GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



the terms exacted for exemption were fixed at 

 twenty-two and a half years' purchase when few 

 landowners could obtain fifteen years' purchase for 

 their lands. The bill regulated the tithe rent charge 

 1 iv the average reductions in rent. Payers of church 

 tithes were placed on the same footing as payers 

 of lay tithes. An Irish intermediate education 

 act and a Scotch ecclesiastical assessment act were 

 passed. The secondary education bill was dropped. 

 The act for the prevention of accidents to railway 

 employees empowers the Board of .Trade to make 

 rules regulating lighting of stations during shunt- 

 ing after dark, brake vans on trains, protection 

 of men relaying or repairing tracks, or reducing 

 or removing the danger or risk of other operations 

 of railway service, after first giving the company 

 opportunity to act. The company may appeal 

 1o the Railway Commissioners to determine 

 whether the rules materially interfere with trade 

 or the necessary operation of the railroad. One 

 ctl'ect of this act will be to compel British railroad 

 ( ompanies to use automatic coupling. An act re- 

 lating to merchant shipping extends the liability 

 of shipowners to loss or damage caused to property 

 by improper navigation, although without their 

 actual fault or privity, the liability being limited 

 to 8 a ton. The housing of the working classes 

 act enables local authorities that establish lodging 

 houses for the working classes to establish them 

 outside of their proper jurisdiction, lodging houses 

 including separate houses or cottages, with gar- 

 dens. If rural district councils fail to adopt the 

 act when they ought to do so the county council 

 may establish lodging houses in the negligent 

 parish, and land acquired anywhere for lodging 

 houses may, with the consent of the county coun- 

 cil, or in urban districts with that of the Local 

 (Jovernment Board, be let on lease to persons who 

 undertake to build and maintain lodging houses 

 exclusively for occupation by the working classes. 



The agricultural holdings act adds to the list 

 of improvements for which a tenant may claim 

 compensation, though they may have been effected 

 without the consent or the knowledge of the land- 

 lord. For the consumption of purchased feed by 

 stock and for laying down temporary pasture he 

 may demand compensation, and he can send in 

 his claim up to the last day of his tenancy. If 

 he has acquired fixtures or buildings they become 

 removable at the end of his tenancy to the same 

 extent as if he had put them up himself. The 

 liability for breach of covenant is limited to the 

 actual damage suffered, except in the case of penal 

 covenants against breaking up permanent pasture, 

 burning heaths, and felling trees. The landlord 

 gains the right to enter a farm at any reason- 

 able time for the purpose of ascertaining its con- 

 dition, and both parties may refer to arbitration 

 any dispute even if not covered by the act. The 

 amount of compensation that can be claimed of 

 a landlord for an improvement is such sum as 

 fairly represents the value of the improvement 

 to an incoming tenant, but nothing due to the 

 inherent qualities of the soil can be claimed as 

 part of the improvement. In the case of buildings 

 and various other improvements the consent of 

 Ihe landlord must be first obtained, in case of 

 drainage notice must be given, but for consump- 

 tion by stock of grain not produced on the holding, 

 for the application of lime or commercial fertil- 

 izers, and for some other kinds of improvement*, 

 neither notice nor consent is required. This act 

 applies to Scotch as well as to English holdings. 

 The proposal to bring in the Irish doctrine of 

 compensation for disturbance was rejected by 207 

 votes against 111. 



A workmen's compensation act was passed which 



extends the benefit of the act of 1897 to workmen 

 in agriculture, including horticulture, gardening, 

 forestry, and the keeping of live stock. The orig- 

 inal act was limited to railroad, factory, and other 

 dangerous employments. The employer is liable 

 to pay compensation to a workman physically in- 

 jured or to the dependents of a workman killed 

 by accident arising out of and in the course of his 

 employment, provided the accident is such as to 

 disable the workman from earning full wages for 

 at least two weeks and is not attributable to his 

 own serious and willful misconduct, but the com- 

 pensation must not exceed half his ordinary wages 

 and the compensation for death by accident must 

 not exceed 300. 



After the outbreak of trouble in China an act 

 was passed prohibiting the exportation of arms, 

 ammunition, military and naval stores, and any 

 article capable of being converted into or made 

 useful in increasing the quantity of arms, to any 

 country or place named in a royal proclamation 

 whenever it may be deemed expedient for the 

 prevention of their being used against British 

 forces or their allies. On Aug. 7, the day after 

 this act was passed, the exportation of arms and 

 ammunition to China was prohibited by royal 

 proclamation. The electoral disabilities of reserv- 

 ists, militiamen, yeomen, and volunteers result- 

 ing from their absence on military service were 

 removed during the continuance of the war in 

 South Africa. The Uganda Railroad bill provided 

 for carrying on a work that has far exceeded al- 

 ready the original estimate. 



Besides the Commonwealth of Australia act, 

 Parliament passed more than 60 other acts, half 

 of them of little general interest or applying to 

 Scotland and Ireland. The most important were 

 the companies act, the agricultural holdings act, 

 the workmen's compensation act, and the housing 

 of the working classes act. 



The companies act is the outcome of the report 

 of a committee appointed by the Board of Trade 

 in 1894. Hereafter no person can become a director 

 or be named in a prospectus as a director of a 

 company unless he has contracted to pay for the 

 shares necessary for his qualification. No allot- 

 ment of shares may be made and offered to the 

 public for subscription unless the minimum 

 amount specified in the prospectus or else the 

 whole capital has been subscribed; otherwise sub- 

 scribers may reclaim their money and recover from 

 the directors. Any brokerage, commissions, or 

 discounts for subscribing or the procurement of 

 subscriptions may be only of such amount or 

 rate as is authorized in the articles of association 

 and disclosed in the prospectus. Every prospectus 

 or notice offering shares, debentures, or debenture 

 stock for public subscription must be dated, signed 

 by all the directors, and registered. No new com- 

 pany will be allowed to commence business or 

 borrow money until a declaration has been filed 

 that the minimum amount of cash subscriptions 

 has been paid in and every director has paid hi- 

 proportion. A list of subscribers must be filed, 

 and an account given of shares allotted other 

 wise than for cash. The companies act of \M~ 

 declared a prospectus fraudulent unless it stated 

 every contract. The new act demands in a pros- 

 pectus the memorandum of association, the quali- 

 fication for directors, the minimum subscription 

 requisite before allotment, the commissions, pre- 

 liminary expenses, and payments to promoters, 

 the dates of and parties to every material con 

 tract, and full particulars of the interest of every 

 director in tile promotion of the company, with 

 a statement of all sums paid in cash or shares by 

 any person for his services or to qualify him as 



