re 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. member
for Portsmouth, that even upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer's own
showing, the right hon. gentleman must have made a gross mistake. The
right hon. gentleman seemed to have forgotten that, under the Bill of
the noble lord, the member for Lynn, for every L4,000,000 which the
Government would have to provide, the railway companies would provide
L2,000,000 more. Now, the right hon. gentleman, Mr. Baring, allowed 25
per cent. for earthworks; but he only allowed that 25 per cent. on the
L4,000,000, which would make L1,000,000 to be devoted to earthworks;
whereas he ought to have allowed it on the L6,000,000, which would have
made the amount L1,500,000. So that, by his own showing, the right hon.
gentleman was at least wrong in regard to that point. He (Mr. Hudson)
would give figures which would clearly show, that the noble lord's
calculation was below the average amount in regard to labour, and that
instead of L1,500,000, it would be nearly L4,000,000 that would be
expended under that head, under his plan. Take, for instance, the
expenses in constructing the North Midland Railway. That line cost, on
the average, L40,000 per mile. The land cost L5,500 per mile; the
permanent way cost between L5,000 and L6,000 per mile, and the
parliamentary expenses about L2,000. There was an expenditure of, say,
L13,000 per mile; and to what did the right hon. gentleman suppose the
remaining L27,000 were devoted? That was a line of great expense and
large works; but there was the York and North Midland, a line of
comparatively small expense and small works, and that line cost an
average of L23,000 per mile; the land having cost not more than L1,800
per mile, and the permanent way L5,500. Now, he wanted to know in what
the remainder was spent? Why, undoubtedly, in labour. In the Leeds and
Bradford, again--a more recently constructed line--of which the expenses
had been L33,000 per mile, there had been L17,000 per mile to be
calculated on the side of labour. The per