The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-29 00:00:00

er HE DIRECTORS of the LONDON and BIR-
MINGHAM RAILWAY COMPANY feel that in
the exercise of the trust confided to them, they are not
called upon to make any lengthened comment on the
statement which has been put forth by the Grand Junc-
tion Board. They are prepared to lay open to the in-
spection of their own proprietors, or to print for their
use, if desired, every document connected with the recent
negociation between the Shropshire Comrnitteoand them-
selves, together with the communications which have been
addressed on this subject to the Grand Junction Board ;
but they. cannot think it either requisite or desirable that
matters having reference only to the negociations and
private interests of railway companies should be obtruded
on the public.
Whatever misapprehension may have existed as to the
degree in which the Shropshire Committee acquiesced in
the transfer to the Grand Junction Board of their pending
arrangements with the London and Birmingham Direc-
tors, under the agreement of the 3d July last, nothing
certainly has occurred which could bind the Shropshire
Committee to th' stipulation that the making of the line
was to be vested in the Grand Junction Board. The
point had not been even definitely settled between the
London and Birmingham Directors and the Shropshire
Committee, and it is evident, even had the principle been
recognised by both parties, that under no circumstances
could such a conclusion have been arrived at without the
settlement of preliminary arrangements by which the best
line of communication should be secured, and the possible
making of the railway with inferior gradients guarded
against, and by which also the objects of the Shropshire
interests should be provided for by suitable stipulations
between the contracting parties.
It is also clear that, whatever may have been, on either
side, the extent of misapprehension, it would have been
removed at the first interview between the solicitors on
• both sides, whenever they might meet, in accord with the
sroposal contained in Mr. Glyn's letter of the 15th July,
to give legal effect to the intended measures. The diffi-
culty of concurring upon this point was in fact ascertained
very soon after that date, and practically the Grand
Junction Directors were aware almost from the first of
the views of the Shropshire Committee not to resign the
making of the line.
As respects the inference which the Grand Junction
Board have drawn from the communications reported to
have passed between the professional advisers on both
sides, the London and Birmingham Directors do not think
it necessary to offer any remarks on such an unusual pro-
ceeding; but they must solemnly deny on the part of their
Chairman, themselves. and their Solicitor, and of any one
officially connected with the London and Birmingham
Company, the most remote intention or design to act
towards the Shropshire Committee in the treacherous
manner which on such grounds has been assumed. The
Directors declare, on the contrary, that they always con-
templated the permanent existence of the Shropshire
Committee to protect the interests of their shareholders,
to take care that the stipulations for working the line in a
manner convenient to that part of the country, and for its
interest, were properly carried out, and eventually to un-
dertake any other duties which would devolve to them.
The London and Birmingham Directors conceived that
in endeavouring to secure for the Grand Junction Com-
pany important and influential connections represented
by the Shrewsbury Committee, they had taken a course
eminently calculated to promote the interests of that
Company. The endeavours of the Directors to carry out
their intentions were most fairly met by the Shropshire
Committee, and the London and Birmingham Directors
are still at a loss to understand the motives which have
induced the Grand Junction Board to adhere to their
stipulation for making the line, because, as respects any
protective object, the clauses tendered by the Shropshire
Committee would have been amply sufficient. They
were clauses to which this Board would have at once as-
sented, as affording ample protection over the expenditure
of capital, the antual construction of the works, and the
making of contracts for them.
The Directors must, however, express their surprise
that the Shrewsbury Committee should on their part have
publisned an extract from a note by Mr. Glyn, (approved.
it is trite, by the London and Birmingham Directors,)
addressed to Mr. Ormsby Gore, before his letter, a copy
of which is for the first time given in the 2iforning Herald
of this day, could have been laid before the Board, since
it is evident that the note was never intended as an official
answer to Mr. Gore's official commun'cation, and referred
only to one point, namely, the existence of the Shrews-
bury Company as an independent undertaking, which had
been alluded to in a letter written by Mr. Glyn to Mr.
Moss immediately before. The official answer to that
letter, as printed in the statement of the Shrewsbury
Committee, and to the deputation which attended the
London and Birmingham Board, was embodied in the
resolution of the Board of 6th September are communi-
cated to the Grand Junction Board.
The London and Birmingham Directors have only in
conclusion to express their deep regret that arrangements
calculated in their opinion to promote the best interests of
both Companies should have been marred g but they are
satisfied that no endeavours have hem wanting on their
part to impress upon the Grand Junction Directors the
evil consequences which may result from the difference
with the Shropshire Committee.

By order of the
R. CREED, Secreta•y.
Office Etlion Station, Oct. 21, 1844.