Were such Councils established here their duties would not be so light as those which fall to them in Germany. There the questions to be considered must be few, the time occupied in deciding them short, owing to there being practically no competition, and to the great bulk of the rates being based on a mileage scale. Much more complex questions would arise here, much longer time must be taken up in deciding them in England, where rates are adapted to all the requirements of trade and competition in its many forms. In Holland, Belgium, and France, railways have been constructed with, in some cases, considerable financial assistance from the Governments, and under concessions for certain periods. Not unnaturally or unreasonably the Governments have reserved the right to control the rates and charges to be made while a concession is in existence, or when it ends. It will be found, however, that when there is power to reduce the rates before the expiration of the concession, the State guarantees the dividend in the event of loss arising from the compulsory reduction. Such is the case in Holland. The Dutch Law (Article 29) provides that reductions in the tariff can at all times be ordered by the State. But if, in consequence of such reductions, the net gain of the company be diminished, compensation is to be paid out of the State Treasury, and any dispute as to the amount of compensation is decided by a Court of Justice. In no case, however, must the amount of compensation raise the net profits of the year or years for which it is demanded above 8 per cent. of the Company’s capital. Thus the right to control rates is part and parcel of a system wholly unlike our own. It exists in a country where the State has helped to construct, and to a very large extent actually constructed, railways. It is alien to this country, where capital for the whole of the railways has been provided by private individuals, on the faith of the powers to levy the tolls and rates fixed in their private Acts.