FURTHER RAILWAY LEGISLATION
In Chapter IX., at the outset of my Glasgow and South-Western service, I
reviewed the public Acts of Parliament passed since the beginning of
railways down to the year 1875, and it may not be amiss to notice now the
further railway legislation enacted up to 1885.
The first measure of importance was the _Railway Returns (Continuous
Brakes) Act_, 1878. The travelling public had for some years been
sensitive regarding railway accidents which, though infrequent,
nevertheless occurred much oftener then than now, and were more serious
in their results. The matter of their reduction began to receive the
serious attention of railway engineers and inventors, and among many
appliances suggested was the system of continuous brakes. In June, 1875,
a great contest of brakes, extending over three days, in which trains of
the principal companies engaged, took place on the Midland railway
between Newark and Bleasby. A large number of brakes competed--the
Westinghouse, the Vacuum, Clarke's Hydraulic, Webb's Chain, and several
others. It is recorded that at the conclusion of the trial, each
patentee left the _refreshment tent_ satisfied that his own brake was the
best; but Time is the great arbiter, and _his_ decision has been in
favour of two--the Automatic Vacuum and the Westinghouse, and these are
the brakes the companies have adopted. The Act required all railway
companies to submit to the Board of Trade, twice in every year, returns
showing the amount of rolling stock fitted with continuous brakes, the
description of brake and whether self-acting and instantaneous in action.
So far there was no compulsion upon the railways to use continuous
brakes, though most of the companies were earnestly studying the subject,
but the rival claims of inventors and the uncertainty as to which
invention would best stand the test of time tended to retard their
adoption. Meanwhile, the publicity afforded by the Board of Trade
Returns, and public discussion, helped to hasten events and the climax
was reached in 1889, when a terrible accident, due primarily to
inefficient brake power, occurred in Ireland, and was attended with great
loss of life. The Board of Trade was in that year invested with
statutory power to _compel_ railway companies, within a given time, to
provide all passenger trains with automatic continuous brakes.
In 1878 there was also passed the _Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act_.
Foot and mouth disease had for some time been rife in Great Britain and
Ireland, and legislation became necessary. The Act applied not only to
railways but was also directed to the general control and supervision of
flocks and herds. It contained a number of clauses concerning transit by
rail, and invested the Privy Council with authority to make regulations,
the carrying out of which, as affecting the Glasgow and South-Western
Railway, devolved upon me, and for a year or two occupied much of my
time.
An Act to extend and regulate the liability of employers, and to provide
for compensation for personal injuries suffered by workmen in their
service, came into force in 1880. It was called the _Employers'
Liability Act_, and was the first step in that class of legislation,
which has since been greatly extended, and with which both employer and
employed, are now familiar.
That great convenience the _Parcel Post_, which for the first time
secured to the public the advantage of having parcels sent to any part of
the United Kingdom at a fixed charge, and which seems now as necessary to
modern life as the telephone or the telegraph, and as, perhaps, a few
years hence, the airship will be, was brought into existence by the _Post
Office (Parcels) Act_, 1882. Under that Act it was ordained that the
railways of the United Kingdom should carry by all trains whatever
parcels should be handed to them for transit by the Post Office, the
railway remuneration to be fifty-five per cent. of the money paid by the
public. The scheme was a great success. During the first year of its
operation the parcels carried numbered over 20 millions, and in the year
1913-14 (the last published figures) reached 137 millions.
The _Cheap Trains Act_, 1883, was passed to amend and consolidate the law
relating to (_a_) railway passenger duty, and (_b_) the conveyance of the
Queen's Forces by railway. It did not apply to Ireland. Passenger duty
was never exacted in that happy land. In Great Britain the Act relieved
the railway companies from payment of the duty on all fares not exceeding
one penny per mile; provided for the running of workmen's trains; and
prescribed a scale of reduced fares for the conveyance of Her Majesty's
soldiers and sailors.
After this Act, and until the year 1888, no further general railway
legislation of importance took place.