86 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



[June 1895. 



Welsh Land Commission. Minutes of Evidence taJcen hefm^h 

 ■ ^ the Royal Commission on Land in Wales and Monmouth- 

 shire. (Forty -sixth to Sixty -third Days.) Volume III, 

 [C— 7661.] Price Ss. 5d 



This volume contains a list of witnesses examined, and the 

 minutes of evidence taken, from the 16th of April to the 12th 

 of May 1894. An appendix of documents on various subjects is 

 also attached to this publication. 



Light Baihvays. Copy of Beport, with Appendices, of a Com- 

 mittee, presented to the Right Honourable James Bryce,. 

 M.P., Chairman of a Conference on Light Bailways. 

 [H.C.— 49.] Price l^d. 



This publication is the Report of a Committee appointed to 

 consider : — 



1. How far the usual requirements of the Board of Trade as 



to constructing and working new railways may fairly 

 be relaxed, especially in the case of lines built through 

 sparsely populated and agricultural districts ? 



2. Whether additional legal facilities for obtaining powers 



to construct tramroads and light railways are necessary 

 or desirable ? 



The Committee state that they have given special attention to 

 the case of light railways in agricultural districts, and that they 

 have also considered tramways and tramroads, as well in rural 

 districts as in urban districts not of the first magnitude, but 

 under this head they have not considered the circumstances of 

 main lines of railway or tramway, on which the traffic may be 

 expected to be of great volume. 



Information on the subject in question was obtained and 

 considered by the Committee who submitted the following 

 report : — 



They find that the existing law in Great Britain specially 

 affecting the construction and working of light railways, is 

 mainly contained in the Acts of 1864 and 1868, and the 

 law specially affecting tramways in the Act of 1870. 



In the case of tramways the law necessitates a confirming Act, 

 even where no compulsory powers of taking land are 

 demanded. 



Tramroads, as distinguished from tramways, are only dealt 

 with in a Standing Order of the Houses of Parliament. 



Practically no light railways have been constructed under the 

 general Acts of 1864 and 1868, owing, in part, it is alleged, 

 to the consent of all landowners and other parties bene- 

 ficially interested, and the absence of opposition from any 

 railway or canal company, being necessary before the Act 

 can be made use of. 



