pany, or partly in one way and partly in the other, Sect. 3. any amount authorised by the order;

(c.) Join any other council or any person or body of persons in doing any of the things above mentioned; and

(d.) Do any such other act incidental to any of the things above mentioned as may be authorised by the order.

(2.) Provided that

(a.) An order authorising a council to undertake to construct and work or to contract for the construction or working of a light railway, or to advance money to a light railway company, shall not be made except on an application by the council made in pursuance of a special resolution passed in manner directed by the First Schedule to this Act; and

(b.) A council shall not construct or work or contract for the construction or working of any light railway wholly or partly outside their area, or advance any money for the purpose of any such railway, except jointly with the council of the outside area, or on proof to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that such construction, working, or advance is expedient in the interests of the area of the first-mentioned council, and in the event of their being authorised so to do their expenditure shall be so limited by the order as not to exceed such amount as will, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, bear due proportion to the benefit which may be expected to accrue to their area from the construction or working of the railway.

As to the powers of councils generally under this Act, see Chapter II., ante, p. 12; and see as to what provisions may be inserted in the order for the protection of councils, section 11 (post, p. 68); as to the provision of capital and expenses, section 16 (post p. 73) and Chapter VI., ante, p. 39; as to advances by the Treasury, sections 4, 5, and 6; as to joint committees, section 17 and Schedule III., post, pp. 74, 84.

For Schedule I., see post, p. 82.

In Scotland as to the local authorities upon which these powers are conferred, see section 26, sub-section (2). As to restrictions on the power of district committees, ibid., sub-section (6), post, p. 79.

4. (1.) Where the council of any county, borough, or Loans by district, have advanced or agreed to advance any sum to a Treasury. light railway company, the Treasury may also agree to make an advance to the company by lending them any sum not exceeding one quarter of the total amount required for the purpose of the light railway and not exceeding the amount for the time being advanced by the council.

Sect. 4.

Special advances by Treasury.

Provided that the Treasury shall not advance money to a light railway company under this section, unless at least one-half of the total amount required for the purpose of the light railway is provided by means of share capital, and at least one-half of that share capital has been subscribed and paid up by persons other than local authorities.

(2.) Any loan under this section shall bear interest at such rate not less than three pounds two shillings and sixpence per centum per annum as the Treasury may from time to time authorise as being in their opinion sufficient to enable such loans to be made without loss to the Exchequer, and shall be advanced on such conditions as the Treasury determine.

(3.) Where the Treasury advance money to a light railway company under this section, and the advance by the council to the company is made in whole or part by means of a loan, the loan by the Treasury under this section shall rank pari passu with the loan by the council.

"Light railway company" and "share capital" are defined in section 28, post, p. 81. See, however, p. 45, ante.

A loan under this section will be an ordinary advance as distinguished from a special advance authorised by the next section. As to the limitation on amount of advance, see section 6.

An estimate of the expenses of the proposed railway must be made in the prescribed form. Rules 25 and 26, post, pp. 92, 93.

5. (1.) Where it is certified to the Treasury by the Board of Agriculture that the making of any light railway under this Act would benefit agriculture in any district, or by the Board of Trade that by the making of any such railway a necessary means of communication would be established between a fishing harbour or fishing village and a market, or that such railway is necessary for the development of or maintenance of some definite industry, but that owing to the exceptional circumstances of the district the railway would not be constructed without special assistance from the State, and the Treasury are satisfied that a railway company existing at the time will construct and work the railway if an advance is made by the Treasury under this section, the Treasury may, subject to the limitation of this Act as to the amount to be expended for the purpose of special advances, agree that the railway be aided out of public money by a special advance under this section.

Provided that

(a.) The Treasury shall not make any special advance unless they are satisfied that landowners, local authorities, and other persons locally interested

have by the free grant of land or otherwise given Sect. 5. all reasonable assistance and facilities in their power for the construction of the railway; and (b.) A special advance shall not in any case exceed such portion not exceeding one-half of the total amount required for the construction of the railway as may be prescribed by rules to be made by the Treasury under this Act; and

(c.) Where the Treasury agree to make any such special advance as a free grant, the order authorising the railway may make provision as regards any parish that, during a period not exceeding ten years to be fixed by the order, so much of the railway as is in that parish shall not be assessed to any local rate at a higher value than that at which the land occupied by the railway would have been assessed if it had remained in the condition in which it was immediately before it was acquired for the purpose of the railway, but before such provision is made in any order the local and rating authorities of every such parish shall be informed of the intention to insert such provision, and shall be entitled to be heard. The order may authorise the Board of Trade to extend any such period.

(2.) A special advance under this section may be a free grant or a loan or partly a free grant and partly a loan.

(3.) Any free grant or loan for a special advance under this section shall be made on such conditions and at such rate of interest as the Treasury direct.

Not more than 250,000l. may be expended on special advances. See next section.

There appears to be no provision as to the manner in which the Boards of Agriculture or of Trade are to be supplied with information to enable them to certify the Treasury as herein provided.

Sub-section (1) (a). As to the power of limited landowners to make free grants of land or otherwise assist the construction, see section 19, post, p. 75, and Chapter III., ante, p. 27.

Sub-section (1) (c). As to making good the deficiency in the poor rate and land tax during the construction of the line, see the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, post, Appendix, p. 192. As to powers of parish council, see p. 16, ante.

In Scotland for Board of Trade and Board of Agriculture in the above section, read Secretary of State for Scotland, section 26 (1), and as to carrying out sub-section (1) (@), see ibid., sub-section (9), post, p. 81.

of advance and pro

6. (1.) The total amount advanced by the Treasury under Limitation this Act shall not at any one time exceed one million pounds, on amount of which a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand pounds may be expended for the purpose of special advances vision of under this Act.(a)

money by

Sect. 6. National Debt

(2.) The National Debt Commissioners may lend to the Treasury, and the Treasury may borrow from the National Debt Commissioners, such money as may be required for the Commis- purpose of advances by the Treasury under this Act, on such terms as to interest, sinking fund, and period of repayment (not exceeding thirty years from the date of the loan) as may be agreed on between the National Debt Commissioners and the Treasury.

sioners.

Consideration of application by

(3.) The sums so lent by the National Debt Commissioners shall be repaid out of money provided by Parliament for the purpose, and if and so far as that money is insufficient shall be charged on, and payable out of, the consolidated fund, or the growing produce thereof.

(a) See section 5. Where the special advance is a loan which is repaid, the amount repaid may be used again for a special advance.

7. (1.) Where an application for authorising a light railway under this Act is made to the Light Railway Commissioners, those Commissioners shall, in the first instance, Light satisfy themselves that all reasonable steps have been taken Railway for consulting the local authorities, including road authorities, Commis- through whose areas the railway is intended to pass, and the owners and occupiers of the land it is proposed to take, and for giving public notice of the application, and shall also themselves by local inquiry and such other means as they think necessary possess themselves of all such information as they may consider material or useful for determining the expediency of granting the application.

sioners.

(2.) The applicants shall satisfy the Commissioners that they have

(a.) Published once at least in each of two consecutive weeks, in some newspaper circulating in the area or some part of the area through which the light railway is to pass, an advertisement describing shortly the land proposed to be taken and the purpose for which it is proposed to be taken, naming a place where a plan of the proposed works and the lands to be taken, and a book of reference to the plan, may be seen at all reasonable hours, and stating the quantity of land required; and

(b.) Served notice in the prescribed manner on every reputed owner, lessee, and occupier of any land intended to be taken, describing in each case the land intended to be taken, and inquiring whether the person so served assents to or dissents from the

taking of his land, and requesting him to state any Sect. 7. objections he may have to his land being taken.

The plan and book of reference shall be in the prescribed form, and for the purposes of this section the expression "prescribed" shall mean prescribed by rules made under this Act.

(3.) The Commissioners shall before deciding on an application give full opportunity for any objections to the application to be laid before them, and shall consider all such objections, whether made formally or informally.

(4.) If after consideration the Commissioners think that the application should be granted, they shall settle any draft order submitted to them by the applicants for authorising the railway, and see that all such matters (including provisions for the safety of the public and particulars of the land proposed to be taken) are inserted therein, as they think necessary for the proper construction and working of the railway.

(5.) The order of the Light Railway Commissioners shall be provisional only, and shall have no effect until confirmed by the Board of Trade in manner provided by this Act.

(6.) Where an application for a light railway has been refused by the Light Railway Commissioners, the applicants, if the council of any county, borough, or district, may appeal against such refusal to the Board of Trade, who may, at any time if they think fit, remit the application or any portion thereof to the said Commissioners for further consideration with or without special instructions.

Sub-section (1). The expression "local authorities" is not defined in the Act. It includes in this sub-section county, borough, and district councils and road authorities. It is, perhaps, not clear whether parish councils in general when not road authorities, are included. As to this, however, see ante, p. 15; sections 2 (a), 11 (b) of the Act; cf. Rules 3, 22, 27 (c), post, pp. 88, 92, 94; the Public Health Act, 1875, ss. 4, 5; and 40 & 41 Vict. c. 66, s. 3. The road authorities are now, generally speaking, as follows:

Roads which are main roads within the meaning of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, and the bridges carrying them, are under the authority of the county council, except those main roads which any urban authority has claimed to retain. Local Government Act, 1888, s. 11, sub-sects. (1), (2).

In urban districts section 144 of the Public Health Act, 1875, made the urban sanitary authorities the exclusive highway authorities within their respective districts. These are now the borough or urban district councils, and they are the road authorities for all roads except those main roads over which the county council is the authority.

In rural districts section 25 of the Local Government Act, 1894, transferred to the rural district council all the powers of any highway authority in the district, so that the rural district council became the road authority,

F