The Railway System To-day 373 



with regard to the rating of railways. He added, in reference 

 to the matters arising in the case then before the court : "If 

 we settle those questions we may be considered as legislators 

 rather than as judges, making rather than expounding law." 



In 1859 Mr Justice Wightman, in R. v. The West Middlesex 

 Water Company, said : " The whole subject matter appears to 

 me to be involved in so much difficulty and uncertainty that 

 I cannot but hope that the Legislature may interfere or make 

 some provision adapted to the rating of such companies as 

 that in question." 



Among still other judges who have expressed similar views 

 and indulged in similar hopes may be mentioned Lord Justice 

 Farwell, who, in January, 1907, in the case of the Great 

 Central Railway v . the Banbury Union, said : " Fifty-six 

 years ago Lord Campbell protested and implored the Legisla- 

 ture to intervene. His voice was the voice of one crying in the 

 wilderness, and I suppose ours will be equally ineffectual if 

 we make the same appeal." 



Then, also, the Royal Commission on Local Taxation, 

 in the report they presented in 1901, made various recom- 

 mendations in regard to the assessment of railway companies ; 

 but the advice of Committees and Commissioners has been 

 no less unavailing than the protests of judges. 



Meanwhile, and pending the long-delayed action by the 

 Legislature, the railway companies have themselves done 

 what they could to protect the interests of those they repre- 

 sent, or of those for whose wants they cater, by appealing 

 against excessive and unjust assessments, and in many of 

 these appeals they have been successful. Such appeals 

 have been warranted, not alone by unfair increases of assess- 

 ments but by the fact that taxation based on earning powers 

 ought to be reduced as those earning powers decline ; and on 

 this last-mentioned point the Assessor of Railways and 

 Canals in Scotland is quoted in " The Rating of Railways " 

 as having said : 



" There is the undeniable fact, which the Board of Trade 

 returns amply prove, that the companies are now carrying 

 on their business at less remunerative rates than formerly. 

 The average fare per passenger carried, and the rates per ton 

 for goods and minerals handled, have fallen enormously ; 

 while, at the same time, working expenses have been con- 



