Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade on the London, Worcester, and Wolverhampton, and on the Birmingham and Shrewsbury Districts

by Great Britain. Board of Trade. Railway Department

As regards the line between Shrewsbury and Stafford, of which plans and sections have likewise been deposited by the Grand Junction Company, it appears sufficient to say, that although as a mere line for the town of Shrewsbury, it might afford considerable advantages, it accomplishes none of the more important advantages for the district at large which are held out by the line to Birmingham.

We are of opinion, therefore, that the latter line is preferable to all the competing schemes proposed, upon general grounds of public policy; and we are aware of no public reasons why it should not receive the sanction of Parliament.

At the same time, there are points of detail connected with it, more especially as regards the mode of passing through the town of Birmingham, and of effecting a junction with the London and Birmingham Railway, to which we think that the attention of Parliament should be especially directed. With regard to the first point, it depends to a great extent upon considerations of private property, which we are precluded from entertaining; but with regard to the second point, it appears to us of the greatest importance that provision should be made for an uninterrupted and convenient junction in Birmingham between the projected line and that of the London and Birmingham Railway.

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In conclusion, we beg to draw attention to the passage of the Fifth Report of the Select Committee of last year, in which it is stated, in recommending that Reports should be made to Parliament by this department upon Railway Schemes, “That no such Report should be held to prejudice the claims of private persons, the examination of which should be altogether reserved to the Houses of the Legislature.”

In submitting to Parliament, in conformity with the recommendations of that Committee, the results at which we have arrived, with a view to the information and assistance of Parliament in forming a judgment upon the schemes in question, in so far as our Report may be available for that purpose, we are anxious that it should be distinctly understood that we have arrived at these results solely upon public grounds, and to the exclusion of all considerations how far such results might require to be modified by a due regard for private rights and interests.

DALHOUSIE.

C. W. PASLEY.

G. R. PORTER.

D. O’BRIEN.