§ Question again proposed, "That the Bill be now read the third time."—(Sir Charles Forster.)
§ MR. C. H. WILSON, in resuming his speech, said, the Committee of the House of Commons had disallowed the locus standi of the Corporation of Hull, on the ground that they were not the Conservators of the Humber, and were therefore not entitled to be heard on behalf of the traders of the river against the Bill promoted by the Aire and Calder Canal Navigation Company. The Aire and Calder Company were the proprietors of a very successful undertaking. He was told that their £100 shares were worth £500; and it was a matter of surprise that a Corporation like that should seek, by a Bill of this nature, to obtain the power of taxing the small river craft which traded on the River Humber up to Goole. He felt convinced that if the case of the Corporation of Hull on behalf of the owners of these small vessels could have been heard by a Committee of the House of Commons, this taxing power would have been struck out of the Bill. Having made this protest, he would end with an appeal to the Aire and Calder Navigation Company not to exercise their power of levying this toll, which would be a most serious tax upon the poorer class of traders, who were entitled to their sympathy and support for the amount of traffic they brought them, instead of being subjected to the imposition, of an unfair and unjust tax. Having made this protest, he would only add that, although he had placed on the Paper a Notice of his intention to move the rejection of the Bill, as an Amendment, he did not propose to put the House to 896 the trouble of a Division, and he would therefore refrain from moving it.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Bill read the third time, and passed, with Amendments.