The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-02 00:00:00

They did not take one tittle of evidence on the importance of
effecting a communication with the Thames at B ckwall, and
yet the Committee attached the greatest importance to the ter-
minus of the London and York line. When the application
was made to be heard, the Chairman told the counsel that it
was an extremely proper application, but that the Committee
could not entertain it. Even in the report, as regarded the
London and York scheme, it was clear the Committee had
heard sufficient rebutting evidence to give it clearly and fully.
None of the rebutting evidence of the Direct Northern
and Cambridge and Lincoln lines had been heard,
and this evidence was necessary, in order that the
whole bearing of the entire scheme might be properly sifted
and adjudicated upon, and thus nearly the whole of the im-
portant part of the project was altogether put out. If the
opposing lines had received fair play the traffic evidence of the
London and York Railway would have been materially
altered. This evidence was got up in so absurd and extraor-
dinary a manner that the Noble Lard thought proper to tell the
promoters of the London and York line that the Committee
could not receive their evidence as to the coal traffic as it then
stood. In consequence of this hint the amount expected to be
derived from the coal traffic was reduced from 300,000/. to
170,0001. per ennui.. If the competing lines had insisted
at an early period of the case on producing rebutting evi•
deuce, it would, perhaps, have been differently decided.
He would appeal to the House whether or not the case of the
London and York line was ripe for decision at the _present
time. He contended that the Committee had come to a de-
cision with imperfect data, and with an insufficiency of facts.
On Lord Lindsay's estate the Peterborough line had already
been sanctioned, which traversed nearly the whole of his pro-
perty, and the. Committee bad decided that for the space of a
single mile in the same field the London and York line should
cross that railway, and had decided on a line which it was
physically impossible to construct, unless another line, which
had received the Legislative sanction, was altogether abandoned.
He thought that the Committee, by the first paragraph of their
report, showed a diffidence in the decision they had come to.
They said they must come to a decision as the session was so
nearly at an end: that might be a great evil, but it was a far
greater one that the facts were net fully and completely in-
quired into. He had a perfect right to ask the House to re-
commit the Bill and suspend proceedings in the case, if

. .
it were only from the fact that important companies
had not been heard before that Committee. They would have
furnished a body of evidence against the project which would
be of the utmost importance, but they were precluded doing
so. When the London and York case had closed, an appeal

W 39 made to the chairman that they should be heard by coun-
sel, but the request was not acceded to ; and he appealed to any
Hon. Gentleman present, who had been chairman of
a Comrstittee of that House, if that refusal were not
unfair and contrary to precedent. Besides, the Committee had
not been unanimous in their decision, and it was only by the
casting vote of the chairman that the preamble of the Bill
Was affirmed. Upon these grounds he asked the House to
suspend further proceedings on this Bill.
Mr. HUTT seconded the motion, and thought the House
bad good reason to be dissatisfied with the decision of the Com-
mittee. As to the proceedings of the Committee, he did not
wonder that they felt their physical energies giving way
under the overwhelming mass of business before them : it was
scarcely to be expected that their strength should keep up
against such accumulating matters, and to that circumstance
might be perhaps attributed their unwillingness to adopt a course
more consonant with the regulations of the Howe. But to what-
ever cause it was to be attached, their proceedings were scarcely
consistent with the rules of Parliament or the justice of the
case. It was vety true that, as yet, they had not concluded
their labours, but virtually and effectually they had concluded
their labours with regard to the present Bill. The House,
. . .

when it nominated certain Members to inquire into a ease,

come to by the casting vote of the chairman. Now, with but
one exception, and that was taken by himself, all the Mem- i i
hers took the same view of the question.—( Hear.)
Now with respect to the petitions of the North Eastern Corn-
pany and that of Lord Lindsay he should direct the attention of 1
the House to them very shortly. It appeared to the Corn-
mittee, on retiring and considering the matter, that these parties
should be allowed to oppose and make a second attack out of the
Midland Companies' purse. With respect to the Swinton and
Lincoln extension of the Midlands Railway it appeared to the
Committee that it could not be considered a competing line, as
opposed to the London and York, because they entertained the
same objection to it which had weighed with the Board of
Trade—namely, that it passed round by Lincoln and Cambridge,
and could not, therefore, be considered a direct line to York.
They had also decided against the petition of Mr. Hudson on
similar grounds. He begged to say distinctly that if a Com-
mittee had not the power of deciding which competing line
they should adopt, he trusted he would never be placed on a
Committee which had to consider a group of railways. He
firmly believed that those who had not beea heard, if their evi-
dence was worth any consideration, they should still have an
opportunity of being heard.
Mr P. M. STEWART thought that the Committee had
discharged their duty in accordance with the rules of that House.
If Group X during its long sitting acted according to the prin,
ciples upon which this House wished Committees to act,
every other Committee with which he was acquainted this ses-
sien, and that which he had presided over, had acted perfectly
wrong. The practice which they observed must be sanctioned
by this House. The House should tell them the distance that
they should go, and that they should not proceed further.
But, instead of doing this, the Committee had gene on with a
whole mass of projects, and had put them all at loggerheads
together ; and, then, when this difficulty came in the way, they
saw the mistake they had made. The Committee had the
power to re-group their Bills, and other Committees having
done that, the business became easier.
Mr. DARBY made an observation across the table which
was not heard'in the gallery.
Mr. STEWART continued by saying, that the Committee
had not heard the different projects separately and distinctly,
and the result of their mode of proceeding was, that they had
shut oat a great deal of rebutting evidence. He had no doubt
but that the Committee believed that they were doing e hat
was right, and had adopted the course which they conceived
hest ; but, still, if they had re- grouped the Bills as they had
the power to do, and as other Committees had done, much of
the labour and difficulty would have been avoided• He
did not mean to enter upon a discussion of the merits of the
line, for he knew nothing of them ; but he did think that
another course ought to have been adopted in reference to the
, mode of hearing the evidence. He had a great respect for the
Committee. and was aware of the labours they had endured ;
but he should again say that his opinion was that they had
adopted a wrong course.
. Mr. P. SCROPE said he would wish to say a few words in
explanation. The Committee bad made the best decision they
could on thC Bills given to them to dispose of ; but it should
be recollected, that they were involved in great difficulty by
t means of the enormous mass of evidence laid before them.—

He had stated that there was no security for life or property
in'any part of the kingdom, but these depredations had not been I
confined to Greece and Greek subjects, but the same system of
rapine hid been pursued on the frontiers, of which the in-
habitants of Turkey were the sufferers. Those who were the
defendants of Greece had a right to say that the Greek Go-
vernment should abstain from these proceedings. He might
be told that these depredations arose from conflicts in Greece
between the Russian, French, and Englishparties in that coun-
try. He took this for certain, that as for an English party
there never had been, there never could be, and there never
would be in Greece, any more than in any other country in
the world, an English party. They wanted no party in any
country, and the English party in Greece—that which was
called an English arty in Greece—was that which was an
English party:in Spain, and in every other country with which
they had any relation. It was a national party—it was a party
that looked alone to the interest of Greece, and it was only for
the interest of foreign countries that they could have any
motive for supporting or assisting in their relations
with them. What earthly advantage could they ex-
pect or hope to obtain from Greece? The only
interest England could have was, to give such support and
confideoce as they could afford to parties in foreign countries
who were best calculated and most disposed to promote the wel-

( Hear.) He would just ask the House to look at the map,
which was more like a spider's web, and say if it did not preient
an amount of difficulty not easily disposed of. However, it
would be seen by the map, that all those other lines were com-
peting lines with the London and York line, and they all had
the benefit of cross-examina,ion ; but there was such a vast
mass of it, that the rebutting evidence was not gone into, and
the Committee conceived they had heard quite enough of the
evidence.

necessarily required that some report should be presented
on each particular Bill, but at the present moment
several Bills had been disposed of without a hearing or the
slightest consideration, as much as if they had never appeared
betore the Committee at all. For these reasons he considered
it his duty to support the motion of his Hon. Friend for the re-

prosperity, and political independence of Greece. It was
slit that there was some struggle between the parties he had
alluded to. Alavrocordxto was supposed to be the represen-
tative of the English party. But he was sure that he would re-
pel with disdain any imputation of that kind. Colletti may also
think that he is promoting the interest of Greece in driving
the Greeks to despair by creating discontent and dissatisfaction.
This state of things would make a man believe that Greece was
unfit fur a constitutional Government, and one might be in
duced to think that an arbitrary power was the only go-
vernment applicable to the state of Greece. Such an opi-
nion was totally unfounded. He could not believe that
the Government of France could rely perfectly on the
views which alone appeared to him an explanation of the
conduct of Colletti. What benefit could France derive in
crushing the interests of Greece, when its position enabled it
to support that country? Greece could never become formid-
able among the powers of Europe : her size, her population,
and her position, prevented her. She never could be any•
thing but. a small, a prosperous, and a commercial country,
iceh, Who attached such a
, must feel a sympathy
sw, hroi cnhg shfeeeyi
ientgw
toouldcobnes.t t
uTt
ihoen
aFre l l
brty
with the people of Greece. He would urge her Majesty's Go-
vernment, therefore, to appeal to the French Government on
this question. It appeared that horrible cruelties were now
going on in Greene,.and he 'would,remidd theM of the obliga-
tions which France, as well as England, contracted with re-
gard to that country. If they could:onlyi set aside those little
petty jealousies, and these local vanities, as to whom may be
the Minister in that country, and if they would but unite in a
fixed determination that order ,hould be established in Greece,

Mr. R. COLLETT thought the Committee should not have
declared the preamble of the Bill proved, but should have sus-
pended the inquiry until next session.
The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the motion
For the amendment
Majority

~. -60

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 2, 181).

GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY.
THE ANNUAL MEETING.
FROM OUR OWN REPORTER.)
. LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
This afternoon the annual general meeting of the Proprietors
of the above Company was held at the Cotton Sales-room in the
Exchange, in this town.
John oss, Esq., Chairman of the Directors, took the chair.
The Secretary ( Capt. Huss) then read the advertisement
by which the meeting had been convened; aft& which he read
the report, from which it appeared that the income had been as
follows:—
Coaching, carriages, horses, parcels, and
mails, including proportion of traffic from
the Manchester and Birmingham COM,
piny .... ......£151,199 6 10
Goods, including live stock, toll on coals, and
proportion of Manchester and Birmingham
t raffic ......
Rents and interest ...

£22,',326 4 4
That the Company have conveyed 90,500 passengers and
2.5,000 tons of goods more than in the first six months of 1814:
That the expense of conducting the traffic has been
96,6361. 15s. 104., leaving a net profit of 129,6891. Bs. 6d. on
the half year, being 18,5681. 19s. 9d. more than at the same
period last year :
That from the net i rr.fit of the half-year the Directors reeom.
mend that the usual dividend of 51. per share (21. las. having
already been paid f, r the first quarter) In.. nvw declared, and
that the surplus of 15,7961. Is. 6d. be carried forward to the
Reserved Fund, or " Rest," which will then amount t 045,4731.
6s. 3d., and added to the Depreciation Fund, present a total

balance of 64,008/. tti. 10d.
That the company's working stock of every kind is in the
highest state of efficiency, and that they have been enabled to
meet the increased demands upon them without difficulty, or in
any degree impairing their character for speed and punctuality.
They have to report that they have entered into a contract with
the Lancaster and Carli,le Company to supply them with en-
gines, carriages and waggons for a period of years, and they
consider that much benefit may arise to both companies from
this arrangement. In order to fulfil their engagements, it has
become necessary to make some additimis (not of a very ex-
tensive character) to their manufactory at Crewe.

The report then proceeds—
The session of Parliament now closing has been one of un-

usual interest to all parties connected with'r.a iluNouidertakings.
The various uojects affecting the Grand Junctiou
quired the unceasing attention of the Directors; .and-- their
anxiety was increased by the adverse decisions of the Board of
Trade. It is with regret that the Directors refer to the
failure of their negotiations with the London and Birming-
ham Company ; they had not ceased to anticipate a
favourable issue, until all hope of adjustment was finally
dissipated by the unexpected union, in. February last,
between the London and Birmingham, the Manchester and
Birmingham, the Trent Valley, and Churnet Valley Compa-
nies. With the Directors of the Manchester and Birmingham

Company the Thard was, at the time, on the most friendly
terms ; they had no intimation of any intended change, nor of
the slightest dissatisfaction with their mutual arrangement ; an
arrangement Which fur eighteen months has had the effect of
transferring to the Manchester and Birmingham Company,
from the proceeds of the Grand Junction Line, a net annual sum
of from 12,0001. to 15.0001., and investing that Board with the
entire control and management of their own traffic over the
Grand Junction Line. The Directors offer no remarks on the

course adopted by the Manchester and Birmingham Board in
thus abruptly thstolving their friendly relations with the Grand
Junction. They thought then, and still think, that the wi'rer-
ment was a mo,t favourable one for the Manchester and Bir-
mingham Company; but as that Company entered into con-
tracts with other parties, altogether incorpistent with their

agrecrnent, it only remained for —the Directors to give them no-
tice that it would cease on the Ist of May last ; and acting