Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

3.55 The purpose behind the Eastern Bengal Railway Company Purchase Act 1884 57
was to permit the company to divest itself of its principal assets, utilising a sinking
fund, and to transfer the railway undertaking into state ownership. In very broad
terms the Act authorised the vesting (on 30 June 1884), ended the company’s
liabilities on the debenture contracts, required distribution of the provident fund to
its beneficiaries, sanctioned the creation by government of the purchase annuity
(which was to be charged on the revenues of India), required the Bank of
England as trustees to create a sinking fund (with pay-out in July 1957) derived
from former stock-holders as annuitants, and provided pensions to certain
company officers and employees by way of compensation for loss of office.
3.56 The 1884 Act was the final Act in the series of statutes dealing specifically with
the Eastern Bengal Railway. In 1937 the Act was both supplemented in small
measure and partially repealed. 58 The remainder of the Act remains in place
although now it has no purpose. The railway company was probably dissolved by
1887 and the sinking fund distributed during 1957. 59 On that basis, all three local
Acts may now be repealed.
Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company
3.57 The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company was formed as a stock company
in August 1849 for the purpose of creating and working a rail network, linking
Bombay to other parts of the Indian sub-continent, under contract with the East
India Company. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company Act 1849 60
incorporated the railway company formally so that it could construct and operate
railways and ancillary facilities - including telegraphs - in the East Indies (under
contract to the East India Company as the government of India), hold the
necessary land and property, and honour existing contracts. The first line was to
run from Bombay to Callian. The company was authorised to raise capital by
share issue and borrowing, and to extend its capital holding as necessary in
order to expand the undertaking.
3.58 Under the original agreement of 1849 with the East India Company the railway
company would take a 99 year lease on completion of the construction project,
and the East India Company was given the option to purchase the railway
infrastructure and rolling stock at 25 and 50 year break intervals. The capital
funding and repayment arrangements were complex.
57 47 & 48 Vict. c.cciv (1884) (“The 1884 Act”).
58 The East India Loans Act 1937 (c.14), s 9 required the Secretary of State in Council of
India, in connection with his redemption of various railway annuities and debenture stock,
to continue to make provision for the sinking fund and reduction of public debt by setting
aside a specified annual sum. Section 12(3) and Schedule 2 then repealed sections 50
and 54 of the 1884 Act (dealing with the exchange of annuities and irredeemable
debenture stock for India stock and the creation of a sinking fund).
59 See final notice of investment published in the London Gazette, Issue 41072, 17 May
1957, p 2947. The fund matured on 30 July 1957, and - according to the Treasury Legal
Advisers - a note on the Bank of England archive refers to a memorandum indicating that
the account for the fund was closed during 1960.
60 12 & 13 Vict. c.lxxxiii (1849) (“The 1849 Act”). This Act was the first in a series of five
relating to the railway company, culminating in 1927. One of the five was repealed by the
East India Loans Act 1937 (c.14): the East India Loan (Great Indian Peninsula Railway
Debentures) Act 1901 (1 Edw. 7 c.25), which Act enabled the Secretary of State in Council
of India to raise moneys in the UK to redeem debentures of the railway company.
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