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

THE FEVER (IRELAND) BILL.

Sir JAMES GRAHAiti, oa moving the order of the
day for bringing up the report Oil this Bill, said that L

had considered the slight alteration proposed by th;
lon. Membor for RoelAa!e (Mr. S. Cra,;Tfurcl), ar,a b 3
no objection to its hing
On the motion that the report be received,
Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE was understood as
complaining that ono of the clauses interfered with the
Poor-law Commissioners granting medical assistance •o
the workhouse.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM said the clause, gg it r()
stood, did not interrere with the power of the Irish ~ ,
law C..tnrnisstonrs, or the B art ct '
a.lin'+ting parties ,r• 1- eirenri

'l.l;e ter art an.;
On tie motion that the report be ador?ted,
to
Mr. P. SCROPE, after some interruption, wished -„ of
introduce an amendment, which would have the effect
remedying the deficiency of medial treatment, the cull'
difficulty he believed in the execution of this law. 0
Sir J. GRAHAM raid Oas was at best but aDT ti
alter the po,r-law of Ire).and, and therefore no rall'e-
g
,I%•!ra.tion could be intiv:iuced into
Mr. P. SCROPE thought they certainly were at
liberty t 3 introduce 'amendment.
'ir. S. CRAWItORD thought it was no answer::
the Houle. Lne Eight Hon. throut, conceived lu%
the tn.:astir: was perfeut, but he belie.yed that there
gecat necessity for improve:writ, and he should they
fore move as an amendment, that. ifter the 22dniatOehas
the Bill wo:-ds should be introtheed t 6 the effeet,t,;e
medical treatment should he 'administered t'iw-
wl-e) had disease in the }nise,.
Mr. S. O'BRIEN w the
as quite ready to ague t° sir
ProP')sition of the Horn Member -for Dreghed!',,
W. Somerville, sod thought that some revillatler
that kind shedld be
.adoptf.d. He was w°re
chned to thi.4 eourse, because be believed that the 1;
presentation of the Right Hen. Br.ronet,Sir J. Grah',l
h vi not been carried out, or were likely to be cacti`iv
one, and he thought some amendment ought to beot
, tredi,A which would enable the gaurdians to gr
uutler the Vii,h poor-law.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM thought that Emilie lent rr:,:
vision had already been made by the full and ,liseret,lt4
ary py.ver intrusted to the Poor-law guardians iu
That power entirely obviated, in his opinion, the ne
sity for any commission, without having reference Teit,
particular ability of the individuals who had toe terels„,,
Lord EBRINGTON—Yes, but that power could o_w
be exercised through the virtue Di' a special order, i'a
a variety of cases might occur in ' which there "null
neither time nor opportunity for obtaining that sP
order.
Sir J. GRAHAM—FuII power had been given t° the
Commissioners, and that onviated the case.
The report was then adopted.
RAILWAYS.
~on er

Mr. MORRISON, in bringing forward the tr.Otitt's
which he had given notice, respecting railways, six° t;
as he found there was to be no opposition offered t 0 t
proposition, he should probably best consult the Wisbeeh
of the House by not entering upon lee subject 3t see,length as he might otherwise have been induced W
At the same time he trusted he might be perinitte"A
re
occupy a few moments in stating generally what fl,;//
li.ei
the leading objects of his motion. He considered'
the experience of the last year, not only •
land, but the other countries of Europe, had
lor
most inaltortant, as. it had shown that the del. ee
relent of traffic had gone on in a way not to have bee°;je
ticipated by the most sanguine; and he proposed Et)
by the Committee he was about to move for that the 500
tern of cheap fares had every where been most advaut4l:o3
and profitable, and that the companies had not been o
t
but benefited by that system. He also propo3
inquire to what extent it was practicable, by seye
general regulations, to relieve the Committees f 131.3 e
5
weight of business with which they were at r tbe
oppressed. Lastly, he proposed to bring befoll,ol.
Committee the important subject of granting of 1c ,;el,
The railway system had been so recently inireulliiel
and had progressed with such rapidity, that there cote
been little time to give to the whole subject a 01°11300
sideration; but in the course of the pastyear it 1.13'
found, not only in this country but in others-4° 0-
gilled,' France, and America—that there had bee° ,e)
markable increase of traffic, and to a certain degrecota
uniform increase. Oar experience was yet inadetlol
to determine what the exact ratio of that increase
tii,j
likely to be. That it must increase with the wealiba to
population of the country there could be no doubt,
aa
that must be added the progression or increase of bc, so
nes3 caused by the railways themselves; bat,
all the circumstances, the stieleisition' might be .for
that the traffic on the great lines, between towier 01,01 e
population, would doable ..itself in ten or fifteen nobs'
:Should such be the opinion of the Hoaie, it weal,' Pif
ably think it necessary to easeeyeeteiteeif the rigl44esii
vising the fares at peri.Od. considerably under l'utee,i/
years apart.—(Hearsy'Oneofelneuziosrinaportantsu joulo
',which could engage the attention of the Committee
be the effect of ',he reduction of fares, a.; proved whet too
-
the system has been attempted in incressing of
traffic, and in some, . if not in most caie4ol
improving instead of diminishing the revenue.
111111
scale of charges most productive might depend te01.4
More or less varying circumstances of each partlosl
case, but it appeared evident to him that the seit'eihia
advantageous to all parties was much lower than ail
hitherto attempted in this country.—(Hear, hear'),/
believed that the rates charged in Belgium woolue, o'
distant time be thought quite sufficient here. ;roe
known that on the flues recently adjudicated in k firs'
the fares fixed for passengers had been, for they cer
second, and third class respectively, 10, 7i-e
times per kilometre, with an allowance of thirtiotel
lograms, or 661 b. of luggage to each pet:son,
being somewhat proportionate to lid.,
eluding the 10 per cent. additional tax to teovell'erosi,
Now these lines were knoWn ,to be highly pr°3Poiell
and to stand at considerable premiums—a success other
he had never been able to account for oil 3°Yeet!
ground than the lowness of the fares. Let it me
forgotten that France presented far fewer advtlurorire'
than our own country in respect to railway en!,e'/ellitp
The population there was less per square Diu'r
ours: the towns were not so numerous, 13:001
densely peopled ; their manufactures were stu3,t'„erdet
compared to ours, and their foreign trade more "( well
so that to supply the same number of people theleeclev
obliged to ley down a longer line of rail than we n4os',
Then, with respect to the conduct of railway 11,t1s. /10'
he thought that Hon. Members would acknowleufites!:
the attempt of last year had been a failure.'ieier
hear.) Had he gone fully into the subject' h Herdic;
have endeavoured' to show how stranee and ee° by" ill:
tory had been the diffelant decisions arrived std beer
Committees—(Hear, hear)—and how various r frog
the rates fixed for passengers and goods, ranObbe
a penny to fourpence per mile. In one instanee„tcli;
been told that with respect-, to so important an
coal, the difference of charge for carriage betvgeeo Fe;
line supplying Manchester and another line %cos be ill
cent.. If such disparity as this prevailed it ruttsd,eit',,eti
jurious, and surely much advantage would be tePle
from such great variations being hereafter correoecitt;
'some general regulation. With respect to the 5°
leases, it was a matter which rather concerned iherelcl
and the country than the railway companies. ft `f et'
for the House to consider whether the practice ('t ;01;
ing leases for terminableperiods, instead of in Perlin
might not with great advantage be adopted
country. Experience had shown that parties 11.1",01,
willing to undertake the whole cost of construrtll3bOlf
ways in France to be held for terminable period3'eerife
was, in fact, mainly a matter of policy on the ,yes re
the state. Of course a sinking fund would ha,
Lee the
provided out of the profits, in order to reimbu , 01,1
original expenditure at the expiration of the leetlse;Vio
that was no real hardship to companies. Tueleatle,
transaction resolved itself into the nature of °in 011"0.
the state. in the shape of an annuity for a cert°'t
ber of years. It therefore appeared- to him 03; testep,
could not be two opinions upon the subject, °lc/lad-L.o.d
it were practicable to get our new railroads
upon this principle, it was most desirable that l'it'eattv
should. he lost in Adopting it. No one could Prelget
estimate to what extant the railway system I°,it of
carried in teenty or thirty years, or whet t°''.(est
the effect of improvements in cheapening the
locomotion during that interval. But it wterli
festly desirable that the state should, es obitao,
possible consistent with the public advant2ooiteliiii;
the control of those. 'lines' of pulz,lic 01)3tage
tion. And there Was this obvious ac1",,,-,1 f
adopting this system of leases. which ere/
so successfully introduced into France, tn9rof /ele
railway Act that was pa would be a C'tieo be
so much of our general taxation into auntl'hout '0
minable with the expiring of the leases, and wit woo,
sicrilico of one shilling by the suite.. Now lijof 64).1130
never advise the House to give up the princiPle „,eitt.,l3
petition, for it was a very valuable one, but. eonlinglnk
was not enough. In the case of the Bank of oetifel
it had been admitted that competition was nut, e
and he thought the Right lion. 'Baronet, if ')isetieic
devote a little attention to the sulject, would of bl
ledge that in the case of railways, as well 33 ecesi°i;ct
ing, something more than competition was °Are
—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Morrison) 11..1", jetinee
that the experience of the last year had been of tore,
value, as regarded railways. That of the lit?•
years would be more so ; and, indeed too i filet A
rience of each succeeding year would furnis:,t.fie
eional evidence as to the extent to which trt.sie tuo
likely to be carried. That there were the mooooo°o,
country of working railways cheaper then in Fran the fni
not be a matter of doubt, upon comparing .on
sJurces and relative amount of populli`thie 17`;;
each. The llonotirab'e Member illustrateqe,aii,:.
sitiun by reading the following statistical (at
"11.4sulation of France in 1842, 34,2!3,929, 115 eoPtt
this suns by the area of 203,736 square miles, t!'°tioage
ton for each square mile is 167.932. The ported ° ando
square mile in England is at presort 297-G9?,01'4
Great Britain, 210.476. The trade and uierenett'F,h
of France are quite inconsiderable compared "14eete.:
of Britain. In 1844, the total customs revenue 010074
amounted to 215,825,704 francs, or 8,633,6`2`1'; prihe'
the total customs revenueof the United liingdut°4l4,
the same year, ameunted to 24,107,3481. 1tt4g7,661ei
customs revenue of Liverpool amounted to 1,4 has
while the customs revenue or Marseilles, wl“e,rlog
largest trade of any town in France, ansounte" A
~20t -t,
sa me year to only 36,658,000 francs, or '" 0,00 1
with the exception of Havre, the enstorne r the c-0
which in 1844 amounted to 1,085,0401, o,oo°oo
toms revenue of no town ire France exceeds',,t,, of
whereas in this country the eustems reset e;t,elifiorre,
9C71
,dBe9
oar, amounted in
Leith
iltBh4t3o t 062 98 3,680, 5811.4, that
that
aott
f1°1525,418/. The proportion of the population
..I_'-gre
towns in Britain is incomparably greater than