever to him.
Mr. WRIGHT said every statement that came
from Canada was to the effect that the officials of
the company were living in the style of princes, from
which he gathered that they alone were benefited
by the construction of the line.

Mr. NEWMARCII considered that no reliance ought
to be placed upon anonymous statements. He was
confident that if a c3mmittee of investigation were
appointed into the conduct of Mr. Brydges and the
other officials of the company in Canada such an
investigation would redound to their credit.
Mr. MoxoN considered that the disinclination on
the part of the directors to supply the proprietors
with a list of their copartners, as was done in every
joint-stock bank, was an indication of the decline
of commercial morality, which he was disposed to
treat as a criminal offence. lie would have the
books of the company open to the inspection of the

proprietors.

After some further discussion the amendment
was approved of by the meeting, and to it was at-
tached, on the motion of Mr. Cyrus Legge, a rider
providing that each year, with the report of the
directors, a list of his copartners should be furnished
to each proprietor.

The result will be that a EA will be at once
printed and delivered to any proprietor who may
be willing to pay half-a-crown for it, and that
henceforth a copy free of any charge will be sent
out yearly with the report of the directors.
A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the
proceedings.

Ti:E NEW LIST OF VOTERS.—To-morrow, the
29th inst., is the last day for the overseers to deliver to the
clerks of the peace the list of claimants to be registered at
the next revision. In no county or horough, unless the
"ladies" have claimed to appear on the register, can the
question be raised before the barristers at the Registra-
tion Court.

HORRIBLE DEATII.—A young lad named Thos.
Mason, 12 years of ago, son of David Mason, seaman, re-
siding in Leggett-hill, South Shields, accidentally fell into
a large tank containing boiling water, in the glassworks
of Messrs. Moore, West Holborn, on Wednesday. Dr.
Coward attended the lad, but medical assistance was of
no avail, and the poor lad died in excruciating pain.
THE ELLTCOTT CITY DISASTEII.--ThOSC who
witnessed the fearful calamity at Ellicott city, Maryland,
caused by the recent flood, resulting in the death of some
43 persons, represent the spectacle as agonizing in the ex-
treme. A lady of Baltimore, Miss H. C. Adams, who was
on a visit to Ellicott city at the time, gives this int rest-
ing account of what c nue under her observation - " Dr.
Owings, who had been sent for professionally, had left his
house but a few minutes before the flood appeared, against
the remonstranees of his wife, who was alarmed at the
threatening aspect of the sky. It was only after receiving
three messages that he was iuduced to leave her. Ho had
barely reached the bridge, on his return, when ho saw the
flood coming down, and he took refuge in the house of Mr.
Gibbons, not a hundred feet from his own dwelling, and
called to his wife, advising her how she should act for the
safety of herself and the six children by her side. Speedily
the water drove her and the children to the roof, where,
clinging to the chimney, they seemed somewhat secure;
but the rocking of the house—a throe story frame—soon
caused the chimney to fall. Meanwhile, Mrs. Marschano,
being in the house below, reached up to Mrs. Owings a baby
but three weeks old, supposing it would be safer there than
in her own maternal arms. Mrs. Owings was seen to hold
it as long as she lived. Dr. 0 wings, calling across the
race, as his house floated from its foundation and lodged
against the next below, directed that the walls of the ad-
joining houses should be cut through. This was done by
Mr. Fountain, and as one house after another fell, working
most heroically, this noble man cut through the walls of
seven houses, until they came to the last in the row. In
this house all the occupants of the six houses above were
assembled. Suddenly it was seen to waver, and in a
moment more, with all its precious burden of children,
women, and men, it fell with a terrific crash, and not one
soul was saved. When Dr. Owings i;held this fearful
scene his reason seemed to leave him, he endeavoured
to tbrow himself into the fearful current, and it took a
number of strong mon to prevent him from thus destroy-
ing himself. He was carried to a hotel by sympathising
friends, in au ~Iniost insensible condition. Dr. 0 wings, it
is learned, in his present distressed condition, is with
friends at Ellicott city, and with their kindly aid and
sympathy bears up under his extraordinary affliction with
commendable fortitude."

At a Bombay Native Debating Society recently,
the chairman, Baboo K. U. Bose. observed that the
greatest shortcoming—in fact, properly seen, it is a
blunder—of the English rule in India is its failure to tall
out and employ native talent in the administration of the
cettntry.