§ Lord R. Grosvenor, as we understood, wished to know why passengers were excluded from travelling by certain lines of railroad on which the mails were carried. For instance, persons going to Dublin were obliged to go round by Warrington to Liverpool, while the mails were sent by a shorter route. He wished to know whether the Board of Trade had not the power of remedying the evil.
§ Mr. Sheilthought that passengers had a right to be conveyed by the shortest route; but he would make enquiry on the subject, and answer the noble Lord on Monday.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, 1577 the point had been raised in regard to other parts of the country, besides that alluded to by the noble Lord, and he apprehended that, though by law the Government had power to compel railway proprietors to forward the mails, they had no power to oblige them to carry passengers.
§ The House then adjourned.