Sect. 30. belonging to or controlled by any such company or person, or do anything to impede the passage of water or gas or the telegraphic or other communication into or through such mains or pipes, without the consent of such company or person, or in any other manner than such company or person shall approve, until good and sufficient mains, pipes, valves, syphons, plugs, and other works necessary or proper for continuing the supply of water or gas or telegraphic or other communication, as sufficiently as the same was supplied by the mains or pipes, tubes, wires, or apparatus proposed to be removed or displaced, shall at the expense of the promoters have been first made and laid down in lieu thereof and ready for use, and to the satisfaction of the surveyor or engineer of such water or gas or other company, or of such person, or, in case of disagreement between such surveyor or engineer and the promoters, as an engineer appointed by the Board of Trade shall direct: 3. The promoters shall not lay down any such pipes contrary to the regulations of any Act of Parliament relating to such water or gas or other company, or relating to telegraphs (2): 4. The promoters shall make good all damage done by them to property belonging to or controlled by any such company or person, and shall make full compensation to all parties for any loss or damage which they may sustain by reason of any interference with such property, or with the private service pipes of any person supplied by any such company or person with water or gas (a): 5. If by any such operations as aforesaid the promoters interrupt the supply of water or gas in or through any main or main pipe (a) they shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Sect. 30. (s) See sects. 4 and 24. (t) These words are wide enough to cover any kind of property with which the promoters may find it necessary to interfere―e.g., wires for conveying electric energy for any purpose, pipes for conveying hydraulic pressure, pneumatic tubes, telephone wires, &c., whether invented or thought of in 1870 or not. But it will be observed both here and further on in the section that it was not contemplated that anything would be "supplied" by such underground apparatus except gas and water. Electric Lighting Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 56), s. 15, gives an alternative statutory provision for the interference by promoters with electric lines and works connected with them. Provisions for the access of local authorities to sewers and drains will be found in the model Order, post, p. 429. In the Metropolis the undertakings of the water companies will be transferred as from the appointed day (June 24, 1904, or such other day as the Local Government Board may appoint) to the Water Board, to which this section will then apply. (Metropolis Water Act, 1902 (2 Edw. 7, c. 41), ss. 2, 3, 37.) (u) See note (q) to sect. 26. It will be noted that we have in this section seven days' notice" merely, with no "at least" as in sect. 26; but in sub-sect. 2 we find "not less than forty-eight hours' notice." (x) That is, by sect. 33. (y) Note that the promoters are only entitled to proceed under this section "where and as far as it is necessary or may appear expedient for the purpose of preventing frequent interruption of the traffic by repairs or works in connection with" the apparatus of which they propose to alter the position. Cases on sect. 16 of Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 20), show that this limitation will be construed with strictness. (R. v. Wycombe Railway Co. (1867), L. R. 2 Q. B. 310; 36 L. J. Q. B. 121; Fenwick v. East London Railway Co. (1875), L. R. 20 Eq. 544; 44 L. J. Ch. 602; Pugh v. Golden Valley Railway Co. (1880), 12 Ch. D. 274; 48 L. J. Ch. 666; 15 Ch. D. 330; 49 L. J. Ch. 721 (C. A.).) As to the meaning of the words "with as little detriment and inconvenience. . . as the circumstances will admit," they are perhaps slightly more lenient than "as little damage as can be," in sect. 16 of Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, or sect. 12 of Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 17). These latter words have been held not to regulate in any way the nature of the works to be done, but merely the manner of doing them. (R. v. East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway Co. (1853), 2 E. & B. 466 ; 22 L. J. Q. B. 380; Fenwick v. East London Railway Co., ub. sup.) Sect. 30. See also Wolverhampton Tramways Co. v. Great Western Railway Co. (1886), 56 L. J. Q. B. 190, in note (p) to sect. 32. As to the jurisdiction of an arbitrator appointed to determine a difference under this section to order the alteration of existing mains, see In re Ilford Gas Co. and Ilford Urban District Council (1903), 88 L. T. 236. () As, for instance, some of the Acts mentioned in note (b) below and the various private Acts. (a) It will be noticed that no compensation or penalty is enacted for interference with the supply of anything else than water or gas -e.g., electric or hydraulic energy. Yet undertakers are made liable to penalties for default in supplying electric energy under the usual clause (Electric Lighting Clauses Act, 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. 19), Sched. s. 30, just as gas and water companies are. The defect, though small, should be remedied by protective clauses in particular cases. (b) This section as a whole is very similar in its terms mutatis mutandis with Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 20), ss. 18 to 23. The penalty is there enacted (sect. 23) to be paid to the overseers of the parish. In the present section nothing is said about the disposal of the penalty, which therefore, presumably, is dealt with like any other penalty (see sect. 56). Compare also Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), s. 153; Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 55), s. 149; Metropolis Management Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), s. 98; Gasworks Clauses Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 15), ss. 6 to 12; Waterworks Clauses Act, 1817 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 17), ss. 28 to 34; Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 34), ss. 61, 62; Telegraph Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 112), ss. 6, 7, 8, extended by Telegraph Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 59), s. 8; Electric Lighting Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 56), s. 15; and, most elaborate of all, Electric Lighting Clauses Act, 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. 19), Schedule, ss. 17, 18. There is nothing in the concluding words of the section, as there was in the concluding words of sect. 27, to make the penalty here provided additional to any right of action in a person injured, but sub-sect. 4 seems to make it clear that the Legislature intended it to be so (see further sect. 49, note (i)). For this section viewed in connection with sect. 26, see Brentford Urban District Council v. London United Tramways, Ltd. (1901), 45 So. J. 408; "Times" Newspaper, Mar. 30; and sect. 26, note (t). The question how far the protection afforded by the Act generally, and this section in particular, is sufficient for gas, water, and similar companies, so that they are precluded from seeking the insertion of protective clauses, is discussed ante, pp. 35, 36. See in particular in connection with this section, Brentford and District Tramways Bill (1885), R. & M. 6; Tramways Order (No. 2), (Bristol Tramways Extension) Bill (1891), R. & S. 160; Edinburgh Street Tramways Bill (1893), R. & S. 262; Airdrie and Coatbridge Tramways Bill (1900), 2 S. & A. 3. Sect. 31. 31. Where in any district any tramway or any work connected therewith interferes with any sewer, drain, For protection watercourse, subway, defence, or work (e) in such dis- of sewers, &c. trict, or in any way affects the sewerage or drainage of such district, the promoters (d) shall not commence any tramway or work until they shall have given to the proper authority (e) fourteen days previous notice (ƒ) in writing of their intention to commence the same, by leaving such notice at the principal office of such authority with all necessary particulars (g) relating thereto, nor until such authority shall have signified their approval of the same, unless such authority do not signify their approval, disapproval, or other directions within fourteen days after service of the said notice and particulars as aforesaid, and the promoters shall comply with and conform to all reasonable directions and regulations of the said authority in the execution of the said works, and shall provide by new, altered, or substituted works, in such manner as such authority shall reasonably require, for the proper protection of and for preventing injury or impediment to the sewers and works herein before referred to, by or by reason of the tramways, and shall save harmless the said authority against all and every the expense to be occasioned thereby; and all such works shall be done under the direction, superintendence, and control of the engineer or other officer or officers of the said authority, at the reasonable costs, charges, and expenses in all respects of the promoters; and when any new, altered, or substituted work as aforesaid, or any works or defence connected therewith, shall be completed by or at the costs, charges, or expenses of the promoters, under the provisions of this Act, the same shall thereafter be as fully and completely under the direction, jurisdiction, and control of the said authority and be maintained by them as any sewers or works (h). (c) In view of the scope of this section, these words must be Sect. 31. Rights of authorities and companies, &c. to open roads. taken to refer only to works of the various kinds specified when existing in connection with sewerage or drainage. Compare the enumeration in Metropolis Management Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), ss. 68 and 135. (d) See sects. 4 and 24. (e) That is, the various local authorities, and in the Metropolis, other than the City of London, the London County Council as to main drainage and the borough councils as to other drainage; also, as to matters within their particular control, the Commissioners of Sewers and Drainage Commissioners under the Bill of Sewers (23 Hen. 8, c. 5) and subsequent statutes. (f) See sect. 26, note (g). The present section contains no words corresponding to "at least" in sect. 26. (g) In Brentford Urban District Council v. London United Tramways, Ltd. (1901), 45 So. J. 408; "Times" Newspaper, Mar. 30, the company sent the local authority a plan and section of the works proposed, but did not state the depth to which the works would go. It was held that in the particular case (the laying down of cableways and cables) the "necessary particulars" had been given. (h) Compare with this section the similar provisions of sects. 30 and 32, and the provisions of various Acts enumerated in note (6) on sect. 30. The present Act is deficient in not providing sewerage authorities specifically with the rights and powers given to local and road authorities, and to proprietors of pipes, wires, &c., by sects. 32 and 33. Those sections are probably wide enough for the purpose, but the omission is to some extent supplied by the model clause (post, p. 429; compare the similar clause for light railways, post, p. 608). This clause, however, is not wide enough to apply to commissioners of sewers and drainage commissioners, and for their protection a proper clause should be inserted in the Order or Act. power 32. Nothing in this Act shall take away or abridge any power to open or break up any road (i) along or across which any tramway is laid, or any other vested in any local authority (i) or road authority (i) for any of the purposes for which such authority is respectively constituted, or in any company, body, or person for the purpose of laying down, repairing, altering, or removing any pipe for the supply of gas or water, or any tubes, wires, or apparatus for telegraphic or other purposes (k), but in the exercise of such power every such local authority, road autho |