The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-29 00:00:00

WAYS.

(From the Manchester Guardian of June 24 )
We have this week received a copy of Lord Sey-
mour's Bill for the establishment of a superinten-
dence of railways under the direction of the Board
of Trade. We are not prepared to say, that no
superintendence is requisite ; but we must .say, that
we think the Bill now before us contairs
provisions which, were they to go i to operation,
would be found partial, oppressive, and un:us in
the highest degree. The Bill,i t apt, wt fee jt s -
filed in saying, is a Canal 8.11, and an attem t to
apply to railways powers of a most unpe.,oduntt d
and inquisitorial kind, from which wattr tommu i.
cation is left entirely exempt.
Thi chief clause to which we obj ct is the :.(-
Cond. It is as follows:

" And be it enacted, that the Company to wh( m
every railway shall belong, shall cause to be kept, by
some proper officer, at one of the principal stations of
such railway or at some other fit and aeccssibie place,
all such registries, books of account, and other books
relating to the maintenance of the said railway, a:,d the
traffic upon the-same, and the servants and other per-
sons employed in and the regulations concerning the
business of thC said railway, and the expenses incurred,
and the tolls and other charges imposed, and the profit
9r loss made or sustained by the said Company in the
several branches of the said business, and the accidents,
losses, and damages happening and incurred therein ;
and shall distinguish therein such particulars relating to
the matters aforesaid ; and shall, from time to time,
futnish such copies or extracts of the said books, and
make such returns relating to the matters aforesaid, and
in such form, and manner, as the, Lords of the said Com-
mittee shall require ; and shall, if required, inform •the
Lords of the said Committee of the place in which the
said books. are kept, and the name of the officer in
Whose custody they are."
Now, is not this, we would ask, a monstrous and
intolerable power ? There maybe statistical 'facts
as to the maintenance of a railway, and the cost of
Working it, .and as to the regulations: concerning its
business, which it would be of importance to the
the adoption of the best,
itt -ty.ffo' ildee
'opened, authentically to :know ; hut what business, • - -
we should be glad to learn, have the Board of
Trade with the profit and loss accounts of the,
:Companies ? -.What better right .have they. to
Hinterfere with these private concerns of a Rail
„way Company, than they have with the private
concerns of individual merchants or landowners ?
Is there anything in the nature of railways to
render them peculiarly the objects of legislative
,jealousy ? Have their proprietors violated any
.engagements with the public? Have they
divided any inordinate profits ? Nay, taking
the whole capital invested in the construction
of railways, has it yet paid, in the aggregate,
any profit at all ? Forty or fifty millions ster-
ling, probably, have been expended, or are in
the course of being advanced,' for that purpose,
with a spirit and raPidity unexampled in the
history of the world ; and in the very first year
that there appears' sufficient reason to conclude
that that immense outlay will, on the whole, be even
moderately profitable, forth comes Lord Seymour,
on the part of the Railway Committee of Inquiry,
with a proposition for ex post facto legislation
upon the subject, so monstrous, that if it had been
attempted to attach it to any of the Railway- Bills
on their progress throughYarliament, that attempt
would most assuredly have been scouted as a ma-
w nifest and palpable injustice.
Looking at the Bill, we perceive that the en-
dorsement purports that it -has been prepared and
brought in by Lord Seymour and Mr. Loch,—the
latter being the Managing Trustee of the immense
canal establishments of the late Duke of Bridge-
water. Now, keeping in mind this fact, with others
which we shall presently mention, we think we are
entitled to infer that the Bill has been prompted by
a peculiar jealousy of railway property, which,
however pure and sincere it may in fat t be, must
expose the motives of its authors to direct and ob-
vious suspicion. Have they ever manifested,in the
case of canals, for example, such anxiety for the
public protection as they affect in the mattter of
railways ? Lord Seymour, though the intro-
ducer of the Bill, is pretty much of a cypher in the
affair, we suspect—the real mover and author of

it being Mr. 'Loch. Now, we think, we may very
safely predict, that the railway interest will make
no objection to that inquisitorial exposition of their
affaims to the Board of Trade which the Bill pro-
poses to compel them to submit to, provided the
Bridgewater Trust, and other great water carrying
concerns, are put upon the same footing. To use
a trite but expressive proverb, " What is sauce for
the goose is sauce for the gander." Treat all alike,
therefore, either by abandoning the intention of
subjecting railways to such an unexampled provi-
sion, or let Canal Companies and all analogous
concerns be subjected to it also.

,
_

Is it feared that Railway Proprietors will exact
an undue profit from the pockets of the public ?
The answer is that, at any rate, they have no:
done so yet ; that it is by no means clear that they
will be able to do so ; and that, in fact, according
to all appearances, the dividends of the best of them
will never even approach to the profits realised by
the more remunerating of the canals, some of which,
we believe, are or were paying 501. or 100/.•per
cent. per annum, their shares being at a premium
of 5001. or 1,000/. per con'. Is it feared that
railways will violate the conditions of their Acts of
Parliament, by charging to different parties unequal
rates of toll under the same circunistances, or
breaking, in any way, the engagements they have
contracted with the public ? We reply that a
much more limited clause than that which we have
quoted from the Bill would effect all that could be

requisite to prevent the danger of such misconduct.
But we go further; and ask, " Can any instances
be produced in which Railway Companies have
dont this ? And, if not, what right have you to
assume, that, in the teeth of their Acts of Incorpo-
ration, they will do it ?" But we assert, still fur-
ther, that the danger of thus violating their public
duties and engagements belongs to canal and river
Companies not less than to railways, with this
addition, that there arc various water Companies
which do notoriously, in direct violation of their
Acts of Parliament, charge different rates of ton-
nage to different individuals for the like accomoda-
tion ; and that they have done this with such fre-
quency, and for such a length of time, as to give
them the character of being not only wilful, but
reckless and determined offenders. We would re-
commend the House of Commons, therefore, to
take them in hand, and either subject them also to
the same discipline and oversight which they are
prepared to apply in the case of railways, or to
abandon an attempt at control as to the latter,
which, if partially applied, will be felt to be not
only unjustifiable, but oppressive and uncalled for.

On the morning of Wednesday last, just at the
conclusion of the inspection of the 2d Regiment of Life-Guards,
in the square of the cavalry barracks at Windsor, the horse of
Major-General Sleigh suddenly reared, and threw its rider
with considerable force to the ground. The medical officers of
the regiment were immediately in attendance ; and, notwith-
standing the General received some severe bruises, he soon
afterwards re-mounted his horse, and followed the troops to the
Great Park, where the review took place. At its conclusion,
Major-General Sleigh, Lord de Ros, and several distinguished
cavalry officers, returned to the barracks, and partook of a
splendid entertainment in the mess-room, to which they were
invited by Colonel Reid, and the officers of the regiment.
~
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We are requested to state that the new work entitled " G ey-
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place ; Martin Ware, Esq., New Bridge-street • Bransby B.
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