The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-09 00:00:00

MANCHESTER AND BOLTON RAILWAY.

Last evening a meeting of the proprietors and shareholders
in the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal Navigation and
Railway, was held in the Clarendon-rooms, South. John-
street, for the purpose of receiving the report of the commit-
tee appointed at a former meeting, to enquire into the ma-
nagement and expenditure of the establishment. JOAN HORE,
Esq., was called to the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, after having mentioned the circumstances
under which the committee was appointed, stated that three
of its members were selected to proceed to Manchester to
examine the books, provided the permission of the directors
could be obtained A letter was addressed to the chairman
of the directors to that effect, and he wrote a note to Mr.
Ritson, desiring him to shew them the books. All the books
were examined, and Mr. Radcliff, secretary to the committee,
would be good enough to read the report.
Mr. RADCLIFF then reqd the following report :
REPORT
Your committee, having been appointed at a meeting of
the shareholders of the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal
Navigation and Railway, held on Monday, the 4th of May
last, for the purpose of obtaining information relative to the
management and expenditure of that establishment, with a
view of devising some means of reducing the expenditure, so
as to athird a fair return to the shareholders for the capital
which they have invested in the undertaking,
Your committee held its first meeting on Tuesday, the sth
of May, and having elected John Hore, Esq., chairman of
the committee, they addressed a letter to the directors, in-
forming them of the appointment of the committee, and re-
questing to be informed what mode of proceeding, in obtain-
ing the information they were appointed to seek for, would
be most convenient to the officers of the establishment, and
most agreeable to the directors.
Upon the 22d of May your committee received the follow-
ing letter from the directors, through the treasurer, Mr.
Ritson

" Clarendon-rooms, John-street, Liverpool,
20th May, 1840.
" Sir,—l am instructed to transmit you the inclosed copy
of a resolution passed at the meeting of our committee of
management, held this day; and remain, your obedient ser-
vant,
" JAMES RITSON.
" To John nore, Esq., Liverpool.
" (COPY.)
" Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal Navigation and
Railway, 20th May, 1840.
" At a meeting of the committee of management, held
this day at the Clarendon-rooms, South John-street, Liver-
pool,—James Brancker, Esq., in the chair,—
" ' It was resolved,—That the halt-yearly accounts be
printed and sent to each proprietor, one week previous to
the adjourned general meeting, and the notification of this
resolution be sent to John Bore, Esq., as chairman of a
committee of shareholders,-appointed at a meeting of share-
holders, held at Liverpool on the stli of May, 11340.".'
Your committee having considered that this communica-
tion from the directors, from its inapplicability to the ques-
tion asked, could only be intended to evade and put off the
giving of a plain and direct reply to their enquiry, and there-
fore that any further correspondence would be of no avail
in procuring their friendly co-operation, arid could be at-
tended with no satisfactory results, determined to avail them-
selves of the powers conferred upon them as shareholders in
the company, by the act of incorporation, and they addressed
the following requisition to the directors.
" We, the undersigned having been appointed at a meeting
of the proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury
Canal Navigation and Railway, to investigate into, and ob-
tain information relative to the management and expendi-
ture of the various dePartments of the establishment, and
holding in our own right the. number of shares required
by the act of incorporation, hereby request that you will
direct that we or any of us, shall have tree access to all the
books of the company,—
" (Signed) JOHN HORE, SOLOMON GIBSON,
JOHN JOHNSON, P. ROBINSON,
JOHN HODGSON, JOHN S. RADCLIFF."
This legal application being irresistible, the directors offer-
ed no opposition ; and the treasurer having informed your
committee that the Woks were open for their inspection,
your committee proceeded to Manchester, and examined into
the expenditure of the various departments into which the
establishment is divided, the results of which examination
they now desire to lay before you.
Ist, The law clerk's department.
Since the commencement of the undertaking, there has
been paid to Messrs. Peel, Miller, Radcliffe, and Duncan the
sum of
dr 3961 17 11
To Messrs. Miller and Peel, up to the 30th
Sept., 1839, the sum of 6697 8 8
To which there is to be added Miller and
Peel's account, from 20th Sept. to Ist of April,
1840, not yet paid
157 15 1

Making the sum paid for law expenses 10,816 15 8

---
Tour committee, whilst it avoids making any lengthened
comment on the expenditure in the law clerk's department,
would, nevertheless, call the attention of the proprietors to
the startling fact, that upwards of 2 per cent. of the entire
'paid up capital of the company has been swallowed up by
this departmentalone.
The' treasurer's department costs the proprietors £6OO per
annum for the salary of the treasurer, and £250 per annum
for the salaries of the clerks attached to the department.
The duties which devolve upon this important office are so
varied, and require so much accuracy and punctuality in the
discharge of them, that your committee do not think this
department susceptible of any change, save that proposed by
thedirectors, viz., the amalgamation of this department with
that of the engineer's department, by which a considerable
saving will be effected.

The engineer's department appears to your committee to
be overloaded with superfluous expenditure, and more fitted
for the most extensive railway in the kingdom than for so
short a line as the Bolton and Bury. The Engineer's salary is
six hundred pounds per annum. There is the sum of £570
per annum paid in addition to clerks and overlookers alone.
A large body of expensive workmen is kept up, many of
whom, notwithstanding their number, are paid for overtime
to the extent of two or three days each per week. The
general traffic on the line gives employment to two engines,
and on particular occasions a third engine may be required,
yet there are actually TEN engines kept on the establishment,
which cost the company from £1,200 to £1,500 each, which
must be kept in repair, and attended to as carefull as if they
were required on the line. Th.. axi.l.an..4 of 4:ucli otitintgement
is ruinous to the funds of the company, and the reasons for
so acting ate by no means apparent to your committee.
In the carrying department, the canal appears to be paying
much more than its own expenditure, and would (if it stood
alone) afford a handsome dividend upon the capital invested
in it. Your committee perceive, that the directors meditate
a reduction in the rates of toll on the canals, for which,
however,—they must obtain the approbation of the pro-
prietors. Your committee .recommend that this matter
should be cloSely investigated, and that serious discussion
,and deliberation should precede the sanction of the proprietors
to the important change which is contemplated, in the only
part of the concern that has the least appearance of affording
an 'adequate return to the shareholders.
The carriage of merchandise connected with the railway
traffic is in a most miserable state, not on the whole averaging
90 tons per day, with but little prospect of profitable increase.
The directors have for the next three years fixed so low
a rate per ton; that it appears scarcely possible that it should
pay under the most economical management; and yet, strange
to say, a most reckless expenditure both of manual labour
and mechanical power is permitted in this department, al-
though it must be evident to the most casual observer that
the merchandise traffic does not flow naturally towards the
line, and that a very small and cheaply conducted accommo-
dation for this department is all that it demands or can ever
be made to pay with.
..

Your committee would now call your attention to the
carriage of passengers on the line. The average number of
passengers is about 4000 per week, or 600 per day ; the
trains which convey them cut-3r also the 90 tons of mer-
chandise above alluded to ; and trifling as the whole traffic is,
there are no less than 32 porters employed in the conducting
of it, exclusive of guards, carters, watchmen, and of
: the consequences are, what might be expected, the
receipts of the railway for the last four months fall short of
paying the expenditure, and its proportion of interest on the
bonded debt, to the extent of £549 ss. 9d.

Your committee entreat your attention to a curious fact
connected with the conveyance of passengers. It appears
that from the 29th of July, 1838, to the 29th 'of Nov. 1838,
the fares charged were 25., Is. Gd., and Is., for Ist, 2nd, and
3rd class passengers, and the total number of persons
carried during that period was 145,450. Soon after the
period alluded to, the directors abolished the third class
trains, and raised the rate of the first class from 2s. to
2s. fid. ; and if we take a corresponding period in the
following year under the new system, say from 29th July,
1839, to 29th November, 1839, we find the total number car-
ried was 98,208, being a decrease of 47,152 passengers; by
this change the revenue of the company was diminished. No
apparent reduction took place in the expenditure, whilst in the
short space of four months, nearly 50,000 persons were de-
prived of an important accommodation, a whole class in
society were obliged to resume their old habit of walking to
market, &c., or of finding cheaper modes of conveyance than
the railway now affords them, and the concern became less
popular than it would otherwise have been. This numerous
class being rejected as customers, and a corresponding in-
crease not taking place in either the second or first class pas-
sengers, it appears highly probable that the district does not
afford the means of increasing (under the present system) the
passenger traffic to any great extent, and renders it a matter
for grave consideration, whether it would not be wise to
re-adopt the more liberal mode of treating the humbler
classes of the public, by resuming the third class trains, the
carriages for which are still in the possession of the
company.
After a careful review of the facts which have become
known to your committee in the course of their investigation,
they are of opinion that it is in the power of the directors, by
judicious management and economy, to reduce the expendi-
ture and increase the income of the company to the extent of
£3,000 per annum and upwards.
Your committee would call your attention to several
valuable lots of land in the possession of the company, which
from being suffered to remain unemployed, have become a
heavy drain on the limited income of the company—say
to the extent of about £2200 per annum. These lands do not
appear to be improving in value, and therefore the annual
chief rent becomes, under present circumstances, an irre-
coverable loss. If these lots of land_ were judiciously disposed
of. they might be made the means of increasing the surplus
revenue, instead of being, as at present, a source of pecuniary
loss.
Your committee, having pointed out to you the evils which
ought to be eradicated, and the savings that may be effected
by economy and judicious management, feel it their: duty
openly and candidly to state their opinion, that a board of di-
rectors living in, and holdiingbnatl
slightly acquainted with the
msl?sP all their meetings in
:Tide along the line,---and having,
Liverpool,—being apparent
habits of the people who re
as it is but reasonable to suppose, a very slight knowledge
indeed of the trade of Manchester, Bolton, and Bury, do not
appear well calculated for the profitable management of a
concern at 30 miles distance from their place of meeting, and
£257,000----in all, of up
of such magnitude) that it involves a capital paid up of about
£515,000, and liable to a debt of
wards of threequarters of a milliFint. Your committee would,
therefore, suggest to the proprie ors that, in the appoint-
ment of the next board of directors, men should be chosen
having influence amongst the people upon whom the esta-
blishments must depend for support and possessed of
sufficient local knowledge to appreciate valuabl.e suggestions
when offered to them, and to reject foolish ones, and who by
their daily presence on some part or other of the line would
stimulate the officers of the establishment to increased
exertion and a desire to be economical even in the minutest
part of the expenditure.
Your committee cannot conceal from you their opinion
that the day of prosperity is still distant, that both the pa-
tience and the purse of the proprietors will yet be tried to a
considerable extent before this great but most expensive
undertaking can be made to afford them even a moderate
return for their investment.
Your committee fears that nothing can insure permanent
with the great railway companies in the
prosperity to this establishment, but a junction on fair and
honourable terms
neighbourhood of this line. Could this be effected the cost of
management would be reduced
_to (comparatively) a mere
trifle, and an ample return to both parties would be the
immediate consequence of such an arrangement.
The CHAIRMAN said the meeting had now heard the re-
port. It was honestly given. The committee had hidden
nothing.
A SIIAREIIOLDER.—Do I understand that the office of
treasurer is to be done away with
The CHAIRMAN replied that this meeting had nothing to
do with that. The directors themselves had a notion' of
amalgamating the treasurer's and the engineer's departments.

A SHAREHOLDER asked whether the report seemed to
sanction the idea of discharging Mr. Rition?
The CHAIRMAN.—We can say nothing about the discharge
of any individual.
A SHAREHOLDER said the greatest evil that had befallen
the line was the infliction of a theoretical engineer.
Another SHAREHOLDER:—We have to thank the present
engineer for having ten engines too many.
Mr. KYNASTER was sure that every one who had heard
the report would acknowledge that much care and trouble
had been taken in its preparation. Mr. K. then proceeded
to read a tabular statement of the successive decrease in the
Sunday and weekly receipts of the company, from the Bth of
July, 1838, to the month of April last, and stated that he
had suggested certain alterations to the directors, but no no-
tice was taken of them, except a mere acknowledgement.
The directors consequently must have had suffic ent evidence
before them to convince them of the disastrous effect of the
alterations they had made in the fares. He did not know by
whom those alterations were recommended ; he was certain,
however, it was not by Mr. Ritson. He would not take
upon himself to say it was the engineer, but his doubts were
very strong as to that gentleman. He would not, however,
undertake to say there had been a reckless expenditure of
money, but he would express his belief that, although he was
no engineer, if he had been called upon to construct the rail-
way, he could have done it for less than it had cost. It ap-
peared to him as if either the engineer or directors were afraid
the line might pay 10 per cent., and the fares come under the
revision of parliament, according to the Duke of Wellington's
clause. Concerning the carriage of goods he had made several
recommendations to the directors (which he detailed) hut they
were not adopted. By the last statement he had seen it appeared
that the charges of the company for conveying goods averaged
3s. per ton, and they had now reduced it to 2s. 6d. to bleachers ;
but any body who knew the circumstances would say at once
that bleachers goods could not be carried for less than 3s. 6d.
It appeared to him that in making this calculation, the
directors or the engineer looked only to the expense of the
locomotive power, and that the cost of the road had not been
taken into consideration. The fact was, that the company
were carrying goods at a serious loss. The small dividend
paid to the shareholders came'out of the canal ; and including
passengers and luggage, he was convinced the company was
losing by the line £7O a week. He hoped, therefore, the
next general meeting would not sanction any further reduction
of rates upon the canal, or sanction the present rate of 2s. 6d.
for carrying bleachers' goods.
The CHAIRMAN said the meeting were obliged to Mr.
Kynaster for the information he bad given ; but it would depend
on a general meeting whether the two-and-sixpenny rate
were sanctioned. If the directors promised that rate to the
bleachers, he apprehended they must have had good grounds
for it.

Mr. KYNASTER said the meeting would perceive that before
' the directors increased the tolls the traffic on the line was in-
creasing.
The CHAIRMAN replied that the committee had no discre-
tion—they had been appointed merely to examine into the
expenditure, and having made their report, it remained for
the shareholders to act as they pleased at the general meeting.
The SECRETARY said the object of the meeting was to de-
vise means to give effect to the sentiments of the shareholders
at the general meeting. •
Mr. KYNASTER considered the system of voting by proxy
at the general meeting a decided evil, unless those who
brought proxies came with an unprejudiced mind.
Mr. S. GIBSON, in an able speech, contended that expe-
rience had sliewn that the traffic on the Bolton line could be
performed by four engines, using two for contingencies.
Four engines might then be sold for £5OOO, a proportion of
carriages equal to £2OOO, and this would produce a sum of
£7OOO. By the reductions in the treasurer's and engineer's
offices and their appendages, there would be a saving of £lOOO
per annum.

MT. KYNASTER felt bound to say that Mr. Ritson had
offered to meet the company, upon the score of economy, as
far as his salary was concerned.
The CHAIRMAN.-1 must say that Mr. Hawkshaw (the
engineer) has done the same.

A long conversation followed, upon a variety of topics con-
nected with the railway, and on the question whither the re-
port of the committee should he published. Ultimately it
was unanimously resolved that the report should be published.
Thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the meeting
separated.