The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-13 00:00:00

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT

Minute of the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, relative to the Constitution and
Mode of Proceeding of the Railway Department.
At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 6th
August, 1844—8 y the Right Hon. the Lords of the
Committee of Council, appointed for the considera-
tion of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign
Plantations.
My Lords read and considered the following para-
graphs and resolution, taken from third section of the
Fifth Report of the Select Committee of the House
of Commons on Railways (1844) :
" In recommending, therefore, that Railway Bills
be submitted to the Board of Trade previously to
their coming under the notice of Parliament, the
Committee conceives that that Board (or such other
public department as may be entrusted with the care
of railway matters) might advantageously examine
these bills, and also the schemes themselves before
they had assumed the form of Bills, with regard
mainly to the following subjects
" 1. All questions of public safety.
" 2. All departures from the ordinary usage of
railway legislation, on points where such usage has
been sufficiently established.
" 3. All provisions of magnitude which may be
novel in their principle, or may involve extended
consideration of public policy. For example, amal-
gamations and agreements between separate com-
panies; extension of capital; powers enabling rail-
, way companies to pursue, purposes different in kind
from those for which they Wereineim*poratett;
fications of the general law.
" 4. Branch and extension lines, in cases where,
upon the first aspect of the plan, a presumption is
raised that the object of the scheme is to throw diffi-
culties in the way of new, and probably legitimate
enterprises.
" 5. New schemes, where the line taken presents a
strong appearance of being such as to raise the pre-
sumption that it does not afford the best mode of
communication between the termini, and of accom-
modating the local traffic.
" 6. Cases where a Bill of inferior merits may be
brought before Parliament, and where a preferable
scheme is in bona file contemplation, although not
sufficiently forward to come simultaneously under the
judgment of Parliament, according to its standing
orders.
" 7. Any proposed arrangements with subsisting
companies which may appears as objectors to new
lines. _ _ _

" The adequate and satisfactory discharge of their
duties would entail upon the Board of Trade a great
additional amount of labour and responsibility; and
it is the opinion of the Committee that if the recom-
mendations of this and of its other reports should be
adopted, it would be necessary to enlarge the railway
department of that Board, and to improve its orga-
nisation. Upon these grounds, and with these inten-
tions, the Committee have come to the following
"Resolution,—That it is expedient that all Rail-
way Bills should henceforward be submitted to the
Board of Trade previously to their introduction into
Parliament ; and that the various documents and
other requisite information connected with each pro-
ject, and, if necessary, copies of the plans and sections
of the line shall be lodged at the office of the Board
of Trade, at such periods as may afford sufficient op-
portunity for their examination.'
My Lords read and considered the heads of several
clauses of the Railways Bill (now awaiting the Royal
assent) which relate to the functions of this de-
partment.
My Lords read the letter of Mr. Lefevre to Sir George
Clerk, dated the 2d instant, in which it is proposed
that provision should be made for the appointment of
two secretaries to the railway department of this
Board, and of an assistant-inspector, and the reply of
the sth instant, in which is stated the approval of these
arrangements by the Lords of the Treasury.
My Lords are of opinion that they are not compe-
tent, without the aid of time and experience, to lay
down definite and sufficient rules for the future prac-
tice of the railway department of this Board; but
they have decided upon the following general instruc-
tions (subject, of course, to reconsideration hereafter,
if in ally particulars they should be found inapplicable
or inconvenient) with respect to-
1. The constitution of a Board for the purpose
of transacting railway business.
2. The preparation of minutes and reports.
3. The provisions to be made for obtaining ade-
quate and early information.
1. My Lords are of opinion that for the adequate
and satisfactory discharge of the duties which, as is
now proposed, will devolve upon this Committee, it is
desirable that a distinct Board should be constituted
in the department for the dispatch of railway busi-
ness, and that such business shall be settled by written
minutes, in the same manner as the ordinary busi-
ness of this Committee.
The president or vice-president of the Committee
will act as the head of this Board, and the remaining
members of it will act as his advisers in all its trans-
actions, and subject to his controlling authority.
The ordinary members of the Board will be, besides
the inspector-general, and, in his absence, the assist-
ant-inspector, the superintendent, and the joint
secretaries.
2. Every minute of the Board upon a railway
scheme, and every report upon a Railway Bill, to
have the signatures of,
Firstly, the president or vice-president of this
Committee; and,
Secondly, three members of the board, one of whom
at least to be an engineering officer of the department.
As respects minutes upon _ railway schemes, to be
made before the Bills for giving effect to them are
framed, my Lords direct that whenever the depart-
ment has formed an intention to prepare such a mi-
nute, whether upon the application of parties or
otherwise, notice shall be given of that intention in
the Gazette, for the information of those whom it may
concern.
My Lords direct that in such notice shall be stated
as nearly as may be, the points into whick inquiry is
to be made in connexion with the proposed line of
railway. No such minute, unless of a preliminary
or provisional nature, shall be signed until six weeks
after such notice. Every such minute shall be pub-
lished forthwith in the Gazette, and every such minute
shall be laid on the table of both Houses of Parlia-
ment fourteen days after the opening of the session.
Reports to Parliament on Railway Bills shall be
made within fourteen days, if there shall have been
previous report on the schemes embodied in them
respectively ; and at all events within six weeks at
the furthest from the receipt of any such Bill.
3. As regards the measures to be taken for obtain-
ing early and regular information respecting Railway
Bills and railway projects before they have assumed
the form of bills.
Adverting to the resolutions already adopted by the
House of Commons on the 19th of July, and to those
which it is the intention of the vice-president to
propose for adoption in the House of Lords, and also
to the provisions contained in the Joint-Stock Com-
panies' Registration and Regulation Bill, which,
if that Bill shall become law, will ensure the deposit
in a public office, under the superintendence of this
department, of all documents made public by the
promoters of any such joint-stock undertaking as may
be formed subsequently to the passing of the Act,—
my Lords are of opinion that there will be adequate
security for their being duly apprised, from time to
time, of the origin and progress of future railway
projects up to the periods of the presentation of
the Bills.
- To make similar provisions for their subsequent
stages, before the passing of the Acts of Incorpora-
tion, my Lords will cause to be addressed toa.llthe
Parliamentary agents the circular hereto annexed (A).
As regards railway projects already..
announced to
the public during the present year,
forn of law, my
and now in exist-
ence,-1
but not having assume(ithe
Lords direct a list to be prepared of these, and the
circular letter (B) hereto annexed to be addressed to
the solicitors or other leading
(A.) promoters of them.
CIRCULAR LETTER TO PARLIAMENTARY AGENTS.
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, August, 1844.
Sir,.--Referring to the recommendation of the
Select Committee on Railways, that " Railway Bills
be submitted to the Board of Trade previously to
their coming under the notice of Parliament," with
a view to the examination of these Bills by the Board,
and to the resolution adopted by the House, "`That in
the case of Railway Bills, a copy of every Bill an-
nexed to a petition be deposited in the office of the
Board of Trade on or before the day of presentation
of the petition to the House," I am directed by the
Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade
to call your attention to the course of proceedings
with regard to Railway Bills entrusted to your
charge, which will become necessary in order to give
effect to the proposed supervision of the Board of
Trade over such Bills during their progress through
Parliament.
My Lords will be desirous of exercising this super.