§ LORD LYTTELTONpresented a petition from the Booksellers of Worcester, complaining of the power excised by certain railway companies, of opening parcels, and charging separately for each enclosure; and he begged to call the attention of the noble Earl at the head of the Board of Trade, to the vexation and grievance which arose out of this practice.
§ The EARL of CLARENDONsaid, that the matter had been brought under the notice of the Board of Trade, and he had seen several persons who complained of the practice. He had the satisfaction, however, of saying that the practice was not a general one, but was confined to certain companies. The practice was certainly a very hard and a very improper one; and he had intended to call their Lordships' attention to it, in reference to a particular Bill in which such a clause was contained; but he found that the Bill had received the Royal Assent on the very day on which he proposed to bring the matter forward. He certainly felt no difficulty in expressing a strong opinion on the subject on the part of the Board of Trade. He felt it would be highly improper that railway companies should not only be allowed to charge separately for enclosed parcels, although the whole parcel was paid for by weight, but should assume, as they did, a right to open parcels to ascertain whether there was any enclosure. A case of that kind had recently been brought before a magistrate in the City; but, as in that case the company did possess under their Bill a power of preventing parcels from being enclosed, the magistrate could not give any redress. He would take care that the whole subject should be attended to; and he thought that perhaps the best way in which a remedy could be applied, would be by a Standing Order of Parliament.
§ LORD MONTEAGLEsaid, it ought not to be allowed to be supposed that in such a case Parliament would not interfere by a Bill, if necessary, for the purpose of preventing this practice. It was one which, in some instances, would be particularly inconvenient. It was well known that at certain periods literary publications were sent to the country booksellers for distribution; and it would be a great inconvenience if those parcels were opened constantly 698 under pretence of containing many separate parcels. In like manner it would produce the greatest possible inconvenience, if newspaper agents were not to send packages of newspapers, without coming within this regulation. He trusted that if it were necessary, a Bill would be carried during the present Session to prevent this practice. It was necessary that those concerned in railways should know that if an objectionable power of this nature were granted to a railway company in consequence of being overlooked by Parliament, the Legislature had a power immediately to remedy the evil.
LORD BROUGHAMsaid, that the attention of the House ought to be extended, not merely to this clause, which certainly was highly obnoxious and objectionable, but to other clauses, which the least attention would have kept out of Railway Bills. He could mention one instance of a clause in the Bill under which a particular railway company was constituted, and which clause his noble and learned Friend the late Lord Chancellor and himself could not believe possible to have been sanctioned in any Railway Bill. The clause had the effect of neither more nor less than making any copy, or any writing pretending to be a copy or statement in the company's books, evidence, without the verification by the proper officer of the company. This was not what he complained of; but it was the further provision, making any extract from the company's books—not of money they had received, because that would be properly admissible—but of money paid or stated to have been paid by them—for instance, for poor rates, for which they paid between 3,000l. and 4,000l. a year—conclusive evidence of their having paid the money. He could not have believed that such a clause would have been admitted, because it presented the means of accomplishing a direct fraud. The company would have no more to do than to get a clerk or a charity child who could write to make a copy of something which they might state was an entry; and this clause made that copy evidence of payment. He must take that opportunity of observing that there ought to be some better mode of conducting the private business of the two Houses of Parliament; and not only that, but a great improvement was required in drawing up public Bills; for a great part of the business of the Courts now was—and the Judges bitterly complained of it—to construe unconstruable 699 clauses, and to assign meanings to provisions which had no meaning at all. Suspicions did attach to the conduct of Committees upon Private Bills, which never could attach to a judicial tribunal. Something like the Resolutions he had laid before their Lordships upon a former occasion ought to be adopted; and he gave notice, that if he were spared to attend their Lordships' House next Session, he would again call their Lordships' attention to the subject.