The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-31 00:00:00

CANADIAN MATTERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE COLONIAL GAZETTE.
Glasgow, 23d March, 1846.
SIR,—Yon are quite mistaken in supposinv, that I have
insinuated that, compared with the population of any
county in England, in the same circumstances, the people
of Canada would be found less loyal.
I believe, on Vie contrary, that the people of Canada
are more intelligently !oval than the population of any
county or town in Great Britain and Ireland.

S i sincere, indeed, is my admiration of the Canadian .
character, in this respect, that your advocacy of it hag
already laid me under obligations to you, and certainly
made roe overlook the personalities which you have in-
dulged in against me.
A disloyal man, talking of a colony of doubtful loyalty,
dare riot have used the plain languaee I have done.
Had I descended to particulars, I must have more grie-
vously offended those parties in the province for whom
alone your correspondent has the slightest right to speak.
But for more active loyalists than thim, Toronto would
have fallen in,o M' Kenzie's hands on the night of the 4th
December, 1837.
I speak confidently, as having been on the spot, and
under arms ; and I appeal for corroboration to Sir Francis;
Bond Head (now in London), who is the last man to do
injustice to the brave population of Cam.da.

. .
You may depend that the whole population of Upper
Canada will deeply regret Sir Robert Peel's measure, ex-
cept a few Republicans and their newspapers, who will re-
joice, knowing that the introduction of Free Trade into
England is just the breaking down of the colonial system,
and the dissolution of the tie between the mother ciuntry
and the colony.—l am, sir, you obedient humble servant,

ISAAC BUCHANAN.

CHESTER AND BIRKENHEAD RAILWAY
COMPANY.

At twelve o'clock. on Wednesday, the half-yearly
general meeting of this company was held at the Claren-
don-rooms, South John-street. The meeting was nume-
rously attended. William Jackson, Esq., presided.
The CHAIRMAN commenced by reporting that the re-
ceipts for the last eleven weeks had averaged I:105 a week
more than they did this time last year, and by stating that
it was the intention of the Directors to make a consider-
able reduction in fares, and to open the new road stations
as soon as possih!e.
The retiring Directors—Messrs. Bentham. J. S. Jack-
son. and Burt, were re-elected, and Mr. Cochrane was

appointed a Director in the room of Sir Joshua Wahnsley,
resigned.

Upon the motion of the CHAIRMAN, the following re-
solution was unanimously adopted : " That as consider-
able inconvenience will be occasioned owing to the last
call on the new £5O shares in this company not being pay-
able until January, 1849, resolved, that the call thereon
would become due acd payable on the 6th day of July
next, be £2 per share, the whole amount then due."
The CHAIRMAN then craved the indulgence of the
meeting tor a few moments, while he alluded to a matter
of a personal nature. The proprietors were aware that at

. .
the general meeting held on the 29th of January last, a
charge was brought against him of having forstalled din
Company in the purchase of some land, by which he re-
alised a large profit. He was taken by surprise on that
occasion ; and when the following meeting was held, and
he was prepared to render an account of his stewardship,
his mouth was stopped in consequence•of Mr. M'Gregor
Laird having given notice of his intention to commence a
suit in Chancery. Since then, Mr. Laird had published
a circular, in which he left the whole matter in the bands
of the Proprietors. He (the Chairman) therefore felt
himself at liberty to state the circumstances under which
t:te land had been purchased ; for hitherto he bsd met all

the attacks made upon him in leading articles in railway
periodicals, and circulars (and all by the same hand) with
a simple denial of the charge. As an instance of the mode
in which he had been attacked, he had received a letter
from his son, who was at Harrow School, a lad only 14
years of ace, in which he stated that a copy of one of the
fiercest attacks which had appeared against him (his
father) in the public prints had been enclosed to him.
(Cries of" Shame.") He (the Chairman) treated such
attacks as he would a wasp—he brushed them off, and bad
done with them. The circumstances under which ha
purchased the land were these !—ln the month of July,
1844, a young man, with whom he had been acquainted
for years, called upon him and stated that he was desirous .)
of having a shop built at the corner of Argyle and Con-
way-streets, Birkenhead ; and he was asked to build the
shop for him. Negociations were accordingly opeald
with Mr. Cole, the agent for Penny and Watson, for the
purchase, and he (Mr. Jackson) went so far as to cause
plans to be drawn nut for the erection of shops upon the
land. He had bow,ht it for a fixed purpose, and at a time
when the Railway Company had no power to purchase it.
Nine months afterwards the Company obtained the power,
and it was subsequent to that time the Board agreed to
run the Extension Line through the land, and to re-
purchase it from him (the Chairman). He assured the
meeting that when he originally entered into the contract,
he had no knowledge that the Board would ever require
it ; and he also assured them that the price he obtained
from the Board was the real value of the land.
Mr. BENTHAM corroborated the chairman's statement
as to the land having been originally purchased with the
view of erecting shops thereon. He informed the meet"
ing that M r. DI `Gregor Laird held but a very small interest
in the Birkenhead line, and that, in tact, his last half"
yearly dividend only amounted to 6s. 81 He pitied the
motives which had dictated the present attack upon the
chairman.

Mr. M'GREGOR LAIRD denied that he had ever written
anything in railway periodicals to which be had not affixed
his name. He confessed that he felt considerable surprise
at finding that Mr. Jackson had been paid X 4 a yard for
the land in question, when no such price had been paid
for land similarly circumstanced. He contended that
long before Jackson made the purchase from Penny and
Watson, it was well known that that very piece of Jana
would be required for the railway extension. Moreover,
Mr. Jackson had purchased land at both sides of the
street, and it was impossible for any engineer to extend
the line without taking it through some portion of that
land. :Mr. Laird went on to contend that the case made
out on a former occasion had been proved ; and he re•
minded the meeting that though he had heretofore asked
for a committee of inquiry, that committee bad not been
granted.
A discussion of an hour and a half's duration folloWed'
in which several directors and proprietors took an an►•
mated part.

The CH AIRMAN then stated that he was apaious for in'
quiry into the general, but not into the particular question.
Mr. M. LAIRD, after an ineffectual attempt to have the
inquiry particular, as well as general, at length agreed to
have an inquiry under any circumstances.
Much conversation took place as to who should foil
the committee; whether proprietors of the Birkenhead
board, or gentlemen wholly unconnected with the coin'
pany.
The CHAIRMAN objected to the Cheshire Junction Di'
rectors nominating any of the committee, and after muck'
contention upon this point
The CHAIRMAN nominated Mr. George Stephenson as
his arbitrator.
Mr. M. LAIRD nominated Mr. Robertson Gladstoneas
his arbitrator. _

—.—
It was understood that, in case of disagreement, the ar'
bitrators should call in an umpire, and report the result to
the general meeting of the Company in July next.
A good deal of personality was indulged in throughout

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