the buildings there erected? He should cost of the portion of the building which also like to have an answer to a Question was to be occupied by the Foreign Office which he had asked when those buildings was £250,000, and the cost of the site were first projected—namely, how the £89,000. The new Foreign Office would buildings in Downing Street were to be contain accommodation for the clerks emjoined to the new buildings? He thought ployed in the Department, and for the it would be extremely difficult to make a papers belonging to the Office, which were good junction between them, and that the formerly kept in the State Paper Office; and result when the work was completed would the necessary arrangements for printing be eminently unsatisfactory. What, again, and other matters connected with the Dewas proposed to be done on the south side partment were likely to occupy the greater of Charles Street, and with that portion of part, or nearly all, of the available room. the ground which was lying waste? If it The rooms in the new building were not so was intended for public offices, he supposed numerous as those in the old one, though it would be requisite to purchase ground they were larger. Large rooms were refor the frontage towards Parliament Street, quired, and the upper portion of the buildand also for the frontage towards the Park. ing was to be devoted to the storing of He thought there ought to be a far more papers. A new Colonial Office was to be matured scheme for the accommodation of built, and the subject of the accommodaall these different public Departments; and, tion was under the consideration of a Comas far as possible, none of the Departments mission appointed by the Treasury to conshould be removed until the new buildings sider generally the question of the Public intended for their use were ready for their Offices. No one would deny the great imreception. In that part of the town they portance of having the Public Offices togehad a large space now left in a disgraceful ther. To have one portion of the staff in one state as far as appearances went, and also street, and another portion in another street, in a most useless state as respected the was most inconvenient; but until the House public advantage. The subject was one of Commons devoted sufficient funds to which ought to be attended to, and that supply the requisite accommodation, the as speedily as possible. inconvenience and the expense must be borne. He had before him a letter from Mr. Gilbert Scott, stating that he did not think there was any reason to complain of the want of speed at which the works were proceeding. On the contrary, he stated that he had had to restrain the builders from proceeding too rapidly with some portions of the fine work. With regard to the ground fronting Charles Street, beyond the India Office, no plan had been agreed to with regard to its occupation.

Moved, That there be laid before the House, Return of Property purchased in Parliament and King Streets for the Extension of the new State Offices. (The Lord Redesdale.)

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM said, the answer to that part of the noble Lord's Question with regard to the ground bought as sites for the Public Offices which was now lying idle was, that the House of Commons had not yet voted the money required for the buildings which were to Occupy that ground, and therefore it was impossible to proceed with their erection. As to how much of the site fronting Parliament Street had been purchased, he might state that a considerable portion of the freeholds and leaseholds had been bought. There were four properties remaining, of which neither the freeholds nor the leases had been purchased. The present new buildings were to be entirely appropriated to the India Office and the Foreign Office. The new India Office had been built with funds supplied from the Indian revenue, and the amount paid to the Commissioners of Works for the portion of the land required for it was £86,000. Her Majesty's Government had no jurisdiction in respect to the interior arrangements of the India Office. The estimated

LORD REDESDALE said, he should like to know whether the House of Commons had been asked to vote the money necessary to carry on the required buildings. He believed that if an application were made for a moderate sum of money it would be cheerfully met. The question he had asked why the houses fronting Charles Street had been pulled down if no plan was ready had not been answered. The ground, which was once profitably occupied, had been cleared, and was now unprofitable, and could not be made the site of new official.buildings without further purchases being made at both ends, to the Park and to Parliament Street.

House adjourned at a quarter before Eight o'clock, to Thursday next, half past Ten o'clock,

clause to provide that whenever the rateable value of any tenement falls below £5 by reason of the deduction of more than 20 per cent from the gross estimated rental the occupier thereof may claim to vote, and may thereupon, if otherwise qualified, be registered. The object of the clause is to provide for certain cases of great inequality of rating. I have stated merely the substance of the clause.

which were worked by the parent line at certain fixed rates and charges. No less than thirteen suits in Chancery had been instituted by the various interests connected with these separate lines, to determine the rights of each against the others. There were twenty-four debenture powers arising out of these lines, and there were as many Chancery suits pending to determine the rights under each; there were twenty-nine separate share powers, and

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER RAIL- there were three separate share powers to

WAY COMPANY.

MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE.

be charged upon funds not yet created. He felt strongly that these facts formed a sufficient ground for inquiry by a Committee without personal imputations being thrown upon any one. One fact that had come prominently before him in 1863, when he first knew the position of the company, was that while the actual capital of the company consisted of several millions, the nominal capital, the holders of which alone possessed any control over the com

hoped that in all future railway legislation, the House would feel the necessity for making some provision by which the debenture-holders and others having pecuniary interest in a railway company might have a power of veto with regard to the undertaking of additional schemes by the company. He would also suggest that companies should possess the power of abandoning all such schemes as were actually found not to be required, which would be a source of great and immediate relief.

SIR MORTON PETO said, he rose to move for a Select Committee to inquire into the means adopted by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company for raising the share capital and exercising their borrowing powers under the various Acts of Parliament authorizing the construction of the main line and its extensions and branches. He should be want-pany, only amounted to £700,000. He ing in candour to the House did he not at once state that he felt that he had grievous reason to complain of what he conceived to be the unfair and improper manner in which his name had been so prominently put before the public in connection with this company. It was not, however, upon his own account, but upon public grounds, that he asked the House to appoint this Committee, as he believed that a careful review of all that had transpired in connection with this company by a Select Committee of that House would teach the public some valuable lessons with respect to stitution of the Committee he should With regard to the conthe legislation in the future for railway wish, if it were appointed, that its memcompanies. In drawing the attention bers should be chosen by the Commitof the House to a few of the main tee of Selection, so that it might comcircumstances connected with this command the entire respect and confidence of pany, he might state, in the first place, the House and the country. Although that the line with its various branches was 136 miles in length, while no less than twenty-six Acts of Parliament, or something like an Act of Parliament for each five miles of the line, had been passed by that House in connection with this company. When the House took into consideration that these Acts had only been obtained after the severest competition and at great cost, he thought it would concur in the necessity for the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the expediency of permitting a single company to indulge in such an excess of legislation. The whole line had been split up into five distinct undertakings, having their own separate capitals and interests, Mr. Gladstone

in making this application he only had in view the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company, yet it would be quite possible, if the House should think fit, to extend the power of the Committee to inquire into the circumstances connected with any other railway they might think proper. On these grounds he trusted the House would grant the Committee-and that the hon. Member for Maidstone would not press the Amendment of which he had given notice.

Motion made, and Question proposed,

quire into the means adopted by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company for raising the share capital and exercising their borrowing

"That a Select Committee be appointed to in

conduct of the managers had been strictly prudent? The energies of the House of Commons are sufficiently tasked at the present moment in dealing with questions affecting the public interest, and I very much regret, therefore, that the hon. Member for Bristol has found it necessary to make this Motion. I cannot advise the House to agree to the Motion; as, if they do adopt it, I am sure they will establish a precedent which they will afterwards very much regret. Under these circumstances, if the hon. Member for Bristol persists in his Motion I shall feel bound to oppose it.

powers under the various Acts of Parliament au- to railway companies, and not extend thorising the construction of the main line and them to the circumstances attending the its extensions and branches.”—(Sir Morton Peto.) failure of any great bank with which any THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE- Member of this House might be connected? QUER: I confess that, having listened If we agree to enter into the investigation to the terms of the Motion of the hon. of the case of this railway company, would Member for Bristol, I have great difficulty not that Member have a right to come in ascertaining and in recognising the forward and ask us to inquire into the connection between the subject of his affairs of that bank, on the ground that its Motion and the duty of the House of failure had created a great sensation in Commons to investigate it. No doubt the public mind, and that many persons we all know that there have been great had complained that they had been much disasters in connection with the enter-injured by the conduct of the managers prize, and I am sure that all who know of the concern-the imputation being altopersonally the hon. Member for Bristol gether false and therefore that if we must regret that he has in any way been would investigate the matter it would be connected with those disasters. For my-shown that, although unfortunate, the self, I may say that I have recognised with admiration the enterprize and energy of his character, and I deeply regret that he should have been mixed up with these troubled affairs. The House must also sympathize with an hon. Member who has sat among us for so many years, and who has shown so many high qualities which entitle him to our respect. Still, I think we must hesitate before we authorize-for the purpose of obtaining some object which it is natural that the hon. Gentleman should wish to attain-an investigation into matters with which it appears to me the House of Commons has no concern. The undertaking with reference to which this inquiry is sought is what, in comparison with the other proceedings of this House, we may call a private speculation, and those who have become connected with it must be prepared to take upon themselves all the responsibilities which may have arisen in consequence of its affairs not having turned out satisfactorily. I ask the House to consider for a moment where the line is to be drawn in the event of our assenting to this application of the hon. Member. If, in the event of any observations having been made upon the conduct of any individual Member of this House, in connection with any transaction, however extensive, we are to be asked successively to grant a Committee of Inquiry, I wish to know where the line is to be drawn? If we are VISCOUNT CRANBOURNE: I do not to examine into the affairs of the London, know, Sir, whether we are to regard the Chatham, and Dover Railway Company, last speech as equivalent to a challenge; whose affairs have never been brought but without entering into private matters before the House of Commons, and with of that nature, I wish to draw the attenwhich the House of Commons has no con- tion of the House to the fact that an nection, why should we not investigate hon. Gentleman has placed upon the the affairs of any other railway company, notice paper an Amendment couched in and why should we limit such inquiries language clearly insinuating something

MR. T. BARING said, he wished to ask the hon. Member for Maidstone whether he intended to proceed with his Amendment, an Amendment which, from its wording, seemed to imply that the hon. Gentleman had some charges to make against certain hon. Members in that House?

MR. WHATMAN felt that, after the opinion that had been expressed by the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer given against the appointment of a Committee, he should not be justified in persevering with his Amendment. At the same time, he wished it to be perfectly understood that he was willing to meet the hon. Gentlemen who were mentioned in the terms of his Motion in any way they might think proper.