The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-05 00:00:00

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duringas ea._
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THE EARLY CLosn.:
silversmiths and jewellers to ,
and the districts of Newington au.
grocers and tea-dealers within the
in their adhesion to the early closing
MOVEMENT.—Yesterday the
i
ebeeir‘o..ugh of Southwark
vinof, London,.. gave
_(.. vement, having
unanimously determined to terminate buh,lnees every
evening, Saturdays excepted, at nine o'clock.
SiSir Thomas Fremantle, Chairman of the Custom'. h act
an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yeti
terclay, at his (Ada residence in Downinotrept:
•

NORTH WALES RAILWAY.

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IMPERIAL PARLIAMEN T.

HOUSE OF LORDS, July 4.

Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
The Earl of BANDUN presented a petition from the
merchants and inhabitants of Cork against any altera-
tion in the navigation-laws.
The Earl of EGLINTON presented a petition from
Ayr against the Scottish Registration Bill.
Lord CAMPBELL presented some petitions with a
similar prayer.
•
JUVENILE OFFENDERS.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented petitions with a
similar prayer; also a petition from the city of London,
complaining of the increase of juvenile offenders. The
Noble Duke said that if the Government did not intro-
duce a measure on the subject, he should lay on the
table a Bill for the purpose of withdrawing juvenile
offenders from trial, and of consigning them by a sum-
mary process to a place of reformatory punishment.
Lord KINNAIRD urged upon their Lordships the
necessity of attending to the condition of the vagrant
children with which the metropolis and the large towns
were infested. _

Earl GREY admitted the necessity of some alteration
in the method of treating juvenile offenders, but was not
prepared to discuss the subject at the present moment.
After a short conversation the petition was laid on
the table, and several other petitions to the same effect
were presented by the Duke of RICHMOND.
LAW OF MARRIAGE.

The Marquisni LANSDOWNE laid on the table
the report of the Commissioners on the law of Marriage,

Lord 110NZ'E AGLE, pursuant to notice, presented a
petition from an individual, complaining of the conduct
of the direCtors of the North Wales'Railway. The pe-
titioner was one of the original shareholders in this line
of railway, which was intended to run between Carnar-
von and Bangor. The act authorizing the construction
of the railway passed in 1845, and two instalments of
10 per cent. were paid up by the shareholders. Soon
after a change in the direction of the company took
Place, and one of the first proceedings of the new di-
rection was to lend the money of the North Wales Rail-
way Company for the purpose of completing another
railway with which the North Wales Railway had no-
thing to do. Many of the members of the new direc-
tion were also directors of the London and Richmond
Railway Coinpany, and to this latter company the money
of the North Wales Company was lent. But, as the
North Wales Railway Company were not empowered
.by law to lend, nor the London and Richmond Com-
pany to borrow, the course taken was not to lend the
money to the London and Richmond: Company
in its' corporate capacity, but to private in-
dividuals connected with the company on their notes of
hand. After a time the Richmond Railway was made,
and sold to another company. The directors of the
North Wales Company, having lent the money of the
company on insufficient security, and contrary to law,
nevertheless thought proper, when this took. place, to
repeat the experiment, and they lent the money of the
company to two other individuals. A • shareholder ap-
'plied to inspect the accounts, and after some resistance
he was allowed to have access to them. Their Lordships
would hardly believe in what manner those accounts
were kept. He held in his hand a copy of the very
account in question, and he - found these entries—
" Loan to'` A' for 'investment, 1,5001." "Loan: B'
for ditto, 1,200/." " Lo'au. to .'-0' for ditto; 4,0001."
"Loan D' 'for dine, 8,0001." "Loan- to !B' for
ditto, 3,000/." " Loith to" F' fordittc,.-1,000/.'s " Loan.
to ' (;1' for ditto, '1;006/."'' It fact; the accqunt was
a cYPher—Whiere eiptahiedl '4othing.- • The parties
as' ed for an explaftatio-voaeq.ts who were represented
by the. letters A.;',"8," 0;" "E" !.I'," and
Q," but that Wrarlefuse& These were the tit° main
'ille„,aitidisis &Aligned its this petition r trameit, first, a
'xill'iiiiioaintieff thet p
unds from thearposes or which
they ;were Parliament, from the North
Wales Railway Company to the London and Richmond
•AtifYrahcompany ' lititt4..secondky, the modein which
ti6counts wefiekelit' The answer of the directors to
latter 'charge 'f'elatkt 'a ' most curious fact. They
'stated that' this Mode,oP•keeping,accounts---nathely, that
of putting forward an uzintelligible account be in-
•_. speeted- by the -Aftreholders, and keeping .0 private
ledger for theil.' o,wtrusrel vNti.the commorreocrse taken
by other railivale ebosiiiinlOtottnt•they-justiged them-
- selve*'bY this tebit Ortvariftlitidry pleEr. !bought it
behoved their Lordsh i !Avid the Realism:tent to. bake notice
of this Matter.- flekhlitild•dohtecttigniseilat present with
. •

•
presenting thd petrtiehr but, if-,,,the. subject should be•
- allowed t6g? trierlei *Op, he. ceitrieivettAfteir,Lordships ,
would partly' phi lain; tbethselvea oceesiiory to a
'szsteni frAtiff: -Otthe partiea••htfkotit nothing. He
bad no cot' tiekkin •ivith either !of. the:PO-lei:011es. The
faCtsAvere edinittecl'hiyihoth• sides ;And thy, clearly
Shovied a departnte-from the :law' 'of ,the, laihei, and a
'violation of VpubileAruat. The prayer of they setition
iVis;that tißillinight be passed to exclude these•tarties:
from -die direction,.and to appoint others to carry out.
the Sb important di&he consider the question
that-he should 'be inclined at a future day to move for
the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into-
these facts, 'And to report upon them to the Honse. •
Earl GRANVILLE suggested, that whpther• the
Noble Lord brought forward a Bill or moved for a Select
Committee, it would be better that he gave a formal
notice of the course he intended to pursue.
Lord WLLARNCLIFFE considered this to be one of
the most scandalous cases that had occurred in the mis-
- nau.ua.gement of railways. -He considered it to be highly
incumbent on their Lordships to apply a corrective and

check upon these proceedings. -
Lord REDESDALE said, that unless some Noble
Lord should hereafter make a statement on the other,
side that should satisfy their Lordships, be considered
this was a case in which the Legislature ought to inter-
'eye. These great bodies ought to be compelled to ren-
der ac ousts of their proceedings. If they concealed
01ein from the shareholders, they could never hope to
Possess the confidence of the public.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said it appeared to
him to be a subject of very considerable importance. It
had been said that there was a Bill pending in the other
Rouse of Parliament to facilitate the dissolution.of one of
these companies. lie had not seen that Bill, but he
thought that uo such step should be taken without first
ascertaining, the state of the accounts, because Parlia-
ment might otherwise be sanctioning a great injustice.
Their Lordships ought not to allow any facilities what-
ever to the parties until after a full investigation into
these facts, especially after a Bill had been rejected
which would have enforced a distinct and bona fide audit
of all these vast budgets that were going on in the
country under the direction of these companies.
Lord MONTEAGLE said, that before the Bill em-
powering the company to etfect a dissolution reached
their Lordships' House, he should move for a Select
Committee to consider and report on the facts stated in
the petition.
The petition was then laid on the table.
GAME CERTIFICATES FOR KILLING HARES