Lords Sitting of 2 February 1846

MINUTES.
PETITIONS PRESENTED.—From Cowick, and several other places in favour, and from John Thorp, in behalf of the Inhabitants of Oxford, for Repeal, of the Corn Laws.

PETITION OF MR. GRAHAM.
LORD BEAUMONTpresented a petition from an individual named Graham, complaining that he had been detained

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for ten days by the Sardinian Government, and praying for redress. The petitioner could assign no reason for his detention, except that his name was the same as that of the right hon. Secretary for the Home Department.

RAILWAY BUSINESS.
LORD KINNAIRDrose pursuant to Notice, to move for—
"A Return of the Amount of Fees incurred by the Introduction of Railway Bills into this House during the last Session of Parliament, and by petition against such Bills, and how applied; distinguishing those paid on each Bill."
His object, he said, in moving for these Returns was to draw their Lordships' attention, if possible, to the great expenses and great hardship attending opposition to Railway Bills when they affected private property. No man would rejoice more than himself at the spread of railways, or their advance in public opinion; but at the same time they should be carried on as much as possible without violating the rights of private property. At present, the expense of opposing Railway Bills was increased one-third by the fees of that House; indeed, the expenses attending every stage of a Railway Bill's progress were enormous. He could mention one instance of a railway in which the estimated expense of construction was 200,000 l. where all the proprietors along the line were consenting parties, and yet where, in consequence of the opposition of a competing company, the Parliamentary expenses amounted to 15,000 l. He thought, therefore, that the subject was well worthy their Lordships' consideration, and that some good might be done at that early period of the Session by the appointment of a Committee to investigate the matter. He thought that something might be done by the appointment of a Commission or Board, without at all interfering with the authority of Parliament. Some controlling authority was most necessary at present, when so many competing lines were coming into operation, and accidents more likely to happen than before. He knew that at present several accidents had occurred which were concealed by the companies, but which might be avoided by one uniform system of management. The plan he was now suggesting had been last year tried by the Commons with success. Three or four disputed cases were referred to the Board of Trade; experienced officers were appointed to examine and report, and the decision of the Board, founded on that report,
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port gave full satisfaction to the parties. Another point he thought worthy of their Lordships' attention, was that portion of the Standing Orders which led to the desecration of the Sabbath. He was not then alluding to what had taken place on the 30th of November, as he believed that was unforeseen and wholly unavoidable; but in Scotland it was imperative that railway notices should be posted on the church doors, at which for three successive Sundays the persons posting were obliged to present themselves, in order that they might swear to the fact of their being so posted. The consequence was, that during the last year all the vehicles in the country were in complete commotion for three Sundays, to the great annoyance of the people. He thought a Committee might find out a way in which much of this might be avoided. The expense of serving notices was in his opinion also needless; he thought advertisements in the public papers would be quite sufficient. There was one point on which he could not avoid attaching blame to the Government—he meant their mode of acting as regarded railway deposits. Many persons, not at all interested in railways, had been much embarrassed by the withdrawal of accommodation at the bankers, who were obliged to keep all their floating cash for the Accountant General. He could see no objection to receiving the deposits in the shape of Exchequer bills and Government securities, the object of requiring the deposit being merely to prove that the scheme was bonâ fide; and for this purpose such deposits were as good as Bank of England notes. He understood that one company would lose very largely in consequence of their being obliged to convert their Exchequer bills into cash to meet their deposits. With respect to the special subject of this Motion, he begged to mention one case, in which the expenses of the Bill being 500 l., the fees of that House amounted to 300 l. The noble Lord concluded by moving for the Returns recited at the commencement of his observations.
Motion agreed to.—Returns ordered.

AMERICAN TARIFF.
LORD MONTEAGLE, seeing the noble Earl, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in his place, begged to ask him, with reference to an important State Paper which had recently been received from the United States, and which had been quoted

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in another place, whether he had received a copy of the Report of Mr. Walker, the Secretary to the Treasury of the United States, wherein certain principles respecting free trade and the Tariff were laid down, which were of a highly enlightened character? If the noble Earl had received the Paper in question, he (Lord Monteagle) would be extremely glad, in case no objection existed on his part, that a copy of the Report of Mr. Walker should be laid on the Table of the House. There was a precedent for this course existing on the Parliamentary Journals, in the case of Mr. Carroll, which occurred during the Ministry of Mr. Canning.
The EARL of ABERDEENsaid, that the request of the noble Lord was, to say the least, of an unusual character; and he thought that, if such a practice were to be followed to any extent, that it would lead to very inconvenient consequences. He had no wish to deprive the House of any information which might be considered necessary or valuable by any one of their Lordships; and, therefore, having received a copy of the document in question, he had no objection to produce it, as it did, he was ready to admit, contain much information on the subject about to be considered by Parliament.
LORD BROUGHAMobserved, that if the document in question had been received by the noble Earl enclosed in a despatch from an accredited source in the United States, there could have been no difficulty or objection in producing it; but unless it had reached the noble Earl in an official manner, he (Lord Brougham) agreed with him there was great inconvenience in a Member of the Government being called upon to communicate such a document to the House.
House adjourned.