The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-27 00:00:00

RAILWAY LEGISLATION.

Sir R. PEEL then rose to call the attention of the
House to the number of railway plans, and to suggest
to the House what the Government considered the
best method of dealing with railway legislation.
Considering the serious difficulties of the subject, he
thought it best to move for a Select Committee to con-
sider the subject,the Government being ready to suggest
to the Committee what they considered the best method
to be pursued. In 1844,48 Railway Bills passed. In 1845
118 Railway Bills received the sanction of Parliament;
and a capital of fifty millions was authorised to be raised,
extending over a period of three years. Within the last
two years there had been sanctioned the levy of a
sum of nearly seventy millions for railway projects
Thus, in 1846, a sum of twenty-six million:
1847, 23,000,000/., and 1848, 18,000,0001., would have to
be raised fOr railway purposes, The sum of 23,.540,0001,
to be applied in one year for railway purposes was
a large drain on the capital of the country
During the present year the number of English railway
plans deposited were 606, of Scotch, 121, and of Irish,
88. Many were rival schemes, and many others could
not be proceeded with; but the number which would be
brought forward would far exceed the number brought
forward at any former period. They involved the con-
struction of 20,687 miles of new railway,
requiring a capital of 350,000,0001. sterling.
It would be impossible to appropriate such an amount of
capital without the greatest inconvenience. It was.
therefore, necessary to lay down regulations for the
guidance of railway legislation. Ho had the greatest
objection to the interference of legislation with pri-
vate enterprise. After making every deductiot,
for failures, he thought that there would be such a num-
ber of plans that it would be impossible for Parliament
to consider the whole of them. It was also a matter ut
consideration whether it was for the public advantage to
devote so large an amount of capital to the pro
motion of railway enterprise at once. The
consequence of the serious competition would be
that the estimates for those railways would be ex-
ceeded. He greatly doubted whether the power of the
House would enable them to make proper inquiries into
each scheme, and whether it would be for the public
advantage to create such a great demand for labour, am
such a great division of capital. That, however, was fot
the consideration of the Committee. A map had beet(
prepared showing the proposed lines, and the differ,,n(
schemes had been classified under proper heads. These
would be laid before the Committee. They had beet
classified into direct metropolitan lines—lines require(
for public purposes, and lines for defence or coast lines.
He trusted the House would agree to the appointmen
of a Committee to report from time to time, and than
the matter would be left in their hands. The Right
Hon. Baronet concluded by moving for the appointment
of the Committee.

Mr. GISBORNE was not satisfied as to the grounds oi.
which the Committee was moved for. The House would
not be in a position to decide without better information .
besides, what was to be done with regard to the
standing orders ?
Sir R. PEEL did not consider it necessary to propose
any alteration in the standing orders, for he hoped tht
Committee would make an early report.
Sir G. GREY thought it would be better to suspend
proceedings before the Standing Orders' Committet
until this Committee should have made its report. H.
thought it would be desirable to refer the investigation,
as to matters of fact, such as traffic-tables, to soul,
tribunal out of the House, reserving to the House tht
power of coming to a final adjudication.
Sir R. INGLis believed it physically impossible for th,
Members of that House to give proper attention to thest
Bills. He thought that an ambulatory tribunal should 134
appointed to investigate facts.

Mr. C. BULLER considered that some better tribunal
should be appointed than a Parliamentary Committee foi
the consideration of railway matters. All influence wa:
taken away from local Members, and Parliament, by tilt
present system, delegated its authority to a Committee
by the decision of which it was not bound. Why should
not the same authority for inquiry be delegated to
a commission? In that case an inquiry would be suffi
dent, and it was preposterous that there should be tw(
inquiries into facts before two Committees of two
Houses. It was a waste of time for each House to go
through that same process of inquiry into the Sarni
facts. It would be much better that one inquiry should
be out of the House by a commission. After a
Member had served upon a railway Committee, and
he acquired some knowledge of the subject, he
was turned loose upon society, and other Mem-
bers employed who had again to learn their
business. A commission, composed of men au fait
in railway matters, would get through the busi
ness in one third of the time. The House was now de-
prived of the advantage of the reports of the Board of
Trade as to engineering matters. The objection to the
Board of Trade was, that they could not inquire into
other matters and he thought it would be much better
to transfer those irquiries to a commission out of the
House ; and if the salaries of those commissioners were
to be paid by the promoters of railway Bills, he thought
those promoters would be glad to accede to such a propo-
sition as a measure of economy.
Col. SIBTRORP thought all commissions jobs, and he
proposed that to avoid improper expenditure of public
money, these commissions, if appointed, should be paid
by the job, and not by the day.
Mr. HUDSON suggested to the Right Hon. Baronet that
there were two ordeals through which these railway pro-
jects ought to pass, before they were submitted to the
Committee which he proposed. It should first be ascer-
tained that they bad made the necessary deposits, and
secondly, that they were in a condition to comply with
the standing orders.—(Hear, hear.) Hewes not under the
same alarm as the Right Hon. Baronet as to the diffi-
culty of making the necessary deposits. -Wherever lines
were required for the public he doubted not but the
money would be found to complete them, provided the
money was not sent abroad to purchase South
American bonds or foreign grain.—(Loud cheers.)
He thought there were defects in the composition of the
Railway Committees of the House ; but he bad always
respected their decisions, and was prepared to abide by
them. He was quite certain that the business might be
got through to the satisfaction of the public and the ho-
nour of the House.

Mr. F. MAULE congratulated the House in having
sccured the services of the Right Hon Member for Sun-
derland. He considered the Committee proposed to be
one of the most impartial ever appointed by the House.
He thought all portions of the empire should be fairly
represented in that Committee, and he complained that
there were not a sufficient number of Scotch Members
in that Committee. The only Scotch Member repre-
senting a large constituency was the Hon. Member for
Dumfries. He thought a record ought to be made up,
which should be final, as far as all future proceedings
went, and which would enable both Houses to arrive
more easily at a correct decision.

Mr. C. RUSSELL expressed his cordial concurrence in
the motion for the appointment of the Committee. The
object of that Committee he understood to be to con-
sider whether it might not be possible to postpone some