The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-30 00:00:00

GROUP XXX.

AIEHOLWIE (FROM LEEDS AND SELBY).
The eommittee wet at the usual hour. and were occu-
pied the whole of the day with the examination of Mr.
Birkenshaw, the engineer to the line. At the conclusion
of his evidence the Committee adjourned till twelve
to-morrow.

STANDING ORDERS COMMITTEE.
Lord SHAFTESBURY passed the following Bills yester-
day :
Wear Valley Railway.
Edinburgh and Northern, and Edinburgh, Leith, and
Uranton Railways Amalgamation.
Rathmines Improvement.
Chester and Holyhead Railway (Extension at Holyhead).
Edinburgh and Northern Railway (Branch from Burnt.
island to Dunfermline Branch, &c.) No. 2.

COMMITTEE on the NAVIGATION

LAWS.

The Select Committee appointed by the House of
Commons to inquire into the operation of the navigation
laws re-assembled on Thursday. The following mem-
bers were present:—Mr. M. Gibson (chairman); Mr.
Liddell, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Ricardo, Sir Howard Douglas,
Admiral Dundas, Mr. Hume, and Mr. Lyall.
Mr. Robert Anderson was examined.

By Mr. Liddell-He was a shipowner resident at
South Shields, and was chairman of the Shipowners'
Society at that port. He had been engaged in the
North American, the East and West India, the Medi-
terranean, the Baltic, and the coasting trades. He had
a general knowledge of the operation of the navigation
laws, and he considered that they afforded employment
rather than protection to British shipping. The witness
handed in a statement of the average rates of freight
from 1817 to 1846 for timber from Quebec, deals and
tallow from St. Petersburgh, and coals from Newcastle
to London. In the first four years from 1817, the
average rate of freight for timber from Quebec was
21. 16s. 31 per load; in the second four years it was
2/ 7s. 6d. per load; in the third four years, 2/. 9s. 4id.
per load; in the fourth four years, 21. Is. 1 Oid.; in the
fifth four years, 11. 18s. 9d.; in the sixth four years,
21. Is. 3d.; in the seventh four years, 2/. Is.; in the
eighth four years, ending in 1845, 1/. 14s. Bd.; in 1846
the average rate was 11. 19s. Id.; and at present it was
21. ss. per load. The average rate of freight for deals
from St. Petersburgh was, for the four years com-
mencing in 1817, 41. 3s. lid. per load; for the next four
years, 41 3s. 9d.; for the next, 3/. 12s. 6d.; the next,
3L Bs. 10id.; the next, 3/. 9s. 6d.; the next, 3/. 65.;
the next, 2/. 1 ls. lid.; the next, ending in 1845, 21.
198. 4d.; and the average rate at present was, he be-
lieved, 4/. 2s. 6d. per load.
Mr. Mitchell-It appears from your statements that
the rates of freight in the Canada trade, which was pro-
tected, have fallen since 1817, while the rates in the St.
Petersburgh trade, which was not protected, are the
same now as they were in 1817?
Mr. Anderson-It is so.
By the Chairman-At present England had the whole
of the Russian trade; but in consequence of a late treaty
of reciprocity with Russia he apprehended competition
with the vessels of that country, because the Russians
allowed their new ships to trade to the Russian ports
for the first three years without paying port charges,
and they were allowed to come to this country on the
same terms as British ships.
By Mr. Liddell-The various treaties of reciprocity
which had been entered into with foreign countries by
successive Governments had proved very injurious to
British shipping. He had before him a statement, which
showed how these treaties, and the many other relaxa-
tions in the navigation laws which bad been made from
time to time, had affected the trade of Newcastle. The
statement included the amount of shipping engaged in
the import and export trades between Newcastle and
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Prussia, Mecklenburg,
Hanover, Oldenburg, the Hanse Towns, Holland, and
Belgium ; in short, every country, north of France, ex-
cepting Russia, the trade with which he had stated Eng-
land already had. Taking the average of the years
1820, 1821, 1822, and 1823, which was previous to the
dates of many of the treaties with those countries, he
found that there were entered inwards 99 British vessels,
and 92 foreign vessels ; and that 330 British and 218
foreign vessels cleared out with cargoes. In the year
1844, 113 British and 332 foreign vessels were entered
inwards ; and 587 British and 1,068 foreign vessels
cleared cut with cargoes. In 1846, the number of
British vessels entered inwards was 102, and the num-
ber of foreign vessels was 449 ; the number of British
vessels that cleared out with cargoes was 629, and the
number of foreign vessels that cleared out was 1,379.
The result of the 23 years was, that British vessels
trading between the port of Newcastle and the foreign
countries he had named had increased only 70 per cent.,
while foreign ships had increased 489 per cent.
By Mr. Ricardo-During the last 30 years there had
been an increase in British shipping, but not at all in
proportion with the increasing trade of the country.
The increase of sailing tonnage, exclusive of colonial,
during that period, would amount to about 500,000
tons.
Mr. Ricardo-Mr. Porter states that the sailing ton-
nage has, since 1824, increased 618,000 tons, and that
the whole British tonnage has increased 1,500,000 tons.
Examination continued-He would say that ship
building has increased generally in the ports of the
north of England since the passing of the reciprocity
treaties with foreign countries. It had not increased in
Newcastle, hut it had in Sunderland.

By Mr. Mitchell—He was aware that sugar was
allowed to be imported into Prussia, in English ships,
from Havannah and Cups, but be did not consider that a
proof that the Prussians treated us with more liberality
than we treated them because it was a mere nominal
trade.

By Mr. Liddell—He believed that the shipping of the
ports in the Adriatic was increasing in their trade with
this country.
By the Chairman—He thought that Parliament was
right in adopting any measures which it thought calcu-
lated to benefit the people in the way of providing food
for them or otherwise; but he did not think that the
navigation laws hindered the importation of corn when
there was no duty on it.
By Mr. Liddell—He did not believe that freights had
been lkwered Is. a quarter for corn since the navigation
laws were suspended.
The Committee then adjourned.

FRIGHTFUL OMNIBUS ACCIDENT.TIIesday after.
noon, between the hours of four and five o'clock, an ac-
cident of a most frightful character, which, besides in-
volving the life of one poor child, has inflicted such
severe injuries on two others, as to render their ultimate
recovery extremely dubious, occurred in Trafalgar-
square, under the circumstances subjoined. It seems
that at the hour alluded to a railway omnibus was pro-
ceeding from the Great Western station along the
southern side of the square, next Charing-cross, driven
by the conductor, in the absence of the regular coach-
man, when three children, named James Pottinger,
aged seven years, John Pottinger, aged six, and Charles
Wilkinson, aged nine, were playing in the road, and
although the driver, who was proceeding at a moderate
pace, cried out, none of the unfortunate lads were able
to retreat before the horses came upon them, and the de-
ceased
James, brother to John Pottinger, being the first
knocked down, the wheels passed over him, and he was
killed on the spot. John, living with his parents, in
Newport-market, was likewise seriously injured, having
sustained a broken leg and a dislocation of the collar-
bone, besides other extensive injuries. Wilkinson was
also severely bruised in several parts, and sustained a
compound comminuted fracture of the left arm, with an
occipitalinjury. The little sufferers were all taken to
the Charing-cross Hospital.
TiE IRISH CHIEF SECRETARYSHIP.—The Dublin
Freeman's Journal of Thursday states, it has been settled
that Sir William Somerville will succeed to the Irish
Secretaryship,
which Mr. Labouchere vacates for the
Board of Control, immediately after the dissolution of
Parliament.