( 1 ) THIS appeal has taken an inordinately long time and that has been because the facts are in such a confused state that the learned counsel for both parties found considerable difficulty in getting out of them what they required for their respective purposes. It must also be said that the carriage of the proceedings before the learned Judge below was slovenly to a degree on the part of both parties. They did not seem to have considered it necessary to examine what their opponent was saying, nor to apply their minds to deciding what facts they had themselves to prove in order to obtain an order in their favour.

( 2 ) THE appellant is a public Limited Company which was formed for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a Railway, operating between the Station of Bukhtiarpur on the East Indian Railway and the town of Behar, There appears to have been an agreement between the promoters and certain local authorities which entitled those authorities to take over the Railway in certain circumstances. In pursuance of that agreement, the Company appears to have established a Railway running between Bukhtiarpur and Rajgir-kund which was a distance of about 30 mi