The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-26

although Company may do certain act ipde-
pendently-that company is not TO agree TO do
that act as part Of series and collection Of acts
70 be done for the purpose Of working out an
n II was objected to the plaintiff he was not
O bona fde plaintiff, but intended simply to
subserye another company, but although the
Vice-Chancellor said he could conceive Mr..
Hattersley may desire to favor the interests of
another company, vet he considered him enti-
tied to maintnin the suit. He was IN fact dis
carded contractor who had quarrelled with the
company he sought to enioin.
In Mansell VS.. The Midland Great Western
Qreland) Railway Company (82 Law J. Chs
5l3), Vlce-Chancellor Wood go June, 1859, on
bill fled by shareholders, granted them relief
against & the es a % t Ss directors which were "ne
Cardigan Railway Company (3s Law j. Ch. 93),
the same Judge held November 16, 1851 that
shareholder suing company and the direc-
tors for breach of trust must cue on
behalf of himself and the other shareholders.
The reason assigned by him is that 'it
would be most improper arrangement to
allow bill to be fled by one person with an in
tent that 800 or 400 shall be summoned In chem-
bers by notice of the decree being given, when
the forms of the court plainly allow bill to be
fled by him on behalf of himself aud all other
shareholders Ifthe plaintiff right in saying that
it Is ultra Uires, 1t does not signify whether all
the other persons wish IL done or not because
where it can be assumed to be for the benefit Of
everybody, the party may sue on behalf of him
self and all Others except the persons he charges
with misconduct"
The result Of this examination OF the authori-
ties clearly shows that Andrew Scott had clear
right to institute this suit in order that the COM
pany in which he is a stockholder may be res
trained from acts which are Illegal and Unrd
Uires
The next question IS have the philadelphia
and Erie Railroad Company, and of course their
lessees, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company,
such an interest in the subiectmatter of the con-
troyersy as entities them to the interposition of
a Court Of Equity in relation to the contract of
the Let November, 1866, and the parties to it, the
defendants in these proceedings? The Oata-
wissa road is a connecting road with the Phila.
delphia and Erie, and under the acts of 18th
March, 1s47, and 29th March, 1859, they are init
mately connected by the contract of 3lst Octo.
Der, 1860, for period oftwenty years.
This contract embraces the running of the
locomotives and cars of the Catawissa upon the
other road, and the use, management, and
working of these several roads, and was neces-
sary for the successful management by the
Catawissa of their through line between Will
Transport and Philadelphia. The contract of
the LIST of November last transferred all the right
property. and franchises of the Catawissa
to the Western Central and the Atlantic
and Great Western, and left nothing to the
Catawissa but the shell of corporation. This
contract is founded upon the hypothesis that the
Catawissa and the Atlantic and Great Western
are connected with each other by means of the
Philadelphia and Erie as an intervening railroad
"a question in which that Company have very
deep interest.
AS it is clear that the contract of the 1st No
vember last, is illegal and void, and ultra uires
OF all the parties to it, it be said that the in
teryening road which has so important con-
tract with the Catawissa, has not direct and
positive interest in preventing illegal acts by
illegal assignees in relation TO this contract and
the working of its road which can only be
effected by the restraining power of Court of
Equity? / cannot doubt that this Is such an
interest as a Court of Equity will protect, par
ticularly where the intervening road is not to be
used according to the intention of the Legisa-
ture, but new and hostile road is to be con-
structed to connect with the leased road.
The Atlantic and Great Western has no autho-
rity to contract to build the railroad specified in
the contract, nor has the Western Central, for
by the Reading contract it was thought neces-
sary to add another company to complete the
route, and it, perfectly certain that the Cata-
wissa had no authority to enter into such con-
tract which on all hands was ultra 0iTeS.
Heapath's Rditlcay Journal, May, 1866, page
3sS(says: "A gentleman who takes very active
part IN railway affairs said sometime ago, at one
OF the railway meetings, that the gauge was
the Great Westerns master evil. 1t is, however,
an evil that will be mastered. The great evil of
it, or rather of the adoption of two different
gauges in the country, was the expensive battle of
the gauges which was fought some years ago, and
the interruption of traffic break Of gauge natu-
rally causes If it is desirable to change the broad
into the narrow gauges all over the Great Western
system il can be done gradually at no cost or
waste, or very little-a broad can be easily
turned into narrow guage by the addition of
O single all inside, forming the mixed guage
broad and narrow. But a mixed guage is
rather more expensive in maintenance than q
purely narrow guage. For mineral and SUI
bUrban traffic, and for railway extension, the
narrow is decidedly preferable to the broad
guage. In our opinion it is a pity
the broad gTage was ever introduced
narrow should be as rapidly substituted Tor the
broad there as can be conveniently done.
'The Great Western is now as much a
narrow as a broad gauge railway-up to the end
of last January it had more goods engines on the
narrow than on the broad gauge, but less pas
senger engines of the broad gauge. OF goods and
passenger engines the Company then owned
$50 broad and5357 narrow gauge engines, but
new engines are, we believe, being constructed
on the narrow gllage. The number of carriages
and wagons the Company had at the end of Jan
uary last was 6797 broad guage, and TO- 043 mar
row; so that here already the narrow guagt
vehicles outnumber the broad. In the year from
January, 1854, 20 January, 1865, the Company
increased their broad guage engines by ii, anC
their narrow by So; their broad carriages an(
wagons by II, and their narrow by 924."
'By gradually reducing the area OF the broa(
gauge working, and condnng it to those dis
tricts where the passenger is the principal traffic
(and passengers seem to rather prefer the broa(
gauge travelling 20 the narrow gauge), tht
change may be effected without the waste OF car
rage, a truck or rail for the purposes o
maintenance, you must constantly max
new carriages, engines, and rails, and tn,
renewals may be made of the narroV
instead of the broad gauge. Thus the Grea
| Western may be gradually changed as Tar as /
needed Tor even entilely) from a broad TO
| narrow gauge without waste or loss, and ever
| with gain in the working expenses compared
| with the present rate, tor there Is no question
| that a heavy minerals and goods traffic can b
more economically conducted by means OF ;
narrow guage line and stock than a broad.
There is no question that freighters prefer thI