The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-30 00:00:00

The attendance of members and

visitors was numerous.

The paper (a very

lengthy one, which if printed in extenso would fill
seven of our columns) controverted " the proposi-
tion that Government should purchase and take the

management of the railways," and, taking the recent
publications of Mr. Galt and Mr. Chadwick as
" embodying all that can be said in its favour," was
in fact a reply to those gentlemen. Mr. Hawes
admitted that the present system " placed a limited
monopoly for carrying passengers and merchandise
in the hands of the railway companies, but that did
not justify, on any ground of principle or expediency,
the conversion of that into a huge monopoly managed

by Government." The only instance that could be
quoted to prove that under Government direction

success had been achieved in the conduct of a large
commercial establishment was the Post-office, but
even in that case the administration of that depart-

meat was extremely faulty. It was a political de-
partment presided over by a Cabinet Minister, and
. _

it was notorious that the appointments in it were

regularly sought for and given to the supporters of
the political party in power—a mode of appointment

certainly not to be desired for railway officials.
Then, again, whatever amount of success it might
be said to have achieved, could that have been done
but for the active co-operation of the railway direc-
tors in the rapid conveyance and early delivery of
the mails ? and indeed there was often less irregu-
larity in the time of transmission from London to
Holyhead than in the conveyance of the bags from
St. Martin's-le-Grand .to Euston-square ; and to
argue that Government would have sufficient enter-
prise to make railways better than public companies,
to make them, in many cases, before they appear to
the general public, to be absolutely required, as was
now done by those acquainted with each district, to
anticipate a coming trade--or that without competi-
tion it would introduce improvements, or would
manage them cheaper or better than at present, was
to ignore all experience. In fact, to place our rail-
ways in the hands of Government would be to stop
improvement for years to come, and to extinguish
one great source of public enterprise—and it was
hardly possible to see how improvements in such a
vast machine could be made, if instead of a limited
and divided monopoly, with sufficient competition
for healthy action, it became one huge monopoly in
the hands of the Government.
Mr. GALT acknowledged the courtesy by which
he had been invited to be present to hear and to re-
ply to the statements and arguments in answer to
the proposition he had made with regard to railways,
but complained that the whole paper was directed
against the idea of Government management—a
matter of detail, though no doubt a most important
one, upon which he had not insisted. It might be
supposed that there was in existence a Government
scheme to take the management of the railways, but
so far from that the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
in reply to a suggestion made by Mr. Monsell last
session that it might be desirable for a short time for
the Government to take charge of the Irish railways,
said "No, not for an hour, or under any circum-
stances." What he (Mr. Galt) proposed was simply
this, that the railways having become the highways
of the nation they ought not to be managed with a
view only to put profits into the pockets of private
individuals, but they ought to become the property
of the State and managed with a view to the benefit
of the public. If that were done he should expect to
find one low uniform rate of charge per mile all
over the kingdom, and that reduction might go to
the extent of one-third of the present charges. The
last time he was in that room-21 years ago—he
read a paper advocating similar views, but the idea
had latterly gained much ground. The municipal
bodies were taking up the principle, and at Manches-
ter, for instance, the corporation had taken the sup-
ply of gas into its own hands. In London there were
13 gas companies, but he did not think the public
were so very well satisfied with the result of this
private competition. (Cheers.) It was high time the
railway tariff should be rescued from the individual
caprice or interests of private bodies, and arranged
only with a view to the public benefit.
Mr. F. HILL, of the General Post-office, denied
that appointments in that department were made
from political considerations. Not a single appoint-
ment of any importance was made out of the service
itself, and the Postmaster himself could not intro-
duce a stranger unless he was prepared to report to
the Treasury that there was not a single person in
the department fit for the vacant office. In the
country even the appointment of clerks and letter-
carriers was left with the local postmasters them-
selves. He admitted the courtesy and attention of
the railway directors, but demurred entirely to the
accuracy of the statement that the success of the
Post-office was caused by the railways being the
property of private companies.
Mr. HAWKSHAW, E.C., did not not believe that
any Government would ever do so unwise an act as
to buy the railways on any such grounds as those
set forth by Mr. Galt. It was often said by those
who held that gentleman's views, that the cost of
making railways in future would be less than for-
merly ; but that was a mistake. Every element
which entered into the expense of making a railway
—brick, stone, labour, and everything else—was
higher than it was 20 years ago ; and how could
railways be cheaper? The fact was that every year
added to the capital of an old railway—increased
traffic demanded further accommodation in stations
and sidings and more rolling stock, all of which pro-
perly went to the capital account, and it was utterly
futile to compare such a railway with one newly
started. If the present management was bad—and
he did not think it was—they could not help it, and
Government could not make it better. The proper
function of Government was to examine frequently
into the management of the companies, and see that
all proper care was taken for the safety, welfare, and
convenience of the public. (Cheers.)
Mr. STUART BARKER asked if the dockyards and
other Government establishments would bear favour-
able comparison with the railways.
Mr. CHADWICK, as one of the persons attacked
by the paper of Mr. Hawes, moved the adjourn-
ment of the debate, in order that he might have an
opportunity of replying, which was agreed to ; and
the meeting separated.

FRENCH WINES.—The movement in favour of
the diminution of the customs duties upon French
wines into England is becoming every day more decided.
We have already shown the present tariff upon the light
wines of France, especially when imported in bottle, is
almost equivalent to a prohibition. It would be desirable
that any modifications introduced into the tariff should be
sufficiently great to be permanent. The French wines
can only bear a very small duty on account of the expense
of transit. This Mr. W. Ray Smee has ably proved in his
pamphlet already copied into our columns.—L'lnter-
national.

MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF ATLANTIC MUD.
—A portion of the ooze or mud brought up from
the bottom by the ropes and grapnels employed in the at-
tempts to raise the Atlantic telegraph cable after it had
parted has been carefully examined with the microscope
by Mr. Sidebotham, of Manchester. He describes the mud
as looking like `dirty clay," and remarks that "under
the microscope it reminds one much of chalk from Dover ;
indeed it has all the appearance of ,being a bed of chalk in
process of formation. It is composed entirely of organisms,
chiefly in fragments." Mr. Sidebotham, aided by the mem-
bers of the Microscopical Section of the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society, proposos to compile a
complete list of the species to which these organisms be-
lon g.—..lfechanics' Magazine.
STRANGE SCENE IN A CHURCRIARD.—The other
evening, between six and seven, a funeral party
might have been seen gathered around a grave, in a church:
yard not a hundred miles from Trowbridge, and a clergy-
man was performing the burial service by the light of a
candle, which the sexton held in his hat. Now and then
the nocturnal luminary went out, and the service was
stopped while the official went and lit it again. Was this
a self-murderer that was being committed to the earth in
this manner ? No, the fact was the parson promised to
meet the relatives of the deceased at the church at half-past
three in the afternoon, and after waiting there till nearly
six without seeing the slothful shepherd, they were obliged
to send to an adjoining parish for another clergyman.
The sexton said the parson was gone for a drive, and if he
should not be back in time he would send somebody else.
But he forgot all about it.—Bristol Post.