The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-19 00:00:00

Tue liirtier Report on the South .Eastern Railway Bill
nac brought up, and the Bill read a second time.
LONDON AND BLACKWALL RAILWAY.

On Ole ni

on for the ecmsiileration of the further Re-
port GI the Conanittee on the Cornmercid Lonflon and
Blackwall Railway Bill.
Mr. CRAW FORD said that he should oppose the fur-
ther consideration of the 13111. It vv,.uld be in the recol-
lection of 1-lon. Memkers that the Bill had been opposed
on the second readinif. One of the objections was
that the promoters of the Bill had been guilty of
a breach of faith. After a discussion, the Bill bad been
sent to the Committee, and it had been agreed that the,
railrcad should terminate without entering the eastern
boundary of the City of London. The first clause de-
clared that they should not lay down any rails within
six hundred feet of the boundary of the City ; and
the second clause declared that the Company should
not possess any land within the City of London. It bad
been the opinion of the House, by a small majority, that the
Bill should go., into Committee, with a view to
give the parties concerned an opportunity of showing
that they could make cut a ca,e for the rescinding
of the Rgrtetne..t. It was now his duty to show
how far they had succeeded in making out such a case.

His first object would be to examine-their conduct with
refer;•r.ce to the declaration made in conformity with the
Standing Orders of that 11:use. In 1836 certain Orders were
made which regulated the delivery of the list. before the
Standing Orders. Committee, and under the first of those
Orders the declaration had been made which stated that
the Railway Company had sufficient funds under the
control of the Directors to do that which they desired
to do by this Rill, and that therefore it would not be
necessary to increase the tolls, as they would have a surplus
after perfecting the works in which they were now engaged.
Now in the course of the inquiry before the Committee it was
. .

proved that in the sum of 465,0001., which had be,n esti-
mated as the anmunt of the expense of the railway, a great

number of expenses had beennomitted. He stated th 6 for
the purpose of showing how incorrect the statements that
bad been made were, and how little, therefore, were they
to he depended upon. Another part of the declaration
was that the Company bad the power of borrowing

200,0001. under their Bill. He thought no suer]
power existed, but if it did it was conditional.—( Hear.)
The constitutional authority for raising a loan of 200,0001.
had not arisen. It was right that he should notice what

Ile considered to be the grounds upon which the opponents

to his views acted in Committee.

It was urged by them

that the case having been before the Committee on -Stand-
ing Orders, and having been considered by them,
the Committee on the Bill had nothing to do
with it. Now if Honourable Members would look

at the 6th instruction as well as at the 22d, they

Would find that if they had been attended to the Corn-
m:ttee on the Bill had not only to consider the case but
ought to have made special report upon the subject. Before
he could explain to the House the particulars of the ex-
tension sought for by the promoters of the 1111
it would be necessary for him to show what were the
powers granted to the Company by the Bill of 1836, and
also the manner in which those powers had been carried
into effect. There was to be a continuous line of arches

forming a viaduct, over which the line was to run.
lc was to be of the width of 46 feet, and there were to be

four lines of railroad. Since then the Direct Ors had

taken it upon themselves to make these alterations; they

had reduced the width from 46 feet to 20 feet.

There

were now to be only two lines of railway, and it was pro-
posed that these two lines were to be worked by means of a
stationary engine. This was a new attempt, one which had
rover yet been made on any railroad at work in this country.
This firmed such an entire change as would render it im-

practicable. It was an attempt at a system which bad
ovver yet been practised, and was unsupported, except by
the testimony of one person.—( Cries of " Question," and
" divide.") He was sorry the House did not seem disposed
to listen to the few observations which he bad to

offer, but could not do his duty to those who sent
him there unless be received the indulgence of the House.

—( Hear; hear.) By the plan of the Railway. Company,
the gradients were entirely altered. The promoters (Idle
Bill said they should use neither locomotive power nor
stationary power for carrying on their communication in the
City. .ft was tree they desired to go 415 yards into the
Ci'y, but they sai,i they would effect this by the power of
momentum—that was, that the carriages should from tra

veiling at the rate of 27 miles an hour receive such an
impetus as would make them ascend 27 feet in height.
They were to make their way to . Fenchurch-street,
where they were to stop. In returning, the car-
riages were to descend by the force of gravity.
The distance of the proposed extension was 450 yards, and
the rough estimate of the expense was 153,0001., that
being, at the rate of 3501. per yard ; this was conclusive as
the value of the property to be destroyed : and besides,
there was a great amount of property scheduled, but not
provided for by the Company, valued at 361,0001., the
Company having decided that they were entitled to sche-
dule this, unprovided for as it was, because the Company
said they were still entitled to claim a right to take it.
This decision was contrary to all the usual principles
of estimating. Towards the close of the proceedings a
clause had been proposed, not printed in the original Bill.
In 1836 there were two contending parties, who had each
a subsc,iption list for 600,0001.-12,000 shares at
501.—• with the consent of the Committee these
two parties joined and made a list of 24,000
shares at 251.—a smaller sum than had before been
known for railway shales. The Committee, however, im-
posed the restriction that all the subscriptions must be
paid up before borrowing should be resorted to, and the
effect of the " pocket" clause, which was now attempted
to be brought in, would be to allow the Company to
borrow two hundred thousand pounds, without that
restriction—a permision not given before; and it
was only by chance that this clause had been discovered.
At the half.yearly meeting which took place on the 30th
of August last, a Report was made by the Directors to the
Proprietors, in which they stated they were not allowed to
borrow money until the whole of their subscribed capital
was paid up ; that that was an unusual restriction, and they
proposed to apply to Parliament to be relieved from it ; and
it further stated that if they were so relieved, it would
then be for the consideration of the Proprietors whether
there should be any further call or not. There was but
one other observation which he would make, and that was
in reference to the condition in which the railroad now
stood with the East and West India Dock Company, as re-
garded the use of the Brunswick Wharf. Up to this time
the Railway Company had no power of access to
the wharfs on the river Thames. No authority had as
yet been given to the Railroad Company to embark or
disembark passengers at the Brunswick wharf.----( Cries of
Question, Question.") He was not at all sur-
prised at that interruption, but that interruption was
only from those who had come there for a particular pur-
pose; but such interruption would never deter him from
doing his duty as long ati he had a seat in that House.
The present was a tender subject with those who were de-
sirous that it should not be understood.—( Cries of Oh, oh,
and Divide.) It seemed to him that it' the present Bill
was allowed to pass into a law the Company as now con-
stituted would receive the sanction of the House for al
the malf,•asance of which it had been guilty.—(Cries of
Divide, divide.) In conclusion, the Hon. Member trusted
the House would not permit the Bill to proceed further,

Lord TEIGN MOUT H bad heard the statements made
by the Hon. Member with utter astonishment. He had
sat for twenty-one days, four hours each day, and both
himself and his constituents were perfectly satisfied that
the railroad would prove a vast benefit to the com-
munity, and that was his impartial opinion after
Waving heard all the evidence. He would there-
fore give it his most hearty concurrence. He held
in his hand a paper containing the whole of the
figures taken before the Committee, and they showed
clearly that there would be a surplus of 106,0001. in the
hands of the Company, and that upon a very fair esti-
mate. The Honourable Gentleman complained of
technicalities respecting the Standing Orders, but
the Committee on the Bill had nothing at all
to do with the standing orders he quarrelled with the
eng.neering accounts, but the Committee had had
before them some of the most eminent engineers in
the country, and their estimates had been given in
such a clear and distinct manner as to prove per.
fectly satisfactory to the Committee. The benefit of this
Railroad would be very great. If the terminus were to be
at the Minories, the neighbouring streets must be crowded
by the immense traffic which would be distributed in the
neighbourhood, whereas the proposed terminus brought it
up at once upon the spot at which it was to be distributed.
The Hon. Gentleman complained of the annoyance to
which the inhabitants would be put, but it was clearly
proved that there would be no noise from the passing of
the train. He would give his cordial support to the Bill.
Mr, D. W. HARVEY said that having presented .a
petition signed by upwards of 400 inhabitants, owners,
and occupiers of property in the immediate vicinity of the
proposed line of railway, it became his duty to state the con-
tents of their petition, and be felt great satisfaction in stating
that the course he was pursuing was precisely that which
he proposed on a former occasion, and it was essential be
should say this, because, the promoters of the Bill had
incurred the serious expense of inserting in
all the Morning Papers a long extract from
some remarks which ho made upon the first introduc-
tion of the Railway Bill. He was then the advo-
cate of the railroad, because he felt the importance
of clearing the Pool of the inconvenience occasioned
by its being so crowded, and the company then
got all they wanted—a line from Blackwell to the Mino-
ries, and now they were asking to bring it into the
heart of the city of London. They obtained a Bill
to clear the Pool of all these inconveniences, and
yet in 1839 they had scarcely done anything to-
wards its accomplishment. Why was this delay ?—be-
cause they had not matured the plan of combination, then
flitting before their eyes, of bringing two important bodies
into co. operation ; but they had now secured the direct co-
operation of the East and West. India Dock Companies.
The object of the Bill was now to establish a monopoly
from the Blackwell Docks to Fenchurch-street. The pe-
titioners called upon the House to preserve their property
from wanton violation. The original report of the Com-
mittee was that a terminus on the eastern side of the Minories
was a complete terminus for the purpose. Was there
any evidence before the Committee, to show that the per-
sons expected to use the railroad would use it less, because
it went no further than the Miner es? Quite the reverse.
Only one engineer had been examined, and he stated that be
believed the railroad, at first projected, would run 10,000 daily
though he expected it would have an increased traffic if it
proceeded to the Minories. Was the trifling increase
contemplated a fair compensation for the vast destruction
of property required by the proposed extension of the line?
415 yards were to be proposed to be purchased at a sum
of 200,0001. In fact, something less than a million of
money was to be given for a mile of railroad. 'Who were
to have the uae of it ? Not the public—it was to be
confined entirely to the proprietors of • the East and
West India Docks. The consequence would be that
instead of there being a Railroad in a large and compre-,
hensive sen e, it was an excellent contrivance to bring two
pieces of private property together. The eff.ct of it
would be in every way highly injurious to the
public. He did not hesitate to say, after a
I close and personal irspec'.ion of the locality of
Blackwell, that instead of taking people from the
I Minories, or from Fencliurch-street to the water side, it