90
Only so much of the evidence has been selected as immediately relates to the following heads:—
First—As to the general utility of the Railway.
Second—As to the estimate of Cost.
Third—As to the Traffic.
Fourth—As to the practical effects of Railways already constructed and in operation.
Although the portion of evidence thus selected is scanty in comparison with the mass which was given in the course of the proceedings on the Bill, the Directors feel confident that it will be sufficient to dissipate the prejudices heretofore entertained against the Railway, and that it will carry the same conviction, as to the general utility of the undertaking, to the minds of others which the original evidence did to the minds of so many of the most distinguished members of the Committees of both Houses; a conviction which induced the noble Chairman of the Committee of the Lords (Lord Wharncliffe) so emphatically to declare at the meeting of Peers. Members of the House of Commons, and other persons favourably disposed to the undertaking, at the Thatched House Tavern, on the 13th of July, at which his Lordship presided—
"He must now say, upon hearing the evidence for the Bill, that he was quite satisfied that this undertaking had the character of a great national measure," and
"That of the many Bills of this description which had come before him in the course of his parliamentary life, he had never seen one passed by either House that was supported by evidence of a more conclusive character."
On this decisive testimony the Directors feel that they might safely rest the case of the Railway; but it is their duty to add that the declaration of the noble Chairman was echoed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Commons, (Sir Gray Skipwith, Bart.) and by every member of the Committees of both Houses present at the meeting, or who has subsequently given the sanction of his name to the resolutions which were then passed.
