The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-19 00:00:00

HARRINGTON DOCK COMPANY.

On Wednesday the annual general meeting of the mem-
bers of the Harrington Dock Company was held at the
Clarendon-rooms. The chair was taken shortly after one
o'clock by LEWIN MOZLEY, Esq.
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read the report of the directors. It commenced by stating
that the general affairs of the company for the past
year
had been increasingly successful and important, but that
the detail would have lost much of its interest with the
proprietors, in consequence of the sale which had been
effected, of the bulk of the estate, to the Trustees of the
Liverpool Docks. It might, however, be well to mention
that the anticipation of last year of an increased income
from the property had been fully realised, the amount up
to the Ist of April next being £4,351 6s.
; and it was
worthy of remark also that the portion of this amount
contributed by dock dues was no less a sum than £892
19s. 4d., being more than three times as much as bad de-
rived in any previous year from
.that source. The expen-
diture during the year had been 4808 13s. 3d. ; and there
was a balance is favour of the company of £3,772, appli-
cable to a dividend. With all the circumstances attend-
ing the long-pending negotiation with the Liverpool Dock
Trustees for the sale to
.them of the whole of the compa-
ny's estate on the west side of Sefton-street, containing
nearly 128,000 square yards, at the price of 31s. Gd. per
yard, the shareholders were made fully acquainted by the
special report of the directors on the 13th of December
last. There was much in the progress of that negotiation
of a painful character, the directors having been made the
object of a charge, through the public press, of urging the
purchase upon the Dock Committee on terms unfavoura-
ble to thera, an the public, by means of influence, sup-
posed to be exerted in one or
both of the pubtie bodies
with whom they were contracting. An imputation of this
nature, most discreditable, if true, but made without sha-
dow or pretence of truth, appeared to the directors neces-
sary to.be contradicted ; and they, therefore, circulated
their report of the 13th of December, detailing most mi-
nutely every step which had been taken. in the contract,

-

and (what was more to the point) evidencing, as they
hoped, by written corn muoications which had passed with
the proposed purchasers, not only that the conduct of the
directors had been throughout fair, straight-forward, and
liberal, but that they had been from the first the parties
rather sought than seeking the negotiation. The effect
upon the public mind of this announcement was immedi-
ate and satisfactory ; the purchase was effected upon the
terms originally proposed by the directors ; and, from
that time to the present, there had been a daily increasing
conviction on the part of the public of the advantage of
the purchase so made for public purposes. But the di-
rectors wished not to flatter the meeting with the idea that
a large price bad been obtained. On the contrary, they
thought the price a reasonable one, and to the advantage
of the purchasers; but they were actuated in accepting it
by a conviction that such a consummation of their plan
was, on the whole, for the best, and that it would be more
acceptable to the proprietors generally than their only
other alternative—namely, the necessity, for some time
under consideration, of a considerable further outlay upon
the property, by which the directors were persuaded that
it could alone be made decidedly profitable as a perma-
nent investment. The sale agreed upon would about ena-
ble the directors to repay to each proprietor the amount
of capital originally advanced by him, while it would still
leave disposable, first, towards the balance of interest un-
liquidated by the dividends paid, and then as profit. the
value of 20,814 snuare yards of land on the east side of
Sefton-street, still the property of the company, which
value would be very greatly increased by the pending sale
of the land on the opposite side of the street for dock pur-
poses. It remained only to announce that the sale had
been agreed to be completed at the end of one month next
after the Liverpool Dock Bill should have been passed,
the purchase money baing payable in dock bonds, made
out for the proportion due to each individual proprietor,
payable in five or seven years, with interest meanwhile at
four per cent., or, at the option of the Dock Committee,
in cash, if, as seemed probable, that body should be able
to borrow the money at less than four per cent. interest.
If the purchase money were not paid at the times before
mentioned, it was to carry interest at four per cent., the
purchasers receiving the rents. The report concluded by
declaring a further increased dividend of £1 17s. 6d. per
share, payable on the 11th of April next, and by stating
that the directors, who retired by rotation, were Mr.
Mozley, Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Stewart, and
that there was a fifth vacancy caused by the retirement of
Mr. Duckworth, who had disqualified,
The CHAIRMAN said the accounts which had been read,
and the report which the directors had thought proper to
submit, conveyed the whole of the proceedings as regarded
the financial arrangements, and exhibited in the result the
gratifying circumstance of an increased amount of divi-
dend upon a very small outlay of expenditure. After hav-
ing congratulated the meeting on the successful termina-
tion of the negotiations with the Dock Committee, he said
it would be aff-ctation if he were not to assure them that
during the period of the year when that transaction was
going on, the feelings of the directors, as men of honour
and character, as well as their habits as men of business,
had been repeatedly outraged by the unfair means in which
they were held up to public view, while they were acting
simply in the performance of their duties as trustees, and,
as he contended, in the performance of a straightforward
and honourable course. (Hear, hear.) If party spirit in
the town of Liverpool was to carry individuals to such an
extent in their application of terms,--either• in their
speeches, or in the management they might have of such
portions of the public press as they might patronise,—as
to attack other individuals, who, in the performance of
their duty were taking a most straightforward view for
the interests of the community at large and the commer-
cial purposes of Liverpool, then the whole of the directors
and the whole of the proprietors had had their feelings
outraged by means of aspersions cast on them, contrary
to fact, he publicly declared, and certainly contrary to
what courtesy and good feeling were at all warranted in
exercising. But the best answer which could be given,
was the result now communicated, and which the public
press had communicated before,—that, upon the closest
scrutiny, the advantage of the purchase appeared desira-
ble. He would leave the past to be recorded in tile his-
tory of Liverpool, believing the day was not far distant
when the circumstance of the purchase of the Harrington
Estate, and the great improvements that must inevitably
take place in that part of the town in which so large a
proportion of the corporate property was situated, would
evince the good sense and good calculations which had in-
fluenced the public authorities in coming to the conclu-
sions they had done ; for the strong impression on his own
mind was, that a wiser bargain had never been made on
the part of the public authorities. As to the views of the
individuals who had permitted so important a part of the
public trust connected with the Dock Estate, to fall out
of their hands originally, it was not for him to discuss;
but if he were a member of the body who rule that pro-
perty, he should say the wisest course they ever took was,
to retrace the steps they had imprudently taken before,
and to endeavour to get possession of the important pro-
perty which they had allowed to pass into the hands of
strangers. (Hear, hear.) After having again congratu-
lated the meeting on the increase of the dividend, he con-
cluded by moving that the report of the directors and the
accompanying accounts were satisfactory and approved of,
and that the former be printed and circulated among the
proprietors as usual.
Mr. BICKERSTETH seconded the motion, which was
unanimously adopted.
Upon the motion of Mr. BoYD, seconded by Mr.
BROWN, Sir T. Brancker, Mr. Mozley, Mr. Dixon, Mr.
Sothern, and Mr. Whitehead, were elected directors in the
place of the four who retired, and the one who had be-
come disqualified.

Upon the motion of Mr. WILLINK, seconded by Mr.
GooRE, the sum of 151 guineas was ordered to be placed
at the disposal of the directors, to be applicable to their
remuneration during the past year, in such manner as
they should determine upon.

Thanks were then voted to the directors and the chair-
man, after which the meeting separated.