§ Order for Consideration read.
§ MR. WARTONsaid, that before the Bill was considered, he wished to say that he had felt it a public duty to call attention to this Bill on the second reading. The opposition which he had then offered had been still further confirmed since. In support of the statement he had made on the second reading he had now received a further Petition, signed by 1,090 of the ratepayers of Bristol, which he held in his hand. This was in addition to a Petition with 5,600 signatures, lodged in the Private Bill Office, and another Petition, bearing 1,500 signatures of ratepayers and owners of property, which he had presented on the second reading. Consequently, more than 8,000 of the ratepayers of Bristol had adopted this method of expressing their opposition to the Bill, having been deprived of the opportunity of being heard at the general meeting, and of stating their grievances, owing to the violence of a number of persons, who, he presumed at the instigation of the Dock Company and of others who were interested in the Bill, interrupted the proceedings and overawed the meeting. The result had been that the opponents had had no opportunity of stating their case, and they felt that they had been very unfairly and unjustly treated by the Corporation in the matter. He had no wish to occupy the time of the House further. The docks which were to be taken over by the town were incomplete, and would not afford accommodation for vessels of more than 3,000 tons; and hitherto they had never been made to pay. He believed the proposal to purchase these docks to be a gigantic job. It was altogether wrong that a Corporation should be allowed to trade in this manner, and this particular trading concern had never yet been prosperous, nor would it prosper in the future. The enlargement of the docks would necessitate going down into the solid rock, and would, consequently, entail an enormous expense; and for all these reasons—although, perhaps, it might be a profitable transaction to those who sold the undertaking 87 to the Corporation, it would remain a standing charge upon the ratepayers of Bristol. Perhaps his predictions, like those of Cassandra, would be disregarded; but for all that they would be fulfilled. Out of respect and consideration for the House, and for the Committee who had been deluded by the arts and wiles of the promoters into passing the Bill, he would not divide the House; but he had pleasure in recording his strong protest against the measure, and the expression of his conviction that the time would come when the ratepayers of Bristol would understand the matter a great deal better than they appeared to do now.
§ Bill, as amended, considered.
§ Clause added.
§ Amendments made.
§ Ordered, That Standing Order 243 be suspended, and that the Bill be read the third time To-morrow.—(Sir Charles Forster.)
§ MR. WARTONsaid, he rose to present the Petition presented against the Bill by the 1,090 ratepayers of Bristol to whom he had referred in his remarks.
§ MR. SPEAKERI must remind the hon. and learned Member, that if the Petition relates to a Private Bill, he will not be in Order in presenting it to the House. Petitions against Private Bills are lodged in the Private Bill Office.