§ This Bill was read a third time.
§ On the Motion that the Bill do pass,
§ MR. WYLDwas anxious to call the attention of the House to the manner in which this Railway Bill was framed. It appeared to him to be like the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out. It was proposed to postpone the railway works for two years. He trusted that long before then the Railway Committee would be prepared to present a measure to the House that should relieve a large body of railway shareholders from the contracts into which they had, unfortunately, entered. Having 1067 himself been very largely interested in railway matters, he considered himself qualified to give an opinion as a practical man on the subject. If the railway companies, under this Act, should call upon the shareholders to pay up their calls, it would involve nine-tenths of them in bankruptcy and ruin. A very large portion of the subscribers belonged to the middle and mercantile classes, especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Circumstances for the last two years had been such that the profits on trade had fallen very considerably; so that those who had entered into these contracts upon the assumption that trade and commerce would have gone on in the usual course, would now be wholly unprepared to meet any calls that might be made upon them. The present Bill proposed to postpone the railway works for two years; but what manufacturer or tradesman would endure having so heavy a responsibility hanging over his head for so long a period? They would prefer seeking relief in the Insolvent or Bankruptcy Court. If the Government, therefore, would bring forward a measure to relieve the companies from the obligation of carrying on their works, they would confer a great been on the community, and relieve many who had now their money locked up in these companies.
§ Bill passed.