The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-15 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Lord COVENTRY presented a petition from an As-
sociation formed for the protection of property in
(as we understood) the town of Brentford, complain-
ing that the persons who are employed on the line
of the London and Birmingham Railway, as well as on many
other lines of Railway, are for the most part of the most de-
praved and abandoned character, stating that many riots had
taken place on the London and Birmingham Railway—that
many aggravated assaults on unoffending persons, thefts and
depredations had been committed by those labourers,and praying
that whenever the Bill incorporating that Company came before
their Lordships for revision, the House would insert a clause by
which the Company should be compelled to support a police
force, not only during the operations of the work, but while the
line of Railway should.be in operation. The Noble Lord then
read extracts from a
,private letter which he had received,
which stated that many sheep had been destroyed, great
quantities of poultry stolen from farm-houses, and many
robberies of houses had been committed by the lab,urers cm
ployed on the Birmingham and London Railway.
The Marquis of SALISBURY was glad his Noble Friend
had brought forward this subject, and lie rose to give the petition
his entire support. As a magistrate he knew there were perpe-
tual complaints of this class of persons, and yet it was impossible
for the Magistrates of the different counties to impose extend-
ing posts of police to suppress the depredations, as that would
impose a heavy rate on the inhabitants of the respective coun-
ties. The jails in the country were crowded with the offend-
in., parties, and the inhabitants were in perpetual fears '
of riot and injury.—k Hear, hear.) It was his intention, on
the first occasion on which a Bill of this description came
before the House to move the insertion of a clause, by which
the Magistrates acting in the different Counties (the clause
also to apply to all public works of this description conducted
by Companies), shall have power to appoint such a police force
as shall be necessary for the peace and protection of the coun-
try, the expence of which to be charged on the Company dui%
ing the period the undertaking existed. The evil complained
of was a growing evil ; and he hoped his MiijiNt)'s Government
would not object to some en.:ctment calculated to operate as a
remedy.
Lord WINO-lIIL SEA expressed his satisfaction that this
question had been brought under the consideration of the
House by his Noble Friend. Ile should give his ready sup-
port to the prayer .of the petition, as he should do to every
measure calculated to protect property. He begged to observe,
that a great evil attending these speculations was, that many
of them, if not all of them, were undertaken originally
solely for gambling purposes. He believed that in reference

to this very line of railroad it was in contemplation to apply
for a further sum of nearly 2,000,000/. of -money beyond that
which was stipulated for in the first instance with which to
complete the line. Now, the House was in duty bound to
protect the public against such a gross fraud. Many who took
shares in the London and Birmingham Railway were induced

to do so, from the respectability Of the names advertised as
the promoters of the work ; but when the price of the
shares advanced, it was found that the names of those indi-
viduals had disappeared, and that they had nothing more to
do with the subject ; whereas he was prepared to contend,
that those who became the original undertakers ought to be
bound to complete, and liable to the end for the completion of
the work. He believed that whenever public works of this de-
scription were investigated, it would be found that they fell
short at least a third of the advaatagcs held out to the public
by the original projectors. For instance, he believed that the
original proprietors of the Waterloo-bridge, it having
passed to a second and a third set of persons, had not the
least chance of ever receiving one farthing, either of interest or
capital, and surely nobody could say that the public ought
not to be protected against such proceedings.—( [hear, hear.)
there was another point to which he had to allude. By
many Railroad Companies bonded securities were given to
individuals, that in the ensuing Session an application
would be made to Parliament for leave to deviate from
the line which was originally adopted by them.—( Hear,
hear.) And he knew one instance of this which had occurred
in the county of .Kent, in which case he had pressed the solici-
tor, until he acknowledged that a bond for 10,0001. had been
given to a gentleman there, through whose property
the original line was to have passed, that leave would
be sought from Parliament for a deviation I‘liich would
remove the lice,,, so: that it would pass through the
property of a gentleman in his neighbourhood.—( Hear.)
He was informed that such an application' would be made, and
if it were, he would then bring forward the question, and
would be able to give an account of as gross a fraud as had
ever been perpetrated.—( Hear, hear.) He had said so much
considering that he owed it to the public to do so. He was
however, no enemy to railroads; on the contrary, he wished to
support the establishmelit of them wherever it was prudent to
do so. ( Hear.) The Noble Marquis then proceeded to state
that he had to present a petition which was numerously and
respectably signed, from Canterbury, in which the petitioners •
stated their sense of the blessings which had flowed to the nation
under the presefa Constitution, and trusting that no attempt
would avail to fetter the independence of their Lordships'
House. The petition prayed that their. Lordships would con-
tinue to watch over and to apply their attention to every mea-
sure which came before them, with that legal knowledge and
integrity which had distinguished them. The petition was
ordered to lie on the table.
ABOLITION OF CHURCH-RATES.

Lord BROUGHAM said that a petition had been entrusted
to him by a numerous body of his Majesty's subjects, and it
had been drawn up under circumstances so peculiar that they
rendered it necessary to state them; and also to allude to the
parties from irhom it came.--( Hear.) The petition pur-
ported to be that of the ministers and laymen assembled in
London, deputed by their congregations, and other bodies,
to effect the extinction of Church-rates. The persons who
signed it were about 300 of the deputies sent from all parts
of the, empire, as was described, for the purpose of
effecting by legal and constitutional means the object he bad
mentioned ; and although the petition was only signed by two
or three hundred persons, yet he was informed 400 individuals
had been present when the petition was agreed to, and
it was only from the accident of nearly a hundred
persons having been compelled to leave town that
it was not more numerously signed.—( Hear, hear.)
He would also state in what way these delegates came
empowered to London.—( Hear. )—They came to represent,
not in a technical, but I believe in a strictly popular sense,
the congregations and other bodies by whom they were dele-
gated. Those congregations had met to the number of 500, and
had seat persons to represent them, although not more than 400
came. They, however, represented persons than whom no portion
of his Majesty's subjects were more entitled to considera-
tion, whetehr as regarded property, intelligence, or re-
spectability.—(Cheers.) He had said that they represented
those by whom they were deputed, in a popular sense, but
there was one • other sense in which tliey also strictly
represented them.—( Hear, hear, hear.) They spoke
the unanimous and strong opinion of all those composing the
assemblies by whom they were deputed. He begged therefore
that the petition should be read.
The petition was then read, and the House adjourned until
Thursday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARI' 14.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour.

Mr. DOUGLAS appeared at the Bar, and presented Re-
turns from the Commissioners of Paving for the Parish of St.
Pancras, which were laid on the table.

Major BE AUC LE RK presented a petition from the Lon-
don and Croydon Railway Directors, praying for leave to bring
in a Bill to extend their powers ; also a petition from the Lon-
don and Blackwall Railway to the same effect.
Mr. GEORGE PHILLIPS presented several petitions,
the purport of which we did not hear, from the low tone of
voice in which the Hon. Member spoke.
Mr. C. RUSSELL brought up a Bill for altering and
improving the line of the Great Western Railway.
Mr. HARCOURT brought up a Bill for making a railway
from Oxford to join the Great Western Railway.
Mr. H. FLEETWOOD presented a petition for leave to
bring in a Bill for making a railway, to be called the Preston
Wyre Railway.
MANCHESTER AND LEEDS RAILWAY.
Lord STANLEY brought in a Bill for altering and amend-
ing the Bill of last year, by enlarging the powers given to the
Company.
WESTERN METROPOLITAN CEMETERY.
Mr. WAKLEY presented a petition from Messrs. Green,
Knowles, and others, praying the House to pass a Bill fur the
Establishment of a Cemetery in the Western parts of the
Metropolis
PARISH OF, ST. PANCRAS.
Sir S. WHALLEY presented a petition from the parish
of St. Pancras, praying for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal
certain arts of the Act for lighting and paving certain parts
of that parish.