APPENDIX. STATUTES. Alteration of dangerous level crossings. Power for railway companies to enter upon adjoining lands to repair accidents. XIII. And whereas in many cases railways have been made to cross turnpike roads, highways, and private roads and tramways on the level, and the companies to whom such railways belong would in some cases be willing, at their own expense, to carry such roads and tramways over or under such railways by means of a bridge or archway for the greater safety of the public, but have no authority so to do: And whereas it would promote the public safety if railway companies were enabled, under the sanction and authority of the Lords of the said committee, to substitute bridges or archways for such level crossings as aforesaid; be it therefore enacted, that in all cases where any railway company shall be willing, at their own expense, to carry any turnpike road, highway, or private road or tramway over or under their railway by means of a bridge or arch in lieu of crossing the same on the level, it shall be lawful for the Lords of the said committee, on the application of the said company, and after hearing the several parties interested, if it shall appear to the Lords of the said committee that such level crossing endangers the public safety, and that the proposal of the company does not involve any violation of existing rights or interests without adequate compensation, to give the said company full power and authority for removing the danger at their own expense, either by building a bridge, or by such other arrangement as the nature of the case shall require, subject to such conditions as the Lords of the said committee shall direct. XIV. And whereas it is essential for the public safety, and also for the proper maintenance of railways in a state of efficiency for the public service, that railway companies should have the power, in case of accidents or slips happening, or being apprehended, to their cuttings and embankments or other works, to enter upon the lands adjoining their respective railways, for the purpose of repairing or renewing the same, and to do such works as may be necessary for the purpose; be it therefore enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Lords of the said committee to empower any railway company, in case of any accident or slip happening or being apprehended to any cutting, embankment, or other work belonging to them, to enter upon any lands adjoining their railway for the purpose of repairing or preventing such accident, and to do such works as may be necessary for the purpose: Provided always, that, in case of necessity, it shall be lawful for any railway company to enter upon such lands, and do such works as aforesaid, without having obtained the previous sanction of the Lords of the said committee; but in every such case such railway company shall, within forty-eight hours after such entry, make a report to the Lords of the said committee, specifying the nature of such accident or apprehended accident, and of the works necessary to be done; and such powers shall cease and determine if the Lords of the said committee shall, after considering the said report, certify that their exercise is not necessary for the public safety: Provided also, that such works shall be as little injurious to the said adjoining lands as the nature of the accident, or apprehended accident, will admit of, and shall be executed with all possible despatch; and full compensation shall be made to the owners and occupiers of such lands for the loss, or injury, or inconvenience sustained by them respectively by reason of such works; the amount of which compensation, in case of any dispute about the same, shall be settled in the same manner as cases of disputed compensation are directed to be settled by the acts relating to the railway on which such works may become necessary: Provided always, that no land shall be taken permanently by any railway company for such works without a certificate from the Lords of the said committee, as hereinafter described. XV. And whereas, by various acts relating to railways, compulsory powers are given to railway companies of purchasing and taking lands for the construction of such railways, and it is provided, that such compulsory powers shall not be exercised after the expiration of certain limited periods from the passing of the said acts; and whereas it is sometimes found necessary for the public safety that additional land shall be taken after the expiration of such periods, for the purpose of giving increased width to the embankments, and inclination to the slopes of railways, or for making approaches to bridges or archways, or for doing such works for the repair or prevention of accidents as are hereinbefore described; be it therefore enacted, That in every case in which the Lords of the said committee shall certify that the public safety requires additional land to be taken by any railway company for such purposes as aforesaid, the compulsory powers of purchasing and taking land contained in the act or acts of such railway company, together with all the clauses and provisions relative thereto, shall, as regards such portion or portions of land as are mentioned in the certificate of the Lords of the said committee, revive and be in full force for such further period as shall be mentioned in such certificate: provided always, that any railway company applying to the Lords of the said committee for any such certificate shall give fourteen days' notice in writing, in the manner prescribed by the act or acts of such company for serving notices on land-owners, of their intention to make such application to all the parties interested in such lands, or such of them as shall be known to the company, and shall state in such notice the particulars of the lands required; and if any of such parties interested shall apply within the said period of fourteen days to the Lords of the said committee, such party shall be heard by them before any such certificate is given: provided also, that where any such application shall have been made by any railway company to the Lords of the said committee, upon which application any such certificate shall have been refused, the directors of such railway company shall, if required by the Lords of the said committee, repay to the party resisting such application any expenses which he or they may have incurred in resisting such application. XVI. And whereas, by various acts relating to railways, it is enacted, that no carriage or waggon shall carry or bear at any one time, upon the railway (including the weight of such carriage) more than four tons, and experience has shewn that it is in many cases more conducive to safety to use a heavier description of carriage or waggon upon railways than was originally contemplated; be it therefore enacted, That every provision contained in any such act or acts respectively limiting the weight to be carried or borne at any one time in any carriage or waggon upon any railway (including the weight of such carriage or waggon) to four tons, shall be and the same is hereby repealed; and that, notwithstanding any thing in any act contained, it shall be lawful for any railway company to use, and to permit to be used, upon any railway carriages or waggons carrying or bearing (including the weight of such carriage) a greater weight than four tons subject to such regulations as may from time to time be made and be in force pursuant to any act or acts of Parliament already or hereafter to be passed in that behalf. APPENDIX. STATUTES. Compulsory powers of taking for the purposes of railways extended, where for safety, by the Board of Trade. thought necessary Carriages of greater weight may be used on railways. than four tons APPENDIX. STATUTES. Punishment of persons employed on railways guilty of misconduct. Sheriffs to have jurisdiction in Scotland. Communicatiors XVII. And whereas by the said recited act for regulating railways, provision is made for the punishment of servants of railway companies guilty of misconduct, and it is expedient to extend such provision (x); be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any officer or agent of any railway company, or for any special constable duly appointed, and 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 the said 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 said railway, who shall commit any offence against any of the bye-laws, rules, or regulations of the said company, or who 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 such railway or the works thereof respectively shall be or night be injured or endangered, or whereby the passage of any engines, carriages, or trains, shall be or might be obstructed or impeded, and to convey such engine-driver, guard, porter, servant, or other person so offending, 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 shall be committed, without any other warrant or authority than this act; and every such person so offending, and every person counselling, aiding, or assisting therein as aforesaid, shall, when convicted upon the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses before such justice as aforesaid (who is hereby authorized and required, upon complaint to him made upon oath, without information in writing, to take cognisance thereof and to act summarily in the 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. XVIII. And be it enacted, That in all cases in which by the present or the said recited act for regulating railways, it is provided, that offenders shall be taken before one or more justices of the peace for the place within which the offence was committed, it shall be lawful, in case the offence is committed in Scotland, to take such offenders 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. XIX. And be it enacted, That all notices, returns, and other docu (x) Founded on Second Report, 1839. ments required by this act or by the said recited 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 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; 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. XX. And be it enacted (y), That whenever it shall be necessary to move any of the officers or soldiers of her Majesty's forces of the line, ordnance corps, marines, militia, or the 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 (z). 66 Meaning of the words" railway" and "company." XXI. 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 drawn or impelled by the power of steam or by any other 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. XXII. And be it enacted, That all penalties under this act, for the Application of application of which no special provision is made, shall be recovered penalties. in the name and for the use of her Majesty, in the manner provided by the said recited act for regulating railways. 7 & 8 VICT. Cap. 85. An Act to attach certain Conditions to the Construction of future Whereas it is expedient that the concession of powers for the establishment of new lines of railway should be subjected to such conditions as are hereinafter contained for the benefit of the public (a); (y) Founded on Fourth Report, 1840. (z) Amended by 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, sect. 12, post, p. 32. (a) Founded on Third Report, 1844. APPENDIX. 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 one years from the same, That if at any time after the end of twenty-one years from and STATUTES. If, after twenty passing of the act for the construction of any future railway, the profits shall exceed 10. per cent., the Treasury may revise the scale of tolls, and fix a new scale. Proviso. Option of purchase of future railways. Proviso. Existing railways after the first day of January next after the passing of any act of the present or of any future session of Parliament for the construction of any new line of passenger railway, whether such new line be a trunk, branch, or junction line, and whether such new line be constructed by a new company incorporated for the purpose, or by any existing company, the clear annual profits divisible upon the subscribed and 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 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 said divisible profits, in case of any deficiency therein, shall be annually made good to the said rate of ten pounds for every hundred pounds of such capital stock: Provided also, that such revised scale shall not be again revised or such guarantee withdrawn, other wise than with the consent of the company, for the further period of twenty-one years. II. 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. III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the option of revinot to be subjected sion or purchase shall not be applied to any railway made or to the options. |