428 MIDLAND-CARNATIC-SOUTH AUSTRIAN AND UPPER ITALIAN.

MIDLAND.

NEW CAPITAL.-At a special meeting, held in Derby on 4th January, 1870, it was resolved "That in pursuance and under and by virtue of the powers of the undermentioned Acts, the capital stock of this company be, and the same is hereby increased by the additional sum or amount of 2.922,000l. as follows, viz.:-Under The Midland (Additional Powers) Act, 1867,' by the sum of 75,000l.: Under The Midland Raiway (Derby Gas) Act, 1867,' by the sum of 30,000l.: Under The Midland and London and North Western (Ashby and Nuneaton) Act, 1868,' by the sum of 35,000L: Under The Midland (Additional Powers) Act, 1868,' by the sum of 1,750,000: Under The Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire and Midland (Joint Lines) Act, 1869,' by the sum of 272,000: Under The Midland (Additional Powers) Act 1869, by the sum of 10,000: Under The Midland (Additional Powers) Act, 1879." by the sum of 750,000%-and that the same be raised by the creation and issue of 146,100 shares of 201. each to be called 207. five per cent, preference shares,' and that the registered holders of stock in this company at this date (other than and except shares or stock to which any guaranteed or preferential dividend of a fixed amount, without further participation in the profits of the company, shall have been assigned), be offered at the rate of one new share for every 1007. stock (rejecting any fraction under 1007.); and that as to so many of such shares in respect whereof any shareholder shall for one month after such offer of new shares, fail to accept the same. and pay the first instalment called for in respect thereof, at the time which shall be fixed by the directors, and specified in the letter offering such new shares; and also as to so many of the said shares remaining unallotted, that the directors be, and they are hereby authorised to dispose of the said shares respectively in such manner as they may deem most for the advantage of the company. And that such new shares, in respect of the amount called up and paid thereon, shall be entitled to a preference dividend without further participation of profits, subject to the existing preferences, at the rate of 57. per centum per annum in perpetuity, payable half-yearly, the first payment to be for the half-year to end the 30th day of June, 1871, and to be paid with the dividends of the ordinary stock of the company for that half-year."

CARNATIC.

The directors reported in January, 1871. that at this early stage of the proceedings they have only to report that the survey of the route for the new line of railway by Chinglepat, following the course of the Trichinopoly Grand Trunk road, has been completed; that the survey of an alternative line by Wandiwash is still under consideration, and that the decision of the Government on the subject may be shortly expected, when the necessary materials will be despatched from this country. The agent, Mr. Fisher, and the chief engineer, Mr. Dibblee, who were selected by the board out of many candidates, have reached Madras, and been installed in their respective offices. The works and rolling stock of the open section from Arconum Conjeveram are reported to be in good order. Of the capital of the company, 20.497 shares have been paid up in full, and converted into stock. The amount of 594,954. has been paid in to the Secretary of State up to the 12th of January, 1871, to which has to be added the 60,000l. for the purchase of the Indian Tramway, making together 654,955. The amount of expenditure to the 31st of December in England, and t the 30th of June in India, had been 57,7881.. leaving a balance of 597,159 revenue account for the half-year ending the 30th of June, 1870, amounted to 1,957, and the expenditure to 1,3677, leaving a balance of 6201

The

SOUTH AUSTRIAN AND UPPER ITALIAN. TRAFFIC.-The receipts on the South Austrian, 1,725 miles in length, amounted for the year 1870 to 2,924,172, and for the year 1869. on 1,638 miles, to 3,047,926, showing a decrease of 123,753. The receipts of the Upper Italian for the year 1870, on 1,226 miles, amounted to 2,593,2097., and for the year 1869, on the same mileage, to 2,571,138., showing an increase of 22,0711. The aggregate receipts amounted, on 2.951 miles, to 5,517,381, and for 1869, on 2,861 miles, to 5,619,064, showing a decrease of 101,6837.

APPENDIX.

I. GENERAL LEGISLATION.

1.-RAILWAY (POWERS AND CONSTRUCTION) AMENDMENT

ACT.

An Act to Amend "The Railway Companies Powers Act, 1864," and "The Railway Construction Facilities Act, 1864." [20th June, 1870.]

Whereas it is expedient to amend "The Railway Companies Powers Act, 1864," and also "The Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864:""

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commous, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

1. Short Tille.-This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Railways (Powers and Construction) Acts, 1864, Amendment Act, 1870."

2. Parts of Acts herein-named repealed.-From and after the passing of this Act, there shall be repealed sections 7 and 8 of The Railway Companies Powers Act, 1864, and Part I. of the schedule annexed to the said Act; and sections 9 and 10 of the Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864, and Part I. of the schedule annexed to the said Act.

3. Powers of Board of Trade where notice of opposition lodged.-Any railway or canal company, which for the purposes of this Act shall include the owners, lessees, or proprietors of any canal or inland navigation, may, in case it desires to be heard by counsel, agents, and witnesses against any application for a certificate under The Railway Companies Powers Act, 1864, or for a certificate authorising any proposed undertaking under The Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864 (each of which Acts is in this Act respectively referred to as the Act of Application), lodge at the office of the Board of Trade, within the time prescribed by the schedule to this Act annexed, a notice in writing to that effect (in this Act referred to as a notice of opposition), in the forms set forth in the same schedule, with such variations as circumstances require.

Where a notice of opposition has been lodged the Board of Trade may nevertheless, if they think fit, proceed upon the application, but they shall in such case settle a provisional certifi cate in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Every provisional certificate under this Act shall be settled in like manner, shall certify to the like effect, and contain the like provisions in every respect as if the same were a draft certificate settled by the Board of Trade, under the authority of the Act of Application in a like case, but where no notice of opposition was lodged.

When any such provisional certificate is confirmed in manner by this Act provided, the same shall have all the force and operation of a certificate duly made and issued by the Board of Trade, under the authority of the Act of Application, but previously to such confirmation it shall not be of any validity whatsoever.

When any provisional certificate is settled under this Act notice thereof shall be given by the promoters in like manner as if the same were a draft certificate under the Act of Application according to the provisions of such Act in that behalf.

As to payment of costs of orders.-The costs of and connected with the preparation and making of each provisional certificate shall be paid by the promoters, and the Board of Trade may require the promoters to give security for such costs before they proceed with the provisional certificate.

4. Confirmation of provisional certificate by Act of Parliament.-On proof to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that notice of such certificate was duly given in manner aforesaid, the Board of Trade shall, as soon as they conveniently can after the expiration of seven days after such proof, procure a bill to be introduced into either house of Parliament for an Act to confirm the provisional certificate, which shall be set out at length in the schedule to the bill.

If while any such bill is pending in either house of Parliament a petition is presented against any provisional certificate comprised therein, the bill, so far as it relates to the certificate petitioned against, may be referred to a select committee, and the petitioner shall be allowed to appear and oppose as in the case of a bill for a special Act.

α

The provisions of the Act of this present session of Parliament, intituled “An Act to empower Committees on Bills confirming Provisional Orders to award costs and to examine witnesses on oath," shall extend and apply to any select committee to whom any bill to confirm a provisional certificate under this Act has been referred, in like manner and subject to the same conditions in every respect as if such provisional certificate were a provisional order. The Act of Parliament confirming any provisional certificate shall be deemed a Public General Act.

5. Section 33 of 27 and 28 Vic., cap. 121, repealed.-From and after the passing of this Act, section 33 of the said Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864, relating to the gauge of railways, shall be and the same is hereby repealed, and every railway made under the authority of a certificate under the said Act or this Act shall be made on such gauge as shall be prescribed by such certificate.

Application of sections 4, 6, 7, and 8 of 9 and 10 Vic., cap. 57.-Sections 4, 6, 7, and 8 of the Act of the session of the 9th and 10th years of the reign of her present Majesty, chapter 57, intituled "An Act for regulating the gauge of railways," shall apply to any railway made under the authority of any such certificate as aforesaid, and to the gauge thereby prescribed. Gauge of railways. For the purposes of such application the provisions of the certificate relating to gauge shall be deemed to be included in the provisions of the said Act of the 9th and 10th years of the reign of her present Majesty, chapter 57.

6. Amendment of Part IV. of the Schedule to 27 and 28 Vic., cap. 121.-All enactments amending, perpetuating, or otherwise affecting the enactments described in Part IV. of the schedule to the said Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864, and which are now in force, or which may hereafter become law, shall, in like manner and subject to the like variations and provisions as the enactments described in the said schedule, extend and apply, as the case may require, to the railway, and to the company or persons empowered by the certificate under the said Act or this Act to make the railway, and shall in all respects operate in relation thereto respectively as if they were expressly repeated and re-enacted in the said Act, save where the same are expressly varied or excepted by such certificate.

THE SCHEDULE REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING ACT.
Notice of Opposition.

In the matter of

The Railways Companies Powers Act, 1864, and The Railways (Powers and Construction) Acts, 1864, Amendment Act, 1870, and

The application of the Railway Company for a certificate, the draft whereof is intituled [set out tille.] We, the Railway [or Canal] Company hereby declare and give notice that we desire to be heard by counsel, agents, and witnesses against the granting to the above-named railway company of the powers sought to be obtained by them by the abovementioned application.

day of

18

Or,

Notice of Opposition.
In the matter of

The Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864, and the Railways (Powers and Construction) Acts, 1864, Amendment Act, 1870,

We, the

The (proposed)

and

Railway.

Railway [or Canal] Company hereby declare and give notice that we desire to be heard by counsel, agents, and witnesses against the abovementioned proposed undertaking.

Dated this

Witness, A.B.

day of

18

Time for lodging Notice of Opposition.

Notice of opposition by a Railway or Canal Company is to be lodged at the office of the Board of Trade, not later than the 1st day of August, or the 1st day of January, next succeeding the date of the advertisement of application, according as the same is published in the month of June or in the month of November.

2.-COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENTS.-REPORT OF

COMMONS' COMMITTEE.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Law and the Administration of the Law of Compensation for Accidents as applied to Railway Companies; and also to inquire whether any and what Precautions ought to be adopted by Railway Companies with a view to prevent Accidents;-Have considered the matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following Report:

Your Committee commenced the inquiry entrusted to them by receiving the evidence of several gentlemen acting in different capacities in the management of railways, and hearing from them the defects in the law of which they considered that the railway companies had

COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENTS-REPORT OF COMMONS' COMMITTEE. 3

reason to complain. The Committee also, through their Chairman, addressed a communication to the Chiefs of the Courts of Common Law, requesting the advice and assistance of the judges in the prosecution of the inquiry, and the result is that four judges have given to the Committee the benefit of their knowledge and experience.

Application was also made to the Board of Trade, and, in consequence, two of the Inspec tors who are in the habit of investigating the causes of railway accidents, were deputed by the office, and have given evidence.

It will be convenient, in the first place, to refer to the law upon the subject. The legal liabilities of railway companies for accidents may be divided into two heads. First, the liability to persons who are not passengers, with whom the railway companies have not entered into anything in the nature of a contract; and secondly, the liability of the companies to passengers who have paid for their tickets, and with whom consequently the companies have entered into a contract.

It may, however, be observed, that though the liability in the two cases depends upon a different principle of law, the difference in practice as the law is now administered is not great, for in each case the liability of companies for injuries caused by the negligence of their servants is unlimited, and in each case the damages (if not made the subject of an agreement) are assessed by a jury. In the case of the person, not a passenger, with whom there is no contract, the liability rests upon the general law, which law is applicable to private individuals as well as to companies, though the railway companies complain that it is administered against them, by the intervention of juries, with much greater severity than it is administered against private individuals.

Under this law a master or employer, whatever care he may have taken in the selection of his servant, is liable to the full extent of any injury done by such servant within the line of his duty. This unlimited liability was until recent times considerably modified by another somewhat technical rule of law, to the effect that no action for damages could be maintained after death for an injury done during life, or as the rule was expressed, actio personalis moritur cum persona.

This modification was abolished in the year 1846 by Statute 9 and 10 Vic., cap. 93, commonly called Lord Campbell's Act. And it may be observed that this change did not arise from anything connected with railway accidents in particular, but probably from a feeling that the rule rested upon no sound foundation.

One of Her Majesty's counsel, examined before the Committee, has expressed a strong opinion concerning the injustice of the general law; and submitted that the master ought not to be mulcted in civil damages to any extent for the negligence of a servant except in the same case as that in which he would now be liable criminally, that is to say, when he himself has, by his own negligence or default, contributed to the injury. This view has not, however, been confirmed by the opinion of other witnesses; and though there is some difficulty in giving a reason why a perfectly innocent person should be liable to an unlimited extent for an accident caused by the negligence of his servant, acting (as it might be urged) contrary to his orders, yet your Committee do not feel themselves in a position to recommend such an alteration of the law.

The liability, however, of a railway company, with respect to passengers, rests upon an implied contract, and it is well worth the consideration of the House whether the present interpretation of this contract is fair to the railway companies or beneficial to the public.

The Railway Commissioners of 1867 thus express themselves on this part of the subject: "On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that there is an important distinction between damages for injuries inflicted by a mere wrong-doer, and for contingencies resulting from the failure to perform a contract which the person injured willingly entered into, knowing that it was attended with a certain risk."

The railway companies complain of the interpretation put by the law upon these contracts with their passengers, and say that the liability imposed upon them bears no relation to the sums paid to them, and that they have no power of charging a higher fare to a passenger, with respect to whom they incur a great risk than to a passenger with respect to whom the risk is comparatively small.

It does not seem clear whether a railway company could legally, by notice given to such passenger, affect the interpretation the law now puts upon the contract, and thus diminish their liability; but the practical difficulties incident to such a step would probably be found insuperable. The railway companies complain as much (if not more) of the administration of the present law as of the alleged injustice of the law itself. They say that unreasonable and excessive damages are awarded against them by juries, that great frauds are constantly practised upon them, that costs incident to the settlement of claims are made extravagantly high, and that of the very large sums paid by them, partly for costs and partly for damages, a large portion is dissipated, and does no good to the claimants. They say that in the arrangement of claims without the aid of the court they are prejudiced, and compelled to pay much more than is fair and reasonable by the power which the claimants possess of forcing the company into court, and compelling them to pay the costs on both sides.

Although the evidence given by the judges fails to bear out these complaints to the full extent, your Committee are of opinion that many of these complaints are well founded, and that there are objections to the present administration of the law, of which the companies have reason to complain.

The railway companies suggest as a remedy for these evils, that a fixed limit upon the extent of their liability should be imposed by the Legislature, and that persons estimating the risk at a higher sum than that for which the companies are made liable, should be

entitled to insure on reasonable terms made obligatory upon the company. The companies further suggest that some change should be made in the nature of the tribunal to adjudicate upon claims, and that the assessment of damages should not be left as at present so the decision of a jury.

In support of the suggestion, that a limit should be placed upon the liability, it may be mentioned, in the first place, that in the year 1830, by Statute 11 Geo. IV., and 1 William IV., cap. 8, commonly called the "Carriers' Act," the Legislature fixed the sum of 101, as the liability of carriers for the conveyance of goods and parcels, and imposed, when persons who wished to hold the carrier liable for a larger sum, the necessity of paying an additional sum for the conveyance. So, also, in the year 1854, by the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 17 and 18 Vic., cap. 31, the liability of railway companies for the carriage of horses, cattle, and sheep was limited, so that a company is now liable only to the extent of 501. for a horse; but the owner of the horse may, if he think fit, increase the liability by declaring the value he puts upon the horse, and paying an additional sum. The two principles contended for by the railway companies, namely, the limit of the liability, and the decision of disputed claims by arbitration, have been adopted by the Legislature in the case of what are called workmen's trains. The history of these workmen's trains has been given in evidence before the Committee, and it would appear that the experiment has been satisfactory. The theory was, that as the railway companies disturbed a certain number of working people, who were obliged to remove into suburban districts, it was right that the railway companies should place these people in as good a condition as they had formerly been in by giving them the advantage of very cheap conveyance to and from their work.

The railway companies, in accepting this obligation, stipulated in return that the liability with respect to these trains should be limited, and that claims arising in respect of accidents occurring upon these trains should be settled by arbitration. This stipulation was assented to, and it was accordingly enacted, "That the liability of the company under any claim to compensation for injury or otherwise in respect of each passenger travelling with such ticket as aforesaid, shall be limited to a sum not exceeding 1001., and the amount of compensation payable in respect of any passenger so injured shall be determined by an arbitrator to be appointed by the Board of Trade, and not otherwise."

The Royal Commissioners in their report recommend that workmen's trains on this principle of limited liability should run in and out of every manufacturing town.

Your Committee recommend that facilities should be given for the extension of the system, and that provision should be made to enable railway companies to establish workmen's trains without the necessity of applying to Parliament for the purpose.

With respect to the ordinary traffic of passengers, the recommendation of the Royal Commissioners is in the following terms:

We recommend that, on the one hand, railway companies should be absolutely responsible for all injuries arising in the conveyance of passengers, except those due to their own negli gence; and that, on the other hand, the liability of the railway companies be limited within a maximum amount of compensation for each class of fares.

With respect to these recommendations, your Committee propose an alteration in the tribunal before which cases of railway accidents for the future should be heard. They are of opinion that trial by jury does not in these cases work satisfactorily; and they recommend that for the future a court should be established for the trial of these cases without a jury, which would be sufficiently strong to secure the confidence of the public, and which should possess adequate legal experience, and be assisted by engineering and medical advice. They recommend to the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government the best mode of constituting such a tribunal. All disputed claims for damages arising out of railway accidents shall be made to such court, which shall have power, if it thinks fit, to institute an inquiry on the spot.

The costs shall in all cases, when the claimant recovers damages, be borne by the company. except when the company shall have tendered a sum equal to or larger than the sum recovered, in which case the costs shall be in the discretion of the court.

Notices of possible or probable claims shall be given to the company within a limited specified time from the date of the accident; in default thereof no claim shall be established. Should this tribunal be established, your Committee see no reason for altering the present system of unlimited liability. In the event of the tribunal remaining as now, your Com mittee are of opinion that the liability should be limited as follows, viz., in the case of

1st class passengers.. £1,000 | 2nd class passengers..£500 | 3rd class passengers..£300. Your Committee further think that if this limitation is conceded, the public should have power of insuring with the company, for an additional sum of 3,000l. in a 1st class, 2,000 in the 2nd class, 9001. in a 3rd class, at a reasonable charge not exceeding 3d. a 1,0001. for the 1st class, 2d. for 3001. in the 2nd class, and 1d. for 3001. in the 3rd class, for the journey.

Your Committee have received evidence in favour of the block system, and it has been shown before them, that where it has been adopted it has materially conduced to the safety of the public.

Your Committee have also received evidence in favour of the principle of the interlocking of signals and points, and concerning continuous breaks.

They recommend the evidence on these subjects to the careful consideration of the boards of directors.