The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-04 00:00:00

with Brighton and Dover from all necessary con- !
nection with the Greenwich line, and to give to
these railways a new terminus near the Elephant I
and Castle. The third plan is to make an entirely
new line from Croydon, so as to render the Brigh-
ton and the Dover Railways independent both of
the Croydon and the Greenwich lines.
The Committee do not feel it to be within their
province to express any opinion as to which of these
proposals should be preferred ; but entertaining very
serious doubts how far the present arrangements
are compatible with the safety of the passengers
conveyed on the Croydon and Greenwich line of
railroad, they must record it as their deliberate con-
viction that the four lines referred to should not he

permitted to convey passengers until some plan
shall have been adopted by which the apprehended
danger may be removed.
Your Committee are aware that these observa-
tions interfere with arrangements which have re-
ceived the sanction of Parliament, but they are of
opinion that the public safety in this instance justi-
fies the warning which they have thought it their
duty to give; and they believe that the Legislature
having conferred these large powers on private com-
panies, and having secured to them the possession
of important monopolies, no just complaint can be
mad against any interference with these establish-
ments which may be deemed necessary either for the
security or for the convenience of the public.
Under this head of the inquiry your Committee
have also directed their attention to the general
question. whether or not travelling by railways has
been attended with danger to the passengers. Con-
sidering the great number of persons who have
travelled over railroads, it may be confidently stated
that ver few accidents occasioning any serious in-
jury to passengers have occurred. Under proper
regulatic:,s, and with due vigilance on the part of
the managers of these establishments, it does not
appear that the ve'oeity of the conveyance is neces-
sarily attended with that degree of risk which many
persons, unacquainted with this new method of
travelling had anticipated.. At the same time your
Committee feel it to be their duty to point out cer-
tain circumstances connected with railways which
have flat sufficiently attracted the attention of Par-
liament.

The good fencing of these roads is essential to
the safety of the passengers ; and it must be ob-
served that the bank on which a railroad is formed
especially attracts the cattle, by reason of its dryness,
compared with the adjoining fields ; while one small
defect in the fence may endanger the lives of the
whole train of passengers. It is indeed doubtful
whether t thorn hedge can be considered a suffi-
ciently secure protection for the line of a railway ;
but it is certain that the power of obliging a com-
pany to make &ood its fences should not be left to
the proprietors or occupiers of the adjoining lands,
who may not be constantly vigilant, or who may not
choose to interfere. The general interest of every
railway company is intimately connected with
the security of the passengers ; but this your Com-
mittee feel can hardly be deemed a sufficient gua-
rantee in cases where a momentary inadvertence
may occasion most calamitous results. _

Another source of danger arises from railroads
being permitted to cross public ways on a level.
A much more objectionable system appears to have
been also, in some cases, sanctioned by the Legis-
lature, namely, permitting one railway to cross
another railway on a level. Your Committee have
no hesitation in stating their belief that very great
additional risk is occasioned by this permission ;
and they would strongly recommend these points to
the consideration of Parliament.

As a branch of the same subject, your Committee
beg likewise to direct the attention of the House to
the great importance of the switches (or points by
which two lines of rail are connected) being placed
under proper and effective care. The want of due
caution in these cases has been already productive
of seems accidents, and it is suggested that some
arrangements should be made by which the risk of
similar accidents may in future be avoided. Upon
this subject your Committee have examined several
gentlemen connected with railway companies, and
they are glad to perceive that their attention has
been already engaged in considering what improve-
ments can be introduced to render these points of
connection less dangerous.
It is essential to the safety of the public, and to
the maintenance of regular intercourse by railroads,
that the companies should have a more perfect con-
trol over their own servants. Much concurrent
testimony upon this point will be found in the evi-
dence ; and where the lives of many persons de-
pend on the good conduct and ready obedience of
the subordinate officers, and where the smallest ir-
regularity may be attended with fatal consequences,
a system of exact discipline should be encouraged,
and powers should be given to the Directors for the
pbrpose of upholding their authority.
It appears that on some railroads a book is kept
at every station, in which travellers may enter their
complaints, and these are regularly brought under
the notice of the Directors ; a practice which might
be adopted on all lines with advantage to the coin-
panics and to the public.
Your Committee have instituted various inquiries
with the view of discovering how far the interests
of the community may require that some controlling
authority should he established to protect the pub-
lic against any combination or any arbitrary regula-
tions on the part of railway proprietors, and whe-
ther or not such an authority would he considered
injurious to the property invested in railroads. The
first part of this investigation was directed to the
by-laws which every railway company has the power
of making and enforcing At present it appears
that the directors of any railway have the power of
making by-laws, which regulate the conduct, not
only of their own servants, but of all persons tra-
velling on their road. These companies, therefore,
possess very extensive and very arbitrary powers,
and in some cases these laws need not receive the
sanction of any supervising authority, while by some
more recent Railway Acts it is required that they
shall be sanctioned either by the Judges at Assize
or by the Magistrates at Qusrter Sessions.
It would be far better, for the sake of establish-
ing as much as possible one uniform system, and
for duly protecting the general liberty of the subject,
that some supervising authority, in the nature of a
board, should he established, to which all by-laws
might he referred, and which might have the power
of sanctioning all necessary regulations, arid annul-
ling such as were not justified by the peculiar cir-
cumstances of the case, or by the general interests
of the community. For a purpose so plainly justi-
fiable as the revision of by-laws it does not ap-
pear that there would be any objection to the esta-
blishment of a superintending board. There are,
however, many other questions in which the public
are concerned, and upon which it would be fre-
quently desirable to have some controlling authority.
Disputes may often arise between the directors of
connecting railways, by which the public may suffer
very materially, and where some superior authority
might interpose with very great advantage both to
the proprietors of the railways and to the travellers
on the several lines. On this subject there is con-
siderable difference of opinion among the witnesses
connected with railway companies who have been
examined by your Committee ; some have thought
that these questions must he left to arbitration
between the parties, while others have stated it as
their belief that in such cases a tribunal of refer-
ence, with a controlling authority, might be benefi
cially established.
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was such as to merit the confidence of the public
and of the railway proprietors.
It is clear that the general interests of the com-
munity must sometimes be at variance with the in-
terests of railway proprietors, and that in such
cases the combination of capitalists, held together
by common advantage and guided by able direc-
tors, will probably prevail against the disunited
efforts and casual resistance of the public.
Your Committee are unwilling hastily to put for-
ward opinions which might have an injurious effect
on these great and useful undertakings ; on the
contrary, they are desirous of recording their opi-
nion of the benefits which the country has already
derived from the introduction of this new and im
portant means of internal communication ; nor can
they refrain from expressing how highly they esti-
mate the services of those who have devoted, and
still continue to devote, their time, their talents, and
their exertions to its extension and improvement.
The Legislature having practically given to these
companies a complete control over all the great
channels of intercourse throughout the country,
your Committee deem it to be indispensable, both
for the safety and convenience of passengers arid
the public, to prohibit, so far as locomotive power