The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-08 00:00:00

DUBLIN ELECTION COMMITTEE.

At the sitting of the Committee yesterday, the question
relating to the validity of the Grand Jury tax in the city of
Dublin for the year 1834, which commenced on Wednesday,
was resumed by
Mr. WRANC;ITANI, who contended that it was not competent
to the sitting Member to impugn the assessment, inasmuch as
no notice of such an intention was given in the list of objec-
tions exchanged between the parties. In the Pipe-water case

they gave
heir notice of th.eir intention to question its vali-
dity, and their not doing lA. 'n this instance wes prima facie
evidence that they waived it. He come... Jed that the point
not being in issue, fine. Commissioners in Dublin wet,:ustified
in refusing to take evidence citi this point, and which, bad it
been taken, should be placed on the rejected sheet:
Mr. AUSTIN, in reply, said, in reference to the reason of the
Commissioners for not receiving evidence to impeach the lega-
lity of the assessment, namely, that it was admitted by the
sitting Members, inasmuch as they did not put the question in
issue, he would observe that such could not be held good, be-
cause the Committee had already decided the point in the
case of the Watch tax. As regarded the argument
grounded upon the circumstance of notice having been
given of an intention to question the Watch rate, be would
say notice had been given of more than was required, and he
would dispose of the third argument, founded on the 31 section
of the 42d Geo. 111., relied upon by the Commissioners, inas-
much as Roman Catholics as well as Protestants were entitled
to attend the vestries and to vote, so that they were themselves
toj blame if the applotment was not properly made. Now,
the fact was, the Act of Parliament enabling the Roman Ca-
tholics
to attend, did not receive the Royal Assent for nearly
six months after the assessment in question was made. So
much for the legal knowledge of those clever Commissioners.
The agents in the lists of objected voters specify the cause of
objection, but unless each party was in possession of the other's
case, they could not be prepared with a counter statement to
disprove the matters set forth in their opponent's statement.
The Learned Counsel proceeded to argue at considerable
length, after which, the Committee having deliberated for a
considerable time, announced their resolution as follows ;
" That as no intention of impeaching the general legality
of the assessment to the Grand Jury cess was contained in
the statement of the sitting Members, the Committee cannot
now, under the provisions of section 3, of the Act 42d George
111., chap. 106, require the Counsel for the petitioners to prove
that legality ; but they will give due consideration to any facts
which may be submitted to them from the evidence or docu-
ments to which their attention may be directed for the purpose
of guiding their decision as to the validity of the charge
against the voters objected to."
After a few observations between Counsel respecting the
mode of proceeding,
Mr. AUSTEN proceeded to show that the assessment was de-
fective in some essential particulars, but
The COMMITTEE decided that the cess was properly applotted.
Several votes affected by this decision were struck off Mr.
O'Connell's poll; and Mr. West being declared in a majority
of one, the scrutiny of the petitioner's voters was gone into, and
two having been declared to be bad, the Counsel for the pal,
tioners proceeded in turn,

DUKE OF CORNWALL'S HARBOUR
AND LAUNCESTON AND VICTORIA RAIL-
WAY COMPANY.

We beg to call the attention of our readers to an adver-
tisement which appears in another column, containing a
Report of the resolutions unanimously adopted at a nu-
merous and respectable meeting of the Provisional Com-
mittee and Shareholders of this Company, held yesterday.
Captain GOULD having been called to the Chair, briefly
stated the objects of the meeting, and alluded to the great
advantages which he expected to result from the completion
of this undertaking.
The first and second resolutions having been moved and
seconded,
G. Ross, Esq., addressed the meeting, and spoke to the
following effect :—He observed that, having been named as
Managing Director, he felt himself called upon to enter
into some explanation as to the present state of the con-
cern, and in doing so he had much pleasure in assuring the
meeting that nothing could be more flattering than .the pre-
sent prospects of the Company : nothing more encouraging
than the reception with which the undertaking in every
quarter had been met ; whether in a philanthropic, a na-
tional, or commercial point of view, it was recognised as a
great public benefit, and met with unbounded support.
He stated, that about two years ago, when in Cornwall,
his attention was directed to the lamentable loss of life
and property which occurred almost every year on the
dangerous north-west coast of that county. Even that
morning he had received a letter from Launceston which
stated that on Friday last a fine brig laden with iron, &c.,
was wrecked on the Padstow Bar in attempting to get in,
and seven lives lost. He had made inquiry whether there
was not the possibility of finding a remedy for this melan-
choly state of things, and was informed that Government
had ineffectually made a survey of that ironbound coast,
and that the Postmaster-General in endeavouring to discover
a fit harbour for a packet-station, had been equally unsuc-
cessful. He had, however, learned that there was an inlet
called Tremontha-haven, where it . was probable that a
harbour of safety might be constructed, as some private in-
dividuals bad formerly contemplated the formation of a
harbour there ; but having found the calculated expense
amounted to more than they were disposed to embark in
the concern, it was abandoned. He, however, determined
to examine the spot, and discovered that a splendid harbour
might, in his opinion, be made there, although a large ca-
pital would be required to accomplish the object. That at
first appeared to him a considerable d ffieulty, but he had
found that perseverance generally surmounted the most for-
mible difficulties. His motto had always been—
" Nil tam difficile, quod non solercia vincat."
Not relying, however, on his own judgment, he wrote to
Messrs. Hopkins and Sons, very eminent engineers at Ply-
mouth, who had just finished a railway from Bodmin to
Wadebridge, in the same neighbourhood, and relying on
their local and, practical knowledge .to supply him with the
required information, begged they would take an early op-
portunity of examiaing the spot intended for the harbour ;
and as a railway to Launceston was deemed to be an ob-
ject calculated to render it a profitable speculation, they
were required to make a cursory survey of the line of such
proposed railway, and to report to him their opinions as
to the practicability and probable expense of the combined
undertaking. That report was extremely favourable to the
scheme, and he consequently, on his own responsibility, gave
instructions to Messrs. Hopkins to make the Parliamentary
survey, having first secured the site of the harbour from Lord
Rolle, with sufficient ground on which to build the proposed
town of Victoria. The result of that survey having been
fully set forth in the prospectus, it was unnecessary for
him further to advert to it than to state, that every
preliminary step having been taken to apply to Parlia-
ment for an act of incorporation, the Bill had already been
read a first time, and stood for a second reading on
Monday next, the 11th instant. It .now, therefore,
came necessary to choose directors to be named in that
Act, alai it certainly would have been rit.:irable to have had
in the direction some of those highly distini;u'shed indivi-
duals, Members of Parliament, who had already si'iLactioned
the measure with their approbation and support ; but ti:,y,
having, from the most honourable motives, deemed it in-
compatible with their duty to become parties, in any shape,
to a measure in which, as legislators, they would be required
to adjudicate, had for the present abstained from taking any
share in the direction or holding any pecuniary interest in
• the concern ; not, however, as had been reported, that they
had abandoned or withdrawn from it their support, for, on
the contrary, he was by the whole of the Members of Par-
liament in the provincial committee authorized most- dis-
tinctly to state that they highly approved of the measure,
and were ready and willing, on public grounds, to give it
their support by every means in their power. It was, there-
fore the opinion of the friends and promoters of the under-
taking that only eight directors should now be appointed,
leaving room for the addition of four more to be filled up by
those Members of Parliament or such other influential indi-
viduals as may hereafter, in the opinion of the directors, be
deemed expedient.
The resolutions were then carried unanimously.
Mr. Rica PoraiNs, one of the engineers, having been
called upop, addressed the meeting at considerable length,
during which he pointed out to them the reasons by which
he had been influenced in preparing the ,calculations con-
tained in the prospectus, and advanced several arguments
in promotion of the undertaking which met with general
approbation. He Particularly alluded to the advantageous
position of the proposed harbour as a packet-station to Wa-
terford, Cork, and other parts of the south of Ireland, and
as a medium of communication in lessening the voyage to
America by a railway which might be - constructed from
Waterford to Voiotia. He also mentioned the facility
with which the railway might be extended to Plymouth
and Exeter. The former had been in agitation, but had
not been finally determined upon ; the other, it was pro-
bable, would be accomplished by a junction with the Bide-
ford and Okehampton Railway Company. Neither of
these had, however, been calculated upon in the prospec-
tus, although it was probable they would be effected. The
calculations of the revenue were founded 'upon the present
p 01)111 tion and upon the wants of the agricultural district.
The third resolution, expressinz the opinion of the meet-
ing in reference to the extension of the railway to Plymouth,
was then moved and seconded, and unanimously carried.
whAichlioenligeiatendd
‘a,anriinolautse
d f
co
or
Letri soant e
highly sr
srftili se
tsourcyc it!
oe dtehde,
proprietors, who passed an unanimous vote of thanks to G.
Ross, Esq., the founder of the
Company, after which the
meeting adjourned.

The Editor of the Mode was yesterday sentenced
tot sixtie months' imprisonment and a fine of 4,000 f. for a libel
o
Galignani's Messenger.
A JUVENILE JoURNALIsT.—A few days ago the
-11,101'ning Chronicle said, " to us, who have been accu7onted
(iling the last hundred and fifty years to the conflicts of
Ilolitteal seet3 of every shade,
,it looks
particularly absurd to
hear, &c." !