The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-09 00:00:00

Parliamentary Deposits of Railways.

The select committee appointed to join with the
select committee appointed by the House of Lords
to consider the Act 9 and 10 Vict., c. 20, and the
standing orders of both houses in relation to par-
liamentary deposits, and the completion of railways
within a prescribed time, and to report what altera-
tions it is expedient to make therein for the present
and for the ensuing session, have made further pro-
gress in the matters to them referred, and have
agreed to the following second report :
" The committee recommend that the following
standing orders should be adopted by both houses :
"In every railway bill, whereby the construction
of any new line of railway is authorised, or the time
for completing any line already authorised is ex-
tended, promoted by an existing railway company
which is possessed of a railway already opened for
public traffic, and which has, during the year last
past, paid dividends on its ordinary share capital,
and which does not propose to raise under the bill a
capital greater than its existing authorised capital,
there shall be inserted a clause to the following
effect, viz.:

" (A). If the company fail within the period
limited by this act to complete the railway authorised
to be made by this act, the company shall be liable
to a penalty of fifty pounds a day for every day
after the expiration of the period so limited until the
said railway is completed and opened for public
traffic, or until the sum received in respect of such
penalty shall amount to five per cent. on the esti-

mated cost of the works ; and the said penalty may
be applied for by any landowner or other person
to be compensated in accordance with the provisions
of the next following section of this act, and in the
same manner as the penalty provided in the 3d sec-
tion of the act 17 and 18 Vic., c. 31, known as
"The Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854," and
every sum of money recovered by way of such
penalty as aforesaid shall be paid under the warrant
or order of such court or judge as is specified in the
said 3d section of the act 17 and 18 Vict. c. 31, to
an account opened or to be opened in the name and
with the privity of the Accountant-General of the
Court of Chancery in England (the Queen's Re-
membrancer of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland,
or the Accountant-General of the Court of Chan-
cery in Ireland—according as the railway is situate
in England, Scotland, or Ireland), in the bank
named in such order, and shall not be paid thereout
except as hereinafter provided ; but no penalty
shall accrue in respect of any time during which it
shall appear, by a certificate to be obtained from the
Board of Trade, that the company was prevented
from completing or opening such line by unforeseen
accident or circumstances beyond their control ;
provided that the want of sufficient funds shall not
be held to be a circumstance beyond their control.
"In every railway bill whereby the construction
of any new line is authorised,or the time for complet-
ing any line already authorised is extended ; if such
bill be promoted by an existing railway company
which is not possessed of a railway already opened
for public traffic, or which has, not during the year
last past paid dividends on its ordinary share
capital ; or by an existing railway company when
the capital to be raised under the bill is greater than
the existing authorised capital of the company, or
by persons not already incorporated, there shall be
inserted a clause to the following effect, viz.:—
" (B.) Whereas, pursuant to the standing orders
of both Houses of Parliament, and to an Act of the
9th and 10th years of her present Majesty, c. 20, a
sum of £ , being 5 per cent. upon the amount
of the estimate in respect of the railway autho-
rised by this Act, has been deposited with
the Court of Chancery in England (or with
the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or the Court of
Chancery in Ireland, as the case may be), (or Ex-
chequer bills, stocks, or funds to the amount of
, have been deposited or transferred pursuant
to the said act, as the case may be), in respect of the
application to Parliament for this act : be it enacted
that, notwithstanding anything contained in the said
recited act, the said sum of £ (or the said Ex-
chequer bills, or other funds as the case may be) so
deposited (or transferred) as aforesaid, in respect of
the application for this act, shall not be paid or
transferred to or on the application of the person or
persons, or the majority of the persons named in the
warrant or order issued in pursuance of the said act,
or the survivors or survivor of them, unless the said
company shall, previously to the expiration of the
period limited by this act for completion of the rail-
way hereby authorised to be made, either open the
said railway for the public conveyance of passengers,
or prove to the satisfaction of the Lords of Commit-
tee of her Majesty's Privy Council for Trade and
Foreign Plantations that the said company have paid
up one-half of the amount of the capital by this act
authorised to be raised by means of shares, and have
expended for the purposes of this act a sum equal in
amount to such one-half of the said capital ; and if
the said period shall expire before the said company
shall either have opened the said railway for the
public conveyance of passengers, or have given such
proof as aforesaid to the satisfaction of the Lords of
the said committee, the said sum of money (Ex-
chequer bills, stocks, or funds) deposited (or trans-
ferred) as aforesaid, shall be applied in the manner
hereinafter specified ; and the certificate of the Lords
of the said committee that such proof has been given
to their satisfaction as aforesaid, shall be sufficient
evidence of the fact so certified ; and it shall not be
necessary to produce any certificate of this act hav-
ing passed, anything in the said recited act to the
contrary notwithstanding.
" In every railway bill whereby the construction of
any new line of railway is authorised, or the time for
completing any line already authorised is extended,
the following clauses shall be inserted, in the order
in which they arc here placed, immediately after
that one of the two last preceding clauses which
shall have been inserted in the bill ; viz.:—
" (C.) The said sum of money (Exchequer bills,
stocks, or funds) deposited (or transferred) as afore-
said (or, every sum of money so recovered by way
of penalty, as aforesaid), shall be applicable, and,
after duo notice in the London Gazette (or Edinburgh
or Dublin Gazette, as the case may require), shall be
applied towards compensating any landowners or
other persons whose property may have been inter-
fered with, or otherwise rendered less valuable, by
the commencement, construction, or abandonment
of the said railway, or any portion thereof, or who
may have been subjected to injury or loss in conse-
quence of the compulsory powers of taking pro-
perty conferred upon the company by this act, and
for which injury or loss no compensation or inade-
quate compensation shall have been paid, and shall
be distributed in satisfaction of such compensation
as aforesaid, in such manner and in such propor-
tions as to the Court of Chancery in England (or
Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or Court of Chancery
in Ireland, as the case may be) may seem fit; and if
no such compensation shall be payable, or if a por-
tion of the said sum of money (Exchequer bills,
stocks, or funds) (or of the sum or sums of money so
recovered by way of penalty as aforesaid) shall have
been found sufficient to satisfy all just claims in
respect of such compensation, t►hen the said
sum of money (Exchequer bills, stocks, or
funds) (or the said sum or sums of money re-
covered by way of penalty), or such portion thereof
as may not be required as aforesaid, shall be paid
(or transferred) to or on the application of the per-
son or persons or the majority of the persons named
in such warrant or order as aforesaid, or the survi-
vor or survivors of them (or the company from whom
such penalty was recovered) : Provided that until
the said sum of money (Exchequer bills, stocks, or
funds) shall have been repaid to the depositors, or
shall have become otherwise applicable as hereiube-
fore mentioned, any interest or dividend accruing
thereon shall from time to time, and as often as the
same shall become payable, be paid to or on the
application of the person or persons or the majority
of the persons named in such warrant or order as
aforesaid, or the survivors or survivor of them.
N.B.—lf the clause lettered (A) is inserted in the
bill, the proviso at the cud of the clause (lettered
(C) shall be omitted.
" (D.) If the railway authorised by this act shall
not be completed within the period limited by this
act (such period not to exceed five years in the case
of a new line, and three years in the case of the ex-
tension of time for completing any line), then, on