The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-05 00:00:00

THE POST-OFFICE INQUIRY.

The Earl of RADNOR laid on the table a Bill relating
to the unconstitutional conduct of the Secretary for the
Home Department. Ile did not understand why that
Secretary was under any necessity to be the agent of
Foreign Powers.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said that he thought
it would be better to postpone any discussion till a future
stage.

The conversation then dropped.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE presented a peti-
tion from holders of Church property, complaining of
certain acts of the Church Commissioners. The IN oble
Marquis insisted that the Legislature had no more right
to interfere with property of this kind than with an
other property.

(LEFT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)
The House resumed at Five o'clock.
NOTICES OF MOTION.

Mr. HAWES gave notice that next session he should
move for certain returns relating to savings banks. Also
for a Committee to inquire whether the Royal Academy
had been favourable or prejudicial to the progress of the
fine arts in this country ; and also for a Committee to in-
quire into the proceedings of the Trinity-house, Deptford,
Stroud, and how far they had carried out the recom-
mendation'of that House made in 1834.

Lord WORSLEY gave notice, that next session he
should move for leave to bring in a Bill to facilitate the
enclosure of commons.
PRIVATE BILLS.
Mr. GLADSTONE then rose, for the purpose of
bringing forward the motion of which he had given
notice some days ago, and which he hoped would meet
with the general approbation of the House. The mo-
tion was founded on the recommendations of the
Select Committee on railways. It went beyond these
recommendations because the functions of the Select
Committee were confined to Railway Bills. It was
found desirable to apply the same principle which had
been applied to Railway Bills to private Bills of
other descriptions. The present measure was in order
to establish greater certainty and uniformity with re-
spect to the law on this subject, and to make
it more acceptable and intelligible to the public.
It would also convenience those who introduced Bills
into the House, because it would enable them to shorten
those Bills. The clauses of the model Bill were about
350, and all Railway Bills which passed that House
contained from 300 to 400 clauses. The expense a
printing and engrossing those Bills cost a considerable
sum of money. He did not propose that those Bills
should pass into a law during the present session—
(Laughter.) He would not have the courage to make
such a proposition at the present period of the session,
but it was desirable to have them printed, so that the
attention of the parties, Parliamentary agents, and
others interested in these Bills, might have their
attention drawn to them. By having the Bills printed,
they would, if susceptible of improvement, have the
best advice and the soundest suggestions on the
subject, and at the opening of the next session they
could pass those Bills at once, so that the private Bills
of the next session might derive the advantage of the
improvement. The advantage of those Bills would be
that instead of consisting of 300 or 400 clauses, the
number of clauses would now be reduced to a moderate
number of intelligible ones. He would now state what
those Bills contained. The three Bills he proposed tt,
lay on the table of the House comprised the whole of
the Model Bill, as to its substantial enactments. But
they broke up the subject matter of it into three parts,
because it had reference to the three classes of under-
takings. The first Bill he proposed was a Bill which
would apply, when it became a general Act, to all pri-
vate Bills that might be introduced into the House
for the purpose of incorporating trading companies.
In the second, he intended to include all thost
provisions with respect to companies not merely seeking to
be incorporated but requiring compulsory powers to pur-
chase and hold lands. This Bill would include railway,
harbour, canal, and gas Bills, which require compulsory
powers. With regard to the third Bill, that would be
still more restrictive in the range of private Bill
to which it would be applicable. This Bill would
specifically correspond with the recommendation of the
Railway Committee. •It would be applicable in its pro-
visions to Railway Bills, in respect to those features
which belonged to them exclusively, and not in common
with :other Bills for the execution of public works.
Having described the general purview of those Bills,
he had to say that in the first Bill, he did not
mean to propose anything worth mentioning.
except what was already in the Model Bill. In the
second Bill he proposed to introduce an enactment which
had been frequently recemmended to Government—
namely, the introduction of an exceptional provision
in the present law which provides for the compensation
for lands by reference to a jury. Now he proposed
that where the value of the land in question was
not more than a certain amount-1,0001., the
parties might have the option of settling the question by
arbitration. He did not take it from the jury as a matter
of course, but it would be optional for eitheraof the parties
to remove it from a jury and refer it to another tribunal.
It happened, singularly enough, that the proposition had
often been made to them both from railway companies
and from landed proprietors, that they should be allowed
to submit these small valuations to arbitration. He, there-
fore, proposed to insert in the Bill a proposition to
this effect. In the third Bill he proposed to add a
second proposition, giving a discretionary power to
the Government and the Board of Trade, of allow-
ing certain deviations in engineering works from the
prescribed models, in cases where it was proved
this could be done with increased advantage to the
public, and without any detriment to private rights.
In consequence of the advanced state of science, the
estimates for public works could now be made
with greater accurateness than they could be
a few years ago. Another very important
matter he proposed to include, was a general provision
with regard to what was called the equal rates clause.
At present there was not a perfect uniformity of privi-
lege as between the different railway companies
as to the power of varying their charges.
Some companies had no power of varying
the rates of their fares at all ; others had the power to do
so, provided the rate was made uniform throughout the
whole of the company's line. That clause was
now subject to some ambiguity. They could not
devise a clause that should exactly define the
rate in all cases, but it was obviously a subject of great
importance and great difficulty. Sometimes it was for
the interest of the public that there should be a power
of varying the rates. At present, in some cases,
it might be varied, but only to a rate that should be
equal and uniform all along the line, though it might
be more advantageous to have a lower rate along one
part of the line than along another. He therefore pro-
posed to insert a clause giving power to make these
variations with those exceptions and reservations in cases
which experience had shown ought to be so limited. The
lower to vary the rates applied also to the carriage
of goods, but also with certain restrictions: He did not
think there was any other particular which he had to
mention to the House, and he therefore simply begged
to move his propositions, and also to propose a slight
alteration in the title of the Bill.
Mr. HUME wished to know whether any power was
taken by Government of interfering with the accommo-
dation for third-class passengers. It was quite a
disgrace to Parliament to sanction a monopoly
which obliged the poorer class to stand like
cattle, exposed to the air. It was impossible to see a
railroad, without feeling ashamed of this conntry, as
compared with Belgium and other continental countries.
Mr. GLADSTONE would not say that this might
not be a fit matter for consideration at some other time,
but he did not think it a proper occasion, when they
were dissussing the general principles of railway mat-
ters.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME asked whether any power had been given
by the Bill which had been passed in that House, of re-
fusing the remission of the taxation of 5 per cent., when
the accommodation provided for third-class passengers
was not considered sufficient?
Mr. GLADSTONE said he believed that under this
Bill a discretionary power of that kind was vested in the
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
Leave was also given to bring in a Bill for consoli-
dating in one Act certain provisions usually inserted in
Acts of Parliament, authorising the taking of lands for
undertekingS Of A public nature.