The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-04 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMP

TON RAILWAY.

Yesterday, a meeting of the Liverpool shareholders in
this line of railway was held at the Adelphi Hotel, for the
purpose of receiving a committee appointed at a meeting
held in London, on the 15th of March last, and of adopt-
ing such measures as should be deemed expedient to ob-
tain for the shareholders at large such terms from the
Great Western Railway Company, as might be more con-
sistent with justice and their interests than those already
secured.

The representatives of the London committee present
consisted of Mr. Downing and Mr. Lewis. The chair was
occupied by Charles Freer, Esq.
Mr. DOWNING briefly opened the proceedings by stating
the present position of the shareholders. He said the
line was, very popular in its original character ; that it had
met with a great deal of approbation ; that the shares
were disposed of to a very great extent, and reached a
premium of 22 ; and that public confidence was much
interested in it, because it was believed it would produce
a profit of 9 per cent. Great indeed was the surprise of
the shareholders to learn in some time after, at the first
public meeting, that it had been leased without their
knowledge, and of course without their consent, to the
Great Western Railway Company, for the long period of
999 years, at a per ventage of 31, The effect of the bar-
gain, when ascertained, was to reduce the shares to 6
discount.

It was then suggested by Mr. LEWIS, that if the share-
holders could be got to act unitedly and unanimously,
they would in . all probability be able either to set aside
the lease, or to obtain more equitable terms than those
which had been secured. Accordingly he (Mr. Lewis) wrote
to the shareholders in all parts of the country, and re-
ceieed answers from persons holding 6,000 shares, all ex-
pressive of their perfect acquiescence in his views. Meet-
ings had since been held in London and Leeds, at which
resolutions were passed authorising the necessary proceed-
ing to be taken to annul the lease and appointing com-
mittees for that purpose, and to which 1,400 shareholders
had sent iu their proxies. He contended that a lease for
999 years must be considered in the light of a sale ; and said
there was a clause in the Act of Parliament that in the event
of a sale the consent of three-fifths of the shareholders
must be obtained. It was the opinion of eminent legal
advisers in London, that the lease was voidable, and that
the transaction involved a breach of trust ; and it was
now for the shareholders to act with promptitude and
becoming spirit.
A PROPRIETOR observed, that in the general prospectus
it was stated that Wi per cent. would be granted, and a
division of the profits beyond the 31.
Mr. LEWIS remarked, in reply, that whatever the ori-
ginal prospectus might have stated, it was silent as to the
important fact that the lease had been granted for such a
lengthened period as 999 years. (Hear, hear.) After
admitting that the grumblings of the shareholders had
caused the per centage to be raised from 31 to 4, he pro-
ceeded to observe, that he had lately examined a state-
ment of the accounts, and discovered that the share-
holders of thi4 line had been sacrificed to the in-
terests of the Great Western Company. He said that
a call of £lO per share had been made; when two
calls of £1 each would have answered every necessary pur-
pose, and that the money was raised for the purpose of
lending it to the Great Western. The sum of £91,000
of their money had been lent in November last to tho
Great Western ; and the Great Western had lent it to
others, without a promise of obtaining any interest, though
well aware that they had never been constituted into a
money-lending company.
The CHAIRMAN confessed that the making of unneces-
sary calls and the lending of the money so raised without
interest was, in his opinion, worse than even the making
of the lease. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. LEWts observed that the first thing to be done now
was to obtain a bill of discovery, for £l5O, by which the
Great Western Company would be compelled to give an-
swers on oath ; and upon those answers the shareholders
would be in a position to judge whether or not they would
be justified in moving that the lease be set aside.
Upon the motion of Mr. GORE, the resolutions adopted
at the London and Leeds meetings were approved of, and
the committee, to which Mr. Fraser, Mr. Gore, and Mr.
Woodward were added, were authorised to obtain equitable
terms from the Great Western—to set aside the lease
granted, or otherwise to act, as might be deemed expedient,
with the view of improving the present condition of the
shareholders. .

A subscription, of half-a-crown a share, was ordered to
be raised, to furnish the committee with the sinews of war
to carry on the proceedings ; the same to be paid into the
bank of Liverpool, and drawn out upon cheques, counter-
signed by Mr. Fraser.
The meeting, after a sitting of about two hours' dura-
tion, separated, after having passed the usual vote of thanks
to the chairman.