The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-28 00:00:00

THE MILITIA.

Mr. MUNTZ presented a petition from the inhabitants of Bir-
mingham praying that the Government would not persist in calling
out the militia.

RAILWAYS (STANDING ORDERS),

Mr. GISBORNE rose to propose the motions for which he had
given notice with respect to the Standing Orders. The Hon. Gen-
tleman moved.

"'That the Committee on the Petition fcr each Railway Bill shall,
in every case in which they shall report to the House that the
Standing Orders have not been complied with, report further, whether,
in their opinion, the Standing Orders ought to be suspended, and
whether the parties, under any and what conditions, should be per-
mitted to go on with their Bill. . _

" That where the said Committee shall be unanimous in such last-
mentioned Report, or where only, one Member, such Member not
being the Chairman, shall dissent therefrom, such Report shall be
taken into consideration by the House, without being referred to the
Committee on Standing Orders.
"That where more than one Member, or where the Chairman
shall be dis entient from such report, it shall be referred to the Com-
mittee on Standing Orders.

" That in every case in which a Railway Bill shall be referred to
the Committee on Standing Orders, it shall be permitted either to the
promoters or to the opponents of such Mite be heard by one counsel
or one agent on the points so referred."
He would proceed to state to the House his views on the subject.
He was sure that every gentleman was aware that when a petition
was presented for the introduction of a railway Bill, it was referred
to a Committee called the "Committee on Standing Orders." That
Committee had been appointed the previous evening, and among the
gentlemen selected, he found the names of forty-two gentlemen all
thorough men of business, and in every way competent for the duty
they had undertaken. In addition to that Committee the
House had appointed four chairmen, and four more able
men than those appointed to preside over the sub-
divisions of the Committee could hardly be collected
The Committee having been so constituted, it would be absurd to
tell the gentlemen forming it that they were to have no discretion,
that they were mere measurers of lines and readers of advertise-
ments, and that they were only to see whether the standing orders
had been complied with. The Committee, however, had a
discretionary power, which they exercised with great advantage to
the persons whose niterests were concerned, and which he believed
gave general satisfaction. The Committee, however, went a little
further with another discretionary power, which did not afford such
general satisfaction—not so much from the fault of the Committee,
but owing to its constitution. They (the Committee) had esta-
blished certain rules with respect to the interpretation of these
standing orders, which had not given satisfaction. There was no
public rule or report with respect to the standing orders, and the
rules, such as they were, were never heard of or known by a vast
number of the persons most interested. As he saw one of
the chairmen of the Committees present he woull take the liberty of
reminding him of a case extremely illustrative of what he meant.
The House published what was called a book of standing orders,
which also contained a model to guide the persons intending to make
use of it. A copy of this book was sent to every engineer in the
kingdom engaged in the preparation of railway plops, and he was de-
sired to take the book as his guide. One of the stand•
ing orders was that, in every case of a railway
a datum line should be taken at or near each terminus.
The Hon. Member, after briefly alluding to the hardship which the
rp,gt4attons of the Standing Orders' Committee entailed upon the
pro
top of
eeteP of
hrellWrtys,
was
onoct a
complained of
tthveaitrhharveginargddetocidreadih,tbaayt
the
termini, and also that `f two Miles was not near enough," and there
was no diettngllielling between what was "not near enough" and
" close to" aecerding to the notions of the Committee, The Standing
Orders' Committee sometimoe reported to the House that the stand-
ing orders with respect to railway Bills had not been complied with,
but such reports were never noticed by the House. He did not believe
Bi li o f anynnot
lengthto have t abkeeetli
i com-
plied notice
tolfiaint twileaheVtehrew4S4an4ciasueoolfdan opposedwere
err
with. Therie. always some matter of nee-compliance
reported
which caused the Committee tO rept* to the 'louse that the stand-
ing orders had not been observed. Without meaning the elighteit
disrespect to the gentienien who composed the Committee (for Its
Neal sure that those gentlemen were entirely Tree from all suspicion
of partiality), he felt himself bound to say that a tribunal of so out-
rageolle a nature does not exist in any civilized nation on the face of
in secret, and tney
the earth. The real fact was that in consequence of the secrecy
with which they carried Pg their ProPeedings, the country, had no
finded3adenyl te4lll g whateveran loggoauivi.sle to inhotehri :eta reason
tribunalr;il 11. eni ralnli'lly:ce4:l43Pgnir.rellt;teee t
)drueeicaid' was,seol
in fact, no suck court of appeal in existence. Considering the
enormous question on which the Standin; Orders' COll-illlittee de-
Citlea—eonsidering the magnitude of the interests which were
brought before the Comillittee for their decision, there was no Com-
mittee which could be compared to tlll3 SlLlilding Orders' Committee.
If Honourable Gentlemen took their eases wive a court of law, or
any other court of appeal, they would find that the itidges were most
perticular, in delivering their judgments, to give at full length 1140
grounds of their decision, each judge, in turn, gave the reasons of
his., judgment, and it sometimes happened hat they differed
• differences ofjudgment, The Standing Orders' Committee had,
their took care to show the grounds of
Wing their ae-
to the public, and the
eisions, but those laws were entirely
unknown
i their deci
farsomhe uenadcherstoothode,r,fobrroutedt:me sort of laws for regn
üblic that their deciSions
aims, The Committee should show the p
If eople hail to carry
were guided by the strictest impartiality.
consequences was that the country had no confidence n
the grounds of
they would find each judge fully and APPiIIY stating
l
his decision ; even the Lord Chancellor was not above showing thatthe
their cases before the ultimate pout of appeal—thp e House of Lords—
was most anxious to state the grounds ofhis judgment. And yet tile cases
which came before even that great court of appeal, were decidedly of
inferior importance in point of h. terest to the cases which came
before the Standing Orders' Committee. Even the practitioners in
the Committee were ignorant of the laws which guided their deci-
sions ; and how could it be expected that the country would respect
their judgments ? The object, then, of hls motion was to give the
people an opportunity of having the reasons of the deelelOPS Of tile
Committee properly and fully stated, for at present it was a most
anomalous and unheard-of tribunal. (Loud cries of " Hear,
bear.") Of course there had lately been a vast improvement in
it, but at present, by,reason of its secresy, a man was forced to part
with his property without the gli. htest reason being assigned by the
Committee. He could promise the House, that if gin' agreedtohis
motion the country generally, and those persons especially composing
what was called " the railway world," would be highly satisfied,
There was one very great objection in the constitution of the Stand-
ing Ordt3rs' Committee which he wished to redress, and that was'the
decision Of thl3 Cortinlitlee being given in secret. Not a syllable was
allowed to be beard, tibiass by stealth, of the decision of these silent
tribunals. He knew that the present way 14 Wilieh these potTp4tees
were conducted had been a cause of greet dissatisfectlem tp tbose IeTIO
were concerned in the carrying out of railwey selienree. Tile bed odour
in which the Standing Orders' Committee were held, mignt be easily
dissipated if one counsel en each side were allowed the opportunity
of being heard. By this means the suspicions which might attach
to the decision of the Committee would be effectually destroyed.
He felt satisfied that the Standing Orders' Committee on many cc-
casions would gladly avail themselves of tho 44-ssliltanPP If eolillfel
in stating the various points of the case on >r Moll they pan i.s?
adjudicate. It might, on the other hand, be argued,
that if the decisions of these Committees were given in
_

public it would lead toe great laxity in the application of the stand-
ing orders $ but Iv Would maintain that, even if the stringent appli-
cation of the standing Orders were relaxed, the issue would filially
lead to the foundation of a system on 4 tifilleF and TIWIT substantial
basis. In conclusion, he would only express the gliatlittgltioll jAi
should feel if the House thought proper to adopt the motions he had
proposed _ _

forci (MANVILLE SOMERSET said that he considered the
motion of the lion. Qentleman, if allowed to pass, would have a
very injurious effect on ilia illtgrPStp of the proprietors of land,
through whose property the lines of railway Would poa, If ePannt
were to be admitted to be heard before the Standing Orders' Com-
mittee it would entail a considerable unnecessary expense on those
whose property was interfered with, which would be a very great
hardship for limp. It was well known that the employment of
counsel in railway matte4:4 yips always attended with a very consi-
derable expense. He considered tlia. the ppi -lons which 110 heap
broached by the Honourable Gentlittigic 4043 .v1P;114
by gntertaitied by very few Mgm, rs of ' ' the Hptisp.
Ho said, under these cireProgallces, he would Oppose ani.prop.ps4o4
for jatrodueing counsel into the
_Standing Orden' Coniniittea, ai; it

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