A meeting of the shareholders of the Great Western Railway,
ad- jourred from the 15th of August last, was held on Wednesday, at the Merchants' Hall, Bristol. Mr. W. U. Sims, Chairman of the Board of Directors, presided ex dlicio. The proceedings excited the greatest interest, not only among the Bristol shareholders, but among those of Lancashire and Lo..don, many of whom were present. It was an- nounced that the chair would be taken at one o'clock precisely, but shot tly after twelve the room was crowded to excess.
The circumstances under which the adjournment of August took place are thus detailed in the report of the 11.1orniny Post— "Mr. Brunel, the engineer of the Company, son of the engineer of the Thames Tunnel, has, in the construction of this railway, deviated very materially ftom all previous usage ; not only as respects the width of gauge, that is, the dis. tance between the rails, but in regard to the mode of laying the rails. Thus, in the Loudon and Birmingham and most other English railways, the width between the rails is 4 feet Si inches, whereas Mr. Brunch has siected a gauge of 7 feet. Again, the rails in the Birmingham line are sudported on isolated blocks of atone, placed a certain distance apart ; those of the Southampton are borne ems blocks of wood similarly placed ; but on the Great Western a conti- nuous wooden bearer or sleeper is treed, with various arrangements to keep it in its proper position, while, instead of the heavy rail generally adopted, a thin light rail is screwed u,,on the wooden bearer already referred to. The advan- tages anticipated by Mr. Brunel and his disciples from these innotlatione, were greater ease of motion, an increase of speed, less wear and tear of machinery, and greater security against accidents. It appears, however, that in the open. ing of the railway to Maidenhead, these advantages were not so apparent as had been expected, and many of the shareholders began to complain loudly of the increased expense which the carrying into effect of Mr. Brunel's schemes created. This additional expense Mr. Brunel himself estimates at about 500/. per mile over and above the cost of construction on the old plan, while those who are hostile to the change insist that the increase of cost will exceed three times that sum. In addition to the dissatisfaction expressed by some of the shareholders, Mr. Brunch's plans have been attacked most unsparingly in a London journal, exclusively devoted to these matters, till it has become imperative on the Di. sectors to take some steps to allay the clamour. " Affairs were in this position, when the usual half-yearly meeting of the Company took place in August. On that occasion, a voluminous and elaborate report was presented by Mr. Brunel, and a discussion which lasted for five or six Lour s followed ; but, as the report was not then adopted, the adjourned meeting of yesterday was appointed, on the motion of a few gentlemen from Liverpool, who hold a very large number of shares, and who are dissatisfied with the pre- sent mode of operations. It was agreed at the meeting in August, that some engineer of experience should be appointed to report upon the merits or demerits of the railway ; and ultimately Mr. Nicholas W owl, well known iu the profes- sion and to the public by his writings, was selected for the duty. It was generally understood that Mr. Wood was rather inclined to countenance the plans of Mr. Brunch; and accordingly, at the request of some of the share- holders, another engineer, Mr. Ilawkshaw, was requested to examine the line and give in a separate report. These reports were expected to be forthcoming yesterday ; but only that of Mr. Ilawkshaw had been received, Mr. Wood re- quiring further time for a more complete and extensive set of experiments. Under these circumstances, the Directors determined to keep back Mr. Hawk- shaw's report till Mr. Wood's should be ready; but they did not conceal, as in- deed was before very generally known, that Mr. H. had given his most decided opinion against the plan adopted by Mr. Brunel ; and had even gone so far as to recommend removing the rails alteady laid and run upon, and substituting the old gauge of four feet eight inches and a hale A good deal of the discuss shin which took place on Wednesday had for its object the production of Mr. Ilawkshaw's statement ; but without success.
"Dr. Carpenter moved the adoption of the report postponed since the last meeting ; when an amendment was brought forward by Mr. Laurence Ileyworth, of Liverpool, a gentleman whose family hold, it is said, shares in this railway to the amount of 120,000/, besides very large investments in other lines. The object of the amendment was to precure atiotheradjournmen ; bre, after a vast deal of discussion and some squabbling, it was ultimately withdrawn, and the reports of the Directors awl of Mr. Brunel received. It was settled also, that a special meeting should take place in London on the 20th of December ; by which time it is expected that Mr. Wood's report will be ready, to decide finally upon the matter. Mr. Brunel gave some explanations, which appeared to afford satisfaction to a large portion of the meeting ; but it was quite evident that nothing short of a full investigation would wady many of them."
In addition to the above statement, it should be mentioned, that the receipts on the railway, since it has been opened to Maidenhead, greatly exceed the expenditure ; the former amounting to 25,173/. 16*. I Id. ; the latter to 10,925/. 12s. Id., exclusive of "maintenance of way ;" and according to contracts entered into, that item will bring up the ex- penditure to 13,271/. 12s. ld., or 47 per cent. on the coaching re- ceipts of the Company to the 30th of September. In order to give a correct view, however, of the profit and loss account, the amount of capital expended on the same portion of the line, and on which inte- rest is to be paid, should be ascertained. According to a statement by Mr. Heyworth, the expenditure on every item has been most ex- travagant; and several persons expressed strong disapprobation of the conduct of the engineer. Mr. Babbage, however, stoutly defended him, and approved of the principle on which his railway had been con- structed. If we rightly understand the effect of the vote of Thursday, the progress of this vast work is for the present suspended.
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