The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-11 00:00:00

PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC INTERESTS.

The powers given to the Board of Trade by the Act
For regulating railways may be classed under two heads--
1. Enforcement of the provisions of Railway Acts.

2. Revision of by-laws.
For the former object the provisions of the present
Act (3 and 4 Victoria, c. 97, s. 11 and HO appear
Guilicient ; and although, from the ample and indefinite
nature of the powers given to railway companies, it does
net appear likely that the public interests will often
suffer from any attempt directly to infringe upon the
provisions of their Acts, there can be no question that
the power given to the Board of Trade is highly use-
ful as a check, and ought to be continued.
With regard to the remaining power of disallowing
by-laws, this is necessarily of a very limited nature, be-
ing confined to " by-laws, orders, rules, and regulations,
which impose penalties for the enforcement thereof
upon persons other than servants of the company."
In a majority of cases no such by-laws or regulations
exist. Of 77 railway companies to whom a circular was
addressed, calling upon them to make returns of their
by-laws, in terms of the Act, 43 have either made no
return, or made a return that they had no by-laws within
the meaning of the Act.
Of the remaining thirty-four the by-laws and regula-
tions relate almost exclusively either to matters of little
practical importance or of local detail. Most of those
which inflict penalties are proper in themselves, and
sanctioned by the precedent of provisions of a similar
nature contained in the Acts of other Railway Com-
panies ; as, for instance, by-laws imposing penalties
upo❑ smoking, improper conduct, intoxication, wi►ful
damage to the Company's property, and attempts to
defraud.

In all these cases the mal-administration, if any
exists, must depend, not on the by-law itself, but en
the manner in which Its provisions aro carried into
effect, over which the Board of Trade has no control.
In the same way with regard to the booking of places
and collection of tickets, the only subject of really
practical importance which is brought under thejuris-
diction of the Board of Trade by the returns in ques-
tion, the regulations imposing penalties afford little in-
formation as to the system actually adopted upon any
particular railway. At the same time we feel bound to
state that no complaints have been addressed to lig
by-laws has brn offpoprrtelslati
since the railway department came into oporation, and
that we have no evidence before us to slityr that the
sively exercised. :1.
power of imposing
The by-laws and re emulations which have re-
turned to the Board of Trade appear in manyinstancee
indirectly taking; itmh;
Fi...y and
penalties by
ol:enntobyo
the
ctAiocnts
aopnpeatrbse
togruosuntod
boef
iiirlitleourdmedl
technical defects ; but as the power of disallowance
given
p o r protectiont,i
n ce anodf
nottlre apsubaliemienansmtoitfters
thoughtenactment
it on
advisable
vi by-lawssa b l e
tinto
exerciseour
it
where hands,
nwo we have
sub. not
stantial objection appeared than the want of uniformity
aware that it is objectionable that the
and
Ivceor
arercet
fully
laws public
upsohnouelvderyb e subjected
different
these regulations railt:a a andt tltat_oirttn a desira-
ble e sira
well-.
as the substance of erent code. of
.by-
ble to introduce more uniformity
tiorrinso; the f
but we think it
better to attain this object gradually and by the co-
operation of the railway companies themselves, than by
straining the power of disallowance given by the Act.
Indeed, from what has been already stated, it is evi-
dent
that the Board of Trade could do but little with
its present powers towards the enforcement of an uni-
form system of regulations upon all the railways of tha
kingdom, since more than half the number are relieved
by the provisions of their several Acts from the neees..
city of making by-laws at all, and therefore do not come.
in that respect, within the jurisdiction of the Board.
The first step towards the introduction of an uniform%
system must be the enactment of a general Railways
Act, consolidating the scattered provisions of the diffe.
rent Acts of Incorporation which relate to similar oh.
jects, and defining clearly the objects and nature of the
sub-legislative powers given to companies, and the ob.
ligations imposed upon them in regard to their exercisei
In the meantime, unless the Legislature should think
fit to extend the duties and powers of the Board of
Trade with regard to the supervision of the arrange•
ments of railway companies by which the public inte-
rests are affected, the power of disallowing by-laws