Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/26

 CHAPTER II.

administration of the London and North-Western Railway is carried on by the Chairman, two Deputy-Chairmen, and a Board of thirty Directors, five of whom retire annually, but are eligible for reelection. Any shareholder may become a director by election, provided he possesses the qualification of holding ordinary stock to the value of one thousand pounds. The full Board of Directors meets once a month, viz., on the third Friday in every month, but the members are also organised in a number of smaller committees, called "Committees of the Board," which also meet once a month and deal with various branches of the business. For instance, there is a "Special Committee," consisting of sixteen members, which holds its meetings intermediately between the meetings of the full Board and devotes itself to much the same class of business; a "Finance Committee" of seven members; a "Permanent Way Committee" of ten members, at which the engineers attend, and which accepts tenders, approves contracts, orders relaying and repairs, and generally authorises all expenditure connected with the permanent works of the railway; a "Locomotive Committee" of ten members, which deals with all matters relating to the engine works at Crewe, the carriage works at