The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-02 00:00:00

RN NC4, MAY 2, 18

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
MOUSE OF LORDS, May I.
Their Lordships assembled at Five o'clock.
CHARITABLE TRUSTS BILL.
Lord DENMAN presented a petition from the London
Missionary Society, praying to be exempted from the opera-
tions of the Charitable Trusts Bill.
DE ODANDS BILL.
Lord CAMPBELL moved the order of the day for going
into Committee on this Bill.
Lord DENMAN expressed his approbation of the Bill in its
present state.
Lord BROUGHAM also expressed his concurrence with the
object of the Bill. He thought that if an officer like the
Procurator Fiscal in Scotland was instituted in England, it
would be a great means of forwarding criminal justice.
Lord LYTTELTON supported the Bill.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was in favour of the Bill,
which had been unanimously agreed to in Committee up stairs
as a measure very desirable.
Their Lordships then went into Committee on the Bill, and
, the several clauses were agreed to.
IRISH GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
Lord REDESDALE presented a petition against the Irish
Great Western Railway, viz., the line from Portarlington to
Galway. He said it was signed by a large number of share-
at least the parties signing it purported to be such,
holders,•an'd to represent. 121,0001. lie would recommend the peti-
'Mentor the-attention of the House.
ls Ike 'Marquis •of CLANRICARDE said he had heard
of he.- - great many shareholders in the Irish project who
were just as anxious that the line should be forwarded.
-This
ie,litsetitinn had • been got up by a person who styled
.more now selli
stdm • a secretary to a rival company. The shares
- ngs at 21. discount; if any person purchased
three -.I shares- - ‘ they would be entitled to receive
31. per share when the affairs of the company were wound up.
Their Lordships would see that this would give great encou-
ragement to gambling speculation in railways. He presented a
petition from the chairman and directors, praying their Lord-
ships to pass the Bill.
Lord BROUGHAM wished to lay some information be-
fore the House which he had received on the subject of rail-
way speculation. He had received a letter from a sharebroker,
which stated that his business made him acquainted with the
opinions of other brokers on the state of that speculation, and
they coincided in his own sentiments, which were thus stated in
the letter: I beg to call your Lordships' attention to the fact that
within the last few days the mania of railway speculation has
been revived with all its former fury. Established are at from
201. to 301. per cent. premium, and the scrip of lines which
are of a doubtful character have gone from a discount to a pre-
mium. The consequences will be more serious than is gene-
rally imagined. First, it will enable new companies to get a
majority of three-fifths in favour of carrying them on, and se-
curely cloak interested parties and the frauds of others ; and
last not least, we shall have another panic." This showed the
necessity of adopting some effectual measures to meet the im -
pending evil of undue speculation, during the continuance of
which the gambler made his harvest.—( Hear.)
After a few words from the Marquis of SALISBURY,
which were inaudible in the gallery,
Lord MONTEAGLE was of opinion that all the Bills on
tlie-,table of •the. House should be suspended until the opinions
444110.11earelpeisieke :could be obtained respecting them. He,
yrlkwisitteable'sinjustice .in suspending the test respecting
lossaelseiesid- -applying it with great severity to others.
Lssaic
tibnetvmvfai aTyear, in his opinion, in which a more ex-
,itraiieclialary.,aird,'extravagant proposition had been made to
linitiortHeuse,:of :Parliament. He agreed with the Noble Mar-
rAdisi babiAtibial,;, that they ought to make one rule govern all.
-en-theee gssatnids be had taken the liberty of stating so much,
because, having originally opposed this Bill, he felt himself now
precluded, and he should consider himself acting not in
a very unjust manner in refusing the passing of this Bill.
He did not know whether his Noble Friend had moved the
;bird reacting of that Bill, and he would now move that the
Bill be read a third time.
Lord REDESDALE explained the grounds which he
had taken with respect to this Bill on a former occasion.
There was no doubt that the petition which he formerly pre-
sented, embodying, as it did, so large a body of wealthy
andowners was deserving of considerable attention. That pe-
tition represented the wishes of the owners of 5,000 shares, or
211,0001. out of 800,0004, which was two-thirds of the esti-
mated cost. He thought that, after all that had been stated,
i:. would be better to let this Bi!1 go on. At all events, after
what he bad stated to their Lordships, he should decline to
offer any opposition to the third reading.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then put the motion, that the
Bill be read a third time, which was unanimously agreed to.
IIULLINGAR AND GALWAY RAILWAY BILL.
On the motion of Lord MONTEAGLE, this Bill was read
a first time.

RAILWAY DEPOSITS BILL.
Lord AIONTEAGLE then said that he rose for the pur-
pose of moving that the Railway Companies' Dissolution Bill
be read a second time.—(oh, oh, and laughter.) He begged
-their Lordships' pardon, he meant the Railway Deposits Bill,
to,whieh motion he hoped there would be no opposition. In
Libo_tta(ly Rart„of.:,this session their Lordships' attention was
- gstitlo4l.e4a9tatfthomery great inconveniencewhich might be
''l4olo 44-4,11.1p* be , believed ought to be produced, upon
zmiesijar, twallet.:With respect to the law on railway deposits.
e that this Bill passed in the other House of
14..1'0.914;11110;pposition. He believed that Bill was
. one" • $ 14,aegCthe public interest, though it was
..-; 77M,.„ . ,t 1 9041.3 t it would give _railway companies 'very
- • ho wever,._ was not the case, and he
trusted it would.now be read a second time.
The. Duke of BEA i:FORT said, that as several Noble
Lords who took a great interest in the measure were absent,
he thought it advisable to postpone the second reading till his
Noble Friends had an opportunity of expressing their opinions.
The second reading of the Bill was then postponed.
The BISHOP of EXETER wished to know from his
Noble and Learned Friend on the Woolsack, when the House
would go into Committee on the Bill (tbe Religious Opinions
Relief Bill), which was read a second time on the pre-
vious evening ?
The LORD CHANCELLOR feared that the Right Rev.
Prelate judged his powers of expediting matters according to
his own character for facilitating things. He might depend on
it there would be no unnecessary delay, but the precise time
he could not say.
The Bishop of EXETER said, there had been no hurry
it appeared in pushing forward the Bill. It had been intro-
duced in the beginning of February, and for three months it
had been before the House ere the second reading was taken.
And then but little intimation had been given of the intention
of taking the second reading. He hoped, therefore, they
should have accurate information of the day of the Committee
on the Bill, as there were many nice points to be considered.
There were two points which he intended more especially to
oppose, unless they were altered. The one was, that pro-
posing to repeal the prohibition against the extolling of Papal
supremacy ; and the other, the restriction on the circulation of
Pal:lA.l4l2lls. . Except these were amended, he should certainly
divide_ the House.
RAILWAYS DISSOLUTION BILL.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE moved that the House resolve
itself on this Bill.
Earl RADNOR rose to offer a few observations before
going into Committee. He could not consent to the Bill passing
without considerable modifications. If it were agreed to in its
present shape, many good schemes would be put a stop to
by very unfair means.—( Hear, hear.) This vi as
confirmed by a letter he had received that morning,
from a gentleman, from which he would read an extract.
( The Noble Lord then read the extract, which was to the effect
that he had taken up shares in some of the best railway pro-
jects—in the South Wales. the Waterford and Kilkenny, and
other lines.) He had taken up the shares as a boncifide in-
vestment, with the intention of paying up the instalments;
but in the present Bill a power was given to parties to break
up those companies by improper means. This gentleman's
position, as he stated, was a very hard one ; because it was
well known that a deal of gambling had taken place in shares,
for the purpose of putting an end to schemes, for the purpose of
realising a profit out of the sharing of the deposits This was
a great hardship upon those who had embarked in good
schemes, and very general injustice would result from the pro-
posed measure. There would be many cases of hardship under
the operation of the proposed measure. He thought that by a
little management such hardships might be averted. It ap-
peared to him that there would be no great deal of difficulty in
carrying out an arrangement by which, when a majority of
the shareholders were in favour of a dissolution of the com-
pany, the minority should have the power of putting in a
claim to continue the company.
The Earl of DALHOUsIE—They would then get off
their liabilities.

Earl RADNOR—Their deposits would be returned out
of the ,money in the hands of the company, or which was de-
poiitbd with the Accountant-General. Fie did think that some
clauses should be introduced to meet this state of things, and
that it. should be postponed for a day or two for that purpose. If
the House did not do this, the result would be great injustice to
the.parties, and great injury to the public.
Earl DALHOUSIE said, that as some clauses were to be
-Proposed by the Noble Lord opposite to the effect suggested by
the Noble Lord who had just sat down, perhaps it would be as
well that he (Earl Dalhousie) should reserve what he had to
say upon the subject until those amendments should be pro-
posed, as by that means the House would be saved the neces-
sity of having the same ground gone over a second time.
Karl GREY said he should object to the measure being
postponed on account of any amendments which he might have
to propose, because the nature of those amendments might
this
de-
pend
upon what the nature of the measure should be. /fe
ap-
prehended that great evils and mischiefs would arise from hi
Bill as it now stood, if some amendments should not be intro-
duced. He considered that the subject ought to be postponed
for a few days in order that the Government might give the
matter more mature consideration. They had a right, how-
ever, to call on the Government to state their views on the
subject.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE said if the Noble Lord sub-
mitted his amendment to the House he should feel it his duty
to do all in his power to induce their Lordships to reject it.
If the Noble Earl had been in his place in the earlier stages of
the Bill, he would have known that he (Lord Dalhousie), both
in introducing it and in the second reading, discussed the points
advised by the Noble Earl. These points had also
been considered by her Majesty's Government, who
had constantly endeavoured to avert the evil of
undue speculation, but they thought it impossible
to provide a remedy for the evils of which he complained.
The Noble Earl complained that gambling had been going on
oliharee for a double purpose—namely, gambling for the pur-
pps,eof Malting a profit on shares, and gambling for the pur-
pose.of influencing the proceedings of companies by purchasing
.a.quantity of their stock, and so obtaining a majority of votes.
.had, thrice admitted, and he now admitted, that
rgenbling had been going on in the stock market, but that could
..tlcitt ,urged,as an objection to this measure, neither would
,thear rejection of it. But if they did reject it, they would
render many companies fifty times worse than they were at the
present moment, because they would leave them without the
means of dissolution, thus leaving them to speculate from
month to month whenever there was the least semblance of a
chance of making any money by their shares. Scrip passed
so constantly from hand to hand that it was almost impos.
sible to trace those who originally held it—in fact, they were
like a bank-note. The object of the present Bill was to enable
any company which had not come before Parliament, or which
were not before the House, in consequence of having failed to
comply with the standing orders, to wind up their affairs.
There were 1,200 registered companies at the commencement
of the session. There are now in actual progress before the
House not more than 430, and the whole of the
others are in a condition utterly
from ascertaining fully what was the liability
itated
of
each person. Now that
was the object of the Bill he held in
his hand. A Noble Lord on the opposite side suggested that a
minority should have the power of continuing the company in
existence; and that the property of the plan should be vested in
them. He objected to such a proposition, as being unjust.
Those who were retiring from the concern should be en;
..led to the property of the company, for the plans and sections
he `,y which could be saved. The expense
it
eof
IV
as of course entirely lost. just
en p
he ro suol nd s who
b,p all ro
m, )n, s
Tali wound up? All the property should be
ity desired, let
purchase the plans,
•
e entitled eiosteo
they would
condition
oui
dofbea
cp.e.aunlyd.put
Bthyernsuseethlhveemsmienatohse
a new company, with a capital consisting
iandoned concern oTf worthlesshaeywouldh
be creating
"to trade upon.
the lowest kind of spebburlaototiors would
heoultdinse-
they would have a