In their view, if only this were accomplished blessings innumerable would
ensue and all complaints would for ever cease. As to the way in which
this unification and public control were to be carried out, they
recommended that an Irish Authority should be instituted to acquire the
Irish Railways and work them as a single system, that this Authority
should be a railway Board of twenty Directors, four nominated and sixteen
elected; that the general terms of purchase be those prescribed by the
Regulation of Railways Act of 1844; that the financial medium be a
Railway Stock; and that such Stock be charged upon (1) The Consolidated
Fund; (2) the net revenues of the unified railway system; (3) an annual
grant from the Imperial Exchequer; and (4) a general rate to be struck by
the Irish Railway Authority if and when required.
The Commissioners who signed the Minority Report said the evidence, as a
whole, had not produced the same general effect upon their minds as upon
the minds of their colleagues, and they were inclined to attach less
importance than their colleagues did to the evidence given against the
Irish Railway Companies, and more importance to the evidence given in
their favour.
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