SECOND READING. (Hansard, 6 May 1867)

§ MR. MONSELL
said, that the object of the Bill was to enable the laying down in Ireland, under the direction of the Board of Trade, of local lines of railways.

§ MR. STEPHEN CAVE
said, that he could not oppose the second reading of a Bill which was brought in with such authority, and which had already passed 69 the House in its present shape after revision by a Select Committee. At the same time, the House should know, especially as there was no discussion on the subject last year, that the provisions of the Bill were far in advance of existing legislation. By the Railway Construction Facilities Act of 1864, the Board of Trade was authorized to grant a certificate for the making of a railway, provided all parties whose land was to be taken consented, and no railway company whose interest might be affected objected. The present Bill allowed lands to be taken compulsorily, by order of the Grand Jury, and enjoined the Board of Trade—which he was sorry to say had been substituted for the Irish Board of Works, and which he thought the less appropriate tribunal of the two—to decide not only on the general merits of the scheme, but also to inquire whether it would injuriously compete with existing or authorized railways. A similar provision was contained in a Bill for England now before the House, proposing to substitute the Board of Trade for Parliamentary tribunals, and give an executive department legislative functions which it neither could nor ought to exercise. There was, as far as he could see, no appeal from such decisions; whereas in the Act of 1864 the certificate was for six weeks liable to be annulled by Parliament. There had been apprehensions expressed as to the danger of running locomotives on these lines, along public roads, which, however, seemed to be thought little of by the Irish authorities, who ought to be the best judges. He trusted the Bill would be well considered in Committee.

§ MR. LAWSON
said, that the Bill in this respect merely proposed that the machinery for superintending the making of a railroad should be the same as that which now kept an eye on the making of roads.