Tue 13 Apr 1790
General Half Yearly Meeting. Tonnage £1020 10s 10d. Balance in hand £597 3s 6½d. Dividend of £2 15s declared.
Committee to purchase coals not exceeding £500 to be landed at Dudbridge.
Mr Benjamin Grazebrook to pay £25 for tonnage and wharfage for next half year.
Letter from Mr Antony Keck. Committee expect him to pay expense of repairs at Double Lock.
Account of tonnage on Thames & Severn Canal in future to be compared and settled the month before General Meeting.
Labourers in Company's service to catch fish in canal and dispose of it for benefit of Proprietors.
Committee for the next year: Sir George Paul, Nathaniel Winchcombe, Edward Harford, Richard Bigland, John Colborne, John Hollings, William Battersby, Joseph Harford, Henry Burgh, Benjamin Grazebrook, Joseph Cripps, Joseph Grazebrook.
Letter from Rev Mr Ellis soliciting subscription for Severn Humane Society; £2 12s 6d per annum subscribed.
£2 12s 6d to be paid for recovery of any person apparently dead by being drowned in Stroud Canals.
At a General Half Yearly Meeting of the Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation held this Thirteenth day of April 1790 at the George Inn in Stroud
William Battersby Esq^r in the Chair.
The Minutes of the last General Meeting were Read and Confirm'd.
The several Books and Accounts were produced respecting the Affairs of the Company as directed by the Act of Parliament & Examing and Confirmed.
It appears by the Accounts that the Sum of £820..10..10 has been received for Tonnage from the 13^th of Octo^r last to this day, also a further Sum of £200 has this day been received of the Proprietors of the Thames & Severn Navigation making in the whole £1020..10..10 a part of which has been appropriated to the Payment of the last Dividend other part thereog has been expended in the payment of Debts, etc and there remains a Ballance in hand of £597..3..6½. Ordered that a Dividend of Three Pounds, fifteen Shillings be made on each Share to be paid by the Treasurers on the first Day of May next and that our Clerk do transmit circular Letters to those Proprietors who are absent from this Meeting to inform them they may draw on the Treasurers or apply to them for Payment of the same.
Resolved unanimously that the Committee be empowered to purchase Coals not exceeding the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds and that they do Land a Quantity thereof at Dudbridge proportionable to the usual Sale of that Place.
Ordered that M^r Benj^n Grazebrooks Barges to and from Glocester & Bristol do pass and repass the Canal till the next Half Yearly Meeting in consideration of his paying Twenty five Pounds for Tonnage and Wharfage during that Time.
A Letter from M^r Anthony Keck being produced & read at this Meeting, the Committee are directed to inform him in answer thereto that the Meeting expect that he will without delay fulfill the agreement made the 14^th of April 1789 between the Proprietors and himself by paying the Expence of the Repairs which have been made in the Lock at the Direction and under the Direction of M^r Clews in conformity with the said agreement.
Order that our Clerk do inform the Clerk of the Thames & Severn Canal that it is the request of this Company according to agreement enter'd into at the last General Meeting with M^r Chambers on behalf of their Company that the account of the Tonnage on their Canal be in future compared and settled one month previous to the General Meeting.
Resolved That the Committee do employ the Labourers in the Company Service at proper times under the direction of the Clerk, in catching the Fish in the Canals, and dispose of the same for the Benefit of the Proprietors and report the Produce at the next General Meeting.
The following Gentlemen are appointed a Committee for the ensuing Year Viz:
Sir Geo: Paul, Jn^o Hollings, Nathaniel Winchcombe, Will^m Battersby, Edward Harford, Joseph Harford, Rich^d Bigland, Henry Burgh, Jn^o Allaway, Benj^n Grazebrook, Jn^o Colborne, Joseph Cripps, Joseph Grazebrook.
A Letter having been Received from the Rev^d M^r Ellis solliciting a Subscription for the Severn Humane Society, Ordered that £2..12..6 per Annum be subscribed to that Society and a further Donation of £2..12..6 be paid for the recovery of any Person apparently dead by being drowned in the Stroud Canal, such Donations to be divided among the Persons who shall assist in the recovery, in such proportions as the Committee shall direct.
