(1)It shall be lawful for the Minister to purchase privately-owned railway wagons required for use on any railway on such terms and conditions as may be authorised by or under an Order in Council, a draft whereof has been approved by a Resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament, and to work or lease any such wagons when so purchased, or to apportion them among the several railway undertakings in such manner, on such terms, and subject to such conditions as may be provided by or under the Order :
Provided that the Minister shall not be entitled to purchase in England and Wales, or Scotland, or Ireland, respectively, wagons used for the conveyance of any particular class of traffic unless he purchases all privately-owned wagons so used which belong to or are used by persons carrying on business therein, and which comply with the regulations with respect to such wagons in force at the date of such purchase.
(2)Where, in the case of any wagon which has been in use on or before the fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and nineteen, the wagon has since that date been the subject of a purchase agreement, the price paid on such purchase shall not be evidence of the value of the wagon in determining the price to be paid by the Minister.
(3)Where the Minister has, in pursuance of his powers under this section, purchased any wagon, any contract then in force for the repair of the wagon shall upon the purchase be determined, unless otherwise agreed with the Minister.
(4)Where the Minister exercises his powers of purchasing wagons under this section, or of prohibiting or restricting the use of privately-owned wagons, or of limiting the number of wagons to be so used, the following provisions shall have effect:—
(a)The reasonable facilities which every railway company is required to afford under section two of the [17 & 18 Vict. c. 31.] Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1854, as amended or explained by any other Act, shall, where the railway wagons of traders of any class have been purchased, include the provision of suitable railway wagons for the use of traders of that class, and it shall be the duty of the Minister so to exercise his powers of working or disposing of the wagons purchased by him as to enable the railway companies to fulfil their obligations under this provision as fully as may be practicable:
(b)Where the provision of wagons is not included in the authorised maximum rates of conveyance, a railway company may charge for the use of such wagons such sums as may be directed by the Minister under section three of this Act, and, if and so far as no such directions are in force, any sums not exceeding those prescribed for the use of such wagons by any Railway Rates and Charges Order applicable thereto :
(c)Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act or any decision thereunder, in determining what sum may be charged under the provisions of any Railway Rates and Charges Order for the detention of wagons at the premises of any trader, regard shall be had to the requirements and reasonable usages of the trade carried on at those premises in connexion with which such wagons are used.
(5)Notwithstanding any statutory or other provision to the contrary, it shall he lawful for the Minister to make regulations prohibiting or restricting the use on railways of privately-owned wagons or limiting the number of wagons to be so used and prescribing the type and capacity thereof:
Provided that nothing in this Act shall authorise the prohibition of the use on railways of such wagons as comply with regulations for the time being in force made in pursuance of the [7 & 8 Vict. c. 20.] Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, the [7 & 8 Vict. c. 31.] Railways Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, or any other enactment in force at the date of the passing of this Act, and as are in use, under repair, or in course of construction at that date.