CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



competing lines on no principle of economy or 

 enlightened foresight. Abandoned, as it were, to 

 the audacity of promoters, and the mere brute- 

 force of capital, schemes good, bad, and indifferent 

 had to fight their way at a cost almost exceeding 

 belief; while at the same time there has been 

 much waste of money in allowing circuitous lines 

 to be laid, which are afterwards, in a great 

 measure, superseded by others more direct. 



LEGISLATION AND MANAGEMENT. In the 

 United Kingdom, railways are the property of 

 independent companies, who construct and work 

 them under the provisions of acts of parliament. 

 The first step consists in organising a company. 

 Generally a solicitor and a few active projectors 

 draw up a prospectus, call meetings, suggest the 

 names of directors, and appoint an engineer to 

 make a survey. In no case does government or 

 any public body take any part in the initiatory 

 proceedings, or find any part of the capital. By 

 the engineer and solicitor there is much to be 

 done at the outset. The solicitor has to discover 

 the name of every proprietor whose land is inter- 

 fered with, as well as every tenant or occupant ; 

 all which names, with the extent and nature of the 

 land to be taken, are entered in a roll, called the 

 Book of Reference ; and with every person so con- 

 cerned a schedule must be lodged stating all par- 

 ticulars, with a request to state in reply whether 

 they design to assent, to oppose, or to remain 

 neutral. Land to be taken for, or damaged by, 

 railways is valued under different categories : I. 

 The quantity and quality ; 2. The injury caused 

 by cutting off one part of a field from another ; 

 and 3. The damage done to the amenity or beauty 

 of the place. Provision must of course be made 

 for not interfering with the ordinary roads and 

 water-courses. Should the lands be let to a 

 farmer, as is very generally the case, he is treated 

 with separately for the loss he is likely to sustain 

 during his lease. At one time, enormous sums 

 were asked and paid for alleged damage to land ; 

 now, the claims are more moderate, and in few 

 instances is damage to amenity an element of 

 consideration. 



Until a statutory enactment is procured, the 

 shares of a company are in that embryo state called 

 scrip. Allotted to applicants by the provisional 

 directors, the shares are ' taken up ' by paying a 

 small instalment, of from 5.5-. to 2os. per share. 

 These preliminary sums are paid in to a specified 

 bank, the receipt of which is the scrip or certificate 

 that so frequently becomes the subject of eager 

 transfer among jobbers. The bank deposits 

 of the allottees constitute the fund from which 

 are paid all preliminary expenses. Should the 

 bill become law, scrip-holders are required to 

 present their names with the amount of their 

 respective shares for register at the office of 

 the secretary of the company. ' Calls ' are next 

 made on the shareholders. If the shares be ^10, 

 a call of 2, ioj. per share, at intervals of three 

 months till the whole is paid, is customary. Any 

 failure to pay calls by a prescribed day incurs the 

 risk of forfeiture. In authorising a company, 

 parliament gives power to raise so much money 

 by shares, and so much by borrowing. The amount 

 that may be borrowed is equal to a third of the 

 stock, but it cannot be legally borrowed until all the 

 shares have been issued, and at least one-half of 

 all the shares have been paid up. The lender has 



442 



a mortgage over the whole property of the com- 

 pany, called a debenture. The entire amount 

 paid for shares and borrowed on mortgage forms 

 the ' capital account ' of the company. 



The act which authorises the undertaking con- 

 stitutes the company a corporation, the members 

 of which are responsible only to the extent of 

 their respective shares. In the act, the names of 

 the first directors are given ; it is also stated who 

 are first to retire, and how elections are to be con- 

 ducted. A director must possess a prescribed 

 amount of stock. The directors have the appoint- 

 ment of secretary, traffic-managers, and other paid 

 officials. The directors themselves profess to give 

 their services without remuneration ; but the 

 shareholders usually vote a sum to be put at their 

 disposal, at least adequate to meet absolutely 

 , necessary expenses. Where the duties are very 

 i onerous, a special allowance per annum is voted to 

 the chairman. 



The organisation of the present railway system 

 has not depended on the private acts authorising 

 the several undertakings. There is now a body of 

 general railway law, springing from a number of 

 public acts which have from time to time received 

 the grave consideration of the legislature. These 

 statutes date from 1838 downwards ; some of the 

 more important were passed in 1845, among these 

 being several comprehensive statutes, including 

 ' The Companies Clauses Consolidation Act,' also 

 ' Railway and Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts,' 

 which have been supplemented from time to time. 

 See Bigg's General Railway Acts. 



Besides these public acts, there is a code of 

 regulations as regards the mode of commencing 

 and carrying railway bills through the Houses of 

 Parliament. This code, embodied in a work 

 issued annually, is styled Standing Orders of the 

 Lords and Commons relative to Private Bills. 

 With this, all parties engaged in procuring 

 railway acts require to be well acquainted, for 

 neglect of any of the prescribed forms is almost 

 certain to be fatal. We give the following as 

 specimens of ' Standing Orders : ' Notices of appli- 

 cations for acts to be advertised in October or 

 November ; plans, sections, and books of refer- 

 ence to be lodged with clerk of the peace or 

 sheriff-clerk of county for public inspection, on or 

 before 3oth November ; petitions for act stating 

 particulars to be lodged at the Private Bill Office 

 of the House of Commons on or before 23d 

 December ; on or before same date, copy of pro- 

 posed bill to be lodged with Board of Trade, &c. 

 There are equally explicit standing orders as 

 regards the House of Lords, whose chairman of 

 committees subjects all private bills to a sifting 

 examination. Whatever, therefore, may have been 

 the negligence of the government at the outset, 

 railway legislation has latterly received a painful 

 degree of attention. As marking a desire for 

 simplifying procedure and lessening expenses, 

 parliament passed an act, 1864, giving the Board 

 of Trade power to authorise bills for a smaller 

 class of railways, provided they were unopposed. 



Railways soon exhibited a wonderful elasticity 

 and creative power. To inland and not easily 

 reached towns they impart the character of a sea- 

 port, placed in ready communication with all the 

 world. . The exciting of a desire to travel, and th 

 developing of local trade and resources, accor 

 ingly attend on railway undertakings, and tl 



