8 & 9 VICT. c. 29. fore some justice, or until he be otherwise discharged by due course of law. Penalty for bringing danger railway. (a) As to the responsibility of railway companies for the wrongful acts of their servants, see notes to s. 154, post. CV. No person shall be entitled to carry, or to require ous goods on the the company to carry, upon the railway, any aquafortis, oil of vitriol, gunpowder, lucifer matches, or any other goods which in the judgment of the company may be of a dangerous nature; and if any person send by the railway any such goods without distinctly marking their nature on the outside of the package containing the same, or otherwise giving notice in writing to the book-keeper or other servant of the company with whom the same are left, at the time of so sending, he shall forfeit to the company twenty pounds for every such offence (a); and it shall be lawful for the company to refuse to take any parcel that they may suspect to contain goods of a dangerous nature, or require the same to be opened to ascertain the fact. (a) A guilty knowledge on the part of the sender is necessary to support a conviction under such an enactment as this. Therefore where G. and S. received from N. cases which contained oil of vitriol, and N. had imposed upon them by stating that the contents were of an entirely different description, and G. and S. had no know ledge of what the contents really were, and sent them innocently by the railway, it was held that they were not liable to be convicted. But, semble, N. might have been proceeded against under the section: (Hearne v. Garton, 2 El. & El. 66.) The senders might, it seems, without any guilty knowledge on their part, be made civilly liable to the railway company in such a case: (Ibid.) See further the act of 1866 for the amendment of the law with respect to the carriage and deposit of dangerous goods, 29 & 30 Vict. c. 69. CVI. If any collector of tolls or other officer employed by the company be discharged or suspended from his office, or die, abscond, or absent himself, and if such collector or other officer, or the wife, widow, or any of the family or representatives of any such collector or other officer, refuse or neglect, after seven days' notice in writing for that purpose, to deliver up to the company, or to any person appointed by them for that purpose, any station, dwellinghouse, office, or other building, with its appurtenances, or any books, papers, or other matters belonging to the company in the possession or custody of any such collector or Annual Statement of Accounts-Rating. 433 officer at the occurrence of any such event as aforesaid, 8 & 9 VICT. c. 20. then, upon application being made by the company to any justice, it shall be lawful for such justice to order any constable, with proper assistance, to enter upon such station or other building, and to remove any person found therein, and to take possession thereof, and of any such books, papers, or other matters, and to deliver the same to the company, or any person appointed by them for that purpose. to be made up, clerk of the CVII. And be it enacted, That the company shall every Annual account year cause an annual account in abstract to be prepared, and a copy transshowing the total receipts and expenditure of all funds mitted to the levied by virtue of this or the special act for the year end-peace, &c. ing on the thirty-first day of December, or some other convenient day in each year, under the several distinct heads of receipt and expenditure, with a statement of the balance of such account, duly audited and certified by the directors, or some of them, and by the auditors, and shall, if required, transmit a copy of the said account, free of charge, to the overseers of the poor of the several parishes through which the railway shall pass, and also to the clerks of the peace of the counties through which the railway shall pass, on or before the thirty-first day of January then next; which last-mentioned account shall be open to the inspection of the public at all seasonable hours, on payment of the sum of one shilling for every such inspection: Provided always, that if the said company shall omit to prepare or transmit such account as aforesaid, if required so to do by any such clerk of the peace or overseers of the poor, they shall forfeit for every such omission the sum of twenty pounds. the RATING OF RAILWAYS. By 43 Eliz. c. 2, s. 1, it is enacted that the sums for the relief of 43 Eliz. c. 2, s. 1. poor are to be raised by "taxation of every inhabitant, parson, vicar, and other, and of every occupier of lands, houses, tithes im propriate, or propriations of tithes, coal mines, or saleable underwoods in the said parish." cupiers of land. Railway companies are rateable as occupiers of land (Reg. v. Railway comFletton, 30 L. J. M. C. 89; and Reg. v. Lord Sherard, 33 L. J. panies are ou M. C. 5.) But a company which merely has running powers over a But not a comline is not an occupier, but has only an easement, and is therefore pany which has not rateable: (Reg. v. Midland Railway Co., 11 L. T. N. S. 303.) running powers The Parochial Assessment Act, 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 96, s. 1, enacts Rate to be made that "No rate for the relief of the poor in England or Wales shall on net annu be allowed by any justices or be of any force which shall not be value. only. Stock-in-trade not rateable. 8 & 9 VICT. c. 20. made upon an estimate of the net annual value of the several hereditaments rated thereunto; that is to say, of the rent at which the same may reasonably be expected to let from year to year free of all usual tenants' rates, and taxes, and tithe commutation rentcharge, if any, and deducting therefrom the probable annual average cost of the repairs, insurance, and other expenses, if any, necessary to maintain them in a state to command such rent.' And by 3 & 4 Vict. c. 89, which was originally enacted for a limited period, but has been continued in force by various acts, (see 31 & 32 Vict. c. 111,) it is provided "That it shall not be lawful for the overseers of any parish, township, or village to tax any inhabitant thereof as such inhabitant in respect of his ability derived from the profits of stock-in-trade, or any other property, for or towards the relief of the poor. Provided always that nothing in this act contained shall in anywise affect the liability of any parson or vicar, or of any occupier of lands, houses, tithes impropriate, propriations of tithes, coal mines, or saleable underwoods to be taxed for and towards the relief of the poor." Value of property within parish stances. The rate is only to be imposed on property within the parish, but may depend on every circumstance which increases the value of that property, external circum- whether arising within or without the parish, must be taken into account. Thus, where a railway passes through a parish, but has no station there, its value in a great measure depends upon the stations outside the parish, and it is rateable upon that value : (Reg. v. London and South-Western Railway Co., 1 Q. B. 558.) The basis of the rate is the clear annual value, or the net rent at which the property might reasonably be expected to let to a tenant. Fares as well as gross receipts. The mileage and parochial methods of rating. In finding the gross value of the property in the parish, which tolls form part of is the first step in the calculation, the fares as well as the tolls must be taken into account: (R. v. Grand Junction Railway Co., 4 Q. B. 18, and 13 L. J. M. C. 94; and R. v. London and South-Western Railway Co., 1 Q. B. 558.) There were two methods of ascertaining these, called respectively the mileage and the parochial. By the first method you took the gross receipts on the whole line, and charged to the portion of the line within the rating parish such proportion as the length of railway in the parish bore to the length of the whole line. By the second or parochial method you ascertained what portion of the gross receipts were actually earned within the parish. It is obvious that the results obtained by these two methods would widely differ, and that some parishes, say on the London and North-Western line, would get far more than their fair share of rates if the mileage system were adopted. The Court of Queen's Bench, therefore, hold that the parochial system is the proper one. This was first decided in the case of canals before the time of railways: (Rex. v. Kingswinford, 7 B. & C. 237.) For some time after railways were formed the companies kept their accounts purposely shrouded in mystery, so that it was impossible to discover the figures required for the parochial system of valuation. In time this mode of keeping accounts was changed, and then the question which of the two modes of computation was right was fought out in the Queen's Bench, and definitely settled by the judgment given in the three cases of Reg. v. London, Brighton, and South-Coast Railway Co., Reg. v. South-Eastern Railway Co., and Rate must be made on the parochial basis. Reg. v. Midland Railway Co., which were all argued, and one judg- 8 & 9 VICT. c. 20. ment given on the whole, (15 Q. B. 313,) in favour of the parochial system. There is no difficulty in keeping railway companies books so as to show the half-yearly earnings between station and station. (See Cripp's "How to Rate a Railway," page 20.) where profits are earned. The rate is to be made in the parish where the profits are earned, Rate to be made and not where received: (R. v. Barnes, 1 B. & Ad. 116.) The prime cost of the railway is quite immaterial, since it may Prime cost of have been injudiciously expended, and what was costly may have railway immabecome worthless by subsequent changes: (R. v. Mile End, Old terial. Town, 10 Q. B. 218.) case of mutual It was enacted by an act of Parliament, local, personal, and public, How to rate in that each of two railways, viz., the London, Brighton, and South running powers Coast Railway and the South-Eastern Railway Co., should have in different free use of a given portion of the other's line. The portions of the parishes. respective lines lay in different parishes. It was held, that each company was to be rated for the value of the given portion of its own line at the amount which the other would have had to pay if it had hired the right of using such portion, and that no deduction was to be made for a supposed rent paid for the corresponding easement on the other's line: (Reg. v. London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Co., 15 Q. B. 313.) through fare, company, the its receipts. In The Queen v. Vestry of St Pancras, (3 B. & S. 810,) the North Where one railLondon Railway Co. were the appellants against a rate made under way receives a the following circumstances :-The appellants' railway, after passing part of which it through the respondents' parish, joins the London and Blackwall pays to another Railway, which formed the only access of the North London Rail- fare it pays must way to London. By arrangement with the London and Blackwall be deducted from Railway, the appellants carried their passengers over the London and Blackwall Railway, paying a certain toll per passenger. They charged their passengers but one fare for conveyance from any part of their line to any other part of their line, or to any part of the London and Black wall line. Held, that the toll paid to the London and Blackwall Railway must be deducted from the rateable value. A railway company is not liable to be rated on a toll which, Toll not levied though authorised, they do not levy: (Reg. v. Stockton and Darling- though authoton Railway Co., 8 L. T. N. S. 422.) Leaving the branch lines out of consideration for the present, we have now the first element in the rateable value of railways-viz., their gross earnings in the parish where the rate is to be made; those earnings including fares, tolls, and rent, paid by other companies for the use of the line, whether it be paid in money or in kind. rised. Queen's Bench From this gross sum, numerous deductions have to be made Deductions from before we can arrive at the net annual value of the hereditaments gross receipts. occupied by the railway which is the only part of the property will not interfere which is rateable. The Court of Queen's Bench refuse to interfere as to amount. with the amount of the several deductions allowed by the Quarter Sessions, confining themselves to saying what are proper items of deduction. See R. v. Grand Junction Railway Co., 4 Q. B. 18. In that case the Sessions had made the following deductions, and the Court of Queen's Bench held that they included all that were properly referable to trade, and that the Sessions might fairly infer that a yearly tenant would give the balance as rent. The deductions were 8 & 9 VICT. c. 20. First, Interest on the capital invested in the movable stock of the company. The Sessions allowed 5 per cent., and this sum appears to be the usual allowance. The parish officers are bound to take the value of the stock at the time the rate is made: (Reg. v. Great Western Railway Co., 6 Q. B. 179.) Value of stock must be taken at time rate is made. Tenants' profits. Secondly, A percentage on the same capital for tenants' profits and profits of trade. The amounts allowed for this have varied from 10 to 20 per cent.; this too must be calculated on the actual value of the rolling stock at the time the rate is made: (Reg. v. No percentage North Staffordshire Railway Co., 30 L. J. M. C. 68.) No percentage allowed on things is allowed on things attached to the freehold so as to become part hold or intended of it, or on things which, though capable of being removed, it is permanently to intended shall permanently remain connected with the railway: attached to free remain connected with the railway. Percentage for annual depreciation. Expenses of conducting the business. Maintenancy of (Ibid.; and Reg. v. Southampton Dock Co., 17 Q. B. 83.) Thirdly, A percentage on the same sum for annual depreciation of stock beyond ordinary annual repairs. The sum allowed in the case we are now considering, (Reg. v. Grand Junction Railway Co.,) was £12, 10s. per cent. In Reg. v. London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Co., 10 per cent. was allowed by the Sessions: (15 Q. B. 313; 20 L. J. Q. B. 189.) Fourthly, Expenses of conducting the business :-These of course embrace various items, which are generally classified under nine heads, viz. :1. Maintenance of way. : 2. Gradual depreciation of way. 3. Locomotive and carriage account. 4. Carrying account and general charges. 5. Rent of stations. 6. Direction and office expenses. 7. Compensation returns and allowances. 9. Rates and taxes. It will be convenient to notice these items seriatim, which include the two other deductions allowed in Reg. v. Grand Junction Railway Co.-viz., the fifth the rent of stations rated separately; and the sixth the gradual depreciation of the way. (1.) The cost of maintaining the permanent way ought, strictly permanent way. speaking, to be allowed on the parochial system, by finding out what is the actual cost of maintaining that portion of it which is in the rating parish; but in practice a mileage division of the expense of maintaining the whole line is adopted. Depreciation of way. (2.) Gradual depreciation of way :-The Parochial Assessment Act provides for a deduction of the probable annual average cost of repairs necessary to maintain the premises in a condition to command the net rent-see ante. This formed the sixth item allowed in Reg. v. Grand Junction Railway Co., supra; but it is more convenient to place it here. The railway company is entitled to this deduction, although they may not actually have set aside any sum from their revenue for the purpose: (Reg. v. London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Co., 15 Q. B. 313 S. C.; 20 L. J. M. C. 124; and Reg. v. Great Western Railway Co., 15 Q. B. 1085; and 21 L. J. M. C. 84; overruling on this point, Reg. v. Great Western Railway Co., 6 Q. B. 179; and 15 L. J. M. C. 80.) The proper amount |