§ The Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, s. 39
§ 1.—(1) Section thirty-nine of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, shall apply to all charges made or proposed to be made by the Commission for the carriage of merchandise by railway (other than standard charges and maximum charges) and not merely to agreed charges and exceptional rates made or charged by them, and the said section thirty-nine shall, with the necessary adaptations, have effect accordingly.
362§ (2) The amendments of the said section thirty-nine effected, as respects charges made otherwise than under a charges scheme, by subsection (5) of section eighty-three of the Transport Act, 1947, shall, notwithstanding anything in subsection (I) of the said section eighty-three, have effect in relation to all charges made or proposed to be made by the Commission for the carriage of merchandise by railway, whether under a charges scheme or not.
§ 2.—(1) If a representation under the said section thirty-nine is made wholly or partly on the ground that the charges in question place coastal carriers at an undue or unfair disadvantage and the Tribunal are or opinion that the body making the representation has a reasonable case to make in that respect, they shall, if the said body requests them so to do, instead of publishing the representation and holding an inquiry under subsection (3) of that section, give, as quickly as may be, to the said body and the Commission an opportunity of calling witnesses and being heard as to the representation and, if. after hearing the said body, the Commission and their respective witnesses, considering the matters which they are required by the said subsection (3) to investigate and having regard to all the considerations to which they are required by the said subsection (3) to have regard, the Tribunal are of opinion that. having regard to all the circumstances, the charges in question or any of them—
- (a) place coastal carriers at an undue or unfair disadvantage in the competition, or
- (b) are inadequate, having regard to the cost of affording the service or services in respect of which they are made,
§ (2) Where the Tribunal make an order by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph, the Commission shall publish the order in such manner as the Tribunal may direct, and if, within one month from the publication of the order as aforesaid, any body which, in the opinion of the Minister, is properly representative of the interests of traders notifies the Tribunal that it objects to the order, the Tribunal shall hold an inquiry on the matter in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of the said section thirty-nine and shall, upon that inquiry, revoke or vary their previous order, or refuse to revoke or vary it, as may be appropriate.
§ (3) The reference in subsection (5) of the said section thirty-nine to orders made under subsection (4) of that section shall be deemed to include a reference to any order of the Tribunal made under the preceding provisions of this paragraph.
§ 3. It is hereby declared that the powers of the Tribunal under the said section thirty-nine extend to cancelling or varying any agreement made or deemed to be made under subsection (2) of section nineteen of this Act, but where any agreement in writing made or deemed to 363 be made as aforesaid regulates, for a specified period of not less than three months or for a period determinable by not less than three months notice, any charges to be made by the Commission, the following provisions shall have effect in relation to any order of the Tribunal under sub-paragraph (1) of the last preceding paragraph cancelling that agreement or varying it in relation to any charges to be made during that period.
- (a) any trader who is a party to that agreement may within one month from the publication of the order under sub-paragraph (2) of that paragraph apply to the Tribunal for cancellation or variation of the order in so far as it so cancels or varies the agreement;
- (b) the order, in so far as it so cancels or varies that agreement, shall not take effect until the expiration of the said period of one month and, if, within that period, an application is made under this paragraph, shall not take effect unless and until the Tribunal, having given the applicant, the Commission and the body on whose representation the order was made an opportunity of being heard, confirm the order, in so far as it so cancels or varies the agreement, with or without variation:
§ Provided that the Tribunal shall not separately deal with the application if an inquiry falls to be held into the order under the said sub-paragraph (2) and in that event the order, in so far as it so cancels or varies the agreement as aforesaid, shall not take effect unless and until the Tribunal, having held the inquiry, confirm the order in so far as it so cancels or varies the agreement, with or without variation.
§ 4. An additional member of the Tribunal appointed from the shipping panel under the said section thirty-nine shall not be paid any such remuneration or expenses as are provided for by paragraph 7 of the Tenth Scehdule to the Transport Act, 1947.
§ 5. The said section thirty-nine and the preceding provisions of this Schedule shall apply in relation to any body, which in the opinion of the Minister, is properly representative of the interests of harbour authorities, as it applies in relation to the bodies representative of coastal carriers mentioned in subsection (2) of the said section thirty-nine, but as if—
- (a) the references to charges made in competition with coastal carriers were references to charges made for the carriage of merchandise by rail to or from harbours where port facilities are provided by the Commission; and
- (b) in paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of the said section thirty-nine and in paragraph (a) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 2 of this Schedule, the words "in the competition" were omitted; and
- (c) in the said subsection (4) and the said sub-paragraph (1) the references to the interests of coastwise shipping were references to the interests of harbour authorities; and
- (d) so much of the said section thirty-nine and the preceding provisions of this Schedule as relates to the shipping panel were omitted.
§ 6. In this Part of this Schedule, "trader" means a person sending or receiving, or desiring to send or receive, merchandise by railway, and "harbour authority" means any person or body of persons (other than the Commission) in whom powers and duties of improving, maintaining or managing a harbour are vested by or under any Act of Parliament.