The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-17 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

Lord BROUGHAM wished to ask the Noble Mar-
quis the Lord President of the Council whether it was
true that sonde Bomfin and tile Portuguese troops had
been sent to Angola for greater security, because the
people of Madeira were favourable to their release?
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE thought not.
Lc,rd BROUGHAM—Oh, but has the Noble Mar-
quis any doubt about it?—(Laughter.)
HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.

Lard DENMAN presented a petition in favour of the
health of Towns Bill.
BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD JUNCTION
RAILWAY

Lord LYNDHURST then rose to move the further
consider ation of the report of the COmmittee appoint©d
to inquire into the truth of the allegations contained in
the petition of the Great Western Railway Company re-
lating to the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway.
Th& Noble Lord then proceeded to say that the directors
of the North-Western Company had purchased 4,000
sharps in the new company, and read over the names of
several of the directors, engineers, solicitors, locomotive
superlntendents, and clerks, who had purchased those
sharee, among whom the names of Mozely and Tootal
occupied a prominent place. He would ask their Lord
ships what they thought of such a proceeding? Now,
whoa was the next step which was taken? A meeting was
telvertiseel, for the purpose of appointing an additional
nonaber of directors, anda
at that meeting six more were
elided to the original eighteen, u,.Aieder the direction of
the North-Western Company.
next step taken
was to try to remove four of the old directors.fC The dis-
pute was then brought into the Court of Chancery, and
1311 w Queen's Bench, and how
not for him t
subsequently into the Court of
to obtain the
thou should succeed there •
to say.
ent, and the Bill was reported
A Bill vets then brought into"Pviaarliament
: t' avr-era
saactort 0 the ,- , •
the Lornmittee who sat upon it. s on
farourabry by Some
, arose upon it, and it was re_
efterwerus dixussion ,
for it. The of
coilmitted, with the seine resul:;, and the
Parliament was subsequently obtainete
and it
was then brought before their Lordships, it
rensoined for them to decide what course they should
adep t in reference- to those strange prcceedings. Let
hire _suppose, for a moment, how this matter would
have .stood if dii arcementr! had been entered into by
the Gi 'eat Western Company to accomplish a similar
object, -,would anybody for an instant suppose that a non-
coaiplianoe with the standing orders would in any way
have, prey, nting the consideration of the merits of the
Bill, or that it would in any way have affected the de-
cision of the Committee. It was perfectly evident to any
one
,in the possession of common sense, that these shares
had been placed in the hands of the present holders
tot for the honest gurpose of deriving en income
from them,
but in order to obtain a preponderance of in-
terest in the( 'kern, with a view to influence the opposition
and obtaining the defeat of the Bill. This was the rea-

son why they were placed in such a situation, and he
was quite sure that, considering the matter in that light,
that their Lordships would not allow any merely tech-
nical obstacle to stand in the way of substantialjustice to
the parties. And he felt the greater confidence on this
point, because, in fact, at the time the report of the
Committee was made, they were not aware of the precise
position in which the Bill stood before the Committee of
Standing Orders, and should, therefore, move, that, in
compliance with the instructions which they had received,
the Committee should be directed to take the evidence,
and inquire into the merits of the Bill pending the deci-
sion of the Committee of Standing Orders.
A conversation here ensued aeross the table between
Lord Lyndhurst, Earl Grey, Lord Brougham, Lord
Redesdale, and the Duke of Richmond, at the conclu-
sion of which
The Earl of DEVON moved in return that the Com-
mittee do proceed in the usual way.
The Duke of RICHMOND then explained that it
was the custom of the Standing Orders' Committee to
allow of one months' to go to the shareholders in the
event of their being a non-compliance in any particular.
Such was, in fact, the position of the Bill at the present
moment.
Lord KINNARD said on a former occasion ho voted
against going into Committee, because he did not think
it wise for the Legislature to interfere in the matter
while it was before a court of law, but their Lordships
having decided to appoint a Committee, he was
inclined to support the motion for going
further into the inquiry. It was alleged that
the directors having delayed the issue of the sealed cer-
tificates depriving the shareholders of the power of
voting upon the Bill, but urged in justification of the
directors that these shareholders had purchased their
shares for an object. He had no doubt whatever that
such was the case, but he altogether disbelieved the
statement that the shares were purchased with the funds
of the London and North-Western Company.
Esrl FITZWILLIAM supported the motion for a
further inquiry.
He had supported the appointment of the Committee,
because he thought inquiry necessary for the public
good, and because he thought it behoved their Lord-
ships to assert the powers which they delegated to the
promoters of that railway, and which powers were
sought to be turned aside by the conduct of cer-
tain parties. He regretted that the Commit-
tee had not gone into the inquiry, and with
all due respect and regard for the Noble Lords com-
posing it, he would support the motion of the Noble
and Learned Lord, or he would go further and support
the appointment of a new committee, who might take a
ditfdrent view of the proceedings.
Earl CHICHESTER said that as chairman of the
Committee which had been appointed by the House,
he thought it necessary to make a short statement of
the grounds upon which the Committee had come to
report against proceeding without further instructions
from their Lordships. The further observations of the
Noble Earl were perfectly inaudible.
(LLFT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before Four
o'clock.

REPORTS.
The following reports on Bills were brought up, and
ordered to lie on the table:—
Hartlepool and Stockton Junction Railway.
Lytham Improvement.
Newcastle and Berwick Railway (Cramlington and Percy
3lain and Killingworth and other Branches).
Newcastle and Berwick Railway (East Coast Line, Blyth,
Seaton Sluice, and other Branches).
Wakefield Gas.
THAMES CONSERVANCY.

The report on the Thames Conservancy Bill was,
upon the motion of Colonel T. WOOD, ordered to be
taken into consideration to-morrow (Friday) week.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS.

The reports on the following Bills were further con-
sidered and agreed to :
Eastern Counties Railway (Purchase of the North Wool-
wich Railway, &c.)
Edinburgh and Northern, and Edinburgh, Leith, and
Granton Railways Amalgamation.
Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton Railway (Leith and
Granton Junction).
Leeds and Thirsk Railway (Eaglescliffe and Stillington
Extension).
Leeds and Thirsk Railway (Branch from Melmerby to
Northallerton, &c.)
Leeds and Thirsk Railway (Harrogate and Pateley
Branch, &c.)
York and Newcastle, and Newcastle and Berwick Rail-
ways Amalgimation.
York and North Midland Railway (Harrogate Branch,
Boroughbridge and Knaresborough Extension).
LORDS' AMENDMENTS.

The Lords' Amendments to the following Bills were
considered and agreed to :
Commercial Gaslight and Coke Company.
British Commercial Insurance Company (No. 2).
THIRD READINGS.

The following Bills were read a third time and
passed :
Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway (Deviation
of Line, &c.)
Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley Railway
(Stourbridge and West Bromwich).
Bristol Building and Improvement.
Chester and Holyhead Railway (Extension at Chester
and Alteration of Levels).
Croydon Commercial Gas and Coke.
Great Northern Railway (Deviations between Gains-
bc.rough and Doncaster).
Ipswich and Bury St. Edmund's Railway (Branch from
Ipswich to Woodbridge).
Leeds Central Railway Station.
Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester Railway (Ossett
Branch and Dewsbury and Morley Stations).
Leominster Canal Navigation Sale.
Limerick Docks and Harbour.
Liverpool Corporation Waterworks.
L verpool, Manchester, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne June-
_ Lion Railway (Alteration of Main Line and Hawes
Branch).
Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle•upon-Tyne Junc-
tion Railway Acts Amendment.
London and Blackwall Railway Improvement and
Branches to the St. Katharine and London Docks.

London and North-Western Railway (Lease and Pur-
chase of the Iluddersfield and Manchester Railway
and Canal, and the Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester
Railway).
London-bridge Railway Termini General Enlargement.
Lynn and Ely, Ely and Huntingdon, and Lynn and
Dereham Railways Amalgamation.
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway (Branch
to Chapeltown and Thurgoland Coal Branch).
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway (Shef-
field Canal Purchase).
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Junc-
tion with the Midland Railway via Barnsley, and
Branches therefrom).
Midland Railway (Extension from near Leicester via
Bedford to Hitchin and to Northampton and Hunting-
don, and Enlargement of the Leicester Station).
idland Railway (Gloucester and Stonehouse June-

tion).
North British Railway (No. 1).
North-Western Railway (Diversions at Skipton,
Cas-
terton, and Sedbergh).
Oldham Alliance Railway.
Reading, Guildford, and Reigate Railway.
South-Eastern Railway (Widening of the Greenwich
Railway and Arrangement and Enlargement of the
London-bridge Station).
South Yorkshire, Doncaster and Goole Railway
(Penistone, &e. and Purchase of Sheffield, Rother-
ham, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Goole
Railway, Dun Navigation, and Dearne and Dove
Canal).
Swansea Harbour.
Westminster and Part of Middlesex Sewers.
York and Newcastle Railway (Wearmouth Dock En-
largement).
RATE-PAYING CLAUSES.

Sir DE LACY EVANS presented a petition in
favour of the abolition of these clauses.
HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.

Lord MORPETH presented petitions from the clergy
of Leeds, the inhabitants of Suffolk, and several other
places, in favour of the Bill.
Mr. W. PATTEN presented a petition from the
mayor and burgesses of Wigan in favour of the same
Bill.