The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-22 00:00:00

RAILWAY MEETINGS,

NORTH WESTERN.—The— half-yearly meeting was
held on Friday, at Eustou station ; Major-General Anson
in the chair. In the course of .his observations, the
Chairman reviewed, generally, the state and prospects
of the company. The charges placed upon the revenue
had been diminishing, and the state of the debenture debt
was very satisfactory, as it would be possible, in the pre-
sent state of the money market, to reduce the interest
upon it to the extent of £25,000. The revenue account
was also satisfactory ; and the expenditure, although it
had been increased by damage done by the floods, had not
been materially different to that of the previous half-
year. The cost of making good the injuries done by the
floods would not exceed £15,000, instead of £50,000, or
£lOO,OOO, as had been reported in the papers. The com-
pensation paid for accidents amounted to £9,000, very
little of which arose from personal injuries. He regretted
the amount for legal expenses, but he assured the propri-
etors they had been caused solely by the necessity they
were under of defending their interests against the ag-
gression of other parties. He lamented that it was not in
the power of the directors to maintain the dividend of
July : but he thought it would be admitted they were
right in not acting upon the reserve. The report, which
was of considerable length, showed that the disposable
balance amounted to £625,942 4d. ; and the directors
recommended a dividend of £2 103., for the six months.
This would absorb £533,155 183. 6d., and leave a balance
of £92,786 Is. 10d. to be carried forward to the next half-
yearly account. After some discussion the report was
adopted unanimously, and the dividend declared.—The
following were elected directors :—M. General Anson,
Mr. R. Barrow, Mr. Edward Cropper, Mr. Hardman
Earle, Mr. William Rawson, and Mr. Theodore Rath-
bone.—A vote of thanks to Mr. Glyn, M.P., for his valu-
able services as chairman, was agreed to, and the meeting
separated.
GREAT WESTERN.— The dividend declared at the half-
yearly meeting was at the rate of 4 per cent., leaving a
balance of £63,777 to next account, and the report was
adopted. It was stated by the chairman, that the chief
feature of the last half-year had been the opening of their
line to Birmingham. The position of agreements with the
two Shrewsbury companies for the interchange of traffic
and future amalgamation, it appears, will again form sub-
jects for the consideration of parliament.
EAST LANCASHIRE.—A dividend at the rate of 3 per
cent. on the ordinary capital stock was carried. The
property of the company was stated to be in an improving
condition.

BRISTOL AND EXETER.—The Bristol and Exeter divi-
dend will be at the rate of 4} per cent., carrying over a
balance of £10,819 to next account.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.—The report states that a bill for
the proposed junction of this line with that of the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton Company, is again pro.
secuted by the North-western Company.
MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCDLNSHIRE.—
The report states that a steady increase is exhibited in the
bond fide traffic, part of which is due to the opening of the
new dock at Grimsby.
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.—The directors have
decided to recommend a dividend for the past half year,
at the rate of three per cent. per annum.

BANKRUPTCY COURT.-YESTERDAY.

(Before Mr. Commissioner Perry.)

IN RE ROGER RICHARDS.—CERTIFICATE.—The bank-
rupt in this case, a surgeon and druggist, at Wrexham,
came before the court, on an application for his certifi-
cate.

Mr. J. Yates,. jun., supported the application, which
was opposed by Mr. Evans, who appeared for the
assignees.

sir. EVANS, at some length, stated the various grounds
of opposition, alleging against the bankrupt that he had
commenced business i❑ Wrexham as a druggist without
any capital ; that he had incurred an excessive expendi-
ture, and that he had kept no beoks. Mr. Evans also
urged against the bankrupt, that he had taken advantage
of the inexperience of a young gentleman named Grif-
fiths, a collegian at Cambridge, and by false representa-
tions had illegally obtained from him the sum of £2OO.
Mr. Griffiths was a youngtman just passing through
college, and during the time that he had a number of
friends with him, spending money at a great rate, he
became intimately acquainted with the bankrupt, who
managed to defraud him of £2OO.

Mr 7 YATES, for the bankrupt. urged that the objection
taken by Mr. Evans, with regard to the £2OO, was against
the spirit of the bankrupt laws, which provided for a
bankrupt being examined on those matters only which
referred to his conduct as a trader, and not upon private
transactions with friends. As to the alleged expenditu%
beyond his income, it was not much in itself, and had
been brought about mainly by the bankrupt, who was
ormerly surgeon to the Wrexham Infirmary, being pre-
sented from practising as a surgeon in Wrexham, until
after the expiration of three years after he left the In-
firmary. Since that time he had carried on business as a
druggist, but he had only resorted to that business until
the- time arrived when he could commence practice for
himself as a surgeon. His connexions were respectable,
and he was obliged to maintain an appearance accordingly,
and that might account for the expenditure exceeding his
income. With regard to the absence of books, it was the
case with many persons ; and being a professional man,
who knew little about book-keeping, he thought it might
be excused.

His HONOR remarked, that he did not even show a
cash-book.

Mr. YATES, whilst admitting that this was to be la-
mented, said it was very common, and rather jocosely
confessed, that until very recently he himself had not
kept one. He considered that if ever there was a case
which deserved the favourable consideration of the court,
assuming that the bankrupt might have been indiscreet in
some of his transactions, the present was one.
His HONOR deferred his judgment to this day.

LINES WRITTEN UPON THE DEATH OF A
MUCH-LOVED RELATIVE.

BY THE REV. DR. ASPINALL

REST thee, aching head,
All is over now !
Ruthless death has set his seal
Upon thy clay-cold brow !
Rest thee, weary heart—
At length a blest relief!
An amnesty from all thy pain—
Repose from every grief!
Rest ! but whither found—
Beneath the churchyard sod?
Thy body sleeps there—but thy soul
Rests by the throne of God!
Liverpool, Feb. 21, 1853.