The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-20 00:00:00

had considered the slight alteration proposed bid od
Hon. Member for Rochdale (Mr. S. Crawford), all
no objection to its being made.
On the motion that the report be received, 0
Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE was understoeta
complaining that one of the clauses interfered vritt
Poor-law Commissioners granting medical assistaau°
the workhouse.
it poi
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said the clause, as -Door
stood, did not interfere with the powerto
law Commissioners, or the Board of Guardians, P.
admitting parties under certain circumstances.
The report was then brought up and received.
On tl,e motion that the report be adopted, to
Mr. P. SCROPE, after some interruption, wie,"ect of
introduce an amendment, which would have the eucbipf
remedying the deficiency of medical treatment, the
difficulty he believed in the execution of this law' lie
of the Irish)._
Sir J. GRAHAM said this was at best but srl3alltoll
alter the po, a...law of Ireland, and therefore 110
alteration could he introduced into it. st
Mr. P. SCROPE thought they certainly vier"
liberty to introduce an amendment.
Wei to
Mr. S. CRAWFORD thought it was no cal
the Hous-. "Die lii,ht. Hon. BAronet, conceive' 110
the measure was perfect, but he believed that theelre
a great heccssity for improvement, and he should "e of
fore move as an amendment, that after the 22d elan tot
th- Bill wo, cis should he introduced to , the edi'eltbpst
medical treatment should be administered to
who had disease in the house. pit
Mr. S. O'BRIEN was quite ready to agree to
proposition of the Hon. Member for Drogbect
W. Somerville, and thought that some re,ulatl-
that kind should be adopted. He was the tserere,
cloned to this course, because he believed that top,
presentations of the Right Hon. Baronet,Sir
had not been carried out, or were likely to be view
out, and he thought some amendment ought to -008
traduced which would enable the guardians to
relief under the Irish poor-law.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM thought that suffiejentri•
vision had already been made by the full and dignoi
ary power intrusted to the Poor-law guardians in l'-opt
That power entirely obviated, in his opinion, the
sity for any commission, without having refereace,o7
jt
pa; titular ability of the individuals who had to exeToo
Lord EBRINGTON—Yes, but that power Coale
be exercised through the virtue of a special orderlot
a variety of cases might occur in which there el'eeLapl
neither time nor opptztunity for obtaining that ir
order.
to
110
Sir J. GRAHAM—FuII power load been give°
Commissioners, and that obviated the Case.
The report was then adopted.
RAILWAYS.

lobos

Mr. MORRISON, in bringing forward the Inn' tiei
which he had given notice, respecting railways, set the
„
as he found there was to be no opposition offered 'ld
proposition, he should probably best consult the aloe'
of the House by not entering upon the subject at ie
length as he might otherwise have been induced toe 4
At the same time he trusted he might be pellnit,"
occupy a few moments in stating generally vibe ttel
the leading objects of his motion. He considers
esor
the experience of the last year, not only in to.
land, but the other countries of Europe, bad'
most important, as it had shown that the cle-00,
meat of traffic had gone on in a way not to bare no
ticipated by the most sanguine; and he proposed t 0 ,yr
by the Committee he was about to move for that the
tern of cheap fires had every where been most adeante!otei
and profitable, and that the companies had not been i 0 to
but benefited by that system. He also prnr 001
inquire to what extent it was practicable, by ;Jd
general regulations, to relieve the Committees fitool
weight of business with which they were at P.. IP
oppressed. Lastly, he proposed to bring beff;eoa
Committee the important subject of granting °1
The railway system had been :o recently intr:dei
and had progressed with such rapidity, that the' of
been little time to give to the whole subject a ea° be.
bedsideration; but in the course of the pastyear it bed Bel'
not only in this country but in others---%ei''
glum, France, and America—that there had been ea'
makable increase of traffic, and to a certain degree,
uniform increase. Our experience was yet juggle(' 00
to determine what the exact ratio of that increslool
likely to be. That it must increase with the n'en4eis
eopuletion of the country there could be no doubt, eboe
that must be added the progression or increase '4.410
ness caused by the railways themselves; but, 1001%0
tdl the circumstances, the supposition might be bite
that the traffic on the great lines, between towns °
eeet*
population, would double itself in ten or fifteen, edrobe
Should such be the opinion of the House, it would roe te:,
bly think it necessary to reserve to itself the rightte/01
vising the fares at periods considerably under obie;
years apart.—(Hear.) One of the most important s
which could engage the attention of the Committe ere
tta
be the effect of the reduction of fares, as proved Ocei
the system has been attempted in increasing
traffic, and in some, if not in most easegtoe
improving instead of diminishing the revenue' lobe
scale of charges most productive might depend uPeicelet,
more or less varying circumstances of each peitt'ooo
case, but It appeared evident to him that the 104
advantageous to all parties was much lower than Sit\ 111
hitherto attempted in this country.—(Hear, At"
believed that the rates charged in Belgium Ton' pa'
distant time be thought quite sufficient here' vfo#
known that on the liues recently adjudicated i.en fitO
the fares fixed for passengers had been, for taigs
second, and third class respectively, 10, 7* an.
10`
times per kilometre, with an allowance of tb1.7,04
lograms, 661 b. of luggage to each person, tbride
being somewhat proportionate to lice, IV., anugepes'
eluding the 10 per cent. additional tax to Gove'eoll*.j.
Now these lines were known to be highly Pr°9l;llo7,
and to stand at considerable premiums—a save° Ott
be had never been able to account for on to,oolr,
ground than the lowness of the fares. Let it Tor
forgotten that France presented far fewer adv:/erpteA
than our own country in respect to railway
mile
The population there was less per square or :
ours: the towns were not so numerous,
densely peopled ; their manufactures were eloneieter
compared to ours, and their foreign trade more e" efel
so that to supply the same number of people theried
obliged to lay down a longer line of rail than atisettl
Then, with respect to the conduct of railwaY meeettr,e
he thought that Hon. Members would acknowle:roan
the attempt of last year had been a failure.
eh cr
hear.) Had he gone fully into the subject,
have endeavoured to show how strange and °jibe !111
to had been the diffetent decisions arrived at d
Committees—(Hear, hear)—aud how various hen, fen
the rues fixed for passengers and goods, ranginebeos
a penny to fourpenee per mile. In one instance tieleL
been told that with respect to so important all one
coal, the difference of charge for carriage bet
line supplying Manchester and another line was t leitfe;
cent. If such disparity as this prevailed it ouneeel ef
jurious, and surely much advantage would be eed7
from such great variations being hereafter eorrecbieet
some general regulation. With respect to the sn Rose
r,
leases, it was a matter which rather concerned the
and the country than the railway companies. et f er3ra,
for the House to consider whether the practice 0 *o
ing leases for terminable periods, instead of in ever el
e t;
might not with great advantage be adopted re tree
country. Experience had shown that parties atte
willing to undertake the whole cost of constructs 0;1
ways in France to be held for terminable p
perieln'etto
was, in fact, mainly a matter of policy on ttlee, toea
the state. Of' course a sinking fund would ils'ilevj
provided 0116 of the profits, in order to reieabtv
original expenditure at the expiration of the he Aye
that was no real hardship to companies. Tilepeeate
transaction resolved itself into the nature of
the state. in the shape of an annuity fora eertitt Wit
ber of years. It therefore appeared to him tPii teeeto
could not be two ()pinions upon the subject, enderid
it e ere practicable to get our new railroads an 00 tiro
upon this principle, it was most desirable iheteetellPbe
should be lost it( adopting it. No one could Pe,""itit
estimate to what extent the railway system Peet
carried in tsenty or thirty years, or what nlestA,
the effect of improvements in cheapening thee° tole;.*
locometion during that interval. But it W—nolibaitr
featly desirable that the state should, as ofT •
possible consistent with the public advantage, atele
the control of those lines of public eno3n3
foie,'
tien. And there was this obvious adoenste 'Pic/
adopting this system of leases, which :t eto
so succ, ssfully introduced into France, tnneneer7r.
railway Act that was passed would be a
mitiesc.
of so much of our general taxation into 000 Ad
minable with the expiring of the leases, and vvte f 10:,
s merit-ice of one shilling by the state. Noel in_ of g. 70;
never advise the Reuse to give up the prineiP"erts!etl
petition, for it was a very valuable one, but CO' 005,
was not enough. In the case of the Bank ot 90019
it had been admitted that competition was ?;/ he iln",e,
and he thought the Right Lion. Baronet, l'A taeltnnie,
devote a little attention to the subject, would of 104,
ledge that in the case of railways, as well as eeesoo
ing, something more than competition e'
bend Sete,
—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Morrison) l'aof innetee
that the experience of the last year had heenote tP„,
value as regarded railways. That of the 13,he e%,rde
years would be more so ; and, indeed te.ii steo
rience of each succeeding year would furrjtr"On
tional evidence as to the extent to which _vein eel
Likel to be carried. That there were the nlea_ececo:,.
notcountry
be ao f workingniatter orailways
t,chenappoenr thennoto pi narYi
oritiotolle :00,1
sources and relative amount of pelln% tele
each. The Honourable Member illustrateleoti.s4
sition by reading the following statistical_nd did
" Population of France in 1842, 34,213,929, a% poi) eat
this sum by the area of 203,736 square miles, abbe
tion for each square mile is 167.932. The popu 0 297.6 rior, oelLs
square mile in England is at present bile eoot
Great Britain, 210.476. The trade and !teemsl'o.o tP
of France are quite inconsiderable eon:Tarn effrneal
of Britain. In 1844, the total customs revenue wher4
amounted to 215,825,704 franca, or 8,633,6281. due`
• rrao 9 w
the total customs revenue of the United Killeen 044,e4e,
the same year, amounted to 24,107,34 g Kings ;84
customs revenue of Liverpool amounted to ,ce haste
while the customs revenue of Marseilles, ;ve'd'hatiettifve,
largest trade of any town in France, amount
g2of
Saint) year to only 36,688,000 francs, or 1,40 reeeeli toe
with the exception of Havre, the
which in 1844 amounted to 1,085,040I.E 00,0 VA,
f
custOMS the
OC_L
toms revenue of no town in Franee exceedsev eue o, to
whereas in this country the customs r niblT,
to
"vdc' rrn 411,te, ;:1 1!341 01q,5147, 00_0
I • I I_. ia
02,303/.,
525,418/. Th proportion of the populftlue"in
towns in Britain is incomparably greater box