The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-15 00:00:00

NAVIGATION LAWS.

Sir J. HANDIER presented a petition from a number
of shipowners against any alteration of these laws.
COUNTY TOWNS BILL.

Mr. DAVID BARCLAY presented several petitions
in favour of the County Towns Bill.

COUR7II OF SESSION.

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE presented a petition from the
board of sessions iu Dundee complaining of the conduct
of the authorities, and praying fur an inquiry.
HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.

An lIoN. MEMBER presented petitions from the
printers and compositors of various towns in favour of
the Health of Towns Bill.
PARLIAMENTARY FEES.

Mr. HUME, in rising to move the following resolu-
tions—That the: table of fees which vras laid upon the
table of the House upon the 6th day of May, be now
read. That the several tables of fees and resolutions
relating to fees of the 22d day of February 1731, the
19th day of June 1746, the 13th day of June 1751, the
2d day of July 1801. the 4th day of April 1803, the
18th day of May 1813, the 4th day of July 1822, the
16th day of February 1829, and the 22d day of July
1830, be repealed from the time the new table of fees
shall commence. That the said table be agreed to,
and shall commence from the end of the pre-
sent session of Parliament. That the said table
of fees be made a standing order of this House—
said that it would probably be in the recollection of the
House that the Committee up stairs had recommended
an alteration in the fees of the House. Agreeably to that
report the House agreed to a resolution, by which
the Speaker was requested to revise those fees, and
to form theta into a table which would be intelli-
gible to all parties, which the exiting tables were not.
The evidence stated that it was impossible, and the. Clerk
of the House could not even explain why many of the
fees were charged, nor was this to be wondered at, when
he found that they had been instituted and agreed to
by that House, in different periods, from the year 1731,
The table of these fees was now in the possession of
every Hon. Member, and in order that they Might pre-
pare for the next session of Parliament, timely notice
ought to be-given to all perties c mc,rned. He le ggrl,
therefore, to move that the table of fees, laid on the
table of the House on the 6th of May, be then read.
The table of fees was then read and agreed to.
RAILWAY COMPANIES CAPITAL.
Mr. HUME then moved the following resolution :
" That no railway company which, by any Act or Acts
of Parliament is now authorised to construct, purchase,
or take on lease any line or lines of railway, shall by
any future Act receive power to raise additional capital
by shares, loan, or mortgage, for the completion or ex-
tension of sue:. line or hues, or for the purchase or taking
on lease, or amalgamation with any other railway or
canal, unless a clause be introduced into such Act, pro-
s iding that the company shall not raise such capital until
it has realised the whole of the capital which by existing
Acts it is authorised to raise, or so much thereof as is
sufficient for the completion of the works, or for other
objects already sanctioned by Parliament. That no rail-
way company shall be allowed to lease or sell any other
line of railway until the whole capital shall have been
subscribed, and one-half paid up." He hoped
that the House would allow him to state the reasons he
had for bringing on this resolution. The evils
arising out of the old system were still upon
the increase, and it was quite necessary that.
some steps should be taken to remedy them.
From several of the most import-ant c,,mpanies no returns
had yet been received. There were no returns from the
London and North-Western, the Midland, the Manches-
ter and Leeds, the .Manchiester and Preston, and the
North Wales. By the returns, a, far as he c mid ascer-
tain, Parliament had within the la,t two years sanctioned
railway Bills authorising the raising of a capital in shares
of 124,586,0001. The total amount of this which had
beers paid up was 29,329,000/., leaving 96,262,000/. as
yet unpaid. During the last two sessions the railway
Bills passed also authorised the raising by loan a sum
of 40,000,0001., of which 33,000;0001. had yet to be raised.
Such was the vast amount of capital which the Bills
of the last two sessions were empowered to raise.
It was impossible to say what amount would be laid out
in this year or the next, but an estimate had been made
by an intelligent man, who stated that under the Acts
now passed all capital sanctioned would be out by
the end of 1849, or the middle of 1850, and if such
were the case, there would be a large annual ex-
penditure—an expenditure of at least one and a
quarter millions a week. What was the amount of
capital likely to be called for in the present year. He found,
by a Parliamentary paper of the present session, No. 168, that
the amount of capital for Bills sent to their office was
82,553,0001., with a power to borrow 41.300,0301., so that
the total capital alone amounted to 123,567,000/., which, added
to the 1,610,000/. left from the two last sessions, would make
a large sum indeed. Looking to the reckless manner
in which this money was raised and spent, he did
not believe that any manufacturing establishment in this
country would be able to borrow money to carry on their
business. A larger portion of the manufactures of England
were carried on upon credit, and by this means they would be
unable to get further advances. They ought to put
a further check upon this expenditure, or they
would endanger the whole commerce of the country, and the
Exchequer itself. The Right Honourable Gentleman would
find that the returns of the October and December
quarters would not equal the returns of the last two quarters.
He made these observations, because he thought that the
Ministry, especially the present, ought not to be dependent on the
Bank, or on any body of men, for the supplies they needed, but
ought to obtain that which they needed from some other
means.—( Great talking and confusion.) lie did not like to
trouble Hon Members with many figures.—( Cries of " Hear.")
but it was only by figures that he could show the danger with
which the country was threatened. He had shown that at
the present time upwards of 161,000,00 N. were already em-
ployed in railway', and 33,000,000!. more had been allowed
at a later date, which, with the capital likely to be sanc-
tioned in the present session, would make the demand upon
the country reach to the sum of 300,0J0,000/. The difficulty
might not have been so great if there had not been the call of
large sums to satisfy the necessity, occasioned by the famine in
Ireland, which had occasioned the abstraction of upwards of
10,000,000/. Then there was the money requisite for the corn
that was daily sent into the country ; and considering the un -
certainty that hung over railway affairs, and which
actuated the conduct of railway directors and railway
companies, he did think that House had an
interest in knowing the amount of their rrsint:e.
He held in his hand a Liverpool share list, fte_
found that many companies had from six. to nine ditimerewnitikinds
or classes of shares. At. present a railwaey
eceonmAianneyt
borrow
money to raise a capital of a million of rnon money
W paid up, but
money till a clear half of the capitan 1
this did not exclude them fromlieapplying for extensions
wanteci was, that no
or new lines,
othrehweliaoll;
company should havaen•da nr‘e.hwatlineticlotnheeeydheadritoratihdemnp,
lowed to lease any new line up.ow,
by
the share list he
of their original capital. N
found that the South-Eastern
held in his hand,
Company, besides their
nourrnigbit d capital, had foNuors.dt
ferent kinds of shares
2,3, and 4, and upon
which various sums had been paid.
He found that the upon which various sums had been paisl.
lie found that the London and South-Western had eight dif-
ferent kinds of shares, thße London and North-Western ten
kinds, and the Midland ailway twelve kinds of shares. In
the case of the South-Western Railway, by twenty Acts pasted
since the year 1836, they were empoweredr to raise (1,000,000/.
and to borrow 2,600,000 1. This sum was divided into
252,000 shares, ranging in amount from 251. to 501.,
andthe sum of 32/. had been paid upon 93,090 of these shares.
Of the whole amount of the capital authorised to be raised
3,656,0 CW. remained yet unpaid, and the company now came
to the House for power to raise 3,000,0001. and to borrow
1,000,000/., making a total of 4,000,000/. Now, why did not the
pay up the amount they were already
House compel them
authorised to raise, instead of giving them fresh powers to ob-
tain new capital to the enormous amount which they now
sought power to raise? Two of these bills, amounting to
1,037,0001., were proposed to be constructed out of the surplus
profits, and of the other six bills, there were eight directors
down on the subscription contract for 186,000/. each. Thi,
was an evasion of the rules of the House, which ought not to
be permitted. It was coming forward with an array of paper
men, instead of bullion men.—( Hear, hear.) But this was not
all. The deposit of ten per cent. was to be paid out of the
funds of the Company. He would ask if it was possible that a
greater perversion of the designs of the Legislatureo cou take
place ? He had a report also from the Railway Commissioners
concerning the Glasgow, Dumfries, Carlisle, Paisley Com-
pany, and the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnocka and Ayr Com-
pany, the total capital of which was to be),500,000/. They
issued 80,00 shares to make up this, in shares varying from 50/.
to 10/. each. This Ayrshire coin had taken powers to
lease the Kilmarnock and ITroonPaYe for 999 years. Ile
found that the same Company had, by a recent
Act, obtained power to
amalgamate with the Glasgow,
Dumfries and Carlisle Railway Company ; an Act
for the incorporation of which was obtained in 1816.
They had also agreed to amaleamation with another scheme
called the Glasgow and Belfast Union This Ayrshire Com-
pany had subscribed, it would appear, 360,0001. o enahle the
Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Company- to go to Parliament
and press forward their Bill. This seas manifestly a vio'ation
of the standing orders. The subscription contract for the
Ayrshire company had been signed by ten directors and Ono '

officer for the large sum of 2,300,000/ , though the Act 0
incorporation originally authorised them only to raise
1,500,0001. The ten directors subscribed for 30,000/.,
one up to 260,0e0/. Now the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Cawasr-
lisle Railway Company, the other company in question,
originally empowered to raise 1,300,00 W. in 52,000 shares of
25/. each, and as yet they had only raised 51. a share, or
243,0001. in all. The Ayrshire company had raised this year
for its extension schemes 153,0001. The subscription contract
of the Glasgosv, Dumfries, and Carlisle Company had been
signed by eight directors and the secretary for 1,908001,
being 170,00 W. for each director, and 186,000/. for the secre-
tary. Such were the responsibilities of these two compact
who had only in the one ease raised 243,0001. and 153,000
capital
respectively towards the large amount of
for which the directors had signed.—( Hear, hear.)
Now these two Commissioners came forward with Bills before
this House, and they proposed to raise by the six Bills before
the House a capital of 6,:389 OCW. These Commissioners earne
before this House, and declared themselves ready and able to
raise this amount of 6 398,)001., and the only guarantee they
offered for this large amount was the subscription of the direc-
tors to the contract deed of the company. Now he would read
the contract deed, for he had furnished himself with all of th.se
documents. The report of the Commissioners hill f
original capital of the Greenock Company was 1.`2:22,°", ;t
and they sought to increase that capital by loans to, in the or
instance, 3,532.000 h and in the other to 2,866,0,0 a , Inalungd
a total of 6,398,0001., which was to be guarantee,
by the subscription of the directors to the contract deed
( The Hon. Member then read extracts from
directors, showing that in compliance with the standing orders
they had, through the instrnmentality of the National Banko,
of Scotland, paid in to the Accountant of the Court
t. "
Chancery the ten per cent. on their capital required by the
the report of h
standing orders.) That was done in order to secure the .
~..
pany, and he etated the facts in order that the whole of tnr!
matter might be brought out. He deeply regretted tha
.a;11..
Scotch Be/Abed been found to act in such a way, and es '
Pfecaotl-
any chartered bank; but above all that the National Bank n
‘,.1
len
land should consent to place themselves in such a posiven• ~i,
there was the company for forming aline to Bury St. dlller%d
i the repot tof which he held in his hand. That company
to",.
last session sought to obtain six Bills, the united capital
57
raised being 2,000,0001. with power to get 700,0001. on 10:ra
By the Acts which they obtained in 1845 and 1846 they e, ..,
entitled to raise still further capital, anal for this they ha(l, ".
sued 16,000 shares of 25!. each. On these they bad mane
.."
call of 224,0001., and the whole amount that same in esP°o"_
these calls was 204/. They had issued about 22,00 share ~titt:
which they had raised 90,0001., and the whole of the caple__'
which they had obtained was 334,0001. Now, this cereal:.
came before Parliament in the present sesaion for
The subscription contract was signed by twelve
additionaldirectsfor
1,612,0001., and they asked for powers to raise an that
capital of 2,700,000 i. Did not such a state of things
railway
require amendment? He was sorry, indeed, that honest _o
companies should suffer for these ets, but his resolution to D.
effective must be general. He could increase the sember he
companies who had been guilty of these
thought he had mentioned sufficient to induce the House .
accede to his resolution. He really thought that Parliani.en..!
ought to stop the progress of every railway gill brough.ol.nr..
ward this session, but such a course as that might inflict(
tie not
nee
malpractices, but hto
tics upon many deserving companies, and he was that paella'
prepared to propose it. He thought it necessary that 1
vers.
ment should interfere in some way in this subject uPenesedeal-
grounds, he thought the public ought to know what th
ings and conduct of every railway board was;
House ought to interfere in consequence of the pressurenehl
..inf
the country felt from the present state of Ireland en
theni tui
provisions in this country, and upon the ground of ln their
which manufacturers experienced in obtaining discount Oen
Bills. He anticipated nothing but distress and confusie
0 cow-
the Commiksioners not interfering in the subject. a ._a bid
he though:. t.h!
not have believed it possible for such transactions n 1,
referred to to have taken place in open day.
to say anythiu ; against any individual direclitoerlidhs;°;:ihtibegj'e
only to call attention to the whole system, ands o Oats.;
interference of Parliament. If they allowed thingto go i'il".
the same way they would be alone responsible for themem
chiefs that might ensue. He did not know any Mel!"
rt,bo6,
effectual for checking the evil than by the House affirmlnt
resolution he had moved. He did not contemplate 17 %foe
sition to the resolution from any free and independe t bad
ber. He begged, therefore, to move the resolution he "
read to the House.
Mr. GREEN begged to suggest to the Hon. Gent.letos,
tt;
the propriety of making a slight alteration in the resolet:3ooo,
the effect, " that in every Bill to enable, ate--,
be introduced," &c., so as to remove all technical °Were
Mr. HUME having assented to the suggestion, 110... h
Mr. JOHN ABEL SMITH seeonded the elution, te..trb
he did -Member que aree with him in all the particulars tor which
a clause
.hn. ."
the Hon. had adverted. He thought, howeve
_. tvo°_..
the. House was under a great obligation to the Hon. Gentleed 5;
for having called its attention to this subject, as it al'lleadr their
him that the state of the railway legislation demonic ~ the
most serious consideration. He was also of opinion. ;eat n ,
statements which he had made were correct, his resolution.ei7i
onwfohttihegeho
Hhf aaardueshneeo—eutgih hes
o;
meant andel
ywtait
int
ohdomsuoto
jni
ti
ire,
stttealnryyd
oi ne ge
oto y
iratesn g
the a"elint"n°
one could deny but the influence sYosften;a—ilieh•eaytgh°Ucgn tt.b:t
capital of the country formed a most import-hat
element in its consideration. lie therefore Lolled nient
resolution might elicit from the House and the GecT,eenii-ait.
some opinion as to the propriety of proceeding with t" as
way Bills, at present in progress, before Parliament. It vr
enough for them to remember that during the last two Y. 11(;
they had sanctioned Bills to raise a capital exceeding -
millions, while the Bills before the House of the present year,t
embraced' a capital of 87 millions. Considering the presen
state of the country, the vast call made for provisions, and the
uncertainty of the future harvest, it behoved the House and the
Government to pause ere they sanctioned any other scheme at
present. He had no wish to depreciate railway enterprise, or
the advantages they conferred, but he did hope something
would be done with the Bills at present before Parliament. He
would not be justified in saying more at present, as he did it in
order to draw forth the opinions of the House, and
to learn what the intentions of the Government were'
Cal snel SIBTHORP thought it was too late to close the
stable door when the steed was stolen. Some twenty-rice
yearsagnoeyheerhtaakdefn a foreseen this
share,isstate norof tldriindghse n
;and,end t h
to
He asked the Hon. Member for Montrose where he was when
these Bills were before the House, and nine or ten Hon. Mem-
bers used to meet at twelve or four o'clock, and settle ;II these
i t Tifo oe,
r, o
he had .
important measures. As it was too late for the Hon. Member
to oppose the progress of the measures with effect now, still, as
he d ith the motion it should have his support. lle
hopedagree thatw this motion of, the Hon. Member lor Montrose
would be followed bv others of a similar character, and thugh
this was late in the day, it would have his earnest and cordial
support.
Mr. HUDSON was not at all surprised that this queatien
had been brought before the House on the present occ ision!
but he wished to say a few words on the motion whiek hit
been submitted to the House. He was exceedingly glad that
in all companies to which the Hon. Member had referred, the
large amount of capital which had been entrusted to
thern,
and the large amount of mileage for which that capital was
raised had not been included. He had expected that some-
thing would have been brought to light concerning them,
but
he had not said a word relative to the companies with which he ,
was connected. The Hon. Member's motion sought to stop
the outlay on railways, or at least to prevent the outlay for
the formation of mew lines ; or, at an rate to put a limitation
Hear, bear," and - No, no.") He
hadon thats
troonugt l
feelingsay. ( Cor
ri
ie
the Cries of
Mr. SMITH explained ‘st‘uhbajtelicet. had not raid a what about
limiting the tdh eb
c outlayimposed
for railways,
wae•s, b
restrictingut ht eh e thought
formation
of gnome
st
railways.
Mr. HUDSON—In other words, the lion. Member would
restrict the outlay for the promotion of new lines in order to
retain the monopoly which was in the possession of the com-
panies who had the old ones. If they restrained the outlay or.
rail,vays—if the House interfered for that purpose --why got
l
restrict the outlay for ironworks, for cotton factoriee, and 3
other manufactories in the country, in which large numbers o
able-bodied lab aurora were employed, for in no business W. '
there a greater number of labourers deriving comfortable walee,!:
and in which capital was inure usefully expended, than in tu:
promotion of railways. The people of this country had deter.
mined the way in which their capital should go, and he thought
that the House ought to be very cautious of interfering
with any business on which so large a number of I'.
bourerselepended. He had himself been very anxious to obtain
the number of able-bodied labourers who were occupie
under those with whom he had to do, and he found that theer!
were not less than 50,000 people receiving wages frotrnilite'i
directors over whom he had the hoeour to preside. ee"e"-Il
instituted this principle, they would directly say that the l'?`", A
should not employ the men in that wa, and would deg.
large class of that subsistence which theyy had hitherto en.l°Y!' h
With respect to the creation of somanyicinds of shares, 'chic--
were called into existence under various circumstances' ther•
e
was no difficulty whatever in the accounts to which the 11°4
Member had referred. He quite agreed with
wdiatho,ogeti
of companies undertaking to raise large sum" that
any. capital paid up. It was not the fault of the system til..
various railway companies had been placed in an unfair p0,_51,,
Lion. He always considered it more safe for the public of tr.:
country to invest their money in railways than in foreign
teat
cities. He thought the resolution one which required greee
consideration, and he did not think it would be vrise for
ii.r_
Hon. Member to press his motion. He thought that he_
Committees of the House were too willing to give facilities_ to
companies to raise large sums of money who had themselves.
no capital. It had been said that 88,000,000/. had been !pen!
in the construction of railways, but the country derived a rede
venue from that soure of upwards of 9,000,000!., and conferr
also innumerable benefits upon the merchants, the maraufae-
turers, and the eottagers. Had there been a good harvest this
year there would not have been the slightest difficulty felt as to
a pressure upon the money market. He thought that the
House, had power in their hands already to put a check to the
evil complained of by the Hon. Member, by not too readily
granting powers to new companies which had no amount of
capital paid up.
Lord HARRY VANE said that the Hon. Member sell°
spoke last entertained some doubts whether the resolution
would accomplish the object intended. He himself concurred
in those doubts, but he thought something ought to be done in
the present uncertainty of railway affairs. The capital pro-
posed to be raised by the railway companies at present befor
Parliament was most enormous, and he thought it absolutely
essential that the question of capital should form a special con-
sideration with the Select Committee, as the attention of
Committees sitting on groups was confined, and very propeul l
too, to the merits of each case referred to them. Nor co,
he leave out the Great Western Company from the scope
his observations; and he considered that Parliaments hoe 0
interfere anal prevent the directors of these companies from
signing contracts for the sole purpose of purchasing great do'
tricts. Looking at the great difficulties of the railway tom'
panics themselves, he considered that it would be a who
lesonly
check to prevent interest being paid upon calls.
Mr. E. ELLICE said that he was glad that this subject hal
been brought under the notice of the House, for he considerSoe
that Parliament should have interfered a long time ago.
two
had been selected to preside over a Committee in which
companies were suing for powers to raise additional car t,
and he reported to the House at that time, when the lYtr,
Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth was prime Min"',er
that it was requisite that some steps should be taken in oro,e
to check the progress of unmatured railway schemes, but ~ili
was sorry to say that they did not receive any attention urn•
the late Vice-President of the Board of Trade, or fro "'see.
deed, until lately, even the present Government. He halloy
seeded, however, in passing a resolution requiring allorr:lier to
Bills to be referred to the Railway Commissioners in
,__„., to
inquire as to their financial account, land to enable tnen
report to the House. The standing orders of the Hou.se..tcreee°
openly evaded, and he hoped that the House would pa,-I_"cer.
solution that the standing order of the House, requiring;., be
tarn number of shareholders to sign a contract, which sh
".Tula
binding on themselves, their heirs, anal executors,dane,
hereafter be strictly adhered to. If this '11: hoped
there would no longer be a door open for fraud. "a Noire
that his Hon. Friend would postpone the discussion to 0 _ the
day, in order to give time for further consideration "
subject.
Mr. lIODGSON said that it would be better for th,eistll:n:
Member to withdraw his resolution. It would be n'_,,,, reso-
heard of injustice if at this period of the session the t '1 e
.-rt'es received
lution putting a wholesale stop to all railway.conspee. . _
attack
the sanction of the House. He denied the justice eferwas one
which had been made on the Ayrshire company, oh' :eumeries,
of the most substantial in Scotland. '1 he GlasgoW, line,
and Carlisle Company was also a most respectable nClOl‘.
and did uot deiervo tho asponiQui cot uPQa ift

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A. I