The Law Relating to Railways and Railway Companies

Obligation to permit Telegraphs

shall, subject to the prior right of use thereof for the serto be omstructed. vice of her Majesty, and for the purposes of the company,

and subject also to such equal charges, and to such reason-
able regulations as may be made by the company, be open
for the sending and receiving of messages by all persons
alike, without favour or preference (d).

Obligation to pay duties, and tithe commutation rentcharges.

IX. The duties payable in respect of railway passengers are levied under stat. 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 120, which enacts, That the company of proprietors of every railway in Great Britain, along which any passengers shall be conveyed for hire, in or upon carriages drawn or impelled by the power of steam or otherwise, shall pay, for and in respect of all such passengers, at and after the rate of one half-penny per mile for every four passengers so conveyed (e). But this tax is not payable in respect of passengers conveyed in the third-class trains, travelling under the conditions imposed by stat. 7 & 8 Vict. (f). And every company must keep a book open for the inspection of any authorised officer of stamp duties, containing an account of the passengers conveyed daily for hire along the railway, and, within five days next after the first Monday in every month, a copy of such account must be delivered to the Commissioners of Stamps, with an affidavit or affirmation, to be taken before a justice of the peace, of the secretary, chief clerk, or accountant of the company, verifying such account; and at the time of delivering this account, the stamp duties chargeable in respect of the passengers conveyed, according to such account, must be paid (g). Every company must also give a bond, with sufficient sureties, to be renewed as often as it shall

znia tu faratharger a fent-har Det er he me Commutation Act mon an.is we Mhased or a miva ompany, men my ziem i ecomes i rear. the person antitel v the

e nav istrin 70 recover much rears en de the many, whether in the land hargai with as Bres ir dot 2. The company are so required -2x and poor-mte in respect of lands, whist

I Every miway ompany must make such returns 20 Oligion a missioners of Railways as they may fireet of the

afie in passengers, in cattle, and goois: also of ← stuents attended with personal injury; and also a table

nach class passengers, and on cattle and goods

the railway; and if such returns are not dein thirty days after they are required, a penalty 1 ay iuring such neglect is incurred m); and

1:20, s. 31,

2 not. App. 2.

45. s. 22. post,

...3. post, App..

151.

(m) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 3. post. App., 15; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 105, s. 2. post, App.; and see further on this subject, ante, 98.

Obligation to make certain Returns.

Regulations as to matters of police.

every officer of a company wilfully making a false return is guilty of a misdemeanour (n). And within forty-eight hours after the occurrence of an accident, attended with serious personal injury to the public using a railway, the company are required to give notice thereof to the Commissioners of Railways, under a penalty of 51. for every day during neglect to give notice (o).

The Commissioners of Railways are also empowered to order any railway company to make a return of serious accidents occurring in the course of public traffic on a railway, whether attended with personal injury or not, in such form as they may require; and a like penalty of 57. a day is incurred for neglect in making the return (p).

And, by a recent statute, the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury may revise the scale of tolls or purchase certain railways at the end of twenty-one years after the date of their acts of incorporation; and the directors of such companies are required, during the last three years of the said term, to keep certain accounts (q).

And, lastly, by the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, railway companies subject to that act are required to send an annual account of their total receipts and expenditure of all funds levied by them, with a statement of the balance of such account, duly audited; and shall, if required, transmit a copy of such account to the clerks of the peace, and also to the overseers of the poor of the parishes through which the railway passes (r).

XI. It is lawful for any officer or agent of a railway

(n) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 4, post, App., 15.

(0) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 7, post, App., 21.

(p) Id., s. 8, post, App., 22; and

see further on this subject, ante, 99. (g) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 5, post, App., 29; and see ante, 420.

(r) 8 Vict. c. 20, s. 107, post, App., 186.

Matters of Police,

company, or for any special constable duly appointed, and Regulations as to all such persons as they may call to their assistance, to seize and detain any engine driver, waggon driver, guard, porter, servant, or other person employed by such or by any other railway company, or by any other company or person, in conducting traffic upon the railway belonging to the said company, or in repairing and maintaining the works of the said railway, who shall be found drunk while so employed upon the railway, or who shall commit any offence against any of the bye-laws, rules, or regulations of the company, or shall wilfully, maliciously, or negligently do or omit to do any act whereby the life or limb of any person passing along or being upon the railway, or the works thereof, shall or might be injured or endangered, or whereby the passage of any of the engines, carriages, or trains shall be or might be obstructed or impeded, and to convey such offender, or any person counselling, aiding, or assisting in such offence, with all convenient despatch, before some justice of the peace for the place within which such offence was committed (s), without any other warrant or authority than that act (5 & 6 Vict. c. 55); and every person so offending, and every person counselling, aiding, or assisting therein as aforesaid, when convicted before such justice as aforesaid, is liable to two months' imprisonment, with or without hard labour, or to pay a fine of 101. (t), or the justice may commit the person so charged for trial to the quarter sessions, and, on conviction, he may be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour (u).

And every person who shall wilfully do, or cause to be

(s) If the offence is committed in Scotland, see 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 18, post, App., 26.

(1) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 17, post, App., 26, extending 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 13, post, App., 17.

(u) 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, s. 14, post, App., 18. Parties charged with offences under 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 17, may also be tried at the sessions. See 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 2, post, App., 20.

to make

certain Returns. every officer of a company wilfully making a false return is guilty of a misdemeanour (n). And within forty-eight hours after the occurrence of an accident, attended with serious personal injury to the public using a railway, the company are required to give notice thereof to the Commissioners of Railways, under a penalty of 51. for every day during neglect to give notice (o).

Regulations as to matters of police.

The Commissioners of Railways are also empowered to order any railway company to make a return of serious accidents occurring in the course of public traffic on a railway, whether attended with personal injury or not, in such form as they may require; and a like penalty of 5l. a day is incurred for neglect in making the return (p).