CONSOLIDATION BILLS—VIZ., LANDS CLAUSES; RAILWAY CLAUSES; COMPANIES CLAUSES. (Hansard, 5 August 1844)

Mr. Gladstone

rose to move for leave to bring in three Bills, notice of which he had given, for the consolidation of the provisions usually introduced into Acts for incorporating Companies for carrying on undertakings of a public nature. The proceeding, was founded generally upon the recommendation of the Select Committee upon Railways, but, at the same time, it went beyond that recommendation, because their functions being confined to Railways, the recommendation they had made that the great mass of the provisions now comprised in Railway Bills should be comprehended within one general and single enactment, had reference to Railroad Bills 1782 only. The Government, however, had thought it advisable to apply the principle to Private Bills of other kinds. The advantages he expected to gain by this proceeding would be these. In the first place there would be a greater degree of certainty and uniformity attached to the general form of the law upon these subjects, which would be rendered more accessible and intelligible to the public when the great mass of provisions now scattered over various Acts were concentrated in a single Bill, and made applicable to all Companies, than it could be now when comprised in so many Local and Personal Statutes. The provisions were not now under the eye of the public, as they would be if comprehended in a general Act as proposed. That was one of the advantages expected to be derived. Upon the other hand, it would be no inconsiderable relief to parties promoting Bills, that they should be enabled to shorten them. He had learned, almost with surprise, from his hon. Friend the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, the heavy charges that were attached to private Bills when the enactments were numerous. The charge for engrossing alone would surprise many hon. Gentlemen, and that did not arise from any extravagance, or from high rates of payment, but from the enormous masses which had to be submitted to this manual process. Of course he did not propose that the Bills should be passed into law during the present Session. The Government, however, thought it was desirable to have them printed during the present Session, so that the attention of the parties, Parliamentary Agents, and others interested in these Bills, might be drawn to them. The advantage of these measures would be that Private Bills, instead of consisting of 300 or 400 Clauses, would be reduced to a moderate number of intelligible ones. He ought to say that, whether difficulties should arise or not in the way of framing the Bills, so as to be available next Session, care must be taken that the private business should on no account be impeded or delayed. He would now state what those Bills contained. The three Bills he proposed to lay on the Table of the House comprised the whole of the Model Bill drawn up by the Committee, as regarded its substantial enactments. But it had been deemed advisable to break up the subject matter of it into three parts, because it had 1783 reference to three classes of undertakings. The first Bill he proposed was a Bill which would apply, when it became a general Act, to all private Bills that might be introduced into the House for the purpose of incorporating Trading Companies. In the second Bill he intended to include all those provisions with respect to Companies not merely seeking to be incorporated, but requiring compulsory powers to purchase and hold lands. This Bill would include Railway, Harbour, Canal, Gas, and Water Bills, which require compulsory powers. With regard to the third Bill, that would be still more restrictive in the range of Private Bills to which it would be applicable. This Bill would specifically correspond with the recommendation of the Railway Committee. It would be applicable in its provisions to Railway Bills, in respect to those features which belonged to them exclusively, and not in common with other Bills for the execution of Public Works. Having described the general purview of those Bills, he had to say that in the first Bill he did not mean to propose anything worth mentioning, except what was already in the Model Bill. In the second Bill he proposed to introduce an enactment which had been frequently recommended to Government, namely, an exceptional provision relative to the compensation for lands by reference to a jury. He proposed that where the value of the land in question was not more than a certain amount, say, for example, 1,000l., the parties might have the option of settling the question by arbitration. He did not take it from the jury as a matter of course, but it would be optional for either of the parties to remove it from a jury, and refer it to another tribunal which would be less expensive. The proposition had often been made both by Railway Companies and Landed Proprietors, that they should be allowed to submit small valuations to arbitration. He, therefore, proposed to insert in the Bill a proposition to this effect. In the third Bill he proposed to add a second proposition, giving a discretionary power to the Government and the Board of Trade, of allowing certain deviations in engineering works from the prescribed models, in cases where it was proved this could be done with increased advantage to the public, and without any detriment to private rights. Another very important matter he proposed to include, was a general 1784 provision with regard to what was called the equal rates Clause. At present there was not a perfect uniformity of privilege as between the different Railway Companies as to the power of varying their charges. Some Companies had no power of varying the rates of their fares at all; others had the power to do so, provided the rate was made uniform throughout the whole of the Company's line. That Clause was now subject to some ambiguity. They could not devise a Clause that should exactly define the rate in all cases, but it was obviously a subject of great importance and great difficulty. Sometimes it was for the interest of the public that there should be a power of varying the rates. At present, in some cases it might be varied, but only to a rate that should be equal and uniform all along the line, though it might be more advantageous to have a lower rate along one part of the line than along another. He therefore proposed to insert a Clause giving power to make these variations with those exceptions and reservations in cases which experience had shown ought to be so limited. The power as it existed had sometimes been exercised in a manner oppressive to the public, especially as regarded carriers. He proposed to insert in this general Bill, powers of varying the charge, subject to exceptions and restrictions in all cases in which it was practicable to see, from present experience, that such variations should be limited. He proposed, for example, that any Railroad Company acting under this Act should not be able to vary charges simply in respect to the quantity of goods conveyed. Again, he proposed that there should be no power to vary charges upon goods in respect of any difference in the manner of conveying those goods beyond the line of the Company itself. The right hon. Gentleman concluded by moving for leave to bring in a "Bill for consolidating in one Act certain provisions usually inserted in Acts of Parliament with respect to the constitution of incorporated Companies for carrying on undertakings of a public nature."