The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-12 00:00:00

~~~Dl~~~al ~~9~

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1845.

In the House of Lords last night, on the motion
of the Earl of SIIAr TESIRTRY, it was agreed that
no petitions for private ' Bills should be received
after the sth of April, and that no report of the
judges on such Bills should be received after the
sth of June.

The LORD CHANCELLOR gave notice of his inten-
tion to introduce a Bill on the subject of Charitable
Trusts.

After the Marquis of NORMANDY had drawn
their Lordships' attention to the hasty manner in
which Bills were hurried through at the close of a

session,

Lord BROUGHAM rose to present a petition, com-
plaining of the delays which took place in the Court
of Bankruptcy, in consequence of the non-attend-
ance of the Commissioners. A short conversation
ensued, and ultimately Lord BROUGHAM handed
the petition to the LORD CHANCELLOR in order
that an inquiry might be instituted so as to give
the Commissioners an opportunity of offering some
explanation.
Their Lordships then adjourned until Thursday.

The House of Commons met at a Quarter before
Four o'clock, and Sir T. FREMANTLE took the oaths
and his seat for Buckingham.
After the presentation of various petitions, the
Railways Bills Committee of Inquiry was appointed,
on the motion of Lord G. SOMERSET.

Among the notices of motiou given was one by Mr,

WALLACE for the 25th inst., on the subject of the
Court of Session in Scotland, and one by Mr. ROE-
BUCK on the subject of the Acts passed' by' the Cana-
dian Legislature.
Sir J. GRAHAM promised to lay the returns which
had been moved for on the subject of the Ecclesiastical
Commission, on the table of the House before Easter-
The Right Hon. Baronet also stated, in answer to
Lord DALMENT, that he thought he should introduce
some measure on the subject of the Scottish Poor-
law during the course of the present session.
Mr. WALLACE then rose to submit to the House
the motion of which he had given notice on the sub-
ject of railways., He objected to the Railway Com-
mittee of the Board of Trade as an unconstitutional
body, but at the same time said that he had no
objection to make personally to any member of
that Board. He complained 'that, by their proceed-
ings, they were discouraging competition, and de-
priving the people of a free trade in railways,

without which they must virtually become the slaves

of the railway companies. In allusion to the Rail-
way Committee Which had been appointed in 1844,
he said it was a one-sided Committee, consisting prin-
cipally of persons connected ,vith existing railways,
and that its reports
.were received with distrust. He
attributed all the speculation and gambling which had

arisen, to the publication, of the Committee of the

Board of Trade of their awards in the Gazette.
The Hon. Gentleman then animadverted on the high

rate of fares charged on English railways for
third-
class passengers; and on the inconvenient times at
which the third-class trains started ; while, in Scot-
land, in consequence of the railways being exposed
more to competition, the poorer classes were better
accommodated, and at a cheaper rate. He was op-
posed to railway amalgamation, as it was against the
interests of the public ; but he was- in favour of rail-
way competition, in order to support which he
proposed that companies should be required to give in
tenders of the cheapest rate of conveyance. Railways,
he contended, were public property, and therefore
ought to command the attention of the Legislature.
lie proposed that, with a view to ascertain correctly
the statistics of railway travelling, a set of experi-
mental carriages should be worked by the Post-office ;
and concluded by moving for leave to bring in a Bill,
repealing the Railway Act of last session.
Mr. EWART seconded the motion, but doubted the
policy of balling upon the Government to take tenders
for the formation of different lines from different
companies. He' thought that the Government ought
to abstain from all interference in the matter, and
proposed that a board of scientific men should be
appointed to advise Committees of the House on such
matters as might be submitted to them by those Com-

mittees.
Lord llovezciE contended that, under existing cir-
cumstances, it would be impossible to constitute an
impartial tribunal to adjudicate upon the claims of
competing lines of railway, and proposed, as a remedy,
the adoption of the plan acted on in France and other
Continental countries, 'while, in order to do justice to
the projectors of lines of railway, he thought that
Parliament might fairly call upon the parties to whom
the line should be conceded to make them a proper
remuneration. The Noble Lord concluded by urging
on the House the necessity of adopting some measure
on the subject, or it would be utterly impossible for
them to get through the 248 Railway Bills which
were to be submitted to their consideration this

session.

Colonel Sturnoar, although not often agreeing
with the Noble Lord, did certainly agree with him on
this subject ; but asked how it was that the Noble
Lord had not made these suggestions on former occa-
sions ? The Gallant Colonel then alluded to the ques-
tion he had asked the other night, as to whether any
of the members of the Board of Trade Committee
were connected with railway schemes, and said that
he at least should be an impartial juror, for he never
h►d been, and newer would be, connected with any
railway.
Mr. GISBORNE deprecated any interference with the
policy of the Act of last session, which contained
nothing authorising the Board of Trade to publish
their decisions in the Gazette. He attributed no
dishonour to the members of that Committee, but
there could be no doubt but that their decisions had
transpired before they were published, and those de-
cisions had created such distrust, that he thought it
advisable that some less objectionable tribunal should
be established.

Mr. J. S. WORTLEY thought the Committee of the
Board of Trade ought not to have published their
,decisions until they had communicated them to
Pirliament.

Mr. .WARBURTON objected to the plan of Lord
HOwicK, as tending to divert capital from British to
foreign railroads. The. remedy for the evils com-
plained of was to admit the fullest and fairest com-
petition, and to give every opportunity to new com-
panies to compete for new lines.
Mr. BANKES complained of the preference given by
the Board of Trade to the Great Western over the
South-Western Company's line of railway, through
the part of the county with which he was connected.
Sir ROBERT PEEL hoped the House would post-
pone coming to any decision on the subject. If it
could be shown that the Board of Trade had come to
an, impolitic decision in rejecting any line, he felt
assured that the line would receive every consideration
and attention. The value of the decisions of the
Board would rest entirely upon the grounds which
they could give for their decisions. Until those
grounds should be known, it would be utterly im-
possible for the House to determine definitively what
course it should adopt. In the meantime, he hoped
that no interference would take place with the present
practice.of the House.

Mr. BA/mks exPlain -
After a few words. trona Mr. BANKES and Mr.
RUSSELL,
Mr. WAKLEY rose, ani commenced by reiterating
his complaints against the prolixity of lawyers before
Comrnittee_k,„ "Pe Right Hon. Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to draw the attention of Sir JAMES GRAHAM'
to an 'article which had appeared in the Economist,