§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, he rose on the part of the Committee appointed by the House to consider the amalgamation of railways, to move the Motion of which he had given notice. It was the object of the Committee, who were about to examine on the next day the first witness upon the subject referred to them, to insure to the House the greatest possible benefit from their inquiry, and not to compromise the perfect freedom of the House in dealing with the subject, and at the same time to inflict upon those whoso Bills would be delayed a short time in consequence of the pendency of the inquiry as little inconvenience as possible; and upon the result of that examination the Committee came to the conclusion, that if they permitted parties to read their Bills a second time before Easter, so long before Easter that the time required by the Standing Orders for the presenting of petitions against such Bills would have expired before the Easter recess, and that the parties promoting the Bills would, therefore, be able to go into Committee on those Bills immediately after the Easter recess, the amount of inconvenience would, in his opinion, be the smallest possible. With regard to the proceedings of the House, the Committee came to the conclusion that the inconvenience would be next to nothing. There was, however, one inconvenience to which the promoters of Bills would be subject, namely, that parties desirous of opposing Bills would obtain a little longer time to make up their minds to petition. The Committee were desirous of obviating that objection if they could; but upon the examination of the gentlemen before them, and a full consideration of the case, they 123 came to the conclusion that they would be exposing themselves to the risk of inflicting on persons in the country governed by a knowledge of the Standing Orders very great injustice and inconvenience, if they made any further concessions to the promoters of Bills. Guided by these principles—considering that they ought not on any account to compromise the perfect freedom of the House—and feeling the importance of the subject referred to the Committee, they felt they had no alternative before them in the discharge of their duty than to ask for some limited postponement of the second reading of Bills, and they came to the unanimous conclusion that the particular proposal which he was about to make would subject the promoters of Bills to the smallest amount of inconvenience. This being the unanimous decision of the Committee, he trusted that the House would consider that he was only discharging a public duty, and would give him their general support. Since he came into the House he had been requested to add some words to the Motion, which he had taken upon himself to do without consulting the Committee, and the responsibility of which he was prepared to take upon himself. It appeared that some of the Bills contained clauses for amalgamation or combination in conjunction with other clauses more important, and that the promoters would be willing to abandon the amalgamation clauses rather than incur any risk with regard to the more valuable parts of the Bill. He thought it perfectly safe to admit that exception to the rule, being desirous of not inflicting upon parties any inconvenience which could be avoided. It had also been suggested that some difficulty might arise as to the technical distinction between the connecting of Railway Bills and the connecting of Railway and Canal Bills. It appeared to him that the words he was about to move would include both classes of Bills. The Resolution which he intended to move was—
That no Railway or Canal Bill containing any powers of Amalgamation, Lease, Working Arrangement, or other combination of interest between different Companies, be read a second time before the 14th day of March next, unless the parties interested in promoting such Bill shall elect to proceed with the same on the terms of striking out in Committee all such powers aforesaid.
§ MR. FORBES MACKENZIEsaid, he wished to know whether that notice would apply to Bills brought in during the present Session forming new companies, which 124 could not become companies until their incorporation by Act of Parliament?
§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, that certainly was his intention. He conceived that a Bill intended to create a combination of interests between two new companies was included within the words; but if there was any doubt on the subject, he should be happy to introduce words to make the Resolution more explicit.
§ MR. JAMES MACGREGORsaid, he believed that the greatest benefit would result to the railway interest from the inquiry now placed in the hands of the Committee. The railway interest was now so extensive and complicated, that nothing short of Imperial legislation could put it to rights, or do justice to the body of railway proprietors. He fully concurred in the suggestion of the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade.
§ COLONEL FORESTERbegged to inquire if the right hon. Gentleman would consent to add to his Motion the words "if required so to do?"
§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, the question had been very fully discussed by the Committee, and they considered that they would be wanting in their duty if they permitted a second reading affirming a principle of any combination to be once passed, before the House was in full possession of the proceedings instituted by the Committee. He thought the addition which he had already made calculated to meet every reasonable wish on the part of the promoters of Bills.
§ Motion agreed to.