DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Etc., FOR IRELAND. 281 



(ii.) Any undue preference given to any particular person or companies, 

 or to any particular traffic whatsoever. 



(iii.) Any failure of a railway or canal company to afford all due and 

 reasonable facilities for receiving and forwarding through traffic, or to fix 

 and establish just and reasonable through rates. 



(iv.) Any contravention by a railway or canal company of any enactment 

 contained in their special Act : — 



(a) Relating to traffic facilities and undue preference ; 



(d) Requiring it to provide any station, road, or other similar work 

 for public accommodation ; or 



(c) Imposing upon it any obligation in favour of the public, or any 

 individual. 



(vi.) Any neglect on the part of a railway or canal company to publish 

 and keep at its stations and wharves books of rates for public inspection, 

 and printed copies thereof for sale. 



(vii.) Any charge sought to be made by any railway or canal company in 

 respect of the carriage of goods or animals, or in respect of terminal services, 

 which such company is not entitled to make. 



The Commissioners have power to order any company to fulfil its duty, 

 •or to grant an injunction restraining it from disobedience ; and in certain 

 cases they can award damages to the party aggrieved. They are further 

 empowered to direct two or more companies to carry out any order which 

 they may make, and for that purpose to submit a joint scheme for their 

 approval. 



In order to give the reader an insight into the organisation and working 

 of the Department, the following passages from the First Annual General 

 Report are appended to the foregoing analysis of the Act of 1899. 



I. Council of Agriculture and Boards. 



Immediately after the Department came into being- the necessary steps 

 Avere taken to constitute the Council of Agriculture and the Agricultural Board 

 and Board of Technical Instruction, in accordance with the provisions of Section 

 7 of the Agricultural and Technical Instruction Act. The Department, as 

 empowered by Section 24 of the Act, made and issued to the County Councils 

 and County Borough Councils regulations for the appointment of members of 

 these bodies. 



By the second week of May (1900) the County Councils, having completed 



the election of their 68 representatives to the Council, 



Council of and the Department having nominated 34 representatives 



Agriculture. from the different provinces, the Council of Agriculture 



was fully constituted. 



The first meeting: of the Council of Asfriculture was summoned for the 



