Telegraph Act 1878
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1878 c. 76 |
Telegraph Act, 1878
(41 & 42 Vict.) CHAPTER 76.
An Act to make further provision respecting the Post Office Telegraphs.
[16th August 1878]
B E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theTelegraph Act, 1878.
2 Definitions.
2. In the construction of this Act, unless there is something inconsistent in the context, words and expressions shall have the same meanings as in the Telegraph Act, 1863, and in addition thereto—
The expressions ‘street’ and ‘public road’ shall respectively include any highway:
The expression ‘Act of Parliament’ means any Act of Parliament whether public general, local and personal, or private, and includes the order confirmed by any such Act, and includes a certificate granted by the Board of Trade under the Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864:
The expression ‘Telegraph Acts’ includes the Telegraph Act, 1863, the Telegraph Act Amendment Act, 1866, the Telegraph Act, 1868, the Telegraph Act, 1869, the Telegraph Act, 1870, this Act and any Acts or parts of Acts incorporated with such Acts or referred to therein, any or either of them, and such several Acts maybe cited together as the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1878:
The expression ‘undertaking’ means the works or undertaking of whatever nature the execution of which is authorised by an Act of Parliament as above defined:
The expression ‘undertakers’ means the parties, whether company, commissioners, trustees, corporations, or private persons, empowered by an Act of Parliament as above defined to execute an undertaking, and any lessee or tenant thereof:
The expression ‘agents’ includes contractors, and also the officers, engineers, workmen, or servants, as well of the Postmaster General, undertakers, bodies, or persons, as of his or their contractors:
The expression ‘telegraphic line’ means telegraphs, posts, and any work (within the meaning of the Telegraph Act, 1863) and also any cables, apparatus, pneumatic or other tube, pipe, or thing whatsoever used for the purpose of transmitting telegraphic messages or maintaining telegraphic communication and includes any portion of a telegraphic line as defined by this Act:
The expressions ‘alteration,’‘alter,’ and ‘altering’ in respect of a telegraphic line, include the substitution of any new line or portion of a line, either in the same place or in some other place, also any removal of or other dealing with any telegraphic line or any part of such line.
3 Amendment of 26 & 27 Vict. c. 112. as to consents.
3. Where any body or person (within the meaning of the Telegraph Act, 1863,) having power under the said Act to give or withhold their consent to the Postmaster General placing telegraphs and posts (within the meaning of the said Act) in, under, upon, along, over, or across a street or public road, or any estuary or branch of the sea, or the shore or bed of any tidal water, or where any proprietors, lessees, directors, or persons having the control of any railway or canal (within the meaning of the said Act), and having power under the said Act to give or withhold a consent to the Postmaster General placing telegraphs and posts under, in, upon, along, or across such railway or canal, fail within twenty-one days after being required to do so by the Postmaster General to give their consent, or attach to their consent any terms, conditions, or stipulations to which the Postmaster General objects, or withdraw a consent, a difference shall be deemed to have arisen between the Postmaster General and such body or person, proprietors, lessees, directors, or persons (as the case may be,) and that difference shall be determined in manner herein-after provided, and the authority by whom the difference is to be determined may, if after hearing all parties concerned they think it just, give their consent either unconditionally or subject to such pecuniary or other terms, conditions, and stipulations as they may think just; and that consent shall for all purposes be of the same effect as if it were a consent given under the Telegraph Act, 1863, to the Postmaster General by such body or person, proprietors, lessees, directors, or persons.
4 Differences relating to a street or public road to be determined by stipendiary magistrate, county court judge, or sheriff.
4. Where any difference arises under this Act or the Telegraph Act, 1863, between the Postmaster General and any body or person having any power, jurisdiction, or control over or relating to a street or public road, or having power under the last-mentioned Act to give or withhold a consent to the placing of telegraphs and posts in, under, upon, along, or across a street or public road, such difference shall in England or Wales and Ireland be referred to the police or stipendiary magistrate having jurisdiction within the district in which the difference has arisen, or if there he no such magistrate, then to the judge of the county court having jurisdiction within such district, and in Scotland to the sheriff, and such magistrate, judge, and sheriff are respectively empowered and required to hear and determine such difference, and sections thirty to thirty-three, both inclusive, of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868, shall apply to every difference so referred to such magistrate, judge, or sheriff (as the case may be) in like manner as if he were an arbitrator appointed pursuant to those sections, and as if the Postmaster General, body, or person between whom the difference has arisen were companies within the meaning of those sections.
Provided always, that in case either the Postmaster General or the body or person between whom the difference has arisen shall be dissatisfied with the award or decision of such magistrate, judge, or sheriff, the party so dissatisfied may within twenty-one days after such award or decision require, by a notice in writing given to the other party, that the difference shall be referred to the Railway Commissioners.
5 General provisions as to arbitration.
5. The differences so required to be referred by the last preceding section to the Railway Commissioners and all other differences under this Act, except a difference between the Postmaster General and any body or person having any right, power, jurisdiction, or control in, over, or relating to any estuary or branch of the sea or the shore or bed of any tidal water, shall be referred to and shall be determined by the Railway Commissioners for the time being; and every difference referred to them under this Act shall be conducted by the Railway Commissioners in the same manner as any other proceeding is conducted by them under the Acts relating to those Commissioners; and it shall be the duty of the Railway Commissioners, and they are hereby empowered, to undertake and determine any difference referred to them under this Act; and any difference between the Postmaster General and anybody or person having any right of property or other right, or any power, jurisdiction, or authority in, over, or relating to any estuary, branch of the sea, or the shore or bed of any tidal water shall be referred to and determined by the Board of Trade.
In the event of the Railway Commissioners ceasing to hold office, all differences directed under this Act to be determined by them shall be determined by the Board of Trade, and sections thirty to thirty-three, both inclusive, of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868, shall apply to every difference to be determined under this Act by the Board of Trade, in like manner as if the Postmaster General, undertakers, body, or person between whom that difference has arisen were companies within the meaning of those sections.
6 Power of Postmaster General to establish telegraphic lines on certain undertakings authorised by special Act of Parliament.
6. Where an Act of Parliament passed after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight authorises the construction of any of the following undertakings, namely, any railway, canal, tramway other than street tramways, highway, bridge, railway or river embankment, subway, aqueduct over or across a river, dock, harbour, or pier, it shall be lawful for the Postmaster General, by himself or his agents, to place and maintain telegraphic lines in, under, upon, along, over, or across such undertaking, and from time to time to alter the same, and he may from time to time, by himself or his agents, enter upon any land or works of the undertakers for the purpose of placing, maintaining, or altering any telegraphic line in pursuance of this section, or of examining or repairing any line so placed, and may there remain for such reasonable time, and execute and do all such works and things, as may be necessary or convenient for the purposes aforesaid, but shall not interfere with the traffic along or user of the undertaking, subject to the following conditions:
(1) (1.) In placing, maintaining, or altering such telegraphic lines no obstruction shall be caused to the traffic along or the user of such undertaking:
(2) (2.) The Postmaster General shall, not less than one month before he places any telegraphic line, give to the undertakers a notice specifying the course...
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