" The Chancellor of the Exchequer also said
in his speech, that he had been informed by a person of great experience
on the subject, that only 25 per cent. of the money would go for
labour; and that from twenty to thirty men per mile were all that could
be employed; taking the highest figure, the noble lord's scheme, he
said, would only afford employment to 45,000 workmen. Mr. Hudson, the
"railway king," then the great authority on such matters, thus replied
to the Chancellor's assertions: "As far as he (Mr. Hudson) could
ascertain, there were but two points on which the right hon. gentleman
had doubted the statements of the noble member for Lynn--namely, the
number of men that would be employed on the lines, and the amount of
money that would be expended on labour. As far as he could remember,
those two were the only points questioned by the right hon. gentleman,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and since then, they had been taunted
by the right hon. member for Portsmouth, for not having replied to the
objections made in those respects to the plan of the noble member for
Lynn. He did not know on what authority the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had made his statement as to the amount of money that would be expended
in labour; but he wondered it had not occurred to the right hon.
Pages:
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583