Light Railways (Ireland) Act, 1889

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LIGHT RAILWAYS (IRELAND) ACT 1889

CHAPTER LXVI.

An Act to facilitate the Construction of Light Railways in Ireland. [30th August 1889.]

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the Light Railways (Ireland) Act, 1889.

Extent of Act.

2.—(1) This Act shall not extend to England or Scotland.

(2) The Lord Lieutenant by Order in Council may from time to time declare that it is desirable that a light railway should be constructed between certain places for the development of fisheries or other industries, but that owing to the circumstances of the district special assistance from the State is required for its construction, and declare that the provisions herein-after enacted shall be applicable to such light railway, and thereupon the provisions of this Act shall be applicable to a light railway between the said places; but the provisions of this Act shall not apply except to a light railway specified in such an Order in Council as aforesaid, and shall cease to apply to such railway unless the same be constructed within a period to be mentioned in the said order or such extended period as shall be named in any subsequent order.

Who may be promoters.

46 & 47 Vict. c. 43.

3. This Act shall apply only (a) where the promoters of the light railway are an Irish railway company having a railway open for traffic; or (b) where the promoters have made an agreement approved of by the Treasury for the maintenance, management; and working of the light railway by such a railway company; or (c) where the promoters in making application to the grand jury[¹] of any county under the Tramways (Ireland) Acts propose that a barony[¹] or baronies[¹] in the county shall guarantee the payment of dividends upon a portion of the paid-up capital of the light railway, pursuant to the provisions of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, which promoters are hereby authorised to do.

Treasury agreements with and advances to railway companies.

4.[¹] —(1) If the report of the Board of Works made upon the inquiry directed by the ninth section of the Tramways (Ireland) Act, 1860, as altered by this Act, shall have approved of the undertaking with or without any modification thereof, the Treasury may sanction such undertaking or any modification thereof of which they may approve and make an agreement with such promoters, being a public company, for the construction, maintenance, and working of the light railway, or any or either of the said matters, upon such terms and conditions in all respects as to the execution of the undertaking and any contracts to be made therefor, or as to any other matter relating to the undertaking as the Treasury shall think fit.

(2) The Treasury may, subject to the limitations as to amount in this Act contained, agree that the undertaking may be aided out of public money either by a capital sum or by an annual payment, or partly in one way and partly in another.

(3) The capital sum may be a free grant or a loan, or partly one and partly the other, but no loan shall be made to any company which owes arrears of principal or interest to the Treasury, or to any promoters whose agreement for construction, maintenance, or working is made with such a company.

(4) A free grant or an annual payment shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(5) Any such loan shall be made by the Board of Works, under the directions of the Treasury, out of moneys at the disposal of such Board for local loans, and shall be advanced on such conditions and at such rate of interest as the Treasury may direct.

Order in Council to confirm agreement.

23 & 24 Vict. c. 152.

5. Where such an agreement has been made by the Treasury, the Order in Council which the Lord Lieutenant is authorised to make under the Tramways (Ireland) Acts as altered by this Act, may provide that the forty-second and forty-third sections of the Tramways (Ireland) Act, 1860, or either of them, shall not apply to such light railway, and may include, in addition to any provisions which it might have contained if this Act had not been passed, a confirmation of the agreement so made as aforesaid, and, where such an agreement has been made with a railway company, may sanction the promotion of the light railway, or the maintenance, management, and working thereof by such railway company, and may authorise such railway company to raise as capital such additional sum of money for such purpose and in such manner as shall be specified in such Order, and for the purpose of such an agreement it shall be lawful for a railway company to be promoters of a light railway, or to make an agreement for the maintenance, management, and working thereof: Provided always, that where such sanction or authority is given to a railway company, such Order shall only be made when the railway company establishes to the satisfaction of the Lord Lieutenant in Council that a copy of the proposed Order has been submitted to the proprietors of the railway company held specially for that purpose, as if such Order were a Bill promoted in Parliament by the railway company, and that all matters and things have been done and have happened, and all times have elapsed which, if such Order were a Bill so promoted as aforesaid, should have been done and have happened and elapsed in order to constitute compliance with the Standing Orders of Parliament applicable to Bills promoted by railway companies for the like purposes to those referred to in this section.

Such Order in Council shall not take effect unless confirmed by Parliament if a petition against it is presented to the Lord Lieutenant in Council and the petitioner appears and proceeds therewith.

Limit of Treasury aid.

46 & 47 Vict. c. 43.

6.—(1) The Treasury shall not undertake, in pursuance of this Act, to pay in the aggregate a sum exceeding [¹ twenty-five] thousand pounds a year in addition to the residue, if any, for the time being remaining unappropriated of the sum of forty thousand pounds a year mentioned in the ninth section of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883.

(2) Any aid given in pursuance of this Act by any capital sum or sums shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of six hundred thousand pounds or such less sum as hereinafter mentioned.

(3) The annual amount which the Treasury are authorised to pay by virtue of this Act shall be reduced by an annual sum equal to three per cent. per annum on the amount of any aid given in pursuance of this Act by a capital sum, whether by a free grant or a loan.

(4) If the Treasury undertake to pay any annual sum or sums under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, and this Act in excess of forty-two thousand pounds a year, the amount of the aid which may be given under this Act by a capital sum shall be diminished by such sum as with interest at the rate of three per cent. per annum would produce the amount of such excess.

Modifications of 23 & 24 Vict. c. 152.

7. In the case of any light railway to which the provisions of this Act shall be applicable, the following modifications of the provisions of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1860, shall be made—

(a) The first regulation contained in Schedule (A) to the said Act, Part V., shall be read and construed as if after the words “neighbourhood of the proposed tramway” there were added the words and figures following, that is to say:—

“(6) The propriety of the amount fixed as the nominal capital for the construction of the light railway, and the amount of paid-up capital which will be necessary for the purposes of the undertaking, and also the amount of capital which will be necessary as a provision for working capital.

“(7) The merits of the proposed light railway in all points of view as compared with any other light railway which might be constructed opening up communication through the same district as the proposed line.”

(b) The inquiry directed by the ninth section of the Tramways (Ireland) Act, 1860, as altered by this Act, shall take place before any such application is made to the Treasury as herein-before is mentioned, and for the purpose of such inquiry and of enabling them to make their report thereon the Board of Works may obtain and use the assistance of such persons, with the consent of the Treasury as to number, skilled in the subjects of the inquiry, as the Board of Works may consider necessary.

Preparation and audit of accounts of expenditure under the Act.

46 & 47 Vict. c. 43.

8. The Board of Works shall, at the end of each financial year in which any part of any sum issued under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, or under this Act (in this section referred to as the said Acts) out of the Exchequer, or out of money applicable for local loans is expended, make up such accounts as may be required by the Treasury of the money issued from the Exchequer, or out of money applicable for local loans, which has been expended in pursuance of the said Acts and the purposes for which it was expended, and the mode in which the money was provided.

Application of Railway and Canal Traffic Acts.

9. The Regulation of Railways Act, 1873, and the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, shall, so far as circumstances may admit, and so far as those enactments are not inconsistent with the Tramways (Ireland) Act, or this Act, apply to light railways constructed under this Act; and for the purposes of this section a light railway shall be deemed to be a railway within the meaning of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1873, and the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888.

Application of Act to previous presentments.

10. Where application for a presentment or approval for the purpose of a light railway has been made at the summer assizes, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, this Act shall, so far as applicable, extend to such railway: Provided always, that this section shall not apply where an application for a guarantee has been made before the passing of this Act.

Interpretation.

11. In this Act, unless there is something inconsistent in the context—

The expression “the Tramways (Ireland) Acts” has the same meaning as in the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883, and also includes the said Act.

The expression “light railway” includes tramway as that word is used in the Tramways (Ireland) Acts.

All other words and expressions in this Act which are not thereby defined or explained, and are defined or explained in any of the Tramways (Ireland) Acts, have, unless there is something inconsistent in the context, the same meaning as in the last-mentioned Acts, and the said Acts as varied by this Act and this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be read together and construed as one Act.

[¹ “County council” substituted for “grand jury,” and “county district” for “barony.” See Stat. Rules and Orders, Rev., 1904, VII. “Local Government (I.),” p. 40.]

[¹ Amended by 53 & 54 Vict. c. 52, s. 5.]

[¹ Substituted for “twenty” by 56 & 57 Vict. c. 50, s. 1.]