The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-25 00:00:00

SECOND EDITION.

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I,ONi)ON, WEDNESDAY, r WARY 25, 1546

MC TAM). CIIANCELLOR took his scat anon the Woclsack

at Five
After the presentation of petitions,
The --.‘tazuts of WEsTmEAT:t asked a question as to
what had taken place in the [louse of Commons in reference
to the case of IltaAN SEERY. The question having been
objected to As irregular, the Noble Marquis gave notice of a
question on the subject for Thursday.
Lord IltaiuGif_uf then presented a petition from a person
named Worthing, praying their Lordships to amend the law
relating to divorce. The case was somewhat similar to that
of Edward (libson Wakefield. The daughter of the peti -
tioner, a minor, had been abducted by a man named Newman,
and married by him. The man had been convicted of the
abduction, and she prayed their Lordships to amend
the law, so as to give an easier remedy in such cases.
The Noble and Learned Lord concluded by annottuein,,,, his
intention of moving that the petition be referred to a Select
Committee.

The LORD CHANCELLOR suggested the propriety of having
the petition printed.
Lord CAMPBELL protested against this proceeding. In the
case of Wakefield, the marriage had never been consummated,
but in this instance there had been issue, and he trusted their
Lordships would not illegitimatise the issue. The Scotch
law of marriage ought to be altered, but until it was altered,
marriages contracted under the law ought to be maintained.
After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM, the petition was
ordered to be printed.
Lord- KINNAIRD then rose to ask the Government what
course they intended to pursue with respect to the report of
the Gauge Commission ? The question was of great impor•
taucc in a social, a commercial, a military, and
a financial point of view, and he• hoped the House would
grant a Committee to inquire 'wlie: her it would not be
advisable to establish a general system of superintendence
and control of railways generally, which would ensup the
safety and convenience of the public, and prevent the pro-
mulgation of bubble schemes. With regard to the report of
the Commissioners, it appeared to him to be all in favour of
the broad gauge, with the exception of the conveyance of
troops and of goods ; and after reading the report
he was surprised to find the Commissioners
recommending the narrow gauge. He trusted they
would not attempt to limit the speed, and he
regretted that the Commissions had not considered the pro-
priety of adopting a medium gauge. The narrow gauge
might, without any inconvenience, be altered into a six-foot
gauge. Indeed, he believed it Was impossible to alter the
whole of the narrow gauge into the broad without any incon-
venience to the public, and without any enormous expense
maturelyto fi
the
the partles. He trusted the Noble Lord would
considercountry 6an inferior the subject
gauge. ect before lie
down
expense
of the alteration might be defrayed by a n The
lileage-tax upon
all railways. He wished to know how soon it would be
before the evidence was laid before the House, and when the
Government would be prepared to state their intentions on
thesubjecty

'l'he Earl of DALHOUSIE replied, that the recommendationsorneand
of the Commissioners were of very great importance,
must be maturely considered. No effect could
' be
those recommendations without an Act of Parliamient'enantdo
the Government felt that it would be unjust to propose to
take any steps until the members' of the Legislature should
have had an opportunity of studying the evidence, which
woul4 be laid on the table of the ifouse as soon as possible,
possibly in the course of two or three weeks; and as soon as
the Government should have considered the evidence, they
would propose some measure on the subject.
Lord BROUGHAM thought that time should be given, not
only to Parliament, but to engineers and scientific me

consider the subject.
Lord 11X:11E11'1'0N thought great caution should be exer-
cised in coming to a decision on this important subject, and
if the number of miles of broad gauge had been greater than
those of narrow, he thought the decision would have been
in favour of the broad gauge. He wished to press on their
Lordships the necessity of competing lines in order to pre-
vent monopoly. The public interest could only be secured
by competition.