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ITHE COMMISSION OF THE PEACE…

. NEWPORT DOCK.

THE CHOLERA MORBUS.

. DEFALCATION IN THE NEWPORT…

THE INFLUENZA.

THE CHOLERA-CURE !

. FROM FRIDAY'S LONDON GAZETTE,…

Family Notices

--Si* Charles Morgan, Bait's…

A POLICE INTELLIGENCE, .

-----CAERLEON PETTY SESSIONS.—MONDAY,…

THE MONMOUTHSHIRE CANAL COMPANY.

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THE MONMOUTHSHIRE CANAL COMPANY. To the Editor of the Monmouthshire Merlin. SiE, I observe that you have devoted a long article in your last Saturday's paper to the affairs of the Monmouthshire Canal Company. You have the reputation of being extremely impar- tial; but your remarks of last Saturday have been considered by persons competent to form an opinion, as having a tendency to prejudice the company in a way which the conduct of that body, I am sure, does not deserve, and which I trust you did not, when penning the article referred to, intend. My time will not allow me to enter fully upon the subject, but I cannot refrain from calling attention to one passage in your leader, with the view to disabuse the public mind on a charge which is constantly—although without the slightest foundation —being brought against the company-I mean, their alleged covetousness and illiberality. You observe: The fact is, there is a feeling in many minds, that the Canal Company are not absolutely unable to carry out their line, but that they are un- willing to do it because they cannot secure their accustomed large dividend." Now, this is not only a very unfounded, but a very unworthy. opinion of the motives of the Canal Company, on the part of those from whom you receive your information; but it has been the fashion for some time to abuseanJ villify the company, and all their proceedings. But let that pass. You proceed to say: "If the Canal Company can remove this impression, their path will be much clearer." This, I be- lieve, I can easily do. The truth is, the Canal Company, instead of desiring to se- cure to themselves a large dividend, have contented themselves with a very small and inadequate one, to enable them to set aside money to improve their roads; and they have in this way laid out—in LASTING IMPROVEMENTS—a sum of nearly f 40,000. taken out of the profits of the concern, and which, if they had been the illiberal set of persons that they are said to be they could have put into their own pockets. In confirmation of this statement, I will refer you to your publication of the 22nd of May, 1847. You will there find the following passage in the Canal Company's half-yearly report: "Your committee conclude by recommending the proprietors to declare a dividend of f3. 10s. per share, free from income tax, for the last half- year. And they are induced to recommend such dividend from the necessity of tetting apart funds, to effect the necessury improvement of the works" Again, in the succeeding half-yearly report, you will find the following passage (see MERLIN of the 20th November, 1847):— But the committee are anxious to repeat the recommendation given to the proprietors at the last half-yearly meeting, to be satisfied WITH A REDUCED DIVIDEND and to apply the surplus revenue (lU it has, to a considerable extent, already been applied) IN THE FURTHER IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR ROADS, AND IN AID OB THE FUNDS required to meet the obligations imposed upon the com- pany by its acts oj parliament." These are proofs, I take it, of a more liberal spirit than cer- tain persons would give the company credit for; and do not these facts entitle the company to be met in a spirit of fairness by the freighters ? I am sorry to observe that they have not hitherto been so met. The proceedings on two recent occasions reported in your journal, indicate a spirit of opposition totally uncalled for, in my opinion, by the conduct of the Canal Com- pany, and evince a determination not to give way in any one single point, whether right or wrong. In short, some of the freighters appear to me, by their dictatorial conduct and thl tone which they assume, to be arrogating to themselves a con- troul offer the Canal Company's property and affairs which the relative position of the parties does not seem to me tn ♦ and which could not be much more ablSSe ifTw Z* were their own. ^at property I remain, your obedient servant, A CANAL PROPRIETOR. character fo^°imn^rrCr^ S^vcn cause to question our Mo" wK'ToniC SoC'*f-eit0-the C* letmtpd Via, r v in question, we were or hostile rh'r ^erent to anything of an ungenerous or hostIle character. The paragraph to which our correspon- th-it wLiM "aS n0t SC^ ^orth as expressing our opinion, but t.. h was entertained by some persons; and he will in- 1 et^the 'leader" but fairly in attributing to us, in its mposition, the animus embodied in the following extract irom it:—" On the whole we trust that a company, which it is reasonable to expect, by an enlightened and liberal course of action, will yet triumphantly flourish in this great district, will still persevere in efforts to effect some satisfactory arrange- ment, without the enormous expense of a litigated application to parliament."]