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

I .
Lord ASHBURTON wished to rectify the impression that
this 13:11 was the only thing that was going to be done to do
away with the mischief and the confusion into which the
country had been thrown by this railway speculation ; for he
was quite true that they would entail upon the country the
greatest possible injury, if they went no further. Wherever
there were the materials of gambling there would be gam-
bling; and whilst these materials remained it would be quite
useless to stop the evil by legislation. He thought the bette-
plan would be to prey nt the issue of scrip at all until the seve-
ral Bills reached a certain stage before the Houses of Parliament.
To save the evil, also, they might give to the shareholders wha
remained the power of buying out those who wished to secede.
One thing he wished particularly to ingress upon their Lord-
ships_one thing which he had particularly alluded to en all
the Committees of that House—and that was, that it would be
highly impToi,er to suffer these Bills to leave the House in the
shape of laws, without a sufficient assurance that their object,
would be carried into effect.

Earl FITZ WILLIA 114 proved of the Bill, but he feared
that it might have the effect of destroying many good schemes
and supporting many bad ones, for the goodness or the badness
of the schemes were in no way to be judged of by the positions
and characters of the promoters. With respect to the plan, he
wished that the best mode to he adopted would be for the Go-
vernment to take l ossession of them on behalf of the public ;
and that he conceived would be a very good gitid Iry epto for
the right to wind up the affairs of the several companies. He
was anxious for this, for he hoped some day that the whole of
these railway projects would be in the hands of the Govern-
ment. He was especially opposed to the sale of the plans, be-
cause he conceived that they would be bought up by the great
companies, and be hereafter wade use of most mischievously.
Lord REDESDA LE explained that the books of the sur-
veyors were only intelligible to themselves, and as to the plans
they were all lithographed, and, therefore, easily attainable
anywhere. With respect to the winding up, he believed that
those companies which might be di,solved would be very honestly
wound up. And with regard to the state of railway 1 egisl2-
tion, he intended next week to ask their Lordships to accede to
a resolution that they would not take any opposed railway Bill
into Committee after some late day, say the •20th July. Their
doing this would have the effect of saving a great many Bills
from cooling up from the other House of Parliament, and iend,
the business much more controlable than it apparently was at
present.

/ .
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE supported the Bill, but
thought that the Earl of Dalhousie had not met the objections
of his Noble Friend (the Earl of Radnor) and his proposition
that persons should make a declaration of the time at which
they came into possession of the shares before they were
allowed to vote. He thought that was a proposition well
worthy of consideration, and which ought to be thought of
before the report was brought up.
The fl,;use then went into Committee on the Bill, when
The Earl of DALHOUSIE said he was quite ready to con-
sider the objections of any Noble Lord.
Earl GREY suggested that the practice of the other House
be adopted which was to commit the Bill pro firma, ha} e it
printed, and then fully consider it in Committee or have it
re-committed afterwards. This was necessary, as it appeared
there was almost as much writing as print on the Bill.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE objected to the Noble Earl
drawing any inference from his bird's eye view of the paper he
held in his hand. There was no alteration whatever in the
principle of the Bill, and he then went through the alterations
to show that such was not the case.
After a few words from Lord NIONTEAGLE,
Earl GREY proposed to impose a penalty of 51. for each
vote given not according to the provisions of the Act, both on
the scripholder and the proxy who might vote for him.
A conversation ensued on this point, in which Earl Grey,
Lord Monteagle, the Earl of Dalhousie, and Lord Redesdale
participated, the last nobleman objecting to the date of the Ist
of March being fixed as a day posterior to which the sale of
scrip should invalidate the right of voting. A provision was
also inserted for obtaining a fair decision at the meeting for
dissolving the company, the rule being, that the minutes should
be signed by the chairman, aad countersigned by two of the
scrutineers, and any attempt to falsify them should render the ,
party guilty of a misdemeanour. The authority to dissolve was
to be obtained by a majority of the whole of the scrip, or of
at least three-fifths of that which was actually issued.
The Bill passed through Committee, several Bills were ad-
vanced a stage, and the House adjourned.

?
f HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 1.
The SrEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY.
.Sir C. LEMON moved that it be an instruction to the Corn-
mitt ee (Group 27), to which the North Staffordshire Railway
( Hart Ncastle to Sandbach), North Staffordshire Railway ( Chur-
net Yin'lley Line), North Staffordshire Railway (Potteries
Line), a.ro
.referred, that they have leave to consolidate the
three Bills' into one Bill.
The motion was agreed to.
EDINBURGH, LEITH, AND GRANTON RAILWAY.
Mr. RICARDO moved that the Committee on Group
(No. 8) of Railway Bills have leave to sit and proceed on
Mondaay next on the .Edinburgh, Leith, and Granton (exten-
sion and branches) Bill, notwithstanding that seven clear days'
notice of the sitting of the Committee on that Bill had not been
given at the Private Bill-office,
After a few words from Mr. GREENE, the motion was
withdrawn.

Mr. WARD moved that the .
IMPROVEMENT
Cambridge
for Monday,
was given
Bill,
CAMBRIDGE
notice of the second reading of which
the 27th of April last, be read a second time, notwithstanding
the period limited by the resolutions of the House had expired.
The motion was agreed to.
GOLLON INCLOSURE BILL.
Mr. GRMENE moved " That the order referring the pe-
tition of blajor-General Sir James Fullerton Dundas, Baronet,
against the Gal
lolon Incloanre Bill, to the Commute on the
Bill, and (amuse rde, be read- That the said petition being
against the whole Bill, and not against the preamble or clauses,
and not praying for the petitioner to be heard, by himself,
counsel, or agents, cannot, according to the practio:t of this
Rouse, be :referred to the Committee t—that, therefore, the
said order le discharged."
The motion was agreed to.
LOUGH S WILLY AND LOUGH FOYLE DRAINING
AND EMBANKING.
This Bill was read a secondtime, time, and ordered to be cone
mitted.

REPORTS.
The following reports were brought up, the amendments
and alterations agreed to, and the Bills ordered to be en-
grossed :—Helensburgh Extension and Police, llelensburgh
Harbour, Glasgow Union Arcade, Boston, Stamford, and
Birmingham Railway (Stamford to NVisbech), Stowmarket
Navigation.
GLASGOW WATERWORKS BILL.
The Lords' Amendments on this Bill were re,'d and
agreed to. _

LAW OF SETTLEMENT.
Sir. JOHN TYRELL presented petitions from the palish o f
Kenni'Dgton and other places, praying for a revision of the law
of setts ement, more especially with respect to pauper lunatics.
The t letition was ordered to lie on the table.

iROAIAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.
Mr. S. TARfIIAN CRAWFORD presented a petition from
the Roman'. Catholics of Rochdale in favour of the Roman Ca-
tholic Reli of
The peti tior, was ordered to be laid on the table.
Pass. Tz7NVER-DUTY PAID BY RAILWAY
COMPANIES.

Mr. BRO"THENTON moved fora return of the amount of
moneys leviPd and p..kid annually by each railway company in
England wait Wales, under the head of duty on passengers,
made up to the sth day of January in each year from 1841 to
1846. Also,, a similar retti,"n for Scotland. Also, a similar
return for Le land.— Agreed to.

miserable speculations let loose upon society. It might be very
well if there was no remedy for the evil. But they have
nothing to do but to purchase the plans and go down to Ser-
jeant's:lnn, pay 51., and they would be again a registered company.
These were the grounds on which be should object to the mo-
tion of the Noble Earl.
Lord MONTEAGLE thought that his Noble Friend, who
had just sat down, had made a very strong case in one part of
the subject, but he must contend that though the parties
wem highly to blame, the Legislature were most in fault. Thee
Government might be exonerated from one portion of the
blame to which they were liable, but still he should contend
that they were deeply responsible for not having taken measures
foa. the avoidance of the evil and now, when it had accrued
they dealt with it in a small and pitiful manner, insteadorafSy
piing with this immense speculation in a large
and
masterly
way. On the 31st March they had given notice to the parties
engaged in railways, in order that they might prepare them-
selves for the altered state of the markets.
had been some time
The principle
the u
which was adopted by the Bank and
nitt the
inthe possession of stock, wasthEe
one that ought to have beenast India Directors, of
not allowing individuals to vote
proposedninththaet npoessoens!
should be allowed to vote
had becomeun a bona fide possessor, before
adoped. He (Lord Monteagleless)
hehad had b
sion of the stock, and
• Now,
speculation had been raised since the
creased, and mischievous_
quite sure that such would
the 31st March. would any one deny that a new, an in-
The 13th clause of the Bill allowed any persons
be the case
the possession of shares were to be entitled to vote. But
declaration of the stock. He was
inithis was highly detrimental, for under it any two persons might
go into a meeting to vote, transfer their shares, and then again
re-transfer them, voting all the while, and this might be done
ten thousand times over.—( Hear, hear.) Let those parties
who refuse to acquiesce in the dissolution of the company,
purchase the plans, and then re-register, while those who
seceded from the company would be reimbursed for their out-
lay. He thought that the original proprietors ought to be in-
titled to a pre-emption. He had no desire to throw difficulties
in the way, but he was desirous of seeing it made as useful as
possible.
Lord BROUGHAM quite agreed with his Noble Friend who
had just sat down, but it appeared that though he was friendly
to the measure he had spoken against it. When they were
favourable to a measure it was usual on this side of the British
Channel to support it by a speech or a vote, but it seemed such
was not the rule everywhere, for his Learned Friend went on
the principle of looking one way and rowing another. He
quite regretted that a fuller measure had not been introduced,
but be hoped that such would be the case with respect to all
private Bills, although he was aware that great difficulty laid
in the way of any great change being made at once. That it
was necessary was evident from the almost convulsion in the
money market which we had just escaped, and which was
nearly as mischievous as the panic of 1807, 1812, and in
much larger wayi n 1825-6. Thank God, under the firmnes
of those at the head of affairs, and through the admirable
management of the directors of the Bank, the cloud had passed
without bursting. But the danger in the future remained, and
he should like to have time to consider any alteration, as any
one false step might be productive of a great deal of mishief.
As to the voting, there appeared to have been a slip in the
draft which was to be amended. He approved of the Bill, but
it must be understood that he said this as not at once condemn-
ing the alterations of his Noble Frier.d (the Earl of Radnor)
without the opportunity of considering them before going into
Committee. But he still hoped for a more enlarged Bill,
for it ought not to be forgotten that all the courts
in England, Scotland, and Ireland, could not dis-
pose in ten years of the pecuniary and other
interests of the private Bill legislation—a legislation which
was conducted as badly as possble, and which gave what the
Master of the Rolls called a transcendental power to take men's
property at will—not in compliance with their wish, but
against it, and contrary to all law. And he aheuld return
(rem his political life, whenever that time came, he shoat
feel it a consolation to reflect that he had always been the
strenuous advocate of what he could not but feel a most un-
constitutional and mischievous power.
Lord MONTEAGLE and the Earl of DALHOUSIE ex.
plained.