requisition of twenty ratepayers or owners, or of twenty ratepayers and owners, but the requisitionists, in both cases, are required to be resident in the district or place with respect to which the resolution is to be passed.

"Under the Local Government Act, 1858, section 13 (3), the meeting could only be adjourned from day to day, and the construction placed by the Law Officers of the Crown upon this provision was that the adjournment must be from one day to the next. The interpretation has been productive of inconvenience, and in some cases has led to the failure of the proceedings, when the adjournment has been improperly made over intervening days. An amendment has therefore been introduced (Rule 5, p. 327) enabling the meeting to be adjourned from time to time.

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The foregoing statement does not profess to exhaust all the minor amendments which have been made in the law by the present Act; but the Board believe that they have sufficiently explained the nature and intention of all the principal changes effected by it, and they trust that their observations will be of service to Urban Authorities in administering its various and important provisions."

RURAL SANITARY AUTHORITIES.

"The following detailed statement shows the principal alterations of the law contained in the Act, so far as they relate to Rural Sanitary Authorities:

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Constitution of Authorities.

"In some cases where nearly the whole of the Parishes of a Poor-Law Union are included in one or more Urban districts, the number of elective guardians qualified to act as members of the Rural Sanitary Authority was too small to enable them to form a quorum; and in others, the members of the Rural Sanitary Authority have been so few as to prevent the efficient discharge of their duties. Section 9 of the present Act (post, p. 11), therefore, enables the Board to nominate as members of any Rural Sanitary Authority a sufficient number of persons to make up the number to five, exclusive of ex officio members; such nominees to be selected from owners or occupiers of property in the district of a value sufficient to qualify them to act as elective guardians of the union.

Sewerage and Drainage.

"Under the Sanitary Acts, sewers in an Urban district, excepting those made for the purposes of profit, or under the authority of Commissioners of Sewers, or for the drainage or improvement of land under local or private Acts, vested in the Urban Authority; but no similar provision was made with respect to sewers in Rural districts. For the future, these will vest in the Rural Sanitary Authority, subject to the above exceptions, and to the proviso that sewers constructed by or transferred to any Authority empowered by statute to construct sewers, will vest in the Authority who constructed them, or to whom they have been transferred. In order to prevent this and other provisions of the Act from extending to drains for surface water belonging to Highway Authorities, the definition of 'sewer' contained in the Public Health Act, 1848, has been modified by section 4 of the present Act (post, p. 6), so as to exclude drains vested in or under the control of any Authority having the management of roads, and not being a Local Authority under the Act. It may be here observed that 'Local Authority' is the term used in the Act when it is intended to include both Urban and Rural Sanitary Authorities.

"The power possessed by Local Boards under the 44th section of the Public Health Act, 1848, of purchasing sewers, or rights in sewers, in their districts, has been extended by section 14 (post, p. 14) to Rural Authorities.

"By the Local Government Act Amendment Act, 1861, section 4, power was given to Sanitary Authorities to construct works of sewerage outside their districts, but it was provided that nothing in that Act should empower such Authorities to discharge unpurified sewage into

streams or water-courses. Section 17 (post, p. 19) has made this provision applicable to all works of sewerage, whether within or without the district of the Authority, and has extended it to canals, ponds and lakes.

“Section 19 (post, p. 23) imposes on every Local Authority the duty of causing their sewers to be ventilated, so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health.

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In cases where, for the purpose of enforcing the drainage of a row of undrained houses, it would be less expensive to construct a new sewer than to compel such houses to drain into an existing sewer, the Authority are empowered (section 23, p. 27) to construct a new sewer and to apportion the expense among the owners of the houses.

"It has happened that a Local Authority, after enforcing the communication of house drains with a particular system of sewers, have found it necessary to change their general scheme of sewerage, and to construct fresh sewers; but the Sanitary Acts contained no provision under which the Local Authority could compel fresh junctions, or defray their cost. Section 24 (post, p. 27) now empowers a Local Authority, under these circumstances, to close any such existing drains, on condition of providing others equally effectual and communicating with the new system.

"Under the Sewage Utilization Act, 1867, a Local Authority were not empowered to let, for more than seven years, land held by them for purposes connected with sewage distribution; this period is extended by section 29 (post, p. 31) to twenty-one years.

Privies, Water Closets, &c.

"The power given to Local Boards by the 52nd section of the Public Health Act, 1848, to enforce proper water-closet or privy accommodation in factories, has been extended by section 38 (post, p. 36) of the present Act to Rural Authorities. The previous provision only applied to factories in which persons of both sexes, and above twenty in number, were employed; but the restriction as to number has now been removed.

Scavenging and Cleansing.

By the 60th section of the Public Health Act, 1848, Urban Authorities were enabled to enforce the white-washing, cleansing, or purifying of houses, on the certificate of the medical officer of health, or two medical practitioners, that they were in such a filthy or unwholesome state as to affect or endanger the health of any person, or that such white-washing, cleansing, or purifying, would tend to prevent or check infectious disease. Section 46 (post, p. 40) extends this power to Rural Authorities.

"It will be observed from section 4 (post, p. 5) that 'house' includes schools, also factories and other buildings in which more than twenty persons are employed at one time.

Offensive Ditches and Collections of Matter.

"The power contained in the 31st section of the Local Government Act, 1858, enabling an Urban authority to obtain an order of Justices for the cleansing of any offensive ditch or watercourse lying near or forming the boundary of their district, is conferred by section 48 (post, p. 42) on Rural Authorities.

Water Supply.

"Section 51 (post, p. 44), in conformity with the recommendation of the Royal Sanitary Commission, requires that the sanction of the Local Government Board should be obtained before any waterworks or water-rights are purchased by a Local Authority.

"By the Public Health Act, 1848, section 75, Local Authorities were placed under certain restrictions in the construction of waterworks within the limits of supply of any water company, and a question having arisen whether these restrictions were confined to cases where the company is empowered by statute to supply water, section 52 (post, p. 53) removes the doubt by expressly limiting such restrictions to cases where the water company has acquired parliamentary

powers.

"Before constructing any reservoir to hold more than 100,000 gallons, Local Authorities are required, by section 53 (post, p. 53), to give notice of their intention by advertisement; and in case of objection on the part of any person interested, the Local Government Board are empowered, after local inquiry, to allow the proposed work, with or without modifications, or to disallow it.

"Section 54 (post, p. 54) confers on Local Authorities the same powers for carrying water mains without their districts as they have for carrying sewers, and imposes on them the like restrictions.

"Where the Local Authority have constructed or purchased waterworks, section 55 (post, p. 54) imposes upon them the obligation of keeping the supply of water pure and wholesome.

"The provisions of the Sanitary Acts with reference to the supply of water by Local Authorities having been found in some respects inadequate, section 57 (post, p. 54) incorporates the provisions of the Waterworks Clauses Acts, with regard to communication pipes, the waste or misuse of water, the fouling of water, and the payment and recovery of water rates. The effect of this incorporation will be to give Local Authorities supplying water the benefit of such of the provisions of the general Acts relating to water companies as are applicable to their circumstances; and in consequence of such incorporation some of the provisions of the Public Health Act, 1848, have been omitted as unnecessary.

"Sections 58, 59, and 60 (post, pp. 55, 56) enable Local Authorities to supply water by measure, and contain such provisions with respect to meters as are usually found in special Water Acts.

"In cases where a Local Authority have more water than is required for the supply of their own district, and the Authority of an adjoining district are willing to take the surplus, section 61 (post, p. 56) enables the necessary arrangements to be entered into for that purpose, subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board. It is believed that this provision will not infrequently be found useful in cases where a Local Authority obtain their supply from sources outside their district. "Complaints have often been made that, in attempting to enforce a compulsory supply of water to houses in districts where no local Act is in force, the limited charge, viz., 2d., a week is insufficient to enable a proper supply to be furnished. The Local Government Board are now empowered by section 62 (post, p. 56), on the application of any Local Authority, to extend the limit of charge to such amount as the Board may, under all the circumstances of the case, deem reasonable. The same section, by expressly enabling the Local Authority to enter into contracts with a water company, removes certain difficulties which had arisen under the Sanitary Acts, where the Authority enforced a supply of water in a district within the limits of a water company.

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The Sanitary Acts required the consent of three-fifths of the shareholders of a water company to the transfer of their undertaking to a Local Authority. By section 63 (post, p. 57) the consent of threefourths is required where the company is not registered under the Companies' Act, 1862, but in the case of companies so registered, the consent must be expressed by a special resolution, passed in the manner provided by that Act. The object of this amendment is to assimilate the law to the requirements of the standing orders of the House of Lords in similar cases.

"The power of Local Authorities under the 50th section of the Sanitary Law Amendment Act, 1874, to institute proceedings for the closing of polluted wells, cisterns and tanks, has been extended by section 70 (post, p. 61), so as to include the case where the water is used for the manufacture of aerated or other drinks for human consumption. The section further enables proceedings to be taken against the owner as well as the occupier, and empowers the Authority, if an order of Justices under the section is not complied with, themselves to carry it into execution, and to recover the expenses in a summary manner from the person on whom the order is made. Any expenses which are not recovered from such person are, when incurred by a Rural Authority under this provision, to be special expenses.

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Common Lodging Houses.

In addition to the duties imposed on Local Authorities under the Sanitary Acts, in relation to these houses, they are required by section 80 (3) (post, p. 64) to make bye-laws for the giving of notices and the taking precautions in case of any infectious disease.

Nuisances.

"Previously to the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench in the case