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

The CHAIRMAN then proposed a resolution, agreeably to the
terms of the report, with respect to the Grand Junction line.
In doing so, he thought it right to say that the point on
which the Proprietors had a right to amalgamation,
ex-
planation was the reason why, on the a
the Directors had accceded to the increase of stock of the
Grand Junction. The reason was, that the property of the
Grand Junction line was of the value of a 2/. dividend over
the London and Birmingham line; or, in other words,
Grand Junction was in a situation to show larger property,
upon which they might pay 12 instead of 10 per cent.
Mr. WILLIAMS wished to know whether the proposed
amalgamation with the Grand Junction Company included
the previous amalgamation that had taken place?
The CHAIRMAN said that it included all.
Mr. WILLIAMS was also desirous of knowing whether a
meeting of the Proprietors of the Grand Junction Company
was now taking place at Liverpool, and also one of the Bir-
mingham and Manchester Company.
The Citarnmax said that the meeting of the Birmingham
and Manchester Company had already taken place, and he
was in hopes a meeting was now taking place of the Grand
Junction at Liverpool, at which similar resolutions, to those
proposed at the present meeting, would be agreed to.
The resolution was then put to the meeting, and declared
to be carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed another resolution, by
which the Proprietors gave authority to the Directors to
apply to Parliament for powers to carry the pro-
posed amalgamations into effect. In proposing this re-
solution, the worthy Chairman stated, that if it
should turn out there was any technical mistake with re•
spect to notice, each Company was pledged to the other to
apply in a future session fur the powers required.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. ELIAS MosELEY, of Liverpool, then moved a vote
of thanks to the Chairman and Directors, which was seconded
by Mr. Williams. and carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks, assured the Proprie-
tors that neither himself nor the Directors would relax in
their endeavours for the interest of the Proprietors or the
convenience of the public. They were now preparing to
enlarge the station in Euston-square, and were endeavour-
ing to obtain an entrance into the heart of the City,
in which lie had no doubt they would be suc-
cessful ; added to this, he had been informed by
an influential individual, that it was determined to have a
railway from the City to the West India Docks, and should
such be the case, he need not say how much that Company
would be benefited thereby. In conclusion, he begged to
thank the Proprietors for their confidence in the Directors
and himself, and ventured to hope that what they were now
doing and proposed to do, would be adequate to the wants of
the public.
The meetin,

ig then broke up.

GE.EAT WESTERN RAILWAY
COMPANY—SPECIAL MEETING.
A special General Meeting of the Proprietors of the Great
Western Railway was held yesterday, at the station, Padding-
ton, for the purpose of taking into consideration the terms of
an agreement entered into with the Directors of the Bristol
and Exeter Company for the leasing of tie latter line, and
also for the purpose of determining upon a plan for making a
direct railway from London to Exeter. Charles Russell, Esq.,
M.P. presided.
The SECRETARY having read the advertisement convening
the meeting,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said, that the purposes for which
the Directors had thought fit to convene the meeting had
been fully stated in the advertisement which had been just
read. The terms of the agreement with the Bristol and
Exeter Company had already been published by the Di-
rectors of that railway, and they were in consequence known
to all present. They had, however, been included in the re-
port of the Directors of the Great Western, which would
afterwards be read by their Secretary, and those present must
necessarily be fully acquainted with them. The circumstances
which led to that agreement could be very briefly related.
In the rage for extended railway communication several
projects were started for the purpose of making a more direct
and central line to Exeter and the West of England. The
course was open to them (the Great Western) to resist those
lines in Parliament. They might contend that a direct
communication was afforded by the Bristol and Exeter line
and the other new lines along the coast, and they might
show that no direct traffic could exist to support
a third line. They would have been assisted
in this opposition by the report which had
last year emanated from the Board of Trade.
But it appeared to them that this course would have been a
very hazardous one, and that it would look as if they ne-
glected the requirements of the public or the wants of the
district. The project of a more central and direct
communication had taken firm hold of the public
mind, and the claims of Falmouth, Plymouth, and the other
ports of the west, recommended that they should endeavour to
supply the want in question. The South-Western Company
had undertaken to complete a line for the purpose of afford-
ing accommodation to those parts. The South-Western, it
was true, did not, as a body, collectively directly support
such a line, but the leading proprietors of that company, at
a public meeting, denounced the agreement which was
made by the Great Western Company, and it had
been ostentatiously put forth, that the solicitors and en-
gineers were embarked in that line; and some of the pro-
prietors stated also that, although the Directors might feel
themselves bound by that agreement, still they (the proprie-
tors) were at liberty to come forward in spite of it, to lend
their aid to the adverse line. It seemed to them, therefore, that
the only security and defence which they in that case pos-
sessed was the somewhat hazardous result of a Parliamentary
investigation. They thought, therefore, that the wisest and
the best course was for themselves to take the more direct
line to Exeter and the west—(Hear, hear)—by
an amalgamation of interests with that Company.
They thought it also fair to consult them, and to offer a par-
ticipation in the scheme. They met and discussed the ques-
tion ; but before the discussion closed, it was intimated by the
Directors of the Bristol and Exeter that they thought
there were some preliminary matters that ought to pre-
cede the question they were then met to discuss.
They asked what were to be the permanent relations
that were to subsist between themselves and the Great
Western Company? What were to be those relations at the
the termination of the lease? Was that lease to cease, or to
be renewed, and, if' renewed, in what form, or on what terms?
They (the Directors of the Great Western) were not very
desirous to agitate this question. They thought
it would be more judicious to postpone the
consideration of this question to a further period, when the
result of the present changes would be known, and when
they might be able more correetly to estimate and know from
experience what was the real value of the Bristol and
Exeter line. They were, however, bound with that
Company, and could not shrink from the risk
to which they might be exposed. The meeting
was convened for the purposes of business; the parties came
to it with a really bona fide intention to enter into some ar-
rangement. The Directors of the Bristol and Exeter pro-
posed to them, as the basis of the agreement, a
perpetual rent charge. That was agreed to, and
the discussion turned chiefly on the terms of the
rent charge. Those terms had been for a long time
before the public, and those present were therefore aware
that some portion of the proprietors of the Bristol and Exe-
ter Railway had objected to them; but lie could not help
thinking that their opposition had arisen from not suffi-
ciently comprehending the principle on which the
agreement was based, or from not having taken time to exa-
mine their own actual position. The rent which they had
engaged to pay to the Bristol and Exeter Company
had enabled the Directors to give to their share-
holders a dividend of 4 per cent. By this
agreement they could give at once 5 per cent.,
which would be for the three and a half years of the lease
one per cent. additional. At the expiration of the lease, by
the terms of the agreement, they would be called on
to pay them a dividend of 6 per cent. The payment of
this dividend rested on very speculative and con-
jectural grounds as to the degree of traffic and the
other resources of the line. There could be no
doubt that the North Devon and the lines now projected
would pour some considerable traffic on to this railway, but,
again, they must recollect that the Bristol and Exeter trans-
ferred to them a great liability for the construction of their
line, and if a central line were made there would be little
question that a portion of traffic would be withdrawn from
the Bristol and Exeter, perhaps more than that which
might be expected from the new lines. Under one contin-
gency they used to pay 53/4 per cent. instead of 61.;
but he trusted that was a contingency not likely to arise.
It had been assumed that a difference of one quarter
per cent. would cover any loss likely to arise
from the making of the central line, but the
reason why this per tentage had been retained was a very
different one. They were aware that they were giving the
Bristol and Exeter Company a certain dividend, and they
retained this quarter per cent. as a security that the prt--
prietors of that Company would join the ranks of their
opponents. This meeting had been made special
fur the purpose of obtaining the consent of the
shareholders to certain new lines, in addition to the Bristol
and Exeter. The Chairman then recapitulated the outlines
of the new schemes, which are fully detailed in the report of
the Directors. The level of the line, as far as Yeovil, list'
been examined by Mr. Brunel, and he reported that the
country might be deemed an advantageous one for thin pur-
poses of a railway. The Chairman concluded by calling upon
the secretary to read the report,
Mr. SAUNDERS then read the report, as follows :
" The directors have found it necessary to convene the present
special meeting for the purposes referred to in two notices,—the
one being to consider and decide upon a conditional agreement for
the permanent tenure of the Bristol and Exeter Railway, and for
the purchase of the property of that Company,—the other, to de.
termine what lines should be brought before Parliament in the next
session for improving the general railway communication of any
towns, or district of country, lying to the south of the Great West-
ern Railway, in connexion with the traffic of this line.
" The arrangement with the Bristol and Exeter Railway Com-
pany is recorded in two agreements, dated 11 th October and
6th instant, which are appendedto this report, and will be sub-
mitted for confirmation.
" It is right to premise that this measure has not been proposed
at this time from any desire of your directors to obtain by antici-
pation a renewal of the lease, which will only expire in 1849.
" It would have been in many respects more satisfactory if the
question could have been left open for future adjustment, when
the circumstances affecting the permanent value of the Bristol and
Exeter Railway could have been better known and appreciated; but
after having candidly stated to the directors of the Bristol and
Exeter Railway their opinion of the necessity of forming a shorter
line between Exeter and London, a measure which did not admit of
being longer deferred, they felt it due, in the relative position of the
two companies, to endeavour to effect some equitable settlement with
that company before they entered upon any active measures for
promoting the direct line to Exeter.
"It will be seen that the first agreement has been modified, in
one respect, by the supplemental agreement of the Gth instant, en-
tered into at the request of the directors of the Bristol and Exeter
Railway Company, in order to equalize the calls on their different
shares. If confirmed by the general meetings of the two com-
panies, application will be made to Parliament in the next session
to carry the provisions into effect.
" The directors are strongly impressed with the advantages
which are likely to be secured both to the Great Western Rail-
way Company and to the public, by an active effort to promote, in
the approaching session of Parliament, two portions of new line,—
which will contribute, with the Great Western and the Wilts, So-
merset, and Weymouth lines, to form one direct railway between
the metropolis and Exeter, as the best access to the south-western
ports in the English channel
Ist. By a prolongation of the Berks and Hants Railway from
H
ungerford to Westbury—about 35 miles—with branches
to Marlborough and Devizes.
" 2d. By a railway from the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth
line,
at Yeovil, to Exeter—about 51 miles—with a connect-
ing line from Bridport to Axminster, and a branch to Sid-
" Th77itslti;nce from London to Yeovil by the first-mentioned
line will only be 126 miles ;
of which 91 are constructed or autho-
rised to be made for other purposes. The directors recommend
that the prolongation of the Berke and Hants Railway shall be ap.
plied for in the same manner as was adopted in the case of the Bill
or the incorporation of that Company.
" With regard to the other portion of line, the directors think
it will be beet accomplished by the formation of a separate Com.
pany, similar in all respects to the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth
Railway Company; and upon the same stipulation of a guarantee
for the lease of the line when made.
" The directors have the pleasure to state that they have al.
ready obtained the promise of the most influential local support to
that ineasuroi and they cannot cutertain A doubt of its coingleto