“For every Private Carriage, Fourpence per mile.
“For all Coal, Coke, Ironstone and other Articles hereinbefore classed therewith, conveyed any distance not exceeding Fifty Miles, the sum of One Penny and One-eighth per ton per mile; and the sum of Seven-eighths of a Penny per Ton per Mile for the whole distance travelled, if conveyed a Distance exceeding Fifty Miles.
“For all Dung, Compost and other Articles hereinbefore classed therewith, conveyed any distance not exceeding Fifteen miles, the sum of One Penny Halfpenny per Ton per Mile, and the sum of One Penny and One-eighth per Ton per Mile for the whole distance travelled, if conveyed a distance exceeding Fifteen Miles.
“For all Sugar, Grain, and other Articles hereinbefore classified therewith, conveyed any distance not exceeding fifty Miles, the Sum of Twopence Halfpenny per Ton per Mile, and the Sum of Twopence per Ton per Mile for the whole distance travelled, if conveyed a distance exceeding Fifty Miles.
“For all Cotton and other Articles hereinbefore classified therewith, conveyed any distance not exceeding Fifty Miles, the Sum of Threepence per Ton per Mile; and the Sum of Twopence Halfpenny per Ton per Mile for the whole distance travelled, if conveyed a distance exceeding Fifty Miles.
“For Fish and all other Wares, Merchandise, Articles, Matters and Things conveyed any distance not exceeding Fifty Miles, the Sum of Threepence Halfpenny per Ton per Mile; and the Sum of Threepence per Ton per Mile for the whole distance travelled, if conveyed a distance exceeding Fifty Miles.”
By the Regulation of Railways Act, 1844 (7 and 8 Vic. cap. 85), the Government were given the right, on certain conditions, to revise the scale of Tolls, Rates and Charges as follows:—
“Be it enacted, by the Queen’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, and Commons in this Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That if at any time after the end of twenty-one years from and after the first day of January next, after the passing of any Act of the present, or any future Session of Parliament for the construction of any New Line of Passenger Railway, whether such New Line be a Trunk, Branch, or Junction Line, and whether such New Line be constructed by a New Company, incorporated for the purpose, or by any existing Company, the clear annual profits divisible upon the subscribed and paid-up Capital Stock of the said Railway upon the average of the three then last preceding years shall equal or exceed the rate of Ten Pounds for every Hundred Pounds of such paid-up Capital Stock, it shall be lawful for the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, upon giving to the said Company three calendar months’ notice in writing of their intention to do so, to revise the scale of tolls, fares and charges, limited by the Act or Acts relating to the said Railway, and to fix such new scale of tolls, fares and charges, applicable to such different classes and kinds of Passengers, Goods, and other Traffic on such Railway as in the judgment of the said Lords Commissioners, assuming the same quantities and kinds of traffic to continue, shall be likely to reduce the said divisible profits to the said rate of Ten Pounds in the Hundred: provided always that no such revised scale shall take effect, unless accompanied by a guarantee to subsist as long as any such revised scale of tolls, fares, and charges shall be in force, that the said divisible profits, in case of any deficiency therein shall be annually made good to the said rate of Ten Pounds for every Hundred Pounds of such Capital Stock, provided also that such revised scale shall not be again revised or such guarantee withdrawn otherwise than with the consent of the Company for the further period of twenty-one years.”
When the earlier Railway Acts were passed, Parliament provided that the rates were to be charged equally throughout the railway.
The following is a copy of one of the Clauses that were inserted:—