The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-01 00:00:00

RAILWAY CO

HOUSE OF LORDS.-(YESTERDAY.)

Room E:
LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER, AND IvEvr-
_

CASTLE-UPON-TYNE JUNCTION.

--- - - - -
Their Lordships declared the preamble of this Bill to
be proved.
The next Bill which the Committee decided upon
proceeding with was
TUE EAST LAIQC &SEXISM (SOUVRPOILT

MIANCIP,
e•,idence in favour of which occupied the Committee
during the whole period of its sittings.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
.110 USE OF COMMONS, June 30.
ABUSES OF THE RELIEF FUND IN IRELAND.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
.tord JOHN RUSSELL said it would be seen by the
'report that the distribution of rations amounted to
between three and five millions daily ; and, looking at
the difficult duties the relief committee had to perform,
he could not help thinking that a great degree of credit
was due to them for the systematic manner in which they
had fulfilled their functions. No doubt there had been
several instances of gross abuse, but that was no more
than was to be expected from the magnitude of the system
of relief. It was asked, why not have a general inquiry?
He confessed that he did not think a general inquiry
- would be productive of good—a general inquiry over all
Ireland, to ascertain who had and who had not per-
formed their duties with regularity and efficiency in
the relief committees, would give rise to a
good deal of amongst the gentry, would
necessarily lead to acrimonious statements and counter-
statements, and he therefore did not think it at all ex-
pedient. to institute a general inquiry into the conduct of
the magistracy throughout Ireland. It would be much
better, he thought, to leave it to the officers of the I
Executive Government to eradicate these abuses than to
resort to a general inquiry. He could not sit
down without referring to what had fallen from
the Noble Lord opposite, who designated the
system of relief afforded by the Government as a general
scramble. No doubt many of the landed proprietors of
Ireland had erroneously looked upon it in that light,
and had felt that they were justified in availing them-
selves of its aid to the utmost extent.
Lord CLEMENTS said he described the relief to be
a general scramble, because the Governmert did not
define the parties who were to be entitled to relief.
Lord J. RUSSELL did not think the Noble Lord
had mended his statement at all by the explanation
he had just given, but he would not pursue the sub-
ject farther, and he would sit down, expressing his
belief that generally the magistracy and gentry of Ire-
land had performed their duty with cheerfulness and
efficiency.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HAMILTON was unwilling to throw any blame
whatever upon the Relief Commissioners for publishing
these charges, but they ought to have pointed out by
name the parties who had been guilty of the dereliction
of duty complained of. He was, however, not disposed
to support a proposition for a general inquiry, but he
would gladly support any motion which should have the
effect of supplying them with further information on
this painful subject.
After a few words from Mr. WILLIAMS,
Sir R. FERGUSON said it was difficult to recon-
cile the report of the Commissioners with the letters of
Sir John Burgoyne, and he thought, therefore, that
the suggestion of the Hon. Baronet the Member for
Mallow ought to be agreed to.—(flear, hear.)
,Mr. P. BORTHWICK also thought it was the duty
of the Government to supply the House with further
information of the charges of the Commissioners.
The subject then dropped.
MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS.
Messengers from the Lords brought up the following
Bills, which their Lordships have agreed to :
Marine Service Bill—Manchester and Leeds Railway
(Branch from the Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction
Railway to Barnsley, and Extension of Holmfirth Branch)
Bill—Manchester and Lincoln Union Railway Deviation
Bill—South-Eastern Railway (North Kent and Brick -
layers' Arms Junction) Bill—Westminster and Part of
Middlesex Sewers Bill—Falmouth Waterworks Bill—
London (City) Small Debts Bill, without Amendment;—
wansea and Amman Junction Railway Bill—Dublin
and Drogheda Railway (Purchase of Navan Branch)
Bill—Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr Railway
(No. 2) Bill—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
Railways, and Manchester and Lincoln Union Railways,
and Chesterfield and Gainsborough Canal Amalgamation
Bill—Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Railway, and
Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr Railway (No.
2) Bill—Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland
(Extension from Athlone to Galway) Bill—Northamp-
ton and Banbury Railway Bill—Glasgow, Dumfries, and
Carlisle Railway, and Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock,
and Ayr Railway (No. 4) Bill—Glasgow, Dumfries, and
Carlisle Railway (No. 1) Bill—Eastern Union and the
Ipewieh and Bury St. Edmund's Railways Amalgamation
Bill—London and North-Western Railway (Portobello
and Wolverhampton Branch) Bill—Newport, Aberga •
venny, and Hereford Railway (Extension to Taff Vale
Railway) Bill—Chard Canal and Railway (Extension
and Amalgamation) Bill—Caledonian Railway (Branches
to Canonbie, &c.) Bill—South Staffordshire Railway
(Cannock, Wyrley, and Norton, &c.) Bill—Lynn and
Ely Railway (Lynn and Wormegay Navigation) Bill—
East Lothian Central Railway Bill—York Improvement
(Lendal Bridge and Approaches) Bill Edinburgh
Waterworks Bill, with Amendments;—Ashton Gas Bill,
with an Amendment.
MINES AND COLLIERIES BILL.
Sir G. GREY expressed a hope that before going noe
into
the order of the day for the second reading, the .
Member who had charge of the Bill would not presse it
upon the House then, for many Hon. Members bad left
town upon the understanding that the Bill would not be
proceeded with in the present session. The Govern-
ment intended in the course of the ensuing session to
take measures to prevent the frequent occurrence of
accidents which took place in these mines and collieries.
Mr. T. S. DUNCOMBE said that he was very
anxious that this Bill should be read a second
time, even if it should proceed no further, for it
was one in which a very large and influential
body of gentlemen in this country took great
interest. Many accidents—and those of the most serious
nature—were constantly taking place, and he did think
that it was quite time that some interference on the part
of the Government was put in force. In many of these
instances it had been proved that these accidents arose
from neglect, and from the waist of a proper system of
inspection on the part of the Government. Besides this
evil, it was well known that the grossest impositions
were practised upon the men, by a system of making
them work by measure instead of weight, and this was
particularly the case in Staffordshire and Lanca-
shire. The Acts which had been framed to
supersede the payment of wages at a public house had
been evaded by putting the men in classes, and paying
them by a money order, which they would only get
changed at the public-house, and by each man paying a
certain sum for beer, as the charge for changing the money
order. Ile could see no reason why an adequate protection
should not be afforded to the labourers in mines as well as
to the labourers in factories. He hoped that the House
and the Government would allow this Bill to be read a
second time, as its rejection would disappoint a great
number of the industrious labourers of Great Britain.
alone! SIBTHORP had had great satisfaction, iu
hearing the speech of the Hon. Gentleman, and he only
regretted that, in spite of all the opposition offered by the Government, he did not trust to the support or the
House, which would carry the measure through all its
stages. The Hon. Member had brought before them
the accidents which were liable to take place in
he might mines and collieries; have added to these the
accidents which had taken
place, and were daily taking
the l
place on railways, and if
Government refused to in-
veetigate the causes of these accidents, he could only
say that it would prove his
were utterly unworthy of the position positi correct, that they
to on they occupied.
He tendered his thanks the Hon. Member for Fins-
bury fur his Bill as far as itiwt went, but he should have
wished that he had carried
prov.ismioenmshfeurrtth.
or i er.F.ns-
He
did not always agree with the son
bury, but where the interests of the people were con-
cerned he trusted he had never been found backward in
coming forward.—(Laughter.)
Mr.
to felt called uponhe rbeyada sense of
mit). to move that the Bill
time. that a second
three months. He
anxious thinslZ, was not less
Hhnourable Member for Finsbury
to adopt
collieries,measubret:tesh
heich would prevent accidents hemines
and
purpose should be inteweeecluld wish that measures for that
Bill of the Hon. Meralaerletel by proper authority. This
in its provisions that it ehlrte one of the most ridiculous
and it required no great eiseZeTeeen his fortune to see,
Member had made the acctee-,i7'"'t to see that the Hon.
mines and collieries the peg en ~,shreZeilsag• ht happen in
for the furtherance of his other enieete7l*%ogre , measures
vided that three inspectors should ILI% Bill pro-
superintending the working of mines" se :14Zer of
England, to examine into petitiona, annl ee •
a very extended authority under
mf this Bill. Now there were three --"e rit
fields in England—the Northumberland and Dutra,' -et
the Staffordshire and part of Yorkshire, and the Wel—ah
coal:-Belds, and there was, besides, the extensive
coal-
-
fief of Scotland. If Scotland was_ to be takenitoconsideration, one of these districts would require to be
a supernumerary one. He was unprovided with docu-
ments, and could not, therefore, say at that moment
what was the number of mines and coilieries in Eng-
land, but be believed that in Northumberland and Dur-
ham alone there were between two and 'three hun-
dred. Could it be expected that one gentle-
man could pay that attention to this district which
'was contemplated by the Bill? The other portions of the
Rill were equally detective. He thought that the course
to be adopted would have been to have a Select Com-
mittee appointed on the subject ; then, when they had
certain and established facts before them, the Govern-
ment could bring in a Bill which would receive the at-
tention of the House, and be calculated to be of some
real utility-. He would move as an amendment that the
Bill be read a second time that day three months.
Mr. BERNAL said, that whatever absurdity was in
the Bill, as the Right Hon. Gentleman who had just
!eat down had stated, it could be remedied in Committee.
MB did not think that the number of commissioners
.daep-
pointed should form the entire ingredient in theensl
'ration. The Bill was intended to give protection
o°t"ion-
-to tha lives, limbs, and fortunes of those
who
were
engagedengagedin these mines and collieries, and he thought
that ea attempt to remove the causes of those accident%
which were of such frequent occurrence in these plate
was dest Irving of their best attention.. He did not think,
however, that ft would be of any use in his Hon. Friend
to press ore the Bill to a Committee this session, but he
was of opinion that he had acted rightly in bringing it
before the Iroise, as it would attract public attention to