The Times of Wednesday draws attention to a side-question of
the utmost importance—the cost of Private Bill legisla- tion—and quotes some remarkable figures on the subject taken from a Parliamentary return as to the sums spent in the last si; years. The railway companies of England spent, roughly, £900,000; the Scotch companies £444,000; and the Irish companies £52,000. Tramway companies spent £104,000, of which £4,000 belongs to Ireland and £11,000 to Scotland ; gas companies, £115,000, including £2,000 for Ireland and £8,000 for Scotland ; water com- panies, £154,000, to which Ireland contributed nothing and Scotland only 28,000 ; and canal companies, £64,000, to which Scotland contributed nothing and Ireland only £1,200. The grand total for the United Kingdom amounts to no less than £2,094,757, applied solely to the promotion or opposition of Bills and Provisional Orders. It is only necessary to state these figures to show the existence of a monstrous scandal. In our opinion the powers now exercised by tht Committees should be vested in two Judges of the High Court, who should, without appeal, decide for or against the schemes submitted to them. They would do the work far quicker as well as far cheaper, and could, when necessary, sit at local centres,—Manchester, Leeds, or Bristol.
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