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CONFIDENTIAL
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Railway Regulation Bill.
THE object of this Bill is to make the Railway Commission permanent, to strengthen its constitu- tion, and to enlarge its powers. The moment is spécially favourable, because no one knows the work of the Commission better than the present Attorney-General. The Bill, as drawn, is the result of careful consultation with him.
The prominent proposals of the Bill, upon which difference of opinion may arise, are—
1. [ propose to make it necessary that the Chief Commissioner should be a lawyer.
There can be little doubt that the absence of a trained lawyer at the head of the Commission has impaired its efficiency as a judicial body, and while it has only partly gained the confidence of traders, it has been (and I think justly) attacked by the railway Companies.
The Companies would very much prefer that the Commission should in future consist of
Judge of But this
the High Court sitting with assessors. would be strongly objected to by the trading community, and would make difficulties whenever the Commission wished to sit in Scotland or in Ireland.
I believe, therefore, that the reasonable way of meeting, to some extent, the wishes of both parties, will be by simply making the Chief Commissioner a man of legal attainments; but I am sure that some such change is a condition vital to the success of the Bill. It is further proposed to give one appeal as a matter of right from the decision of the Com- mission, but on questions of law only.
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