The latitude allowed the Companies in the matter of terminal
charges had long caused a good deal of sore feeling, and in
1 88 1 a Select Committee was appointed to inquire into the
working of the Act of 1873, ^^^ i^^^ the general question of
rates and fares with special reference to the question of
terminals. As the work of this Coirfmittee will again have to
be dealt with later on, it will be sufficient to say that the result of
their deliberations did not find legislative expression until 1888,
when the Railway and Canal Traffic Act was passed. This Act
very considerably strengthened the power of State control. It
remodelled the Railway Commission, and gave it authority to
hold sittings in different parts of the United Kingdom. Its
jurisdiction was also very considerably extended. The most
important of its new powers are as follows —

I. — To enforce obligations imposed by special Acts.
(a) Relating to traffic facilities and undue preference.
(d) Requiring a Company to provide works for public

accommodation.
(c) Imposing any obligation on a Company in favour ot
the public or any individual.
II. — To enforce any statutory provisions relating to private
sidings.
III. — To decide any question involving the legality of any
charge sought to be made by a Company in relation to
merchandise traffic, and to enforce payment.
IV. — To compel two or more Companies to co-operate in
carrying out orders.
V. — ^To order traffic facilities and through rates, notwith-
standing any agreement between Companies, unless the agree-
ment has been confirmed by Parliament, or by the Board of
Trade, or by the Commissioners themselves ; and in the case
of through rates or tolls on canals, whether the agreement has
been confirmed by Parliament or not.
