A BILL [AS AMENDED IN COMMITTEE] FOR Facilitating the Drainage of Lands in England and [Note.-The Clauses marked A. and B. were added in Committee.] W HEREAS it is expedient that further Provision be made Preamble. for facilitating the Drainage of Lands in England and Wales: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords 5 Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows: I. This Act may be cited for any Purpose as "The Drainage Act, Short Title. 1854." II. In this Act the following Words and Expressions have the fol- Interpreta10 lowing Meanings, unless there be in the Subject or Context some- tion Clause. thing repugnant to or inconsistent with such Construction : 66 Engineer" includes Surveyor, Land Agent, and Drainage Agent: “Drainage" includes all Operations, Works, and Conveniences for the Drainage of Lands: 15" Canals and Waterworks" includes navigable Rivers, Canals, and Waterworks, and the Banks, Works, and Conveniences thereof respectively: With respect to the Execution of this Act. Commission 99 "Lands includes Canals, Waterworks, Mills, Dams, Weirs, Mes- III. The Commissioners for executing the Act of the Eighth and Ninth of Victoria, Chapter One hundred and eighteen, relating to the Inclosure of Commons, and which Commissioners are in that Act ers under Act called "The Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales," shall 10 be the Commissioners for executing this Act; and the Assistant Commissioners, Secretary, Clerks, Messengers, and other Officers of the Commissioners shall assist in executing this Act. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 118. to execute Act. Name of ers. Provisions of other Acts extended to this Act. Commis sioners to IV. The Name, "The Drainage and Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales," shall henceforth be the Name of the Inclosure 15 Commissioners for England and Wales; and where in any Act of Parliament already or hereafter passed, or in any Instrument already or hereafter made, the Name, "The Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales," occurs, that Name shall after the passing of this Act mean "The Drainage and Inclosure Commissioners for England 20 and Wales," and which Commissioners are in this Act called "the Commissioners.". V. The Act of the Eighth and Ninth of Victoria, Chapter One hundred and eighteen, and any and every other Public General Act from Time to Time in force relating to the Commissioners, apply to 25 this Act, and the several Powers, Provisions, and Purposes of this Act, and shall have Effect and may be exercised accordingly, and those Acts and this Act shall accordingly for the Purposes of this Act be construed and operate as if they were One Act. VI. The Commissioners from Time to Time may frame, and, as 30 frame Proce- they see Occasion, print and circulate such Forms for regulating and facilitating Proceedings under this Act as they think fit. dure. Orders by Commissioners. VII. Where the Commissioners are by this Act authorized to make Orders on several Matters respecting the same Drainage, they may, if they think fit, make One Order as to several of those Matters, 35 instead of One Order as to every Matter; and where they are by this Act authorized to make One Order they may, if they think fit, make, instead of One Order on the whole Matter, several Orders, each as to a distinct Part of the Matter; and where they make an Order under this Act which they afterwards think incomplete or insufficient, 40 they they may, if they think fit, make any subsequent Order for obviating such Incompleteness or Insufficiency; and where they make an Order which any Person interested thereunder requests the Commissioners to amend, they may, if they think fit, but subject and without Prejudice to the Rights and Interests thereunder of all Persons who do 5 not consent to the Amendment, make any subsequent Order for effecting the Amendment: Except where by this Act otherwise provided all Orders by the Commissioners for the Purposes of this Act shall be under their Seal. VIII. The Commissioners from Time to Time, if they think fit, may Appoint10 appoint an Engineer, not being an Engineer in the Employment of ment of Engineer. the Promoters of the Drainage, to perform any of the Duties under this Act of an Assistant Commissioner; and every Engineer so from Time to Time appointed, and within the Limits of his Appointment, shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed an Assistant Com15 missioner, and the Provisions of the Act applicable to the Assistant Commissioners shall apply to such Engineers accordingly. may be IX. All Notices for the Purposes of this Act, which, according to By whom the Provisions thereof, are to be given by the Commissioners or any Notices Assistant Commissioner, may be given by the Secretary of the given.. 20 Commissioners, or any Person in that Behalf authorized by the Commissioners. X. All Husbands, Guardians, and Committees on behalf of Guardians, married Women, Infants, Minors, Lunatics, and Idiots, and all &c. to act for Wards, Feoffees and Trustees, Executors and Administrators, shall respec- &c. 25 tively have the same Rights and Powers of making Applications, and consenting, and signifying Dissents, and taking other Proceedings under this Act, as such married Women, Infants, Minors, Lunatics, and Idiots respectively would have if free from Disability, or as such Feoffees or Trustees, Executors and Administrators respectively would have if 30 the Estates, Charges, or Interests of which they are such Feoffees or Trustees, or which are vested in them as such Executors or Administrators, were vested in them in their own Right. owners under XI. Where a Landowner is an Infant, Lunatic, Idiot, a Feme Substitutes Covert, or under any other legal Disability, or beyond Seas, the for Land35 Guardian, Trustee, Committee of the Estate, Husband, or Attorney, Disability. or, in default thereof, such Person as is nominated for that Purpose by the Commissioners, and whom they are hereby empowered, on the Application of any Person in any way interested, to nominate by Writing under their Seal, shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed 40 the Landowner. Form and XII. The Instrument by which any such Nomination of a Substitute is made, may be in the Form in the Schedule (A.) to this Act Instruments annexed, or to the like Effect, and shall be deposited in the Office of appointing the Commissioners; and a Copy thereof, authenticated by the Signature Substitutes. of a Witness, shall be delivered by the Commissioners to any Person 5 interested, on his paying Two Shillings and Sixpence for the same. Agents for Landowners. Form and Deposit of XIII. A Landowner may, by a Power of Attorney in Writing under his Hand, appoint any Person to be an Agent to act for him for the Purposes of this Act, and all Things which by this Act shall or may be done by or with respect to the Landowner may be done 10 by or with respect to the Agent so duly authorized of the Landowner, and every such Agent shall have full Power, in the Name and on behalf of his Principal, to act in all respects for the Purposes of this Act, and the Principal shall be bound by the Acts of the Agent, according to the Authority committed to him, as if the Principal had 15 so acted. XIV. The Power of Attorney by which any such Agent is Copy of Ap- appointed may be in the Form in the Schedule (B.) to this Act pointment of annexed, or to the like Effect, and a Copy thereof, authenticated by Agent. the Signature of a Witness, shall be deposited in the Office of the 20 Commissioners. Commis sioners may curity. XV. The Commissioners may, if they think fit, require Security, require Se- by Bond or otherwise, and in such Form as they think fit, to be given by or on behalf of any Persons applying to the Commissioners for the Execution of this Act, for the Payment to the Commissioners of 25 their Expenses of and incident to the entertaining of the Application and all their Proceedings consequent thereon, and also, if the Commissioners think fit, for the Payment of any other Persons of their Expenses consequent on the Application, and any Proceedings thereunder, and which under this Act may become payable to them by the 30 Persons so applying to the Commissioners, the Amount of such Expenses to be, if not agreed on, assessed by the Commissioners. Landowners Commis With respect to Application for the Sanction of the Commissioners for the Drainage of Lands and Proceedings thereon, be it enacted as follows: XVI. Where any Landowner is desirous of availing himself of the may apply to Facilities of this Act for the Drainage of Lands of which he is the sioners. Landowner, he may make, as by this Act provided, Application to the Commissioners for the Execution in that Behalf of this Act. 35 XVII. The XVII. The Application shall be in Writing, and accompanied by a Contents of Sketch or Plan, and shall contain such Particulars of the Lands to be Application. drained, and of the proposed Manner of effecting the Drainage, and of the estimated Expense of effecting the Drainage, and of the 5 estimated Increase of the Value of those Lands to result from the Drainage, and of the Canals, Waterworks, Lands, and Waters (if any) not belonging to the Applicants proposed to be taken, used, or interfered with for the Purposes of the Drainage, and of the estimated Injury or Benefit to such Canals, Waterworks, Lands, and Waters respectively, 10 as may enable the Commissioners to judge of the Expediency of entertaining the Application. cation. XVIII. Where the Commissioners, having regard to the Statements Investigation in the Application, think fit to entertain it, they shall make such on AppliInquiries in relation thereto as they think fit, and require such Plan 15 (if any) as they think fit to be prepared, and, if they think fit, shall cause the Lands proposed to be drained, and the Canals, Waterworks, Lands, and Waters (if any) proposed to be so taken, used, or interfered with, and the Particulars, with the Sketch or Plan, and Estimate of the proposed Drainage, and the Objections (if any) 20 thereto, to be inspected, examined, and considered by an Assistant Commissioner; and shall, if they think fit, cause Copies of the Application, Plans, and Estimates to be deposited, as provided by the Fourth Section of the Thirty-eighth Chapter of the Statute of the Tenth and Eleventh Year of Her Majesty. Landowners, &c. of In 25 XIX. Where, in the Opinion of the Commissioners, the proposed Notice to Drainage would require that any Canal, Waterworks, Lands, or Waters not belonging to the Applicants should be taken, used, or vestigation. interfered with, the Commissioners shall give to the Trustees, Coinpany, or other Body or Persons having the Management or Control 30 of such Canal or Waterworks, and to the Owners, Lessees, and Occupiers of such Lands and Waters respectively, such Notice as the Commissioners think fit, and also public Notice by such Advertisement as the Commissioners think fit, and respectively by any General or Special Order accordingly prescribe, of the Application, and of their 35 Intention to make Inquiries in relation thereto, and of the Time within which Objections to the proposed Drainage may be made. tion. XX. The Assistant Commissioner, after making such Inspection Report on and Examination as the Commissioners direct, and receiving and Investiga. considering all Objections to the proposed Drainage which are offered 40 to him, shall report thereon, and on the Statements in the Application, and shall annex to his Report the Particulars, Sketch or Plan, and |