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

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1853.

RAILWAY AND CANAL AMALGAMATION.
OFFICIAL REPORT.

The committee of the House of Commons on this sub-
ject have agreed 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 session, 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
official report :
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-
gamation, and they have come to the conclusion that it will
not be proper to sanction the progress of bills now 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 amalgamated companies.
Your committee would willingly have adopted any
course which might have secured the fair consideration of
those several proposals upon their merits 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 union. It would manifestly be unjust to per-
mit the combination of great companies in particular dis-
tricts without, at the same time, guarding against any in-
jury to smaller companies whose railways might be situate
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 proposals for amalgamation have been recom-
mended to your committee upon the ground that much bene-
fit would result to the shareholders from the increased
confidence which the possessors of stock would feel under
these arrangements, by being, to a great extent, secured
against the risk of future competition. Speaking of this
risk, Mr. Stephenson has stated to your committee, that,
if the competition which now prevails between the London
and North-Western and Great Western Companies shall
continue, a large property, which now yields 5i per cent.,
will probably in ten years be reduced to 3 per cent. In re-
turn for the advantage of being thus secured, it has been
proposed to give to the public, in the shape of reduced
charges, a share of the profit which would, from time to
time arise from the increasing traffic, spread, as it would
then be spread, over the same amount only of expended
capital. It has been proposed to secure to the public this
return, by a machinery comprising a closed capital account,
an-estimated maximum dividend, with a periodical revi-
sion of tariff, by which the charges to the travelling public
might be, from time to time, reduced • and to vest in the
Board of Trade, or in some other Government board, a
wide control for the purpose of insuring the free, fair, and
economical transit of persons and merchandise from one
part of the kingdom to the other, by the lines now in
existence, or by lines hereafter to be made.
It may be inferred from the evidence, that, in some shape
or other, ultimate combination of interest will result from
the temporary competition of rival companies. It appears
that, in Lancashire and Yorkshire, a district not the least
sensitive to the advantages of free competition, no such
freedom is practically enjoyed as regards communication
railways; but that, on the contrary, between Liverpool
and Manchester, where five different modes of transit,
more or less .competing with each other in their inception,
have been established, viz., the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, the railways by Bolton, Bury, and. Wigan, in the
hands of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company, and the
East Lancashire railways, the Bridgewater Canal, the Old
River Trust, all five have, more or less, a common under-
standing with each other, and no rivalry exists bearing any
analogy to the keen competition of private individuals con-
tending in the same trade.
Again, in the case of the London and North-Western
and the Great Northern Railways, a division of traffic has
been adopted, under 'arbitration, by which the whole
country from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow is divided
according to a fixed plan, and rivalry between these two
trunk lines of central communication is, to a great extent,
extinguished. Between the Great Northern and Eastern
Counties there exists an agreement, dividing into two parts
the country in the neighbourhood of these islands, and ef-
fectually putting an end to any real competition in that
district.
These instances are cited; but they are only examples of
what appears to be the general tendency in respect of com-
petition and combination between railway companies.
It is natural for traders to compete where the opportu-
nity is unlimited for new rivals to enter the field from time
to time ; it is quite as natural for traders to combine so
soon as, in the particular trade in which they are engaged,
the whole number of possible competitors may be ascer-
tained and limited.
These considerations, while they appear to your com-
mittee calculated to diminish the reliance which can be
placed upon competition as a security for the public against
the abuse of power by railway companies, increase in the
same proportion the necessity for vigilance in parting with
any control which, as guardians of the public interest, the
Legislature may possess.
The voluntary combinations to which your committee
have thus adverted have not generally the sanction or force
of law. The relations which the companies have been
enabled to establish by their means are not secure ; and it
is a test of the difference in value between these arrange-
ments and actual amalgamation under the authority of
Parliament, that , the witnesses who recommend amalga-
mation speak so strongly as they do of the additional
security which it will confer upon the stock of the com-
panies obtaining that advantage.
It is, therefore, manifest that, in conceding amalgama-
tion, Parliament would part with a power which it might
exercise for the purpose of securing to the public one of the
greatest advantages that a commercial country can enjoy,
viz., freedom and economy of transit for persons and mer-
chandise from one part of the kingdom to another ' • and
that so important a step should not be taken unless these
advantages be fully secured.
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 option 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 were expected to be in
practice what they are in contemplation of law, new high
ways freely ppen to the public to pass with engines and
cairiages at their own discretion. But in course of time
the ancient methods of transit have necessarily fallen into
disuse, and the railways have become 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 exclusively in the control of
the railway companies. In passing from the ruder to the
more artificial system, while the greatest advantages have
on the one hand been attained, on the other hand some
sacrifice has been made of the freedom with which indivi-
duals are able to exercise their choice of route, and to se-
lect the means of locomotion they employ. Under these
circumstances, the relation which ought to subsist between
the Executive Government, as the guardian of the general
interest, on the one hand, and the owners of the railways
on the other, has become a question of the utmost im-
portance • and it would be in the highest degree unfortu-
nate if, hy any precipitate step, Parliament were,precluded
from arriving at the conclusion best calculated to; promote
the public good in future years.
In order to ensure this end it will be necessary to estab-
lish, in the clearest manner, what that relation ought 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 capital of 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 tho 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.
There are also kinds of traffic, such as the conveyance of
coals and minerals, in respect of 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 thers, of materially interfering
with the freedom of trade, and frustrating the intensions
of Parliament.
In many of the most important districts of the country
canals haves been united with railways in traversing the
whole or part of the same district ; and while. precautions
have been taken in some of the acts 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.

Into these questions your committee have entered with
all the diligence which their limited time has hither to ren-
dered possible ; but other impm :ant evidence remains to
be heard, and your committee are not prepared to pre-
judge the determination at which, when the whole inquiry
shall have been concluded, it may be their duty to arrive.
That it will be undesirable to permit the bills now before
Parliament to proceed, without having first arrived at a
conclusion upon the merits of the whole question, will be
manifest, when it is considered that the bills promoted by
ono company (the Loudon and North-Western) have been
stated to your committee to involve the union, under one
control, of a raised capital of 60,030,C00/., between one-
fourth and one-fifth of the railway property of the kingdom
—an annual revenue exceeding 4,0C3,000/.—and an extent
of railway communication of upwards of 1,2C0 miles, or
more than one-sixth of the railways in the United King-
dom, forming from the importance of the towns with
which it is connected, a key to the principal communica-
tions of the country.
Your committee are not prepared to advise that your
honourable house should part, at present, with any of the
powers which Parliament possesses in respect of these great
companies. The period of the session has now arrived at
which it is absolutely necessary to take a decided course in
regard to private bills. Your committee, therefore, re-
commend that the bills for effecting the more extensive
amalgamations, shall not be allowed to proceed to a second
reading.

There is a class of bills included within the same techni-
cal description as bills of amalgamation, which are not open
to the same objection, and ought not to be included within
the prohibition against proceeding in the present session.
These are bills, the object of which is to wake a local
branch for the benefit of a particular dis'riet ; and since
the small and new undertaking cannot prosper by itself, to
unite it in interest with the trunk, of which it must, of
necessity, be a mere branch or adjunct. Bills of this na-
ture, instead of deserving restriction, rather need encou-
ragement, and ought, therefore, to be subjected to no un-
necessary expense, and to none of the hazards of delay.
How far, under any improved system of railway legislation,
it may be possible to increase the facility for obtaining
lines of local convenience, is a subject to which the atteu-
__

tion of your committee will continue to be carefully al-
re ct e d .

It remains that your committee should submit the views
which they conceive should be adopted, pending their in-
gully upon other subjects indirectly affecting the question
of amalgamation,
The first of these subjects is that of running clauses, as
they are usually termed; in other words, of conceding to
one company powers of traversing, without consent, the
lines of another. This pract'ce has always been regarded
questionable, from considerations of public safety, and
Your committee advise that the attention of the select' com-
mittee upon each bill should; in every case, be specially di-
rected to this subject, and that running clauses should be
r‘draitted with great caution, and only in cases where it is

clearly shown that the apparently hostile clauses are no-
inserted as a cloak for amalgamation ; and also that effect
tual security may be and has been taken for conducting the
traffic without danger, if the companies continue iudepen-
dert of each other.

There are also many railways before Parliament in the
present session which may not appear to be in themselves
claimants for amalgamation, and which yet may be in sub-
stance means of defence or of offence in the contests going
on between different railway systems. It is impossible for
your committee, not appointed for the purpose of investi-
gating in detail particular schemes, and not having time to
devote to their investigation, to express an opinion upon
each particular plan. But your committee are satisfied
that if the amalgamation schemes of the great companies
are suspended during this inquiry, it is right to take some
precaution for guarding them against an unfair opposition
which may arise from other schemes, and that the public
will be benefited by limiting the legislation of this year to
lines which it is intended not only to pass into law, but
also to carry into actual effect.
Your committee, therefoso, would advise that all schemes
for amalgamating two or more companies already incorpo-
rated, should be arrested for the present session, and that
no new scheme should be permitted to proceed without
giving effectual security for its actual and immediate com-
pletion. They arc fortified in this conclusion by the fact
which has appeared in evidence, that 2,000 miles of railway,
involving more than 40,000,0001. of capital have been sanc-
tioned by Parliament, and afterwards abandoned without
the consent of Parliament.

Your committeo have taken some evidence on the sub-
ject of public safety, with which the subject of amalgama-
tion is very materially connected. But as their present
report is mainly directed to the course of proceeding which
ought to be adopted with regard to the bills now before
Parliament, and the question of safety is too important to
be dealt with in a partial manner, your committee do not
propose to offer their opinion to the house until a future
time.

In order to give effect to these views, your committee
have agreed to the following resolutions, andhave instructed
their chairman to move the house thereon. (See Parlia-
mentary business, page 2.)

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

CROWN COURT.—CHESTER, APRIL 8.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
CHARGE OF MURDER FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING
BURIAL FEES.
Honor Gibbons, aged 21, and Bridget Gerratz, 40, 'ere
placed at the bar on an indictment and inquisition,
charging them with the wilful murder of Mary Gibbons,
by the administration of oil of vitriol, at Stockport, on
the 12th of March last.
Mr. Davidson and Mr. Horatio Lloyd appeared for
the prosecution ; and Mr. Gifford for the prisoners.
Mr. Davidson said the prisoners were indicted for the
wilful murder of Mary Gibbons, an infant of the age of
nine months. The learned gentleman then detailed the
whole of the facts, as afterwards given in evidence, in the
course of which he observed that the child had been
entered in a burial society, and at the time of its death
the mother was entitled to the sum of 4/. burial money.
The following witnesses were then called :
Hannah Hogan said she lodged with the prisoner
Honer Gibbons up to the death of the child on the 12th
of March, and three weeks previous. Thursday before
the death of the child it appeared quite well. Slept in
the room with the prisoners. During the night the
child cried several times. The next morning saw the
ehild on the knee of Honor Gibbons. The pink frock
now produced was worn by deceased. Saw a bottle like
the one now produced with yellow stuff in it.
Nancy Hogan, sister of the last witness, was then
called. She corroborated the evidence of her sister.
Edward Molloy lodged with the prisoners, in Flet-
cher's-yard, Stockport, and had lodged there upwards of
half a year, with his five children, one of whom is 18
years old. The deceased was taken ill on the Monday
night before her death. She died on the Saturday. Was
not well on the day before and remained in the house
the most of the day. The deceased did not on that day
appear to be very sick. Towards the latter end of
Friday night was awoke by the crying of the
child. It continued to cry until witness got up.
Should think the child cried about three hours.
Got up in the morning of Saturday between nine
and ten o'clock. The mother had the child in
her arms in the bed-room. It was crying very much,
and witness said to her, "Honor, your child is poorly
all night and very sick." She said, " Yes." Witness
asked to look at the child. She turned it towards me,
and I said, " The child looks very bad ; I think she will
not live long." The mother did not say anything, but
as she turned the child it vomited very bad stuff. On
going out saw Gerratz, who was minding one of Hogan'.
children in the kitchen. Shortly after Honor Gibbons
came down stairs with the child in her arms. Mrs.
Flannery then came in and said; "The child is very
poorly ; did you bring it to a doctor ?" Gibbons said,
" No. ' Mr. Flannery then said, "Come along with
me to the doctor," and both went out together. Did
not notice the dress the child had on at that time. (The
witness identified the dresses worn by the mother and
child previous to the death of the latter.) Saw some
bottles in the house. Two of them were like those now
produced. They were in the same room in which the
prisoners slept. The bottle containing the yellow stuff
saw last on the chimney-piece in the kitchen. Did not
see the other after the death of the child. (This con-
tained vitriol.) Did not see any stuff like the latter
used in the house.
Cross-examined— The prisoner Honor Gibbons ap-
peared fond of the child, and took care of it.
Ann M'Namara said—She lives in Grape-street,
Stockport, near the residence of the prisoners. Knows
Honor Gibbons. Recollects her child dying. Was at
her house the afternoon before, and saw the child.
Asked her how the child was ? She said it was very
ill. Saw the child. She took it out of the cradle, and
said it was-swollen on both sides of the belly. The same
evening went again to the house after dark. Asked her
how the child was, and she said, " A little better." Did
not-see the child nor hear it cry.
Julia Coyle, another of the neighbours was at Gib-
bone' house the evening before the death, and asked her
how the child was, and she said " Very well." It ap-
peardd very well, and was laughing. Went there again
the following day, between 11 and 12 o'clock. Saw the
prisoners and the child, the latter in the arms of its
mother. The child appeared very poorly. Asked Gib-
bons what was the reason of the strokes on each side of
the mouth of the child ? • She said, "From the drink."
Looked at the child's mouth, and asked what was the
reason of her mouth being full of blisters, and the tongue
sticking to the upper lip ? She made no reply. Blood
came from the child's nose, and I asked her the reason of
of it. Both the prisoners answered, " From the drink
it has taken."
By the Court—She did not say what the drink was.
Julia Flannery, another of the neighbours, deposed to
frequently seeing the child previous to its death. It was
a fine baby. Saw it again on Saturday morning, be-
tween nine and ten o'clock. It was frothing out of its
mouth.

Peter AliNamara lodged with Gibbons up to a fort-
night before the death of the child. Was ill, and had
some medicine ; it was yellow stuff, and in a bottle like
the one now produced. Had none like the oil of vitriol
now produced.
Patrick Flannery said he saw the prisoner Gibbons on
the evening the child died. At half-past seven the same
evening he accompanied her to the Red Bull, where the
club is held. They went with the president of the club
to Dr. Lowndes, whom the prisoner Gibbons said had
seen the child. Was present on Tuesday when a bottle
was found in the ash-pit near the prisoner's house. It
is the one now produced, and it contained a little more
of the oil of vitriol than there is at present. Isherwood
took the bottle.
Cross-examined----The ash-pit is common to about 12
houses.

Harvey Lowndes, druggist at Stockport, stated that
on Saturday, the 12th of March, the prisoner Gibbons
brought a child to his shop, and wished to give the child
some medicine. The child lay in her arms with its
mouth open, the tongue was turned up, and the under
part dry and charred. Asked her what she had given
the child to cause its mouth to be in that state. She
said, " I ,have given it nothing." I said, "You must
have given it something, or its mouth would not be in
the state it is, and I shall not mix any medicine for it ;
you had better take it to some one else, for the child is
dying." There was a little discharge from the nostrils,.
rather coloured, but not bloody. Asked her how long
the child had been ill ? She said it had been poorly on
the Monday, but she had not taken any notice of it
until the Friday night previous. Saw her again that
night along with Isherwood, president of the club, and
the witness Patrick Flannery. Isherwood said he had
come to see what was the cause of the child's death. I
said I could not tell him, for I had only examined its
mouth, and it was a very suspicious case. The prisoner
and Flannery said the child had died a natural death.
Isherwood said they must meet him in about three-
quarters of an hour, at the Red Bull, and he would see
whether he could settle with them. They then went
away.
Edward Isherwood, President of the club, deposed to
what took place between the prisoner and himself, as
already detailed by Flannery and Lowndes.
Charles Prince, one of the officers of the burial club,
produced the books of the club. He said Gibbons came
to him on Sunday night, the 3d of October, and entered
herself and child as members. James Flanaghan put
her name down in the books. Afterwards saw the same
child dead at the house of Gibbons, the prisoner. The
witness then deposed to seeing Gibbons at the club-
house on the Sunday evening after the child's death,
and she said if he (witness) would get her the money she
would give him one-half.
James Flanaghan deposed to the prisoner Gibbons
and her child being members of the club.
Mr. W. Derbyshire, surgeon, of Stockport, deposed
to going to Gibbons's house on the day of the child's
death. Saw some dark brown stains, as if somothing
had ran out of its mouth. The lower part of the belly
was going black. Asked the prisoner Gibbons what
she had given to the child ? She mentioned some simple
things in the way of food. Saw the child on the Sunday
morning, and its tongue was white and corroded,
Cross-examined—On the first occasion the prisoner
said the child had died a natural death, and witness
might open the body, or do what he liked.
John Derbyshire, police officer, produced the clothes
worn by the child and the two prisoners, and a bottle
containing oil of vitriol, which Was found in the ashpit.
George Cheatham deposed to the fact of the prisoner
Gerratz giving herself up on the 25th of March.
Mr. John Rayner, surgeon, of Stockport, deposed to
making a post mortem examination of the body of the
child, and that its death was produced by mineral poison
such as oil of vitrol. He also produced an analysis of
the clothes worn by both prisoners, and also by the child, ,
in all of which he found oil of vitriol. He also found
the same thing on the inside pocket of the dress taken
from Gerratz in the lock-up.
This closed the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Gifford addressed the jury at considerable length
in favour of the prisoners. He contended that the
charge against the younger prisoner was a most impro-
bable one. The prisoner Gibbons might have adminis-
tered the poison by mistake, but as against the other
there was not the slightest case. After going over the
whole facts of the case, the learned gentleman con-
cluded with a most powerful appeal to the jury in behalf
of the prisoners.
The learned Judge summed up the case to the jury.
The jury retired, and after being out of court an pour
and a half, found both prisoners Guilty, but recommended
them to mercy.
His Lordship then put on the black cap, and pro-
ceeded to pass sentence of death upon the prisoners.
His lordship said they had been found guilty, after the
Most careful consideration of their case, of a vile and
cruel murder. They had had the benefit. of being de-
fended with the greatest zeal and ability by the learned
counsel who bad kindly undertaken their defence ; but
lie could see no reason whatever upon the evidence to
doubt the propriety of the conclusion to which the jury
had arrived. With respect to Honor Gibbons, she, for
the basest motives of gain, had unnaturally violated one
of the deepest feelings of human nature, and for the
price of that unfortunate infant's burial fees had had the
heart to destroy her own child by means the most cruel,
unnatural, and barbarous. With respect to the other
prisoner Gerratz, his lordship observed that there ap-
peared no adequate motive for her conduct, except some
inherent disposition to join in such a deed. After stat-
ing that the recommendation of the jury should be for-
warded to the proper quarter, the learned judge pro-
ceeded to pass the awful sentence of the law, up on the
prisoners, holding out not the slightest hope of a com-
mutation of the sentence as far as Gibbons was con-
cerned.
The prisoners were then removed from the bar, sup-
ported by the matron and turnkeys.

-
ARROWROOT.—ne "Sydney Empire says that aryow-
root equal to that procured from the South Sea Islands
had been prepared from some wild plants which grow
abundantly near Sydney.