The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-23 00:00:00

all parties. He asked ft r nothing that was unfair to any
party. But tee Hon. Gentleman should be aware, that
there was a reaction g ing on among tho scripholders,
and that a number of persons were buying up scrip for
the purpose of compelling the companies to come up
for their own purposes. He did not consider that such
,jobbers vi ere 'entitled to much consideration. The
Board of Directors never knew who were the scrip :
hollers, nor were they bound by any re-
gulution whatever to abide by their wishes.
The original shareholders had disposed, as far as they
were concerned, of their interest in the original un-
dertaking. They had disposed of all their prospects of
gain, and nothing but the liability remained to them,
and of course they must be anxious that the affairs of
the company with which they were connected should be
settled. The only persons who appeared ro him to have
sr legitimate right to give their opinions, as shareholders
were the persons to whom the original allotment of
shares was made. There was a great facilita of giving
annoyance held out by the Right Hon. Baronet to per-
sons who either had or represented themselves to have
some interest as shareholde rs, and it was only experience
:hat would make him aware of that circumstance. The
Hight Hon. Baronet said that, if a me►-ting composed of
a certain number of proprietors was cailt d, and ex-
pressed its wish for a dissolution of the company, the
directors should be bound by that wish. The number
of proprietors was to be one-third, and if thrce•hfti a of
the meeting wished for a dissolution the dissolution was
to be carried. How would the Right Hon. Baronet act
if another meeting of one-third of the proprietors were
to be called in another place,and three-fifths of that meet-
ieg were to express a wi4i to go on with the undertAing?
In conclusion, he trusted that no unnecessary delay
would be allowed to take place in the passing of Iri..h
Bills.

Sir ROBERT PEEL could not speak for the House
of Lords; but he proposed that all Bills before
hat House which stood tor the reading should
'see postponed till a meeting had been held, in
conformity with his resolution. With respect to the
question which the Hon. Gentleman put to him, that a
ineeting were held of only a third of the shareholders,
three fifths of whom might agree that the Bill should
not be proceeded with, and afterwards another meeting
of another third of the shareholders took place, who
would agree to have the Bill passed, how were
they to decide whether they should read the Bill a
third time, he (Sir R. Peel) could only sry that the
latter third of the shareholders, to obviate this difficulty,
should take care to be pres, nt at the first meeting.
Mr. BRUNELL regretted that these resolutions had been
brought forward so late in the session ; had a similar step
b,:en token at an earlier period ninny of the evils which
they were now suffering would have been prevented.
But even now, why were they to anew the c:;ntiugent
oxpenses of committees and second readings to he
incurred ? Why were they to suffer parties to be
it the expense of bringing witnesses from all parts
of the country and providing for them at
,averns, for a loug period of time. He dared to say
that, at the present moment from Hyde. pal k-c•Tner
to Victoria-park, there could not • be found an
unoccupied bed at any respectable tavern.—(Hear.)
He contended ,that the course proposed by the Right
I lon. Baronet was not fair to the country at. large. If
,hat Right Hon. Gentlemae felt that the public had sub-
jected themselves to great difficulties in the late mania
4' railway gambling, he might have proposed some
either remedy better calculated to meet these
eases. If he understood the proposition of the
Right Hon. Baronet, it was to the effect that if the
holders of one-fifth of the shares in a railway under-
taking, should, at a meeting to be advertised, come to
the conclusion that tee Bill now betore Pariiatnent, to
authorise their projects, the Bill should nit then
be allowed to be proceeded with, but take
the case of . the representatives of 900,0001. in
a railway company, would it be just or
reasonable that the holders of 180,0001.. which was the
fifth of that sum should be allowed to decide the tate of
the undertaking. The Right Hon. Baronet had Ter)
truly stated that the state of the law on this point
ens very uncertain and und,firied, and the
oppressions that parties had be en subjected in
consequence of that uncertainty, had b, en very great.
In fact, he had a letter from one 14. ntlemati, whose
name he did not think proper to mention, who had ac-
tions commenced against him which w, utd involve
him in expenses amoun;ing to 90,0001. The House would
probably have read the account of the late action of
Woolmer v. Toby, a new trial had :been moved fur and
obtained, and the consequence would be that most
prebably, for the next eighteen months or two
years, the public would be left quite in the dark
es to the real state. of the law o:: thii question.
Under these le4)lutions no Bill, either English, Irish,
oe Scotch could pass. There wouLl be power
enough to carry the second re adiug and the Bill
el the Cemmittee, and in that time suffi-
cient expenses might be incurred to ruin • a great
many people. Those were considerations which he
would venture to throw out for the consideration of the
RiAht Hon. Grnth mate and he would suggest to him
the propriety of taking steps for facilitating the winding
up of railway companies, as few of the bills had reached
their second reading.
The SOLICI 1 OR-GENERAL rose to support the
ereprietors which had been submitted ti,y his Right Hon.
Friend. The first matter which they had to consider
was what were the evils which they were seeking to
remedy. The fiest great evil was that which had been
alluded to by his Honourable Friend who had just
addressed the House tnat these companies were to:ally
new institutions—something which had not lefote
exist. d, and therefore the law respecting them was
mast complicated. The questions of law which arose
were most embarrassing and difficult, in conse-
quence of the extent of the transactions, and the num-
ber of persons engaged in them. He found
from the statement which had been made to the House,
that the railway Bills which bad been passed the year
before last, and last year, would for their completion,
and carrying into effect, require upwards of one hundred
millions of money.

COMMONS' SUMMARY.
The SPEAKER took the chair at Four o'clock.
After the presenting of several petitions,
Sir R. PEEL moved the resolutions of which he had
given notice, with respect to railways. He thought a
case had arisen for Parliament to interfere to prevent the
capital of the country being emploped in useless rail-
way speculations. The total amount of capital
required for railways would, lie felt convinced, be much
greater than the Legislature ought to sanction, and under
these circumstances he thought Parliament ought to have
the opinion of the parties themselves as to the expediency
of carrying on the difler, nt lines with which,
they were connected. He believed that there was
a sincere desire on the part of many persons
connected with railways to relieve themselves
from the responsibilities under which they had involuntarily
placed themselves. He was not surprised at this, consi,Jering
the present state of the law with respect to inchoate com-
panies—a state which, in his opinion, ought not longer to
exist. He thought, eo:i wing the state of many innocent
and heirless subscribers to railway companies, the Legislature
was culled upon to interfere, and if, after Parliament had re-
tiered them from. the obligatien they at present labour ef:i
under, parties still continued to speculate is railways, they
would be no longer objects of sympathy and pity. The Go-
vernment had felt it to be their duty to interfere to put an
end to the improvicent speculation that was tf.kieg
place in the country with respect to railways;
and for that purpos he trusted that the House
would adopt the resolutions he had laid on the table
in order to further the operations of a Bill which 1% ould be
introduced, giving power to all scripholders of inchoate rail-
way companies to dissolve them if they thought it necessary.
The Right 11011. Baronet concluded by moving the res tion of which he had given notice
(which
lu
Sun of yesterday.) appeared in The
Mr. F. FRF.NCII said if these resolutions were carried, the
eflect of them would be materially to delay all Irish Railway
Bills. He trusted that something would be done to expedite
Lash fin Tway Bills.
Mr. BEENALL thought that these measure ought to
be
ird r puteadi a
ng. stop
Heto long before they came to a
th was pertealy sure that resolutions like those proposed would not
remedy the evils intended to be removed. Imme,se expense would have 10 be incurred,
and all the evils inflicted before the cure could be applied.
T e SOLICITOR, GENERAL supported the resolutions.
( LEFT Si TING.)

NOTICE TO MARINERS.
LIGHTHOUSE UN THE ISLAM) OF CERIGO.
trade,
by shi,ti
Levantap IL is isi I d
aboutothers
thi interested rete
maded
to
en
the the
owners
understood, a
Admiralty, for the erection of a lighthouse on the Island of
Cerigo, at the south-east corner of the Morea, which is much
wanted for the sate:3' of vessels proceedirg to the Archipelago,
Smyrna. Constantinople, and the Black Sea.
LI. H MOUSE ON CAPE FINISTERRE.
"An application, at the instance of the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation .Company, has been made to the
Spanish Government, either to erect, or permit to be erected,
a tightto.use on Cape Finnis Fiuisterre. As this is the most
westerly promontory of Europe, and a paint which vessels
generally endeavour to make, on their voyages toee
nor p l tareoendi
Spain, Portugal. and the Mediterranean, it is a matter of
surprise that a lighthouse has not long since b
there. Had there been a good light on Cape Fiuisterre, it is
considered the untbrtunate loss of the Great Liverpool Would
not have happened. ,