FROM THE

396.

COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF

THE COMMITTEE, to whom the Petition for the "BILL for continuing the Term and altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act, passed in the 33d year of His present Majesty's Reign, for repairing the Roads from Manchester, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, to Salter's Brook, in the County Palatine of Chester, and for making a certain Branch of Road to communicate therewith," was referred ;

AND ALSO,

MINUTES OF THE EVIDENCE taken before the Committee on the Petition of certain Persons, complaining that the STANDING ORDERS relative to Turnpike Bills, had not been complied with, in respect of the said Bill.

Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed,

2 March 1818.

I.-Proceedings of the Committee on the Petition for the Bill

II.-Minutes of the Evidence on the Petition complaining that the Standing Orders of The House had not been complied with

P. 3

P. 4.

I.

COPY of the PROCEEDINGS of The COMMITTEE, to whom the Petition for the "BILL for continuing the Term and altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act, passed in the 33d year of His present Majesty's Reign, for repairing the Roads from Manchester, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, to Salter's Brook, in the County Palatine of Chester, and for making a certain Branch of Road to communicate therewith," was referred ;

Jovis, 29° die Januarii, 1818.

DAVIES DAVENPORT, Esquire, in The Chair.

PETITION read.

Mr. Alan Harrison produced to the Committee three Newspapers, called The Macclesfield Courier, dated the 13th, 20th, and 27th of September; and also, three other Newspapers, called The Manchester Chronicle, dated the 13th, 20th, and 27th of September; containing Notices for an Application to Parliament for making the said Road.

Then the Witness stated to the Committee, that he had affixed a similar Notice at the last Michaelmas Quarter Sessions, on the Sessions House doors, at Knutsford, for the County of Chester, and at Salford, for the County of Lancaster.

Then an Act of the 33d year of His present Majesty, for repairing the Roads from Manchester to Salter's Brook, was read.

Mr. Harrison further stated, that he had deposited a Plan and Book of Reference with the Clerks of the Peace for the Counties of Chester and Lancaster, upon the 28th and 29th days of September last. Then Mr. Hugo Worthington and the aforesaid Witness delivered in Lists of Owners and Occupiers of Land, through which the intended Road is proposed to be made; and stated, that the Answers set against their Names are correct. And Mr. Harrison also produced, and proved an Estimate of the Expense of making the Road; and further stated, that as the Petitioners intended to defray the expense of making and keeping in repair the said Road out of their own Funds, no Subscription List became necessary.

And Mr. Hugo Worthington being again called; and the Petition being again read to him; he said, that the whole of the allegations therein contained were true. Ordered, That the said Petition be reported to the House.

The said Report is as follows:

77.

THE Committee to whom the Petition of the several Trustees for executing an Act, passed in the 33d year of His present Majesty, for repairing and amending the Roads leading from the Town of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, through the Town of Ashton-under-Lyne, and Parish of Mottram Longdendale, and from thence to Salter's Brook, in the County

Palatine

Palatine of Chester, was referred;-Have, pursuant to the Order of the House,
examined, and found that the Standing Orders relative to Turnpike Bills,
HAVE BEEN Complied with; and have also examined the matter of the said
Petition: To prove the Allegations whereof, the said Act was read; and,

Mr. Hugo Worthington being examined, said, That the Trustees appointed by the said Act, have borrowed considerable sums of Money on the credit of the Tolls, which Money remains due, and cannot be repaid, nor can the said Roads be effectually improved and kept in repair, unless the term and powers of the said Act be enlarged, and the Tolls increased; and that the making and maintaining a Road or Branch from and out of the said Turnpike Road in the Township of Audenshaw, in the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, to and into the Township of Hyde, in the Parish of Stockport, in the County of Chester, would be of great convenience to the Neighbourhood, and of public utility.

Mr.

MINUTES OF THE EVIDENCE taken before The COMMITTEE on the Petition of certain Persons, complaining that the STANDING ORDERS relative to Turnpike Bills, had not been complied with, in respect of the said Bill.

TH

Mercurii, 25° die Februarii, 1818.

LORD STANLEY in The Chair.

HE Petition of Mr. Smith and Mr. Sidebotham, was read.
Agents, Messrs. Dorington.

[The Minutes of the Committee on the Petition for bringing in the Bill, on the
29th January 1818, read; containing this Article, "No Subscription List;
-to be defrayed out of their own Funds."]

Mr. Edward Johnson, Examined.

YOU have probably seen a Petition, that was presented to the House yesterday, Edward Johnson, complaining, that the Standing Orders had not been complied with, respecting the Branch of the Salter's Brook Road Bill?-Yes.

John Dorington,
Esq.

Have you any of the papers?-We have a pian.

Have you other papers?-There is a List of Owners and Occupiers attached. Any Estimate? I believe there is; but there is no Subscription List, no List of Subscribers.

Does that plan contain what is called the Branch, from near Audenshaw into the other Road, between Crown Point and Hyde ?-If I recollect right, it contains a Branch out of an old Road to another Road at Hyde.

John Dorington, Esq. Examined.

In the course of your practice, as connected with the House of Commons, has it occurred to you, to be usual for any plans or estimates to be made, where either a branch or line is contemplated in the Bill?—I have always thought it necessary, in compliance with the Orders of the House, that there should be an estimate, a plan, and a subscription paper, however short that piece of road might be: I believe I had Bills from Scotland last year, where there was only about 150 yards of new road; and I told the Parties, they must comply with the Standing Orders; for there is no limitation of it in respect of distance, and therefore I took care there should be a plan, estimate, and subscription paper, deposited. It sometimes happens, indeed very often, that where there is a branch of road made, the Trustees take it upon themselves to do it; and I have always considered, and I believe other persons much more competent than myself, that the Standing Order of the House is fulfilled, if there is a pledge from the Trustees, vouched by their Clerk, that the Trustees will make that road out of their funds; and I conceive the reason of the

Order