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

TRADE.

Mr. WALLACE rose to call the attention of the
House to the several reports made by the Select Com-
mittees on Railways ; to the appointment of the Board
constituted by the Board of Trade on the 24th day of
August, 1844, for the transaction of railway business,
and to the nature and effects of its public decisions on the
interests of the country;•with:the view to the revision and
amendment of the Railway Act of last session, and to move
as follows • I. That it is the inherent and constitu-
tional right of the inhabitants of Great Britain and
Ireland to travel through their own country by the
nearest way and at the cheapest rate, on the best roads
which may be provided for them, by the voluntary in-
vestment of private capital, and this whether the
roads -be formed of iron or other materials.
2. That the investment of capital in roads, with a view
' to profit by the toll dues taken thereon, is of very recent
date, and coincident only with the introduction of rail-
ways. 3. That the principle on which railways are con-
structed is not a discovery of modern date, being known
to the country from time immemorial in the form
of tram-road, composed of both wood and stone, and there •
fore not entitled to any unusual or peculiar advantages.
4. That whereas railways can now be constructed at
leas than half the cost they formerly were, the rates and
charges should be reduced accordingly. 5. That it has
been recently stated in this House that the Railway
I Committee of the Board of Trade have had returns to

show that the • passenger traffic on those railways sub-
ject to the penny a mile clause, by the operation of
which the third-class fares throughout the kingdom
have been reduced from 2d. and id. to ld. per mile,
being a reduction equal to from 30 to 50 per
cent., has ' been effected with great advantage to
the people, and without injury to the in-
comes of the respective railway companies. 6.
That it is in evidence before the Select Cornmitte on
Railways of Session 1844, that third-class passengers
asay be conveyed at moderate rates of speed, at a cost
not exceeding Id. for every 15 miles. and that at present
passenger fares are charged on different railways at prices
varying from 3d. to Fl. per mile for the several classes.
7. That travelling by railway has now become nearly the
only mode of conveyance for the inhabitants of this
country, whether rich or poor, and, therefore, until a
careful inquiry has been instituted into the cost of
construction of railways, and expense of transit, by
some competent tribunal, clothed with due authority to
prosecute such, and report upon the same to this
House, it is not expedient, with a view to the interests
of the people, and justice to the railway companies, that
the rates, charges, and modes of conveyance requisite to
preserve the health, and secure the comfort and con-
venience of passengers travelling by railway, should be
settled for a lengthened period—that leave be given to
bring in a Bill to repeal the Act of last session, 7 and
8 Vic., cap. 85, commonly called the Railway Act.
The lion. Member said that in rising to lay before the
House the resolutions of which he had given notice, it
was not his intention to enter into any accusatory ob-
servations with regard to the Committee of the Board
of Trade, but should adhere strictly to the terms of his
notice. He bad been in communication with the
Right Hon. Gentleman, formerly President of the
Board of Trade, the Noble Lord who at present presided
over it, and the other members of the Board, by all of
whom he had been received with the greatest respect ;
and he would take this, opportunity of assuring
the House that his objections did not apply
personally to any member of the Board, than
whom no one could have been more considerate and
kind. But the question he was about to submit was one
o greater importance to the people of this country
ea ea than those measures which the Right Hon. Baronet
the First Lord of the Treasury intended to introduce
on Friday next. He conceived that by the Act of last
session the people of this country had become entirely
surrounded with a net-work of the most obnoxious
character, and were now subjected to a mono-
poly of a most grinding and painful description.
He should also prove, as far as he could by statistics, the
truth of what he was about to submit to the House, but
he would not pass on to the subject without stating in
the outset that he considered the Committee of the
Board of Trade was entirely contrary to what was con-
stitutional in this country; that it was not by any means
regular, but, on the contrary, extremely irregular. They
undertook duties foreign to the objects for which the
Board of Trade was constituted. Their proper functions
were to regulate the commercial transactions of this
country with other countries. Though he now brought
forward the present motion, he was ready to confess that
he had voted for the Bill introduced by the Right Hon.
Gentleman, the 'late 'President of the Board of Trade ;
nor would 'he deny that he did so for the purpose of
opening some channel by which at a future time
he would be enabled to prove the effects
of the injurious monopolies which had been
woven through the best interests of the country.
He believed' he spoke the sentiments of nine-
teen-twentietbs of the people of this country when he
stated that they did not desire to be subjected to the
tyranny and loss of health which they were obliged to
suffer from the way in which the directors of railroads
had chosen to manage their busiress. He held in his
hand an important document from the Noble
Lord who now presided over the Board of Trade.
That document contained a list of all the companies
which bad given notice to the Board of Trade of their
intention to come before the House. That document
came down to Bth February, 1845, and it appeared by
it' that the applications for new lines, extensions,
branches, &c., amounted altogether to 248. He believed
that the Board of Trade had gone in a contrary
direction to what the interests of the country required.
They were not sanctioning new lines of railway, as would
be seen from the papers to be laid on the table of the II ouse
Though he could not speak to the reasons, the fact was.
that they were discouraging competition, and thus depriv-
ing the people of this country of a free trade in railway
conveyance, without which they must virtually become
the slaves of the Railway Directors of Great Britain and
Ireland. It was objected that competition was an ex-
tremely difficult thing to secure. He had gone
through the reports of the various Railway
Committees of that House. The first Com-
mittee was appointed in November, 1837, on a
motion of his own, in which he was supported by the
late Chancellor of the Exchequer, from which
time to the present a Committee on rail-
ways had been appointed every year. In 1837,
only two persons were nominated as members who had
any interest in railways—a director and a shareholder.
In 1840 the number of persons interested in railways
belonging to the Committee was increased to three. But in
the year 1844 the Right Hon. Gentleman, then President
of the Board of Trade, proposed to the House a list con-
taining no less than twelve persons, who were either
directors or shareholders in railways. The House,
as well as the country, would, of course, judge
whether that Committee was what he (Mr. Wal-
lace) termed it at the time, a one sided Committee,
or a fair and just Committee, fitted to take into
consideration and deal with such vast and
important interests. He termed it at the
time a one-sided Commitee ; he did so now.
He maintained that the resolutions and proceedings of
that Committee were utterly unworthy of the respect
which had been paid them. From that time forward he
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down; most excellent facts were alleged as to the dangers
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of monopoly, and of the evils of extending the powers
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and overthrow the privileges of the people. But these all
disappeared when the sth reportwasbi
of that report was to the effect that it was incumbent
on that House to select some board or:other, and that
that board ought to be constituted of the Board of