§ MR. RAIKES, in moving that Standing Order 158, relating to Private Business, be amended by substituting in the 683 first sub-section the words "Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice" for "Court of Chancery," and by inserting clauses providing that deposits be impounded as security for the completion. of Railway or Tramway Bills, said, that at present, persons applying for a private Bill to make a railway or a tramway were not able to recover the deposit which they were required to make until they could show that they had expended a certain part of their capital, or that they had made their line; but if they went to the Board of Trade for a Provisional Order they were able to get back the deposit by instalments, in proportion to the quantity of line they had constructed. The proposed Amendment, without affecting in any degree the position of established railway or tramway companies, would adopt the practice of the Board of Trade with respect to railway or tramway deposits. He did not see that there was much to choose between the two existing practices which he had mentioned; and though, upon the whole, it appeared to him that that of the Board of Trade might be the more convenient, he did not put it strongly to the House so far as that consideration was concerned. He thought, however, the House would see that it would be better for the public that there should be one system of Provisional Orders and Private Bills, and that it would be desirable to adopt that part of the practice of the Board of Trade which had been found to work well as regarded the matter under notice.
Standing Order No. 158, relating to Private Business read and amended, by omitting the words "Court of Chancery," in sub-section A, line 16, and by inserting the words "Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice," in lieu thereof, and by omitting all the words after the end of subsection A to the end of the Standing Order, and inserting the following:—
Railway or Tramway Deposits.(Clause to he inserted, providing that deposit be impounded as security for completion of the line.)In every Railway Bill or Tramway Bill whereby the construction of any new line is authorised, or the time for completing any line already authorised is extended, if such Bill be promoted by an existing Railway Company or Tramway Company which is not possessed of a Railway or Tramway already opened for public 684 traffic, or which has not, during the year last past, paid dividends on its ordinary share capital, or by an existing Railway or Tramway Company when the capital to be raised under the Bill is greater than the existing authorised capital of the Company, or by persons not already incorporated, a Clause to the following effect shall be inserted, viz.:—B. Whereas, pursuant to the Standing Orders of both Houses of Parliament, and to an Act passed in the Session of Parliament held in the ninth and tenth years of Her present Majesty, c. 20, a sum of £ being five per cent. upon the amount of the Estimate in respect of the Railway or Tramway authorised by this Act, has been deposited with the Court, that is to say, the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in England [or the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or the Court of Chancery in Ireland, as the case may be], [or Exchequer Bills, Stocks, or Funds to the amount of £ have been deposited or transferred pursuant to the said Act, as the case may be] in respect of the application to Parliament for this Act (which Sum, Exchequer Bills, Stocks, or Funds, as the case may be, is or are in this Act referred to as 'the deposit fund: ') Be it Enacted, That, notwithstanding anything contained in the said recited Act, the Deposit Fund shall not be paid or transferred to or on the application of the person or persons, or the majority of the persons, named in the warrant or order issued in pursuance of the said Act, or the survivors or survivor of them (which persons, survivors, or survivor, are or is in this Act referred to as the 'depositors') unless the Company shall, previously to the expiration of the period limited by this Act for completion of the Railway [or Tramway] hereby authorised to be made [or the time for completing which is hereby extended], open the said Railway [or Tramway] for public traffic [or, if a passenger Railway for the public conveyance of Passengers]: Provided, That, if within such period as aforesaid the Company open any portion of the said Railway [or Tramway] for public traffic [or, if a passenger Railway, for the public conveyance of passengers], then, on production of a certificate of the Board of Trade, specifying the length of the portion of the said Railway [or Tramway] opened as aforesaid, and the portion of the deposit fund which bears to the whole of the deposit fund the same proportion as the length of the said Railway [or Tramway] so opened bears to the entire length of the said Railway [or Tramway] hereby authorised, the Court shall, on the application of the depositors, order the said portion of the deposit fund so specified in such certificate as aforesaid to be paid or transferred to them, or as they shall direct; and the certificate of the Board of Trade shall, if signed by the Secretary, or by an Assistant Secretary of the said Board, be sufficient evidence of the facts therein certified, and it shall not be necessary to produce any certificate of this Act having passed, anything in the recited Act to the contrary notwithstanding.In every Railway Bill or Tramway Bill whereby the construction of any new line of Railway or Tramway is authorised, or the time for completing any line already authorised is extended, a Clause to the following effect shall be inserted:—685(Application of deposit or penalty in compensation to parties injured.)C. If the Company do not, previously to the expiration of the period limited by this Act for the completion of the Railway [or Tramway] hereby authorised to be made (or the time for completion which is hereby extended), complete the said Railway [or Tramway] and open it for public traffic [or, if a passenger Railway, for the public conveyance of passengers], then and in every such case the deposit fund, or so much thereof as shall not have been paid to the depositors, or any sum of money recovered by way of penalty as aforesaid, shall be applicable, and, after due notice in the 'London Gazette' [or 'Edinburgh' or 'Dublin Gazette,' as the case may require], shall be applied towards compensating any landowners or other persons whose property may have been interfered with, or otherwise rendered less valuable, by the commencement, construction, or abandonment of the said Railway [or Tramway], or any portion thereof, or who may have been subjected to injury or loss in consequence of the compulsory powers of taking property conferred upon the Company by this Act [and also (in the case of a Tramway) in compensating all road authorities for the expense incurred by them in taking up any Tramway or materials connected therewith placed by the Company in or on any road vested in or maintainable by such road authorities respectively, and in making good all damage caused to such roads by the construction or abandonment of such Tramway], and for which injury or loss no compensation or inadequate compensation shall have been paid, and shall be distributed in satisfaction of such compensation as aforesaid, in such manner and in such proportions as to the Court may seem fit; and if no such compensation shall be payable, or if a portion of the deposit fund (or of the sum or sums of money recovered by way of penalty as aforesaid) shall have been found sufficient to satisfy all just claims in respect of such compensation, then the deposit fund (or the sum or sums of money recovered by way of penalty as aforesaid) or such portion thereof as may not be required as aforesaid, shall either be forfeited to Her Majesty, and shall accordingly be paid or transferred to or for the account of Her Majesty's Exchequer, in such manner as the Court thinks fit to order on the application of the Solicitor to Her Majesty's Treasury, and shall be carried to and form part of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or, in the discretion of the Court, if the Company is insolvent and has been ordered to be wound up, or a receiver has been appointed, shall wholly or in part be paid or transferred to such receiver or to the liquidator or liquidators of the Company, or be otherwise applied, as part of the assets of the Company, for the benefit of the creditors thereof: Provided, That until the deposit fund shall have been repaid to the depositors, or shall have become otherwise applicable as here in before mentioned, any interest or dividends accruing thereon shall from time to time, and as often as the same shall become payable, be paid to or on the application of the depositors.N.B. If the Clause lettered (A) is inserted in the Bill, the Proviso at the end of the Clause lettered (C) shall be omitted.686(Time limited for completion of line.)D. If the Railway [or Tramway] authorised by this Act shall not be completed within the period limited by this Act, then, on the expiration of such period, the powers by this Act granted to the Company for making and completing the said Railway [or Tramway], or otherwise in relation thereto, shall cease to be exercised, except as to so much thereof as shall then be completed. The period limited shall not in the case of a new Railway line exceed five years [or in the case of a new Tramway line two years], and the extension of time for completion shall not in the case of a Railway line exceed three years [or in the case of a Tramway line one year]. In the case of extension of time the additional period shall be computed from the expiration of the period sought to be extended.(Where preceding provisions are inapplicable.)In any Railway Bill or Tramway Bill to which the preceding provisions are not applicable, the Committee on the Bill shall make such other provision as they shall deem necessary for ensuring the completion of the line of Railway or Tramway. —(The Chairman of Ways and Means.)Motion agreed to.