It must be observed, however, that the Act applies to
Ireland as well as England.
In the year 1854 Parliament considered that _regulations_ were necessary
to further control the companies and passed an important statute, the
_Railway and Canal Traffic Act_. Known, for short, in railway parlance,
as "the Act of '54," its main provisions dealt with:--
Reasonable facilities for receiving and forwarding traffic
The subject of undue preference, which was forbidden
Railways forming part of continuous lines to receive and forward
through traffic without obstruction
The liability of railway companies for loss of, or damage to, goods or
animals
and it preserved to railway companies the _protection_ of the _Carriers'
Act_, to which I have referred.
The Select Committees of 1858 and 1863 sat on the subject of the great
length of time and the immense cost which railway promotion in those days
entailed, when Bills were fiercely contested, and protracted struggles
before Parliamentary Committees took place. Two Acts resulted from their
deliberations: the _Railway Companies' Powers Act_, 1864, and the
_Railway Construction Facilities Act_ of the same year.
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