appliances suggested was the system of continuous brakes. In June, 1875,
a great contest of brakes, extending over three days, in which trains of
the principal companies engaged, took place on the Midland railway
between Newark and Bleasby. A large number of brakes competed--the
Westinghouse, the Vacuum, Clarke's Hydraulic, Webb's Chain, and several
others. It is recorded that at the conclusion of the trial, each
patentee left the _refreshment tent_ satisfied that his own brake was the
best; but Time is the great arbiter, and _his_ decision has been in
favour of two--the Automatic Vacuum and the Westinghouse, and these are
the brakes the companies have adopted. The Act required all railway
companies to submit to the Board of Trade, twice in every year, returns
showing the amount of rolling stock fitted with continuous brakes, the
description of brake and whether self-acting and instantaneous in action.
So far there was no compulsion upon the railways to use continuous
brakes, though most of the companies were earnestly studying the subject,
but the rival claims of inventors and the uncertainty as to which
invention would best stand the test of time tended to retard their
adoption. Meanwhile, the publicity afforded by the Board of Trade
Returns, and public discussion, helped to hasten events and the climax
was reached in 1889, when a terrible accident, due primarily to
inefficient brake power, occurred in Ireland, and was attended with great
loss of life. The Board of Trade was in that year invested with
statutory power to _compel_ railway companies, within a given time, to
provide all passenger trains with automatic continuous brakes.

In 1878 there was also passed the _Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act_.
Foot and mouth disease had for some time been rife in Great Britain and
Ireland, and legislation became necessary. The Act applied not only to
railways but was also directed to the general control and supervision of
flocks and herds. It contained a number of clauses concerning transit by