§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ SIR ROBERT H. INGLISexpressed his hope that this railway would be introduced into the City of Oxford in such a manner as not to endanger the accuracy of the observations taken in the Observatory there, by causing a perturbation of the soil. Many years ago the House decided that a proposed railway should not be allowed to come within three-quarters of a mile of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; but by this Bill it was proposed 199 to bring the railway within a quarter of a mile of the Oxford University; a distance over which, whatever might be the nature of the intervening soil, a considerable perturbation must be communicated.
§ MR. OLIVEIRAsaid, he could assure the hon. Baronet the Member for the University of Oxford, that he and the promoters of the Bill would consult the interest of the University of Oxford in every respect. He stated that the University authorities, as well as the municipal authorities, were favourable to the Bill; and, as a lover of science, he would be the last person to interfere in any way with so useful and valuable an institution as the Observatory.
§ Bill read 2°, and committed, and referred to the Committee of Selection.