D.—s

4

42. No person shall have any right to send by a railway any goods of a dangerous nature; and if any person attempts to send by a railway, or deposits in any premises of the railway, any box or package containing any such goods, or any goods declared by the regulations, or publicly notified by the Minister, to be of a dangerous nature, without distinctly marking the contents on the outside of such box or package, or giving notice in writing of the contents to the officer in charge of the station at which such box or package is left, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. The following are, amongst others, declared to be dangerous goods: Benzoline and all other dangerous oils, bisulphide of carbon, blasting powders, bleaching liquids, bromine, cartridges, chloride of sulphur, cotton gunpowder, dynamite, fireworks, fluoric acid, fog signals, fusees, gasoline, gazogen, gun-cotton, gunpowder, lucifer-matches, muriatic acid or spirit of salts, naptha, napthaline, nitrite of iron, nitric acid, oil of vitrol or sulphuric acid, oily canvas or oily paper for packing, oily rags or oily waste, perchloride of iron, petroleum, phosphorus, pudrolythe, pyrolithe, or other materials or compounds liable to sudden ignition or explosion ; and the Minster may, at his option, refuse to receive or carry such goods. 43. Fruit, fish, meat, poultry, and any other perishable articles, shall be carried only at the sole risk of the person sending the same, and, if not taken away within six hours after arrival at the station to which they are consigned, may be forthwith sold, by auction or otherwise, without notice to the sender or consignee; and payment or tender of the net proceeds of any such sale, after deduction of freight and expenses, shall be accepted as equivalent to delivery. 44. All empties not taken away within one month after arrival will be sold to defray expenses. 45. All goods and merchandise, whether bonded or free, and all luggage, having arrived at its destination, shall be removed by the consignees from the platform and sheds within such periods as may be defined in the tables of rates published in accordance with clause 52 hereof; and if not removed within such period may be stored or kept in the wagons at the risk and expense of the consignees or owners, and will become subject to such charges as may from time to time be published in such tables. If on the arrival of goods forwarded by railway the railway sheds and stores shall, in the opinion of the General Manager, be full, and the consignees or owners do not take delivery within twelve working hours, the General Manager may store such goods in any private store or yard at the risk and expense of the owners. In case of goods to be unloaded by the consignee, a charge will be made for demurrage according to the tables of rates from time to time published in the New Zealand Gazette, in accordance with clause 52 hereof, for each truck not unloaded within the period named therein. 46. Should a consignor present a consignment note with goods understating the quantity or weight of such goods, he shall be liable to a charge of double the ordinary rate on the difference between the actual weight or measurement of the goods in question and that stated upon the consignment note, in addition to any penalty which may be inflicted under the 154 th clause of "The Public Works Act, 1876." 47. All tolls a,nd charges and warehousing charges must be paid immediately on demand to the person duly authorized to receive the same, and, except where a special agreement is entered into, no goods will be delivered to the consignee until the payment ' of such tolls and charges shall have been made. 48. If any person refuses or fails to pay the proper charges for any goods carried on a railway,

or received on, stored in, or delivered from any wharf, pier, jetty, shed, or yard connected therewith, or any charge for demurrage, for one month after demand of same by any person duly authorized to collect such charges, any such goods, or, in case such goods have been delivered, then any other goods on the premises of the railway belonging to the same person, may, by order of the Minister, be sold; and the proceeds of such sale shall be applied first for paying the said charges and the expenses of such sale, and the balance, if any, shall be paid over to the owner of the goods sold. 49. If any such goods are left on the premises of the railway, and the owner thereof, or the person liable for the charges thereon, is not known, the Minister may cause it to be publicly notified that such goods will be sold upon a day named in such notice, not less than one month from the publication thereof; and, if such goods are not removed and the charges thereon paid before such day, the said goods may be sold, and the balance of the proceeds of such sale, after paying the charges upon such goods, shall be paid into the Public Trust Office, and shall be paid by the Public Trustee to any person establishing a lawful claim thereto. 50. If the Minister shall have paid any claim for goods for the time being lost on a railway, and such goods are afterwards found, the claimant shall have the option of taking such goods when refunding the amount so paid to him ; but if he declines to do so such goods shall be sold, and the proceeds of such sale shall be paid into the Public Account. 51. The Minister may from time to time fix or alter scales of fares and charges for passengers and goods carried on a railway, or received on or into, or stored in, or delivered from any wharf, pier, jetty, store, shed, or yard in connection with a railway, or for demurrage on the use of any rolling-stock, or for the use of any cranes, hoists, or other machinery for loading or unloading of such goods, or for fixing the rates of wharfage to be charged on all goods loaded or unloaded from or into lighters, into or from ships lying at any wharf, pier, or jetty in connection with a railway, by a notice published in the New Zealand Gazette declaring the date at which such shall take effect. A printed notice of such fares and charges shall also be fixed and maintained in a conspicuous place at such stations as may be deemed advisable by the Minister. The Minister may authorize the General Manager from time to time to alter such passenger fares and rates temporarily by publishing a notice to that effect, such notice to be atiixed in some conspicuous place at each station to which such alterations refer on the line of railway affected. The General Manager may from time to time make time-tables fixing and showing the times at which trains arrive at and depart from stations; such time-tables, so far as relating to public passenger trains, shall be advertised in a local newspaper three days before coming into force, and shall also be posted in a conspicuous place at each station on the railway affected where tickets are sold. The General Manager may, by the posting of notices at such stations as they refer to, fix rules for regulating the loading and unloading of carriages and wagons and the weights they carry, for ordering the receipt and delivery of goods, and for storing the same. The Minister may from time to time, by a notice in the New Zealand Gazette, make rules and regulations for the guidance and observance of the officers ' and men employed on the railways, and for the conduct of the traffic on the same. Torsteb Goring, Clerk of the Executive Council.

Authority : Geobge Didsbuby, Government Printer, Wellington.—1881.