The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-06 00:00:00

THE RAILWAY COMMITTEE

The discussion on Lord Howick's motion for an Ex.
tension of the time allowed for the presentation of Rail.
way and Private Bills to Parliament, will be perused
with the greatest interest at the present moment. The
suggestion offered by his Lordship that the decisions of
the Railway Committee of the Board of Trade should
not be considered conclusive, and his arguinents against
the impolicy of vesting so enormous a responsibility as
that which would of nec,•ssity attach to such a Board,
were its decisions to be regarded as final, appear to
have been generally approved. Without attaching the
slightest credit to therumours referred to by his Lordship
that influences had been improperly exercised upon the
subject of Bills for lines of railway, Sir R. Peel coincided
in the objections urged against the present practice, and
expressed his opinion that "it would not be proper to
determine upon the eligibility of one or other line.
of projected lines of railroad without affording the
fullest opportunity of investigation." "If (said Sir Ro-
bert) the suggestion of the Noble Lord be adopted by
the House, the effect will be that instead of the time for
presenting such petitions being limited, as at present, to
a period preceding the 15th of April, it will be extended
to twenty one days after the day on which the Board of
Trade shall have made its report." " The Govern-
ment will not be bound by the report of the Committee,
although it will avail itself of the advantage of its la-
bours.

The question of the eligibility of any particular line
will be finally decided by the reasons adduced by the
Committee for its selection, excepting in cases where
no doubt can exist upon the subject. The xtension
of the period for presenting petitions, so far as the
projectors of rejected lines of road are concerned,
would seem, therefore, to be a mere act of justice.
Lord Hoick instanced a ease in which a sum of
1,200,0001. depended on the decision of the Committee,
and if that were allowed to be final, a jurisdiction would
be given to these gentlemen over the property of indi-
viduals greater than the amount which all the Courts of
Westminster Hall put together were required to adjudi-
cate upon. To invest a board so constituted with this
enormous power was never for a moment contemplated ;
the original resolution which led to its formation dis-
tinctly intimating that the final decision of any question
of the kind must depend upon the weight of r. cominen-
dation accompanying the proposed lines, which Sir
Robert Peel affirms will depk iid upon the reasons ad-
vanced by the Committee for giving a preference to any
one over the other. It will be seen that the further dis-
cussion of this important question was adjourned to this
day.—lferald.

RAILWAY BUSINESS IN PAR-
LIAMENT_
Petitions for Bills were presented for the fallowing Rail-
ways, and ordered to lie on the table :
York and Scarborough Rahway Deviation—Manchester
and Leeds Railway—Manchester and Leeds Railway (Burn-
ley Branch and Oldham and Heywood Extension)—Ashton,
Stalybridge, and Liverpool Junction Railway (Ardwick and
Guide Bridge Branches)—London and South-Western Rail-
way, No. 1 (Metropolitan Extension)—Guildford, Chichester,
and Portsmouth Railway—Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway
—Caledonian Railway—Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle
Railway—Manchester and Birmingham Railway (Ashton
Branch )—Leeds and West Riding Junction Railway—Rich •
mond (Surrey) Railway—West Yorkshire Railway—Leeds,
Dewsbury, and Manchester Junction Railway.
NOTICES GIVEN AT THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5, 1845.
Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole Railway, Committee on
Petition—Manchester and Leeds Railway, Committee on
Petition—Manchester and Leeds Railway (Burnley Branch
and Oldham and Heywood Branches Extension), Committee
on Petition—London and South-Western Railway, No. 1
(Metropolitan Extension), Committee on Petition—Guild-
tbrd, Chichester, and Portsmouth Railway, Committee on
Petition—Ashton, Stalybridge, and Liverpool Junction Rail-
way (Ardwick and Guide Bridge Branches), Committee on
Petition, all on Monday, Feb. 17.
RAILWAY DEPARTMENT OF THE
BOARD OF TRADE.
The Hon. William Ashley, the Chisholm, Colonel Coign-
houn, and William Morley, Esqs., k:deputation of the Pio-
visional Committee of the Direct Northern Railway, accom-
panied by Sir John Rennie, Mr. Webster, Mr. Leech, and
Mr. Ord, transacted business at the Board of Trade yester-
day, when the following memorials were presented in favour
of the Direct Northern Railway :—From the Mayor and
from a majority of the Town Council of Hull ; presented by
the Mayor of Hull. From the shipowners, merchants, and
inhabitants of Hull ; presented by Samuel Talbot Hassell,
Esq., and a deputation from Hull. From the Hull
Guardian Society for the Protection of Trade ; presented by
John Foster, Esq., the President, and Mr. Alderman
Gresham. From bankers, merchants, and inhabitants of
Gainsborough ; presented by George Hay Bellwood, Esq.,
and Robert Willingal, Esq. From landowners and others at
Bligton, Stockwith, and Beckingham ; presented by Sir
Joseph Rudsdall. From the city of Lincoln, the mayor and
inhabitants of Kirton, Messingham, Scottar, and Botters-
ford ; presented by the Rev. Robert Duckle. From land-
owners and others of Brigg and Market Rasen ; presented
by Mr. Alderman Atkinson, of Hull. .From the inhabitants
of the borough of Stamford ; presented by Colonel Coign-
'limn. From Saint Neots, Sandys, Alconbury, Buckton,
Upton, Sawtrey, &c. ; presented by The Chisholm. From
Epwath and Curule, in the Isle of Axholme; by R. Denison
—and from Lincoln, Louth, and,Wragby ; by the Hon. Mr.
Ashley.
Mr. Charles-Hardy, Mr. Martin, Mr. Cowling Arkroyd,
and Mr. Rouse, a deputation from Bradford, attended at the
Board of Trade, to present a memorial in favour of the Lon-
don and York Railway. Similar memorials were also pre-
sented by Mr. Kirshaw and Mr. Freeman, a deputation Irom
Huddersfield; by Mr. John Bartt, Mr. Thomas Alder, and
Mr. Thomas Haigh, a deputation from Wakefield; by Mr.
John Nathaniel Foster, a deputation from St. Neots; by Mr.
Thomas Walker, a deputation appointed at a public meeting
at Doncaster; by Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Mappin, and Mr.
Dawson, a deputation from Sheffield.

SHAKESPEREAN ,LECTURES.-011 Tuesday even-
ing last, Mr. Thomas Cross, of Cambridge, delivered his se-
cond lecture on the plays of Shakespere, at the Eastern Lite-
rary and Scientific Institution, Hackney-road, before a highly
respectable and numerous audience, who evinced their
appreciation of Mr. Cross's clever and talented discourse by
marked attention and frequent applause. The play under
consideration was Macbeth, from which several passages were
read by the lecturer with tasteful emphasis and appropriate
modulations. He commenced his lecture by pointing out the
moral tendency of Shakespere's writings, which he ably de-
monstrated from a comprehensive view of his works. He
then, in a masterly style, went through the play, reading
several extracts, which _evinced judgment in their selection
and taste in their delivery. The auditory, who were more.
numerous than at the previous lecture, seemed highly gra-
tified with the intellectual treat provided for them. Mr.
Cross's third and last lecture will be delivered on Tuesday
next, at the same place.
MR. WILSON'S
ENTERTAINMENTS.—Our readers
will be glad to see, in our advertising columns, that Mr.
Wilson is, next Monday, to resume his evenings in Store-
street. He has been mating a most successul tour through
England and Scotland, and sang in Brighton, on Tuesday
last, to a very large and fashionable audience, when he was
in splendid voice, and afforded a rich treat to his auditors.
His evenings at Store street will be looked forward to with
recollections of a most pleasing nature by his immense circle
of friends ;nd admirers.

LORD STANLEY.—We regret to state that Lord
Stanley is suffering from so severe an attack of gout in the
knee that his Lordship is not able to leave his bed-room
without assistance.