The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-22 00:00:00

stance no Provisional Committee was announced) brou
before the public the project of a Line from Shrewsbury
to join the Grand Junction Line at Wolverhampton, in-
stead of Stafford, (and subsequently proposed to be ex-
tended to Birmingham); communications aftezwards took
place on the subject of the different Shrewsbury-Railways,
the result of which was, that the Grand Junction Direc-
tors agreed, as a concession to the London and Birming-
ham Company and to the new Shropshire party, to adopt
Wolverhampton, instead of Stafford, 'as ,the terminus;
here again affording, surely., proof enough of anything
but a desire on their part to dictate. After,these preli-
minary remarks, the Directors approach the two points
now in dispute. namely, first, who. under the agreement
of the 3rd of July last between the London and*Birming-
ttam and Grand Junction Companies, w-re 'to be the
"makers" of the Shrewsbury and \Volveeh moron Line;
and secondly, whether Mr. Gre's part.; have or have
not adopted that agreement. 'I he following statement
will, it is hoped, make it clear that there is no ground
whatever for complaint against the Directors of the Grand
-Junction Railway on either point.
First, as to the aer,vment itself ; in express words,,
states, that the Grand Junthon Company shall make the
• Line ; and when it is considered that they we,. to orovide
.half the capital, end also to guarantee inter( upon the
total amount, whatever that should be, it surely was most
reasonable that they should be the makers of it. In Mr.
Gore's statement, however, it is said, that " it isubaious
jib:, any impartial observer, that the word `make' is clearly
hmodified and restrained from the meaning sought to be
tezzd re
bee n
j put ur on it by the stipulation as to the, leasing of the
tLine.” In refutation of this attempt to explain away the
meaning of the word, the Directors beg to observe, that
the two London and Birroirighan-i Directors, who made
nwakiselresdo'fatththeeLtiinme, e,atrliidattiN)elyr.pGroopre;sse,d (
party
,ilhi)
the 'Grand Junction Directors) that the agreement should
standiin that form ; the latter, however, after diecussi,n
of the matter with the London and Birmingham' Direc-
tors, exoressly refus:ed to consent to the proposition) and
the agreement was' altered into its present form, and
.sizned accordingly on behalf of both Companies. More
need not said in proof that all the patties to the agree-
ment,.ai the lime they entered in/a it, intended precisely
the same thi:,z, and attached precisely the same meaning
to the word " wake" ; and to shew that the London and
13irminaam Directors held the same opinion at a later
date, the Solicitor of that Company wrote to Mr. Roy,
the Solicitor of the Shrewsbury party, on the 23rd of
August, ',a letter, from which the following is an extract:
" My understanding of the arrangement between your
Company end the London and Birmingham, is as you

. .
have expressed it, namely, that the GranJ Junction were
to take up the -agreement at the point where they had left
it. I must say, .also, that I contemplated that your Com-
pany were to be Lessors of the line, so as. to cause its
being made, and to that extent the moving tatty ; but I
havp invariably expressed my opinion, that virtually the
making of the Line rnuet be by the Company guarantee-
'ing the interest; the mode of carrying this out had
never been discuxsed between us, and was, in fact, the
point at which we had jut arrived, when the arrangement
with the Grand Junction was made."

To this the Directors will only further add, that their
Solicitor had previously (namely on the 24th of July)
been informed by the Solicitor of the London and Bir-
mingham Company that Mr, Glyn was inclined to think,
not that the Shrewsbury parties should make the Line,
hut that they " should be kept on until the Act of Par-
!lament were obtained," thus distinctly excluding the idea
that they were to he the makers of the Line, a duty which
of course does not arise until after the period up to
which, only. their services might (in his view) be retained.
Flaring thus, they hope, conclusively established their
first point,—that they were to be the makers of the Line,
—the Directors proceed to the other question, whether
the Shrewsbury party have or have not concurred in that
agreement ; and it is admitted to be a very material ques-
tion in the present position of affairs. In Mr. Gore's
published statement it is alleged—
" That the only concurrence ever given by them was
that contained in the letter of their Chairman of the 12th
of July, inclosing the terms which recognised this Com-
pany as the makers of the Line; that this Committee
have never, in the slightest degree, departed from that
pesit'or ; they never have a'isented to the Grand Junction
b.-ing the makers."
The contrary has been (mite as distinctly declared, on
behalf of the London and Birmingham Directors, to the
Grand Junction Directors; the former have reported to
the latter, that the agreement of the 3rd July was read
over to Mr. Gore and his friends, on the 10th July, and
that he then " pointed out the discrepancy between the
terms of the new arrangement and the previously existing
agreement for making the Line, by which the Shrewsbury
party were to be the rockers of it, under the supervision
of a joint Committee; whereas by the new arrangement,
the making of it is tranferred to the Grand Junction
Company." The Grand Junction Dirt clors were in-
fo! med by Mr. Glyn, on the same day, that there was
some little difficulty made by Mr. Gore and bit friends
upon some . parts of the agreement, and that therefore
their official concurrence in it might be a little delayed ;
hut on the 151 i of July, the London and Birmingham
CoMpany sent the f llowing letter to the Grand Junction,
without at, all noticing Mr. Gore's to Mr. Glyn of the
12'h, or in any other way indicating that there remained
the slightest objeeticn to the " new arrangement" :
" London and Birmingham Railway Offices,
Euston Station, 15th July, 1814.

" Mr DEAR fiat,—The dayfollowin:r my return from
Birmingham, I made known to the Chairman of the Pro-
visional Committee -of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham
Company the terms of our arrangement. so far as they
were interested in it. This notice. xvhieli i necompanieri
with an assurance that the Grand Junction Company
fey intended to afford the accommodation and faci-
lities which the Shrewsbury traffic might require, was
received in good part, and it noW only remains for Mr.
Parker, Mr. Roy. and Mr. Swift to meet as soon as they
can, on behalf' of the !hree parties concerned, to give
legal effect to our measures.
" I am, dear Sir, yonrs faithfully,
(Signed) " GEO. CARR GLYN.
" To John Moss, Esq."
If the Grand Junction Directortt could, after this letter,
have bad the slightest doubt of the fact of the concurrence
of Mr. Gore's party in those measures, all such doubt
would have been removed by a letter from the London
and Birmingham Chairman, dated as la'e as the 12th of
September last, whe-ein• he expressly repeats that that
concurrence lt,d been given. The misunderstanding,
then, if any exists, as to the making cf the Line, has
been between the Shropshire parties and the London and
Birmingham Directors: the Grand Junction have neither
caused nor contributed to it in any way whatever. •
In Mr. Gore's statement, again, reference is made to
his letter of the 12th July, as showing that some terms
had been then actually arranged between him and the
London and Birmingham Company, including amongst
them a provision that his party should he the makers of
the Line; and in the same letter again he refers to his
meeting with the London and Birmingham Company of
the Wednesday previous (the 10th of July), as if such a
provlsion had been recognized at that Meeting ; whereas
the London and Birmingham Directors' Report of what
passed at that Meeting distinctly states on the contrary,
and Mr. Parker, their Solicitor, also writes, that the
terms, so far from having b •en agreed upon, had never
been even discussed ; and, moreover, (as will be seen by
Mr. Creed's letter, which follows.) he expreQsly stated
to Mr. Roy, when he delivered Mr. Gore's letter of,the
-12,h of July, that that letter was n:tt consistent with the
pledge of the Grand Junction Company, contained in the
agreement read to the Shrewsbury Deputation.

The Grand Junction Director's most sincerely regret
the misunderstanding which appears to have taken place
between the London and Birmingham Director.• and Mr.
Gore and his friends; probably it may be traced to the
fact (published by Mr. Gore) ant he has not communi-
cated with the. Grand Junction direct : if he had done so,
and if parties had met in an amicable spirit, all differences
might have been avoided ; such a meeting wa4, in tact,
arranged, and a day was fixed. but before that day arrived
Mr. Gore thought. proper to address to the Grand Junc-
tion Directers, through the London and Birmingham, a
letter, in chub he declined am meeting unless the Grand
Junction .lould, as a preliminary, concede the point in
dispute. In reply td this letter, the Grand Jut-wine' Di-
rectors transmitted to the London and Birmingham the
following Resolutions, .and here the matter has since
rested :

" G"and Junction Rolfwv Office, Liverpool,
18th September, 1844."
"The Board I vir.g considered a letter from the Se-
cretary of the London and Birmingham Railway, dated
.16th instant, communicating or.e from Mr. Ormsby Gore
to )Ir. Glyn, on the iuhject of the proposed Shrewsbury
and Wolverhami:ton Railway ;
" Resolvtd,—

" That this Board cannot but feel the greatest regret
and surprise, that the London and Birmingham Board
should have allowed themselves to he made the medium
of such a communication as that from Mr. Gore (even
overlooking the offensive and unmerited tone and style of
it). since the purport of it is to call upon this Ward to
waive a most important point of their agreement with the
London and Birmingham of the 3rd July last, and which
point was fully discussed and considered before being
consented to by Mr. Glyn and Mr. Smith, and which
was ultimately embodied in the 3rd clause of that agree-
ment in the following words, viz. :
" ' That the London and Birmingham is prepared, with
the concurrence of their Shropshire party (which they will
use their best endeavoers to obtain), to withdraw from
the guarantee towards the Shrewsbury and Birmingham
Line ; the Grand Junction, with the concurrence of their
Stafford Shareholders, undertaking to make a Line to
Wolverhampton. and guarantee four per cent, on the
capital, and an equal division of future profits ; the
Shrewsbury and Birmingham Shareholders (under the
same condition as the Stafford and Shrewsbury) having
an option of half ,the capital; the Grand Junction Com-
pany having a lease in perpetuity, and working the Liue
in a manlier convenient to that part of the country.'
_ _

" That Mr. Gore's demand. now, that the Gentlemen,
whom he designates as the Board, of which he is the
Chairman, shalt be ' the makers and lessors of the Line,'
is obviously not only inconsistent with this agreement,
(which, in so many words, pros ides that the Grand June-
lion Company shall be the 'makers' .of the Lint,) and
with the right; of the latter, as the guarantors of int•rest
on the ci•p•btl to be expended on it, but is also wholly
irreconcilable with the London and Birmingham Board's
reports to this Board, that the Shropshire patty had ex-
pressed their concurrnce in the agreement, after having
Lad ' wade known to them the terms of it, so far as they
were int,rrsted in it.'

" That this Board must, most- distinctly, decline to
make the declaration' required in Mr. Gore's letter.
" That the London and Birmingham Board cannot but
be aware, that this Board have all along been, and still
are, willing and anxious to carry out the arrangement so
made, both in leper raid spirit; and that as, in pursuance
,
of it, this Board have obandoned their d and
Sh ewsbnry
end have offered to Mr. G,)re's way,
through Mr. Roy, half the capital in their Wolverhampton