The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-19 00:00:00

The Speaker then left the House, attended by several
Members.
The SPEAKER inf,.rin,-,d the House that he had
been to th► House of Lords to hear the royal assent
given to several Bills, for which see Lords' report.
SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.

The debate on the Sheffield and Manchester Railway
Bill was then resumed.
Mr. PARKER, in continuation, remarked that
be could only attribute the loss of the Bill
to the multiplicity and complicated nature of
the measure with which it wis grouped. By
means of this decision of the Comtnittte the people
of Manchester and Sheffield would be cu' off from all
communication with that district, which in a great
measures supplied them with coals. And he came to
this conclusion, than the members of the Committee wbo
voted for the rejection of the Bill had not had sufficient
local information to qualify them to sit on the Committee.
And really such a defeat as that, wa., a very serious
charge against the Committee of the House. He be-
lieved the Noble Lord opposite was pr rfectly right in his
decision, and that the conclusion to which this s.,Me group
bad come, with respect to another Biil (the South York-
shire Bill), which was before the House the ether day,
was a erroneous decision, and in that case, too, the
members of the Committee were totally devoid of local
information. The decision in the case of this Bill was
not unanimous ; and he had a right to say that as long
as two of the five were in tay.ur t f the Bill, and
those sass voted against it wire not acquainted
with tae varied wants of this populous district,
the Pill should be recommitted ter a full consideration
by such Members as were acquainted with Yorkshire
said Lancashire. He would repeat that the Committee
bad not had sufficient information laid before
them ; and such facts as these, he thought,
aught to justify the House in departing, in this
instance, from its usual cour,e. He believ d that if this
decision of the House was confirmed, the important town
of Barnsley would tie cut off from the other towns
to which its produce would otherwise be transmitted,
and that 10,000 people would be entirely
cut off from all connexion with the west. He was bound
to say that he believed that if the decision in this case
Were sanctioned the House would come to a more er-
roneous conclusion than it ever had since it first sat.
Mr. R. YORKE said he was most desirous to put an end
to the very indecent scenes with which the House had
been afflicted during the last week. It had been his
misfortune, with every other thing, to hear a second
speech from the Honourable Gentleman. the Member
for Sheffield, on these subjects. That Honourable
Gentleman insisted that in these matters
the Members should be locally interested, or have
local knowledge, in order that they might come to a
proper conclusion with regard to these Bills. Now
really it was vain at this time or day to talk upon such
subject. For many years the House had tried
that system, and it was a manifest failure. He
admitted that in some instances, where Members had
Clot loci knowledge of the districts brought under their
consideration, they had come to unjust decisio s ;
but he believed that every one must admit
that the business of the Committees during the last
two years had been conducted in the most just and im-
partial manner ; their decisions had given manifest sa-
tisfaction. This Bill was no new Bill before
the House. It had alt eady occupied its attention
the last three years, and on each occasion the
House decided that it ought not to pass.
After giving the subject a fair and fill consideration, he
felt bound to say that he must concur with the decision
of the Committee.
Alter a few words from Mr. S. WORTLEY,
Mr. PROTHERt)E said that, in his opinion, the
Committee on Private Bills, a few months ago,
'were prolonged si m what unnec-ssarily, and that
had given rise, as tie was inclined to think. to a
disposition to cut short the proceedings.— (Hear) He
had sat on one of the longest. Committees this session,
and during its sitting he had heard many Members ex•
press great surprise that they were sell going on. He
h*d been asked why they did not shorten the
proceedings, by Members who said that they
ad given the counsel due notice that they would cut
theta short in their pr ceedings. All this had given
him reason to su‘pect that according to the pre-ent
constitution of Committees just deci,ions could not be
obtained. On the present occasion he suspected that
there had been a little hastiness on the part of the
Merabe- s of the Committee, and certainly some mis-
und:rstanding on the subject before the Hou,e. He
Was, however, disposed to support the decision of the
Committee, as the decision of the Committce to which
he belonged had been kindly supported by the House
the other night.

Mr. HINDLEY raid that the effect of this Bill would
be to reduce toe price of coal is 6d. per ton less than it
cost as now brought from Barnsley. If there was a
Company ready to form a brunch which would
produce such an effect, he did not see why
it should not receive the sanction of the House.
He was told that the Committee to whom the Bill had
been referred had care ullr examined into the evidence
adduced in support of it, and 11.- had every desire to bow
totheir decision, but he was at a loss ta k Flow the wrounds
which they rejected it. Nit one sioele reason had
nben given by may of the members of the Committee
40 show why thk Bill had nut been passed. He
considered they ought to give so i.e reason why
the coals of Barnsley should not be co.tveyed
at a cheap rate to Ashton-unJer Lye and other
district.. He was fully satisfied, if the facts were in-
tloir.-d into, that the House would reverse the decision
of the Committee.
Sir G. GREY would not support the motion, a. he
could see no valid reason why the Bid should be
remitted to the Committee for reconsideration, because
if they hal li4ened to all the es idence that had been
adduced before them, there could be little doubt that they
Would arrive at a similar decision and reject the
Bill. With re petit to the igitoratice of Committees
in reference to the localities thritil,h which lines were
projected, he ought to state that the practice of examin
lug the Ilealbers representing such localities had become
very prevalent in ill,• press nt session.
Mr WARD drew the attention of the House t i the
118th standing order, which set forth that the report
on every private Bill sh odd be laid on the table of the
Rouse, and to the 123 d order, which was passed
in order to afford an opportunity of discus •
sing
such reports every Tuesday and Thurs-
day- They ought not to sail under false co-
lours. Now, if this order was to be rendered nue,atory,
by preventing discussion, it outtht to be rescinded, f..r
nom the Pope was dead Committees of the House might
be infallible—(Langhte7)—as they might act on ale
principle that no Committee in this hot wt ather ought
to sit a second time. But in this case he considered the
house would do great injustice if they did not refer the
mill back to the Committee.
Mr. LABOUCHERE wanted to know what was the
benefit to bc derived by sending Bills to the Committee,
•Where the parties were put to enormous expenses in
Prosecuting the Bill: if the reports of these Committees
Were to be disre.arded? He thought they would have
every disapp. inted railway compaty coming before the
house, pra,jing it to reverse the decision, if such a course
was Pe':si!,tad in. He should, therefore, vote on the
prese=t occasion as he always had done, and always
~,, -(3%,i1d 00, unless some special circumstance were
brought forward against the motion.
The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the re-committal 4
Against it
Majority —44
FRILFORD (B ERRS) INCLOSURE BILL.
This Bill was read a third rime, and passed.
WAKEFIELD, PONTEFRACT, AND GOOLE