The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-06 00:00:00

RAILWAY BUSES'ESS OF TIME HOUSE.

The Earl of DALHOUSIE, in rising to move the
suspension of the 224th standing order of the House,
said it would be net: essary for him to direct the
Lordshirs' attentian to I.he fact of the Committees hav-
ing been appointed, one 3 by the other House df Parlia-
ment, and the other by their Lotdships, to consider the
best means of disposing ; of the railway businrss of the
session. These Comm ittces were of ato o-fold charac-
ter. The first object 't o be considered by them was the
finding time to gv,t through the railway busines,
and the ether tb e expediency of allowing
so large an amount .of capital which these railway
schemes would require to be diverted from the usual
and ordinary sources of commerce. Beth Committees
met the clay after their appointment, and all the infor-
mation which the Got -ernmeet had in their possession
upon the subject was laid before them, and
tlfb Committees t .onsidered generally the two
questions which had . been referred to them. In the
first place, they suggested that a certain altera-
tion should be made in the mode of arranging ana dis-
posing of the privaf .e business of the two Housts of Par-
liament ; because they thought it would tend to facilitate
the transactions of business of either House, and while it
would be convenient to those interessed in the conduct
of that business, sb onld at the same time be productive
of advantage to tl ,e public interest. Their Lordships
were no doubt aware that according to the invariable prac-
tice of the House, railway business had commenced in
the other House of Parliament, and, as a necessary
consequence, durii g the first to o or three months of
the session their Lordships were left entirely without
private business, and when it did come before them,
they were so overy Ihelmed with it at a late period of their
sitting, that it ws a quite impossible for their Lordships
to give it tha due attention which its im-
portance &mar ded. Their Lordships' Commit-
tee had, theref ore, determined to recommend an
alteration in the existing standing orders, and to meet
this arrangement no doubt, their Lordships would have
perceived that tl se Committee of the other House of
Parliament had 1 eported to the House a recommenda-
tion that during the present session a certain por-
tion of ralway business should be commenced in
their Lordship's House. It was, therefore, for
them to consider what would be a convenient
division of th a business. But the Committee
recommended that the Railway Bills connected with
Ireland should bss considered by their Lordships' House
in the first instate e. There could be no objection urged
to this course, and their Lordships had a strong
reason for adopting it, in the fact that it
would facilitate :the legislation connected with Ireland.
Under the present circumstances of that country it
would be extremely desirable that such a course would
be adopted. Auy Bills, therefore, that were to be
brought forward and considered beneficial fur Ireland
should be passed us speedily as possible. The report of
the Committee int the House of Commons on the same
subject had recommended all railway Bills for Ire-
land to be cowarienced in that House. There was
a charge of 5 per cent. required to be paid on
all Railway Bills ;in the House of Commons, bnt in that
House there was .an alteration to ten per cent. An ex-
ception was proposed in the other House with regard to
certain Bills after the 10th July, and a similar altera-
tion was proposed in that House, but their Lord-
ships refused to acquiesce in it. They proposed
that ten per Dent. should
_be paid on every
Bill. Now a very large proportion of the
Irish Bills fell under the exception referred to, and it
would be hard to say that this should stand in the way
of their consideration. It appeared, therefore, to the
Committee appointed by their Lordships, that an altera-
tion might be made to obviate that inconvenience, and
they had unanimously recommended that those
Bills on which a deposit of 5 per cent. had
been made, but that before the third reeding
of the Bill the remaining 5 per cent. should be
paid. It had beers said that this alteration held out an
encouragement for railway speculation; but by admitting
the consideration of those railways which paid 5 per
cent. they would not be placing the promoter in a better
condition than if the Bill had originated in the other House
Under these circtrustances, he would strongly recom-
mend their Lordships to come to a speedy decision, as
it would afford a fAcility of giving employment to the
people of Ireland.

LORDS' SUMMARY.
The LORD CHAN-CELLOR took his seat on the Woo;
sack at Five o'cicelk.

Lord BEAUMONT asked a question with respect to the
detention of a gentleman named Graham by the Sar-
dinian Government, notwithstanding his passports were
regular.
The Earl of ABERDEEN explained that the detention
had taken place in consequence of a mistake, and that
he thought there was no necessity for his demanahg
any pecuniary indemnity.
_ _

Lord BEAUMONT asked if any apology had been made
by the Sardinian Government?

The Earl of ABERDEEN believed that there had been
none, and, judging crom the style of Mr. GRAHAM'S
communication, he thought it was unikely the Sardinian
Government would be inclined to make an apology,
which, under other circumstances, they might have
done.

The EARL of DALHOUSIE then rose to draw the atten-
tion of their Lordships to the railway resolutions
which he had laid on the table last night. The
Committee of the other House had recommended
that during this session a certain portion of rail-
way Bills should be initiated in their Lordships
House. It was proposed, in accordance with this re-
commendation, that all Irish railway Bills for the pre-
sent session should be originated in their Lord-
ships' House. The Noble Earl then went into a
history of the standing orders of both Houses in relation
to the per centage required to be paid up on the de-
posits, before the Bill could be entertained. The House
of Lords required a payment of ten per cent.—the
House of Commons a payment of five per cent. Now,
in order to facilitate the transaction of business the
Committee recommended that for a payment of five per
cent. the Bill might be admitted, provided the deposit
had been made on the 6th of February, but that
they should rot be admitted to a third reading until
an additional five per cent. should be paid; this would
place them nearly in the same position which they would
have occupied if they had bean originally intro-
duced into the House of Commons. This propo-
sition gave no encouragement to railway projects,
nor did it remove any obstacles which had
been interposed by the measures of last session,
With regard to measures which had passed last session
in the Commons, and which had been dropped in the
House of Lords, it was proposed that they should pass
mattomel
oyon,r siagoipndraotthefa otirnen iotitmh,
competing
Lido
ogrcdposrm.o
projects
,crbt
hes feo
shouldr
Ne otbhl bee
eb
eLL
oop rerdri
itm.mhi°flitteeCddoi
concluded by moving a resolution founded on the report
of the Committee.

Lord MONTEAGLE considered that the proposed altera-
tion would have the effect: of greatly benefiting the Irish
labourer, by bringing the railway works in that country
into earlier operation. He would suggest the
propriety of permitting the promoters of rail-
way Bills to prove their compliance with
the standing orders simultaneously before both Houses
—a better course still would be, by bringing them before
some tribunal before the meeting of Parliament, the
report of such tribunal to be laid before both
Houses on the meeting of Parliament. He also
thought that the promoters of railway projects should
be permitted to make the deposits in public securities as
well as in money.

The Earl of STRADBROKE urged the necessity of
giving precedence to Bills connected with the south of