The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-12 00:00:00

1.1 I'EUM.

Tam Errignia. TILE Ticlll.,Etn. Mr. IN iddlcomb.—And
lIMEGE ET ',id I: Meisra. Fc..l.ter, Emery, Cowper. Moreland.
Yltr,,,trok.lton, Eeyoulds, Loma+. Andrew., Price, dc.:
Mrs. L Sturm,. and Mimes IleuraLe, GraMaio, and C. Leclerc*.

STRAND

Twig FAirwry44. NEIGU lOW AS. —Atter which will be produced
a brut.d lturicxtuu, I Aud A tlUllr UV
IMF It IYs.

lIOLIP )1:N .

Trigs ETINI&O, MV TURN N I..XT. Mr Delmore: litmus
Yeoto edi Lenn•lc —Ao4 FLYING Mews. Ntvll34. Bel-
lmore, Blake, Ynllalre, &c. ; MeFolaUneS Ir. Josepbs, C. Swindon.
ahreks Y otn, Ftdd... Leintus, E.tyzuutd.

BRITANNIA.

inis !MINING, THE PRIN. t7).vi o I" t, PEARL ISLAND
TILE TIII EI KING 110 MA Or I' EA RI, OOLD, ANI)
SILVIS/L. NI Om .1 oc, ohs. —Vinkt. rate Pantonutoista —And TIM
JUCTI:ItN •I'llE WANUAItEIt.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON P.V.IME.
_

?MS DAT On;
To-M flutow—lforning. :b. :arm.

Afternoon. 7d Iggs.
....A/femora. 4i. 330.

LO.V DON, YU ESDAY, 131:U ARY 12.

Fht STOT44RD NoRTIWOTE'S Ulll f 0" the relief of
embarrassed railway connunies con'ains a proposal
ao full of advantage that it "ugh: to he brought
into intavyliate operation. 1: is, that measures
to regulate the financial .thaition. of such usu.
ciations be in future investigated by a joint cont.
mjj,f,cc of both Houses of Parliament. This reform
in private bill legislation is, as the case now
stands, &pendent i,n the prissing of the measure,
and that 1:4 401 ItliCellalll prospect. The proposal,
however, reC4.10:44141 histaminic, ais approval. A
prompt application would be a still better mode of
acknowledging the merit of the idea, and it is
highly appropriate to certain classes of Railway
Rills now before Parliament.

The more important of these mtas,lres are bills
by which certain influential railway companies
seek to effect a re-establishment of their monetary
affairs. With this object a bill has been introduced
by the Great Eastern Railway ; the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover Company, as ik well known, pro-
znotsc another t. the same end, and various Irish
railwaye desire to do likewise. Appeals for power
to raise further capital are also numerous. In all
probability these bills will stimulate investigations
as yet unattempted, and require the solution of
complicated embarrassment.
Further, among the bills of this session will be
found several that raise questions of a novel bear-
ing, namely, the peaceful fusion of undertakings
hitherto in hostility. The Great Western and the
South Western Railways, for instance, propose to
enter into a species ..f joint istrtnership, and astheir
tributary line,' are included in the arrangement, the
scheme touches the means of communication over
one half of England. All Scotland also will be
affected by a hill of a similar character.

That varied interests are implicated by these
two classes of bills, and that they present features
of imposing difficulty, is obvious. They also in'
troduce a new statutory basis for railway under-
takings. The process of readjustment of capital,
and of amalgamation of interests hitherto disunited,
mice commenced, will probably extend through-
out the land. The rights of these multifold pro-
prietaries and the claims of the public will conse-
quently require to be taken into a comprehensive
review. That this should be accomplished in a
judicial manner, in the spirit of legislation, not of
litigation, is an imperativenecessity ; and, owing to
the present system wider which private bills are
enacted, that these bills should be considered by a
joint Parliamentaryconunittee is not less necessary,
in order to avoid an egregious anomaly, as well as
to secure the formation of the most competent
council chamber.

The need for constituting such a body must be
explained to the uninitiated in the procedure of
private legislation ; and few, except parliamentary
practitioners, are acquainted with its working.
According to long-established routine, a private
bill is brought before a committee in each of the
houses of parliament. This arrangement is not
made in order that the details of the measure
having been established, the general application
of the bill may undergo futher review : but de-
tails and all are subjected to a double scrutiny.
Nor is this reconsideration in the nature of an
appeal, or a re-hearing ; it is a repetition, or du-
plicsaion of one and the same process, and an
occasion for upsetting what had been settled a
few weeks before. The second committee is in
fact but the opportunity of the factious liti-
gant, and a snare to the high court of Parliament.
Common sense, however, is ou potent solvent of
technical obstacles, and smooths down this ab-
surdity of a repeated investigation. The second
committee is generally a tranquil, though an ex-
pensive proceeding ; and bills to regulate
ordinary transactions, such as the lighting of a
district, or bills based on the application of engi-
neering science, may occasionally justify, without
palpable incongruity, another mode of considering
the objects they propose.
But the measures that have been described can
admit of but one point of view. To deal justly
with the complex rights of proprietorship and the
extended rights of the public calls for consummate
judicial effort Accurately to scrutinise such con-
fiding interest, they must be brought into one
focus, and that the correct one. Justice both to
the judges and to the matters adjudged on de-
mands that such deliberations should not be ex-
posed to the chances of a needlessly renewed litiga-
tion. Intricate as are the matters involved in these
bills, both branches of the Legislature contain men
eminently qualified for their consideration. To ac-
quire this qualification they have submitted to mai-
duoustoil in fusty conimittee-rooms, engaged for long
bolts in wearisome labour. It would be unfair to
either band of such worthy workers that they