The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-08 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN NEW PUBLI-
. CANS' PROTECTION SOCIETY. _

The eleventh anniversary dinner of this body took place
yesterday, at the White Conduit House, Pentonville.
The cloth was laid for upwards of 800 members, and
Mr. Rouse, the spirited proprietor of the establishment,
catered in his usual liberal style.
The cloth having been removed, and Non Nobis
Domino sung,
CHAIRMAN gave "The Queen" and the other
10) al toasts, which were responded to with every mark
of enthusiasm.
Mr. KINNERSLEY then proposed " Lord Monteagle,
the patr in of the Society, and its other Parliamentary
friends." They had rendered essential services to the
beer trade and to the brewers of the metropolis, by
coming forward at a time when they were hard beset by
enemies. The trade had found that the nobleman
he (Mr Ktnnereley) had had the honour to name was ,
ever oe.sy of ttecees. and at no period of his life did he
teen a deaf ear to their representations. To Mr. War-
burton, to Mr. Hume, as well as to ether lion. Mem-
'Lir!, NV, thee also indebted. because they, too, reel
strenuously ativeeated the intere,ts of the beersellere,
and he was sure that the gentlemen around him would
remember with gr (entitle he services rendered to their
betty by these (ern cent
The toast was drank with acclamation.
A comic on was then sung by Mr. Bruton.
Mr. BISHOP, the Secretary of the Society. then rose.
He said that it had devolved upon hitn to propose a tea-t
which, he was sure, would only require to be named to re •
ceive the hearty sanction of every gentleman around the
tables. He meant " Success to the Metropolitan New
Publicans' Protection Society." He was called upon, by
his office, to show a few reasons why thosepresent should
join with those who had already contributed to brig
the Society into a state of life and usefulness, in further-
ing as far as might be in their power, the sphere of its
operations ; and he had to show, also, that this would
he the wisest policy, because the more they did for the
Soeiety the ereater eu-tics did they de to themselves—
(Cheers)—and, in proving the usefulness of this S feriety.
he must retrace a few years to show the dawning of its
usefulne,,s, ere it arrived at its present strength. When
the beer trade was first thrown open, the Legislature
merle a grievous mistake in not establishing some stan-
dard by which the eLginility of those entering it might
be tested. They did not do so ; and, although this,was
a first great step towards free trade, the public were not
alive to the important fact, and, consequently, it was un-
attended to. The trade had. indeed, been thrown open.
but the beer-seller was crippled in every way by legis-
lative enactments ; he was daily ant hourly subjected to
the most rigid pains and penalties ; and hence
arose the necessity fur some organisation like that,
which they were met that night to celebrate. The
Legislature spoke of further enactments ; but before
the character of these could be determined some
years did intervene, and in the interim they found un-
fle aged legislators, who considered that, any thing wonht
be good enough for the Beerseller, introducing mother
upon motion before the House ; one person proposing
that they should close at seven o'clock, another extend-
ing the hour to eight, and a third thinking that nine
would be sufficiently early, until at last a sort of corn
promise was entered into, that any hour no later than
eleven would serve every purpose. Ultimately the
matter was left in the hands of the magistracy. He
should wish to speak with great respect of that body—b
great deal had been said of an invasion of their pri-
4ileges by hecrsellers, and he was aware of it, but he
was also well aware that the general magistracy ha{
never lent themselves to any attempt to put down the
beersellers as a body.—(Cheers.) When Mr. Patting-
ton took it into his head to send round circulars to
every magistrate, entreating his signature to a me
morial, with the view of putting down this trade, not
.500 out of 5,500 signed—(Loud cheers)—but with a pee-
aeverance, which was certainly worthy of abetter cause.
the Henourable Member did not slacken in his en
deavours, for he gave notice of a Bill, which would ie
the most ma•erial degree have injured them. But
the Committee was prepared to meet him. They had an
interview with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer ;
and they personally or by letter visited every Menden. of
Parliament then in town. They laid the facts of the
case before them, and when, to the questions put by these
Members, they replied that they would be content with
any ho- re of closing ' • that they would be content with
any regulations ; and that they only wished that what
the Legislature already did to A—(the licensed vie-
tuallers)—they shoidd also (le to B—(themselves.) Thee
the Members of the Legislature said, " Does the public
require you ? ask them ; get what you can in the shape
of petitions, and apply again to Parliament." They used
their endeavours to get these petitions subscribed, and
counter petitions were got up by their opponents. They
(t4O beersellers) alleged in their petitions, that good had
been acme by the trade in beer, inasmuch as agricul-
ture had been encouraged by the greater demand for
barley ; and they alleged also that good had been done
to manufactures, le: cause the manufacturing labourer
could purchase the article at its lowest value, and in its
purest. state. Well, their petitions with the counter peti-
tion were presented to Pariiament,and while to theirs were
appended 22,600 signatures, that of their adversaries
did not come within one-fifth of the number.—(Loud
the ring.) The result was, that they obtained a release
from the magieterial hours of closing—(Cheers)—in cer-
tain parts of London, but in other quarters they were
not so fortunate. The speak, r then went on to detai
th- etruergle the Committee maintained against a " double
Dogberty" and the bench tit m..gistra.tes its Surry; then
employing Mr. Clarkson, who was not allowed to intro
duce the matter in Court ; and, finally, their applies
tion to Lord Normenbt, then Secretary of State. That
Minister was astonished that tnagisterial despotism
be carried so far; and the results which followed, provers
that this iuterference, on the part of the Surry Bench,
w:se this very best teing that could have happened to the
beersellers. In 1839 the House of Commons passed a
resolution that the licence for a beerseller should be an-
nually 51. ss. This was passed on the motion of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. What did the Com-
mittee do ? They prepared statements to show
that the beersellers, a body of 35,000, actually
paid a greater sum per annum than the Li
ceased Victuallers, a much more powerful body, en
dowel with greater privileges, did for their own licences.
And again, in this case, what was the result ? The
licences were reduced to 31. 3s. Why, were it but for
this alone, the trade ought to owe the committee a debt of
gratitude —(Great cheering). Then as regarded that de-
besed class—a class that were, that now, happily, were
nol—he meant common informers—(cheers)—the cow
mittee had been mainly instrumental in putting
them down, because they had put it out of
their power to intrude upon the beerseller.
after the hour of' closing, with a plausible story of sick-
ness, and a necessity for a drop of beer—thus making the
best feelings of one's nature a very means to fine and
loss of licence. These wretches he was glad to say were
put down, and the duty, or the acceesity rather, of look.
ing that the law was not infringed upon was left to the
metropolitan police. The Secretary, after some remarks
upon the manner in which the police had acted, while he
stigmatised the conduct of individual members of that
corrs'ltis moat tiewerthyegt the same time doing justice
tetheg enerai 'effiefehey:'coecluded by proposing the
tow amid vehement cheering.
proposed-the ft Public Preis."
Mr. Cox gave te.TeneLaidies."._ •
Atr.ZikSHLEY, the solieitoreto the Society, in proposing
dechatrman's health, took occasion to enter into a de-
tailed, account of the proceedings at several of the police.
court's in the Metropolis, where members hail been sum-
moned, end had succeeded ie defeating the false accusa-
tions of the informing parties- The learned gentleman
concluded by parsing a high eulogium upon the chairman
for the great exertUns be hati made in behalf of the
S ;elev.
The CHAIRMAN briefly returned thanks.
Thanks were subsequently voted to the secretary, Mr.
Bishop, and the party broke up only to adjourn to the
built-room, where dancing was kept up till a late hour.
'We need not say that every thing passed off in the
higheet good humour, that order was maintained, that
Mr. liiggs, who acted as toast-master, " was perfect in
his part," and that the vocalists gave universal satis-
faction.

LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM
RAILWAY.

The twenty-fourth half-yeerly general meeting. of the
Directors and Shareholders of the London and arming.
barn Railway Comeany took place yesterday, at the Ens-
ton-square terminus. fur the purpose of receiving the
report of the Directors, and fur other general business
connected with tee Company. There was a large num-
ber of the Directors and Proprietors present.
The portrait of the Chairman of the Company, Mr.
Glynn, wldch was voted at the list half-yearly meeting,
was placed in the I ir„te room of the Company.
G. C. Glynn, E.q.. to .k the chair short le after twelve.
Th,• Secretary, Mr. CREED. having read t'.e advertise-
ment eating the meeting. and the usual formal business
of the Company having been gone through,
The CHAIRMAN pr vended address the meeting.
He was extretn-ly arisieus not to occupy the time Of the
Company- by going through the statements of the
accounts, because it happen, d npen the present occasion
that there i.vas a grwat preis of business to be disposed
of het,.ro the neptitig adj iuried. Those who looked to
I,be accounts would see the result with satisfaction. The
points to which he wished more particularly to call the
attention of the Proprietors were the recent proceedings
in Parliament. It would be. in the recollection of the
Proprietors that several Bills had received the sanction
of the last meeting—the Tring and Worcester, the fittrit
London, the Betbord, the Danstable and the i'rentelEkb
ley. Of those Bills, the West London, the Beilf ird, the
rranstable, and the Trent Valley had received the royal
assent: Those Bills were of extreme importance to the
12,-zlon and Birmingham Railway, more especially the
T Valley. The Company, however, he admitted,
had felt a sevare blow in the 1. as of the Bill with refer-
ence to the Tring and Worcester line. He (the Chair-
man), however, could not consider that they bad lost
that Bill in consequence of the superiority of their
orpon: tits' line. lie believed the real cause of their
failure was the principle of competition, which, for the
first time, Parliament had adopted in direct contradiction
to various resolutions of the House of Commons, and
their own legislative Act of the previous session. He
did not find -fault with their opponents, the ironmasters
of Staff irdshire, for the course they had adopted.
They doubtless thought they were acting for their
own interests, hut he believed that experience hail
shown thorn the reverse. He could not, however, but
express his surprise at the conduct of some of their other
opponeUrs—he allud'd to the Great Western arid the
Grand Junction. Companies. The first company had
taken advantage of cireumatances to tie up by bowl rail-
ways in their own districts from carrying any line in
=petition with them ; and the Grand junction had
*Sod -in- a way that their Directors had not antioi-
rated. But the contest was over, and he hoped with,
t all angry feeling. He believed, if they all went on
doing their duty to tithe public, there was enough and to
spire for all of them.—(Herr, hear.) It was, however,

the duty of the Directors of that Company to watch
carefully the interests of the Proprietors, and that they
were determined to do. Acting upon that principle, it
was their intention, in the course of the next year, to
bring forward several projects that had had their origin
in a desire on the part of the Directors to increase the
resources of the Company and the emoluments of the
Proprietors. They intended to propose, with the future
sanction of the Proprietors, making a branch railway
from Watford, by St. Alban's, to Luton. They proposed
also to carry a line from Northampton to Banbury-.
They proposed also to connect the Leamington and
Warwick line with Coventry and Nuneaton, and by that
means to connect it with the Trent Valley line.
They had also in view extensive nojects in con-
nexion with Warwick and Buckinghamshire. They
proposed to continue the line from Hampton to
Warwick and Leamington, anti thence to Banbury ;
and he believed that the same Company would carry it
on to Ctielteeh all. They proposed also to carry the
line to Aylesbury, Brackley, Missenden, into their own
line at H .rrow. Now, these lines, he believed, would he
a eource of considerable profit and emolument
to the Proprietors.—( Ileac, hear.) In addition to t his
they hail formed a connexion with the Birmingham
Canal Gin-patty, with the intention of forming a rail-
way etinneeting Birmingheen with Wolverhainrten and
tie Shrewsbury and Wol%erhampton line. And, although
they had lost the South Staffordshire Bill, the Proprie-
tors would see that this arrangement would ensure. if
carried out, the great bulk of the mineral traffic of South
Staffordshire flowing into the Birmingham line. In short,
he had very little doubt that this line would bring upon
the London and Birmingham line the whole traffic of that
part of the country, because they intended to carry that
project out by another line up the Stour Valley. Another
hue which they proposed was from Wolverton to Buck-
ingham, in connexion with a branch from Wolverton,
by Buckingham, to Bicester and Oxford. He was
happy to inform the Proprietors that the Directors con-
tinued to cultivate the r connexion with the North
Staff irdshire line. Indeed, he believed he might
say that the Company had net lost, notwithstand-
ing their defeat in Parliament, any connexion, not
even the connexion of Lord Ward.—(Hear, hear.)
It was the desire of the Directors to seek peace in every
way, and tie could assure the Proprietors that they had
(lone all in their power to promote it.---(dear, hear.)
it was right that he should now call the attention of the
Proprietors to some other points which, although they
were not very material to the interests of the Company,
it was desirable he should advert to, in order that the
Proprietors should keep themselves right with the
public. He alluded to a declaration made same
weeks ago in the House of Lords by the Marquis
Clanricarde, in which he stated that it would be a
singular inquiry to see how far the London and Bir-
mingham Railway Company had kept their faith with
,he public, and whether, for the sake of increasing their
.lividends. they had nut increased their charges.—(Hear,
tear.) Now he would appeal to the greatest enemy
that that Company had, whether the engagements that
had been made on the part of the Company had not
been carried out to the very letter—that after
their profits had reached a certain extent, they
would reduce their fares ? The charge made against
them of increasing their rates for the purpose of in-
creasing their dividends was not founded on fact, and he
defied any one to prove it. He now came to another
charge, made the night before last in the House of Com-
mons, as to the proceedings of the Company in re-
gulating their general business. That charge
arose in consequence of a statement made by a
Noble Lord in the House of Commons, and the
effect of that charge was, that the Lon lon and
Birmingham Company had used two engines to propel
heavy trains, and that had taken place especially in the
ateghbourhood of Weedon. Now he (the Chairman)
-,bought that before such a charge had been brought
some inquiry ought to have taken place as to whether it
was true or not. On the part of the Directors of the
London and Birmingham Company, he denied it in the most
forcible manner possible, and he asserted that so far as it re -
gtsrded them, the charge was utterly false and groundless.
Since that charge had been made inquiries had been set,
on foot by the Directors, and it was upon the result of'
those inquiries that he founded the strong and unequi-
vocal denial he had given to the charge. He felt con
vinced that the Noble Lord who had made the accusa-
tion had been misled, as far as it regarded the Bir-
mingham and London Company. There was no instance,
he believed, of any of the trains of the London and
Birmingham Company being propelled in the way stated.
Indeed it was the instruction of the Directors to all their
servants that such a course should not be adopted unless
under very special circumstances. As he had before
stated, since the change had been made, inquiries had
been instituted, and he could assure the Proprietors and
the public that no instance of the kind referred to had
occurred. All he had to express a hope for
was, that the refutation he had thus given
to the charge, would be made as public as the
charge itself had been. That Company had certainly
not received much favour from Parliament.—(Hear.)
Indeed, they did not desire it—(Hear, hear)—but they
asked for justice.—(Cheers.) They had a pledge from
vlr. Gladstone that justice should be done th. m with
respect to the law of rating. But, notwith-
standing that pledge, another session had passed,
-luring which they had got nothing ; and the
law stood, with respect to that subject, just where it
.tend before. The law with respect to rating operated
ei railway companies with great oppression; indeed, he
had almost said it sanctioned robbery.—(Hear, hear.)
Ile other points to which he had now to advert were,
he was happy to say, of a more pleasant nature.
En order to provide for their: engagements with
the Holyhead Company and the Trent Valley
Company, the Directors proposed that the creation
of 201. shares should be ordered.—(Hear, hear.)
That would give to each share of 100/. one share of 201,
arid it was proposed that the dividends from those shares
should commence on the Ist of October next ; of course
,uhject to the charge of deduction of 5 per cent. on calls
not paid. And it was also intended with respect to those
shares to make that reservation according to the
agreement with the Birmingham and Manchester Com-
twiny. That was, that they should have the full amount
of shares as if the amalgamation had taken place. The
Directors of that Company, he could assure the Pro-
prietors, had no wish whatever not to come to
Some amicable arrangement with the Grand Junc-
tion Company notwithstanding the statements that
had been put forth at the last meeting of
'hat Company. He believed that he had now gone
through the whole of the topics he had intended to
advert to, and he hoped, in conclusion, that the Pro-
prietors would not consider that the Company was in a
worse situation than when the Directors met them at the
last half-yearly meeting, notwithstanding that they had
been defeated in several instances.—(Cheers.)
The SECRETARY then ,read the following
REPORT.

The operations of the last half-year exhibit a great in-
crease of traffic, both in passengers and goods, and a consi-
siderable excess of receipt over the corresponding half-year
of 1844, notwithstanding the large reductions which have
since been made in the Company's fares and rates, amounting
on an average of the passengers' fares of all classes, from
2.609. per mile in 1844, to 1-818 d. in 1845 ; and on the
average rates of goods of all clases, per ton, from 2.916 d. per
mile in 1844, to 2-530 d. in 1845.
The total mileage of passengers is 38,758,260 in 1845,
ikain5t.24,664,979 in 1844, being an increase of 57.143 per
cent:
The total mileage of goods is 9,350,718 tons, against
6.929,875—beine; an increase of 34.933 per cent.
The receipt for the gross or-
dinary traffic for 1845, is... £447,190
1544, is... 405,768

Increase

£41,422

The charge on the traffic for
1845, is
1844, is

Increase to charge

The chief increase of charge is in the locomotive depart-
ment, arising from the additional work required from the
engines, which amounted -
For the half-year of June,
1845, to
Against the charge for 1844, of 32,603

Increase
but the Directors having made provision, as stated in their
last report, for a supply of engines of greater power than
those hitherto employed, and better calculated for the ex-
tended carrying business of the Company, although disap-
pointed in their delivery as early as was expected, they con-
template a large prospective reduction of expense unde-r this
head in the course of next year, when these engines will have
been brought into work.
The Directors trust, also, that the charge for maintenance
of way will be progressively reduced under the operation of
new contracts whic, owing to the improved state of the
works, they have been enabled to make at lower prices than
those previously subsisting.
The Directors have again to remark on the exorbitant
charges made for parish rates, which amount to 3.910/. more
in the last half-year than in 1844, and they regret that, under
the existing system of appeal, there appears little chance of
redress.

As respects the increase of traffic, the Directors feel that
although the greater portion may be fairly ascribed to the
improved state of the country, aided by the influence of low
charges. and in a small degree by the opening of the Warwick
and Leamington branch line, no inconsiderable share of the
passenger receipts is due to the extraordinary movement
which the numerous railway projects before Parliament have
excited, and they are of opinion that the Proprietors will
act wisely in not dividing more of their profits than is re-
ciff ire,,l for the present rate of dividend, clear of income-tax.
By the accounts which are now before the meeting, it will
he seen that the
Gross receipts for the ha1f-
.£452,881 8 1
vear are
The charges (including
25,642/. lls. 4d. for rates
134,250 17 7
and taxes)

Net receipts
From which, deducting the
allowance for depreciation
of stock ........................ £15,498 0 0
Interest of loans
Rent of Aylesbury line

£ 58164 19 3

Thera remains a net profit 0f... £259,965 11 3
To which. adding the surplus of the December
half-year
And profit realised on the allotment of the
New 251. Shares 5,000 0 0

The disposable balance is ... £312,058 12 6
from which amount the Directors recommend that a dividend
be declared, clear of income tax, of 51 on every 100/. of the
Company's capital stock, leaving 69,310/. (from which the
income tax is to be paid) to the credit of the present half-
year.
The Directors in reporting that the Northampton and
Peterborough line was opened on the 2d of June, are enabled
to state, from their brief experience of the traffic, that the
expectations they had formed as to the value of this railway
to the public and the Proprietors will be fully realised.
The works of the Chester and Holyhead, and Lancaster
and Carlisle lines, are in a satisfactory state of progress, and ,
funds have been voted by Parliament in the present session,
for the commencement of the Holyhead