The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-10 00:00:00

EASTERN COUNTIES RAIL WAY. I

The eleventh half-yearly meeting of the Proprietors of this
undertaking was held yesterday, at the Company's offices,
Shoreditch. Henry Bosa.nquet, Esq. (Chairman), presided.
The common seal of the Company having been affixed to the
register of Proprietors,
The CIIMRMAN opened the proceedings of the meeting by
saving that this was the eleventh time the Directors had had
the pleasure of meeting their brother Proprietors in this under-
taking. This meeting was a most important one, inasmuch as
it had become requisite at this moment to look their pecuniary
matters boldly in
.the face, and to come to a resolution to em-
ploy some determined plan of raising the rest of the money
required in sufficient amount for carrying the railway to its
desired destination—the town of Colchester. The Directors
had given the greatest possible consideration to the plan about
to be submitted to the meeting, and which he believed to be
an equitable, just, and easy plan of raising the money required.
There was only one other subject which he would take the
liberty of alluding to at this time, and he felt bound to notice
it because he had suffered individually, and the Company as a
body, mare than any body else; and that was the extreme
ignorance under which the public laboured as to the nature of
the traffic of the Eastern Counties Railway. It was necessary
to be well understood that the profit to be obtained from the
railway was not supposed to be derived from the direct line
alone, but the intermediate traffic was to be taken into consi-
deration, as well as the advantages of coaches now on the road
being brought on to the line—as he firmly believed they ul-
timately would. People, generally, were apt, from pre-
conceited prejudices, and other causes, to come to
a conclusion on certain matters, and then to predicate
effects from supposed causes, and if the legitimate effects of an
undertaking did not immediately show themselves, other con-
clusions were supplied in their stead erroneously. The pro-
duce of the last half-year had been 40,000/., and it would be
only right to judicate when the railway was opened to Colches-
ter, when the Company would be able to show an immense
amount of receipts. In conclusion, he"trusted the Proprietors
would find by the Reports that would be read this day, that
the officers of the Company had all endeavoured to do their
duty in their respective capacities. The Directors had indi-
vidually laboured to do their best, and the Manager had done
all he could to save all the money possible, and in every way to
reduce the expenses of the concern.—(Hear, hear.) He
trusted, finally, that it would be seen that the engineer had
also exerted himself to the utmost, in his peculiar department,
for the welfare of the undertaking.—(Cheers.)
The Reports of the Directors and the Engineer were then
read.

Mr. DENNEY (Coggeshall) then rose, and asked how it was
that Mr. Braithwaite, the Engineer, had been going round in
the county of Essex to condemn the brieks used in the viaducts,
and afterwards allowed them to be used?—( Hear.) It was, he
considered, a disgrace to the managers of the railway to allow
the work to be proceeded with when such bricks were employed.
MI. BRAITHWAITE, in answer to the question, stated that
he had condemned a great many bricks, as he considered it his
duty to do, as regularly as any party supplied them.—(Cheers.)
He was exceedingly obliged to Mr. Denney for having called
his attention to the subject as he had done; and on receiving
information that such bricks were being used he went to the
spot, and found that the bricks he complained of were not actu-
ally employed. All the bricks that he hadcondemned had been
carted away at the price of fifteen shillings per thousand, and
in many instances when any objectionable bricks remained,
they had Is, en, by his desire, broken ustpinitho._rde(rAthlaatugthhe..y)
might not be used. It was known that all contractors would
employ bad bricks if they could do so by ea
However, to prevent any cause of complaint in this respect,
he had exercised a constant vigilance ; but still he could not
entirely prevent the practice. The question to which he was
now replying, would have come better from a different person
than the gentleman who had put it; for it had appeared upon
an investigation that had been made, that tkere was some
difference of opinion between the contractor, Mr. Wise, and
Mr. Denney.
Mr. DENNEY—I never spoke to him in my life.
Mr. BRAITHWAITE continued—And he was exceedingly
surprised to Lind that it arose from Mr. Wise's refusal to take
the bricks from that gentleman.—( Hear, hear.) He had dur-
ing his connection with the Company endeavoured to employ
his time to the interests of the undertaking---( Hear)—and he
had never compelled the contractors to purchase bricks of any
one party in particular, who might send an inferior material,
which the contractor would be compelled to use. He had been
compelled to condemn n any thousand bricks, and he regretted
that Mr. Wise had not been ab'e to come to terms with Mr.
Denney for his bricks.
Mr. DENNEY—I am a brick-maker, not a seller. Mr. Wise
came to me about some bricks, and I told him I never made
any bricks to sell, but to use. I believe that not one thousand
condemned bricks have been carried away from the place to
which I allude, near Colchester ; and if these bricks are em-
ployed, the whole viaduct will before long have to come down
again. I have gone by the place every week, and seen thou-
sands of bad bricks there.
Mr. WILKES (Shenfield) was confident that the Direc-
tors had done their duty—( Hear, hear)—and he believed
that if Mr. Braithwaite's own brother had offered to the
Company any bricks unfit to use they would object to
them.—( Hear, hear.) He believed that both Mr. Braith-
waite and the managing Director were men of integrity and
honour, and as such he would rely upon them ; but when he
could no longer do so he would be ready to give his vote the
other way.
It was then moved and seconded that the Report of the Di-
rectal* with the balance sheet annexed, be received and
adopted ; and that it be printed and circulated with copies of
the Engineers' Report.
J. C. CoesoLn, Esq., of Ipswich—There is one very im-
portant point I wish to refer to with respect to the Report. You
know,. Sir, that I, as well as several others in the district to
which I belong, have taken great interest in the railway on
former occasions, but I find that in the Report you do not advert to
any intention of carrying the line beyond Colchester. I may fairly
ask that question now, because this is if very important period,
when you are about to declare a dividend. The Company
have given notice of a deviation line, or branch line, which
would diverge the line from the originally contemplated line.
Now I may fairly ask, whether the Directors have abandoned
the intention of going beyond the originally projected line
to Colchester? It is not mentioned in the Report, but at a
former metting it was stated that the money then to be raised
was for the purpose of completing the line to Colchester. It
is well know n that many of my friends became interested in
the railway, solely became it was to go beyond Colchester ; not
for any private er pecuniary adt,antage of their own, but with a
view of improving the particular district to which they belong.
T. W. RATHEONE, Esq.—The time for the conside-
ration of that question will be when we are in a con-
dition to take the line to Colchester.—( Hear, hear. )
Our anxious wish is to extend it far into the eastern coun-
ties, and our best endeavours will be directed to promote that
object. We now propose to complete the line to Colchester,
and then to consider the propriety of raising any further sum,
which, at present, is entirely out of the question.—( Hear. )
Let us reach Colchester and realise a dividend ; let us establish
ourselves in the estimation in which we now stand ; and then
surely, it will be time to consider what we shall do further.
Mr. CORBOLD—I shall perhaps meet with very little sym-
pathy here—( A laugh)—nevertheiess, I trust I shall stand ex-
cused for asking the question, not on the part of myself, but on
account of the district with which I happened to be connected.
A Driteeroa—No doubt of it.
Mr. COBBOLD —I have no right to expect an answer,but still
I trust it may be considered that I have a right to ask the
question. I should not have asked the question had it not
been somewhat confidently stated that the Directors had aban-
doned the intention of goii g beyond Colchester, and I only ask
whether such is the fact ?

Mr. RaTireoN E—l can answer that question decidedly in
the negative.—( Cheers.)
Mr. COBIsOLD—That is so far satisfactory, but I believe
there was a very general impression in my district, that they
had done so. There is only one other remark I wish to make,
though not with any desire of raising a discussion. '1 he sub-
ject to which Iwish to allude, involves a very important ques-
tion connected with the carrying on of the line. It is a ques-
tion at present undecided as to the legality or liability of the
Directors to carry on the line, or as to the power of the Com-
pany to divide the profits until they have completed the under-
taking. Now, the Directors propose to make a dividend, not
having completed the undertaking ; and a portion of the un-
dertaking, I gather from the answer of the Vice. President, it
is very probably their intention to abandon.—(No, no.)
They have not expressed so much, but we have heard nothing
to encourage us to suppose that they will not do so, by the
faint manner in which that gentleman has expressed
himself. Now, it will be rendered necessary to bring
that question to issue. 1 will not willingly, .or
knowingly, he a party to any proceeding whatever, fairly,
stating that such a proceeding might ensue, and I trust 1
may be excused from whatever consequences may arise in the
event of the Directors proposing to go on with the declaration
of a dividend under the circumstances in which the line is
placed. I have the honour of knowing several gentlemen who
sit around the table, and when the project was broached in my
immediate county, it was stated by the gentlemen in that dis-
trict who agreed to embark in the undertaking, that they did so
without any view of making it a speculation for their own pri-
vate advantage, but solely because it opened a prospect of ad-
vantage to their locality, to which they believed the railway
was likely to be beneficial ; as lam sure it will be to whatever
locality it goes through.—( Loud cheers.) It was our
anxiety to see the work carried out. We are not
-railway proprietors or adventurers, but we said we had
no objection to give one thousand pounds or two, without any
hope of reward, except that which should fairly accrue to the
undertaking. It is not to be supposed that we are unable to
form a judgment as to the probability of, its success, but we
did not join it at all for any advantages except to our locality.
Fortunately, probably, for our district, our suWoription is every
small. Ido think that the Company, whether they have or
have not any fair hopes of carrying the line through, ought, at
all events, to put those Proprietors in the district with which
I am eonnected, in the same position in which they found
them. That is all I ask for, I know I may be mixed up in
I have attended this
some odium with other parties, who have published proceed-
ings which I altogether condemn ; but whether it is so or
riot, I will say that I have never been a party to
stated tq
what extent 1
meeting quite by accident, for when I came to town it was
with no intention of being present at this meeting. I say now,
panarytiPcriopeauteeddin ft: e,
010, I think the Directors ought to put. the Proprietors of our
district in this same Witten .1° ;_riliV4 goy fano them, by
rweiiath.
_lt
Hhaevaie,
hfaeiarrl.y)
taking their shares out of their Banns,— 1,
( .inghter.) I am
quite prepared for that reception.—(Uproar, am and cries of
0‘ Order" :from the Chairman.) I quite happy to be able
to contribute et all to your amusement.
A DIRECTOR.,..ShareS and land PN?"-(1.2
% —tighter.)
Mr. COBtOLD.-.NO.
The CHAIRMAN.—I happen . Party alluded to as
lit that or seven years a . .
having appealed to your loca _ go , and it
in spite
really doom appear to ne. legal
~,,,,,
___,_ of. all the diffi-
culties thrown in our ware ,!" uulfwise, of various
characters, and too numrous to .44Mb I can say it
as a Alan of honour and a man of character, that we have
as
done well to get down as Ifar we are going,_( Hear.) We
cannot do impossibilities we cannota make railroads
without money, —(Cheers. ) You
y go to the Queen's
Bench for a mandamus to compel
.us to may
rnake a railway to the
moon, but we cannot make it.—(Laughter and cheers.) We
in hand, for not a
have legal matter enough day passes without
the newspapers containing accounts of same law proceedings
in which we are concerned. Every
er)7 daywill
the papers in town
and country are pecking, at us. I pay Mr. Cobbold the
compliment of saying, :he is no
ieparty to thent—( Hear,
hea.r)—and I believe he occupies a
Suffolk very respectable
portion among the aristegracY 9 , and Norfolk i but it
should be remembered that in the county of r
*lanfitShire we have
obtained some hundred thousand Pounds, while we have only
be
his tboesand. It should also
tr remembered, that our objeet
immense
is to carry commerep to an ut of England, arid I
h
ask that gentleman to do to one 'hatlllan
-0 Would have one
man do to another. Let us carry this resolution, and I will
pledge myself to do my best endeavour to carry on the railway
as far as we can with competent means., 4 throw myself en-
tirely on the Honourable Proprietor.—(kaheera. N 4
Mr. CosieoLn.—The good humour of the •
gentlemen at the
i
table have stopped me for the momentwhat ~
i
11 was about
to s*if I had no intention of saying to excite
any unpleasant feeling ill Ile Tql.R. of any indivi-
dual. I think it fair tP Wllie"Llt th?PifhP4t the
whole proceedings of this Company fonds
has been a great
mystikation. D'either myself or. ply trippds htiv
r dope any-
thing todepreciite the yalee 0 ,t9P,shareo i neither myself or
my friends have ever sold a. gyre shire litre 140, tifitvertojeg
efininteng-glt @.V.en though iht `tarFs )I"t4 hi"'" 4--- •
We have held the:: .ur-p; ne principle •• mepreciated.
upon which we took
4 them, and have taken advantage of no
ctrmistance whatever.