The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1848.

(LEFT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
THIRD READINGS.
The following Bills were read a third time and
passed
Bristol Docks Transfer Bill.
Lanark and Hamilton Court House and County Rates
Bill.

Midland Railway (Alteration of the Line and Branches
near Wellingborough and approach to the Welling-
borough Station) Bill.

CLIEgTER Agll HOLYHEAD RAILWAY BILL.

On the motion that the report of this Bill be con.
sidered,

Mr. GROGAN rose to oppose it on the ground that
it was contrary to the standing orders of the House, and
besides, would give a railway company the monopoly of
the steam-boat traffic, which could not fail to be at-
tended with great disadvantages to the public. He
therefore begged leave to move that the report be read
this day six months.
Mr. HUME seconded the motion, and said he con-
sidered if the Bill were passed that it would establish a
system which would be totally ruinons to all fair com-
petition.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said he was Chairman of the
Committee upon the group of lines of which
the Chester and Holyhead formed one, and that
the Committee were of opinion that it would be to the
public advantage and convenience that this company
should have the 'power of applying a portion of its
capital to the purchase of steam-vessels to complete the
line of communication between Ilolyhead and Dublin.
The Government had always looked upon the railway
as a great national undertaking, the terminus of
which was not, in fact, Holyhead, but Dublin, and
the public advantages offered to them so great
that they had departed from the ordinary
rules and granted a sum of money to assist in carrying
it out. For himself he must say that great advantages
resulted from placing in the hands of railway companies
the power to carry their passengers by steam-packets.
In the first place it prevented any chance of collision
between parties; and, in the next, the officers of the
company might be employed in connexion with the
vessels, to the convenience of persons proceeding by the
railway.

election Committee
appearedatatphpeoLElCESTEßbar
re
adEn
dLt
oE
tCr
yT It Oi t
eN .
Mr. BROWN opposed grantingwmerits of this
The
e r
teh seworn.
proposed powers
to the railway company.
Mr. LABOIJC LIEBE •
said the question before the
House was one of unusualinterest, both with regard to
the way in which th
private business of the House
should be transacted, and in ion with the interests
of railway companies and tnhe"nuubeT
his special attention to the matter,pic, and having given
he wished to say a
few words to the House with respect
laid down by the Right Hon. to the principle
Baroneta (Sir R. Peel),
have whether railway companies should ethe power of
becoming steam-boat proprietors. He wished tostateithat
it bad received the serious attention of the Committee
t') whom such matters were usually referred ; and smubu se
quently, at the request of that body, by the Board of
Trade, whose opinions with respect to the Bill were so
fully stated in Mr. Letevre's letter that it was unneces-
sary for him to trouble the House with them. It must
be a matter of sincere gratification to all interested
in the matter that the question had been since
considered by a Committee of which the Right Hon.
Baronet was a Member. He (Mr. Labouchere) con-
fessed that he had approached the consideration of the
Bill with a strong impression on his mind against allow.
ing railway companies to become steam-boat proprietors
—(Hear, hear)—and, although his mind was altered in
that respect so far as this company was concerned,
he nevertheless considered that no such power should be
delegated to railway companies, except under special
circumstances. This was the strongest case that could
' be adduced in support of the principle contended

for in the Bill ; and unless the House was pre-
pared to refuse such powers to railways in all cases.
they must accede to the reception of the report.
The 'whole purpose of the Chester and Holyhead
Cm was the establishment of good communication
between Holyhead and Dublin; and therefore it had
interest than any other body in keeping that
communication in good condition. But the Bill
n
d clauses restricting the fares to a certain
greatercoo t
apia Company
amount, and continuing the powers for a limited time
only, and the whole matter could, under the Bill, be
opened after a limited number of years, so that Par-
liament might revise the fares and discuss the whole
question at issue. He thought, therefore, that the com-
pany should be empowered to invest money in steam-
boats to ply between Holyhead and Dublin.
Mr. BERNAL would not enter into the principles
involved, but he wished to point out that no special
report had emanated from that Committee of which
''he Right Hon. Baronet was a member, to the effect that
tnis case was an exception to the ordinary rule, and that
it should be acceded to. It way a matter for extreme
regret, and one for which the House should take shame
to itself, that no really definite rule had been laid down,
session after session, for its guidance in these matters; so
that in this case the Committee did not know whether to
look the report of the Board of Trade published in March,
oridecide upon the matter on their own responsibility.
He thought it to be his duty, whenever he could, to point
out the evil to the House of the system at present in
existence, and the clause that he had proposed was a
clause simply to enable Parliament to revise the decision
of its Committee.
Sir R. PEEL said that the grounds upon which the
Committee had acted were, that as there was not a rail-
way, they were not called upon to insert the clause. No
one could wish, or was more anxious than he was, that
the standing orders of the House should be strictly com-
plied with. It roust, however. be remembered that the
House had limited its report.
After a few words from Sir W. HEATHCOTE,
Strangers were ordered to withdraw, and the House
divided, when there appeared—
For the report
Against it
Majority —l2o
The report was then agreed to.
CHELTENHAM ELECTION.

The Members of the Cheltenham Election Committee
were summoned to the table and sworn.
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY (EXTENSION

OF THE BERKS AND HANTS.

On the question that the report upon this Bill be read,
a lengthened discussion arose as to a discrepancy in the
Bill, in not defining the purposes to which the capital
raised under it was to be devoted, and ultimately
Mr. LABOUCHERE mvoed that it be re-committed,
in order to introduce into it a clause, stating the general
purposes for which the money is to be raised and ex-
pended, which was agreed to.
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST
RAILWAY, (LONDON-BRIDGE AND NEW
CROSS STATIONS, &c.) BILL.
Mr. GRENFELL moved the reception of the report.
Capt. PECHELL opposed the reception of thereport of
the Committee, on the ground that the line did not afford
the accommodation it should to the poorer olasses, as
the company had stopped day-tickets, increased the
fares, stopped many of the trains, closed several of
the stations and moved their goods station from London-
bridge to New Cross; and within the last few days a
meeting had been held at Brighton to oppose this Bill,
so dissatisfied were the inhabitants with the conduct of
the railway. He thought when parties consented to a
line, perhaps because a particular station should be
erected, that Parliament ought not to allow railway
companies to close it.
Mr. GRENFELL said the public generally formed
unreasonable expectations with respect to the benefits
they ought to receive. With respect to the Parlia-
mentary train, the directors would be happy to give
full explanation in relation to their conduct in respect
of them to the tribunal appointed by the Legislature.
Sir DE LACY EVANS said he should oppose the
Bill at a future stage.
The report was then received.
REPORTS.

The following reports were then received and agreed

to:-

Caledonian Canal Bill.
Furness Railway Bill.
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway (London-
bridge and New Cross Stations, &c.) Bill.
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
(Station Approach in Manchester) Bill.
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
(Station at Sheffield and Branch to the Sheffield Canal)
Bill.

Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
(Junction with the Midland Railway, via Barn; ley, and
Branches therefrom) Bill.
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
(Crossing of Sheffield-street in Manchester, &c.) Bill.
Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway
Bill.

Oxford Paving Bill.
Oxford, :Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway
(No. I—lncrease of Capital) Bill.
Payne's Patents (Improvements preserving Vegetable
Matters) Bill.
Vale of Neath Railway (Power to the South Wales
Railway Company to subscribe, and Amendment of
Acts) Bill.
COLONIAL EXPENDITURE.

vuSjritd3uuy TcIFVOQI33r &PMP ar gall gra iEntiOn-Of
the House to the colonial expenditure and government.
SPAIN.—DEPARTURE OF SIR H. BULWER.

Lord PALMERSTON, in ii;swerioa question from
Mr. Bankes, stated that her Majesty's Government bad
that morning received dispatches from Sir H. Bulwer,
from Madrid, to the 17th instant, in which it was stated
that Sir H. Bulwer was about to leave Madrid, that he
had received his passports from the Spanish Govornment
for that purpose, and that it was his (Lord Palmerston's)
intention to lay the correspondence on the subject on
the table of the House on Thursday next.
(1.1117 SITTING.)