The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, WNW

we should suffer under in contemplating the triumphant
honesty and integrity of the hon. member for Hull. We
contemplate that with the satisfaction which the con-
duct of a good man naturally inspires—(laughter)—but it
is entirely unalloyed by any reproaches of conscience as
to what we have yet done, or not done, on the subject of
reform. In the speech of her Majesty it was stated that
the Government were engaged in gathering information
on this subject. Our responsibility with respect to this
part of the question may be very well tested by two con-
siderations : the first is, the time at which the Cabinet
was formed, and the time we had to proceed with the
inquiry after the death of Lord Palmerston ; and
the second, the important question whether, after
the careful debates that took place in 1860, it
was or was not material or important, with a view
to the satisfactory handling of the subject, that an
effort should be made to place Parliament and the country
in possession of the best and most accurate information
which we could command. (Hear, hear.) We came to
the conclusion that such information was desirable. If my
right hon. friend thinks fit to challenge our judgment, and
to say this is a proceeding intended only for evasion or de-
lay, it is competent for him to do so. But at any rate,
whether these views were just or not, our duty has been a
perfectly simple one. We have prosecuted the business of
these inquiries and the management and manipulation of a
number of particulars with respect to the situation of coun-
ties and boroughs. If it is to be considered worthy of this
house by such attempts at accuracy and precision as the
subject matter will admit of, to gain information, that is a
thing not to be attained or accomplished without lapse of
time ; not one moment has been lost, and the announce-
ment of the time when it will be our duty to make a pro-
posal to this house must dep end, and will depend, entirely
on the day when we shall be able to place the house in
possession of this information. Very few days I hope will
elapse before I shall be able to state when that day will
come. (Hear, hear.)
" My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne."
I have no sins to answer for, nor I think have my col-
leagues, as far as the delay hitherto charged upon us is
concerned. As respects the modest invitation, and as re-
gards the more elaborate invitation for some expression of
opinion from me on the part of the Government with re-
spect to the merits of the proposal, I flatter myself that on
that subject neither the respect which I bear to the gen-
tlemen nor the admiration I have of their abilities, nor any
other motive, shall succeed in extracting from me the
smallest particle of information. (Much laughter.)
Leave was then given to bring in the bill.

Mr. BOUVERIE (in committee of the whole house)
obtained leave to bring in a bill to repeal certain portions
of the Act of Uniformity, and it was afterwards read a first
time.

Sir J. PAKINGTON nominated the select committee on
education.

The house then Went into committee on the Cattle
Plague Bill, and the discussion of the clauses occupied
nearly the whole of the remainder of the sitting.
Several bills wore advanced a stage, and the house ad-
journed.

Railway and other Companies.

MIDLAND.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held I
yesterday at Derby, Mr. W. E. Hut3hinson in the
chair. The report, an abstract of which has ap-
peared in The Sun, was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said that in it the satisfaction of the direc-
tors was expressed at the increased traffic ; but,
owing to exceptional circumstances, there had been
some decrease in the receipts for conveying cattle
and minerals. In reference to the former, if it so
happened that the plague resulted in the establish-
ment of large dead meat markets, he believed it
would be better for the community ; certainly they
would prefer carrying dead meat to live cattle.
Upon the mineral traffic the decrease had been
£6,000 as compared with 1864, but circumstances
in connexion with the colliers' strike in South Staf-
fordshire had caused an exceptional increase in that
year. In order to show the progress which had been
made in their mineral traffic, he might mention that
in the year 1863 their receipts for mineral traffic
amounted to £263,000 ; in 1865 the amount was
£312,000, and the increase in the coasting and mer-
chandise department had also been very satisfac-
tory—it having been £58,000. This increased
traffic had led to an increased expenditure. Their
accounts showed, unfortunately, an excess of
£11,390 in compensation for accidents as compared
with 1864. The state of the money-market during
the last half-year had not been favourable, but
they had renewed their loans ou terms quite as satis-
factory as they could have expected; the average
had been rather less than 4i per cent., which was as
good or perhaps better than any other company. A
summary of the result of their working in the last
half-year showed an excess (net) in disposable ba-
lance of £2,500, and but for the occurrence at Col-
ney-hatch their position would have been highly
satisfactory. The expenditure on capital account
during the half-year showed an increase of £973,000
—this upon lines yet unproductive of revenue ; their
expenditure on the old lines had been £120,000 ;
much of this had been laid out in the purchase of
land close to large towns in order to provide for
the proper accommodation of the traffic, and there
had been an expenditure of £20,000 in the erection
of a goods station at Bristol. They had to pay a
dividend in 1864 on a capital of £14,250,000 ; in
1865 they had to pay on a capital of £16,607,000
an increase of nearly two millions and a half ; not-
withstanding this, they had been able to declare a
dividend at the rate of 7 per cent., and to carry for-
ward £12,000. lle hoped that was as satisfactory
to the shareholders as it was to the directors. Their
prospects were also encouraging ; in the seven
weeks of the current half-year their receipts had
increased £24,600. lie concluded by moving the
adoption of the report.
Mr. PRICE, M.P., seconded the motion.

Mr. GARNETT, and several other shareholders,
addressed the meeting, chiefly in opposition to pro-
ceeding with the Settle and Carlisle Railway. A
resolution with the view to stop progress in it was
moved, but ultimately the report was adopted, and
the various dividends were declared as recom-
mended.