of shareholders meeting the requirements of Parliament, nor was there any independent audit of accounts (they were looked over by a company director, who also acted as a solicitor for the company, although not officially the company solicitor). Two representatives of Newcastle shareholders attended, complaining that shares had been sold in Newcastle by the company at a premium on the assurance of its representative (the solicitor-cum-director) that a dividend of 8% was to be expected; a dividend of 4% had then been declared and this was partly funded by the premium on the shares sold. The company secretary was not an efficient officer - "the time was come when some one ought to be at the head of the Company who is competent to manage its affairs". The chairman of the sub-committee whilst refusing to go into detail ahead of the submission of their report confirmed that they were satisfied that "it was most essential and important that there should be a thorough change in everything connected with the Company" The Railway Chronicle editorialised that "the conduct of the board ... was a specimen of everything that a business-like management could avoid"; the company secretary (who had also been acting as its engineer) was dismissed and a committee of five directors set up to more closely supervise the operation of the railway. The next shareholders' meeting in February 1847 was told there was no immediate prospect of a dividend being paid (interest payments on the company's borrowings, and the running costs of the railway ate up in almost equal measure the operational receipts); the meeting then voted to explore the possibility of amalgamation with the Newcastle and Carlisle or the Lancaster and Carlisle railways. The Newcastle and Carlisle offered to lease the line, paying 5% a year on M&C shares, but negotiations lapsed: matters had improved for the M&C, which found itself able to pay a 3% a year dividend. Results for the first half of 1848, however, showed the M&C to be running at a loss : receipts were down 20% and interest payments were higher; it was therefore resolved to negotiate the leasing of the line by George Hudson, the Railway King and chairman of numerous railway companies chiefly in the east of the country. Hudson proposed a lease of the line by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway from 1 October 1848, matching a lease just taken