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

;

-• • T.--
! the seme time to act fairlr towards those -Who had embarked
eapi‘ al in rail ways. —( Hre.r. )
Vr. RA BINU thought hat somethieg should be done to
m -et the evil complained of, and to facilitate railway business.
He thought it would be of considerable ad, aritage if it ceuld
he arranged for joint Committees of the two Rouses to sit en
Bills, instead of their passing through separate Committees, to
the great loss of time.
Mr. HORSNI AN referred to the Committee that sat in
11444 on this question,. They were told then hat the fares
weed t be regulated by what the coach fares had previously
been and that the regulation of railway tariff- should keep this
point in view. This he disputed. An engine c-,uld do the
work of two thousand horses, and a train taken from London
to Birm,neham would cost only 26/ It was. therefore, evident
the rate of fares was extravagant. It was a fact that the in-
tere.ts of the public and the railway companies are opposed.
It is the interest of the public that passengers sheu'd be
carried at a low rate, while it is the interest of the companies
to carry few passengers at a high rate. It was then also given
in e idence that the effect of amalgamation was invariably
to
r Ise prices. There was a case in point referred to, he be-
lieved. by the Hon. Member for Sunderland (Mr. Hudson)—
the Midland, Birmingham and Derby line—in which the di-
rectors said the object of the amalgamation was to raise the
fares. When he ( Mr. Horsman) compared the lines of the
south on the subject of 'ares with those of the north, he saw
great. difference. The Hon. Member 'or Renfrewshire (Mr.
P. Stewart) stated a fact re.pecting a line with which he vas
associated (the Glasgow and Gr-enock Railway), in which
first-class passengers were carriel for 10. a mile, second-
class at Id., and. third-class at id., running the trains at the
rate of 26 miles an hour. against the formidable c enpetitionofthe
river Clyde. and yet the secretary stated that they were doing
well; yet. this line had cost 30,0081. As had been stated by
the Right Hen. Baronet, in his unanswerable speech at the
beginning-of the session, it was to be hoped great attention
would be taken to prevent their going beyond the resourc .s of
the country, and that no railway Bills would be passed but
what were really required by the urgent neeessities of the
country, and of which there was some certain•y of heir being
beneficially carried into effect.—( Hear, a-.) But the ques-
tion now was—were they performing their duties to the public?
It might happen that a railway once commenced would he
left unfinished, and it would only he in such a ease that they
could conceive the great misfortune of passing Acrs for the
completion of which there was no money, ror other resources.
Let them conceive an individual proprieto-,, .through whose
lands a railway passed—a railway that at first, perhaps, was
viewed by him with great apprehension. That railway, once
begun, was uncompleted; and this, too, after gangs of la-
heurers bad traversed his grounds. Under such circnmstancc.,
they were sanctioning lines to the extent of two or three times
the resources of the country, nor only thereby inflicting an in-
jury on the country generally, but tn each individual mem-
ber of it.

Aft,r a few word from Mr. WAWN,
Mr NIORRISON replied. The giving an uniform scale to
railways was a matter that required early and deep considera-
tion. What they had to ci.mplain of at present was a want of
system, and it was with a view of remedying this evil that he
moved for the pre-ent Committee. He bait no idea of reply-
leg to all the remarks of Hon. Members during that evening,
but he could not help saying that it was rather unfair for the
Hon. Member for Renfrew hire to compar' the Rouen Roil-
way, the dearest line in France, with the London and Bir-
mingham, which was universally allowed to be the cheapest.
It was curious, too, to hear Gentlemen connected with rail-
ways complaining of interference. Why, their very existence
depended on their interference with the rights of others; and
it was still more curious to hear the Hon. 's.tember for Sunder-
land speak of the rights of competition, when he himself, with
so many others, brought before the House so many amalgama-
tion schemes. It was high time that some general system of
fares should be estahlish.'d, for he tad been assured, no later
than that day, that a railway com,.any to Windsor intended to
found a town on Hounslow Heath, for the ben' t of the work-
ing classes of London, to which they might be conveyed for
twopence, and hack again at the same rate. This surely would
he better than living in the purlieus of Whitechapel. and such
like places, and perhaps walking three miles to their work
besides.

The Committee waa then agreed to.
INDIA POST-OFFICE.
Mr. mnve.l for return' of the receipt and expendi-
ture of the post-office at each of the Presidencies of Bengal.
Madras, and Bombay, nn er separate heads. for each of the
years 1842 and 1843; of the number of 1. tters, pack4,.es, and
newspapers disratched from and received by each of the put-
offices at Calcutta. Ag-a, Madras, and Brimbay in each day,
for the period of one month in 1816 Agreed to.

AFFAIRS OF MALTA.

Mr. HUME moved for an address, that her Majesty would
be graciously pleased to lay before the Wiuse a i oily of the
orders issued by Sir Patrick Stuart, the Governor of Malta,
and by Mr. Selby, officer of police in that island, interfering
with the amusements of the penile in that Wand at the car-
nival, in February last ; and, also, copies of any dispatches or
reports that may exist concerning the riots that took place in
Malta on the 22d of February Inst.—Agreed to.

AF7A IRS OF THE COLONIES.

Mr. HTIME moved for a copy of the rules issued by the
Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, dated the 27th
day of ctober. 1843. and sanctioned by the Secret ry of State
for the Colonies relating to the immigration of Chinew
labou-
rers from the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca into
the colonies of Guiana. Trinidad, and Jamaica. Copy of a dis-
patch addressed by Lord S'anley to the Governor of Jamaica,
dated the 26th day of October. 1843 (ISo. 160), rela ing to
contracts with labourers Copy of any dispatch addressed to
the governor of Trinidad, disalovving an ordinance pasted by
the Council of Government of that Colony. on the 29'h day of
January. 1845. for regulating the relative rights and duties of
masters and servants.—Agreed to.

BURGHS (SCOTLAND) BILL.