The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-04-28 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.7-TriunsnAy._

The lions,- a'srmbled at the usual hour, and after the
presentation of petitions, &c., the resolutions anon the

RAII.WAY POLICY OF SIR ROBERT PEEL
was brought torward by the ri:,ht hinourab e baronet.
After giving the house an account of the amount of ca-
pital invested in railroad companies during the years 1844
and 1815, he observed that the principal reasons which in-
duced him to submit his present proposition to Parliament
were, first, the enormous amount of capital which must
be locked up in these enterprises during the present ses-
sion ; secondly, the increased cost cf con-trust ng rail-
ways, in consequence of the great rise in price of many
of the articles necessary to their construction ; and
third:y, the great difference in the value of those schemes
at the present moment There was al-o a fourth reason,
not alt ge,her undeserving the attention of the house ;
namely. at- anxious desire of many persons to relieve
themselves from these engagements. In the present state
of the law as to inchoate railroad companies, it was not
surprising that such a desire should exist. Tne powers of
provisional committees we e very great, and there was at
present no if wive control over them. A fifth reason
was the strange ma, oeuvres which had been empinyea for
" rigging the market," of wh ch he gave several in-
stances, which would have been ludicrous had it not
been for their deplorable results. He could easily be-
lieve that it might be necessary, heresf er, for Parlia-
ment to hare those transactions for the guidance of
parties engmzing in similar enterprises; but the mea-
sure which he now proposed would only interfere with
the ra lroad bills of the present s-ssion. He then
described the existing regulations re.pecting railroad bids,
and the alterations which his resolutions would make in
them. Though he doubted whether his proposition would
have been wed received at an earlier period of the session,"
he trusted that the experience which the house had ac
writ, d in the interim would now lead to iis favourable
reception. That proposition threw no arbitr try obstacles
in the way of those who wished to proceed with their
pri.jects ; but it gave those who now saw the effect of
their imor evident speculations the means of retiring from
them. Many hilts which were entirely unopposed would
not be t ff.mted by it ; but, in the large maj.irtty of cases,
the power of stopping their progress would be eminently
beneficial to individuals. For instance, there was one
valley within 25 miles of the metropolis, through which
it was now proposed to run no less than eleven railroads.
Eleven bills for that object were then before the house.
Parliament could not give its assent to more than one of
them ; arid that was in itself a sufficient reason for giving
the si.eculators a legislative power of dissolving their
companies, and discontinuing their bills if they thought
fitting. In conclusion, he stated that he made this pro-
position, which would be simultaneously submitted to the
Other house of parliament, because he thought that with-
out the intervention of government, much mischief would
arise, and that by its intervention much mischief would
be prevented.
Mr. F. FFRFNCR hoped that the holders of shares and
scrip in Irish ra lroad companies, whose bills were then
before the Boost of Lord., w toll not he placed, by these
resolutions, in any situation of peculiar hardship.
Mr. Bernal. the Solicitor General, Mr. Hudson, and
several others approved of the measure, and a'ter a few
words from Lord G. Bentinck, condemning the govern-
ment for havint prompt d railway speculation, Mr. T.
buncombe proposed a series of resolutions which the hon.
member promised would probe railway malversation to
the bottom.

The government revolutions were then adopted, as were
those proposed by Mr. Duncombe, with some verbal
amendments.

The first six of Mr. Duncombe's resolutions referred to
the production of all docinnews.
7. The amount of shares retained by or for the pro-
Visional et,mmittee.
" 8. The amount of subscriptions actually paid up by
such provi-ion4 committee, and the Dumber of shares
now hell by them.
" 9. The original subscribers' agreement signed by the

allot es -s.
" 10. A statement of the amount of money in hand, to