A BILL ΤΟ Transfer the Upper and Lower Boyne Navigations to A.D. 1895 c. 12. HEREAS by an Act passed by the late Parliament of Ireland 2 Geo. 1. in the session of the said Parliament holden in the second year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled "An Act to encourage the draining and improving of 5" the bogs and unprofitable low grounds, and for easing and 66 despatching the carriage and conveyance of goods from one part to another within the kingdom," certain Commissioners were appointed for regulating and preserving the respective navigation of certain rivers, including the River Boyne, with 10 power by any instrument or instruments in writing under their hands and seals to empower, authorise, and constitute such person or persons to be undertaker or undertakers for carrying on and completing, at the proper costs and charges of such undertaker or undertakers, such respective navigations of and in the said 15 respective rivers, for which they were or should be Commissioners, as to such Commissioners or the major part of them should seem fit, and thereupon to grant, assure, convey, and confirm to such undertaker or undertakers and to his and their heirs, assigns, and nominees in consideration and satisfaction for the charges and 20 expenses which they should be at in the making, carrying on, and perfecting such respective navigation or navigations, and in supporting, repairing, and preserving the same when so perfected, all and every the tolls, rates, duties, prizes, profits, benefits, and advantages which, by virtue of the Act in recital, should or might 25 accrue or arise by the said navigation or navigations: And whereas certain duties and annual sums were from time to time granted by the said Parliament of Ireland for the purpose of completing different navigations: And whereas the sums so granted as aforesaid were found insuffi30 cient for the said purpose: A.D. 1895. 29 Geo. 3. c. 33. 30 Geo. 3. c. 40. 3. c. 31. And whereas by an Act of the late Parliament of Ireland, passed in the session of the said Parliament holden in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act for the promotion and encouragement of inland navigation," it was enacted that debentures to the amount of 5 twelve thousand five hundred pounds, bearing interest after the rate of four pounds per centum per annum, should be issued to such persons as were or should be undertakers for completing a navigation from Drogheda to Trim, subject to the several conditions, limitations, and additions in the Act in recital mentioned: 10 And whereas by an Act of the late Parliament of Ireland, passed in the session of the said Parliament holden in the thirtieth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act to explain and amend an Act passed in the twenty-ninth year of His Majesty's reign, intituled an Act for the promotion 15 "and encouragement of inland navigation, so far only as respects "the navigation of the Boyne," it was enacted that (in the events which happened) the subscribers to the undertaking for completing the navigation from Drogheda to Trim should be one body politic and corporate, by the name of the River Boyne Company, should 20 have perpetual succession and a common seal, and by that name might sue and be sued, and should thenceforth be invested with all the powers, privileges, benefits, and advantages for the purposes of carrying on the said navigation as were vested in the company of undertakers of the Grand Canal by an Act passed in the year 25 11 & 12 Geo. one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, entitled "An Act for enabling certain persons to carry on and complete the Grand Canal," and also subject to the like rules and regulations as the said company of undertakers were subject to under and by virtue of the aforesaid Act as effectually in all things as if the several 30 duties contained in the said last-mentioned Act were again recited and re-enacted in the body of the Act in recital. Provided that nothing in the Act in recital contained should in any degree alter, or be construed to alter, the tolls to be taken on the said navigation as ascertained by the Act for the promotion and encouragement 35 of inland navigation. And it was by the Act in recital further provided that unless the said River Boyne Company should, within five years after they should have completed the said navigation up to Navan, carry on and complete the navigation of the said River Boyne up to the town of Trim, in the county of Meath, that then 40 and in that case the property in the said works and the navigation aforesaid from Carrick Lock to Drogheda should stand and be divested from the said company, and should in that case stand and tra 5 remain under the control and direction of them the Commissioners A.D. 1895. of the said navigation (being the Commissioners appointed under the herein-before recited Act of the reign of King George the First) as if the Act in recital had never passed: And whereas the navigation of the said River Boyne was completed up to Navan, but was never completed up to the town of Trim, and accordingly under the provisions of the last recited Act the navigation aforesaid from Carrick Lock to Drogheda stood and remained under the control and direction of the said Commissioners 10 of the said navigation: 15 And whereas by an Act passed in the late Parliament of Ireland 40 Geo. 3. in the session of the said Parliament holden in the fortieth year of c. 51. His late Majesty King George the Third, and intituled "An Act "for granting to His Majesty the sum of five hundred thousand pounds, for promoting inland navigation in Ireland, and for the 66 other purposes therein mentioned, and for authorising the raising "of the said sum by loan," it was enacted that it should be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being, from time to time to nominate and 20 appoint five persons to be directors of all works relating to inland navigation in Ireland, and that so much of any Act or Acts as created any corporation or appointed any persons trustees for the direction and management of any navigation, not any part private property, or carried on or maintained with the private property of 25 any person or persons, should be and the same was thereby repealed, and every such corporation should be and the same was thereby dissolved, together with all offices and authorities derived therefrom. And it was by the Act in recital further enacted that all such inland navigations, together with all lands, tenements, 30 banks, bankways, and every matter and thing appertaining thereto, and all the funds and tolis belonging to the same, should be and the same were thereby vested in the said directors and in such person and persons as should successively be appointed directors in pursuance of the Act in recital: 35 And whereas the last recited Act was amended by two other Acts 53 Go. 3. of the fifty-third and fifty-sixth years of the reign of His late c. 1. Majesty King George the Third: 56 Geo. 3. c. 55, And whereas by the Public Works (Ireland) Act, 1831, it is 1 & 2 Will. enacted that all the powers given to and authorised to be exer- 4. c. 33. Ocised by the directors appointed in pursuance of the said Act of the fortieth year of King George the Third, or any other Act or Acts then in force, and all property, estates, and effects, and all tolls or funds, and all rights, claims, titles, and possessions of A.D. 1895. what nature or kind soever of or belonging or in any manner appertaining to or enjoyed by the said directors, should be transferred to and vested in the Commissioners for the execution of the Act in recital; that is to say, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, and that the said Commissioners should have all such 5 powers and authorities as in anywise belonged to or might have been exercised by the said directors previous to the passing of Act in recital, and should be, and be deemed and considered to be to all intents and purposes in the place of such directors of inland navigation: 10 And whereas by virtue of the last recited Act the navigation known as the Lower Boyne Navigation, extending from Carrick Lock to Drogheda, became and now is vested in the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, subject to a fee-farm rent of three pounds three shillings for a portion of the trackway or towpath at 15 Ballsgrove, in the county of the town of Drogheda, payable to George De Belle Ball, Esquire, of Ballsgrove, Drogheda : And whereas the navigation known as the Upper Boyne Navigation extending from the town of Navan, in the county of Meath, to Carrick, Dexter Lock near Slane in the same county, is abso- 20 lutely vested in the River Boyne Company free from incumbrances, and from quit rent, crown rent, tithe rentcharge, and head rent, save a lay tithe of one pound five shillings and tenpence per annum, payable to Robert Henry Metge, Esquire, of Athlumney House, Navan, and a tithe rentcharge of eight shillings and eight- 25 pence payable to the Irish Land Commission : And whereas the River Boyne Company are unable to properly keep and maintain the said Upper Boyne Navigation: And whereas by an agreement in writing dated the eighteenth day of September one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, 30 under the seal of the River Boyne Company, and expressed to be made between that company of the one part and the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, therein-after called the transferees, which expression it was declared after the formation of the company therein-after referred to should include such company, 35 their successors and assigns of the other part (which agreement is set out in the First Schedule hereto), it was agreed that the Upper Boyne Navigation should be transferred to the said Commissioners upon the terms in the said agreement more specifically mentioned in order that same might be vested in and worked and main- 40 tained by a limited liability company then about being formed to acquire the entire navigation from Drogheda to Navan : |