shall, when convicted upon the oath of one or more credible Railway witness or witnesses before such justice as aforesaid, servants (who is hereby authorized and required, upon complaint guilty of to him made upon oath, without information in writing, miscon to take cognizance thereof, and to act summarily in the duct. premises,) in the discretion of such justice, be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two calendar months, or, in the like discretion of such justice, shall for every such offence forfeit to her Majesty any sum not exceeding ten pounds, and in default of payment thereof shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, as aforesaid, for such period, not exceeding two calendar months, as such justice shall appoint, such commitment to be determined on payment of the amount of the penalty; and every such penalty shall be returned to the next ensuing court of quarter sessions in the usual manner. 18. And be it enacted, That in all cases in which If offence by the present or the said recited act for regulating rail- committed ways it is provided that offenders shall be taken be- in Scotland, fore one or more justices of the peace for the place within sheriffs to which the offence was committed, it shall be lawful, in have juriscase the offence is committed in Scotland, to take such diction. effenders before the sheriff of the county, or other magistrate acting for the district within which such offence shall be committed, or where such offender shall be apprehended, without any warrant or authority other than this act; and such sheriff or magistrate is hereby empowered and required, on the application of the railway company, to proceed in all respects as if the words "sheriff or magistrate" had been substituted for the word "justice" in the said acts, and shall be entitled summarily, and without a jury, to execute the powers thereby and hereby committed to him. Trade. 19. And be it enacted, That all notices, returns, and Service of other documents required by this act or by the said re- notices, cited act to be given to or laid before the lords of the said committee shall be delivered at or sent by the post to the to Board of office of the lords of the said committee; and all notices, requisitions, orders, regulations, appointments, certificates, certified copies, and other documents in writing, signed by one of the secretaries of the said committee, or by some officer appointed for that purpose by the lords of the said committee, and purporting to be made by the lords of the said committee, shall, for the purposes of this and of the said recited act, be deemed to have been made by the lords of the said committee, and that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, without proof of the authority of the person signing the same or of the signature thereto; C notices, Service of and service of the same at one of the terminal offices of any railway company on the secretary or clerk of the said company, or by sending the same by post addressed to him at such office, shall be deemed good service upon the said company. on com pany. Amended by 7 & 8 Convey- 20. And be it enacted, That whenever it shall be necesance of sary to move any of the officers or soldiers of her Majesty's military forces of the line, ordnance corps, marines, militia, or the and police. police force, by any railway, the directors thereof shall and are hereby required to permit such forces respectively, with their baggage, stores, arms, ammunition, and other necessaries and things, to be conveyed at the usual hours of starting, at such prices or upon such conditions as may from time to time be contracted for between the secretary at war and such railway companies for the conveyance of such forces, on the production of a route or order for their conveyance signed by the proper authorities. Vict. c. 85, s. 12. Interpreta tion of words. 21. And be it enacted, That whenever the word "railway" is used in this or in the said recited act it shall be construed to apply to all railways used or intended to be used for the conveyance of passengers in or upon carriages “Railway.” drawn or impelled by the power of steam or by any other "Company" mechanical power; and whenever the word " company" is used in this or in the said recited act it shall be construed to extend to and include the proprietors for the time being of any such railway, whether a body corporate or individuals, and their lessees, executors, administrators, and assigns, unless, in either of the above cases, the subject or context be repugnant to such construction. Application 22. And be it enacted, That all penalties under this of penalties. act, for the application of which no special provision is made, shall be recovered in the name and for the use of her Majesty, in the manner provided by the said recited act for regulating railways. Act may be 23. And be it enacted, That this act may be amended amended or or repealed by any act to be passed in the present session repealed. of parliament. 7 & 8 VICT. cap. 85. An Act to attach certain Conditions to the Construction of Future Railways, authorized or to be authorized by any Act of the present or succeeding Sessions of Parliament; and for other purposes in relation to Railways. [9th August, 1844.] WHEREAS it is expedient that the concession of powers Preample. for the establishment of new lines of railway should be subjected to such conditions as are hereinafter contained for the benefit of the public: revision and pur chase. 1. Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, Options of 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, That if at any time after the end of twenty-one years from and after the Treasury first day of January next after the passing of any act of may revise the present or of any future session of parliament for the the scale of construction of any new line of passenger railway, whether tolls of such new line be a trunk, branch, or junction line, and future railwhether such new line be constructed by a new company ways, and incorporated for the purpose or by any existing company, fix a new the clear annual profits divisible upon the subscribed and scale paid-up capital stock of the said railway, upon the average of the three then last preceding years, shall equal or exceed the rate of ten pounds for every hundred pounds of such paid-up capital stock, it shall be lawful for the lords commissioners of her Majesty's treasury, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, upon giving to the said company three calendar months' notice in writing of their intention so to do, to revise the scale of tolls, fares, and charges limited by the act or acts relating to the said railway, and to fix such new scale of tolls, fares, and charges applicable to such different classes and kinds of passengers, goods, and other traffic on such railway, as in the judgment of the said lords commissioners, assuming the same quantities and kinds of traffic to continue, shall be likely to reduce the said divisible profits to the said rate of ten pounds in the hundred: provided always, that Proviso. no such revised scale shall take effect, unless accompanied by a guarantee to subsist as long as any such revised scale of tolls, fares, and charges shall be in force, that the revision Options of said divisible profits, in case of any deficiency therein, shall be annually made good to the said rate of ten pounds and pur- for every hundred pounds of such capital stock: provided also, that such revised scale shall not be again revised or such guarantee withdrawn, otherwise than with the consent of the company, for the further period of twenty-one years. chase. Treasury may purchase future rail ways. Proviso. Proviso Options not to be ap ways. 2. And be it enacted, That whatever may be the rate of divisible profits on any such railway, it shall be lawful for the said lords commissioners, if they shall think fit, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, at any time after the expiration of the said term of twenty-one years, to purchase any such railway, with all its hereditaments, stock, and appurtenances, in the name and on behalf of her Majesty, upon giving to the said company three calendar months' notice in writing of their intention, and upon payment of a sum equal to twenty-five years' purchase of the said annual divisible profits, estimated on the average of the three then next preceding years: provided that if the average rate of profits for the said three years shall be less than the rate of ten pounds in the hundred, it shall be lawful for the company, if they shall be of opinion that the said rate of twenty-five years' purchase of the said average profits is an inadequate rate of purchase of such railway, reference being had to the prospects thereof, to require that it shall be left to arbitration, in case of difference, to determine what (if any) additional amount of purchase money shall be paid to the said company provided also, that such option of purchase shall not be exercised, except with the consent of the company, while any such revised scale of tolls, fares, and charges shall be in force. 3. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the option of revision or purchase shall not be applied to any railway plied to ex- made or authorized to be made by any act previous to isting rail- the present session; and that no branch or extension of less than five miles in length of any such line of railway shall be taken to be a new railway within the provisions of this act; and that the said option of purchase shall not be exercised as regards any branch or extension of any railway, without including such railway in the purchase, in case the proprietors thereof shall require that the same be so included. Options not to be exer cised by treasury until autho rized by parliament. 4. And whereas it is expedient that the policy of revision or purchase should in no manner be prejudged by the provisions of this act, but should remain for the future consideration of the legislature, upon grounds of general and national policy: and whereas it is not the intention of this act that under the said powers of revision or pur chase. chase, if called into use, the public resources should be Options of employed to sustain an undue competition against any revision independent company or companies; be it enacted, That and purno such notice as hereinbefore mentioned, whether of revision or purchase, shall be given until provision shall have been made by parliament, by an act or acts to be passed in that behalf, for authorizing the guarantee or the levy of the purchase money hereinbefore mentioned, as the case may be, and for determining, subject to the conditions herein before mentioned, the manner in which the said options or either of them shall be exercised; and that no bill for giving powers to exercise the said options, or either of them, shall be received in either house of parliament unless it be recited in the preamble to such bill that three months' notice of the intention to apply to parliament for such powers has been given by the said lords commissioners to the company or companies to be affected thereby. counts and of balance sheet to the Treasury. 5. And be it enacted, That, from and after the com- Companies mencement of the period of three years next preceding liable to the the period at which the option of revision or purchase options to becomes available, full and true accounts shall be kept of keep acall sums of money received and paid on account of any railway within the provisions herein before contained, send copy (distinguishing, if the said railway shall be a branch railway or one worked in common with other railways, the receipts, and giving an estimate of the expenses on account of the said railway, from those on account of the trunk, line, or other railways,) by the directors of the company to whom such railway belongs or by whom the same may be worked; and every such railway company shall once in every half year, during the said period of three years, cause a half-yearly account in abstract to be prepared, showing the total receipt and expenditure on account of the said railway for the half-year ending the thirtieth day of June and the thirty-first day of December respectively, or such other convenient days as shall in each case be directed by the said lords commissioners, under distinct heads of receipt and expenditure, with a statement of the balance of such account, duly audited and certified under the hands of two or more directors of the said railway company, and shall send a copy of the said account to the said lords commissioners on or before the last days of August and February respectively, or such other days as shall in each case be directed by the said lords commissioners, in each year; and it shall be lawful for the said lords commissioners, if and when they shall think fit, to appoint any proper person or persons to inspect the accounts and books of the said company during the said |