The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-16 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Mr. WALLACE said that he had given notice to the
Right Hon. Gentleman at the head of the Board of
Trade of his intention to ask if he could say what was
doing in the Railway Committee. He wished to know-
-Ist. Whether the proceedings of the Committee on Rail-
ways will show the House, by evidence er calculation,
the average cost per mile at which passengers, goods,
live stock, &c., may be conveyed in future on new lines
of railway, with a reasonable profit to the company and
jnstice to the people. 2d. Whether evidence will be
taken to show the present cost of conveying her Majesty's
mails by railway, and the cost at which these might be
carried, were the Postmaster-General to send the mail
bags as luggage or goods, along with a guard in charge
of them. 3d. Whether evidence will be taken to deter-
mine if the Postmaster-General were to provide an es-
tablishment of engines for conveying the mails along
railways, together with carriages for passengers, as has
been recommended in the sixth resolution in the first
Report to this House on railways, which was printed
28th March, 1838, there would be any difficulties made,
or obstructions thrown in the way by the directors of the
great railway lines having their termini near London, to
the Postmaster-General following out the aforesaid re-
commendation. 4th. Whether evidence will be taken to
show why a clause should not be inserted in each Rail-
way Bill now before Parliament, empowering the Post-
master-General to command that passenger-carriages
shall be attached to every special train which he may
require for the public service, with a view to lessen the
charge which special trains cost the Post-office depart-
ment, when sent without passengers. sth. Whether it
is intended, with a view to economy and regularity in
the conveyance of her Majesty's mails, to take evidence
to show the detriment to the public service, and to the
interest of the nation generally, which may arise from
railway companies having the power longer continued,
through by-laws or otherwise, to interrupt or altogether
stop the traffic on Sundays. 6th. 'Whether, for the in-
formation of the public generally, and the railway de-
partment of the Board of Trade especially, it has not
become requisite to take evidence to show that all rail-
way companies shall periodically, in future, furnish to
the Board of Trade, a debtor and creditor account,
drawn out on a simple but uniform plan, of their half-
yearly receipts and expenditure.
Mr. GLADSTONE was aware of the great anxiety
that existed on this subject, and he was sorry that the
resolutions of the House did not permit a disclosure of
what took place in Committee, He would, however,
give what answer he could to the questions of the Hon.
Member. With respect to the first question, he thought
it would not be possible to give the average standard of
the mileage ; and as to the second, third, and fourth
questions, he thought them more a subject for a Com-
mittee on the Post-office department, than a Committee
on Railways. With regard to the fifth question, he must
confess that as a matter of private opinion, he would be
very sorry indeed if there were a disposition on the part
of railway companies to discourage, necessarily, travel-
ling on Sundays. In reply to the last question, he
begged to say, that he did not think it had become re-
quisite or desirable that railway companies should in
future furnish to the Board of Trade a debtor and cre-
ditor account of their income_ and expenditure. Par-
liament had not adopted, nor did he think that it was
likely to adopt, the principle that there should be a pub-
lic supervision of the profits of railway companies.—
(Hear.) So far as general convenience was concerned,
he, thought the system of publicity which prevailed in
matters of railway accounts, gave great satisfaction, and
fully answered the end to be kept in view.
Mr. HINDLEY would be glad to learn from. the Right
Hon. Gentleman whether he thought it desirable to lay
down any settled principle for the government of the
Committees which were to investigate the cases of com-
peting lines ; and whether the interest of the public, of
particular localities, or of the shareholders, should form
the basis of legislation.
Mr. GLADSTONE said, it would be quite obvious
that he had no power to lay down any rules for the
guidance of the Committee. Most certainly the interest
of the public ought in all such cases to be the first
object.