The money was not given. No one, said Lord
George, can come to any other opinion but that this offer of the Great
Southern and Western Railway ought to have been accepted. If the money
now asked for be lent, he said, there need be no crowding of labourers
on any point, for they can be distributed over the whole country; as,
according to the railway bills passed for Ireland, lines will run
through every county but four. "Now, Sir," he continued, "in introducing
this measure to the House, it has not been my wish to bring forward any
proposition either of hostility or rivalry to the Government of my noble
friend. I have assured the House publicly and privately, I have pledged
my honour to my noble friend the First Minister, that I seek no
advantage from the carrying of this measure, and that it is my anxious
hope that we may come to the consideration of it as if it were a great
private Bill, and we were all selected members of the committee to
inquire into its worth."
3. In view of the amount of the loan sought for, and the mileage of the
railways to be constructed, how many men, said Lord George, can we
employ? Quoting Mr. Stephenson's authority, he answers that on the
London and Birmingham line there were employed one hundred men a mile
for four consecutive years; but Mr.
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