The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-17 00:00:00

answerable for the veracity of the reports of that
Board—(Laughter)—and that, furthermore, he was
prepared to defend those reports, and act as their
gladiator on the floor of this House.—(Laughter.)
This was the difficulty in which the subject was in-
volved. He had long entertained an opinion on the
subject of the private business of this House, which
he was aware was not a popular one, and whenever
he had introduced it, it had not received the slightest
support. He thought they ought gradually to take
steps towards removing the chief part of the pri-
vate business from the controul of this House.
They were approaching an era in civilization,
unlike any that had been seen before, and a whole
mass of private business poured in on them, for the
danger of which they had not provided. They had
sketched out an imperfect and hasty plan, for trusting
some of it to the Committee of the Board of Trade,
and what had been the result? Why that respect-
able gentlemen were indirectly —he might
almost say directly accused—of not discharg-
ing their duties candidly and honesty. Those
gentlemen were placed in an odious position ;
they were exposed to every random shot fired at them
by speculators, or by those who were not speculators.
lie for one would not consent to steed in such a
position, and would rather give up the post of Secre-
tary or President of the Committee than encounter
the odium it produced.—(hear.) It was said
there must be some tribunal ; but it was
impossible that with a hundred Railway
Bills before them, Hon. Members, who were occu-
pied by public business, could give up hours every
day to attend to Railway schemes in which they had
no interest whatever. What, then, was to be done ?
Let the Government, whoever it may be composed of;
boldly sketch out the plan of some open tribunal, out
of doors, where the merits of these railway schemes
could be discussed ; and he was sure that the decisions
of such a body would give more satisfaction than the
decisions of that House. The present Committee had
not sufficient time to attend to the busness thrown
upon it—all was hurry and confusion, and so great was
the pressure to get ready the plans and documents for
the last day on which they could be given in, that
several working engineers lost their health, and some
their lives, from the excessive labour; they would
never exonerate the House from suspicion of self-
interest till they remofed the control of its
private business to some other tribunal.
There were certainly difficulties attending every new
arrangement, but if they studied the credit of the
House they would lose no time in taking the question
into their serious consideration.
Mr. W. E. GLADSTONE complained that he had
been misunderstood. What he had stated was, that
if he had continued in office he should have consi-
dered it his duty, as the organ of the Board of Trade,
to defend their decisions, but he had also stated that
the Government was placed in a very different
position with regard to private Bills to that in which
I was placed with regard to public Bills. As the
organ of the Board of Trade, he should have felt it
his duty to make the best defence he could for the
decisions on private Bills, but he begged it to be dis-
tinctly understood that in that decision the Govern-
ment, as a Government, was not involved.
Lord HOWICK had not complained on that point.
What he said was, that he argued against making
the reports of that tribunal conclusive, because
they dealt with property to a much greater amount
than the judges in Westminster-hall; and he had
said that if their decisions were to be considered as
conclusive, their station ought to be one somewhat
approaching to that of the judges. He had not used
the word clerk in any offensive sense, for he believed
that that tribunal was composed of honourable men.
All he objected to was, their being permitted to deal
conclusively with such large masses of property.
Sir R. PEEL was surprised at the speech of the
Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for Taunton,
considering the experience that that Right Hon.
Gentleman had had in the Board of Trade. It ap
peered to be the impression that the Government
had assumed an authority in this matter which had
not received the sanction of the House. Now the
Executive Government had only acted in perfect con-
formity, as they thought, with the wishes of the
House of Commons. A Select Committee had
been appointed last session to consider the
mode of proceeding with regard to Railway Bills.
They were culled upon to consider if the present
mode of conducting the railway business of the
House of Commons was satifsactory or not. They
had to discuss the question of the degree of super-
vision which the Government should exercise over
these railway schemes in their early stage. They
considered that some preliminary examination
of these schemes should take place before
they wcre submittted to that House. They
said they would not discuss whether or not any
new department should be instituted for that purpose,
but they would assure them that Parliament meant
that the Board of Trade should exercise that super-
vision. If the House of Commons entertained a
different opinion, that opinion should have
been expressed at the time. It had been assured
that the Board of Trade should exercise that super-
vision, and what the Committee proposed was, that
before any Bills were submitted to Parliament, the
schemes should be submitted to a preliminary exami-
nation, leaving it to the Government, to determine
whether or not any new departments should be in-
stituted for the transaction of railway business.
The reports were only intended as guides for Parlia-
ment. On some occasions the Board reported in
favour of particular lines, and sometimes they re-
ported for postponment ; but he denied that they had
exercised any powers which were not in con-
formity jewith the powers vested in them by
the Legislature. The Committee reported in
favour of the enlarging of the railway department
of the Board of Trade, but left it to the Government
to say how it was to be organised and how it was to
be enlarged. He denied that the directions of the
Committee had not been complied with. He thought his
Right Hon. Friend had acted with propriety in de-
clining to enter into an explanation about difference
of opinion among the members of the Board, as
to the best line of railway. If differences of
opinion had, in the first instance, occurred
among the members of thh Board, as to
the best line of railway, it was quite con-
sistent that explanation and discussion might re-
concile their differences, and when all their names ap-
peared as sanctioning a report, the fact ought to be
taken to be so, and that all the members of the Board
were unanimous.
Mr. LABOUCIIERE had not complained of the
Board of Trade making these reports. WThat be
complained of was the mode in which the Board of
Trade, or the Government, thought fit to carry the
recommendations or the Committee into effect.
He had maintained, and he would still main-
tain, that the present was a most cautious
mode of proceeding, and most inconvenient to the
public service. He had expressed his opinion as to
the mode in which the Board of Trade had discharged
their duties. He would say no more than to repeat
his ( pinion that the mischief had already been done,
and that the Government had to thank itself for the
suspicions to which the prcceedings of the Board had
given rise.
Sir R. H. INGLIS thought that all that had been
said on the subject was a justification of the Govern.
ment in having appointed the five gentlemen who con-
stituted the Board.—(Hear, hear.) But hie (Sir R.
Inglis's) immediate object in rising at present was for
the purpose of making a few observations on
what had fallen from one of the acutest gentlemen in
the House, who had formerly been member forßochester.
He would ask that Hon. Member and the House did
he think it was possible that they could entertain the
idea of creating a new judicial tribunal for the inves-
tigation and determination of matters connected with
railways ?—(No, no.) And, if it was possible to do
so, would it not be actually instituting another House of
Parliament. For the decision of that new judicial
tribunal would be considered after in the House of
Commons, as if it had come from another branch of
the legislature; and it would have to be considered in
its successive stages as a Bill which came from one
House of the legislature to the other. But he thought
that the present Committee of the Board of Trade
was nearly in the situation of a grand jury. The
inquiries were ex pante ; and when the Report came
up to the Housa it was like an indictment sent from
a grand jury, having only prepared the case
for adjudication. The Report did not deprive
the House of the power of examining all the
evidence on both sides, and voting as he thought fit.
There was another observation which he had to make.
An lion. Gentleman opposite had said that the answer
of his Right Hon. Friend (Sir George Clerk) had
not been satisfactory, as respected the appointment of
some gentlemen on the Board. But it was admitted
upon all hands that those gentlemen were qualified
for the duty, and their characters were admitted by
every gentleman who spoke upon the subject to be
above suspicion.—(Hear.)

Mr. WAKLEY thought that no complaint had
been made against the Government for having insti-
tuted the railway department of the Board of Trade.
He thought it was admitted the House itself was to
blame for all that had been done.—(Hear, and a
laugh.) For all that had been said was that
the system had not worked well, and that
the Government should propose to the House to
remedy the inefficiency.—(Hear.) With respect to
the statement of the late President of the Board of
Trade, he (Mr. Wakley) thought that statement
made matters worse, when he said that if
he were in his late office still, he would stand up
in the House ar.d defend the report. Now, that
course would be taken upon the responsibility of
the report, and to give the latter the weight
of Government authority. The manlier in which the
inquiry had been conducted gave great dissatisfaction,
and the public felt that they had suffered considerable
Injury. That was the impression in the western
counties. He (Mr. Wakley) hoped that the