The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-16 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, April 15.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool-
sack at Five o'clock.
®The Mutiny Bill and the Marine Mutiny Bill went
through Committee. _ _ _

MAYNOOTH.
Lord CAMPBELL said that it was his painful duty
to present a petition against the grant to Maynooth,
from the provost, magistrates, and inhabitants of
Cupar, in the county of Fife. As this was his native
place he had hoped that they would have been more
enlightened there.
Petitions were also presented against the grant, and in
favour of laws for enforcing temperance, by the Earl of
Enniskillen and the Bishops of Down and Winchester.
BANK-NOTES IN SCOTLAND.
The Earl of JERSEY moved for a return of the num-
ber of bank-notes in circulation in Scotland during the
ten years, from 1834 to 1844.
RAILWAYS.
Lord BROUGHAM begged to call the attention of
their Lordships to the motion for an addition to the
standing orders in railways, of which he had given
notice yesterday. He thought that it was requisite to
bring this subject before their Lordships, in order to
show the extent of mischief which had been occa-
sioned by the immense mass of private legis-
lation on the subject of railways. It was necessary,
because such had been the extent of that legis-
lation, that it interfered not only with the enjoy-
ment, but even with the possession of property, and
at last the speculation had come to what he must call a
gambling frenzy, not unprecedented certainly in the
experience of this country some twenty years ago, nor
unknown in the economical history of a neighbouring
nation. Perhaps it would be better to introduce this sub-
ject by presenting the petition of a certain Noble Lady,
Lady Cicely Fane, the daughter of the late Earl of
Westmoreland, who had come into the possession of a
family estate by inheritance. The petition was writ-
ten by herself, and not by a man of business,
and therefore he trusted their Lordships would
excuse whatever informality it might contain.
The petitioner went on to say that the agent of the
company called upon her on the 26th of January, and
showed her the plans and specifications, from which, he
said, no deviation could be made. She expressed
a great dislike to the vicinity of the railroad, and ex-
pressed a hope that the line would be removed to a
greater distance from her estate, but no promise was
given to her; and all the consolation she could get was,
that the company would remunerate her for the loss
when they got their Bill. He also held in his hand a petition
from a poorer person. It was the petition of John Clarkson,
al nurseryman, of Yeovil, in Somerset, who stated that he had
no other means of living but by following that occupation. He
stated that for one acre of land which he held he paid 500/.,
and since he purchased it he had laid out considerable sums of
money in improving it. A railway was going to pass through
this land, and he was threatened by the company that if he
opposed them he would certainly not be so well treated as those
who supported it. These two petitioners, therefore, threw
themselves upon the protection of their Lordships, and he (Lord
Brougham) trusted that ample protection would be afforded
them. The subject of railways was no longer one of a local or
limited importance, but altogether of a public, general and
national character, but he neither blamed the present nor the
past Government for not having foreseen this result, because it
had arisen gradually. No Government could, therefore, be
blamed for not having foreseen the great national aspect rail-
ways would assume ; but now that the aspect was plain, it
was the bounden duty of Government and of Parliament to
take the railways under their own control, and treat them as
a national concern. They had been so treated in France, and
they ought, in his opinion, to be so treated here. He was no
enemy to the passing of a railway Bill, any more than he was
to the passing of any general Bill for constructing a canal or high
road, the most common Bill of the lot that interfered with
the rights of private property, but when they were legislating
by wholesale instead of passing one or two small Bills, he did
intreat their Lordships to reflect for one moment upon the risk
they run of doing most grievous injustice to the rights of pri-
vate individuals. The law of England would not allow any
land, no matter how small it was, to be taken without the pre..
vious sanction of the owner had been obtained • nay, so jealous
was the law, that if a man put his hand across the fence of an-
other, he was in law a trespasser, and would be liable to an
action for damages. As 'a general principle for the guidance of
the Legislature, he (Lord Brougham) thought it would be
much better that the railway company should be
put to inconvenience, rather than the rights of
private property should be violated. It would be much better
to leave railway companies to make their bargains with the
owners and occupiers of land, than put the latter to the expense
or trouble of going before a jury or a magistrate to obtain their
rights. The companies were in the habit of forcing on their
Bills, lest they should lose the completion of them before the
end of the session ; but he would rather that railways were de-
layed one, or even two years, than that they should be hurried
forward in this tyrannical manner to their completion. They
were told that if there was any danger to be appre-
hended, that there was a double guard thrown around
the interests of individuals in the proceedings of this
House, and especially by the scrutiny of the Com-
mittee of Standing Orders. But with respect to the
Committee of Standing Orders he would warn the House not
to depend too much upon them. He did not wish to speak
otherwise than with respect of that Committee, but when in
the consideration of railway Bills they were told that those
Bills had been referred to a Committee to ascertain whether
the standing orders had been complied with, he would warn
them not to think that that Committee was gifted with a per-
fection of apprehension—he would warn them not to think
that that Committee was gifted with an untiring industry, that
they were in the habit of exhibiting an extraordinary dili-
gence—he would warn them not to suppose that their dili-
gence was of that perfect and scrutinising character which
would enable them to make themselves acquainted with every
part, parcel, and portion of every measure brought before them
—he would warn them not to suppose that that Committee was
even superficially acquainted with every measure submitted to
their consideration—nay, he would warn them against sup-
posing that they knew anything at all about it. No; those
gentlemen were too fully occupied to read even the text of the
measures submitted to them, let alone the consideration. They
contented themselves with consulting the margin of the Bill.
Now, the margin of the Bill was no part of it, and a railway
company or a railway agent had nothing to do but to put a clause
into the Bill which was omitted in the margin and
they might pass a grievous and onerous injustice, without any
one being aware of the injury until it came into operation.
This wasno speculative philosophy, the fact had actually occurred,
a clause had been introduced into a Bill which had passed the
Committee of Standing Orders. This clause gave to every
person having land which contained coal, lime, gravel, or soil,
power to carry it across any person's land, by only paying for
the damage done and without giving a farthing for the good
will; and this, too, to no less an extent than five miles on each
side of the railway. Now, this was an enormous mischief, and
a mischief which ought not only to be remedied, but to be
prevented. There were two very great evils of which he com-
plained. One was the power given of deviating from the line
chalked out to the extent of a hundred yards on either side of
the line, that is a deviation of not less than two hundred yards.
Now, why should not the company be restrained to their line
itself? Why did they not come to that House so prepared with
their line, that there should be no deviation at all, and thus
prevent the grievous injury that might arise, as was the case
with this petitioner? For his own part, he would rather
restrict the companies to twenty yards, than to a hundred on
each side of the line, and then if any accident did occur, so
that they were obliged to trespass, let them go and make a fair
bargain for the purchase of the ground to be taken. Let them
go as they did into the market for any other property, and
let the seller have a word as to the price as well as the buyer.
Let the sale of the property be a voluntary act, and let the
owner not be left to the mere yof a jury. They all knew what
juries were, and how entirely railway companies had them at
their command. Another of the evils was that of the injury
done to property by a railway passing near it. If a railway cid
not pass over the ground. but only near it, there was no com-
pensation whatever. There was a case which he knew of very
great hardship. He had gone with a friend to look
over a beautiful villa, which had, until the forma-
tion of a railway near it, commanded a rent of from
3001. to 4001. a year, but which had not now been let for three
or four years ; but in consequence of the villa standing on the
verge of the property, though the house was entirely destroyed
by the contiguity of the railway, there was no compensation.
Another thing for which provision ought to be made was the
height of the works above the ground, for a house might
effectually be destroyed; and he had therefore inserted in the
orders which he had devised, and which he begged to lay upon
the table, that on the introduction of all future Bills there
should be a return of all the houses within three hundred yards
of both sides of the railway. He was anxious to add these to
the other standing orders, and he should not regret if
they had the effect of throwing any impediment in
the way of this frenzy of speculation. He felt
it was his duty, as it was the duty of every one who had the
advantage of addressing that or the other House of Parlia-
men, and, through them, the public, that above all it was the
duty of that powerful and influential body who were connecte
with the newspaper press of the country, to warn their fel
low-citizens against this frenzy of speculation. How man
were there who, after saving a few hundreds or a few thousand
pounds by perhaps the industry of half a life, or by the restric-
tion of penurious habits, had lost their all by investing it in
those speculations, with the hope of deriving a larger interest
than from any other source. If they referred to 1837, or 1838,
and still more, if they went back ten years beyond that time,
they would find that 10, 15, or 20 per cent. was a rate of mo-
derate expectation; and if they attempted to caution any one
of those speculators against indulging the hope of such an in-
terest, they would have only a deaf ear turned to them, or be
derided with a smile of contempt. But that was the fact.
He would take only one set of railways, and those
were all what were called paying ones. In those
the original cost of the shares was 32,000,000/. ; but he
believed that by premiums the money which had really been
paid for them was 43,000,000/. But taking it at 32,000,0001,,
and what was the per centage realised upon them? Not 20, not
15, not 10, nor anything like it, but 51 per cent. was all the
interest the holders of the very best kind of railway property
had realised, notwithstanding all the risk they ran—less than
could be obtained by going to any respectable bill broker.
But if he divided this sum of 32,00,000/. into halves, he
found that on 8,000,0001., the interest realised was not 5 per
cent., and upon 6,500,0001. the interest was absolutely under
3 per cent. or less than could be obtained from the soundest
and best of all securities—the Three per Cent. Consoli-
dated Annuities. But he did not stop there. Take an-
other portion of 2,000,0001., and he found that upon that
amount, or nearly one-eighth of the whole, the interest was
under 2 per cent. per annum, and on part of this the whole
people obtained was only after the rate of 1/. 14s. 6d. per cent.
per annum. This was all authentic information derived from
data furnished by the report of the Railway Committees to the
House of Commons. But even this might have been
borne with, if the property had retained its value ; but even that
was denied to the unfortunate holder of railway shares, for
he found that on twenty-five and a half millions there had been
a decided dead loss of fifty per cent. on one-half of the whole
amount, so that he who might have secured 301. a year without
risk, could hardly now obtain 121. for every 1,0001. which
he invested ; and the property itself, beside all consideration of
premiums, would not sell br half of what it cost. He would
apologise for thus trespassing on their attention, but he felt it
his duty to warn their Lordships, and to warn the country
against this gambling frenzy, and with this feeling he begged
to lay the orders on the table.
The Marquis of BREADALBANE, in presenting a petition
from the Caledonian Railway Company against the 26th clause
of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Bill, which gave a par-
ticular compensation to the trustees of railway trusts, took
occasion to deprecate the hostility of the Noble Lord against
all railway schemes.
Lord BROUGHAM said that he was not surprised at the
Noble Marquis's tenderness for railways, seeing that he him-
selfwas a Chairman of a Company.
Lord DALHOUSIE did not m=an, in rising, now to go
into a subject of which his Noble Friend had given notice of a
motion. He thought it only necessary now to say that he
thought some of the statements of his Noble Friend were
overcharged. He would reserve what he had to say upon it
until the question of the Bill itself came before the House.
The Marquis of BREADALBANE moved that the petition
be printed... Ordered,