The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-03 00:00:00

BRIGHTON AND CHICHESTER
RAILWAY.

A special general meeting of the Shareholders in the
above railway- was held on Saturday, in the great room
above the terminus at London- bridge, for the purpose of
receiving the report of the Directors relative to the
works in progress on the extension line to Portsmouth.
Capt. Kelly, RN., Chairthan of the Beard of Directors,
presided.
The SECRETARY having read the report, which ex-
pressed the regret f, It by the Directors at the non-pro.
gress of the works, but ascribed the delay to circum-
stances over which they had no control,
The CHAIRMAN rose to address the meeting. He had
to express, on behalf of himself and colleagues, their dis-
appointment at not being in a condition to submit a
more pleasing account of the progress of the works
upon the line, but they must all have seen the extra-
ordinary convulsions in the railway world, the number
of new companies formed for carrying out schemes of
the most extended character, and the consequent de-
mand fer engineers to prepare plans and specifications.
Every engineer was engaged,. and among the number
was Mr. llastrick, whose services were of necessity and
entitely taken away from that Company. But still
they had not been altogsthsr idle, for on the 30th of
November, having lodged their plans, they then de
v,ted their whole attention to preparing specifications
to enable them to call for tenders to complete the
works. On the 16th of December they were filly
prepared with these, and on that day advertisements
were inserted in the newspapers. On the last day of the
year the tenders were opened by the Directors, and he
hsd the , rest satisfaction of ir6-ming the sharehelders
that two of them were accepted, with most respectable
contractors, at sums much below the Parliamentary esti-
mate. Those contracts were for work on the permanent
way. Tee Directors considered it more advantageous to
separate the stations and other works for another con-
tract. The engineer was then engaged in preparing ape-
cificatioss for these buildings, and, when ready, contracts
world be entered into for them. As stated in the report,
their time was not altogether lost. Their solicitors bad
devoted themselves to the duties which more particularly
belong to their d.diartment. by playing themselves in
communication with the proprietors of land on the line,
and thus they were in advance of the contractors, by
gettir's possession of such parts of the line as was re-
(piked. Negotiations were then going on, so that the
Directors hoped that as the works advanced lac d would
be prepared for them. He (th ! Chairman) was not aware
that he need remark upon anything else. He was, how-
ever, perfectly ready to answer such questions as gentle-
men present might choose to ask. He begged to move
the aeop:ion of die report.
The motion was seconded by a Proprietor.
Mr. D. W. HARVEY considered it not the least ad-
vantage of these occasional meetings, that Proprietors
had thus an opportunity of expressing any opinion they
might entertain of the course adopted by the manage-
ment, and by their observations, perhaps, assist in pro-
emting the common benefit. That wes a meeting of
such a character, and although the Chairman could not
congratulate them on the progress made on the line from
Shoreham to Chichester, where the Board of Trade had
willed it to stop, yet he (Mr. Harvey) begged to con-
gratulate the Directors on the nice position they hail held
during the last six months —(Beer, anti laughter.)
The capital. orginelly proposed was 300,000/. ; but they
were now toid that this calculation was likely to be di-
minished by the advantageous tenders made by the
contractors. Their capital wits a small one when con-
sidered in reference to railway extensions ; but still the
shareholders in little concerns were not always satisfied
with little dividends.—(Laughter.) He was alWays one
of those who spoke their mind; openly, and it did appear
to him that a Board of eight Directors, with a salary of
1,000/. a year, was too large for so trilling a Company as
their own ; and as he understood that the line was to be
connected. with the Brighton Company, he did not see
why their affairs should not be placed under that Board.
They had a directory sufficienly numerous, and this
would add but little to their labours. One thousand a
year appeared to him an enormous suns for attending to
a little affair of that kind—especially when the union
would be a step in advance towards a common oblect.
He should like to know whether it had ever engaged the
attention of the Directors that the decision of the Board
of Trade was final. He knew no rca on why it should
be challenged, for they could not move across the floor
of the House of Commons under a cost of 12,0001. He
did not see, therefore, why they should attempt to fight
against that decision. There was no more reason why
they should have a costly Board of Directors, with all
the costly paraphanalia, than that Shoreham should also
hare one. It was a general principle—and he contended
it was a good one—that where the business of two or
three could be brought under one control—the smaller
the better—because the larger the number of Directors
the less the individual responsibility ; but if they gave
their money to two or three men, they secured attention,
there being no tie so strong as that of self-interest. It might
be desirable to confer with the Board of the Brighton
Directors to ascertain how rar the sugeestien would
meet their views. Should this union take place, then
the capital neeessary for c emplsting the Chichester line
might be raised be the Brighten Directors. Another
thin.; surprised him. They, hail given notice for this
session of a line from Chichester to Portmouth. That
egg was, however, ad lied, for the Board of Trade had
sat on it, and it would now produce no chickens._
(Laughter.) Now it occurred to him that it would have
been wisdom if they had thought of this before, and
when (during last session) they got the Bill to construct
the line from Shoreham to Chichester, they ought to
have at once secured powers to exten I it on to Ports-
mouth. The Chairmen had told them that the railway
world had been in a state of commotion, and that their
engineer had so much werk to divert him from the
business of that Company, that the progress of
their works hail necessarily been delayed.
(Hear, hear.) The Directors- ought to have tested that,
and if they fund that gentlenian really so absorbed in
business, it would be no matter of delicacy to congratu-
late him upon it, but at the same time to insist that their
works should not be delayed, and unless he could give his
attention to them, they must find some one who could.
He threw out these remarks without any intention of
giving umbrage to the directors, or to any one, but he
thought that, by the arrangenient he had suggested,
1,000/. would be well saved to the Chichester .share-
holders in the meantime, and ulterior advantages also
be derived by them.
Mr. GREENFELL objected altogether to the snggestion.
The Brighton Directors had already sacrificed the inte-
rests of that Company, and he would not like again to
trust them.

After a few words from Mr. Scow,
Mr BRUCE expressed a hope that some arrangement
would be made with the Brighton Company, for he
thought such a consolidation of interests would be most
beneficial to both Companies. He would, therefore,
move that it he recommended to the consideration of the
Directors, whether it would not be beneficial to both
Companies that a proposal of amalgamation should be
made to the Brighton Company.
Mr. JOWLER seconded the amendment.
Mr. RASTRICK (the engineer) said that some observa-
tions had been made respecting the delay in the progress
of the works. Some misappithension appeared to exist
as to the cause of that delay, from the wording of the re-
port. In the first place, it was well known that the
whole of the line from Shoreham to Chichester
was very diffPult of construction, and necessarily caused
a delay in the preparing of plans and specifications.
Further delay had been caused by disputes between the
proprietors of land upon the line and the Directors of
the Cotipany. Those disputes had now been removed,
and he (Mr. Rastrick) had no hesitation in promising
that the whole line would be finished in nine months.—
(Hear, hear.) He had the more confidence in making
this promise, that the sanction of the Board of Mini

ralty had been given to the passage of the Arun, and
therefore the last obstacle was overcome to the further
progress of the works. _ _ _

Mr. llAavEv suggested that the proposed amendment
should be made a substantive resolution, and that the
meeting should afterwards adjourn to that day fortnight,
to receive the result of the conference with the Board of
Directors of the Brighton Company.
Mr. FAITHFUL, solicitor, said it would bo necessary
that the Directors should first be re-elected, as their term
of ottise expired cn that day. The Act of Parliament
rendered such a proceeding imperative.
The Directors were then re-elected, and the resole-
tion, as altered, put to the meeting and carried.
The meeting then adjourned till the 15th current.

INTERESTING SALE OF AUTOGRAPIIEL—On Friday
at one o'clock, a sale by auction of a large collection of
autograph letters and historical documents, the property
of a well-known collector, took place at Mr. Fletcher's
Room, 191, Piccadilly. There were 275 lots, consisting
of a complete series of autographs (excepting the auto-
graph of Geo. I.), and including some fine specimens, of
the kings and queens of Great Britain from Ifanry VIII.
to Geo IV., various foreign sovereigns, noblemen, states-
men, naval and military commanders, literary characters,
poets and dramatists, scientific men, artists, &c. Two
letters in the handwriting or Mrs. Jordan sold for 7s.
Of statesmen,.a letter of Charles James Fox sold for Bs.,
and one of George Canning for the same sum. A letter
of W. Pitt, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, dated
Weimer Castle, May 13,1803, sold. for 153. Lot 100, a letter
of the celebrated G. Washington, dated Fairfax, county
of Virginia, June 24, 1771, bronght the large sum of 2/. ss.
Lot 101, a frank of Lord Byron, 6th of November, 1813,
very fine, sold for 11. 24. Lot 109, autograph letter of
Dr. Benjamin Franklin to D. Hartley, sold for 11. 13s.
An autograph letter of Sheustone (W.) the poet. to the
Hon. Mrs. Knight. sold for 135., and an unpublished
poem of Robert Bloomfield, in his autograph, sold for
1/. Is. The autograph of Henry VII. fetched 175.;
Henry VIII., 195.; " Marye the Queene," 11. 25.; James
1., 1/. is.; Charles Prince of %Vales, 135.; a beautiful
letter of Charles I. to Viscount Fadtlund sold for 11. 25.;
the autographs of Charles IL brought small sums ;
James IL's letter to Dr. Zouch sold for 145.; the auto-
graphs of William 111., Mary, Anne, George 11., George
111., and George IV.. brought sums of from ss. to
14s. each. Lot 154, ten original state letters, addressed
to William 111., from Christian VIII., King of Den.
mark, the Emperor Leopold, the Dukes of Saxe
Gotha, and various other German potentates, sold for
21. 12s. 6.1. Lot 164, authograph letter of the Princess
Charlotte, sold for 11. Bs. The next lot, " A leaf from
the same lamented Princess's copy-book, the text, Fame
Animates,'" sold for 11. Is. Lot 174, a beautiful auto-
graph letter of Margaret of Austria to the Queen of
France, date 1610, sold for 21. 2s. Lot 224, Cast'. No-
velle Galanti, an unpublished translation of five tales
into English verse, by Lord Byron, partly in the auto-
graph of Percy Byshe Shelley, by whom it has been
prepared for publication, sold for six guineas. The next
lot consisted of a folio manuscript of 358 paws, every
page containing an autograph of Sir Walter Scott ; this
sold for the small sum of 21. lOs., whilst, earlier in the
sale, one autograph of the same individual brought Bs.
The sale excited considerable interest, the principal pur-
chasers being Messrs. Thorpe, Simpson, Upcott, Boone,
Rutherford, &a.