The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-08 00:00:00

this is done we can do nothing more than collect our m. mey,
consolidate our scheme, and have all in a State of fort ford-
ness to carry out our measures. And we are met to-d sly to
give the necessary powers to the committee's and ai;e- ats in
London for • the carrying out of these measures. ?i
therefore, submit to you resolutions for this purpose:.
Resolutions were then read to the effect,—First, T hat this
meeting empowers the Committee
,of Management i n India
to appoint agents,- with the delegated necessary poi viers, to
pay them whatever salary is proper. and if need ly3, to
suspend them. Second, Empowers the -said Commi tte e to
appoint ausiiliary committees, and to give such runup en ition
to any member or members of these auxiliary corm:aide Is as
may be proper. Third, Gives the Committee of Man age-
ment full power to exert or join in the execution of such
deeds as may be necessary for these measures.
These having been moved and seconded by two c f the
Proprietors present, whose names we could not obtain,
The CHAIRMAN said, before putting the resolutions, h I had
to tell the Shareholders there is a gentleman present ins thorn
the Directors have the greatest confidence, who has lived
and filled the highest situations in India, whose know ledge
of the country and the details of its affairs led the Go Vern-
ment of the country to employ him confidentially. To him
these resolutions will apply.
The resolutions were then put and carried unanimously'.
The CHAIRMAN—I have the pleasure of introducing to you
John Grant, Esq., as the gentleman to whom I have refel"red
as having the entire confidence of your directory. He will
set off fur India by the 20th of this month, and will now
take farewell of the shareholders. Let me add further, that
of the proceedings in India, with reference to the Company's
affairs, your Committee really yet know nothing; by n ext
mail we may hear of something ; as, however, this is our
condition, to talk would be useless. As to the appointor ent
of Mr. Grant we are sure you still agree with us.
Mr. GRANT thanked the Chairman and the Committee for
the degree of confidence they had been pleased to expres s in I
him. also beg to convey my thanks to the meeting 'Chat
you have with the same confidence in me, elected me on the
provisional committee. I have been a resident in India :/6
or 27 years, and very much on the track of this line, wi th
the country about which lam well acquainted. The line is
the most favourable possible in the Presidency. It would be
premature to say more now, than that, on arriving in In la,
I hope to connect myseif immediately with gentlemen . of
great influence and knowledge of the country. I again repeat
my sense of the honour you have done me.
Mr. LEGGE—I believe it is understood that the Compt.ny's
line shonld go to Diamond Harbour. But it appears from a
prospectus, issued by the Calcutta and St. George's :I.3oint
Company, that Company's line is to go to Diamond H9,rbour
instead of St. George's Point.
A PROPRIETOR thought this strange.
The CHAIRMAN said the Directors are aware the Com-
mittee have done their utmost to further the interests of. the
Company, and could not do more till the subject was
brought before the Government. The line from Diamond
Harbour to Dinapore will form another scheme. We cer-
tainly are the first registered. We have, besidsis, a native
in our Company of very great influence in the country.
Dwarkanauth Tagore has an estate extending twelve or
fourteen miles along the line in the Burdwan country. We
are perfectly satisfied with our position; our plans and our
memorial are already before the Government.
To a Proprietor, who asked whether the engineers of the
other Company were at present out in India, making surveys,
The CHAIRMAN replied, yes; but this was very unnecessary,
all India was already accurately surveyed, and as well known
in every corner as the proprietor's own garden.

Dates of registration were here compared, when it ap-
peared this Company was registered on the 14th of April;
the East India Railway Company on the 15th of May.
Another PROPRIETOR—Are there not officers out doing
the same duties as those imposed on the gentlemen sent out
by the other Company ?
CHAIR➢iAN—No ; we consider this would be quite pre-
mature; the country is surveyed as well as it can be, and
there was no time lost.

Mr. IC.R.NINEDY—I have been 32 years in Inida—l speak
with the most intimate knowledge of the country. As to the
question of surveys, I will remind the Company that the
Asiatic sovereignties are the landowners of the country; that
their revenue is land-rent. They have no com-
plaints of redundant population; the people are unsettled;
the terror of the sovereignties is, therefore, that their
agriculturists will leave them ' • and two such sovereignties
will go to war with each other on this account.
The agriculturists are their slaves, In order, therefore, to
ascertain their revenue, they must have exact geographical
surveys of the conntry. The revenue officers have . the
whole, every bush and corner in the country. laid down in
their charts—every soil in every district, red or black, moist
or dry. The sending out of surveyors, therefore, is a
mere useless expense. Those connected with the Company
know the country better; and when you consider that only
five shillings are paid on our deposits, the funds of the
Company, it must be evident, will not allow of this. In
differing from the procedure of other railways, I think we
have done right, and believe the issue will show this.
Mr. Princeps, on our Committee, is a gentleman whose know-
ledge and station entitles his opinion to great weight, and he,
after a careful consideration of the plan, gave his opinion in
favour of the Bengal line. General Macleod, also, not
on our Committee, though his name appeared on
the list by mistake, decidedly approves of our line
as the. best. It has been said to ii, that an inundation from
the rivers has lately occurred in the country, overflowing an
extent of fifty or sixty miles to the depth of even fifteen feet,
and from this it is supposed our line will not do—that it
cannot be made; but this very circumstance applies to the
other company's line, and not to ours. It was to prevent
this, having a perfect knowledge of the country, that we
did not start as we should otherwise have done from Cal-
cutta, but went some way up the river, by which we have
escaped the inundations.

Alderman HOOPER only wished to correct any false im-
pressions arising from the name of the engineer sent out by
the other Company, for though that gentleman's name is
Stevenson, it is not the celebrated Robert Stephenson.
The CHAIRMAN here remarked, that Dwarkanauth
Tagore had been pleased to give them his own plans
and surveys, which are already in India ; and before
the Governor, and that these surveys extend over much of
the line, caving thus much expense to the Company. We
have sent in two projected lines, one to Dinapore, and another
up the liooghle:y, because large boats must unship up the river,
or if not must go round by the Sunderbunds, a very danger-
ous passage. _ _

A. PROPRIETOR in the body of the meeting remarked that
he did not see the other Company was any rival. This
Company had put in two plans, of this he was glad. Now
should the Government suggest any other line to the other
Company, these lines of this Company would still remain, and
the committee and proprietors are convinced they will be pro-
fitable to the shareholders.

To a question by one of the Proprietors, the CLIAIRMAN
said that the shares had been allotted, half to India and half
to England, 40,000 shares each, and 36,000 have been paid
upon in England.
Mr. JONES urged very strongly on the committee that
the remaining 4,000 shares, which the Chairman said had
been reserved, should be allotted to the present shareholders.
Mr. Jones could see no necessity, and thought there was
little propriety, he had almost said, honesty, in reserving
these shares to be allotted, if they paid well, to a few fa-
vourite?.

This called forth a good deal of explanation from the
CHAIRMAN and others.

A PROPRIETOR, who came in late, enquired what
had been known by the overland mail, and added,
on hearing the Chairman could tell him nothing, that he
had several letters. The purport of one of them was, that
there will be a line from Mirzapore, that this is rather a
favourite in the country, therefore the writer would suggest,
and wished that it had occurred to the Directors before, that
from the increase on shares in the Ea3t India Railway Com..
pang. one Company is enough on the same side of the
country.
Thanks to the Chairman for his courteous conduct in the
chair were moved by Mr. JONES, and seconded.
The meeting then broke up.