Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway (Abandonment) Act , 1932

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland;

the expression “the Act of 1883” means the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1883;

the expression “the Order of 1887” means the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway Order, 1887;

the expression “the Order of 1927” means the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway (Committee of Management) Order, 1927;

the expression “the Dublin Council” means the Council of the County of Dublin;

the expression “the Wicklow Council” means the Council of the County of Wicklow;

the expression “the County Councils” means the Dublin Council and the Wicklow Council;

the expression “the Corporation” means the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the City of Dublin;

the expression “the county borough” means the county borough of Dublin;

references to the council of the county borough shall be construed as references to the Corporation;

the expression “the guarantees” means the several guarantees given by virtue of the Order of 1887 and the respective presentments thereby confirmed;

the expression “the Dublin guarantee” means the guarantee given by virtue of the Order of 1887 and the presentment of the Grand Jury for the County of Dublin thereby confirmed ;

the expression “the guaranteeing area” means the several baronies and parts of baronies and the several parishes and townlands by which the payment of dividends on the guaranteed shares was guaranteed by the guarantees;

the expression “the Company” means the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway Company;

the expression “the Committee” means the Committee of Management appointed under the Order of 1927 and continued with modifications by this Act;

the expression “the undertaking” means the undertaking authorised by the Order of 1887;

the expression “the Interim Manager” means the manager appointed by the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway (Interim Management) Order, 1916;

the expression “the guaranteed shares” means the shares of the Company the dividends on which were guaranteed by the guarantees.

2 The appointed day.

2.—(1) The Minister may, by order made with the consent of the Minister for Finance, appoint a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act.

(2) In this Act the expression “the appointed day” means the day appointed under this section to be the appointed day.

3 The Committee of Management.

3.—(1) The Committee of Management appointed under the Order of 1927 shall continue for the purposes of this Act, as well as for the purposes of that Order, but on and after the appointed day the membership of the said Committee shall be regulated by this section, and the Order of 1927 shall not apply in respect of such membership.

(2) The Corporation may nominate three persons approved of by the Minister to be members of the Committee, and each of such three persons shall become and be a member of the Committee as on and from whichever of the following dates is the later, that is to say, the day on which his nomination as such member is approved of by the Minister or the appointed day.

(3) No person shall be nominated under this section by the Corporation to be a member of the Committee unless he is a ratepayer in the county borough owning or occupying rateable lands or hereditaments of an annual value not less than ten pounds and situate in the portion of the guaranteeing area which is within the county borough.

(4) Every person who is a member of the Committee on the appointed day or becomes a member thereof under this section on or after the appointed day shall hold office as such member until he resigns such office, or dies, or the Committee is dissolved under this section, whichever first happens.

(5) Every vacancy in the membership of the Committee which shall exist on or occur after the appointed day by the resignation or death of a member shall be filled by the nomination by the Minister of a person to fill such vacancy.

(6) Every person nominated by the Minister under this section shall have the same qualifications in respect of paying rates and owning or occupying land or hereditaments as were required by the Order of 1927 or this section to be held by the member whose resignation or death occasioned such vacancy.

(7) The Committee may act after the appointed day notwithstanding one or more vacancies in its membership and notwithstanding any delay or failure by the Corporation to nominate all or any of the members of the Committee which the Corporation is entitled under this section to nominate.

(8) When the Minister is satisfied that no functions remain to be performed by the Committee under the Order of 1927 or under this Act and that the Committee is no longer required for the purposes of that Order or of this Act, the Minister shall by order declare the Committee to be dissolved and thereupon the Committee shall become and be dissolved.

4 Cesser of the undertaking.

4.—Notwithstanding anything contained in the Act of 1883, the Order of 1887, or the Order of 1927, the Committee shall, as on and from the appointed day, cease to maintain or work the undertaking.

5 Realisation of the property and assets of the undertaking.

5.—(1) The Committee shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the appointed day, get in all debts and other moneys payable to the Committee in respect of the undertaking (including moneys payable to the Committee by the County Councils under the guarantees) and pay out of such moneys and any moneys in the hands of the Committee in relation to the undertaking on the appointed day all debts and other payments to the payment of which such moneys are properly applicable.

(2) As soon as conveniently may be after the appointed day, the Committee shall, in such manner and at such time or times as they think fit, sell and convert into money all the property and assets of the undertaking (other than debts and moneys to which the next preceding sub-section of this section applies) and apply the proceeds of such sale and conversion to the following purposes and in the following order, that is to say:—

(a) firstly, in discharging all debts due by the Committee in respect of the undertaking which are not discharged under the next preceding sub-section of this section;

(b) secondly, in defraying the expenses incurred by the Committee in the execution of this Act;

(c) thirdly, in paying the remuneration of the members of the Committee and the officers and servants of the Committee;

(d) fourthly, in paying to the Dublin Council two-thirds of the surplus of the said proceeds remaining after making the payments hereinbefore mentioned and in paying to the Wicklow Council one-third of the said surplus.

(3) The Dublin Council shall pay to the Corporation such proportion of all moneys paid to the Dublin Council by the Committee under the next preceding sub-section of this section as shall be agreed upon by the Dublin Council and the Corporation or, in default of such agreement, shall be fixed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

(4) The County Councils and the Corporation may each, with the sanction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, offer or bid for and purchase for any purpose for which they are authorised to acquire land any land offered for sale by the Committee in pursuance of this section which is situate within their county or the county borough, as the case may be.

(5) The County Councils and the Corporation shall each of them execute at the expense of the Committee such conveyances of property of the undertaking sold by the Committee under this Act as shall reasonably be required by the respective purchasers of such property or by the Committee.

(6) For the purposes of this section all property and assets of the Company which became the property of the County Councils by virtue of sub-section (2) of section 10 of the Act of 1883 and the Order of 1887 and was not disposed of by the Committee before the appointed day and all property acquired and on the appointed day still held by the Committee shall be deemed to be the property and assets of the undertaking.

6 Reversion of tramway to roadway.

6.—(1) In this section the word “tramway” means land which was portion of a public road immediately before the commencement of the undertaking and is on the appointed day appropriated to the purpose of the undertaking by reason of the rails and other works of the undertaking being situate thereon or otherwise.

(2) As soon as conveniently may be after the appointed day, the Committee shall remove or cause to be removed from the tramway all rails, sleepers, posts, and other property of the undertaking on or in the tramway, and the tramway shall, piece by piece as such removal, is completed, revert to and again become and be part of the public road for all purposes and shall be maintainable accordingly.

(3) All work which may be necessary for making any part of the tramway which has reverted to the public road an integral part of such road and fit and safe for use as such part of such road shall be executed by and at the expense of the council of the county or county borough in which such road is situate.

(4) Where any portion of the tramway has reverted under this section to the public road, any owner or occupier of land adjoining such portion of the tramway may, within three months after such reversion, require the council of the county or county borough in which such land is situate to execute such construction or repair of fences, gates, conduits, and other works as may be reasonably necessary to the use, enjoyment or security of such land in consequence of such reversion, and thereupon it shall be the duty of such council (subject to the right of appeal hereinafter given) to execute such works at its own expense with all convenient speed.

(5) If any difference or dispute arises between an owner or occupier of land and the council of a county or the county borough as to the necessity for or the nature, character, or extent of any works which such owner or occupier has required such council to execute under this section, such dispute or difference shall be decided by the Minister on the appeal of either such owner or occupier or such council and such decision by the Minister shall be final.

7 Redemption of the guaranteed shares.

7.—(1) In this section references to the holder of a guaranteed share shall include—

(a) in the case of any such share held by one person only on the appointed day, the personal representative, assignee in bankruptcy, or liquidator (as the case may require) of such person; and

(b) in the case of any such share held by two or more persons on the appointed day, all such persons and the survivors and survivor of such persons and the personal representative, assignee in bankruptcy, or liquidator (as the case may require) of the last survivor of such persons.

(2) On the appointed day the guaranteed shares of the Company shall become and be extinguished and the register (in this section referred to as the said register) of holders of such shares required by law to be kept by the Company shall be closed and no further entries shall be made in such register.

(3) The Company shall on the appointed day deliver to the Committee the said register and shall thereafter furnish to the Committee such other documents and information in the possession of the Company relating to the guaranteed shares and the holders thereof as the Committee shall from time to time require.

(4) As soon as conveniently may be after the appointed day the Committee shall—

(a) send by post to every person appearing in the said register to have been the holder or one of two or more joint holders of one or more guaranteed shares on the appointed day notice in writing addressed to such person at his address as stated in the said register informing him that the guaranteed shares have been extinguished by this Act and that the holder of a guaranteed share or shares is entitled to receive from the Committee the sum of five pounds ten shillings for every such share held by him upon his making application therefor in the manner and within the time (not being less than three months from the posting of such notice) specified in such notice; and

(b) publish at least once in each of two daily newspapers published in Dublin a notice in general terms to the same effect as the said notices hereinbefore required to be sent to holders of guaranteed shares.

(5) The Committee shall, out of the moneys provided for that purpose under this Act, pay to every person who makes such application within such time as is specified in the said notices and appears to the Committee to have been on the appointed day the holder of one or more guaranteed shares the sum of five pounds ten shillings for every such share.

(6) The Committee shall pay into the Circuit Court in Dublin the sum of five pounds ten shillings for every guaranteed share in respect of which no application under this section is made by the holder thereof within the time specified in the said notices or in respect of which no person has within the said time satisfied the Committee that he is entitled to receive the sum of five pounds ten shillings payable under this section.

(7) The payment in accordance with this section by the Committee of the sum of five pounds ten shillings to a person appearing to the Committee to be the holder of a guaranteed share or into the Circuit Court shall be a complete and final discharge of all claims against the Company or the Committee in respect of the guaranteed share in respect of which such sum is so paid except claims for dividends on such share accrued but not paid before the appointed day.

8 Advance for redemption of the guaranteed shares.

8.—(1) Before the expiration of the time within which the Committee is required by this Act to pay money to the holders of guaranteed shares, the Commissioners shall, out of moneys under their control and applicable to loans, advance to the Committee as agent for the County Councils the sum of £22,000 (twenty-two thousand pounds) which is in this section referred to as “the advance”.

(2) The Committee shall apply the advance in paying the several sums of five pounds ten shillings which the Committee is required by this Act to pay in respect of the guaranteed shares to the holders of those shares or into the Circuit Court.

(3) The advance shall be deemed to have been made in equal moieties to the County Councils respectively and each such moiety of the advance shall be repaid and the interest thereon shall be paid by the payment in accordance with this section to the Commissioners in each of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act of the instalments mentioned in the second column of the said Schedule in respect of such year.

(4) In each of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act there shall be paid from the local taxation account to the Commissioners at such time or times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct, the following sums, that is to say:—

(a) the sum (in this section referred to as the Dublin grant) mentioned in the third column of the said Schedule in respect of such year; and

(b) the sum (in this section referred to as the Wicklow grant) mentioned in the fourth column of the said Schedule in respect of such year.

(5) The Dublin grant paid under this section to the Commissioners in any financial year shall be deemed to be so paid in discharge or part discharge (as the case may be) of the instalment payable in that financial year in respect of the moiety of the advance which is deemed to have been made to the Dublin Council.

(6) The Wicklow grant paid under this section to the Commissioners in any financial year shall be deemed to be so paid in discharge of the instalment payable in that financial year in respect of the moiety of the advance which is deemed to have been made to the Wicklow Council.

(7) The Dublin Council shall in each of the first eight of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act pay to the Commissioners at such time or times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct, a sum equal to the amount by which the Dublin grant paid under this section to the Commissioners in such financial year falls short of the instalment mentioned in the second column of the said Schedule in respect of such financial year.

(8) The Corporation shall in each of the first eight of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act pay to the Dublin Council a sum which bears to the sum payable under this section by the Dublin Council to the Commissioners in that year the same proportion as the aggregate rateable value on the appointed day of all rateable hereditaments and tenements situate in the portion of the guaranteeing area which is within the county borough on the appointed day bears to the aggregate rateable value on the appointed day of all rateable hereditaments and tenements situate in any part of the guaranteeing area except the portion of that area which is within the County of Wicklow on the appointed day.

(9) In each of the first eight of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act the Dublin Council shall raise the amount by which the sum payable under this section by that Council to the Commissioners in that year exceeds the sum payable under this section by the Corporation to the said Council in that year and the said Council shall raise the said amount in the same manner and off so much of the guaranteeing area as is within the county of Dublin on the appointed day as moneys payable by the said Council in respect of the maintenance and working of the undertaking and the dividends on the guaranteed shares were raisable immediately before the passing of this Act.

(10) In each of the first eight of the financial years mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act, the Corporation shall raise the sum payable under this section by the Corporation to the Dublin Council in that year by means of the municipal rate off the portion of the guaranteeing area situate within the county borough on the appointed day.

9 Cesser of liability under the guarantee.

9.—(1) The liability of the County Councils in respect of dividends on the guaranteed shares or the completion, working, or maintenance of the undertaking under the guarantees shall cease as on and from the appointed day.

(2) Every liability of the undertaking to the Minister for Finance or the County Councils under the Act of 1883 or the Order of 1887 shall cease as on and from the appointed day.

(3) No moneys shall be payable in respect of the undertaking to either of the County Councils or to the Corporation under section 9 of the Act of 1883 or out of the local taxation account under sub-section (4) of section 58 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, for or in respect of any period beginning on or after the appointed day.