HL Deb 03 May 1836 vol 33 cc511-4
The Marquess of Londonderry

rose for the purpose of putting a question to the noble Marquess opposite (Lansdowne), and he trusted that he would be afforded the information which he sought. In the peculiar situation in which he stood he thought he had a right to know from his Majesty's Government what intentions they had respecting the money which had been advanced in the support of some of those numerous railway speculations which were now before the public. He wished to be informed by the noble Lord what chance there existed of realising the money which had been advanced by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners to the projectors of the Clarence Railway? He had received a letter from a most respectable party in the north, an extract from which, referring to the Clarence Railway, he would read for their Lordships. It was to the following effect:—"The Clarence are dying. They depend on a Bill now in Parliament. Government will lose the major part of the money. The London stock-jobbers and Jews are trying a desperate game. If they get the Bill it is to be amended next year, and taken to Hartlepool from Walviston-lane. They oppose the South Durham going to Hartlepool, wanting that line to stop at the Clarence, and travel down it. One amendment is wanted next year to go through Sir R. Edwin's plantations and freehold land, near his house; one of the shareholders say so. Where they may end nobody can tell. It is a London job, and puffed up to job on, and cheat the unwary. Look at the state of the company—nearly all their works are standing still. They undertook to make two or three branches, which they have not yet begun, and never will. They took the Durham people in with pretending to go to Durham, and never meant it. Let them make their branches." He would next refer to another document, which he held in his hand, relating to the same subject. It purported to be a minute of the proceedings of a special general meeting of the proprietors of the Clarence Railway Company, held on Tuesday, the 8th of March, 1836, at the George and Vulture Tavern, St. Michael's-alley, Cornhill, London. At this meeting forty-five gentlemen attended, most of them, if not all, belonging to the city of London. At this meeting the secretary read two letters from Mr. Brickwood, secretary to the commissioners for the loan of Exchequer Bills, of the 18th ult. and the 5th instant; the former calling the attention of the Committee to the arrear of principal and interest due to the Commissioners, the latter stating that unless the Company could show a decided prospect of realising the funds necessary for the entire completion of the railway, and carrying on a productive traffic within a reasonable period, the Commissioners would feel compelled to take such measures as would be most effectual to recover the public money advanced. He wished to know whether the Government had followed up this application from the Exchequer Loan Commissioners? The noble Lord opposite was bound to state what the chances of recovering this money were. If the Exchequer Loan Commissioners went so far as to take the concern into their own possession for the payment of this money it was worth their serious consideration how far encouragement was given in that way to stock-jobbing and fraudulent speculations. He wished the Government would be explicit on the subject, in order that the public should be made acquainted with the chances that existed of recovering the money that had been advanced in aid of these speculations.

The Duke of Cleveland

felt bound to make an observation after what had fallen from the noble Marquess opposite. He had taken a part in the Committee in favour of this railway when it was first projected. He had no personal concern whatever in the railway, but he had felt at the time that it held out a fair prospect of being a profitable concern to the projectors as well as of being useful to the public. He understood that this railroad was not succeeding; and he was bound to say, in justice to the noble Marquess opposite, that he had opposed it from the outset. However, though the main line might not be successful, he (the Duke of Cleveland) understood that several of the branches of the Clarence railway would yield a profitable return. With respect to the proposed continuation of the line to Hartlepool, to which line the noble Marquess had alluded, he thought that would be important in a national point of view. Hartlepool might hereafter become an important port; besides, the carrying on the line to Hartlepool and improving the harbour there would afford great advantages in the supply of coal to the city of London.

The Marquess of Lansdowne

had no local knowledge whatsoever of that part of the country which had been referred to, neither did he possess any official information on the subject to which the observations of the noble Marquess applied. The Commissioners of the Exchequer loans were acting under the authority of an Act of Parliament, and were responsible for their acts. He presumed that they bad not acted without due caution, and that they had obtained sufficient security for the money they had advanced. The Act of Parliament under which their powers were defined entitled them to come and ask the opinion of his Majesty's Government whenever any difficulty or doubt should arise to render it necessary for them to do so. They had not come to ask any opinion from the Government on this subject, and he presumed that they felt it unnecessary. Having made the advances he was quite sure they would take the most effectual means to secure the repayment of the money; and if they thought that the interests of the public would be best secured by taking the concern into their own hands he had no doubt that they would do so.

The Marquess of Londonderry

would not make any further observations upon the subject. He differed in the opinion which the noble Duke had expressed with respect to the advantage of establishing a harbour at Hartlepool. The object could not be effected without the expenditure of an immense sum of money, and at the end it would never realise the expectations that had been formed of it. He had brought the subject forward with a view of exposing to the country the system of stock-jobbing which was going on, particularly in the county of Durham, in speculations in railways.