HC Deb 26 July 1859 vol 155 cc459-61

Order for considering the Lords' Amendments read.

Amendment (Clause A.) read.

MR. WHALLEY

said, he rose to move an Amendment. The Bill proposed to make a railway from Ruabon to Llangollen, and in its course would pass through ornamental ground—a park belonging to himself, He had opposed the Bill by counsel both in this and the other House of Parliament, and in the Committee of the House of Lords an Amendment had been intro- duced, ostensibly to protect his interests, which really would afford him no protection whatever,

Amendment proposed, to add at the end thereof, the words, Provided nevertheless, That, except for the construction of a double line of Railway, the Company shall not take in such properties, of either of them, any land, except such as shall be certified by the Board of Trade to be necessary for works actually required by the Company for the purposes of the traffic upon the Railway.

MR. HENEAGE

said, he wished to state that as one of the Committee which had considered this Bill he saw no objection to the proposed addition.

COLONEL WYNNE

observed that he would resist the proposed addition, on the ground that the matter had been fully inquired into.

MR. MASSEY

said, he thought it was not the practice of the House to revise the proceedings of its Select Committees, for to do so would take away all confidence in the decisions of those bodies.

LORD ROBERT CECIL

said, he wished to call attention to a point of interest. The hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Whalley) had admitted that he had a personal interest in the subject under discussion. It was a rule of the House that no hon. Member could vote on any matter in which he had a personal interest. That being so, he would ask was it competent for the hon. Member to make a Motion in such a case?

MR. SPEAKER

said, there certainly was a rule of the House by virtue of which the hon. Member for Peterborough could not vote upon a subject in which he was personally interested, and he had received an intimation from the hon. Member that it was not his intention to vote upon the question. There was also a rule that hon. Members could not present petitions from themselves to that House, and it was certainly not at all in the ordinary course of proceeding that a matter of immediate personal interest should be conducted by the hon. Member actually interested; but, with the reservation of not voting, he (Mr. Speaker) could not say there was anything absolutely out of order in the course taken by the hon. Member for Peterborough.

MR. WHALLEY

said, he wished to explain that in moving himself in this matter he acted on the advice of his Parliamentary agents, who had cited high precedent for that course. In adopting it he did not do so for the purpose of influencing the House to a greater extent than they would be under other circumstances, but because he thought it would be more respectful to move the Amendment himself.

Question put "That those words be there added."

House divided: —Ayes 69; Noes 148: Majority 79.

Lords' Amendment agreed to.