DIRECTORS' ADVANCES IGNORED 195 



North, from London. Despite the violent opposition 

 of all the northern lines, assisted also by the 

 Great Western Company, the Act of Parliament 

 was obtained, and the line is now in course of 

 construction, and when completed the new Metro- 

 politan station will be erected in the Marylebone 

 Road, affording an entirely new route into the 

 north by means of the much despised, and well 

 sneered at, condemned little line, immortalised, as 

 it was, as the 'A and B.' Mr. Rummens, the chair- 

 man and original contractor, is now gone to his 

 grave, after successfully opposing the honest claims 

 of the original directors, for the advances they had 

 made to construct and complete the line. He, as the 

 largest shareholder, objected to all claims which 

 militated against the value of his shares, and through 

 the quibbles raised in the Court of Chancery 

 lost us many thousands of pounds, depriving me 

 alone of over 4,000/. I had the honour of 

 representing this company in the Railway Clearing 

 House for nearly twenty years, and had an 

 opportunity of meeting many delightful, business-like 

 men, as representatives of all the great railways in 

 the kingdom, whose agreeable companionship will 

 never be forgotten by me. 



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