The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-25 00:00:00

GROUP XVII

LONDON AND SOUTH WESTERN (HOMSEY
AND REDBRIDGE JUNCTION), MANCHES-
TEIIit AND SOUTHANPTON, MANCHES-
TER. AND POOLE.
The Committee to whom these Bills had been referred met this
Tile
afternoon at one o'clock, in No. 8 Committee-room. lion. E.
Yorke, in the chair.
Appearances against the first Bill were entered from the
Commissioners for improving the port of Southampton, landowners
&c., of Redbridge, the Corporation of Southampton, Mr. Perkins,
Sir J. B. Mill, Burt., Corporation and inhabitants of Ramsey and
Andover; Andover and Redbridge Canal; ratepayers and inhabitants
of Southampton; Trustees of Knowles' Charity; and against the
Manchester and Southampton (for which Sergeant Wratigham, Mr.
Alexander, Mr. James, Mr. Cripps, and Mr. R. Gurney appear as
counsel), trustees of Cheltenham Turnpike-roads (for clauses) ;
Great Western Railway, London and South-Western, Southampton
and Dorchester (for clauses), landowners on the lino, farmers and
flock masters in Dorset and Somerset ; scholars of King's College,
Cambridge ; Southampton Dock Company; Commissioners of Beck-
hampton Roads ; and the Commissioners for Paving and Improving
the Port of Southampton; the Corporation of Southampton (simply
by the insertion of clauses) ; Manchester and Salisbur" and Yeovil
Junctioon Railway.

a few unimportant amendments, were passed, and the report or-
dered to be carried up to the House.
The Committee then adjourned.

GROUP XXXI.
SOUTH WALES.

The Committee met this morning at the usual hour, Mr. Round
in the chair. _

Mr. AUSTIN then proceeded to reply en behalf of the promoters of
the Bill. He said during the whole of the evidence that had been
adduced, and throughout the addresses of his Learned Friends, they
had lost sight of the real object of the line sought to be constricted.
The Board of Trade reported favourably on the entire project, com-
mencing at Gloucester and terminating at Fishguard. As they
stated that the " necessity of the railway was too evident to require
comment," and went on to say that the important district
which it proposed to traverse would be removed from
comparative isolation, inasmuch as the railway would
afford direct communication with the metropolis of England and
the whole of the English counties. And the Committee to whom
the Bill was referred virtually passed it in its original form, includ-
ing the passage of the Severn by a bridge; but as it was subsequently
found that the Admiralty objected to the crossing of the Severn by
means of a brate, and as they had the power to negative
that portion of the Bill, by refusing their consent to it, the Committee
amended the preamble they had passed, by erasing the portion relating
to the passage of the Severn, hut assenting to the other portion of the
line,namely from Chepstow to Pembroke and Fishguard. They at the
same time intimated that the promoters might apply in the next ses-
sion of Parlia,nent for the peftvers they had been thus compelled to
refuse. The point, therefore, to be decided was a narrow one. A
gap had been left in their line, which they proposed to fill up by
crossing the Severn by a tunnel, and completing their line to Chep-
stow. The line of the South Wales Company would, to all intents and
purposes, be just as perfect as it was before. The present opposition
was worse than a case of competition. It was the case of ' the
dog in the manger. The opponents would not allow the S°utli
Wales Company to improve the Forest of Dean Railway,
because they said it would tend eventually to injure
the traffic; neither would they themselves improve it, because they
considered the outlay of expcnse would not repay them. It had been
agreed that by the 52d Geo. 111., the Crown was foreclosed from in-
terfering with the rights of the Forest of Dean Railway. It had not
been denied that the Dean I, orest Company had an inchoate right to
improve their railway ; but it was contended that an independent
company could have no right to interfere. The Learned Gentlem.,n
then reviewed the opposition that had been offered to the con-
struction of the line, with a view to show the weakness of the
gallons of the opponents, and concluded a long and eloquent address
by calling on the Committee to pass the preamble.
The room was then cleared. On our re-admission the Committee
stated, that their opinion was against the preamble of the Bill as it
stood ; and the Committee were further of opinion, that the preamble
of that part of the line from Chepstow to Gloucester had net been
proved. The Committee were not inclined to allow the connexion of
the Great Western with Cheltenham and the Forest of Dean Railway.
The Committee then adjourned till to-morrow.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 25, 1846.