AN ACT TO FACILITATE THE CONSTRUCTION AND TO REGU- 33 & 34 VICT. CAP. 78. 9TH AUGUST, 1870. Short title, Limitation of Act. Interpreta tion of terms. BE it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Preliminary. 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Tramways Act, 1870," 2. This Act shall not extend to Ireland. 3. For the purposes of this Act the terms hereinafter mentioned shall have the meanings hereinafter assigned to them; that is to say, The terms "local authority" and "local rate" shall mean respectively the bodies of persons and rate named in the table in Part One of the schedule (A.) to this Act annexed: The term "road" shall mean any carriageway being a public highway, and the carriageway of any bridge forming part of or leading to the same : The term "road authority" shall mean, in the districts specified in the table in Part Two in the schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, the bodies of persons named in the same table, and elsewhere any local authority, board, town council, body corporate, commissioners, trustees, vestry, or other body or persons in whom a road as defined by this Act is vested, or who have the power to maintain or repair such road: The term "district," in relation to a local authority or road authority, shall mean the area within the jurisdiction of such local authority or road authority : The term "prescribed" shall mean prescribed by any rules made in pursuance of this Act : The term "the Lands Clauses Acts" means, so far as the provisional order in which that term is used relates to England, The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845; and, so far as the same The term "two justices" shall, in addition to its ordinary significa- Section 3. PART I. Provisional Orders authorising the Construction of Tramways. 4. Provisional orders authorizing the construction of tramways in any district may be obtained by (1.) The local authority of such district; or by- And any such local authority, person, persons, corporation, or com- Application for a provisional order shall not be made by any local authority until such application shall be approved in the manner prescribed in Part III. of the schedule A. to this Act annexed (a). Where in any district there is a road authority distinct from the local authority (b), the consent of such road authority shall also be necessary in any case where power is sought to break up any road (c) subject to the jurisdiction of such road authority, before any provisional order can be obtained. 5. Where it is proposed to lay down a tramway in two or more districts, and any local or road authority having jurisdiction in any of such districts does not consent thereto, the board of trade (d) may, nevertheless, make a provisional order authorizing the construction of such tramway if they are satisfied, after inquiry (e), that two thirds of the length of such tramway is proposed to be laid in a district or in districts the local and road authority or the local and road (a) See note to sched. A., Part III, infra. (b) In the metropolis (exclusive of the city of London) the metropolitan board are the local authority, and vestries and district boards are the road authority; sched. A., Parts I. and II. (c) See Metropolis Management Act, 1855, sections 109 to 115 inclusive, as to breaking up or opening pavements. (d) 34 & 35 Vict. c. 69 (Metropolitan Tramways Provisional Orders Suspension Act, 1871), enables the board of trade to dispense with certain provisions of this Act (1870) in respect of certain provisional orders therein referred to. (e) See regulations with respect to enquiries before referee appointed by the board of trade, section 63. By whom provisional orders au thorising the construction of tramways may be obtained. The board of trade may in certain cases dispense with the consent Section 5. authorities of which district or districts do consent thereto; and in such case they shall make a special report stating the grounds upon which they have made such order. of local or road authority. Notices and deposit of documents by promoters as in schedule. Power for Board of Trade to determine on applica tion and on objection. Power for Board of Trade to make Provisional Order. Form and contents of Provisional Order. : 6. The promoters intending to make an application for a provisional order shall proceed as follows:(1.) In the months of October and November next before their application, or in one of those months, they shall publish notice of their intention to make such application by advertisement (a); and they shall, on or before the fifteenth day of the following month of December, serve notice of such intention, in accordance with the standing orders (if any) of both houses of parliament for the time being in force with respect to Bills for the construction of tramways: (2.) On or before the thirtieth day of the same month of November they shall deposit the documents described in part two of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained : (3.) On or before the twenty-third day of December in the same year they shall deposit the documents described in part three of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained: All maps, plans, and documents required by this Act to be deposited for the purposes of any provisional order may be deposited with the persons and in the manner directed by the Act of the session of parliament held in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth and the first year of Her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to compel clerks of the peace for counties and other persons to take the custody of such documents as shall be directed to be deposited with them under the standing orders of either house of parliament ;" and all the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly (b). 7. The board of trade shall consider the application, and may, if they think fit, direct an inquiry in the district to which the same relates, or may otherwise inquire as to the propriety of proceeding upon such application, and they shall consider any objection thereto that may be lodged with them on or before such day as they from time to time appoint, and shall determine whether or not the promoters may proceed with the application. 8. Where it appears to the board of trade expedient and proper that the application should be granted, with or without addition or modification, or subject or not to any restriction or condition, the board of trade may settle and make a provisional order accordingly. Every such provisional order shall empower the promoters therein specified to make the tramway upon the gauge and in manner therein described, and shall contain such provisions as (subject to the requirements of this Act) the board of trade, according to the nature of the (a) As to particulars to be stated in, and insertion of, advertisements, &c., see sched. B., Part I. (b) The 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 83, s. 2, provides that all persons interested shall have liberty to inspect and make extracts and copies of or from such maps; and section 3 imposes a penalty not exceeding £5 on any clerk of the peace, &c., for noncompliance with the provisions of the Act. application and the facts and circumstances of each case, think fit to submit to parliament for confirmation in manner provided by this Act (c); but so that any such provisional order shall not contain any provision for empowering the promoters or any other person to acquire fands otherwise than by agreement, or to acquire any lands, even by agreement, except to an extent therein limited, or to construct a tramway elsewhere than along or across a road (d), or upon land taken by agreement. Section 8. Regulations as to con in towns. 9. Every tramway in a town which is hereafter authorized by pro. visional order shall be constructed and maintained as nearly as may be in the middle of the road; and no tramway shall be authorized by struction of any provisional order to be so laid that for a distance of thirty feet or tramways upwards a less space than nine feet and six inches shall intervene between the outside of the footpath on either side of the road and the nearest rail of the tramway if one third of the owners or one third of the occupiers of the houses, shops, or warehouses abutting upon the part of the road where such less space shall intervene as aforesaid shall in the prescribed manner (e) and at the prescribed time express their dissent from any tramway being so laid. 10. Every such provisional order shall specify the nature of the traffic for which such tramway is to be used, and the tolls and charges which may be demanded and taken by the promoters in respect of the same, and shall contain such regulations relating to such traffic and such tolls and charges as the board of trade shall deem necessary and proper. 11. The costs of and connected with the preparation and making of each provisional order shall be paid by the promoters, and the board of trade may require the promoters to give security for such costs before they proceed with the provisional order. 12. After a provisional order is ready, and before the same is delivered by the board of trade, the promoters, unless they are a local authority, shall within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, and subject to the prescribed conditions as to interest, repayment, or forfeiture, pay, as a deposit, into the prescribed bank, the sum of money prescribed, which shall not be less than four pounds per centum on the amount of the estimate by the promoters of the expense of the construction of the tramway, or deposit in such bank any security of the prescribed nature the then value of which is not less than such sum of money. 13. When a provisional order has been made as aforesaid and delivered to the promoters, the promoters shall forthwith publish the same by deposit and advertisement, according to the regulations contained in part four of the schedule (B.) to this Act. 14. On proof to the satisfaction of the board of trade of the completion of such publication as aforesaid, the board of trade shall, as soon as they conveniently can after the expiration of seven days from (c) See section 14. (d) See interpretation of the term "road," section 3 supra. (e) That is, "prescribed by any rules made in pursuance of this Act": see interpretation, section 3. See power of board of trade to make rules for carrying Act into effect, section 64. Nature of Costs of Promoters on estimate Publication of Provisional Order as in schedule. Confirma tion of Pro visional Order by Act of Parliament. Section 14. the completion of such publication, procure a bill to be introduced into either house of parliament in relation to any provisional order which shall have been published as aforesaid not later than the twenty-fifth of April in any year, for an Act to confirm the provisional order, which shall be set out at length in the schedule to the bill; and until confirmation, with or without amendment, by act of parliament, a provisional order under this Act shall not have any operation (a). Incorpora. tion of ge neral Acts in Provisional Order. Power of Board of Trade to revoke, amend, ex tend, or vary Provisional Order. Power to authorize joint work. Cesser of powers at expiration of prescribed time. If while any such bill is pending in either house of parliament a petition is presented against any provisional order comprised therein, the bill, so far as it relates to the order petitioned against, may be referred to a select committee, and the petitioner shall be allowed to appear and oppose as in the case of a bill for a special Act. The Act of parliament confirming a provisional order under this Act, shall be deemed a public general Act. 15. The provisions of the Lands Clauses Act shall be incorporated with every provisional order under this Act, save where the same are expressly varied or excepted by any such provisional order, and except as to the following provisions, namely: (1.) With respect to the purchase and taking of lands otherwise than by agreement: (2.) With respect to the entry upon lands by the promoters of the undertaking. For the purposes of such incorporation a provisional order under this Act shall be deemed the special Act. 16. The board of trade on the application of any promoters empowered by a provisional order may from time to time revoke, amend, extend, or vary such provisional order by a further provisional order. Every application for such further provisional order shall be made in like manner and subject to the like conditions as the application for the former provisional order. Every such further provisional order shall be made and confirmed in like manner in every respect as the former provisional order (b) and until such confirmation such further provisional order shall not have any operation. 17. Subject and according to the provisions of this Act, the board of trade may, on a joint application, or on two or more separate applications, settle and make a provisional order empowering two or more local authorities, respectively, jointly to construct the whole, or separately to construct parts, of a tramway, and jointly or separately to own the whole or parts thereof; and all the provisions of this Act which relate to the construction of tramways shall extend and apply to the construction of the whole and separate parts of such tramway as last aforesaid; and the form of the provisional order may be adapted to the circumstances of the case. 18. If the promoters, empowered by any provisional order under this Act to make a tramway, do not, within two years from the date of the same, or within any shorter period prescribed therein, complete the tramway and open it for public traffic; or, (a) As to validity of provisional order, see Edinburgh Street Tramways Company v. Black, L. R. 2 Sc. App. Cas. 336. (6) See section 14 supra. |