The Sun.
London, England, 1818-10-01 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE TIigATRE.

GENERAL ASSENMX OF I'LL. PROPRIETORS 07
I)ItURY-LANE I HEAT

Yest,rday the Annual Gent ral \leeting• of the
Company of Proprietors of Tl,4atro
w-is held in t 1 ,e Grand Saloon at .ire Theatre, for
tltt purpose of electing sit Members of the Gene-
ra) Committee in the room of six who were goicig
out by ballot.
The bi:siness of the day was opened a little
Attir One o'clock, by Mr. P. Moose, who pro-
pc;hed that Sir THOMAS TU,UTON, Bart, should
t it'e the Chair.

Sir THom As declined the honour Rt first, on the
ground, that he, being a Member of the General
COtrirnirtee, Might. in the course of the proceed-
ings, have occa9ion to speak in detence of that
Committee, which he ought not with propriety to
do from the Chair.

This objection was answered by Mr. P. MooBE,
who Observed, that it Would not be improper
to give even from the Chai:• any explanation of his
conduct as a Member of the General Committee
which 11 might deem necessary. IVith this un-
derstanding Sir T. Turton took the Chair.
The lion. G. LAMB was about to present a Re-
port from the Select Committee, when he was in-
terrupted by
The Cliatr.MAN, who observed, that the ad-
vertisetnent by which the Meeting was called
should be first read.

This having been done by Mr. C. W. Wail,
the Secretat y,
Mr. LIME again came forward, and opposed the
Report of the Select Committee.
The CHAIRMAN observed, that in his opinion
the more regular mode would be to receive the
Report of the Sub• Committee, if they had any
to make.

The SECRETARY then proceeded to read the
Report.—lt purported to be a Report from the
Sub to the General Committee ; and after son►c
preliminaries of form, it went on to state that the
Committee had conceived it to be for the general,
interest of the Proprietors to reduce the prices of
admision to the boxes and pit, which they had
reason to hope would be found productive of con-
siderable advantage. They had also come to the
resolution of placing the stage under the ma-
nagement of Mr. Stephen Kemble, in whose zeal
and talents they placed the greatest confidence.—
They had, for the entertainment of the public,
engaged a highly respectable company of per-
formers, whose talents, they trusted, would be
found deserving of public patronage. At the same
time that they felt satisfaction in stating this,
they could not refrain from expressing regret at
losing the services of some individuals, who were
known to be deservedly great popular favourites ;
but this nas occasioned by the necessity of re-
duction, and the incompatibility of acceding to
terms which were inconsistent with the pre-
sent expenee and economy of the Theatre.—
The expenses for the present season were cal-
enlated below the lowest receipt of the treasury at
any season in late years; and in order to give the
Proprietors an idea of the reduction which had
been made, they had given an estimate of the
real and calculated expenses of both. From this
comparison it appeared that the expenses of the
last season bad been 45,2231., of which 26,6211.
bad been paid for salaries. The whole expenses
of the present season were estimated thus :
calculated for expence of setnery, prope►ty,

Salaries - - - -
26,62
Rent and taxes 3,00(1

Making. in all 40,039
Which would be less than the last season by►the sum of 5,18,1
It was also to be observed, that the real ex-
pence during the last season tor, property, &c.
had been less than that calculated by the sum of
25001. The Report then went on to state soine
of the inconveniences which had been experienced
by the injunction obtained iu the Court of Chan-
cery, which, it observed, had tended in no way to
the benefit of the Proprietors at large. Of the
final result of the plans which bad been adopted
for carrying on the business of the present sea-
son, the house was not open long enough to en-
able the Cont nit tee to judge, but as tar as One
season hail hitherto gone, it exceeded their ex-
pectations. They had to mention one circum-
stance which wa.; seldom► or never known before—
that upwards of 2(10 persons had gone from the pit
to the boxes, on the nights when the twirler was
crowded, which would not have been the case if
the prices of the hitter were not so much reduced.
The Report went on to state, that the Sub-
Committee only considered themselves as part of
the General. Committee, and that they would, in
that capacity, continue to make arrangements
with the creditors of the Concern until such time
as they were empowered, by Act of Parliament,
to raise a sum fur liquidating the demands of the
creditors.

The CHAIIZMAN sai t, that there rasa Report
from the General Committee, printed, which he
supposed was its the hands of alt the Proprietors.
Three or four Proprietors here complained that
they had never seen it, but this was accounted for
by the Secretary, who said that a copy was sent
to those Proprietors ►chose address was known.
The CHAIRMAN said, that as this was the annual
Meeting, an account of the receipts and expences
was upon the table, to which every Proprietor
might refer.

A PROPRICTOR asked, were all the expences of
the last season included ?

Mr. P. mooRE sAitl—Yes, all.
PROPRIETOR —And paid ?

Mr P. Moor.s.—Yes. as tar as could be.

Mt. G. Loin again prt,ised that the Report of
the Select Committre, which he held in his baud,
should be tend.

Mr. P. Moons objected to this, on the ground
that it was a Committee whose powers were al-
ready extinct. The reading Of the Report might.
tend to disturb that unanimity of action which
was so necessary for the welfare of the concern;
and if the Hon. Gentleman pressed his intention,
be (Mr. Moore) should feel himself bound to take
the sense of the meeiing upon it.
Mr. COCKER said, that the Committee, whose
Repoit was then offere t.I
, was one which bad
been appointed by a gent-ral meeting of the pio-
prietors, who had full powers to do O. Inty
were nut extinct as a body until their Report was
heard; and nothing could be mote unfair than to