CANALS. 89 



upon such railway on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eig-ht 

 hundred and ninety-two, open for inspection at its head office, and shall upon 

 demand supply copies of or extracts from such books, schedules, and papers. 



" (3.) The Railway and Canal Commissioners shall have jurisdiction to hear 

 and determine any complaint with respect to any such increase of rate or 

 charge, but not until a complaint with respect thereto has been made to and 

 considered by the Board of Trade under section thirty-one of the Railway and 

 Canal Traffic Act, 1888. 



" (4.) Unless the court shall before or at the hearing- of the complaint other- 

 wise order, a complainant to the Railway and Canal Commissioners under 

 this section shall, before or within fourteen days after filing his complaint, 

 pay to the railway company such sum in respect of any rate or charge com- 

 plained of as would have been payable by him to them had the rate or charge 

 in force immediately before the increase remained in force; or if that rate or 

 charge is higher than the rate or charge in force on the last day of December, 

 one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, then such sum as would have 

 been payable on the footing of the last-mentioned rate or charge ; any dispute 

 as to the amount so payable shall be decided by the registrar, or in such 

 other mode as the court may order, but such payment or decision shall be 

 without prejudice to any order of the court upon the complaint. 



" (5.) Section twelve of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, shall apply 

 in the case of any such complaint, and in the case of any rate or charge in- 

 creased before the passing of this Act shall have effect as if six months aftc- 

 the passing of this Act were substituted for the limit of one year therein 

 mentioned, but the Board of Trade may, if they think fit, extend the said 

 period of six months with respect to any complaints made to them during 

 that period. 



" 2. In proceeding before the Railway and Canal Commissioners, other than 

 disputes between two or more companies, the Commissioners shall not have 

 power to award costs on either side, unless they are of opinion that either 

 the claim or the defence has been frivolous and vexatious. 



" 3. The provisions of section fourteen of the Regulation of Railways Act, 

 1873, with respect to the power to make orders and failure to comply with 

 such orders, shall extend to any rates entered in books kept in pursuance of 

 section thirty-four of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. 



4. Whenever merchandise is received or delivered by a railway company at 

 any siding or branch railway not belonging to the company, and a dispute 

 arises between the railway company and the consignor or consignee of such 

 merchandise as to any allowance or rebate to be made from the rates charged 

 to such consignor or consignee in respect that the railway company does not 

 provide station accommodation or perform terminal services, the Railway and 

 Canal Commissioners shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine such dis- 

 pute, and to determine what, if any, is a reasonable and just allowance or 

 rebate. 



" 5. This Act may be cited as the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1894, and 

 shall be read with the Railway and Canal Traffic Acts, 1873 to 1888." 



In May, 1892, the Board of Trade had begun the investigation of the 

 powers of Navigation Companies and their rate charges, and in 1893 had 

 revised the Schedule. Previously Parliament had revised the Schedule of 

 Maxima which the railways might charge for the conveyance of merchandise 

 traffic. Hence the above Act dealt with complaints as to rates or charges 

 raised since 1892. 



