Sect. 4. of the total amount required for the purpose of the light railway and not exceeding the amount for the time being advanced by the council. Provided that the Treasury shall not advance money to a light railway company (y) under this section, unless at least one-half of the total amount required for the purpose of the light railway (a) is provided by means of share capital (b), and at least one-half of that share capital (b) has been subscribed and paid up by persons other than local authorities (c). (2.) Any loan under this section shall bear interest at such rate not less than three pounds two shillings and sixpence per centum per annum as the Treasury may from time to time authorise as being in their opinion sufficient to enable such loans to be made without loss to the Exchequer (d), and shall be advanced on such conditions as the Treasury determine. (3.) Where the Treasury advance money to a light railway company (y) under this section, and the advance by the council to the company is made in whole or part by means of a loan, the loan by the Treasury under this section shall rank pari passu with the loan by the council. (x) For the Scots equivalents, see sect. 26 (2) and (6). (y) Defined in sect. 28. But the proviso to this sub-section appears to limit the meaning of the expression "light railway company" to cases where the promoters are incorporated, otherwise the provision as to share capital could not apply. (*) Fifteen applications (see Rule XXXII (h)) have been made for loans under this section (all in connection with railways of Class A), but eight of these were alternative to an application under sect. 5. These applications have had little result. In the Welshpool and Llanfair case (1897), Rep. I. 17, II. 23; Oxley 22, 7,500l. was to have been advanced under sect. 4 at 3p. c., but afterwards a free grant under sect. 5 was substituted for this. In the Lauder case (1897), Rep. I. 23, the Treasury in 1901 agreed to advance 11,000l. at 3p. c. (see Report for 1902, p. 1), and in 1902 to advance 2,500l. more on the same terms. (See Report for 1903, p. 3.) The original application contained no request for such loan. The total amount which the Treasury may advance is limited by sect. 6. (a) As to the making of an estimate of expenses, see Rules XXX. and XXXI. (b) Defined in sect. 28. (c) "Local authorities" is not defined in this Act. For a definition, see Tramways Act, 1870, s. 3, and Sched. A. and notes thereto. Quare whether it covers more here than the councils mentioned above. Probably not, as sect. 2 gives them alone power to make advances to light railways. (d) So Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 70), s. 83; for rates of interest, see note (z) above. Sect. 4. advances by 5.-(1.) Where it is certified to the Treasury by the Special Board of Agriculture (e) that the making of any light Treasury. railway under this Act would benefit agriculture in any district, or by the Board of Trade (e) that by the making of any such railway a necessary means of communication would be established between a fishing harbour or fishing village and a market, or that such railway is necessary for the development of or maintenance of some definite industry, but that owing to the exceptional circumstances of the district the railway would not be constructed without special assistance from the State, and the Treasury are satisfied that a railway company existing at the time will construct and work the railway if an advance is made by the Treasury under this section (f), the Treasury may, subject to the limitation of this Act as to the amount to be expended for the purpose of special advances (g), agree that the railway be aided out of public money by a special advance under this section (h). Provided that— (a) the Treasury shall not make any such special Sect. 5. total amount required for the construction of the railway as may be prescribed by rules to be made by the Treasury under this Act; and (c) where the Treasury agree to make any such. special advance as a free grant, the order authorising the railway may make provision as regards any parish that, during a period not exceeding ten years to be fixed by the order, so much of the railway as is in that parish shall not be assessed to any local rate at a higher value than that at which the land occupied by the railway would have been assessed if it had remained in the condition in which it was immediately before it was acquired for the purpose of the railway, but before such provision is made in any order the local and rating authorities of every such parish shall be informed of the intention to insert such provision, and shall be entitled to be heard. The order may authorise the Board of Trade to extend any such period (k). (2.) A special advance under this section may be a free grant or a loan or partly a free grant and partly a loan (1). (3.) Any free grant or loan for a special advance under this section shall be made on such conditions (m) and at such rate of interest (n) as the Treasury direct. (e) In Scotland, the Secretary for Scotland. (Sect. 26 (1).) (ƒ) There may be various states of circumstances which will be held by the Treasury to comply with the preceding conditions, but this last condition is a sine qua non. (See the recital, post, p. 549.) The working agreement with an existing railway need not, however, necessarily be in perpetuity. In the Welshpool and Llanfair case (1897), Rep. I. 17, II. 23; Oxley, 22, an agreement for 99 years was considered by the Treasury to be sufficient. In the Fraserburgh and St. Combs case (1897), Rep. II. 25, the Order was made out in the name of the existing railway company, which had undertaken to construct and work the line, and the undertaking, including the promise of a grant under this section, was transferred to them. Where a working agreement has not yet been concluded, the Treasury makes its grant conditionally on the conclusion of such an agreement. (Kelvedon, Tiptree and Tollesbury case (1897), Rep. II. 7; Elsenham, Thaxted and Bardfield case (1897), Rep. I. 6.) The Commissioners will delay the settlement of an Order after the inquiry pending an application to the Treasury for financial assistance (Witney, Burford and Andoversford case (1900), Rep. VII. 41; Pwllheli, Nevin and Porthainlleyn case (1901), Rep. IX. 25); but in the Hebridean case (1898), Rep. IV. 34, the application was rejected without an inquiry when the promoters had failed to obtain a Treasury grant within three years. Cromarty and Dingwall Order, 1902, Rep. I. 21, contains provisions for the making of agreements between the promoters, the working company and the Treasury in relation to the Treasury advance. (g) See sect. 6. (h) Advances under this section have hitherto been made only to light railways of Class A. Occasionally the Treasury makes advances to ordinary statutory railways by special Act and scheduled agreement, e.g. West Highland Railway Guarantee Act, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 58). In 1902 the Treasury made a free grant of 3,000l. to the Welshpool and Llanfair line in addition to 14,500. previously promised. (See Report for 1903, p. 3.) (i) Sect. 19 gives landowners power to make free or cheap grants of land or to make contributions for the purposes of light railways. The Treasury made a grant in the Fraserburgh and St. Combs case (1897), Rep. II. 25; Oxley, 28, where two of the promoters had given their land free, although the landowner through whose property the railway passed for a third of its length objected to the scheme. An application for assistance under this section is practically always coupled with an application for assistance from local authorities. (See Rule XXXII. (g) and (h).) (k) The usual clause which is inserted under this sub-section will be found post, p. 580. Ten years is the period usually fixed, with power to the Board of Trade to extend it. The period has generally been expressed to run from the commencement of the Order (e.g. in Wick and Lybster Order, 1899, Rep. V. 54); but in Welshpool and Llanfair Order, 1899, Rep. II. 23, it runs from the completion and opening for public traffic of the railway, and in Leek, Caldon Low and Hartington Order, 1899, Rep. II. 9, and Kelvedon, Tiptree and Tollesbury Order, 1901, Rep. II. 7 (as modified by the Board of Trade), it runs from the date of the advance. The clause generally extends to all the parishes through which the railway is to run, but in Fraserburgh and St. Combs Order, 1899, Rep. II. 25, certain only of such parishes are selected. Sect. 5. Sect. 5. Limitation on amount of advance Sect. 26 (9) and (10) contain provisions for the carrying out of this sub-section in Scotland. As to rating in general, see ante, p. 49. (7) The special advance is usually in the form of a free grant; but in the cases of the Leek, Caldon Low and Hartington, the Cromarty and Dingwall, and the Tanat Valley Light Railways the Treasury made a loan as well as a free grant, either in addition to or in substitution for a previous free grant. (m) The usual conditions, besides those enumerated in this section, are that the Board of Trade should certify (a) that the line is complete and open for traffic; (b) that a sum not less than twice the amount of the advance, exclusive of the value of land granted by landowners, had been actually expended on the construction of the line. (Dornoch case (1897), Rep. I. 28; Oxley, 6; Welshpool and Llanfair case (1897), Rep. I. 17, II. 23; Oxley, 22; Kelvedon, Tiptree and Tollesbury case (1898), Rep. II. 7; Oxley, 59.) Further conditions were also imposed in the Welshpool and Llanfair case. (n) The rate of interest was nil in the cases of the Cromarty and Dingwall and the Tanat Valley Light Railways, and 3 p.c. in the case of the Leek, Caldon Low and Hartington line. An advance at 3 p.c. and upwards would fall under sect. 4, and not under the present section. 6.-(1.) The total amount advanced by the Treasury under this Act shall not at any one time exceed one and provision million pounds, of which a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand pounds may be expended for the purpose of special advances under this Act (0). of money by National Debt Commissioners. (2.) The National Debt Commissioners may lend to the Treasury, and the Treasury may borrow from the National Debt Commissioners, such money as may be required for the purpose of advances by the Treasury under this Act, on such terms as to interest, sinking fund, and period of repayment (not exceeding thirty years from the date of the loan) as may be agreed on between the National Debt Commissioners and the Treasury. (3.) The sums so lent by the National Debt Commissioners shall be repaid out of money provided by Parliament for the purpose, and if and so far as that money is insufficient shall be charged on, and payable |