No. 29 of 1924.
RAILWAYS ACT, 1924.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PRELIMINARY
Definitions
Section | |
Re-organisation of Railway System
Provisions as to determination of terms and conditions of amalgamation or transfer. | |
Power of trustees to invest in securities of amalgamated company. | |
Establishment of Railway Tribunal
Appointment of officers and payment of expenses of railway tribunal. | |
Members of railway tribunal not to hold shares in any transport undertaking. | |
Railway Charges
Classification of Merchandise
Standard Charges
Exceptional Charges
Conditions of Carriage
Miscellaneous Provisions as to Charges
Adjustment of Charges to Revenue
Periodical review of standard charges and exceptional charges. |
Wages and Conditions of Service
Regulation of Railways
Power to confirm agreements for the purchase, lease or working of railways. | |
Baronially Guaranteed Railways
General
Provision for applications by public authorities in certain cases. | |
Amalgamating and Absorbed Companies
Board of Directors of Amalgamated Company
Existing Officers and Servants
Provisions relating to the submission of Schemes
Division and Form of Schedules of Standard Charges
Miscellaneous Provisions as to Rates
Enactments Amended
Grades to which Part IV of the Act Applies
Payments in respect of Baronial Guarantees
Enactments not applying to Amalgamated Company
Acts Referred to | |
No. 5 of 1924 | |
Statutory Undertakings (Continuance of Charges) (No. 2) Act, 1923 | No. 16 of 1923 |
No. 29 of 1924.
RAILWAYS ACT, 1924.
PRELIMINARY.
Definitions.
Definitions.
1.—In this Act—
the expression “the amalgamated company” means the company constituted by the amalgamation in accordance with the provisions of this Act of the companies specified in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act and the absorption of the companies specified in the second column of the said Schedule;
the expression “amalgamating company” means one of the companies specified in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act and intended to constitute by amalgamation the amalgamated company;
the expression “absorbed company” means one of the companies specified in the second column of the First Schedule to this Act and intended to be absorbed by the amalgamated company under the provisions of this Act;
the expression “the railway tribunal” means the court to be established under that name pursuant to Part II. of this Act;
the expression “Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
PART I.
Re-organisation of Railway System.
Amalgamation of railways.
2.—(1) With a view to the re-organisation and more efficient and economical working of the railway system of Saorstát Eireann, the amalgamated company shall be formed in accordance with the provisions of this Act by the amalgamation of the companies set out in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act, and by the absorption of the companies set out in the second column of that Schedule.
(2) For the purposes of this Act the Arigna Colliery Extension Railway, the Athy-Wolfhill Colliery Railway, and the Castle-comer Railway shall on the 1st day of January, 1925, or such earlier or later date as the railway tribunal after consultation with the Minister may fix, be absorbed by the amalgamated company on terms to be agreed with the owners of those railways or, in default of such agreement, on terms to be decided by the railway tribunal.
Preparation and settlement of the amalgamation scheme.
3.—(1) The amalgamating companies may on or before the 31st day of August, 1924, submit to the Minister an amalgamation scheme framed in accordance with the provisions of this Act which has been agreed to by all those companies.
(2) The Minister shall refer to the railway tribunal any scheme so submitted to him, and the tribunal, unless it appears to them that the scheme does not conform with the requirements of this Act or that the provisions of this Act relating to the procedure preliminary to the submission of an agreed scheme have not been complied with, shall confirm the scheme.
(3) If the amalgamating companies fail to submit an agreed amalgamation scheme framed in accordance with the provisions of this Act on or before the said date, a scheme for the amalgamation of those companies shall be prepared and settled in accordance with this Act by the railway tribunal.
Provisions to be contained in the amalgamation scheme.
4.—An amalgamation scheme under this Act—
(a) shall provide for the incorporation of the amalgamated company under an appropriate name with power to hold land for the purposes of the company, and make such provisions as appear necessary or expedient with regard to the share and loan capital of the amalgamated company and the vesting of the property, rights, powers, duties and liabilities, whether statutory or otherwise, of the amalgamating companies; and
(b) shall provide generally as to the terms and conditions of amalgamation and for the winding-up of the amalgamating companies, including the allocation to holders of securities of the amalgamating companies, in substitution therefor and in satisfaction of all claims arising thereunder, of such securities of the amalgamated company, and of such amounts, as may be specified in the scheme; and
(c) shall incorporate Part V. of the Railways Clauses Act, 1863, subject to the provisions of this Act, and may incorporate any of the provisions of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, and the Acts amending that Act, subject to the modification that any committees appointed under section 95 of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, may comprise persons who, though not directors of the company, are proprietors and possess such other qualifications (if any) as may be provided by the scheme; and
(d) shall give effect to the provisions contained in the Second Schedule to this Act with respect to the direction of the amalgamated company, and may, with the consent of the proprietors, provide for the payment of compensation out of the assets of an amalgamating company to any director of such company who suffers loss by abolition of office or who resigns office consequent on his being appointed a standing member of the railway tribunal, but in the latter eventuality his remuneration as such standing member of the railway tribunal shall be taken into account in fixing the amount of any such compensation; and
(e) shall contain such provisions with respect to the management of any superannuation, pension, provident, widows' and orphans' and other benefit fund or funds established by any amalgamating company as may be necessary in consequence of amalgamation, so, however, as to preserve in all other respects the management of such funds unaltered until other provision is made by the Oireachtas; and
(f) shall incorporate the provisions contained in the Third Schedule to this Act with respect to existing officers and servants; and
(g) may make such incidental and supplemental provisions as appear necessary or expedient in order to give full effect to the provisions of the scheme and the purposes of this Act.
Preparation and approval of absorption schemes.
5.—(1) The amalgamating companies may, on or before the 31st day of August, 1924, submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes framed in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the absorption by the amalgamated company of all or any of the absorbed companies, on terms agreed to by the absorbed companies to which the scheme or schemes may relate.
(2) The Minister shall refer to the railway tribunal any scheme so submitted to him, and the tribunal, unless it appears to them that the scheme does not conform with the requirements of this Act, or that the provisions of this Act relating to the procedure preliminary to the submission of an agreed scheme have not been complied with, shall confirm the scheme.
(3) If the amalgamating companies fail on or before the said date to submit an agreed scheme or schemes framed in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the absorption of all the absorbed companies, a scheme for the absorption of any such company with respect to which an agreed absorption scheme framed in accordance with the provisions of this Act has not been made shall be prepared and settled in accordance with this Act by the railway tribunal.
Provisions to be contained in absorption schemes.
6.—An absorption scheme under this Act—
(a) shall provide in such manner as appears necessary or expedient for the transfer to the amalgamated company of all the property, rights, powers, duties, and liabilities whether statutory or otherwise, of any absorbed company to which the scheme relates; and
(b) shall provide for the consideration to be given to the absorbed company or companies, and generally as to the terms and conditions of the transfer, and may provide for the consideration consisting in whole or in part of securities of the amalgamated company; and
(c) shall provide for the winding up of the absorbed company or companies, and may provide on any such winding up for the holder of any securities of the absorbed company receiving in substitution therefor and in satisfaction of all claims arising thereunder such securities of the amalgamated company forming part of the consideration for the transfer of the undertaking, and of such amounts, as may be specified in the scheme, and may, with the consent of the proprietors, provide for the payment of compensation out of the assets of an absorbed company to any director of such company who suffers loss by abolition of office or who resigns office consequent on his being appointed a standing member of the railway tribunal, but in the latter eventuality his remuneration as such standing member of the railway tribunal shall be taken into account in fixing the amount of any such compensation; and
(d) shall incorporate the provisions of Part V. of the Railways Clauses Act, 1863, subject to the provisions of this Act; and
(e) shall contain such provisions with respect to the management of any superannuation, pension, provident, widows' and orphans' and other benefit fund or funds established by any absorbed company to which the scheme relates as may be necessary in consequence of absorption so, however, as to preserve in all other respects the management of such funds unaltered until other provision is made by the Oireachtas or by agreement between the parties concerned, as the case may require; and
(f) shall incorporate the provisions contained in the Third Schedule to this Act with respect to existing officers and servants; and
(g) may make such incidental and supplemental provisions as appear necessary or expedient in order to give full effect to the provisions of the scheme and the purposes of this Act.
Saving as to transfer of liability in certain cases.
7.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall not be transferred to the amalgamated company any liability of an absorbed company in respect of any dividends or interest or arrears of dividends or interest on any loan or any mortgage, bond, charge, debenture, debenture stock or other security for money on which there were six or more years arrears of dividends or interest unpaid on the 3rd day of April, 1924, and no provisions in this Act applicable to an absorption scheme shall apply to such liability: Provided that this sub-section shall not apply to the liability of an absorbed company in respect of any dividends or interest or arrears of dividends or interest on any mortgage, bond, charge, debenture, debenture stock or other security for money the holder of which was by virtue thereof in possession (whether by himself, or by a trustee on his behalf, or by a receiver appointed by him or any trustee on his behalf) on the 3rd day of April, 1924, of the property or any part of the property comprised in such mortgage, bond, charge, debenture, debenture stock or other security for money.
(2) In the event of the amalgamating companies and the absorbed companies failing to determine, for the purpose of an absorption scheme, the capital value of any loan or security mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section, the value shall be such amount (if any) as is determined by the railway tribunal having regard to the possibility of any dividends or interest being paid on such loan or security if absorption had not taken place.
Provisions as to determination of terms and conditions of amalgamation or transfer.
8.—For the purpose of determining the terms and conditions of amalgamation between the amalgamating companies or of the transfer of the undertaking of any absorbed company, the railway tribunal shall take into consideration all the circumstances of the case, and in particular the value on a net revenue earning basis of each of the amalgamating and absorbed companies as a separate company, and its value as a component part of the amalgamated company: so, however, that regard shall not be had to economies or accretions of traffic or other circumstances tending to enhance its value as such component part attributable solely to the provisions of this Act relating to amalgamation and absorption:
Provided that, in the case of the line of one company being worked by another company under an arrangement whereby a percentage of the gross receipts of the line so worked is payable to the owning company, the railway tribunal in determining the terms and conditions of transfer shall not take into account any higher charging powers than those authorised in respect of the line under the statutory provisions in force in the year 1913.
Supplementary provisions as to schemes.
9.—(1) The amalgamation scheme and every absorption scheme shall be so framed as to come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1925, or such earlier or later date, as the railway tribunal, after consultation with the Minister, may fix:
Provided that the amalgamation scheme shall be deemed to come into operation immediately before the absorption schemes.
(2) Before an agreed amalgamation or absorption scheme is referred to the railway tribunal, the scheme shall be submitted to the proprietors and debenture stock-holders of each amalgamating and absorbed company affected thereby in the manner provided in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.
(3) A scheme under this Part of this Act shall, when confirmed or settled by the railway tribunal, be binding on all persons and have effect as if enacted in this Act, and where any such scheme provides for the substitution of any securities of the amalgamated company for securities of an amalgamating or absorbed company any trustee or other person acting in a fiduciary capacity who at the date of the amalgamation or absorption held and was entitled to hold any securities of an amalgamating or absorbed company shall be entitled to hold the securities of the amalgamated company which may be substituted therefor.
(4) No stamp duty shall be payable in respect of any amalgamation or absorption scheme.
(5) Printed copies of the proposed amalgamation scheme and of every absorption scheme submitted to the Minister or prepared by the railway tribunal in accordance with the provisions of sections 3 and 5 of this Act, respectively, shall be placed on sale at such places and at such prices as the Minister may direct, and notice that such copies are on sale and the places where they may be obtained shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil, and no such scheme shall be confirmed or settled by the railway tribunal until the expiration of twenty-one days after the publication of such notice.
(6) The amalgamation and every absorption scheme shall be deemed to be statutory rules and shall be printed, numbered, published, and sold, and may be cited, in the like manner as statutory rules are for the time being by law required to be printed, numbered, published, and sold, and permitted to be cited.
(7) If the railway tribunal postpones the date on which the amalgamation and absorption schemes are to come into operation to a date later than the said 1st day of January 1925, then, during the period of postponement, the undertakings of all the amalgamating and absorbed companies shall be used, worked, managed, maintained and repaired as one joint undertaking, and the net receipts of the joint undertaking shall be distributed amongst the amalgamating and absorbed companies upon such terms and subject to such conditions and in such proportions as may be agreed upon by the several companies with the approval of the railway tribunal or in default of agreement as may be determined by the railway tribunal, and the following provisions of this Act relating to the amalgamated company shall apply as if such joint undertaking were the undertaking of the amalgamated company and as if the governing body of the joint undertaking were the amalgamated company.
Preliminary scheme.
10.—(1) Any two or more amalgamating companies may, at any time after the passing of this Act and prior to the 31st day of August, 1924, submit to the Minister for reference to the Railway Tribunal a preliminary scheme for the amalgamation of those companies.
(2) An amalgamating company or any two or more amalgamating companies may, at any time after the passing of this Act and prior to the 31st day of August, 1924, submit to the Minister for reference to the Railway Tribunal a preliminary scheme for the absorption by such amalgamating company or companies of any absorbed company or companies upon such terms as may be agreed between those companies.
(3) The Railway Tribunal shall approve any such preliminary scheme so referred to them unless it appears to them that the provisions of this Act relating to the procedure preliminary to the submission of a scheme have not been complied with, or unless after hearing such of the other amalgamating companies as desire to be heard, the railway tribunal consider the scheme to be inconsistent with or prejudicial to the amalgamation scheme to be made in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(4) Every such preliminary scheme shall, subject to such provisions in that behalf as may be contained therein, come into operation forthwith after it is approved.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this section, all the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to amalgamation and absorption schemes shall, with the necessary adaptations, apply respectively to preliminary amalgamation and absorption schemes except that a preliminary amalgamation scheme shall, instead of giving effect to the provisions contained in the Second Schedule to this Act with respect to the direction of the Company, make such alternative provision in that respect as may be agreed between the companies to be amalgamated.
(6) In the confirmation or preparation and settlement of the amalgamation scheme the Railway Tribunal shall give effect to any preliminary scheme approved by them, but so that the interests of the other amalgamating companies shall not be prejudiced thereby.
(7) Any company formed by a preliminary amalgamation scheme shall be deemed to be an amalgamating company for the purposes of this Act in lieu of the companies amalgamated by the scheme and shall not be deemed to be the amalgamated company within the meaning of this Act.
Power of trustees to invest in securities of amalgamated company.
11.—For the purposes of the provisions of the Trustee Act, 1893, relating to the securities in which trustees are authorised to invest trust funds, the amalgamated company shall be treated as if it were a railway company in Saorstát Eireann incorporated by special Act of Parliament and had, in each of the ten years immediately before the date of amalgamation, paid a dividend at the rate of not less than three per centum per annum on its ordinary stock.
Employees of Irish Railway Clearing House.
12.—(1) The provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act shall, with the modifications hereinafter mentioned, apply to every person who was on the 3rd day of April, 1924, an officer or servant of the Irish Railway Clearing House and who, as a direct result of any re-organisation of the Irish Railway Clearing House taking place within five years after the passing of this Act, is discharged on account of the abolition of his office or situation, or is required to perform duties such as are not analogous, or are an unreasonable addition, to those which he was required to perform immediately previous to the date aforesaid.
(2) For the purpose of the application of the Third Schedule to this Act to the persons aforesaid, the said Schedule shall be construed and take effect as if the Irish Railway Clearing House were substituted in the said Schedule for the amalgamated company, and the persons aforesaid were officers or servants of an amalgamating company.
PART II.
Establishment of Railway Tribunal.
Constitution of the railway tribunal.
13.—(1) There shall be established a court styled the Railway Tribunal consisting of three standing members, that is to say, a chairman and two ordinary members, all of whom shall be appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council.
(2) Each of the standing members of the railway tribunal shall be appointed and hold office for five years and shall then retire, but shall be eligible for reappointment.
(3) A standing member of the railway tribunal may resign his office at any time.
(4) A standing member of the railway tribunal may only be removed from his office by a resolution passed by Dáil Eireann and by Seanad Eireann for incapacity or misbehaviour stated in such resolution.
(5) The railway tribunal shall be a court of record and shall have an official seal, which shall be officially and judicially noticed, and the railway tribunal may act notwithstanding a vacancy in its number.
Qualification of members of railway tribunal.
14.—(1) Every person appointed to be chairman of the railway tribunal shall at the date of his appointment either—
(a) be a practising barrister of at least twelve years' standing, or
(b) be or have been a judge of the Supreme Court, the High Court, or the Circuit Court, or
(c) have been a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland, or
(d) have been a Recorder or County Court Judge in Saorstát Eireann.
(2) A judge of the Supreme Court, the High Court, or the Circuit Court may while he holds that office be appointed, with his own consent and the consent of the Chief Justice, to be chairman of the railway tribunal on the terms that he may retain office as such judge notwithstanding his appointment as such chairman.
(3) One of the ordinary members of the railway tribunal shall be a person of experience in commercial affairs and the other of such members shall be a person of experience in railway business.
(4) A standing member of the railway tribunal shall not, while he retains that office, enter into or remain in the employment of any person, company or other undertaking engaged in the transport of persons or things, and a chairman of the railway tribunal shall not, while he retains that office, engage in practice at the bar in Saorstát Eireann.
(5) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, a standing member of the railway tribunal may be appointed on such terms in respect of his holding or not holding any other office or employment as the Executive Council shall, after consultation with the Minister if he is not an Executive Minister, advise the Governor-General.
Appointment of officers and payment of expenses of railway tribunal.
15.—(1) The Minister shall appoint a registrar of the railway tribunal and may, subject to the consent of the Minister for Finance as to numbers, appoint such other officers and servants of the railway tribunal as he shall consider necessary for assisting them in the execution of their duties.
(2) There shall be paid to the standing members of the railway tribunal, and to the registrar and other officers and servants of the railway tribunal such remuneration as the Minister for Finance shall determine.
(3) The Civil Service Regulation Act, 1924 (No. 5 of 1924), shall apply to the registrar and other officers and servants of the railway tribunal.
(4) The remuneration of the members (including temporary members) and of the registrar and other officers and servants of the railway tribunal and all other expenses of the railway tribunal incurred in the exercise and performance of their powers and duties shall be defrayed out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, and a sum equal to one-half of the excess as determined by the Minister for Finance of such remuneration and expenses in each financial year over and above the amount of all fees charged and recovered by the railway tribunal under this Act in that financial year, shall, on demand made within twelve months after the end of that financial year, be paid to the Minister by the amalgamated company as part of its working expenses.
Members of railway tribunal not to hold shares in any transport undertaking.
16.—(1) Every person appointed to be a standing member of the railway tribunal shall within three months after his appointment absolutely sell and dispose of all shares in any transport undertaking which he shall at the time of his appointment own or be interested in for his own benefit, and if any shares in any transport undertaking shall come to or vest in a member of the railway tribunal by will or succession for his own benefit, he shall within three months after the same shall have so come to or vested in him, absolutely sell and dispose of the same or his interest therein.
(2) A standing member of the railway tribunal shall not, while he holds that office, purchase, take, or become interested in for his own benefit any shares in any transport undertaking.
(3) Any standing member of the railway tribunal who shall retain, purchase, take, or become or remain interested in any shares in any transport undertaking in contravention of this section shall be disqualified for and be deemed to have vacated his office as such member.
(4) In this section the expression “shares in any transport undertaking” means and includes any stock, shares, debentures, debenture stock, bonds, or other securities of any company engaged in the transport of persons or things in Great Britain or Ireland.
Additional and temporary members of tribunal.
17.—(1) There shall be constituted two panels, that is to say:—
(a) a panel (hereinafter referred to as the “general panel”) consisting of twelve persons nominated by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council, such advice being given as regards three such persons after consultation with the Minister and with a view to such three persons being representative of commercial and industrial interests, and as regards two other such persons after consultation with the Minister and with a view to such two persons being representatives of the interests of labour, and as regards two other such persons after consultation with the Minister and with a view to such two persons being representative of the interests of passengers upon railways, and as regards four other such persons after consultation with the Minister for Lands and Agriculture and with a view to such four persons being representative of agricultural interests, and as regards one other such person after consultation with the Minister for Fisheries and with a view to such person being representative of fishery interests; and
(b) a panel (hereinafter referred to as the “railway and canal panel”) consisting of four persons nominated by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council, such advice being given after consultation with the Minister and with a view to three of such persons being representative of the railway companies in Saorstát Eireann and the other of such persons being representative of the canal and inland navigation companies and authorities in Saorstát Eireann.
(2) Each member of the panels shall be appointed for such term not exceeding three years from the date of his appointment as the Governor-General shall on the advice of the Executive Council determine at the time of the appointment and shall then retire, but a retiring member shall be eligible for re-appointment.
(3) If a vacancy occur amongst the standing members of the railway tribunal, or if any standing member of the railway tribunal is incapacitated by prolonged illness or other unavoidable cause from attending meetings of the tribunal, then, for the purposes of Part III. of this Act only, pending the filling up of such vacancies or during such absence—
(a) in the case of the chairman, the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council may appoint a person to act as temporary chairman in his place; and
(b) in the case of either of the ordinary members, the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council may appoint a member of a panel to act in his place, the person so appointed being selected from the general panel or the railway and canal panel according to the qualification of the ordinary member in question.
(4) Whenever for the purposes of any particular case or proceeding brought under Part III. of this Act the railway tribunal either upon application by any of the parties or otherwise so request, or the Minister thinks it expedient, there shall be added to the railway tribunal two additional members nominated by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council from the panel, one such additional member being selected from the general panel and the other from the railway and canal panel.
In selecting a member from either panel, regard shall be had to the particular class of case or proceeding to be heard, so that, as nearly as may be, the person so selected shall be conversant with and have knowledge of the technical matter that may arise in such particular case or proceeding.
(5) Every person appointed under this section to be temporary chairman or temporary member of the railway tribunal shall, while he holds that office, be paid such remuneration as the Minister for Finance shall determine and shall have and exercise all the powers and functions of the chairman or an ordinary member (as the case may be) of the railway tribunal.
(6) Any person appointed under this section to be an additional member of the railway tribunal shall, for the purposes of any proceedings in respect of which he may be so appointed, be a member of the railway tribunal and shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, and to the general rules made thereunder, have and exercise all the powers and functions of a member of the railway tribunal.
General powers of the railway tribunal.
18.—(1) For the purposes of this Act the railway tribunal shall have full power and jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters, whether of law or fact, which shall be duly brought before them under this Act, and shall not be subject to be restrained in the execution of their powers under this Act by the order of any other court, nor shall any proceedings before them be removed by certiorari into any other court.
(2) The railway tribunal with respect to the following matters, that is to say:—
(a) enforcing the attendance of witnesses (after a tender of their expenses), the examination of witnesses orally or by affidavit, and the production of deeds, books, papers, and documents; and
(b) punishing persons refusing to give evidence or to produce documents, or guilty of contempt in the presence of the railway tribunal or any of them sitting in open court; and
(c) the enforcement of their orders; and
(d) other matters necessary or proper for the due exercise of their several jurisdictions under this Act or otherwise for carrying this Act into effect;
shall have all such powers, rights, and privileges as are vested in the High Court for such or the like purposes, and all proceedings before the railway tribunal shall in law be deemed to be judicial proceedings before a court of record.
(3) Save as otherwise provided by this Act the costs of and incidental to every proceeding before the railway tribunal shall be in the discretion of the railway tribunal, who may order by whom and to whom the same are to be paid and by whom the same are to be taxed and allowed.
Procedure and fees.
19.—(1) The railway tribunal may, with the approval of the Minister and the Chief Justice, make general rules governing their procedure and practice and generally for carrying into effect their duties and powers under this Act, and such rules may, amongst other things, provide for—
(a) the awarding of costs by the tribunal, but so that in proceedings under this Act before the railway tribunal at the instance of any company or person, other than disputes between two or more railway companies, the tribunal shall not have power to award costs unless they are of opinion that either the application or claim or complaint or defence or objection, as the case may be, is frivolous and vexatious;
(b) the reference of any question to a member or officer of the tribunal, or any other person appointed by them, for report after holding an inquiry locally;
(c) enabling the tribunal to dispose of any proceedings before them, notwithstanding that in the course of the proceedings there has been a change in the persons sitting as members of the tribunal;
(d) the right of audience before the tribunal, provided that any party shall be entitled to be heard in person, or by a representative in the regular employment of the party duly authorised in writing, or by counsel or solicitor;
(e) the number of members of the tribunal who shall form a quorum for the hearing of different classes of cases.
(2) There shall be charged by the railway tribunal and paid in respect of proceedings before them and in respect of acts done by them or any of their officers in the execution of their respective powers and duties such fees as shall be prescribed by orders made by the Minister on the recommendation of the railway tribunal and with the sanction of the Minister for Finance.
(3) The Minister shall give to the railway tribunal such assistance as the tribunal may require, and shall place at the disposal of the tribunal any information in his possession which he may think relevant to the matter before the tribunal, and the Minister shall be entitled to appear and be heard in any proceedings before the tribunal.
(4) The railway tribunal shall annually make a report to the Minister of their proceedings under this Act, including reports of such of the cases heard and decided by them as appear to them to be of permanent or special importance, and the Minister shall lay such report before each House of the Oireachtas.
Sittings.
20.—The central office of the railway tribunal shall be in Dublin, but, subject to the provisions of this Act and to the rules made thereunder, the railway tribunal may hold sittings in any part of Saorstát Eireann, in such place or places as may be convenient for the determination of the proceedings before them.
Decisions to be by a majority of the members present.
21.—(1) The determination of any question before the railway tribunal shall be according to the opinion of the majority of the members (including additional members, if any) of the railway tribunal hearing the case.
(2) Every decision of the railway tribunal shall be pronounced by the chairman or other member presiding on the occasion, and no judgment or opinion shall be separately pronounced by any other member.
Appeals.
22.—(1) No appeal shall lie from any order made by the railway tribunal in exercise of any jurisdiction conferred on them by Part I. of this Act, nor from any decision of the railway tribunal under any other jurisdiction on a question of fact or any question regarding the locus standi of any person appearing or claiming to be heard before them.
(2) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, an appeal shall lie from every decision of the railway tribunal to the Supreme Court, but no such appeal shall be brought except in conformity with rules of court of the Supreme Court.
(3) On the hearing of an appeal from the railway tribunal the Supreme Court may draw all such inferences as are not inconsistent with the facts expressly found by the railway tribunal, and are necessary for determining the questions raised on the appeal, and shall have all such powers for that purpose as if the appeal were an appeal from a judgment of the High Court, and may make any order which the railway tribunal could have made, and also any such further or other order as may be just, and the costs of and incidental to an appeal shall be in the discretion of the Supreme Court, but neither the railway tribunal nor any member or officer thereof shall be liable to any costs by reason or in respect of any appeal.
Transfer of functions of Railway and Canal Commission.
23.—(1) Every function, jurisdiction, power, and duty which was on the 6th day of December, 1921, exercised by or imposed on the Railway and Canal Commission by statute or otherwise shall (with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned) from and after the passing of this Act be exercised and performed in Saorstát Eireann by the railway tribunal.
(2) Every mention or reference contained in any British Statute of or to the Railway and Canal Commission shall as respects the doing or not doing of any act, matter, or thing after the passing of this Act be construed and take effect, subject to the provisions of this Act and with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned, as a mention of or reference to the railway tribunal.
(3) The several functions, jurisdictions, powers, and duties conferred or imposed on the railway tribunal by this section may be exercised or performed by them for the purposes of this Act as well as for the purpose for which the same were conferred or imposed on the Railway and Canal Commission.
(4) This section shall not apply to any of the functions, jurisdictions, powers, and duties exercised by or conferred or imposed on the Railway and Canal Commission under or by sub-section (1) of section 1 of the Defence of the Realm (Acquisition of Land) Act, 1916, or under or by section 8 of the same Act, or to any mention of or reference to the Railway and Canal Commission contained in any British Statute in relation to any of those functions, jurisdictions, powers, and duties.
PART III.
Railway Charges.
Existing charges.
24.—The charges of the amalgamating and absorbed companies in force on the 3rd day of April, 1924, shall remain in force as maximum charges unless and until altered in accordance with this Part of this Act.
Preliminary revision.
25.—The railway tribunal shall, at a date not later than three months after the passing of this Act, review the existing charges of the amalgamating and absorbed companies with a view to the modification of such charges or any of them having regard to the circumstances under which increased charges were authorised as from the 1st day of September, 1920, and to any changes in those circumstances, including any reduction in working expenses since that date, and shall appoint a day when any modifications so determined shall come into operation.
Classification of Merchandise.
Classification.
26.—The railway tribunal shall consider and, after hearing all parties interested and who are desirous of being heard, shall determine the classification of merchandise applicable to the amalgamated company and shall have power to divide the classification into such number of classes containing such descriptions of merchandise as they think fit, and in determining the class in which any particular merchandise shall be placed they shall, in addition to all other relevant circumstances, have regard to the value, the bulk in comparison to weight, the risk of damage, and the cost of handling such merchandise, and the saving of cost which may result when such merchandise is forwarded in large quantities.
Standard Charges.
Submission of schedules.
27.—(1) The amalgamated company shall submit to the railway tribunal not later than the 31st day of December, 1925, or such later date as the Minister may allow, schedules of the standard charges proposed to be made according to the classification fixed as aforesaid, and shall (except as hereinafter provided), show the rates for the conveyance of merchandise, the amount of terminal charges, and the fares for the conveyance of passengers and their luggage, and every such schedule shall be published in such manner as the railway tribunal may direct.
(2) The schedules so submitted shall be divided into the parts and be in the form mentioned in the Fifth Schedule to this Act or into such other parts or in such other similar forms as the railway tribunal may prescribe.
Settlement of schedules.
28.—The railway tribunal shall consider the schedules of proposed standard charges so submitted to them and any objections thereto which may be lodged within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, and, after hearing all parties interested and who are desirous of being heard shall, in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained, settle the said schedules and fix the date of the appointed day on which the same are to come into operation.
Obligation to charge standard charges.
29.—(1) On and from the appointed day the charges appearing in a schedule of standard charges as fixed by the railway tribunal for the amalgamated company shall be the charges which the said company shall be entitled to make for all services rendered in respect of which charges are fixed, and no variation either upwards or downwards shall be made from such authorised charges unless by way of an exceptional rate or an exceptional fare continued, granted, or fixed under the provisions of this Part of this Act, or in respect of competitive traffic in accordance therewith.
(2) The railway tribunal shall have power on any representations made to them, whether by the amalgamated company when submitting the schedules of standard charges proposed to be made, or by any party interested, or by the Minister at any time to determine the amount which the amalgamated company shall contribute to and receive out of any through rate or fare.
Protection of ports.
30.—(1) All the terms, conditions and provisions of any statutory enactment or any agreement confirmed by or scheduled to a statutory enactment which, at the passing of this Act, are in force and binding on any amalgamating or absorbed company, by which the forwarding of traffic is affected, or for any other purpose, shall continue in full force and effect, save in so far as the same are rescinded or varied by this Act; but no such statutory enactment or agreement shall be construed as affecting or extending to any part of the railway of the amalgamated company or the traffic thereon which was not at the passing of this Act subject to or affected by such statutory enactment or agreement.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act the amalgamated company shall not by the rates or fares charged, whether through or local, or by the facilities provided or the accommodation afforded by it, or otherwise, place any one port in Saorstát Eireann at an undue disadvantage as compared with any other port in Saorstát Eireann to, from, or through which traffic is or may be carried.
(3) The amalgamated company shall if required by any person interested use all proper endeavours to provide a reasonable system of through booking with through rates, fares and facilities by all reasonable routes.
(4) No rebates, commissions, or agency or other allowances shall be given by the amalgamated company to traders at or using any port in Saorstát Eireann which are not given by the company in similar circumstances to traders at or using any other port in Saorstát Eireann, and the word “traders” shall include any incorporated railway or steamship company.
(5) If any dispute shall at any time arise under the provisions of this section or as to any matter or thing under this section, or as to whether the amalgamated company are fulfilling their obligations hereunder or taking all reasonable or necessary steps for that purpose, the same shall from time to time be referred to and determined by the railway tribunal.
Charges of non-amalgamated companies.
31.—The rates, fares, tolls and dues charged by railway companies other than the amalgamating and absorbed companies at the passing of this Act shall, in so far as they relate to those portions of their undertakings situate in Saorstát Eireann, remain in force as maximum charges unless and until altered in accordance with this section:
Provided that at any time after the passing of this Act—
(i) any representative body of railway users may apply to the railway tribunal to reduce the aforesaid charges or any of them;
(ii) any trader interested in any particular charge may apply to the railway tribunal to reduce that charge;
(iii) any such company may apply to the railway tribunal to increase the aforesaid charges or any of them;
(iv) any amalgamating or absorbed company or the amalgamated company or any representative body of traders or a body of persons representative of trade or a locality may apply to the railway tribunal to modify any reduction made by any such company in the aforesaid charges or any of them otherwise than under an order of the railway tribunal.
Any such application shall be published in such a manner as the railway tribunal prescribe and the tribunal after hearing all parties interested and who are desirous of being heard may make such modifications in the said charges or any of them as to the tribunal may seem just, and shall fix a day upon which the modifications are to come into force.
Repeal of existing provisions.
32.—As from the appointed day all statutory provisions, and the provisions of all agreements with respect to classification of merchandise and with respect to charges for or in connection with the carriage of merchandise or passengers by the amalgamated company, shall to the extent to which those provisions relate to the matters aforesaid be repealed and cease to be operative, except so far as any statutory provision authorises for the purpose of calculation of distance a special mileage to be allotted in respect of any portion of the railway of the amalgamated company and except so far as, in the case of any such agreement or in the case of a statutory provision fixing a special charge, it may be continued under the provisions of this Part of this Act or by an order of the railway tribunal.
Subsequent modifications of standard charges.
33.—The amalgamated company or any representative body of traders or any person who may obtain a certificate from the Minister that he is a proper person for the purpose, shall be entitled at any time to apply to the railway tribunal to modify the standard charges or any of them or any conditions relative thereto, and, if such company or body of traders or person, as the case may be, prove to the satisfaction of the railway tribunal that the standard charges or conditions or any of them ought to be modified, the tribunal shall make such modifications as they think fit, and shall fix the date as from which the modified standard charges or conditions shall be effective:
Provided that sub-sections (3), (4), (5), and (6) of section 54 of this Act shall apply to any application for a general revision or variation of standard charges of the amalgamated company under this section, as if such application were a review of standard charges and exceptional charges under that section.
Exceptional Charges.
Provisions as to existing exceptional rates.
34.—(1) On and from the appointed day all exceptional rates in operation immediately before the appointed day on the railway of the amalgamated company shall cease to operate, with the exception of such exceptional rates as—
(a) are not less than five per cent. below the standard rates which would otherwise on and from the appointed day become chargeable; and
(b) have been continued by agreement in writing between the railway company and the trader concerned, or, failing agreement, have been notified in writing to the secretary of the railway company by the trader with a request that they should be referred to the railway tribunal for determination by them, in which case the rates shall continue until determined by the railway tribunal, and the onus of proving that any such rates should be altered or discontinued shall be upon the railway company;
so nevertheless that no rate which has not been applied to the charging of merchandise actually forwarded within the two years preceding the 1st day of January, 1926, shall be continued unless the trader can prove to the satisfaction of the railway company, or, failing agreement with the railway company, to the satisfaction of the railway tribunal—
(i) that its non-application is solely due to abnormal conditions of trade; or
(ii) that a rate of equal amount to the same destination remains in operation at other stations or sidings in the same group or area:
Provided that, if the trader and the railway company agree to continue any rate which will be more than forty per cent. below the standard rate chargeable as aforesaid, the rate shall, before the appointed day, be referred to the railway tribunal, and, if so referred, shall continue until the tribunal have determined the matter.
(2) Any such agreement or determination may provide for the continuance of any exceptional rate for a specified period of time and at the same or any higher figure or charge, not being, in the case of an agreement between the amalgamated company and a trader, less than five per cent. nor more than forty per cent. below the standard rate chargeable.
New exceptional rates.
35.—(1) On and after the appointed day the amalgamated company shall be at liberty to grant new exceptional rates in respect of the carriage of any merchandise, which rates shall within fourteen days, or such longer period as the Minister may allow, be reported to the Minister; so, however, that a new exceptional rate so granted shall not, without the consent of the railway tribunal, be less than five per cent. or more than forty per cent. below the standard rate chargeable.
(2) If the Minister is of opinion that the amalgamated company is granting new exceptional rates in such manner as prejudicially to affect any class of users of the railway not benefited by such rates, or so as to jeopardise the realisation of the standard revenue of the company, he may refer the matter to the railway tribunal, who may, after giving all parties interested an opportunity of being heard, take either or both of the following courses:—
(a) revise the standard charges;
(b) cancel or modify all or any of such exceptional rates.
(3) Any trader may, at any time, apply to the railway tribunal, to fix a new exceptional rate.
Variation of exceptional rates.
36.—(1) The amalgamated company shall not be entitled to increase or cancel any exceptional rate which has been fixed by the railway tribunal without first obtaining the sanction of that tribunal.
(2) The amalgamated company may, at any time, reduce any exceptional rate, so, however, that the rate shall not, without the consent of the railway tribunal, be reduced so as to be more than forty per cent. below the standard rate which would be chargeable, but any such reduction shall be reported to the Minister in like manner as if it were the grant of a new exceptional rate.
(3) The amalgamated company may, at any time, increase any exceptional rate which has not been fixed by the railway tribunal on giving thirty days' notice in such manner as the tribunal may prescribe of the proposed increase, and on the expiration of such notice may, if no objection be raised by any trader interested forthwith bring the increased rate into force, provided that it is not less than five per cent. below the standard rate chargeable, but, if such an objection be raised or if the rate when increased would be less than five per cent. below the standard rate chargeable, the increase shall not have effect unless and until the railway tribunal, after giving the company an opportunity of being heard, so determine:
Provided that no trader shall be entitled to object to an increase of an exceptional rate reduced by the amalgamated company since the appointed day unless the effect of the increase is to make the rate applicable to his traffic higher than the rate applicable thereto immediately before the reduction.
(4) The amalgamated company may, at any time, cancel any exceptional rate which has not been fixed by the railway tribunal on giving thirty days” notice in such manner as the railway tribunal may prescribe of the proposed cancellation, and on the expiration of such notice may, if no objection be raised by any trader interested, forthwith cancel the rate as proposed, but, if any such objection be raised, the cancellation shall not have effect unless and until the railway tribunal, after giving the company an opportunity of being heard, so determine:
Provided that no trader shall be entitled to object to the cancellation of an exceptional rate granted by the amalgamated company since the appointed day unless the effect of the cancellation is to make the rate applicable to his traffic higher than the rate applicable thereto at the date when the exceptional rate was granted.
(5) No such increase or cancellation shall take effect in the case of any exceptional rate referred to the railway tribunal under paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section 34 of this Act pending the decision of the tribunal with reference thereto, and any exceptional rate agreed under the said section 34 shall not be increased or cancelled for a period of twelve months after the appointed day except as part of a general increase under this part of this Act or to abate an undue preference.
(6) Any trader or representative body of traders interested in the rate, or the amalgamated company, shall be entitled to apply to the railway tribunal at any time to cancel or vary any exceptional rate.
(7) The amalgamated company may cancel any exceptional rate existing after the appointed day, which for a period of two years shall not have been applied to the charging of merchandise actually forwarded by the railway.
Review of competitive exceptional rates.
37.—If it should appear to the Minister or if representations amounting to a prima facie case to the satisfaction of the Minister are made to him by any body of persons which in the opinion of the Minister has a substantial interest in the conveyance of traffic by way of shipping services or inland navigation, to the effect that exceptional rates are being charged by the amalgamated company which by reason of their effect on such conveyance are detrimental to the public interest, the Minister shall refer the matter to the railway tribunal for review, and the railway tribunal may, after hearing all parties whose interests are affected, vary or cancel such rates or make such other order as may seem to them expedient.
Disintegration of exceptional rates.
38.—(1) Where application is made to the railway tribunal to fix or sanction any exceptional rate for the carriage of merchandise between two stations, or between a station and a siding, or between two sidings, or between either a station or a siding and a junction, the railway tribunal in fixing or sanctioning the exceptional rate shall determine the amounts (if any) to be included in the rate for the following services:—
(a) conveyance;
(b) station terminals;
(c) service terminals;
(d) accommodation provided and services rendered at or in connection with a private siding.
(2) Where the amalgamated company grants an exceptional rate for the carriage of merchandise between two stations or between a station and a siding, or between two sidings, or between either a station or a siding and a junction, without reference to the railway tribunal, and the company shows in the quotation for the rate and in the rate book the amount (if any) included therein for such several services as aforesaid, the disintegration of the exceptional rate as so shown shall be conclusive unless a trader interested in the rate complains that the amount allocated to any particular service is unreasonable, in which event the onus of proof shall be on the amalgamated company.
(3) Where the amalgamated company in granting such an exceptional rate has not distinguished in the quotation for the rate or in the rate book the amounts included therein for such several services as aforesaid—
(a) the rate in the case of a station-to-station rate shall be deemed to be composed of conveyance rate and terminal charges in proportion to the amounts included in the corresponding standard rate for the same service and accommodation in respect of similar goods between the same stations; and
(b) in the case of any other rate, the company shall, within fourteen days after application in writing by any person interested in the disintegration of the rate, afford that person information of the amounts (if any) included in the rate for the several services aforesaid.
(4) Any dispute as to the disintegration of any such exceptional rate shall be determined by the railway tribunal at the instance of either a trader or the amalgamated company.
(5) For the purposes of determining any question of an alleged undue or unreasonable preference or advantage, the railway tribunal shall not have regard to the separate component parts of any rate as shown in the rate book or as determined by this section, but shall, unless in any case in which an application has been made for the purpose it is proved to the satisfaction of the railway tribunal that a consideration of the component parts of the rate would be fair and reasonable, determine the question in reference to the total rate for carriage applicable to the merchandise in respect of which such undue or unreasonable preference or advantage is alleged to arise and the conditions under which the rate applies.
Exceptional fares.
39.—(1) The amalgamated company may charge fares below the standard fares in such circumstances as the company may think fit, but the circumstances in which such exceptional fares, if below ordinary fares, may be charged and the amount of reduction below the standard fare, shall be reported to the Minister within fourteen days, or such longer period as the Minister may allow, after the decision has been arrived at.
(2) If the Minister is of opinion that the amalgamated company has granted exceptional fares in such a manner as prejudicially to affect any other class of users of the railway, or so as to jeopardise the realisation of the standard revenue of the company, he may refer the matter to the railway tribunal, who may, after giving the parties interested an opportunity of being heard, cancel or modify all or any of the exceptional fares so granted.
Conditions of Carriage.
Submission of proposed conditions.
40.—Within six months from the passing of this Act, or within such further time as the railway tribunal may permit, the amalgamating companies shall submit to, and publish in such manner as may be prescribed by the railway tribunal—
(a) the terms and conditions (hereinafter called “company's risk conditions”) on and subject to which merchandise other than live stock, and live stock, will respectively be carried if carried at ordinary rates;
(b) the terms and conditions (hereinafter called “owner's risk conditions”) on and subject to which merchandise other than live stock, and subject as hereinafter provided, live stock, will respectively be carried if carried at owner's risk rates;
(c) the terms and conditions on and subject to which damageable goods not properly protected by packing will be carried.
Settlement by tribunal.
41.—(1) The railway tribunal shall consider the terms and conditions so submitted, or, if terms and conditions are not so submitted within the time so allowed, shall themselves prepare and publish provisional terms and conditions, and after hearing any representative body of traders who may desire to be heard, and any other party whom the Minister considers entitled to be heard, shall settle, and when settled publish in the Iris Oifigiúil, the terms and conditions which they consider just and reasonable, and shall fix a date not earlier than two months after such publication upon which those terms and conditions are to come into force.
(2) When the terms and conditions so settled come into force they shall be the standard terms and conditions of carriage for the amalgamated company, and shall be deemed to be reasonable.
Conditions on which merchandise is to be carried.
42.—(1) On and after the date so fixed as aforesaid the terms and conditions upon and subject to which merchandise is, apart from special contract, to be carried by the amalgamated company shall be company's risk conditions, and those conditions shall apply without any special contract in writing to the carriage of merchandise at ordinary rates:
Provided that, in any case where an owner's risk rate is in operation and the company has been requested in writing to carry at that rate, the terms and conditions upon and subject to which such goods shall be carried shall be owner's risk conditions.
(2) The terms and conditions upon and subject to which damageable goods not properly protected by packing (if accepted for carriage) shall be carried by the amalgamated company, shall be the conditions settled by the railway tribunal as aforesaid, but the company shall not be under any obligation to carry damageable goods not properly protected by packing.
(3) Nothing in this Act shall preclude the company and a trader from agreeing in writing, subject to the provisions of the Railway and Canal Traffic Acts, 1854 and 1888, to any terms and conditions they think fit for the carriage of merchandise, live stock or damageable goods not properly protected by packing, or dangerous goods.
Alteration of conditions.
43.—At any time after the date when the terms and conditions so settled as aforesaid come into force the amalgamated company or any representative body of traders may apply to the railway tribunal to amend, alter or add to those terms and conditions, and the tribunal may, after hearing all parties whom they consider entitled to be heard, make such amendments, alterations, or additions of or to such terms and conditions as the railway tribunal think just and reasonable, and fix a date as from which they are to come into operation.
Miscellaneous Provisions as to Charges.
Owner's risk rates.
44.—(1) When settling a schedule of charges, or within twelve months or such longer period thereafter as in any case the Minister may allow, the railway tribunal shall determine what reductions shall be made from the standard charges where damageable merchandise is carried by the amalgamated company under owner's risk conditions, and such reductions shall be shown or indicated in the schedule in such manner as the railway tribunal prescribes.
(2) Where an exceptional rate is in operation and the conditions applicable to that rate are company's risk conditions, or, as the case may be, owner's risk conditions, and the difference in the company's liability under the two sets of conditions in respect of the merchandise in question is not insignificant, the amalgamated company shall, on request in writing by a trader, quote a corresponding rate under the other conditions, and, if within twenty-eight days from such request the company fails to quote such a rate to the satisfaction of the trader, the trader may apply to the railway tribunal, and the railway tribunal shall settle such corresponding rate and determine the date as from which it is to come into operation.
(3) The difference between an ordinary rate and an owner's risk rate shall be such as in the opinion of the railway tribunal is fairly equivalent to the amount by which the risk of the company in the case of the merchandise in question differs under the two sets of conditions.
(4) The amalgamated company shall be under no obligation to carry livestock at owner's risk rates in cases in which livestock is not at the date of the passing of this Act carried at reduced rates under owner's risk conditions.
Minimum charges.
45.—The amalgamated company shall be entitled to charge for the conveyance of merchandise as for a minimum distance of such number of miles as the railway tribunal may determine, or such minimum sum as the railway tribunal may determine, but such minimum distances shall not vary according to whether charges for station terminals are or are not made.
Collection and delivery charges.
46.—(1) On and after the appointed day the amalgamated company may collect and deliver by road any merchandise which is to be or has been carried by railway and may make reasonable charges therefor in addition to the charges for carriage by railway, and shall publish in the rate book kept at the station where it undertakes the services of collection and delivery the charges in force for the collection and delivery of merchandise ordinarily collected and delivered.
(2) The amalgamated company may, and upon being required to do so and upon payment of the proper charges shall, at any place where the company holds itself out to collect and deliver merchandise, perform the services of collection and delivery in respect of such merchandise as is for the time being ordinarily collected and delivered by the company at that place:
Provided that the company shall not be required to make delivery to any person who is unwilling to enter into an agreement, terminable by him on reasonable notice, for the delivery by the company at the charges included in the rate book of the whole of his traffic, or the whole of his perishable traffic, from the station at which those charges apply.
(3) Where any person does not so agree, the company shall not be required to deliver any of his merchandise, but, if such person fails to take delivery of any merchandise within a reasonable time, the company may deliver such merchandise and make such reasonable charges therefor as it thinks fit.
(4) Any dispute as to whether or not any charge for the services of collection and delivery is reasonable, or whether the length of notice for the termination of an agreement under this section is reasonable, shall be determined by the railway tribunal.
Dangerous goods.
47.—(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall impose any obligation on the amalgamated company to accept dangerous goods for conveyance, or shall prejudice or derogate from the powers of any Government department under the Explosives Act, 1875, or affect the validity or operation of any order, rule, or byelaw made under the powers contained in that Act.
(2) If on or after the appointed day the amalgamated company accepts dangerous goods for conveyance, the goods shall be conveyed subject to such byelaws, regulations and conditions as the company may think fit to make in regard to the conveyance or storage thereof, and the owner or consignor of such goods shall indemnify the company from and against all loss or damage which may result to the company or to which the company may be or become liable owing to non-compliance with the before-mentioned byelaws, regulations, and conditions as to such goods and shall pay full compensation for all injury to the company's servants and damage to its property so arising unless it be proved that the injury or damage is due to the wilful misconduct of the company's servants, but, subject as aforesaid, the provisions of this Part of this Act as to ordinary rates and owner's risk rates shall apply.
(3) Any question as to whether goods are dangerous goods shall be determined by the railway tribunal:
Provided that, where the amalgamated company has declared any article to be dangerous, it shall lie on the person requiring the article to be carried to show that it is not dangerous.
Publication of schedules of standard charges, etc.
48.—(1) The schedules of standard charges and the standard terms and conditions of carriage when settled in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, and any orders of the railway tribunal modifying standard charges or standard terms and conditions shall be printed, numbered, published, and sold, and may be cited in the like manner as statutory rules are for the time being required by law to be printed, numbered, published, and sold, and permitted to be cited.
(2) Printed copies of the general classification of merchandise and schedule of standard charges for the time being in force shall be kept for sale by the amalgamated company at such places and at such reasonable prices as the Minister may direct
(3) On and after the appointed day the amalgamated company shall keep for public inspection at each station at which merchandise is received for conveyance, or where merchandise is received for conveyance at some other place than a station, then, at the station nearest to such place, a copy of the general classification of merchandise carried on the railway and a book or books stating—
(i) the chargeable distance from that station or place of every place to which they book, and such distance shall be the actual shortest distance with any additions authorised by statute:
(ii) the scales of standard charges applicable to each class of merchandise conveyed on the railway;
(iii) all exceptional rates in operation from such station or place;
(iv) any charges in force for the collection and delivery of merchandise at such station or place.
The general classification of merchandise and every such book shall, during all reasonable hours, be open to the inspection of any person without the payment of any fee.
(4) On and after the appointed day the amalgamated company shall for a period of ten years keep open for inspection at its head office, the books, schedules, or other papers specifying the rates, charges, and conditions of transport in use on the 1st day of January, 1916, upon the several railways owned or worked by the amalgamating and absorbed companies, and shall, upon demand and upon payment of a reasonable charge, supply copies of or extracts from such books, schedules and papers.
(5) If the amalgamated company fails to comply with the provisions of this section it shall, for each offence, and in the case of a continuing offence for every day during which the offence continues, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding, five pounds.
Miscellaneous provisions as to rates.
49.—The provisions contained in the Sixth Schedule to this Act (being provisions similar to those now contained in the various railway rates and charges orders) shall, as from the appointed day, apply to the amalgamated company.
Additional functions of railway tribunal.
50.—The railway tribunal shall, in addition to any other powers conferred upon it under this Part of this Act, have power to determine after hearing all parties interested and desirous of being heard any questions that may be brought before it in regard to the following matters:—
(a) the alteration of the classification of merchandise, or the alteration of the classification of any article, or the classification of any article not at the time classified, or any question as to the class in which any article is classified;
(b) the institution, variation, or cancellation of through rates;
(c) the institution of new, and the continuance, modification, or cancellation of existing group rates;
(d) the variation of any toll payable by a trader;
(e) the amount to be allowed for any terminal services not performed at a station, or for accommodation and services in connection with a private siding not provided or performed at that siding;
(f) the reasonableness or otherwise of any charge made by the amalgamated company for any services or accommodation for which no authorised charge is applicable;
(g) the reasonableness or otherwise of any conditions as to packing of articles specially liable to damage in transit or liable to cause damage to other merchandise;
(h) the articles and things that may be conveyed as passengers' luggage;
(i) the constitution of local joint committees representing traders and the amalgamated company and their functions and the centres at which they are to be established.
Amendments of certain Acts.
51.—(1) As from the appointed day the Acts mentioned in the Seventh Schedule to this Act shall, in their application to the amalgamated company, have effect subject to the amendments specified in the third column of that schedule.
(2) Where any existing special Act relating to any amalgamating or absorbed company does not incorporate a section of any of the Railways Clauses Acts which is amended or repealed by the said schedule but contains provisions corresponding to such section, the like amendment or repeal shall be made of such corresponding provision as is made by the said schedule of the section of the Railways Clauses Act.
(3) For the purpose of the application of sub-section (5) of section 1 and section 2 of the Harbours, Docks and Piers (Temporary Increase of Charges) Act, 1920, to the Orders specified in the Third Schedule to the Statutory Undertakings (Continuance of Charges) (No. 2) Act, 1923 (No. 16 of 1923), pursuant to sub-section (2) of section 3 of the last-mentioned Act, but for no other purpose, the said sub-section (5) of section 1 and section 2 of the first-mentioned Act shall be modified as follows, that is to say:—
(a) the railway tribunal shall be substituted for the rates advisory committee;
(b) a committee consisting of such of the permanent members of the railway tribunal as the railway tribunal with the approval of the Minister shall nominate, such and so many members of the general panel established under Part II of this Act as the Minister shall nominate, and such members (equal in number to the members of the general panel so nominated) of the railway and canal panel established under Part II of this Act as the Minister shall nominate, shall be substituted for the sub-committee mentioned in the said section 2.
Interpretation of expressions used in Part III.
52.—In this Part of this Act—
the word “charges” includes rates, fares, tolls, dues, and other charges;
the word “rates” means rates and other charges in connection with the carriage of merchandise;
the word “fares” means fares and other charges in connection with the conveyance of passengers and their luggage;
the word “modifications” in relation to charges includes modifications whether by way of decrease or of increase, and the word “modify” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
the word “merchandise” includes goods, minerals, live-stock, and animals of all descriptions;
the expression “exceptional charges” means charges below the standard charges, and includes special charges continued subject to adjustment under the provisions of this Part of this Act, and the expressions “exceptional rates” and “exceptional fares” shall be construed accordingly;
the word “conditions” includes regulations;
the expression “railway rates and charges orders” means provisional orders fixing maximum rates and charges applicable to a railway company and made and confirmed by the United Kingdom Parliament in pursuance of section 24 of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888;
the expression “the appointed day” means the day fixed by the railway tribunal as the appointed day on which the schedules of standard charges settled by them are to come into operation;
the expression “standard charges” means the charges fixed by the schedules of standard charges settled by the railway tribunal under this Part of this Act;
the word “prescribed” means prescribed by the railway tribunal.
Adjustment of Charges to Revenue.
Adjustment of charges to revenue.
53.—(1) The standard charges to be fixed in the first instance for the amalgamated company shall be such as will, together with the other sources of revenue, in the opinion of the railway tribunal, so far as practicable yield, with efficient and economical working and management, an annual net revenue (hereinafter referred to as the standard revenue) equivalent to the average annual aggregate net revenue for the three years of account ended next before the 1st day of January, 1914, of the amalgamating companies and the absorbed companies, together with—
(a) a sum equal to five per cent. on capital expenditure forming the basis on which interest was allowed at the end of the period during which the amalgamating and absorbed companies were in the possession of the British Government; and
(b) such allowance as may be necessary to remunerate adequately any additional capital which may have been raised or provided in respect of expenditure on capital account incurred since the 1st day of January, 1913, and not included in the expenditure referred to in the last preceding paragraph, unless it can be shown that such expenditure has not enhanced the value of the undertaking; and
(c) such allowance as appears to the railway tribunal to be reasonable in respect of capital expenditure not being less than one thousand pounds in the case of any work and not being capital expenditure included in paragraph (a), on works which enhance the value of the undertaking, but which had not at the beginning of the year 1913 become fully remunerative:
Provided that, in determining the sum which charges will, with efficient and economical working and management, yield, the tribunal shall, with a view to encouraging the taking of early steps for effecting economies in working and management expenses rendered possible by or in anticipation of amalgamation, take into consideration the economies effected by such steps already taken, and shall make such allowance in respect thereof as the tribunal may consider fair and equitable to an amount not exceeding thirty-three and one-third per cent. of such economies.
(2) The railway tribunal when fixing charges in pursuance of the provisions of this section shall have regard to the means which in their opinion are best calculated to ensure the maximum development and extension in the public interest of the carriage by railway of merchandise and of passengers and their luggage, and shall accordingly ascertain as far as may be practicable the effect which the existing charges, or any of them, have had upon the merchandise or passenger traffic to which they are applicable, and, in particular, whether the application of such charges has tended or, if continued, would be likely to tend towards causing the increase or diminution of the said traffic.
(3) If on any such review as is mentioned in the next following section it appears to the railway tribunal that the allowance made under paragraph (c) of sub-section (1) of this section was too high or too low, the tribunal may revise the allowance and make such adjustment in the amount of the standard revenue as may be necessary.
(4) When fixing the charges necessary to produce the standard revenue, the railway tribunal shall take into consideration the charges in respect of any business carried on by the company ancillary or subsidiary to its railways, the charges for which are not subject to the jurisdiction of the railway tribunal, and if, in the opinion of the railway tribunal, the company is not making, or has not taken reasonable steps to enable it to make adequate charges in respect of any such business, the railway tribunal shall, in fixing the charges under this Part of this Act, take into account the revenue which would be produced by any such business if adequate charges were in operation.
Periodical review of standard charges and exceptional charges.
54.—(1) The railway tribunal shall review the standard charges and exceptional charges of the amalgamated company at the end of the first complete financial year after the appointed day, or, if the appointed day is the 1st day of January in any year, at the end of that year, and unless directions are given by the Minister to the contrary in manner hereinafter appearing, at the end of each succeeding year, and the review shall be made on the experience of the operation of those charges for the period during which the standard charges have been in operation, or, if that period is more than three years, then on the experience of the operation of those charges during the preceding three years.
(2) The Minister may direct as respects any year after the second annual review that a review shall not be held provided that no such directions shall be given as respects any year for which the amalgamated company or any representative body of traders has applied to the Minister for a review.
(3) If on any such review the railway tribunal finds that the net revenue or the average annual net revenue obtained, or which could, with efficient and economical management, have been obtained by the company during the period on the experience of which the review is based is substantially in excess of the standard revenue of the company with such allowance (if any) as appears to the railway tribunal necessary to remunerate adequately any additional capital which may have been raised or provided in respect of expenditure on capital account incurred since the date upon which the standard charges were fixed in the first instance, the railway tribunal shall, unless it is of opinion that owing to change in circumstances the excess is not likely to continue, modify all or any of the standard charges and make a corresponding general modification of the exceptional charges of the company so as to effect a reduction of the net revenue of the company in subsequent years to an extent equivalent to eighty per cent. of such excess.
(4) If on any such review the railway tribunal finds that the net revenue or the average annual net revenue obtained by the company during the period on the experience of which the review is based is less than the standard revenue of the company, with such allowance (if any) as appears to the railway tribunal necessary to remunerate adequately any additional capital which may have been raised or provided in respect of expenditure on capital account incurred since the date upon which the standard charges were fixed in the first instance, and that the deficiency is not due to lack of efficiency or economy in the management, the railway tribunal shall, unless in its opinion owing to change of circumstances the deficiency is not likely to continue, make such modifications in all or any of the standard charges and such a corresponding general modification of the exceptional charges of the company as it may think necessary to enable the company to earn the standard revenue with such allowance (if any) as aforesaid.
(5) Whenever on any such review such an excess as aforesaid is found, then, for the purpose of subsequent reviews, sub-section (3) of this section shall have effect as if for the standard revenue there were substituted a sum (hereinafter referred to as the “increased standard”) equal to the standard revenue with the addition of twenty per cent. of such excess, and whenever on any such subsequent review an excess is found above the increased standard together with the allowance (if any) for additional capital, then, for the purpose of subsequent reviews, the increased standard shall be increased by a sum equal to twenty per cent. of such excess, and so on:
Provided that, if at any time after such an excess has been found, the standard charges and exceptional charges are modified in pursuance of sub-section (4) of this section on account of a deficiency, no such substitution shall be made until an excess above the standard revenue together with the allowance (if any) for additional capital is again found.
(6) The railway tribunal, when modifying charges on any such review, shall have regard to the like considerations as when fixing charges in the first instance:
Provided that the tribunal shall have regard to the financial results obtained from the operation of any ancillary or subsidiary business carried on by the company, and if satisfied that the net revenue resulting therefrom is, having regard to all the circumstances, unduly low, may, for the purpose of such review, make such deductions from the charges which would otherwise have been fixed as they think proper.
(7) The modifications of standard charges and exceptional charges made in pursuance of this section shall take effect as from the 1st day of July in the year following the last year under review or such other date as the railway tribunal may fix.
PART IV.
Wages and Conditions of Service.
Regulation of conditions of service of railway employees.
55.—(1) From and after the passing of this Act the rates of pay, hours of duty, and other conditions of service of railway employees shall be regulated in accordance with agreements made or to be from time to time made between the trade unions representative of such employees of the one part and the railway companies and other persons by whom they are respectively employed of the other part.
(2) The original or a counterpart, or a copy, certified in such manner as the Minister shall direct to be a true copy, of every such agreement as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section shall be deposited with the Minister within one month after the passing of this Act or the making of such agreement, whichever shall be the later.
(3) In this Part of this Act the expression “railway employee” means a person who is employed by a railway company or the Irish Railway Clearing House, in any of the grades specified in the Eighth Schedule to this Act, and in such other grades as may hereafter be brought within the scope of the agreements referred to in this section by agreement between the parties thereto, and whose station, depôt, or other place of employment is situate in Saorstát Eireann.
Appointment to clerical grades.
56.—(1) Save as is hereinafter in this section provided, all appointments to any office or situation in the clerical grades of the service of the amalgamated company shall be made by means of open competitive examination in accordance with regulations made by the amalgamated company. Irish shall be a compulsory subject at such examinations.
(2) Every such open competitive examination shall be open to all persons desiring to attend the same who are ordinarily resident in Ireland and pay the fees and possess the qualifications as to age, health and character prescribed by the regulations relating to the examination.
(3) The amalgamated company may by special regulation provide that such proportion as may be approved by the Minister of the vacancies in the clerical grades of its service shall be filled by means of limited competitive examinations, and where an examination is so limited only persons in or who have been in the employment of the amalgamated company or the children of such persons shall be admitted thereto.
Preparation of scheme for superannuation fund.
57.—(1) The amalgamated company shall, within one year after the 1st day of January, 1925, or such other period as may be fixed by the Minister, prepare for discussion with the trade unions representing the employees of the amalgamated company a scheme for providing on a contributory basis a superannuation fund for such of the employees of the amalgamated company as can, with due regard to actuarial considerations, be provided for out of such a fund.
(2) The scheme so to be prepared by the amalgamated company shall provide for representatives of the employees being associated in the management of the superannuation fund.
PART V.
Regulation of Railways.
Power to make orders as to working.
58.—(1) With a view to securing and promoting the public safety, or the interests of the public, or of trade, or of any particular locality, the railway tribunal may, on the application of any body of persons representing any such interests, by order require the amalgamated company or any other railway company in respect to that portion of its undertaking situate in Saorstát Eireann to afford such reasonable railway services, facilities, and conveniences upon and in connection with its undertaking (including the provision of such minor alterations and extensions and improvements of existing works as will not involve in any one case an expenditure exceeding ten thousand pounds) as may be specified in the order:
Provided that, if on any such application a company satisfies the railway tribunal that under all the circumstances the capital required for the purpose cannot be provided or expended as proposed without prejudicially affecting the interests of the then existing stockholders, the order shall not be made:
Provided further that the powers under this sub-section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other existing powers of requiring measures for securing the safety of the public or the provision of reasonable facilities.
(2) The Minister may by order require the amalgamated company or any other railway company in respect to that portion of its undertaking situate in Saorstát Eireann to comply with any recommendation of an inspector duly appointed under the Regulation of Railways Act, 1871.
(3) Where any coroner holds, or is about to hold, an inquest on the death of any person occasioned by an accident, of which notice for the time being is required by or in pursuance of the Regulation of Railways Acts, 1840 to 1889, to be sent to the Minister, and makes a written request to the Minister in this behalf, the Minister may appoint an inspector or some person possessing legal or special knowledge to assist in holding such inquest, and the person so appointed shall act as the assessor of the coroner, and the return to be made by the coroner to the Minister under the Acts aforesaid shall be made by such person in lieu of by the coroner, and the return shall be made public in like manner as in the case of a formal investigation of an accident under the Regulation of Railways Act, 1871.
(4) The provisions of the Regulation of Railways Acts, 1840 to 1889, with respect to the opening of any railway, shall be extended to apply to the inspection of all new or reconstructed works, including bridges and viaducts.
(5) Any order of the Minister under this section shall be complied with by any railway company to which the order relates, and in the event of non-compliance shall (subject as hereinbefore provided) be enforceable by order of the railway tribunal on the application of the Minister.
Power to make orders as to acquisition of land, etc.
59.—(1) For enabling a railway company to effect alterations, extensions, and improvements of existing works in pursuance of an order of the railway tribunal or of the Minister or, on the application of a railway company, for enabling such company to make and provide any alteration, extension or improvement mentioned in section 45 of the Railway Clauses Act, 1845, the Minister may, after compliance with the provisions of this section, authorise the railway company to acquire the land and easements and to construct the works necessary to effect the alterations, extensions, and improvements aforesaid.
(2) Before an order is made under this section the railway company shall deposit with the Minister such plans, specifications, and other documents as shall be required by the Minister, and after the deposit of such documents the Minister shall give public notice, to be published once in the Iris Odfigiúil and once in each of three successive weeks in some one and the same newspaper circulating in the county or counties in which the land is situate, of his intention to consider the making thereof and of the manner in which and the time within which representations and objections in respect of the order may be made, and shall, if he shall consider it expedient so to do, cause a public inquiry to be held in regard to any matter relating to the making of such order.
(3) An order made under this section may incorporate—
(a) the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, with the modification that the expression “public authority” shall include the said railway company, and
(b) the Lands Clauses Acts, so far as the same are not inconsistent with the said Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919.
(4) No order shall be made under this section in respect of any matter which the Minister is of opinion, as a result of representations made to him or the report of the person holding a public inquiry, or otherwise, is of such a character or magnitude that it ought not to be proceeded with without the authority of the Oireachtas obtained by way of Private Bill.
Power to confirm agreements for the purchase, lease or working of railways.
60.—(1) Any agreement which may hereafter be entered into for the purchase, lease, or working by the amalgamated company of any part of the system of another railway company may, subject to the provisions of this section and after such notices and inquiries as the Minister shall consider necessary or expedient, be confirmed by the Minister.
(2) No such agreement as aforesaid shall, without the authority of the Oireachtas, be valid or effectual unless and until it is confirmed by the Minister under this section, but if and when so confirmed shall be of full force and validity and may be carried into effect by the parties thereto without any further authorisation by the Oireachtas.
(3) No agreement shall be confirmed by the Minister under this section which, in his opinion, is of such a character or magnitude that it ought not to be proceeded with without the authority of the Oireachtas obtained by way of Private Bill.
Agreements.
61.—(1) From and after the passing of this Act it shall not be lawful for any amalgamating or absorbed company or the amalgamated company to vary or rescind any agreement or arrangement (not being an agreement or arrangement confirmed by or scheduled to a statutory enactment) with any railway company or other transport undertaking for the allocation or routing of traffic, or the pooling of receipts, or for differential rates on traffic passing by sea to or from Saorstát Eireann, or to enter into agreements for any of those purposes, except so far as authorised or required by an order made with due regard to the provisions of this Act by the railway tribunal.
(2) No such order as aforesaid shall be made by the railway tribunal save on the application—
(a) of any party to such agreement or arrangement; or
(b) of the amalgamated company; or
(c) of a representative body of traders; or
(d) of a body of persons representative of trade or a locality; or
(e) of a railway company or other transport undertaking affected by such agreement or arrangement.
(3) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall prejudice or affect the rights or liabilities of any amalgamating or absorbed company under any agreement or arrangement (not being an agreement or arrangement confirmed by or scheduled to a statutory enactment) in existence at the passing of this Act except in so far as such rights or liabilities are inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act.
(4) Every amalgamating company and every absorbed company, and also every other railway company whose or any part of whose railway lies within Saorstát Eireann shall—
(a) within one month after being required in writing by the Minister so to do, or in the absence of such requisition not later than the 31st day of January, 1925, furnish to the Minister a schedule containing written particulars of all agreements and arrangements to which this sub-section applies in existence at the date of such requisition or in the absence thereof, on the 31st day of December, 1924, and to which such company is a party, and
(b) within one fortnight after the date of any agreement or arrangement to which this sub-section applies made after the date of the said requisition or the 31st day of December, 1924 (as the case may be), and to which such company is a party, furnish to the Minister written particulars of such agreement or arrangement, and
(c) within one week after being required in writing by the Minister so to do, furnish to the Minister such further particulars and information as the Minister shall so require in respect of the contents of any agreement or arrangement of which particulars shall have been previously furnished under either of the foregoing paragraphs.
If any company shall fail to furnish any particulars or information in accordance with this section or shall furnish under this section any false or misleading information, such company shall be liable to pay to the Minister for the use of the Exchequer such penalty not exceeding twenty-five pounds together with, in the case of a continuing offence, such further penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence is continued, as the railway tribunal shall on the application of the Minister, impose.
This sub-section applies to all agreements and arrangements (whether made under statutory powers or otherwise) whereby provision is made for the allocation or routing of traffic by railway to or from any place in Saorstát Eireann or for the pooling of receipts from such traffic, or for differential rates on traffic passing by sea to or from Saorstát Eireann.
(5) After the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for the Postmaster-General or any of the amalgamating or absorbed companies or the amalgamated company to apply to the railway tribunal—
(a) for a revision of any agreement whether statutory or otherwise, which at the date of the passing of this Act is in existence between the Postmaster-General and any of the amalgamating or absorbed companies; or
(b) where no such agreement is so in existence, for the determination of any difference or dispute which may exist or arise between the Postmaster-General and any of the amalgamating or absorbed companies or the amalgamated company as regards the remuneration to be paid for services rendered by such company to the Postmaster-General, such services (notwithstanding any statutory or other provision to the contrary) to continue to be rendered by such company pending the decision of the railway tribunal.
PART VI.
Baronially Guaranteed Railways.
Meaning of certain expressions.
62.—In this Part of this Act—
the expression “baronially guaranteed dividends” means the dividends on the paid-up share capital of included baronial railways which at the passing of this Act are guaranteed by certain baronies or parts of baronies in Saorstát Eireann under guarantees given under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, or any other Act or any Order in Council made under any such Act;
the expression “guaranteeing barony” means a barony or part of a barony by which baronially guaranteed dividends are guaranteed under any guarantee given under any such Act or Order in Council as aforesaid;
the expression “included baronial railway” means a railway or section of a railway the dividends on any part of the paid-up capital of which are baronially guaranteed dividends and which is to be included (whether by amalgamation or absorption) under the provisions of this Act in the undertaking of the amalgamated company.
Provisions in respect of baronial guarantees.
63.—(1) The Minister shall during each of the ten years mentioned in Part I. of the Ninth Schedule to this Act pay to the amalgamated company by equal half-yearly instalments out of monies to be provided by the Oireachtas the sum specified in the said Part I. of the said schedule as payable in each of such years respectively.
(2) The councils of the several counties mentioned in Part II. of the Ninth Schedule to this Act shall, during each of the years specified in the said Part II. in respect of the said counties respectively, pay to the Minister by equal half-yearly instalments on such dates as may be fixed by the Minister the sums specified in the said Part II. in respect of the said counties respectively, such sums being the amounts raised and paid by the said councils respectively for the period of account ended next before the 1st day of January, 1914, in respect of the liability of guaranteeing baronies in the county for baronially guaranteed dividends.
(3) The several sums to be paid to the Minister by the council of a county under the foregoing sub-section shall be raised by such council off the same areas and in the same proportions and manner as the sum paid by such council for the period of account ended next before the 1st day of January, 1914, in respect of the liability of guaranteeing baronies in the county for baronially guaranteed dividends was raised:
Provided that the Minister may, on the application of any such council and with the concurrence of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, by order authorise such council to enlarge the area off which or to vary the proportions or manner in which the sums to be paid by such council to the Minister shall be raised.
(4) The liability (whether present, future, or contingent) of the several councils of counties in which guaranteeing baronies are situate in respect of baronially guaranteed dividends or the completion, working, or maintenance of included baronial railways under any guarantee given under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, or any other Act or any Order in Council made under any such Act shall cease as from the 31st day of December, 1924, but such cesser shall not prejudice or affect any such liability as aforesaid of any such council in respect of any period previous to the 1st day of January, 1925.
(5) The liability (whether present, future, or contingent) of the several included baronial railways to the Minister for Finance or the councils of counties in which guaranteeing baronies are situate under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, or under any other Act under the authority of which the dividends, completion, working, or maintenance of an included baronial railway are guaranteed, or under any Order in Council made under any such Act, shall cease as from the 31st day of December, 1924.
(6) The contingent liability (if any) of any amalgamating or absorbed company to the Minister for Finance or the Council of any county under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, or under any other Act under the authority of which the dividends, completion, working, or maintenance of the railway or any section thereof of such company are or were guaranteed or under any Order in Council made under any such Act, or under any judgment, decree or order founded on any such Act or Order shall cease as from the 31st day of December, 1924.
(7) No moneys shall be payable out of the Local Taxation Account under sub-section (4) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, to the council of any county for any period after the 31st day of December, 1924, in respect of any included baronial railway, and in lieu of such payments there shall be paid to the Minister out of the Local Taxation Account during each of the ten years mentioned in Part III. of the Ninth Schedule to this Act, the sum specified in the said Part III. of the said Schedule as payable in each of such years, respectively. The provisions of sub-section (5) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall not apply to any sum paid to the Minister under this sub-section.
Baronial railways vested in county councils.
64.—Where the undertaking of any included baronial railway and the property of any company connected with it have become the property of a grand jury or county council under provisions contained in an Order in Council pursuant to sub-section (2) of section 10 of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, then for the purpose of the application of Part I. of this Act to that included baronial railway—
(a) the shareholders for the time being of the company to which the said undertaking and property belonged immediately before the same became the property of the grand jury or county council, shall be deemed to be the proprietors of the said railway, and
(b) the consent of the county council shall not be necessary to any scheme for the absorption of the undertaking of the said railway by the amalgamated company.
PART VII.
General.
Provision for applications by public authorities in certain cases.
65.—(1) Where under this Act an application to the railway tribunal may be made by a representative body of traders or by a body of persons representative of trade or a locality, the application may be made by any of the following authorities or bodies:—
(a) any harbour board, or the council of any county or borough or district; or
(b) any chamber of commerce or association representative of shipping, agriculture, traders, freighters or passengers which may obtain a certificate from the Minister that it is a proper body to make such an application.
(2) Subject as in this section provided, no company, body, or person not directly interested in the subject-matter of any application shall be entitled to make such application.
(3) Any authority or body as aforesaid may appear in opposition to any application, representation, or submission in any case where such authority, or the persons represented by them, appear to the Minister to be likely to be affected by the decision on any such application, representation, or submission.
(4) The Minister may, if he thinks fit, require as a condition of giving a certificate under this section, that security be given in such manner and to such amount as he thinks necessary, for costs which may be incurred.
(5) Any certificate granted under this section shall, unless withdrawn, be in force for twelve months from the date on which it was given.
(6) Any expenses incurred by any such authority in or incidental to any such application or opposition shall be defrayed out of the rate or fund out of which the expenses of the authority in the execution of their ordinary duties are defrayed.
Notices, etc.
66.—Any notice, application, request, or other document authorised or required by this Act to be sent to a railway company may, unless some other manner is prescribed by the railway tribunal, be sent by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to the secretary of the company at the principal office of the company.
Service of documents on amalgamated company.
67.—Any document required by or authorised by law other than this Act to be served on the amalgamated company may be so served by—
(a) handing it to the secretary of the amalgamated company at the principal office in Saorstát Eireann of the amalgamated company, or
(b) leaving it at the principal office aforesaid in an envelope addressed to the secretary of the amalgamated company, or
(c) sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to the secretary of the amalgamated company at the principal office aforesaid.
Language of public notices and tickets.
68.—The amalgamated company shall, as soon as may be practicable, replace all public notices and signs (including names of stations) which are now in the English Language only by notices and signs in both Irish and English, and shall within one year from the 1st January, 1925, submit to the Minister a scheme for the printing of their passenger card tickets for journeys within the Saorstát in both the Irish and English languages and the Minister shall, unless he is of opinion that the adoption of the scheme would jeopardise the standard revenue and result in increased rates and fares, order the amalgamated company to put such scheme into operation: Provided that existing stocks of tickets may be used until exhausted.
Accounts, returns and statistics.
69.—(1) The accounts to be rendered by the amalgamated company under the Railway Companies (Accounts and Returns) Act, 1911, shall be compiled in such manner as may be prescribed by the Minister after consultation with the amalgamated company.
(2) It shall be the duty of the amalgamated company to compile and render to the Minister in such manner and form as he may direct such statistics and returns as he may require.
(3) For the purpose of this Act the Minister or any officer duly authorised by him shall have power to make such investigations into the affairs of the amalgamated company as he may deem necessary, and shall have access to the books, accounts and returns of the amalgamated company, and the officers and servants of the company shall afford to the Minister or any such duly authorised officer such facilities as he may require.
(4) The powers of the Minister under this section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any powers of holding enquiries conferred on him under this or any other Act.
(5) In the event of non-compliance on the part of the amalgamated company with any requirements of this section, the requirement shall be enforceable by order of the railway tribunal on the application of the Minister.
(6) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to authorise any limitation of or interference with the control of the proprietors of any undertaking over the purposes to which its expenditure is to be applied.
Names and addresses of shareholders.
70.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 10 of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, it shall be lawful for the amalgamated company to substitute for the Shareholders' Address Book provided for under that section a card or other index (of a type to be approved by the auditors of the amalgamated company) containing the names and addresses of the several shareholders of the amalgamated company and that section in its application to the amalgamated company shall be read and have effect accordingly, and when such card or other index has been so substituted section 34 of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868, shall cease to apply to the amalgamated company: Provided that the charge made for a copy of such card or other index shall not exceed the sum of £2 10s. 0d.
(2) If the amalgamated company act in contravention of section 10 of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, as varied by this section, they shall be liable for each offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, which shall be recoverable and applied in the same manner as penalties imposed by the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, are for the time being recoverable and applicable.
Enactments which are not to apply to amalgamated company.
71.—As from the appointed day the enactments specified in the Tenth Schedule to this Act to the extent mentioned in the third column of that Schedule shall not apply to the amalgamated company.
Short title.
72.—This Act may be cited as the Railways Act, 1924.
SCHEDULES.
First Schedule.
Amalgamating and Absorbed Companies.
Sections 1 and 2 (1).
1 | 2 |
Amalgamating Companies | Absorbed Companies |
Great Southern and Western Railway Company, including the Geashill Extension separate undertaking. | Athenry and Tuam Extension to Claremorris Railway Company, Limited. Ballinascarthy and Timoleague Junction Light Railway Company. |
Midland Great Western Railway Company of Ireland. | Ballinrobe and Claremorris Light Railway Company, Limited. |
Dublin and South Eastern Railway Company, including City of Dublin Junction Railways and New Ross and Waterford Extension Railways. | Baltimore Extension Railway Company, Limited. Bantry Extension Railway Company. |
Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Company including the Bantry Bay Extension. | Cavan and Leitrim Railway Company, Limited. Clonakilty Extension Railway Company. |
Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway Company. | |
Cork and Macroom Direct Railway Company. | |
Cork and Muskerry Light Railway Company, Limited. | |
Cork City Railways. | |
Donoughmore Extension Light Railway Company, Limited. | |
Dublin and Kingstown Railway Company. | |
Loughrea and Attymon Light Railway Company, Limited. | |
Schull and Skibbereen Tramway and Light Railway Company. (West Carberry Tramways and Light Railways Company, Limited). | |
South Clare Railways Company, Limited. | |
Southern Railway Company. | |
Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Extension Light Railway Company. | |
Tralee and Dingle Light Railway Company, Limited. | |
Tralee and Fenit Railway Company. | |
Waterford and Tramore Railway Company. | |
West Clare Railway Company, Limited. |
Second Schedule
Board of Directors of Amalgamated Company.
PART I.
First Year.
Section 4 (d).
1. For the period commencing on the date when the amalgamation scheme comes into operation and ending on the date of the general meeting of the amalgamated company in the following year, the company shall be directed by a board consisting of such number of persons as may be fixed by the amalgamation scheme or schemes, and not exceeding fifteen or less than twelve.
2. Before the date when the amalgamation scheme comes into operation the proprietors of each amalgamating company shall elect from amongst the directors of such company holding office at the time such number as may be fixed by the scheme to serve as a director or directors of the amalgamated company as aforesaid.
3. The directors so elected shall hold office until the date of the said general meeting and shall then retire, but any director so retiring may, if otherwise qualified, be elected as a director of the company under the provisions hereinafter contained.
4. In the event of a casual vacancy occurring during the said period amongst the directors, the vacancy shall be filled by a person co-opted by the directors, being a person who was a director of the amalgamating company by the proprietors of which the vacating director was elected.
PART II.
After the First Year.
1. As from the date of the general meeting of the amalgamated company in the year following that in which the amalgamation scheme comes into operation, the company shall be directed by a board of directors consisting of such number of members elected by the proprietors of the company as may be specified in the scheme not exceeding fifteen or less than twelve.
2. The qualification of a director shall be the holding in his own right of such amount of the share capital of the amalgamated company as may be specified in the scheme, and, subject as hereinafter provided, the term of office of such a director shall be three years, but on retirement he may, if otherwise qualified, be re-elected.
3. Any casual vacancy occurring amongst the directors shall be filled by a person co-opted by the other directors, and any director co-opted to fill a casual vacancy shall hold office for the same period as that for which his predecessor would have held office.
4. On the first election of directors, one-third of the total number of directors, or if their number is not a multiple of three, then the number nearest but not exceeding one-third (failing agreement to be selected by lot) shall be deemed to have been elected for one year, and one-third or such nearest number as aforesaid (failing agreement to be selected by lot) for two years.
5. Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Schedule, the provisions of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with respect to the appointment and rotation of directors shall apply.
Third Schedule.
Existing Officers and Servants.
Sections 4 (f), 6 (f), and 12 (2).
Every person who on the 3rd day of April, 1924, was for a period of less than five years an officer or servant of any amalgamating company or absorbed company, and who shall not, prior to the amalgamation or absorption of such amalgamating or absorbed company, have voluntarily retired or have been removed from the service of any such amalgamating or absorbed company by reason of misconduct or incapacity and who does not become an officer or servant of the amalgamated company, shall be entitled to a gratuity calculated on the basis of one-sixth of the amount of his annual salary and emoluments for every completed year of his service.
The following provisions shall apply in respect to persons who on the 3rd day of April, 1924, were, and for a period of not less than five years have been, officers or servants of any amalgamating company or absorbed company, and who shall not, prior to the amalgamation or absorption of such amalgamating or absorbed company, have become pensioners or annuitants in accordance with the rules of any railway pension or superannuation fund of which they may be members, or have voluntarily retired, or have been removed from the service of any such amalgamating or absorbed company by reason of misconduct or incapacity (all of which officers and servants are in this Schedule hereinafter referred to as “existing officers and servants”):—
(1) Every existing officer and servant shall, as from the date of amalgamation or absorption, become an officer or servant of the amalgamated company.
(2) The amalgamated company may abolish the office or situation of any existing officer or servant which they may deem unnecessary, and any existing officer or servant required to perform duties such as are not analogous or which are an unreasonable addition to those which as an officer or servant of the company from which he was transferred he was required to perform may relinquish his office or situation.
(3) No existing officer or servant so transferred shall without his consent be by reason of such transfer in any worse position in respect to the conditions of his service as a whole (including tenure of office, remuneration, gratuities, pension, superannuation, sick fund or any benefits or allowances, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice of the amalgamating or absorbed company) as compared with the conditions of service formerly obtaining with respect to him.
(4) If any existing officer or servant so transferred is, without his consent, in any such worse position as aforesaid by reason of such transfer and has thereby suffered any loss or injury, he shall be entitled to be paid by the amalgamated company such lump sum as would reasonably compensate him for such loss or injury, the amount of such lump sum to be determined by the amalgamated company (subject to appeal as hereinafter provided).
(5) Every existing officer or servant whose office or situation is so abolished, or who so relinquishes his office or situation, or whose services are dispensed with on the ground that they are not required or for any other reason not being on account of any misconduct or incapacity, or whose remuneration or emoluments are reduced on the ground that his duties have been diminished, or who otherwise suffers any direct pecuniary loss by reason of the amalgamation or absorption (including any loss of prospective superannuation or other retiring or death allowances and allowances to his widow or orphan children, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice of the amalgamating or absorbed company), shall be entitled to be paid compensation by the amalgamated company, the amount of such compensation to be determined by the amalgamated company (subject to appeal as hereinafter provided) in accordance with the following rules, that is to say:—
(a) the compensation shall be an annual allowance to be paid to the existing officer or servant during his life not exceeding in any case two-thirds of his remuneration and emoluments, and, subject to that limitation, to be calculated at the rate of one-sixtieth of his remuneration and emoluments for every completed year of his service with the amalgamated company or any amalgamating or absorbed company, with an addition thereto based on the number of completed years of his service and calculated according to the following scale:—
if he has twenty or more completed years of service, an addition of ten-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,
if he has fifteen or more completed years of service and less than twenty such years, an addition of seven-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,
if he has ten or more completed years of service and less than fifteen such years, an addition of five-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments,
if he has five or more completed years of service and less than ten such years, an addition of three-sixtieths of his remuneration and emoluments:
(b) where any existing officer or servant was temporarily absent from his employment as such officer or servant and during the whole of such absence was engaged in service in the National Forces of Saorstát Eireann, or any military forces serving under the authority of the First Dáil Eireann, the Second Dáil Eireann, or the Provisional Government of Ireland, or the British Army, Navy or Air Force, such temporary absence shall for the purposes of this Schedule be reckoned and included in his period of service as such officer or servant:
(c) in the case of an existing officer or servant who was appointed to his office as a specially qualified person at an age exceeding that at which railway service usually begins, his actual period of service with an amalgamating or absorbed company may be increased by the addition of such number of years as may seem just, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case, and thereupon his compensation shall be calculated on such increased period of service:
(d) in the case of an existing officer or servant who suffers any such loss of prospective superannuation or other retiring or death allowance as aforesaid, such addition as may seem just, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, may be made to the compensation otherwise authorised by this Schedule to be awarded to him:
(e) for the purpose of the calculation of the compensation under this Schedule, the remuneration and emoluments of an existing officer or servant shall be taken to be the annual value of the remuneration and emoluments of which he was in receipt from the amalgamated company or any amalgamating or absorbed company on the date of the happening of the event giving rise to the claim for compensation, unless he received promotion (other than promotion within any of the grades dealt with in the agreements between the railway companies and the trades unions) subsequent to the 3rd day of April, 1923, in which case his remuneration and emoluments shall for the purpose aforesaid be taken to be the annual value of the remuneration and emoluments of which he was in receipt immediately before such promotion. In the event of an existing officer being appointed a standing member of the railway tribunal he shall be regarded as an existing officer whose office is abolished as from the date of amalgamation and shall be entitled to be compensated accordingly, but during the period for which he acts as such standing member of the railway tribunal his compensation shall only be the difference (if any) between his remuneration as a standing member of the railway tribunal and the annual allowance granted to him under paragraph (5) (a) of this Schedule.
(6) For the purpose of this Schedule, any solicitor who for the period of five years next before the date of the passing of this Act has acted solely for an amalgamating or absorbed company as their chief or assistant legal adviser on a salary shall be deemed to be an existing officer of that company.
(7) Any person who is in receipt of an annual allowance by way of compensation under this Schedule may, within one year from the date on which the amount of such allowance is fixed, apply to the amalgamated company to commute not more than one-fourth of such annual allowance by payment of a capital sum of money to be calculated by the amalgamated company in accordance with the provision in that behalf contained in the amalgamation scheme, and no such application for commutation shall be unreasonably refused by the amalgamated company.
(8) If any existing officer or servant shall feel aggrieved by the decision of the amalgamated company on any matter to be determined by it under the foregoing rules, or if any dispute or question shall arise between any existing officer or servant and the amalgamated company on any matter arising under this Schedule, such existing officer or servant may appeal to a standing arbitrator or board of arbitrators appointed by the Chief Justice, who shall hear and determine such appeal and whose decision thereon shall be final. The amount of the fee payable to such standing arbitrator or to each member of such board of arbitrators on any such appeal shall be fixed by the Chief Justice and shall be paid by the amalgamated company.
(9) For the purposes of this Schedule every person in the employment of an amalgamating company or an absorbed company shall be deemed to be an officer or servant of that company: Subject in the case of any solicitor to the provisions of paragraph (6) of this Schedule.
Fourth Schedule.
Provisions relating to the submission of Schemes.
Section 9 (2).
The scheme to be submitted shall be submitted to the proprietors and debenture stock-holders of each company affected thereby at a meeting held specially for that purpose.
Such meeting shall be called by advertisement inserted once in each of two consecutive weeks in some one and the same newspaper published in Dublin, and in some one and the same newspaper of the county or counties in which the principal office or offices of any such company is or are situate; and also by a circular addressed to each proprietor and debenture stock-holder at his last known or usual address, and sent by post or delivered at such address not less than seven days before the holding of such meeting, enclosing a blank form of proxy, with proper instructions for the use of the same; and the same form of proxy and the same instructions, and none other shall be sent to every such proprietor and debenture stock-holder; but no such form of proxy shall be stamped before it is sent out, nor shall the funds of any company be used for the stamping of any proxies, nor shall intimation be sent as to any person in whose favour the proxy may be granted, and no other circular or form of proxy relating to such meeting shall be sent to any proprietor or debenture stock-holder from the office of any company, or by any director or officer of any company so describing himself.
Such meeting shall be held not earlier than the seventh day after the last insertion of such advertisement, and may be held on the same day as an ordinary general meeting of the company.
At such meeting the said scheme shall be submitted to the proprietors and debenture stock-holders aforesaid then present, and shall be approved of by the proprietors present in person or by proxy and holding at least three-fourths of the paid-up capital of the company (being capital carrying a right to vote at all ordinary meetings of the company) held by proprietors present as aforesaid at the meeting. Proprietors of any paid-up shares or stock, including debenture stock, not qualified to vote at ordinary meetings, whose interests may be affected by the scheme, may tender their votes at the meeting, and all votes so tendered shall be recorded separately.
The names of the proprietors and debenture stock-holders present in person at the meeting shall be recorded by the company and a copy of such record shall be sent to the railway tribunal. For this purpose the meeting, and any other consecutive meetings, whether general or special, and whether preceding or following it, shall be deemed to be the same meeting. A poll may be demanded by any proprietor present in person at the meeting.
Fifth Schedule.
Division and Form of Schedules of Standard Charges.
Section 27 (2).
The parts into which every schedule of charges submitted by the amalgamated company to the railway tribunal is to be divided shall be as follows:—
Part I containing the charges in respect of the goods and minerals comprised in the several classes of merchandise (including dangerous goods and goods specially liable to damage) specified in the classification;
Part II containing the charges in respect of animals;
Part III containing the charges in respect of carriages;
Part IV containing the charges in respect of perishable merchandise by passenger train or other similar service;
Part V containing the charges in respect of small parcels;
Part VI containing the charges in respect of merchandise of an exceptional character;
Part VII containing the fares and charges to be taken for the conveyance of passengers and their luggage, and for live stock, carriages, parcels, and articles of merchandise (other than those included in Part IV) by passenger train or other similar service;
Part VIII containing the charges in respect of any toll payable by a trader.
The forms of the various Parts shall in the case of Parts V, VI, VII, and VIII, be such as the railway tribunal direct, and in the case of Parts I, II, III, and IV, be the following forms:—
PART I.
Goods and Minerals.
Class in respect of Merchandise to which Charges are Applicable | Standard Rate for Conveyance | Standard Terminals | ||||||||
For the first Miles or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles or any part of such Distance | For the remainder of the Distance | Station Terminal at each end | Service Terminals | ||||
Loading | Unloading | Covering | Uncovering | |||||||
Per Ton per Mile | Per Ton per Mile | Per Ton per Mile | Per Ton per Mile | Per Ton per Mile | Per Ton | Per Ton | Per Ton | Per Ton | Per Ton | |
1 | ||||||||||
2 | ||||||||||
3 | ||||||||||
etc. | ||||||||||
PART II.
Animal Class.
Rate for Conveyance per Mile | Service Terminals | ||||||||||||
Description | For the first Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the remainder of the Distance | Station Terminal at each End | Loading | Un loading | Minium charge as for Animals | ||||
d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | |
1 | |||||||||||||
2 | |||||||||||||
3 | |||||||||||||
etc. | |||||||||||||
PART III.
Carriages.
Rate for Conveyance per Mile | Service Terminals | ||||||||||||||
Description | For the first Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the remainder of the Distance | Station Terminal at each End | Loading | Unloading | Covering | Uncovering | |||||
d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | |
1 | |||||||||||||||
2 | |||||||||||||||
3 | |||||||||||||||
etc. | |||||||||||||||
PART IV.
Perishable Merchandise by Passenger Train.
Division I.
Description.
Division II.
Description,
etc.
Division I.
Rate for Conveyance | Service Terminals | |||||||||
For any Distance not exceeding Miles | For any Distance exceeding Miles but not exceeding Miles | For any Distance exceeding Miles but not exceeding Miles | For any Distance exceeding Miles but not exceeding Miles | For any Distance exceeding Miles but not exceeding Miles | For any Distance exceeding Miles | Station Terminal at each end | Loading | Unloading | ||
Per Imperial Gallon | Per Imperial Gallon | Per Imperial Gallon | Per Imperial Gallon | Per Imperial Gallon | Per Imperial Gallon | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | ||
d. | d. | d. | d. | l. | d. | d. | d. | d. | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
RETURNED EMPTY CANS. | ||||||||||
Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | Per Can | ||
d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | ||
Divisions II. and III.
Rate for Conveyance | Service Terminals | ||||||
For the first Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the next Miles, or any part of such Distance | For the remainder of the Distance | Station Terminal at each end | Loading | Unloading |
Per Cwt. per Mile | Per Cwt. per Mile | Per Cwt. per Mile | Per Cwt. per Mile | Per Cwt. per Mile | Per Cwt. | Per Cwt. | Per Cwt. |
d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. | d. |
Sixth Schedule.
Miscellaneous Provisions as to Rates.
Calculation of distance.
1. In calculating the distance along the railway for the purpose of the charge for conveyance of any merchandise the company shall not include any portion of its railway which may in respect of that merchandise be the subject of a charge for a station terminal.
Calculation of charges on weight and measurement.
2. Unless otherwise agreed between the company and the trader, all charges shall, so far as practicable, be based upon the gross weight of the merchandise when received by the company determined according to the imperial avoirdupois weight, but the railway tribunal may specify any articles of merchandise upon which the charges may be calculated in reference to cubic capacity, and shall prescribe the method by which the cubic contents for the purpose of charge is to be calculated.
Terminal services at other than the Company's terminal places.
3. Where merchandise conveyed in a separate truck is loaded or unloaded elsewhere than in a shed or building of the company the company may not charge to a trader any service terminal for the performance by the company of any of the said services if the trader has requested the company to allow him to perform the service for himself, and the company has unreasonably refused to allow him to do so. Any dispute between the trader and the company in reference to any service terminal charged to a trader who is not allowed by the company to perform for himself the service shall be determined by the railway tribunal.
Charges for sidings and accommodation.
4. Nothing in this Act shall prevent the company from making and receiving, in addition to the charges authorised by this Act, charges and payments by way of rent or otherwise for sidings or other structural accommodation provided or to be provided for the private use of traders and not required by the company for dealing with the traffic for the purposes of conveyance:
Provided that the amount of such charges or payments shall be fixed by an agreement in writing signed by the trader or by some person duly authorised on his behalf or determined, in cases of difference, by the railway tribunal.
Charges for transhipment.
5. In respect of merchandise received from or delivered to another railway company having a railway of a different gauge or interchanged between broad and narrow gauge sections of the company's railway, the company may make a reasonable charge for any service of transhipment performed by it, the amount of such charge to be determined in case of difference by the railway tribunal.
Charges for use of trucks.
6.—(1) The company may charge for the use of trucks provided by it for the conveyance of merchandise, when the provision of trucks is not included in the rates for conveyance, such sums as the railway tribunal determine.
(2) Where, for the conveyance of merchandise other than merchandise in respect of which the rates for conveyance do not include the provision of trucks, the company does not provide trucks, the charge for conveyance shall be reduced by such sum as the railway tribunal determine.
(3) The company shall not be required to provide trucks for the conveyance of merchandise in respect of which the provision of trucks is not included in the rate for conveyance, nor for the conveyance of lime in bulk or salt in bulk or any merchandise liable to injure trucks:
Provided that any dispute between the company and a trader as to whether any specific kind of merchandise is liable to injure trucks may be referred to the railway tribunal, but on any such reference it shall lie on the trader requiring the merchandise to be carried to show that such merchandise will not injure the trucks.
Charges when railway company conveying on railway of the company.
7. Subject to the provisions of this Act, any railway company conveying merchandise on the railway of the company or performing any of the services for which rates or charges are authorised by this Act, shall be entitled to charge and make the same rates and charges as the company are authorised to make.
Dock and shipping charges.
8. Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the company to make any charges which it is authorised by any statute to make in respect of any accommodation or services provided or rendered by the company at or in connection with docks or shipping places.
Provisions as to perishables.
9. The following provisions and regulations shall be applicable to the conveyance of perishable merchandise by passenger train:—
(a) The company shall afford reasonable facilities for the expeditious conveyance of the articles classified as perishables, either by passenger train or other similar service:
(b) Such facilities shall be subject to the reasonable regulations of the company for the convenient and punctual working of its passenger train service, and shall not include any obligation to convey perishables by any particular train:
(c) The company shall not be under obligation to convey by passenger train, or other similar service, any merchandise other than perishables:
(d) Any question as to the facilities afforded by the company under these provisions and regulations shall be determined by the railway tribunal.
Charges for services not otherwise provided for.
10.—(1) The company may charge a reasonable sum for the services hereunder mentioned, or any of them when rendered to a trader at his request or for his convenience:—
(i) Services rendered by the company at or in connection with sidings not belonging to the company in respect of which no rate or charge is otherwise provided;
(ii) The collection or delivery outside a terminal station, otherwise than is provided for by section 46 of this Act, of merchandise which is to be, or has been, carried by railway;
(iii) Weighing merchandise;
(iv) The detention of trucks or the use or occupation of any accommodation before or after carriage beyond such period as shall be reasonably necessary for enabling the company to deal with merchandise as carriers thereof, or the consignor or consignee to give or take delivery thereof; or, in cases in which the merchandise is consigned to an address other than the terminal station, beyond a reasonable period from the time when notice has been delivered at such address that the merchandise has arrived at the terminal station for delivery and services rendered in connection with such use and occupation;
(v) Loading or unloading, covering or uncovering, merchandise in respect of which no charge is provided;
(vi) The use of coal drops;
(vii) The provision by the company of accommodation at a waterside wharf and special services rendered thereat by the company in respect of loading and unloading merchandise into or out of vessels or barges where no special charge is prescribed by any statute, provided that the charge under this sub-paragraph shall, for the purpose of any disintegration of rate, be deemed to be a dock charge;
(viii) Any accommodation or services provided or rendered by the company within the scope of its undertaking, and in respect of which no provisions are made by this Schedule.
(2) Any difference arising under this paragraph shall be determined by the railway tribunal at the instance of either party, provided that where before any service is rendered, a trader has given notice in writing to the company that he does not require it, the service shall not be deemed to be rendered at the trader's request or for his convenience.
(3) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, any charge here under made by the company in accordance with an order of the railway tribunal in force for the time being may be recovered by action in a court of law.
11. The standard rate for conveyance is the rate which the company may charge for the conveyance of merchandise by merchandise train and, subject to the exceptions and provisions specified in this Schedule, includes the provision of locomotive power and trucks by the company and every other expense incidental to such conveyance not otherwise herein provided for.
12. The standard station terminal is the charge which the company may make to a trader for the use of the accommodation (exclusive of coal drops) provided and for the duties undertaken by the company, for which no provision is made in this Schedule at the terminal station for or in dealing with merchandise as carriers thereof before or after conveyance.
13. The standard service terminals are the charges which the company may make to a trader for the following services when rendered to or for a trader, that is to say, loading, unloading, covering, and uncovering merchandise; which charges shall, in respect of each service, be deemed to include all charges for the provision by the company of labour, machinery, plant, stores and sheets.
14. Where a consignment by merchandise train is over three hundred weight, a fraction of a quarter of a hundred weight may be charged for as a quarter of a hundredweight.
15. For a fraction of a mile the company may charge according to the number of quarters of a mile in that fraction, and a fraction of a quarter of a mile may be charged for as a quarter of a mile.
16. Articles sent in large aggregate quantities, although made up of separate parcels such as bags of sugar, coffee, and the like, shall not be deemed to be small parcels.
17. For any quantity of merchandise less than a truck load which the company either receive or deliver in one truck on or at a siding not belonging to the company, or which from the circumstances in which the merchandise is tendered or the nature of the merchandise the company is obliged or required to carry in one truck, the company may charge as for a reasonable minimum load having regard to the nature of the merchandise.
18. The term “terminal station” means a station or place upon the railway at which a consignment of merchandise is loaded or unloaded before or after conveyance on the railway, but does not include any station or junction at which the merchandise in respect of which any terminal is charged has been exchanged with, handed over to, or received from any railway company, or a junction between the railway and a siding let by or not belonging to the company, or in respect of merchandise passing to or from such siding, any station with which such siding may be connected, or any dock or shipping place the charges for the use of which are regulated by statute.
The term “siding” includes branch railways not belonging to a railway company.
19. In this Schedule the expression “the company” means the amalgamated company, and the word “trader” includes any person sending or receiving or desiring to send or receive merchandise by railway.
Seventh Schedule
Enactments Amended.
Session and Chapter | Short Title | Nature of Amendment |
11 Geo. 4 and 1 Will. 4, c. 68. | The Carriers Act, 1830 | In section one, the words “silks in a manufactured or unmanufactured state and whether wrought up or not wrought up with other materials” shall be repealed, and the word “twenty-five” shall be substituted for “ten.” In section two the word “twenty-five” shall be substituted for the word “ten.” The following new section shall be added after section 10:— “11. In this Act the expression ‘common carrier by land’ shall include a common carrier by land who is also a carrier by water, and as regards every such common carrier this Act shall apply to carriage by water in the same manner as it applies to carriage by land.” |
8 & 9 Vict. c. 20 | The Railways Clauses Act, 1845, as incorporated in any Act, whether passed before or after the passing of this Act. | In section three after the words “The word ‘toll’ shall include any rate or charge or other payment payable under the special Act” there shall be inserted the words “or fixed by the railway tribunal under the provisions of the Railways Act, 1924.” In section ninety-eight for the words “number or quantity of goods conveyed by any such carriage” there shall be substituted the words full name and address of the consignee and such particulars of the nature, weight (inclusive of packing), and number of parcels or articles of merchandise handed to the company for conveyance as may be necessary to enable the company to calculate the charges therefor.” The following subsection shall be added at the end of section ninety-eight:— “(2) The company shall be entitled to refuse to convey any merchandise delivered to them for conveyance as aforesaid in respect of which the foregoing provisions of this section have not been complied with, or to examine, weigh or count the same and make such reasonable charge therefor as they think fit: “Provided that the company shall not refuse to convey the parcels or articles of merchandise handed to them for conveyance as aforesaid without giving the person an opportunity of having them weighed or counted upon payment of a reasonable charge.” |
17 & 18 Vict. c. 31 | The Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854. | In section seven, for the words “for any horse fifty pounds, for any neat cattle per head fifteen pounds, for any sheep or pigs per head two pounds” there shall be substituted the words “for any horse one hundred pounds, for neat cattle per head fifty pounds, for any other animal five pounds.” |
Eighth Schedule.
Grades to which Part IV of the Act Applies.
Section 55 (3).
Section | Group | Grades Embraced |
1 | Station Masters | Station Masters, Goods Agents, Yard Masters, Assistant Yard Masters, Passenger and Parcels Agents. |
Clerks | Clerks (Male and Female). | |
Supervisors | Traffic Controllers, Traffic Department Inspectors, Goods Department Inspectors and Foremen, Permanent Way Inspectors, Signal and Telegraph Inspectors, Locomotive Foremen, Locomotive Running Inspectors, Carriage and Wagon Inspectors, Ticket Inspectors. | |
2 | Signalmen, etc. Guards, etc. | Signalmen, Crossing Keepers. Passenger Guards, Goods Guards, Ballast Guards, Passenger Shunters, Goods Shunters, Yard Foremen. |
Traffic Staff | Cloakroom and Lost Property Office Attendants, Excess Luggage Collectors, Station Foremen, Porters, Parcels Foremen, Parcels Porters, Ticket Collectors, Head Porters, Messengers. | |
Goods Staff Cartage Staff Carriage and Wagon Examiners. | Checkers, Callers-off, Porters, Working Foremen, Head Porters. Carters, Road Motor Drivers, Working Foremen. Carriage Examiners, Chargemen, Wagon Examiners, Carriage and Wagon Oilers and Greasers. | |
3 | Drivers, etc. Shed Staff, etc. | Engine Drivers, and Rail Motor Men, Firemen, Cleaners. Chargemen, Engine Cleaners, Barmen, Boilerwashers, Callers-Up, Coalmen, Cranemen, Fire-droppers, Gland Packers, Pumping Enginemen, Sandmen, Shed Labourers, Steam Raisers, Stores Issuers, Timekeepers (Non-clerical), Tube Cleaners. |
4 | Gangers, etc. Signal and Telegraph Linemen, etc. | Gangers (Permanent Way), Platelayers, Inspectors, Timekeepers, Labourers, Toolmen. Chief Linemen, Chargemen, Linemen, Gangers (Signal and Telegraph), Installers, Labourers, Wiremen and Fixers. |
Ninth Schedule.
Payments in respect of Baronial Guarantees.
Part I. | Part II. | Part III. | |||
Amount to be Paid by the Minister to the Amalgamated Company in each of the following years. | Amounts to be Paid by the following County Councils to the Minister in each year from 1925 to 1934, inclusive. | Amount to be Paid out of the Local Taxation A/c. to the Minister in each year from 1925 to 1934, inclusive. | |||
Year. | £ | £ | £ | ||
1925 | 48,688 | Cavan | 666 |
| |
1926 | 48,688 | Clare | 4,320 |
| |
1927 | 48,688 | Cork | 4,823 |
| |
1928 | 48,688 | Galway | 802 | 6,804 | |
1929 | 48,688 | Kerry | 4,200 | ||
1930 | 47,288 | Leitrim | 4,221 | ||
1931 | 47,288 | Mayo | 866 | ||
1932 | 47,288 | _____ | |||
1933 | 47,288 | Amount to be Paid by the undermentioned County Council to the Minister in each year from 1925 to 1929 inclusive: | |||
1934 | 47,288 | ||||
Tipperary, South Riding. | £1,400 | ||||
Tenth Schedule.
Enactments not applying to Amalgamated Company.
Session and Chapter | Short Title. | Extent of Repeal. |
31 & 32 Vict. ch. 119 | Regulation of Railways Act, 1868. | Section 34. |
36 & 37 Vict. ch. 48 | The Regulation of Railways Act, 1873. | Sections 14 and 15. |
57 & 58 Vict. ch. 54 | The Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1894. | Sections 1, 3 and 4. |
11 & 12 Geo. V. ch. 55. | The Railways Act, 1921. | Section 84, sub-section (1), and the words “save as aforesaid” in sub-section (2). |