authorized to be made by any act previous to 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 proprietor thereof shall require that the same be so included. IV. 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 purchase, if called into use, the public resources should be employed to sustain an undue competition against any independent company or companies; be it enacted, That no such notice as herein before 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 hereinbefore 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. V. And be it enacted, That, from and after the commencement of the period of three years next preceding the period at which the option of revision or purchase becomes available, full and true accounts shall be kept of all sums of money received and paid on account of any railway within the provisions hereinbefore contained, (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, shewing 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 period of three years; and it shall be lawful for any person so authorized, at all reasonable times, upon producing his authority, to APPENDIX. STATUTES. Companies to train each way daily. examine the books, accounts, vouchers, and other documents of the company at the principal office or place of business of the company, and to take copies or extracts therefrom. VI. And whereas it is expedient to secure to the poorer class of provide one cheap travellers the means of travelling by railway at moderate fares, and in carriages in which they may be protected from the weather (b); be it enacted, That on and after the several days hereinafter specified, all passenger railway companies which shall have been incorporated by any act of the present session, or which shall be hereafter incorporated, or which by any act of the present or any future session have obtained or shall obtain, directly or indirectly, any extension or amendment of the powers conferred on them respectively by their previous acts, or have been or shall be authorized to do any act unauthorized by the provisions of such previous acts, shall, by means of one train at the least, to travel along their railway from one end to the other of each trunk, branch, or junction line belonging to or leased by them, so long as they shall continue to carry other passengers over such trunk, branch, or junction line, once at the least each way on every week-day, except Christmas-day and Good Friday (such exception not to extend to Scotland), provide for the conveyance of third-class passengers to and from the terminal and other ordinary passenger stations of the railway, under the obligations contained in their several acts of Parliament, and with the immunities applicable by law to carriers of passengers by railway; and also under the following conditions; (that is to say), Such train shall start at an hour to be from time to time fixed Such train shall, if required, take up and set down passengers at The fare or charge for each third-class passenger by such train Children under three years of age, accompanying passengers by And with respect to all railways subject to these obligations, which shall be open on or before the first day of November next, these obligations shall come into force on the said first day of November; and with respect to all other railways subject to these obligations, they (6) Founded on Third Report, 1844. shall come into force on the day of opening of the railway, or the day after the last day of the session in which the act shall be passed by reason of which the company will become subject thereunto, which shall first happen. APPENDIX. STATUTES. VII. And be it enacted, That if any railway company shall refuse Penalty for nonor wilfully neglect to comply with the provisions of this act as to the compliance. said cheap trains within a reasonable time, or shall attempt to evade the operation of such order, such company shall forfeit to her Majesty a sum not exceeding twenty pounds for every day during which such refusal, neglect, or evasion shall continue. VIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That, except as to the amount of fare or charge for each passenger by such cheap trains, which shall in no case exceed the rates hereinbefore in such case provided, the Lords of the said committee shall have a discretionary power, upon the application of any railway company, of dispensing with any of the conditions hereinbefore required in regard to the conveyance of passengers by such cheap trains as aforesaid, in consideration of such other arrangements, either in regard to speed, covering from the weather, seats, or other particulars, as to the Lords of the said committee shall appear more beneficial and convenient for the passengers by such cheap trains under the circumstances of the case, and shall be sanctioned by them accordingly; and any railway company which shall conform to such other conditions as shall be so sanctioned by the Lords of the said committee shall not be liable to any penalty for not observing the conditions which shall have been so dispensed with by the Lords of the said committee, in regard to the said cheap trains and the passengers conveyed thereby. Board of Trade to have a discretionary power of al lowing alternative arrangements. be levied. IX. And be it enacted, That no tax shall be levied upon the re- When no tax to ceipts of any railway company from the conveyance of passengers at fares not exceeding one penny for each mile by any such cheap train as aforesaid. X. And be it enacted, That whenever any railway company subject to the herein before-mentioned obligation of running cheap trains shall, from and after the days hereinbefore specified on which the said obligation is to accrue, run any train or trains on Sundays for the conveyance of passengers, it shall, under the obligations contained in its act or acts of Parliament, and with the immunities applicable by law to carriers of passengers by railway, by such train each way, on every Sunday, as shall stop at the greatest number of stations, provide sufficient carriages for the conveyance of third-class passengers at the terminal and other stations at which such Sunday train may ordinarily stop; and the fare or charge for each third-class passenger by such train shall not exceed one penny for each mile travelled. Where companies run trains on the Sunday cheap trains to be likewise provided. tional facilities for XI. And whereas by an act passed in the second year of the reign Railway compaof her Majesty, intituled "An Act to provide for the Conveyance of nies to afford addithe Mails by Railways," provision was made for the transmission of the transmission the mails by railway, and it is expedient that such provision should be of the mails. extended (c); be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Postmaster- 1 & 2 Vict. c. 98. General to require, in the manner and subject to the conditions as to payment for service performed prescribed by the said act, that the mails be forwarded upon any such railway as is herein before last mentioned at any rate of speed which the Inspector-General of railways for the time being shall certify to be safe, not exceeding twenty-seven miles (c) Founded on Third Report, 1844. in the hour, including stoppages; and it shall be also lawful for the Postmaster-General to send any mail-guard with bags not exceeding the weight of luggage allowed to any other passenger (or subject to the general rules of the company for any excess of that weight) by any trains other than a mail train, upon the same conditions as any other passenger: Provided, that in such last-mentioned case nothing herein or in the last-recited act contained shall be construed to authorize the Postmaster-General to require the conversion of a regular mail train into an ordinary train, or to exercise any control over the company in respect of any ordinary train, nor shall the company be responsible for the safe custody or delivery of any mail bags so sent. XII. And whereas by an act passed in the sixth year of the reign of her Majesty, intituled "An Act for the better Regulation of Railways, and for the Conveyance of Troops," it was among other things enacted, 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; and whereas it is expedient to amend such provision in regard to the prices and conditions of conveyance by any new railway, or any railway obtaining new powers from Parliament (d); be it enacted, That all railway companies which have been, or shall be incorporated by any act of the present or any future session, or which by any act of the present or any future session shall have obtained, or shall obtain any extension or amendment of the powers conferred by their previous acts, or any of them, or have been or shall be authorized to do any act unauthorized by the provisions of such previous acts, shall be bound to provide such conveyance as aforesaid for the said military, marine, and police forces, at fares not exceeding two-pence per mile for each commissioned officer proceeding on duty, such officer being entitled to conveyance in a first-class carriage, and not exceeding one penny for each mile for each soldier, marine, or private of the militia or police force, and also for each wife, widow, or child above twelve years of age of a soldier, entitled by act of Parliament, or by competent authority, to be sent to their destination at the public expense, children under three years of age so entitled being taken free of charge, and children of three years of age or upwards, but under twelve years of age, so entitled, being taken at half the price of an adult; and such soldiers, marines, and privates of the militia or police force, and their wives, widows, and children so entitled, being conveyed in carriages which shall be provided with seats, with sufficient space for the reasonable accommodation of the persons conveyed, and which shall be protected against the weather; provided, that every officer conveyed shall be entitled to take with him one hundred weight of personal luggage without extra charge, and every soldier, marine, private, wife, or widow, shall be entitled to take with him or her half a hundred weight of personal luggage without extra charge, all excess of the above weights of personal luggage being paid for at the rate of not more than (d) Founded on Third Report, 1844. one halfpenny per pound, and all public baggage, stores, arms, ammunition, and other necessaries and things, (except gunpowder and other combustible matters, which the company shall only be bound to convey at such prices and upon such conditions as may be from time to time contracted for between the Secretary at War and the company), shall be conveyed at charges not exceeding two-pence per ton per mile, the assistance of the military or other forces being given in loading and unloading such goods. XIII. And whereas electrical telegraphs have been established on certain railways, and may be more extensively established hereafter, and it is expedient to provide for their due regulation, be it enacted, That every railway company, on being required so to do by the Lords of the said committee, shall be bound to allow any person or persons authorized by the Lords of the said committee, with servants and workmen, at all reasonable times to enter into or upon their lands, and to establish and lay down upon such lands adjoining the line of such railway, a line of electrical telegraph for her Majesty's service, and to give to him and them every reasonable facility for laying down the same, and for using the same for the purpose of receiving and sending messages on her Majesty's service, subject to such reasonable remuneration to the company as may be agreed upon between the company and the Lords of the said committee, or in case of disagreement as may be settled by arbitration: Provided always, that, subject to a prior right of use thereof for the purposes of her Majesty, such telegraph may be used by the company for the purposes of the railway, upon such terms as may be agreed upon between the parties, or, in the event of difference, as may be settled by arbitration. XIV. And be it enacted (e), That where a line of electrical telegraph shall have been established upon any railway by the company to whom such railway belongs, or by any company, partnership, person or persons, otherwise than exclusively for her Majesty's service, or exclusively for the purposes of the railway, or jointly for both, the use of such electrical telegraph, for the purpose of receiving and sending messages, shall, subject to the prior right of use thereof for the service of her Majesty and for the purposes of the company, and subject also to such equal charges and to such reasonable regulations as may be from time to time made by the said railway company, be open for the sending and receiving of messages by all persons alike, without favour or preference. XV. And whereas by an act passed in the fourth year of the reign of her Majesty, intituled "An Act to regulate Railways," power is given to the Lords of the said committee to appoint any proper person or persons to inspect any railway, and the stations, works, and buildings, and the engines and carriages belonging thereto; and in order to carry the provisions of this act into execution it is expedient that the said power be extended; be it enacted, That the said power given to the Lords of the said committee of appointing proper persons to inspect railways shall extend to authorize the appointment by the Lords of the said committee of any proper person or persons, for such purposes of inspection as are by the said act authorized, and also for the purpose of enabling the Lords of the said committee to carry the provisions of this and of the said act and of any general act relating (e) Founded on Fifth Report, 1844. C |
