The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-23 00:00:00

MOE WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

TIM DST —Norma::, 41t. 5,m Afternoon, sh. 17m.
TO-MOSAoM—Yorniug, :.11. 34m Afternoon. L 4 52m.

LONDON, NATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23.

A mosr important decision in reference to rail-
way law was delivered by Vice-Chancellor Woof,
on Tuesday last. The case was this. An indi-
vidual debenture holder had by pri•cess of law ob-
tained a judgment fur the amount due on his
debenture, and it was held that he could not
sustain his jiitlignient for his own personal advan-
tage: that he took his security, ei the terms stated in
the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act—namely,
that there should out be priority among the deben-
ture holders—and therefore that any further
security which he might have obtained enured
to the benefit of his partners, the other debenture
holders, as well as of himself. This decision,
founded as it is on common sense as well as law,
and in close conformity with the old decisions
under the Canal Acts, strikes at one of the most
mischievous inconveniences of the present day. A
petty 'lel •enture holder speculates on the chance that
they who are more largely interested will buy him
out to get rid of the annoyance which he
can cause, and therefore is often prone to
refuse his consent to arrangements which the vast
majority approve and desire. From henceforth
the holder of a debenture of, say 500/. out of a
total of 250,000!., will find that a realised judg-
ment will yield to himself an actual payment of
one j•ounil, and saddle him with the responsibility
of duly dividing the remaining 4991. among his
co-partners at his own expense. It can easily be
seen that the VICE-CHANCELLOR has sounded the
death knell of these selfish and mercenary actions.
But the principle enunciated is of a still wider
scope. A railway is a benefit or a nuisance. If
carried on so as to reduce the cost and increase
the facilities of transit—to bring into communica-
tion with the great centres of industry communi-
ties previously cut off, and thus to diffuse and
equalise civilization—these undertakings are of
grand advantn,'e. But if, on the contrary, after
having been formed, they are neglected and in-
efficiently worked ; after having interfered with
and well nigh destroyed the previous circa laLion
of the district, they are allowed to collapse and to
become unequal to their duties, such railways are
a public nuisance, for they will have injured,
instead of benefiting, the country which they
traverse. Now the law of England will not tolerate
a nuisance, and we are just beginning to get a code
established which will put railway law and liabi-
lities upon an intelligible, and not an unsatisfactory
footing. A railway company is a very simple thing.
It consists of shareholders whose responsibilities and
rights are identical, except so far as that some
may be entitled to an earlier perception of profits;
and this company has two sets of credi4ors
one for money lent, who have the security of the
net income of the undertaking ; the other for arti-
clesactuallyslipplied for theconstruction of the line.
Bearing, in mind these distinctions, it has been
laid down by the Lord Justice CAIRNS that the
company—that is, the shareholders acting through
their directors—cannot evade the responsibility of
keeping open and in proper repair the common
highway which they have been allowed to con-
struct ; and if so, the public must be able to
enforce against the company, or the individuals
constituting it, the same common law remedies
which can he used for the maintenance and pre-
servation of ordinary highways.
The LORD JUSTICE further says that the deben-
tine holders, by their receiver, are entitled only
to the surplus profits arising from such part of the
undertaking as is essential for the creation of such
profits, after payment of necessary expenam ; and
Vice-Chancellor WOOD affirms that the debenture
holders are a cla.ss, and that any one cannot gain
from the company, or any of its assets, any special
advantage, but must hold it in common for the
rest. It follows from these premises that railway
litigation must shortly cease, and that fertile cause
alike of expense as of paralysis in management
will he cut off. The shareholders in the company
have no power to litigate, and the best remedy
open to the debenture holders is the receiver, for
ally separate action will simply cause an expense
without any corresponding benefit to the party
who may sue in his own name. The general debts
of the company alone remain to be considered ;

and, in regard to any " going concern," these
must (independent of the daily working expenses,
which may be assumed to be provided -for) be
gencrally small, and, except in some special cases,
could easily be arranged.
The result is, therefore, that from henceforth
it w ill be to the interest of the shareholders and
of their mortgagees to unite in the development
of their common property. There can be no
contrariety between them, and freed from the fear
of litigation each class can consider calmly how
their respective interests can be best forwarded.
The shareholders will know that an improved in-
come will tend primarily to the benefit of the
im,rtgagees ; but they will rejoice in this, not only
as freeing their undertaking from reproach, but
ns conveying to themselves the assurance • I brighter
days in prospect, and the very fact of the difficul-
ties which they have hail to encounter• will pro-
mote future prosperity, by ineulmting the need of
care and economy. Every exertion to this end
can he ma,le under the present machinery ; but if
the sale or amalgamation of a line be thought
advisable, there is amt at present any short mode
of effecting either object.
This is, in fact, the chief, if not the only, oh-
stack to be removed, and a very short Act of Par-
liament might cut the knot of all the present
difficulties. As before stated, a company consists
of two classes—shareholders and mortgagees ; and
mo possible harm could occur if these classes by a
hinge majority—say three-fifths of each—were au-
thorized by a general Act of Parliament to frame
and concur in any arrangement for sale or other
disposition of their line which might approve
itself to them ; and if it be thought too bold
to assume that Englishmen can manage their
own affairs, and at the same time have a due
regard for the public, all such arrangements might
be made to be dependent on the sanction of the
Board of Trade being obtained to them within a
limited time.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

Upon the decision of to-day's Cabinet, says the
hang the fate of the government. There is but
one opinion that the resolutions, as they now stand, have
no work in them ; they must be made clear and precise.
Definite figure+ in the enfranchising resolution, where a
reduction of the value of the qualifying tenement is
spoken of, are of course indispensable ; and a definite state-
ment of the nature, if not of the precise conditions, of the
other franchises not dependent on value must accompany
them.

In other articles the Times deals with the subject of
appellate jurisdiction, Mr. Hardy's Metropolitan Poor
Bill, and the army estimates.
The republication of Mr. Lowe's speeches on reform
supplies the Daily Neter with an opportunity of analysing
the right hon. gentleman's assertions of fact and principle
—his history and his logic.
The gossip u to the misgivings attributed to the Emperor
Napoleon in respect of the Exhibition, and the prospect of
famine prices and fabulous house-rents for intending
visitors, are treated of by the Daily News in another
article. There is enough of probability, it says, in these
alarming veticinations, to console those who may be
unable to visit Paris during the coining season.
In a brief congratulatory leader upon the birth of a
princess the Herald says that the " rock of royalty is the
palladium, the very ark of English liberty. The revolu-
tionist himself bows before it ; the men of progress stay
their steps when they reach it; the most audacious of
iconoclasts dares not lift his hand against it."

The Herald and Mondani strongly defend the govern-
ment plan of plurality of votes, declaring it to be the best
to prevent that excessive preponderance of one clan in the
community which would most certainly come through a
simple lowering of the franchise.
According to the Star Mr. Disraeli will come down on
Monday evening as he did before—laughing i❑ his sleeve
at the wonderful aptitude of the house for being gulled,
and in solemn tones and with simulated earnestness he
will endeavour to palm off upon the gaping listeners his
new version of the reform trick. The liberal leaders
must consider their friends as well as their enemies, and
the Star has no hesitation in saying that, unless a more
certain sound is given forth from the liberal benches on
Monday night than on the last occasion, the effect upon
the country will be most disastrous. The charge of de-
laying reform will not rest upon the ministry alone, if
steps are not taken to hasten it by putting an end to the
trilling of ministers.

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23,

enemy, for Lord Derby lies called a meeting of his sup-
porters for Monday at (o'clock, when he will explain his
gdan,,,and signify, we tiresome, Oaf unless they accept it
he utiles compelled to tender his teidgoatioa,s dap which
would dissolve thy existing tory party. We depot, of
course, pretend to give this ;is information, but olooply as
the one among the twenty rumours which hare reached
us. with the greatest appeanwce of probability. The single.
certainty is that the liberal leaders are honestly anxious
that, it it be only possible, the reform bill should be
brought in and passed before they resume power.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(RELUI4 TELEGRAMS.)
SPAIN.

MADRID, FEB. 22.

A royal decree has been issued, ordering the re-
organisation of the clergy and the parishes, and
establishing new episcopal districts in conformity
with the Concordat of 1861.

INDIA AND CHINA MAILS.
ALEXANDRIA, FEa. 22.
The Poonah, which started yesterday morning
for Marseilles, returned with machinery damaged.
Transferred mails, A.c., to the Euxine, which
left fur Marseilles at 10.30 a.m. to-day.