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

THE FEVER (IRELAND) BILL

Sir JAMES GRAHAM, on moving the order of the
day for bri•:ging up the report on this 8111, said that he
h,al consid: r. d the slight alteration propo,ed by the
Hun. Memher ill. Rochdale (Mr. S. Crawford), and had
no objection to its buing; made.
On the motion that the report he received,

Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE was understood as
complaining that one of the clauses interfered with the
Poor-law Commissioners granting medical assistance in
the workhouse.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM sail the clause. as it now
st pod. did not interfere with the power of the Irish Poor-
law Commissioners, or the Board of Guardians, as to
admitting parties under certain circumstances.
The report was then brought up and received.
On e motion that the report be adopted,
Mr P. SCROPE, art r s-me interruption wished to
introduce an amendment, which would have the effect of
remedying the deficiency of medical treatment, the chief
difficulty he believed in the ex, cut;on of this law.
Sir J. GRAHAM said this was at b,st but a Bill to
alter the poor-law of Irelaw!, -nil therefore no radical
alteration could he introduced into it.
Mr. P. SCROPE thought they certainly were at
liberty to introduce an amendment.
Nir. S. CRAWFORD thought it was no answer to
the House. The Hieht lion. Thironet conceived that
the measure was perfect, but he believed that there was
a great necessity for improvement. and he should there
f( re move as an amendment, that after the 22d clause of
the Bill words should he introduced to the effect that
medical treatment should be administered to those
who had disease in the house:

Mr. S. O'BRIEN aas quite ready to agree to the
proposition of the Hon. Member for Drogheda, Sir
W. Somerville, and thought that some regulation of
that kind should be adopttd. He was the more in-
clined to this course, becaus4 he believed that the re-
presentations of the Right Hon. Baronct,Sir J Graham,
had not been carried out, or were likely to be carried
out, and he thought some amendment ought to be in-
trodaced which world enable the gnar.lians to grant
relief under the Irish ro-r-kw.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM thought thit sufficient pro-
vision had already been tnacle by the full and discretion-
ary power intrust- dto the Poor-law guardians in Ireland.
That power entirely obviated, LI his mini t, the neve—
sity for any commission, without having reference to the
particular ability of the individuals «no had to exercise it.
Lord EBRINGION—Yes, but that power cold only
be exercised through the virtue of a special order, and
a variety of cases might occur in which there would be
neither time nor opportunity for obtaining that special
order.

Sir J. GRAHAM—FuII power had been given to the
Commissioners. and t',at obviated the ease.

The rerrt was then adopted.
RAILWAYS.

Mr. MORRISON was of opinion, that, since he found
the motion of which he had given notice would not be
opposed, he would not be consulting the eonv.nienee of
the House here he to carry out his original inten-
tion. trusted, however, that the Hons.-
would allow him to occupy their atv,ntion for
a few minites, till he stated the leading objects which he
had in view. He considered that the experience of the
last few years, both in this country and in oth( r coun
tries of Europe, showed that the development of traffic
was going on in a esy which was never before antici-
pated. He prop,sed also to inquire into what extent it
is possible to relieve the Committees from the heavy
burdi•n impo'ed tzpon them ; ac•d. lastly, into the ques-
tion o! granting transferable leases ; and he would ob
serve, that railways had been so recently established
amongst them, an•.d had progressed with such amazing
rapidity, that they were scarcely able to appreeia e it.—
(Hear, hear.) But in the last year they had found

that in England ae well as France, in France as well as
in America and the continent, traffic on railroads had
increased to a remarkable degree, and in the next year
it seems probgble that it will double itself.—(Hear.)
There could not be a doubt about the course which the
House ought to pursue. aild he thought the course pro-
posed would he the best for the railways. He should
never advise this House to give up the ttrinciple of com-
petition. If the Right Hon. .•;entlernan opposite e-euld
devote a little attention to the subject, he would find
that something more than c ‘mpetition was wanting in
railways as well as in banking. The population of
France in 1842 was 167 to the square mile, in England
it was 247 to the square mile. (The lion. Gentleman
then read a statistical account of the comparative popu
lation and commerce of the two countries.) The popu-
lation of the ten principal towns in England was greater
than a similar number of the principal towns in France.
It was well known that the lines hitherto constructed
had been very prosperous, and he believed it was the
general opinion that railways prospered according to the
cheapness of the rates of conveyance. He was bound
to state, that in his opinion, the wholematter of railways
required deep consideration, and under this impression
he should move that a Special Committee be appointed
to inquire whether, without discouraging legitimate en-
terprise, conditions may not be embodied in Railway
Acts better fitted than those hitherto inserted in them to
promote and secure the interests of the public.
Captain MANGLES thought that much as the Hon.
Gentleman had spoken of the importance of railways,
he ha lin a degree under-rated it. It appeared to him
that the motion of the Hon. Gentleman possessed a
much wider scope than he was inclined to give it. The
system had hitherto been to allow the fullest scope to
individual enterprise in the construction of railways.
It would appear that the scope which the Hon. Gentle-
man gave to the present system involved erroneous
principled, and that the system which was adopted in
France, and in other places on the continent, was es-
sentially tight. It would be found after all, that the
large prizes in the railway lottery were very few. There
were, no doubt, some railways in this country that had
realized a large profit. but looking at the whole system
of railways, as far as he (Captain Mangles) could in-
vestigate the matter, the average profit on the whole
did not exceed five and a half per cent. A great. part
of the railways in this country had not been paid up.
Some companies had been able, by their credit in the
market, to borrow large sums of money at a low rate of
interest. He believed that if the capital of all the rail-
roads in this country were paid up, the average would
not exceed 3i or 4 per cent. It was most desirable
that national enterprise in railways should be en-
couraged, not so much for personal profit as for
public cenvenience. Look at the Blackwell Rail-
way, which cost in the construction more than
310 000/. per mile, and the highest return it hod ever
realised was per cent. ; but was it not a useful rail
way? He found that in the year 1844. that railroad had
conveyed no less than 3,400,000 passengers. By re-
ducing the chance of winning the large prizes, the in
ducement to invest capital in unpromising adventures
would he destroyed. It appeared to him the most nar-
row policy, because you saw a certain man realising a
Ito ge fortune by successful enterprise, to rush in upon
that enterprise and put a stop to it. A large proportion
of the fortunes which had been realised by successful
enterprise still remained invested in the capital of the
cliff* rent railways which had prospered. He knew also
of individuals who had made fortunes in successful
lines, who had been induced to invest further capital in
railways for Jamaica, in Ireland, and other places. The
Hon. Gentleman seemed to have forgotten all the inter-
mediate steps which the French Government had taken
to encourage the construction of railways. He seemed
to have forgotten the law of 1842, under which the
French Government offered to advance one•half of the
expenat of constructing the railroads. But though they
offered these large inAucetnents, they did net
succeed in persuading any parties to come for-
ward and avail themselves of the advantage.
Up to the present time there was a total of 5.981 miles
of railway either making or made, or about to be cert.
structed. This was owing to enterprise being unfettered,
which was what the Hon. Gentleman found fault with.
The result in France, vt here the Government bad inter-
fered, was that at the present time the total amount of
length of railway did not exceed 376 miles. Take this,
and compare it with the amount in England to 1844,
viz., 2,264 miles. The Hon. Gentleman had dwelt at
some length on the advantage derived from the cheap-
ness of the fares on French railroads ; but if we had
proceeded on the French system, not one tithe of the
railways which eere now in existence, and which owed
their origin to private enterprise, would have been con-
etructed. We had open communication with nearly
every part of England—with Exeter,. with Carlisle,