The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-25 00:00:00

RAILWAY lATELLIGENCE.

PROCEEDINGS TO ENFORCE CALLS ON RAIL-
WAY SHARES—SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER
RAILWAY COMPANY.
Oar attention has been called to this subject by a few re-
marks addressed by Mr. Lawrence, a proprietor of the
Northern and Eastern Line, to the Directors, at their late
half-yearly "meeting, in which he alludes to " the highly sa-
tisfactory contrast which their forbearance has afforded,
during seasons of difficulty, now successfully overcome, to
the cold severity ith which sonie Boards of Direction have
pressed on the proprietors, the carrying on, or the attempting
to carry on, an unwilling proprietary, in opposition to diffi-
culties which seemed almost insurmountable." The result
of this considerate course of proceeding has been to produce
amongst the shareholders that cordial and hearty desire to
second the endeavours -of ! the Direction, which, now that
.the difficulties of the money market are gradually dissipating,
will enable them to proceed with their works as one united
and unanimous proprietary ; and iu proof of this, a number
of shareholders, holding to the amount of 2200 shares, 'have
voluntarily pledged themselves not to sell their shares until
he road is opened.
Now what, we ask, would have been the result,•if the Di-

reetion had pursued the more stringent course of proceeding,
and acted up to the full powers of their act of parliament?
They might perhaps have extracted more money from the
pockets of their present proprietors, but having- gained the
money they would have lost the men. Their shares, with
ft 2,5 paid, instead of being worth £l3 0r.£14 in the market,
with a probability of rising to par, so strong, that, the Direc-
tors themselves have offered to take to the amount of .ICIOO,OOO
at that rate within three years, would have been given away,
or transferred to paupers, and the works now fast progressing
to completion must have been stayed entirely. The. Com-
pany would in fact have consisted of a Board of Direction,
Engineers, Lawyers, and Secretary, without a proprietary
worthy of anything but the name.

We wish to call the attention of Company, whose title is
at the head of this article, to the proceedings of the Northern
and Eastern Directors, and to urge them to pause before
plunging into the vortex of litigation, towards which, we have

reason to believe, they are hurrying. It is true that for up-
wards of two years past the Directors of this Company have
not attempted to enforce from their Shareholders the pay-
ment of arrears, but it is scarcely necessary for us to tell
them that their prospect of doing so is not improved as yet,
and will not be improved, until something like confidence is
infused into the minds of the Proprietors. They may drive
respectable men into the Gazette to avoid paying, or they
may in a few cases recover the amounts due; but, in either
way, they will lose the",nen,—for there are few persons who
will continue paying their money into a. concern, the Value
of whose stock decreases with every call that is made upon
it, and will decrease, until the undertaking itself is reduced
to the same extent as its bond fide proprietary.
Let us nut, however, be misunderstood. We do not allow
the principle that men who have voluntarily contracted lia-
bilities should be altogether ,released from them, without
contributing something to compensate for their breach of
faith.' We would not advise indiscriminate forfeiture of every
share upon which the full amount due has not been paid up.
There are, however, amongst the Proprietors of the Sheffield
and Manchester Railway Company, a certain number of in-
dividuals who cannot pay, and perhaps others who ought not
to he called upon Let the shares of these individuals be
at once forfeited, and the undertaking reduced proportion-
ately. There are other Proprietors who have sold their sharp,
but not got rid at the same time of their liabilities. Let
these individuals pay up a pDrtion .of the amount due and
retire from the concern. There wilt then. Yetnairy a smaller
intiptiiitarf ►hen, able and
uhlltng to Pay up their Calls as tite'y 'becoMe due ; and the
Directors knowing the amount.which every call will realize,
will then be able to form a correct idea how much of the
line they can successfully proceed with, and of how much
they ought to defer the execution. It is plain they cannot
now proceed simultaneously with the entire line. If they at-
tempt it they rilu.st press upon the willing proprietors to
make up for Ac tardiness of the unwilling. If they accom-
pany this course _of Making, heavy and frequent calls by law
Proceedings against defaulters, a still further depression in
the price of their shares must take place, and the proprietary
will very shortly limit itself.

But it may perhaps be argued by the Directors that they
can-still arrange to proceed with only a portion of the line,
without releasing any considerable number of the present
proprietors.. True; but where is the advantage of keeping
a stock of shares constantly banging upon the market, from
which nothing can be derived in the shape of capital; and
which in the meantime only contribute:to prevent good men
fr.mi entering into the concern ? The fact is, that the know-
ledge of thisleavy lot of shares being ready to pour into the
market on the first rise which takes place, is the very cir- •
Cumstance which deters such men from beComing proprie-
tors. Let the company at once say, "We will proceed. with
• half the line, and lop off all our doubtful shares, reserving
to ourselves the benefit to be derived from their re-appropri-
ation ;" and the market being relieved, their stock will
at once assume a fair and legitimate value, instead of
being, as at present, unsaleable at any price:
We have thrown out these fat'✓ remarks for the considera-
tion of the Directors and Proprietors at the approaching
half-yearly meeting. We firmly believe that the undertaking
is a sound one, and will be a profitable one. The line to
Ashton-under-Lyne, or to Glossop, would of itself be a
paying line ; and if this were once got into course of forma-
tion, the shareholders and the public would begin to appre-
ciate it as it deserves. We shall probably return to the sub-
ject in our next, when we shall have had an opportunity of
knowing the result of the general meeting. 'ln the meantime
we may observe, thit our Liverpool friends are not quite
aware of the value of ,this, undertaking as an opening for the
commerce of their port to an important district, which has
hitherto been almost entirely shut against them.

HALF-YEARLY MEETING OF THh NORTHERN
AND EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY.
The half-yearly meeting of this Company was held- on
Thursday at the Company's Offices, Moorgate-street, City,
William Crawshay, Esq. in the chair:

The report, which was read by the Secretary, and appeared
to be received with great satisfaction by the proprietors pre-
sent, explained the motives by which the Directors had been
actuated in suspending the prosecution of the works during
the past half year. This, it appeared to them, could not have
been effected without pressing more hastily and urgently for
calls than would be advisable in the present state of the
money market, or resorting to some mode of raising the ne-
cessary funds which might have seriously injured the ultimate
fair prospects of the concern.

The Directors, however. confidently expect that in March
next they will be enabled to complete arrangements for the
most rapid prosecution of the road to Broxbume, and that a
considerable portion of the requisite funds will, by that time,
have been raised upon loan on reasOnable. terms.
The estimate for completing the line to Bishop's Stortford
has again been revised by their engineer, Mr. Stephenson,
and the Directors are confirmed in their view that the 29
miles of railway which will belong to this Company, when
in a complete state of conveyance, including' stations, engines,
carriages, and stock of every description► will be obtained for
a capital not exceeding £700,000. or little more than £24,000.
per mile, which when compared with the cost of other lines,
and the extensive traffic considered, the Directors think must
render it an investment equal to the most advantageous in
lucrative prospect.

The Directors, in conclusion, congratulate the proprietors
upon the improved prospects of the undertaking generally,
and express their confident expectation that before the next
yearly meeting a portion of the line will have been opened,
and that the whole will be completed in the autumn of 1841.
The Chairman, in the course of a long conversation which
ensued, detailed the manner in which the Directors intended
to raise the necessary funds to carry on the undertaking.
The Directors had entered into several contracts for works,
the payment for which they had been enabled to defer; and
they had also taken up on loan n sum of £lOO,OOO. upon
their personal security, to be repaid by the Company in the
course of three years. In return for this unexampled in-
stance of zeal and confidence, they only claimed the privilege
of receiving the amount of this loan in an equivalent number
of the shares;of the .00mpanY qt liar.. It was also announced.
that only an additional amount of £l5. per share would be
required to be called up at pr6ent, and that the line from
London to Broxburne will be completed at a cost of £4O. per
share, upon the present number of shares appropriated. ' It
was also stated that a number of proprietors holding 2200
shares, had entered into an engagement not to sell their shares
until the road is opened, and that not one of the forfeited or
unallotted shares held by the company would be brought into
the market, until the proprietary have had an opportunity of
ascertaining the working of that portion of the line which is
now in course of formation.
In order to enable .the Company to borrow money upon
their works, and to effect 'Ether objects, rendered necessary
by the present position of the undertaking, the Directors
are now before parliament for an amended act, reducing their
nominal capital from £lOO. to £6O. shares, which there
is
every reason to expect they will be able to procure this ses-
sion.

PROPOSED BRANCH RAILWAY TO CONNECT THE HIGH
PEAK WITH THE NORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY.— A sur-
vey of this line of railway is now completed, and application
is intended to be made to parliament next session for its
formation. It is to join/the North Midland line at Amber
Gate, at-which place there will be a first class station; from
thence the line winds along the course of the river Derwent,
and forms ajunction with the High Peak Railway at croin-
ford. The length of the line is about four miles. Tile dei
lightful village of Matlock will then possess the advantage
oo
a direct railway communication with London and inpst f
the principal towns. The distance from Matlock to Crom-
ford being only about a mile, omnibuses will doubtless be
established for the conveyance of
passengers, &c., between
the two plaees.—Derby Mercury.

MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY—THE
STOCKPORT VIADUCT.—AII the arches, except one, on the
Lancashire side, are turned, so that ten of the 63-feet arches
may be said to he almost completed ; whilst the stone piers
for two others, on the Cheshire side, are ready to receive the
super-structure; and the brickwork for the two small arches
at the extremity of the viaduct, like those at the Lancastire
end, is rapidly proceeding to a termination. Twelve of the
twenty-six arches may therefore be said to be. pretty well out
of the hands of the workmen, and another six months will
see the perfection of one of the most gigantic productions of