The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-11 00:00:00

RAILWAY AND CANAL AMALGAMATION.
OFFICIAL REPORT.

The committee of. the House of Commons on this sub-
ject haveiagreed to their report, deprecating amalgama.
tion for the• present—under Parliamentary powers—
though it is admitted it may be necessary ultimately to
bring it 'about. This decision will go very far to dimi-
nish the private business of the 13 ession, and 'leave the
companies open to effect such private traffic arrangements
as may appear most condvcive to' their own interests and
the accommodation of the public: The following is the

v'• official report:— ' • '
v • Your committee have carefully considered the -evi-
dence which has, up to this period of their inquiry, been
,__. .laid before them on the subject of railway and canal amal-
, ation, and: they have come to the conclusion that it will
not be proper to sanction the progress of bills no* before
:•Parliament for that object, without adopting the most
careful regulations, to secure the 'public against the risk of
oppression from the virtual monopoly which would thus
be created in the hands of amalgtinated companies.
Your committee would willingly v have adopted any
• -coursewhich might have secured the fair consideration of
these several proposals upon their merit's in the present ses-
sion, had it been in their power to suggest any course of
that kind, with a due regard to the just requirements of
_ the community at large.
It has, however, been generally admitted by the advo-
cates of more extensive amalgamation, that this question
really involves, by no remote consequence, the union of all
the railway interests of the kingdom in one body, or, at
• any rate,, in a small number of great incorporations not
materially differing in their effect upon the public interest
from such an unkon. It would manifestly; be unjust to per-
mit the combination of great companies in-particular die-
. ,triets Without, at the same time, guarding against any in-
-• ' jury to smaller companies whose railways might be situate
r•-. 4 within the same districts, and against the inconvenience
* which the public would sustain ,if the communications
through these smaller systems were ;interfered with by
the power thus vested in greater companies possessing
rival branches.
The proposars for amalgamation
,haw e been recom-
mended to your committee upon the ground that much bene*
ti-• • fit would result to the sharholders from. the increased
confidence which the possessors stock would feel under
these arrangements, bylleing; to a great -extent, secured
against the risk of future' cimpetition.— Speaking of this
Mr. Stephenson has stated 'to -your committee, that,
ifthe competition which-now prevaild betweeirthe London
, and North-Western, and P.reati Western.•,Companies shall
continue, a large property„ which now yields 52 percent.,
will probably in ten years be reduced to 3 per cent. In re-
..
t `—turn for the advantage of,'lieing thus secured, it hag been
proposed to give to the public, in the shape of ;reduced
• charges, a share of the profit which would, .froni time to
- time arise from the increasing traffic, spread, as it would-
• • then be spread, OVer the Clain& amount only of expended
svia capital. It has been proposedlo secure Se the public this.
returns by a machinery comprising a olosed capital account,
..zu.estimatecl maximum dividends with a periodical revi-
sion of tariff, by which the charges to the travelling public
,might be, front time to time, reduced ; and to vest in the
Isoard of Trade, or in some, other Government board, a
:,wide control for the purpoge•of insuring the free, fair, and
jeconomical, transit of persons and, merchandise -f.roin one
-"liart'Of the kiriedorn to' the other, by the lines 07 111, .
existence, or by lines'hereafter to be made.3 '
- Itimay be inferred from the evidenCe, that, in some shape
of &Wei; ultimate combination of interest Arill.i.esult from'
the;temperary dompetition of rival companies. It appears
that, in Lancashire and Yorkshire, a district not the least
I.4,lenditive to,the advantages of • frOe competition; no such
.„_,Tree
s ; Coln is practically enjoyed. as regards communication.
v“- 'railway bit that, on the contrary, between
,Liverpciol
and 111anchester, where five, different modesof transit,
‘'''f'"lnOl'e lir leis competing with each Other in their inception,
"!) hgve been established, viz., the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, the railways by Bolton, Bnry, 'and Wigan, it the
)• ..handslof the. Lancashire and :Yorkshire.Conapany, and the
East ,Laneashire- railways, the 'Bridgewater Canal,- the( OFid
;,,,,Liver Trusts all-five have,• more br legs; a' common under-
standing with each other, and no rivalrk exists bearingany
anillegy,sto..thekeen competition of private individuals con
tending in the same, trade- • , • •.
- ,in, the „case of therLionden and North-Western
P-Aird the Great Northern Rail Ways, a .011 of traffic hhs
been adopted,. under arbitration, by whieh the .whoile
..);!"-VcittnifyleiliaMora-lon Edinburgh:and GlasgOW is divvided
-c.taeckirding to a• fixed 'plan, and ;rlValry bet Ween thegd tWo
4, .tru aneB •Of; centiarcOinmunication is; to eXterit,
is, extinguished. 'Between the Great Northern and:Eastern
, Counties thbre exists an agreement, 'dividing into two parks
ri Ahe country in the neighbourhood of these islands, and Of:
.r.,,,,fectu-Ally putting an end to any real. competition in that
= r• . ;
Vick iliatances are cited; but they are only examples of
appliars to be the general tendenc,y in respect 940m0tii ion
anirdiinbination between railway pqmpanies, •i• •It is natural for traders to Compete where the ,o Poi th-
-. - nity: it'unHmiteirfor new rivals to enter the field fi4iPin,time
tirtinie; it is quite. as natural' 'traders- tb combine so:.,•••••! soon ass the particular tree:a in Which they are 'engaged,
the) .whole 'number Of Possible competitors may be as -
. tai.ned and limited. • • -;
cer
•
Va9/a4,considera4ons, while they appear to. your
nOittee,'°--cAllatt'9d-to diminish the reliance which can be
toPla'ced upon competition as a security.for the public against
„the 'abuse of power by.railway companies, incre,afie_in the:
' same.piopoition the necessity for vigilance in parting With,
aterebritrOl which,'siti guardians of the public interest, the
Legislieteitellidy'pasetesS.
The voluntary combinations to which your committee
v+n thusiadvetted have tot generally the sanction or' fbrce
,;sof law.- „Tile relations which the• companies have been
• enabled to establish"by their means are not secure ; and it
a tegt of the difference.in value between these arrangb-v
*lents .and actual amalgamation under 'the authority of -
Thrliament,4 that :the witnesses who recommend amalge,'
/nation speak so strongly as _they d0,:0f4 the additional
security which
..it, will confer upon the stock of the
panics obtaining that advan' ,
vi Wig, therefore, manifest that, in conceding amalgarna-
a'utiort;Parliarbent'*ould Part with a power which it might
_el-teal:arise fat the purpose-of securing to the public one of'•the
tlii advantages: that a commercial country can enjoy,
k 4.41 z., freedom and economy of transit for persons-and .mer--
clue:Wise frqm- one .part Of; the kingdom to another-9 And
that so important a step shoilid not he taken Valeas these
advantages be fully secured. ,
r!'!"`: When the first railway bills were passed, and the present
• system of railway legislation was gradually acquiring shape,
the ordinary traffic of the country was conducted upon the
• roads and canals ;• and the new system offered to the .public
the. optiot-Of an improved method Of transit, which was
naturally accepted on the' terms on which it was offered.
' Nor can it •be doubted that railways iiieke, expected te vbb in
practice
what-they, are in contemplation of law, new high--'
-ways freely-up:en to. ,the . public, to,
,pass with enginea, and
carriages at_ their,Own discretion. But in .course. of time -
'the ancient methods of transit have necessarily fallen into-
disuse, and the railways haVe •bedeme the only mode by;'
which the greatest part of the:internal communications of
the country can be conducted.; 'while considerations of
public safety, and other circumstances, haVe placed the
management and use of -them exciusively'in the control of
the railway.couipanies. _ In passing from the ruder to the '
more artificial Spitemv,.,Whlle the greatest advantages haie
on the, one handlieen_ om attaitect the other hand some
sacrifice has been made of .tha,freedom with-which indivi-
duals are able to exercise their cheipe of ronte, and to se-
lect the means • of` lecethotion. they employ.,Under these
circumstances, the relation which ought to subsist between
the Executive Goverinnent,Os the gimidian of the general
interest, on the one halid;-ancrthe (whim's' of the railways ,
on the othor,, has
.-become a question of the utmost im-
portance • and it would be in the highest degree unfortu-
nate if, by any precipitate step, Parliament wereprecluded
from arriving at the conclusion hest calculated t 6 promote
tlre.publie good in future years. • . •
Is order to ensure this end it will .be necessary to estab-
lish; in :the clearest manner, what that relation Might to
. be; and, as subordinate to this subject, to determine,
among other things, for what purposes and to what ex-
tent, audit can be rendered effectual; whether it be pos-
sible to ascertain and define what portions of the expendi-
ture should be charged upon the capitalof the companies;
whether the fixed amount of dividend which any company
should enjoy before submitting to the proposed revision
of tariff can be fairly assessed, and what degree of control
it is right that any central authority should exercise, fOr
the purpose of securing fair facilities for the transmission
of traffic arriving at the points of junction between dif-
ferent lines ; or for the development, by new lines, of the
traffic of the country, as circumstances may from time to
time require.
v.,. There are also-kinds of traffic, such as the conveyance of
coals and minerals, in respect f which maximum charges
have been prescribed ; but it is doubtful whether the com-
panies have not the power, by denying to one person facili-
ties which they afford to others,. of materially interfering
with the freedofli of trade; and frustrating the inte.nsions
• Of ParliaMent.
In-manof the most important districts of the. country
canals have bean united with railways in travarsing„the
whole or part of the same district ; and while precautions
have been taken in ,seme of the sots for securing to trade
the benefit of free'transit by such canals, much evidence'
-- has been offered to your committee that these precautions
- have been ineffectual, '
'lnto these questions yoiir committee have entered with
all the diligence which their limited time has hitherto ion-
; deredixesible ; but other important evidence remains to
'be heard, and your committee are not prepared to. pre-
y'''. dge-the determination at which, When the whole inctlury
shall have been centliided, it may be their duty to arrive.
:47
That-it will be undesirable to PerMit the bills-now before
Parliamentto proCeed, without having first arrived 'at a
st: conclusion upon thav merits of the whole qteition, will be
manifest, when it is considered that the bills promoted by .
one company (the London and North-Western) have been
stated to your committee to involve the union, under one.
control, of a raised capital of 60,000,0001., between o i e-s,
fourtkand ope,fifth of the railwai.property of the kingd....
.—an annual revenue exceedimg,4,99o,9oo/.--and arc extent'
;"*. of railway communication of Up3vea.,cfn_of 1,100 miles, or '
morethan one-sixth of the railways,in theVnited King-
\•-• dom, forming from the inipoitailee of 11i6 towns with:
-which it is connected; a key,to the plinilipaltoramunica- •
1,..z • trios of the country. •- - - ••• • , Your committee are not prepared to adVine that your
honourable house should part, at present, with any of the
; powers 711lchParlianient possesses iu respect of these great('
companies. The
- • which it is absolUtePerilyoduen,(!he's,ts'is..6ion had :now arrived at,
regard to private a dedded course
commend that the bills OUP committee, -therefore, re-
emalicamations,. sball.not r effecting the..more extensive
1.3'114:1W0d,•,t0 proceed to a second
where P. Class of bills in clUded samete—chni-
, cal description as bills of anatiag
which are not open
to the same objection, andvrocaiegtert:_iitet.nto' be included within! -
These
„f
wg.in the present sessiOn..
' the rohibition against
are. bills the object
branch for the '•benefit of a Inch is to
particular district.nl;akBdaliocal ;' • the small and new- undertaking cannot prosper since
unite it in interest with the trank, of which. v'''''ett;
necessity, be a mere branch or adjunct.,„ :Bub' 1'1111.4, of
of this. naT.
trre, instead of deserving restrictions rather need nr,
l'e,genient, and ought, therefore, to, be subjected to neo---,jui;.!
railway legislation:
:necessary, expense, and to none.of ; the hazards of delay.
Bow far, wider any improved sYSteni:of
it may be possible to increase the facility for obtaining
,%,lines of local convenience, is a subject to which the atten-
tion Of your committee continue' tb 'be' carefully di-
rected.
• •It remains-that .yonr comreitteenheuld submit the views
4p..• which they conceive should;.lietadoptediipending their in-
eia•ginry uponother subjects indixectlY affecting the question
...„of.amatgaation.. ,
~• ~ •
The first-
of. these stitjec4
,that of :running, clauses, as
'"" liey are usually termed ; in other words, of &needing to'
s"'"One coinpany 3c,-,tvers of traveilifir, without censenti the
lines of ailether: 'Thiki practice as always been reonrded.,
ao questienable, from considc;ali?a and.
'`'your coin-mated advise thut-th-p attention select.
44‘' •nlitteb upoit each bill should', evetrcar, be speci
4 this subject, and that running cleats*. shot hl be
4%,..taictedo •
io.„,itted witii groat caution; and-O-nly,:itt
cases whom- it is
14. o,z,

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