This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918 edition. Excerpt: ...contract between the railways and the government. It may, therefore, be' regarded as the starting point for the series of legislative steps that led up to the revolutionary change of August, 1914, in the relation of British railways to the government. The act of 1842 was broadened two years later so as to specify the maximum rates under which officers, soldiers, military baggage and military stores should be conveyed, although that act applied only to railways whose charters should be granted or amended in the future. The maximum rates imposed by this act of 1844 (7 and 8 Vict., Cap. 85, Sec. 12) were as follows: Commissioned officers, first-class passage, twopence per mile; soldiers, one penny per mile, "in carriages which shall be provided with seats, with sufficient space for the reasonable accommodation of the persons conveyed, and which shall be protected against the weather"; excess baggage, one half-penny per pound (any distance); military stores, arms, ammunition, etc., twopence per ton per mile, "the assistance of the military or other forces being given in loading and unloading." These acts of 1842 and 1844 may be regarded as progressive steps toward special treatment of railways under war conditions, in that they recognized military traffic as a preferential form of transportation business and also provided that it should be carried at special rates. Further revision of military fares was made in the so called Cheap Trains Act of August 20, 1883 (46 and 47 Vict, Cap. 34). Section 6, entitled "Conveyance of the Queen's forces at reduced rates," laid down certain regulations as to the kind and class of service to be rendered by the railways in military transportation, and revised the rates to be...