The Earl of Besboroughbrought up the Report of the Select Committee on the Irish Great Western (Dublin and Galway) Bill, to which the petition had been referred. The Report (which the noble Earl read in a low tone at the Table) was understood to state, that it had not been the practice of this Company to require references from applicants for shares, and that allotments had been made to persons under feigned and fictitious names, and to paupers and others who had no means of paying the requisite deposits; that the system adopted was one which tended to defeat the object of Parliament in its rules on this subject, and that the reduction made last Session in the required amount of deposit had had the effect of facilitating the commission of fraud. The noble Earl concluded by moving that the Report should be printed, together with the evidence in the case, and that it should be referred to the Committee on the Bill.
Lord Broughamexpressed his belief that it would be better not to enter then into any discussion of that Report, but to wait until it was printed with the evidence, according to the Motion of his noble Friend.
§ After a few words from the Marquess of Clanricarde and the Earl of Wicklow,
§ Motion agreed to.