The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY_ ETENING, JULY 16, 1845.

JAMAICA SOUTHERN, EASTERN, and
NORTHERN RAILWAY, from KINGSION to 31ONTEGO

BAY.

_
Capital 1,500,0001., in 30,000 Shares of 501. each.
Deposit 21. per Share.
A portion reserved for Jamaica.
This railway will commence at a spacious quay in the harbour of
Kingstown, having water for ships of the usual tonnage trading to
Jamaica, and will proceed thence to Yallahs, Port Morant, Morant
Bay, Plantain Garden River, Mauchioneal Harbour, Spring Valley.
Port Antonio, Charlestown, Annotto Bay, Port Maria, St. Ann's,
Rio Bueno River and Harbour, Duncan, Martha Brae, and will ter-
minate at Montego Bay.

1 full prospectus will be published in a few days.
Applications for Shares may be addressed in the following form to
the Provisional Committee, at the Temporary Offices of the Com-
pany, No. 43, Moorgatc-street ; or to Messrs. Elmslle and Preston,
Solicitors to the Company, 47, Moorgate-street, London.
London, July 16, 1845.
To the Provisional Committee of the Southern, Eastern, and
Northern Railway, from Kingston to Montego Bay.

Gentlemen,—l request that you will allot to me
shares of 501. each in this undertaking, and I engage to pay the
deposit of 21. per share upon the number allotted to me, and to sign
such deeds as may be necessary in furtherance thereof, when required
to tlo so I am, &c. ••••••••••••

could do less than accord tithe protection prayed. To
this end, it adopted the intelligible and efficacious course
of committing both Han Low, the plaintiff, and HARD-
WIN, his attorney, to the custody of the Black Rod.
The expediency of this power was, we think, as plainly
established on broad and general principles of what we
shall call constitutional necessity, by the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR, as were the facts of the case. And, let us
remark how cogent are the reasons on which this
expediency rests. It is not even disputed that the
House of Lords, whether as the supreme legislative or
judicial tribunal, should retain its powers of examining
witnesses upon oath. It is admitted, on all hands, that a
man giving evidence before it in its judicial capacity,
and in the course of his testimony either uttering libel-
lous reflections upon third parties, or committing per-
jury, would subject himself, on the evidence of two com-
petent witnesses, to civil action or criminal indictment.
Therefore, it is asked, if you give no protection to the
witness in this case, why extend it to him when exa-
mined before the Lords in their legislative capacity?
The distinction seems to us a clear one. In a court of
justice the rules of evidence are stringent and definite.
The law protects the witness from the reach and scope
of examination beyond certain limits, and its courts dis-
courage every attempt to push the interrogation of such
witnesses beyond those limits. Select Committees of
either House partake of the character of Parliament as
the grand inquest of the nation ; and their modes of
conducting inquiries into the questions referred to them
are neither limited, like courts of law, to single specific
issues, nor to such certain and determinate forms of exa-
mining
evidence upon them. Ina court of law the process
of such investigations is more exact, if it be more limited;
but then the powers of enforcing answers are much
more stringent. In the witness-box of a court the at-
tempt on one hand is to extract all the evidence you
can legally compel—the object on the other is to furnish
no more than court or counsel can insist upon his giving.
The process is as it were under bond—one party exacts
as much as he can get, the other surrenders no more
than you can compel him to yield. In the Committee-
rooms of Parliament the witnesses are rather invited
than forced. It is more difficult there than in a law
court to elicit what they may desire to conceal, because
there are many moral influences wanting in the one case
which are very cogent in the other. But much fuller
evidence on all other points is to be obtained from the
spontaneous communications of witnesses, who, under the
assurance of protection, feel no disposition to withhold
whatever information they can give. Now how could
the inquiries of Parliament be conducted without the
guarantee of this protection ? The three law Lords echo
spoke on Monday night delivered their respective opi-
nions characteristically enough. The LORD CRAW-
CELLOR stated the facts with his usual perspicuity.
Lord BROUGHAM'S speech was one of research, marred by
its technicality and its over laboured effort to adapt ge-
neral principles of law and equity to cases of
this peculiar character. Lord CAMPBELL'S was a plain,
straightforward, and, we think, successful effort to show
why HARLOW'S case fairly came within that class, as to
which the House of Lords were perfectly justified in
vindicating, their privileges, and also wherein the neces-
sity for those privileges consisted. In defining the vari-
ous objects of those privileges, Lord BROUGHAM stated
these among others—namely, of declaring from time to
time what those privileges were ; of declaring as occa-
sion arose what constituted a breach of them ; of punish-
ing parties pronounced by vote of the Legislature to
have been guilty of a breach of them ; to inquire into
any given matter ; to call all persons before them
necessary for the purposes of such inquiry, and to pro-
tect them in respect of evidence given by them on such
occasions. Now, in the case of HARLOW and BARER,
were the Lords to leave BARER to be proceeded against,
because, in evidence given before them at their desire,
his disclosures happened to impugn a third party as in-
clined to pursue those practices into which, and the laws
affecting them, the Committee of the Lords desired
especially to inquire ? What sort of inducement to wit-
nesses to come forward with unreserved evidence
before Parliamentary Committees on far more vital
questions than one which might incidentally im-
ply the existence of sporting propensities in a
respectable tobacconist, fur example, who indignantly
repudiates the impeachment—what inducement would
the Lords hold out for candid testimony if they did not
protect those who gave it against the sharp practice of
over-zealous attorneys ? Under what obligation would
reluctant witnesses feel to speak the truth which they
might desire to conceal, if they felt that the forum in
which they stood was powerless or unwilling to punish
their contumacy by its own independent action ? What
respect would the public feel for the decisions of such a
forum, which could neither compel evidence from those
who had it to give, but withheld it, nor protect those who,
having given it before them, should be proceeded against
penally in other tribunals ?
Upon the whole view of this case, as ofother recent ones
of the same kind, we arrive at these conclusions—that
in these times the privilege of Parliament can scarcely
be exercised otherwise than for the interests of the
public at large ; that the possible injustice or hardship
resulting to individuals from its being put in motion,
especially in cases of vexatious prosecutions of witnesses
examined before Parliamentary Committees and officer'
of either House, is likely to be far less than the absolute
mischief which would ensue to the country from the
virtual abandonment of that privilege, or the submitting
it to the adjudication of the common law tribunals,
which Lord BROUGHAM himself argues can know
nothing about it ; for that privilege, being nowhere.
fined, forms no part of the written law which tie Judges
administer and are the authorised exlol'uders of. And
we call upon the House of
finally, with Lord CAMPBELL,
Lords to persist in assertin; this privilege upon the pre-
sent occasion in the
:winner they have already adopted
(not by pleadine.o),
"and thus for ever to put an end to
these cont'amacious proceedings" against the just, legiti-
mate, and indispensable authority of Parliament.

Madrid journals of the Bth have been received. Sixty of
the Royal Halberdiers had left the capital for Vittoria. The
rince FRANCESCO DR PAULA was about to proceed to St.
Sebastian, and it was understood that four of the Ministers
would join the Court at Saragossa, and then accompany her
MAJESTY to the Basque provinces. According to accounts
from Barcelona, General CONCHA left that place on the Bth
with 2,000 men and 18 pieces of artillery, for Sobadell, which
he attacked, killing 25 of the insurgents, and taking a great
many prisoners. The next morning he entered Tarrosa.
Owing to the vigorous measures adopted by the General, it
was believed the resistance to the conscription would soon be
put down. The Tiempo, a Madrid journal, publishes a protest
against the abdication of Don CARLOS, signed by 58 Spanish
Royalists. The document is dated Paris, the 3d June. The
Eco dcl Commercio had been seized by the police.
MADRID BOURSE, JULY B.—The Funds continue to de-
cline, and the Three per Cents. are quoted at 27A for cash,
aid 2814 at 60 days. but the prices were somewhat higher
at the close of the market. Five per Cents. at 20% cash.
Coupons 26 at 60 days. Exchange on England, 37%.

The Paris papers bring no news of importance. A meeting
of the professors of the College of France was held on Monday,
to take into consideration a communication from the Minister
of Public Instruction, relative to the lectures of Messrs.
MiciiELET and QULNET. The assembly consisted of twenty-
four members, and, after some discussion, a resolution was
proposed by M. PE BEAUMONT, declaring that the assembly
accepted the declaration of Messrs. QUIET and MICIIELET,
that it had not been their intention to go beyond the limits
of their programme, and that none of the professors wished to
act otherwise, which was carried by a majority of 17 to 7.
Messrs. QULNET and MicnELET voted in the minority. We
have accounts of the proceedings of the Swiss Diet
now sitting at Zurich, up to the 11th instant. On
that day a warm discussion took place. A Deputy of
one of what are called the Ultramontane cantons having
proposed that the federal camp ordered for 1846 should not
take place, and his motion being warmly supported by the
cantons of the same principles, especially Uri and Lucerne, it
was resisted by the Deputies of the Liberal cantons with
great energy, and was defeated by a majority of 12 states
and 2 half-states against 7 states and a half-state. do ad-
ditional particulars relative to the Massacre at Dahara had
been received from Algiers. The France contains the follow-
ing jest observations on the dreadful catastrophe :
"For the last two days the public mind has been in a state of
excitement. Fresh accounts from Africa are looked for with
painful anxiety, in order to form a correct opinion on the frightful
burning of human bodies announced by the ilkbar, and unfortu.
nately attributed to a colonel of the French 4rmy. How is it that
no dispatch, no official communication has yet been received to
quiet the alarmed minds of the public P It will be with difficulty
admitted, that in spite of the accusatory reserve of Marshal Soult
in the Chamber of Peers, the Minister has received no information
on the subject. The silence of the Cabinet is thus construed in a
more unfavourable light than if it had frankly avowed the truth.
The butchery thus attributed to our soldiers and to our officers
must be something very enormous to induce such an obsti-
nate silence on the subject. Such would naturally be the
opinion of the country, Justly tenacious of its honour, and
such, in fact, it is, For our own part, in the absence of
more ample information, we must confess that the act of
barbarity attributed to Colonel Pellissier appears to us in-
correctly represented. Before trifling with the honour and dignity
of those who represent our name and power in a foreign land, we
wish for certain information and irrefragable proofs. It is not on a
simple report, more or less plausible, that a superior officer should
be accused of massacre and barbarity, unexampled perhaps in the
military acts of modern Europe. If the recital should turn out to
be incorrect, how bitterly should we have to reproach ourselves ?
If, on the contrary, the fact be proved, we loudly declare that there
are no expressions severe enough to stigmatise its authors. France
is responsible in the eyes of neighbouring nations, and before them
she will have to answer for the acts and conduct of her army.
However this affair may turn cut, it ought to afford the Govern.
ment an energetic motive for seriously occupying itself on the sub.
Jcct of the army in Africa. It is, unfortunately, well known
that the habits acquired in an obstinate warfare in a
country far removed from home have given our soldiers
instinct, dangerous to our dignity as a civilised power. They
are no longer enemies which our sedentary regiments have
now before them, they are wild beasts which they amuse them-
selves by bunting. ]Bye-witnesses have gone so far as to relate

that to some officers of our army in Africa a rania is no longer
any snore than a pitiless sport, where the French, always vie.
torious, treat the conquered as neither more nor less than a prey.
The Government, the Chambers, and the public should, for the
interest of humanity and of our national honour, seriously exa-
mine into these assertions. Such a spirit should not be tolerated
in an army which represents the most" noble and the most civilised
nation in the world. This system of cold.blooded barbarism will
not only be disastrous for France, as far as her policy and her
object of colonisation is concerned, but it will also tend to throw an
odious stigma on the French name. The Government cannot re.
main indifferent to the deplorable tendencies we have named. It
will be odious to think that after having made an appeal to reli-
gious faith in this newly acquired land, after having established
there that Christian Church, the basis of which is love towards
men, the work of civilisation should be destroyed by acts worthy
only of the armed bands of the middle ages."

On Monday' the Three per Cents. closed at 83f. 20c.
the Five per Cents. at 121 f. 45c.; Orleans Railroad Shares,
1,145 f. ; Rouen, 1,020 f. ; Vierzon, 737 f. 50c. ; Havre, 837 f.
50c. ; Avignon, 960 f. ; Basle, 251 f. 25c. ; Spanish Actives,
36% ; Ditto Three per Cents., 37.
The following are the quotations for the new lines :-
Orleans and Bordeaux, 1661. premium ; Boulogne, 115 f.
ditto ; Troyes and Montereau,l6l. 25c. ; Paris and Lyons ( La-
ffitte), 18f. 75c. ; ditto 1
(Colon)' par; ditto (Ganneron), sf. •
Northern Line (Laffitte), 32f. 50c. ; ditto (Rosamel), 81.
50c. ; Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 7f. 50c. ; ditto
(Drouillard), par; ditto (O'Neill), 3f. 50c. ; ditto (Jacques
Lefevre), par: Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 12f. 50c. ;
ditto (Talabot), 27f. 50c; ditto (Compagnie Meridionale),
sf. ; Bordeaux and Toulouse (Mackenzie), par. ; ditto,
and Cette (Espeleta), 4f. 50c. ; Creil and St. Quentin, par ;
Paris and Strasburg (Ganneron), 6f. 50c. ; Dijon and Mul-
house, par; Diepe, 27f. 50c.
id artsx m
Lus,JULY 10.-Marseilles and Avignon, 9621. 50c. ;
Boulogne, 6201. ; Orleans and Bordeaux, 670; Vierzon,
740£ ; Avignon and Lyons (Talabot), 531 f. 25c. ; ditto (Sebas-
tiani), 5071. 50c.; ditto (Cornpagnie Meridionale), 500 f.;
Bordeaux and Cette (Espeleta), 5021. 50c. ; Toulon, 495 f.
LYONS, JULY 11.-Avignon and Marseilles, 957 f., end of
July ; Paris and Orleans, 1,1451., ditto; Paris and Rouen,
1,0221., ditto; Orleans and Vierzon, 7321., ditto ; Orleans
and Bordeaux, 6651., ditto ; Boulogne, 600 f. ; Monterau,
522 f. ditto.

MONEY and C;(111MLItt iAL NEWS.

CITY, QUAIt 'Ell To THREE.
The sales of Cotton at Liverpool yesterday were 6,000 bales,
2,000 being on speculation, and 1,000 for export. The quo-
tations of Friday were fully supported.-Shares were steady,
but there was, not a great deal doing in them :-
Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire, 5% 5; Belfast and
Ballymena, 6%; Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool, 183/4 19%;
Caledonian, 10% 16s. 3d, ; Ditto, Extension, 21,4; Cambridge
and Lincoln, 5; Derby and Crewe, 2%; Dublin and Belfast
Junction, 7%; Dublin and Galway, 3% 3/4 ; Eastern Coun-
ties, 21%; Ditto, Perpetual, No. 2, 11/4 ; Edinburgh and
Glasgow, Quarter Shares, 181 3,4 ; Glasgow and Dumfries,
IBs. 6d. 19s. ; Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock, 201/4 %;
Ditto, Half Shares, 10%; Grand Junction, 236; Ditto, Hall
Shares, ilB ; Ditto, Eighth Shares, 22%; Great County
Down, 3/4 1/4 ; Huddersfield Canal and Railway, 8%; Hud-
dersfield and Sheffield, 6%; Leicester and Bedford, 7s 1i ;
Leicester mad Birmingham, 325. 335. ; Limerick and Water-
ford, 6%; Liverpool and Manchester, New Shares, 42 ; Li
verpool, Ormskirk, and Preston, 2% ; London and York,
3% % ; Leeds and Dewsbury, 191/, ; Leeds and West Riding
Junction, 7 ; Manchester and Birmingham, Quarter Shares,
9% ; Ditto, New Quarter Shares, 7% ; Manchester and
Leeds, Sixteenth Shares, 9% ; Midland Railway, 194; Ditto,
40/. Shares, 303/4 31 ; Ditto, Consolidated Birmingham and
Derby, 150; Newark and Sheffield, 23 ; Newry, Armagh,
and Londonderry, %s; Newry and Enniskillen, 71s. 6d. ;
North British, 25 ; Ditto, Half Shares, ; North Stafford-
shire, 795. 6d; North Western, 4% %; Oxford and Birming-
ham Junction, 4% 3/4 ; Oxford, Worcester, and Wolver-
hampton, 7%; Sheffield and Manchester, Quarter Shares,
17 ; Ditto, No. 2,5% ; Shrewsbury and Herefordshire, 14 ;
Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, and Birmingham, 68s. 6d. ;
Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Cheshire, ; South-Eastern
and Dover, New Shares, No. 2, 17% ; Ditto, No. 3, 83/4 ;
South Midland, 365. 375. ; Trent Valley, 13% ; Trent 1, alley
Continuation, 345.; Welsh Midland, -68 s. 6d. 3%; West
Yorkshire, 6% % ; Worcester and Tring, 265. 6d. ; Dutch
Rhenish, 4% 6 ; Jamaica and South Midland, 4%; Northern
of France (Rommel's) English, 48s. 9d. 51s. 6d.; Paris and
Lyons (Laffitte's), 595.; Ditto (Ganneron's), 2%; Sambre
and Meuse, 7%.
MANCHESTER STOCK EXCHANGE, JULY 15.-The sales are
-Birkenhead, Manchester, and Cheshire, 113/4 ; Blackburn,
Burnley, and Accrington, 9% ; Blackburn, Darwen, and
Bolton, 5% ; Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool, 20 % ; Cam-
bridge and Lincoln, 5 3-16 ; Churnet Valley, 4% ; Derby
and Crewe, 214 ; Edinburgh and Glasgow, New Quarter
Shares, 8%; Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Junction,
7-16 prem. ; Glasgow and Dumfries, 19s. ; Grand Union,
1%; Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal. 81/4
5-16 ; Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction, ; Leeds,
Dewsbury, and Manchester, 19 ; Leeds and West Riding
Junction, 7 11-16; Leicester and Bedford, 7s. 6d. 7s. prem. ;
Leicester and Birmingham, 345. 338. 9d. ; Liverpool and
Manchester, Half Shares, 105 ; Liverpool, Ormskirk, and
Preston, 575. 6d. 58s. 9d. ; London, Worcester, Oxford, and
Rugby, 114 ; London and York, 31, ; Manchester, Buxton,
Matlock, and Midland, 5% 14 ; Manchester and Birmingham,
601,4 3/4 ; Ditto, New Quarter Shares, 7%; Manchester and
Birmingham Continuation and Welsh Junction, 1%; Man-
chester, Sheffield and Midland Junction, 33/4 ; Midland Rail-
Lancashire,Consos, 40/. Shares, 301,4 ; Newcastle, Durham, and
9-16 % prem. ; .NO-rth British, 25%; Ditto, New
Shares, 6% ; North Staffordshire, 3% % ; North Union (A),
176; Ditto ( B), 107 109; North Western, 91s. 6d. 91a. 3d. ;
Nottingham, Erewash, Amber-gate, and Manchester, 465. 6d. ;
Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton, 71/8 ; Preston and
Wyre, Half Shares, 3%; Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junc-
tion, 1 9-16 ; Sheffield and Manchester, Quarter Shares,
No. 2, 43/4 prem. ; Shrewsbury and Trent Valley Union, 2 ;
South- Eastern and Dover, No. 3, 8 9-16 ; South Midland,
365. 3d. 375. 6d. ; Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole, 16 ;
Welsh Midland, 3% 7-16 ; West Lancashire and Coast Line,
11/4 prem. ; West Yorkshire, 6% %; Whitehaven and Fur.
ness, 23/4 ; Worcester, Shrewsbury, and Crewe Union, 15/s ;
York and Carlisle, 33/4 ; York and North Midland Extension,
22; Great Northern of France (English), 5%.
The Funds are much the same, or perhaps we may say, a
little firmer. Consols 98% % for present transfer, and
983/4 % for Account. Exchequer-bills have been again
.535. to 555. premium. Bank Stock is 210% to 2111/4.
The New Three-and-a-quarter per Cents. realize 102% to 1/4.
Spanish Bonds are a little firmer. The Actives have
touched 25% to 3/4, and the Three per Cents. 353/4 to 36%.
Dutch Two- and-a- Half per Cents. are 62 to 1/4, and Belgian
Four-and-a-Half per Cents. 991/4. Brazil stock is at 911/4.
The Share Market is considered to be firmer to-day, and
there is a moderate business doing in the principal railways,
both old and new.

ONE CLOSING
PRICES OF BRITISH FUNDS. O'CLOCK. PRICES.
Bank Stock
3 per Cent. Reduced
3 per Cent. Consels Annuities 98% % 983/4
New 314 per Cents 102,% 102%
Long Annuities toexnireJan. 1860 111/2% 11 N
Ditto 30 years, Jan. 5, 1860
India Stock
India Bonds, 1,0001
Ditto under 1,0001...
Consols for Opening 98%3/4
Exchequer Bills, 1,0001., I%d 53 55
Ditto 5001.
Ditto Small

98%
pm. 56
pm. 56
pm. 57
CLOSING
PRICES.
903/4
904

ONE
O'CLOCK.

tom' CO:klAti / '
(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVER-

1113./bIP TON IZAILW

The Committee met to-day at eleven o'clock, Lord Auckland in
the chair, when the fur !her consideration of Ong line wac taken.

THE CASE FOR THE OPPOSITION.

Mr. AUSTIN resumed his address on behalf of the London and
Birmingham Company. He commenced by reference to the sgb-
ject of transhipment. He said it presented itself in a twofold
aspect—as an engineering and as a commercial question. With
regard to the engineering part of the question, evidence bad been
called to show that transhipment could be accomplished with the
greatest ease, by a certain machine represented to be in operation
at the Paddington station; and in respect to the commercial part
of the subject, witnesses had been examined that no
difficulty would arise in the reassortment of goods at
the particular points which had been referred to.
He was persuaded, however, that he could show that the ease and
facility represented to accompany this transhipment of goods, was
entirely illusory. He would show by the evidence of carriers and
other practical witnesses, that the greatest delay, confusion, and
inconvenience, would attend this system—that, in fact, in a com-
mercial point of view, the greatest possible evils would arise from
this process, represented to be so easy of accomplishment. He would
be also prepared to show that the engineering difficulties were quite
as great as the commercial ones, and that very great additional ex-
penses would of necessity be incurred. '1 he Learned Gentleman
then went in detail into the process of transhipment, the proposal
for laying double rail on the two systems, and the keeping of double
stocks of trucks and waggons adapted to the broad and narrow gauges,
all of which he contended would occasion the greatest amount of
surveillance, expense, and inconvenience. It would be much better,
both to the interest of the public and to the interest of the com.
panies themselves, that the two gauges should be restricted to
their respective districts, than to be allowed to penetrate into
each other's territory. The Learned Gentleman then addressed
himself to the point at which the break of the two gauges ought
to take place. Oxford, he would show, was much superior to
Rugby ; as at the former place, there would be much less con-
fusion and delay in the transfer of goods than at the latter. The
point of transhipment ought not to take place where there was the
greatest focus of goods, but where there was the smallest accu.
mulation. At Rugby there was a very great amount
of goods and passengers; whereas at Oxford there was not,
the goods and passengers being very limited in number;
and if any machine was required to facilitate transhipment, then it
could be easier and efficiently worked at a place where there was a
comparatively small amount of traffic than where it was very large.
At Oxford a much greater amount of goods reached their final des-
tination than at Rugby, and, therefore, the transhipment would
only be required for the small amount of goods that went south of
that place. But if Rugby were selected, then not only would all
the goods coming from the north, going south of Oxford, have to
be transhipped, but also all the goods of Oxford itself, with the nu.
merous and populous intermediate places. This view was that so
ably supported by the Board of Trade, and, in his estimation, it was
a conclusive argument against the present scheme. If a machine,
therefore, was at all necessary, it was self-evident that
Oxford, and not Rugby, ought to be the place where it should be
situated. The same remarks applied to Bristol, which had a large
terminal, but very little through traffic. Oxford and Bristol,
therefore, were the points, and not Rugby and Gloucester, that
naturally presented themselves for the break of gauge. He begged
their Lordships' attention to this important point, and he would be
glad to hear what answer his Learned Friend would be able to give
to it.

The Learned Gentleman having made his statement for the Lon.
don and Birmingham line, proceeded to address the Committee on
behalf of the Birmingham and Gloucester Company, for which he also
appeared, showing that the scheme under consideration would con-
stitute a competing line to that railway. The sanctioning of such
a competing line, he contended, would be a violation of the Act of
Parliament by which that company was constituted, and put an
end to all protection and guarantee that such an Act of the Legis-
lature afforded. The Learned Gentleman here showed by the map
before the Committee, and by several other illustrations which the
Learned Gentleman introduced, how this competition would ope.
rate. Having afterwards shortly called the attention of their Lord.
skips to the case of certain petitioners of South Staffordshire
against the toll clauses, he proceeded to call the witnesses on behalf
of his case.

THE SCOTTISH MIDLAND RAILWAY.
IMPORTANT DECISION.
The Committee reassembled this morning at eleven, and after
having deliberated for some time,
The Noble CHAIRMAN intimated to the counsel for the pro-
moters of the Bill that the Committee were of opinion that the
preamble of the Bill had been proved.
The Noble CHAIRMAN inquired whether the railway was to be
laid out as a single or a double line ?
Mr. Holm replied that the Company would be very happy to act
accoidingly as the Committee might wish. If desirable, a clause
should be inserted in the Bill for the line to be laid out as a
double line.
The Noble CHAIRMAN having intimated his approval of that
course, a clause was accordingly prepared and inserted.

ViTAILEFIELD, PONTEFRACT, AND GOOLE

RAILWAY.

The Committee resumed this morning in the Rolls' Court—Lord
Monteagle in the chair.

The examination of evidence for the promoters was taken the
first thing.

Mr. B. Denison, M.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire, said that
as Wakefield was the great corn market of the West Riding, and
as the 14nd in the district through which the railway was intended
to pass was a corn-growing country, the present railway would be
the very best for their benefit that could be constructed.

Lord Beaumont said the general feeling of his tenantry near
Snaith was in favour of the line. He had presented many pelt•
tions to the Legislature in its favour.

Mr. Creythe, a landowner, near Goole, spoke of the feeling in
favour of the Fropo.4ed railway. He himself was a director and
shareholder to a considerable extent, and he was only so because
he was convinced that the railway was the best for the purposes of
the district.

Mr. Hymen, miller, Mr. Norwood, cornfactor, Mr. Smith,
farmer, Mr. Weddel, landowner, Mr. Rouse, uf Bradford, and
Mr. Andus, of Leeds, spoke of the unanimity in favour of the line.

Mr. Harris, C.E., had examined and laid out the line, and he was
confident that no better could be found for supplying the wants of
the country. The ruling gradient was 1 in 150, and the curves
were unexceptionable. The total estimate was 365,0001., and the
works were already accepted by a contractor at that price. An
extensive coal and agricultural country would by it be laid open,
which at present was totally unprovided fur. The advantages to
Wakefield, Goole, and the intermediate towns would be incalculable.
The witness was cross-examined at great length by Mr. Hun-
YARD, but without any alteration from the statements of his exami-
nation in chief.

(LEFT BITTING. )

NOILIIVICE AIV D BRAND N- mozaznam

BRANCH.
IMPORTANT DECISION.

The Committee met at eleven o'clock

Mr. COPPOCK said he had to inform the Committee that an
arrangement had been effected between those for whom he appeared
and the promoters of the Bill, which, he believed, would be for the
interest of both. He begged, therefore, to withdraw the opposition.
Mr. Till, the secretary to the Norfolk Railway, having given
formal proof of the capital, &c.,
The CHAIRMAN declared the preamble to have been proved; and,
the clauses having been agreed to, the Co:nmittee separated.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP A.

The Committee, having adjourned from Saturday last to this
day, met this morning at their usual hour, and proceeded with the
examination of the preamble of the Bill of the
MINSTER AND DEAL LINE.

Mr. MitrinEwETHE& objected to the admission of the opposition
of Mr. Hill (on the part of certain landowners petitioning against
the line) on the ground that Mr. Curling, the solicitor who in.
strutted Mr. Hill, had received no instruction from the land-
owners whom he represented.

Mr. HILL insisted on his right to appear on the part of the
landowners alluded to.

Mr. Solly, Mr. Lee, Mr. Benil, and Mr. Kempe, the four land.
owners alluded to, were called and examined as to the na.
ture of their opposition. They stated that they had signed the
petition at the request of Mr. Curling, but had not authorised Mr.
Curling to instruct counsel or incur any expense in their names.
These witnesses severally withdrew their opposition to the Bill.
Mr. HILL crow-examined the witnesses, who then stated that Mr.
Boys, the agent of the South-Eastern Company, had induced them
to withdraw their opposition, by representing to them the expense
which they would incur by following it up.
Mr. MEattEWETHER read a letter from Mr. Curling, the late soli.
citor for the North Kent Company to Mr. Fearan, the solicitor to
the South-Eastern Company, complaining of the means taken by
the latter company to induce the petitioners to withdraw their op.
position to this Bill.
Mr. Hill was about to speak on the part of Mr. Rosignal, an-
other petitioner against the line, when
Mr. MERREWETHER said, that although Mr. Rosignal had peti.
tinned against the line, he had not been represented by counsel, and
that no person could have a locus standi before the Com-
mittee, when appearing for the first time at this
stage of the proceedings. He (Mr. Merrewether) had no
opportunity of proving that no injury was done to Mr. Rosignal's
property, which he could have proved if that gentleman had made
an appearance at an earlier stage.
Mr. HILL replied, that representing the body of petitioners, of
whom Mr. Rosignal was one, he actually represented Mr. Rosignal.
The CHAIRMAN said that there was no reason why Mr. Rosignal
should not be allowed to oppose the Bill, but that the Committee
were of opinion that this kind of opposition ought not to be con.
tinued.

Mr. HILL consented to withdraw the opposition on the part of
Mr. Rosignal.
The CHAIRMAN then declared the preamble of the Bill to be
proved. After the clauses of the Bill had been read, and the ne-
cessary alterations made,
Mr. TALBOT made a proposition on the part of the

LONDON, CROYDON, MAIDSTONE, AND
ASHFORD LINE,
to the effect that the consideration of that Bill should be postponed
to next session, in order that the Committee might have a better
opportunity of judging of the probability of the success of the at-
mospheric principle.

Some discussion ensued as to whether it was necessary to hear a
portion of the case before such an arrangement could be
made, and the room was cleared in order that the Committee might
consult on this point.

(LEFT IIITTINO.)

GROUP .X.

DIRECT NORTHERN LINE—TARRINGDON-
STREET EXT.c.NSION.
11111-ORTANT DECISION.

The Committee en these projects met this morning at the cus-
tomary hour. Present—Viscount Courtenay, Chairman, Mr.
Darby, Mr. Scrope, and Mr. B. Wall.
Previous to the resumption of evidence adduced by the London
and York line against the Farringdon-street extension,
Mr. TALBOT, Q.C., renewed the application made by Mr. Ilild-
yard yesterday afternoon on behalf of the North-Eastern and Mid-
land Companies, that a more specific arrangement should he made
respecting the time and order for hearing the evidence of those
lines rebutting that of the London and York.
Mr. DARBY wished the Learned Counsel to answer whether he
considered he had any right whatever to be heard, as the opposi-
tion of the various schemes had been by a previous decision of the
Committee amalgamated in that of the Direct Northern.
Mr. TALBOT replied that he most certainly contended for the
principle audi aileron:. partem. The London and York had
put forth a case plausible and extravagant enough, but he
would pledge himself, if permitted by the Committee,
to produce evidence which would demolish every
partical of the absurd statements put forth by his opponents, and
more especially their attempts to drag all the coal traffic of the
south upon their wholly unconnected line.
Ihe CHAIRMAN urged that during the rebutting evidence of the
Direct Northern, full consideration had been given to the effect of
the statements made respecting the traffic south of Huntingdon as
calculated to come upon the London and York line.
Mr. TALBOT, Q C., contended that such evidence was merely
trivial and indirect, elicited perhaps in the course of cross examina-
tion, but that which he would produce separately, and in the dis-
tinct character of anutieer ()nosing party, whose locus standi
had been recognised and allowed, was highly important, and he
strongly protested against an attempt to withhold from him that
right which be unquestionably possessed,