The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-21 00:00:00

I)L?ERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LOJWS, Friday, Feb. 20.
The Earl of SWAP/ESE:AT, in the absence of the Lord
Chancellor, took his seat on the Woolsack at Five o'clock,
THE CORN-LAWS.
Lord FX.VERSHAM presented forty-six petitions from the
North Riding of Yorkshire against the repeal of the corn-laws,
and in favour of protection. The petitions were signed by
landowners, tenant-farmers, merchants, millers, manufacturers,
tradesmen and mechanics, and others in the townships of Gains-
borough, Pickering, Easingwold, and forty-two other town-
ships in ;he North Riding. He (Lord Feversham) concurred
in the views and sentiments of the petitioners, said he viewed
wit,ln alarm the measure brought in in the Lower House of Par-
liament, and they prayed their Lordships when the Bill was
sent up to that House that they would, riot assent to it. They
alluded also to the practices of the aneonstitutional body lolling
itself the Anti-Corn-law Le?:Kue. He considered that if the
sense of the country were taken, it would be found that the
prevailing ot2t:,nion wad in favour of protection.
TAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
Lore. LYTTLETON requested the Marquis of Lansdowne
to pospone his motion on the subject of Van Diemen's Land,
which stood for Thursday next, to a future day, as further
papers relative to the matter were about to be presented.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE postponed the motion to
Monday week.

the progress of private business in that House, there could be
hardly any objection to its adoption.
Mr.O'CONNELL could see no reason why this motion should
be confined to Irish railway Bills. It ought in his opinion to
tex
movetended as an amendmenttoallprivateßills thatr relating
theting wordstol
rela,,n;., job
1. and he
should rail-
way Bills " be left out, and the words " Irish Bills ' be sub-
stituted for them.
Lord G. SOMERSET said it was quite impossible that the
motion of the Hon.: Gentleman could be acceded to, and
although no one seas more anxious than himself to facilitate the
passing of Irish railway Bills, yet it was his duty to ask the
House to resist the motion of the Hon, Gentleman opposite.
Mr. STRUTT said that there were many parties in town
who were the promoters of English railway Bills, and who had
to pay hundreds of pounds per week to the witnesses whom
they had brought with them from the country in support
of their lines. The House, in his opinion, should deli-
berate carefully before they ventured to give priority to any
Bills of this kind, unless they received an intimation from the
parties who were put to expense by the delay that it was their
wish that the Irish railways should be proceeded with in pre-
ference.—( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Roscommon
had proposed that all the Irish Bills should have priority over
all English Bills, the consequence of which would be that the
agents of English railway Bills would be kept in town together
with all their witnesses, for several days, doing nothing, and
at great expense. Such a course as that would most undoubt-
edly cause the greatest discontent. On the other hand, the
Hon. Member for Dublin proposed that one Committee only
should be engaged exclesively in dealing with Irish railway
Bills. He (Mr. Strutt) should be disposed to give his sup-
port to the latter proposal.—(Hear, hear.) He certainly
wished, before the House came to any decision, and took upon
itself the heavy responsibility which this matter would involve,
Hon. Members would carefully weigh the question.--( Hear. )
Dr. BOWRING was proceeding to make some remarks
upon the motion, but was called to order.
Sir W. HEATHCOTE said that unless a preference were
given to the Irish railway Bills, the arranghment which had
been entered into by the House of Lords, which gave
such Bills the priority would be perfectly imperative.
The expense which would be entailed by the pro-
posed priority to the Irish Bills would net be so great
as represented by Honourable Members. Under those circum-
stances, therefore, he should give his support to the motion for
giving preference to the Irish railway Bills.--( Hear, hear.)
Dr. BOWRING said he was of opinion that everything in
their power ought to be done to facilitate the passing
of Irish Bills through the House. He considered
that it would be a very great advantage to
have the Irish Bills come down from the House
of Lords, after having received the sanction of their Lord-
ships,
and he hoped there would be no delay offered to such
Bills, as there-were a very great number of persons con-
nected with such lines now in town at vast expense. He
considered that such persons had a claim to be
first heard, as they were subject to great inconvenience
in consequence of the distance they lived being so much greater
than the witnesses attending on English lines ; and he hoped
the Irish lines would be dispatched in preference to English
ones, for the reasons he had stated.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM ( who spoke in: a very low tone)
said that he was of opinion the suggestion of the Honour-
able Gentleman was well worthy the consideration of
the House, as the state of Ireland at present unfortunately
required that some immediate steps should be taken. There
was also in Scotland distress in one district of a very serious
nature, and the proposed line passing through that district, he
(Sir J. Gaaham) was of opinion ought also to pass the House
with as little delay as possible.
Mr. B. HAWES perfectly agreed in the propriety of the
question just put to the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary for
the Home Department respecting the measure which had just
been proposed by the Hou. Member for Roscommon. Ho
thought it was necessary that some measure should be taken, in
order to save the disadvantage which might possibly arise from
the Irish railways Bills being began in the House of Lords, It
should not be forgotten that great expenses would be incurred
by following such a course not long possibly before it could be
known that the Bills had received the sanction of the House of
Commons. He was aware that there were peculiar circum-
stances which would guard the railway Bills for Ire-
land, which might seem to justify the adoption of any ex-
traordinary course, yet he thought it would be better that
they should be submitted to the Standing Orders' Committee,
for he perfectly agreed in the opinion of the Hon. Member
for,Derby (Mr. Strutt), that the Chairman of that Committee
would be fully able to do justice to all the parties concerned.
Having passed the ordeal of that Committee and the Sub-
Committees, which were all composed of gentlemen, he thought
the suggestion might be adopted originating the railway busi-
ness for Ireland and Scotland too in the House of Lords.
He agreed, therefore, to this extent with the suggestion,
but he thought it would be unwise to pass any formal resolution
upon the subject. The gentlemen composing those Committees
would sufficiently perceive the feeling which had been expressed
on every side of that House, and the matter might, therefore,
be safely left to the Committe of Standing Orders.
Sir GEORGE CLERK perfectly agreed with the Hon.
Member that had just sat down, that it would be unwise for the
House to fetter itself by a resolution upon a matter which ap.
peered to him to be already sufficiently provided for. The
feelings of the House bad been sufficiently shown to the ma-
nagers of the several companies, and he thought it better,
therefore, that the Bills should be sent up without fetter-
ing the Committee with any resolutions of the kind.
Sir G. GREY considered that some measure should be
taken by which railway Bills might be disposed of without
waiting tor the order in which they arc at present arranged.
Mr. W. PATTEN stated that he had caused notices to be
given to the Parliamentary agents to be reedy with their wit-
nesses on Monday next. The present number of railway Bills
had been formed into 33 groups; and in the meantime the
various Committees would consider which project it was ad-
visable to proceed with.
Mr. FOX MAULE agreed wish the Right Hon. Baronet
tha. a discretionary power should be given to the Committees.
In the case of the Glasgow Railway, t sferred to by the Right
Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Department,
he considered that scheme should be proce,ded with as early as
possible, in consequence of the distress which existed in the
parts through which the line was to pass.
Mr. AGLION BY did not think there would be any diffi-
culty upon the subject of the classification. Ile thought it
necessary that the Bills should be proceeded with in their
`chronological order; but if the Goverment should arrive
at the conelusion that some particular Bill, on account of dis-
tress in the parts affected by the Bill, should be exempted front
the operation of this general rule, they should mention that
particular ceee to the House, and the House should then direct
and instruct the Committee to take this particular case out of
its order.
The O'CONOR DON then agreed to withdraw his motion.
Mr. P. SCROPE said that the present system of in-
quiring into the merits of different lines was very inefficient,
and required some alteration. Last session one line of railway
was 84 days before a Cominittee, and spent from 300,000'. to
400,000,., and yet at the fed of the session was very little far-
ther advanced than at the beginning. The most important
works were, under the present system, postponed, and
the time of the Committees was occupied in the discussion
of trifling undertakings that were generally attended with
little or no opposition. The real fact was, that a Commission,
such as had been appointed by Lord Grey at the close of last
session, should be formed, to analyse all railway projects
placed before them, and they should at the meeting of Parlia-
ment make their reports upon the undertakings. Ile would ask
the gentlemen of the House whether they supposed that the
average Committees of the House, consisting of five Members
each, were at all superior to a Commission composed of
five of the most eminent men in the kingdom ?
Mr. GISI3ORNE wished to ask the Right Hon. Baronet the
Vice-President of the Board of Trade, whether the Government
intended to adopt any measures founded on the Gauge Com-
mission ? In their reeort he found a resoluti en to the effect
that a gauge of 4 feet Bi, inches was the most efficient. Did
the Government intend to bring the subject before the House?
Sir G. CLERK said that he was not prepared to say that
the Government was ready to make ar.y proposition at present.
The Commission had presented a very voluminous mass of
evidence, which was then in the hands of the printer. That
evidence would have to be submitted to the Government in its
printed form belt re any proposition could be laid before the
House.
Mr. HUDSON said it appeared to him that the diffi-
culty complained of might be obviated by appointing
two or three additional Committees to take those Bills
into their immediate consideration ; but he would throw
it out for the consideration of the House whether
time and expense could not be saved by assimilating the stand-
ing orders of the House of Commons and the House
of Lords. After a Bill had gone through one Standing
Orders' Committee, it was unnecessary to carry it through
another. Under the present system great inconvenience
was inflicted on the promoters of railways without answering
any national purpose. Considering the great number of railway
Bills before the House the assimilation of the Standing Orders'
Committee of both Houses would be of great advantage, inas
much as it would save a great deal of unuecessary expense.
The motion was then withdrawn.
BOROUGH OF WIGAN.