The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-15 00:00:00

9. " That, in the case of the Waterford and Kilkenny Rail-
way petition, the Standing Orders ought to be dispensed
with :—That the parties be permitted to proceed with their
Bill." _ _

10. " That, in the case of the Erewash Valley Railway
petition, the Standing Orders ought to be dispensed with :--
That the parties be permitted to proceed with their Bill."
11. " That, in the case of the Scarborough Waterworks
petition for additional provision, the Standing Orders ought
to be dispensed with :—That the parties be permitted to in-
troduce such additional provision."
Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth,
tenth, and eleventh resolutions agreed to.—Report to lie on
the table.

The following Bills were presented and read a first time
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and North Shields Railway (Tyne,
mouth Extension, &c.)
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway (Keymerßranch).
Blackburn, Darwen, and Bolton Railway.
St. Helen's Canal and Railway.
Manchester, Bury, and Rossendale Railway.
Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland).
Bedford and London and Birmingham Railway.
Midland Railway (Lincoln and Ely).
Shrewsbury, Osweetry, and Chester Junction Railway.
London and South• Western Railway (No. 2.).

Harrogate and Ripon Junction Railway,—Petition for Bill
reported, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Ridley
Colborne, Mr. Octavius Duncombe, and Mr. John Charles
Dundas.

Eastern Union Railway,—Petition for Bill reported, and
Bill ordered to be brought in by Captain Gladstone and Mr.
Lane Fox.

Dublin and Drogheda Railway,—Petition for Bill reported,
and Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. George Alexander
Hamilton anti Mr. Bellew.

Cornwall Railway,—Report from Select Committee on
Standing Orders read ; Bill ordered to be brought in by Sir
Charles Lemon, Mr. Rashleigh, Mr. Praed, and Mr. Charles
Buller.

Lowestoft Railway and llarbour,—Petition for Bill re.
ported, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Lord Hen
niker and Mr. Burroughes

Midland Railways (Syston to Peterborough),—Report fn m
Select Committee on Standing Orders read ; Bill ordered to
be brought in by Sir John Trollope and Mr. Fitzwilliam.
Midland Railways (Sw•inten to Lincoln),—Report from
Select Committee on Standing Orders read; Bill ordered to
be brought in by Mr. Beckett, Mr. Ward, and Mr. George
Cavendish.

Midland Railways (Nottin..cham to Lincoln),—Report
from Select Committee on Standing Orders read ; Bill ordered
to be brought in by Mr. Gisborne, Mr. William Collett, and
Mr. Evelyn Denison.

NOTICES GIVEN AT THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE.
Wexford, Carlow, and Dublin Junction Railway,—Com•
mittee on petition, postponed from Wednesday, March 19,
till Friday, April 4.
Coventry, Bedworth, and Nuneaton Railway,—Committee
on petition, postponed from Wednesday, March 19, till Friday,
April 4.
Northumberland Railway,—Committee on petitipn,,posti
poned from Thursday, March 20, till Friday,,April-4.
Blackburn and Preston Railway,—Second reading, Mon-
day, March 17.
.Glasgow,•Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr Railway,—Second
reading, Monday, March 17.
Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway,—Second
reading, Monday, March 17.
Newark and Sheffield Railway,—Second reading, Monday,
March 17.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

Sub-Committee, No. 2
BRIGHTON ANI) CHICHESTER RAILWAY.

Mr. COATES, agent for the petitioners against the Bill, proceeded
to prove the allegation of petitions presente4 yesterday respecting
erroneous description in the book of reference. In several cases of
misnomer the Committee decided against the Company that the
standing orders had not been complie with. The particulars were
very trivial, in one case Matilda Cope was erroneously described as
Matilda Coape. _ . . . . .

In all, thirty allegations of misdescription were gone into, and,
after very close investigation, it was decided, in twenty-one cases,
that the standing orders had not been complied with.
The hearing of the other allegationa was then adjourned till to-
morrow (Saturday), Twelve o'clock.

Sub -Committee No. 4 assembled th!s day at Twelve o'clock. Pre-
sent Sir W. llcathcote, Mr. Childers, Mr. Packe, Mr. C. Leigh, and
Mr. Shirley.
- WILTS, SOMERSET, AND WEYMOUTH RAILWAY.

_ .
This line is to be 120 miles in length, and to cost 1,500,0001. En-
g neer, Mr. Brunel.
Mr. Vzsrantas appeared as agent, and the necessary formal proof
were gone through, with the exception of the proof of certain notices,
the witness who was to prove this being unavoidably absent.
The can was adjourned to Monday for the attendance of this
witness.
• SOUTHAMPTON AND DORSETSHIRE RAILWAY.

This is to be a coast line from Southampton to Dorchester, by way
of Redbridge, through Wareham. The length of the line is 60 miles ;
capital 500,0001.
_ Mr. Venable's appeared as agent ; Captain Moorsom is the engineer,
The Committee decided that, in some minor points, the standing
orders had not been comolied with.

The Committee then adjourned at a Quarter to Five o'clock.

RAILWAYS.

Connected with the subject of railways, the letters from
India evince a great desire that the system should be brought
into operation there, but much difference of opinion exists as
to the manner in which it should be done. On so important
a question even discussion must have some interest, and with
that impression the following extracts of letters are given::—
" The subject of railways is feebly kept before the Indian
public by an occasional letter and an occasional article in
newspapers. All agree that there is either the want of
ability or of something else here requisite for the manage-
ment of a great undertaking like a railway. But, then, how
is a railway ever to be established? I say by an English
Company with English capital at first (though large contri-
butions will be made here), and an Indian agency formed
under very stringent rules. At the same time large powers
of suspension and control should be given to Government
officers. Do you ask, was ever anything of the kind seen
before? I answer, yes, in Government itself—the local
Government here. This Government, called supreme
over all India, is, in its ' practical working as to
all but details, a mere agency under the Court of Direc-
tors ; and I am perfectly satisfied that an English
Company may work successfully by an agency. As for
placing the capital required for arailway at 'the disposal of
an uncontrolled Calcutta Board, no one would think of doing
it who knows the history and fate of too many of the Cal-
cutta-bred Companies. The Friend of India, whose usual
blandness towards the Court and its agency here is supposed
to have earned for it an official confidence, says the Govern-
ment must take the lead, as it did in establishing river
steamers, and then private enterprise will carry on what the
Ohne spirit of Government has begun. This flattering
phrase, the public spirit of Government,' is a mere phrase
—as a thing to be relied on, it has no existence. Thirty
years ago the Government began the Rajmahal Canal, wJiich
its public spirit' lately, under Lord Ellenborough, de-sired,
it is said, should be completed, and the project, just now
that canals are superseded try railways, is said to be under
the consideration of the authorities at home. Such is the
spint-of the Indian Government, so far behind the public
spirit of the age and that of the capitalists of England. With
respect to its merit in having preceded private speculation in
the establishment of river steamers, it wanted the steamers
for, its own purposes,and private capitalists were deterred from
speculations of this kind by the still remaining influence of
the Company's system, which discouraged the settlement of
Europeans, kept the public as much in the dark as possible
As to India, and gave no countenance to any improvements
connected with independent speculations. Bat if steamers
had now for the first time to be established, would there be
any occasion for Government to lead? Certainly not. What
is more to the purpose is, that its steamers were built and
managed at a maximum of cost, and have done the least
possible service to the public. Such would be the fate of a
Government railway. It would be too long a task, and I
could show from the composition of the Government that it
has too much already on its hands without undertakings of
this kind. It has roads which are almost impassable, which
are, needed as much as railways, but which private indivi-
duals cannot meddle with. Let the Government mind these
ways. It has the public ferries, which are much neglected.
It has the great rivers of India, which are infested by ma-
rauders. Let it look to these, and make their passage safe
for that immense traffic which will for ever be on them; and
let it clear their beds, which it ought to do, could do, but
will not do, or does very imperfectly. Who or what is this
Government which, with such immense duties, is now to
undertake a great railway ?"

DARTMOUTH ELECTION
PETITION.
The Committee appointed to investigate the allegations con-
tained in the petition against the return of Mr. Somes for the
borough of Dartmouth, eat vesterday, and proceeded to hear
counsels statement and evidence. The counsel fhr the peti-
tioner, Mr. Moffat, were Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, Mr.
Sergeant Kinglake, and Mr. Burcham ; those for Mr. Somes
were. Messrs. Talbot, Forsyth, and Colborne.
The necessary forms: having been gone through, and the
usual resolutions adopted,
Mr. Sergeant WRANOFIAM opened the case for the
petitioner. He contended that Mr. Somes was ineligible to
hold a seat in the House of Commons, inaitnueh as he was a
Government contractor, and that notices to that effect had been
served in the usual way. Mr. Somes had been returned by a
majority of 7—that was to say, 12.5 voted for, and 118 against
him ; but notices had been served upon persons to the amount
of 40, so that there was no defect in that part of the proceedings.
The ground on which the petitioner contended he had a right
to be the sitting Member was clear and simple; it was
this : —that any person connected in any way with a contract
under the Government for the public service should be ineli-
gible to serve as a Member of Parliament ; and this was
founded upon an Act of the Legislature passed in the year
1782, the section of which, bearing upon this case, he world
now read. The Learned Counsel then read the sec-
tion, which stated, in substance, that in order the
better to secure the freedom of election and the
independence of Parliament, any person, directly or
indirectly, connected in any way with Government contracts,
either for the benefit of himself or others, should be ineligible
to hold the place of a Member of Parliament ; and that,
if he should be elected, he would be liable to a fine
of five hundred pounds per day for every day that he should
sit in Parliament under these circumstsnces. The Learned
Counsel then went on to say, he had been instructed to state
that evidence would be produced to prove that Mr. Somes,
before, and at, not after, the time of his election, was the owner
of certain ships employed by the Admiralty for the conveyance
of troops, and transports, and stores ; and that no subsequent
transfer of the Hon. Member's property in those ships, or no
transfer of it at the time of the election or immediately
prior to it, could save bins from the disqualification unless he
was in a position to show that such transfer was a bona fide
transaction. The Learned Counsel having spoken at great
length, concluded by calling
Mr. Richard Fall, the Register of the Custom-house, who
proved that Mr. Somes had transferred shares which he
held in certain ships, to wit, the General Palmer,
the Nautilus, the Pestonjee Bomanjee, the Princess
Royal, Sir George Seymour, Java, La Belle Alliance, and the
Cadette, on and up to- the 17th of December, 1844 (a short
time prior to the election), to his nephew, and other persons ;
and that there were other ships, his shares in which he had dis-
posed of, now at sea.

Mr. John James, clerk in th• Admiralty-office, proved the
execution of the charter-party of each ship, the departments
they were engaged in, and the sums paid for their services.
Some 'Additional corroborative evidence having been gone
into, the Committee, at Four o'clock, adjourned till this day
at Eleven.

I'A
AFALG Alt - SQUIRE.--For several evenings past
the fountains have been put in operation, in order to teat the per.
fectness of the works, and.the experiments have proved quite satis-
factory to the Earl of Liticcalu and the other Commissioners of Woods
and Forests who have inspected them. The supply of water has
been put to the test by working the engine twenty-four hours succes-
sively, and has proved quite adequate. The iron jets for throwing
and diffusing the water are completed and ready for erection as soon
as the basins are finished. To make every thing as complete as pos-
sible, three smote-eonatuning furnaces have bora ereeted to work the
engine, which has proved very euccesefhl.
Yesterday, Maim. Boutcher, Meek, Drake,
Kcaslcy, and Coa, being reputation from the leather trade, bad an
interview with Sir Georgerk, at the Board of Trade, Whitehall.