PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1848. Local board may provide places of public recreation, &c. Local board to provide be resold at the best price that can be gotten for the same; and the proceeds of such resale shall be carried to the district fund account herein-after mentioned. 74. LXXIV. And be it enacted, that the local board of health, with the approval of the said general board, may provide, maintain, lay out, plant, and improve premises for the purpose of being used as public walks or pleasure grounds, and support or contribute towards any premises provided for such purposes by any person whomsoever. sufficient sup- board plies of water, 75. LXXV. And be it enacted, that the local may provide their district with such a supply of water (ƒ) as may be proper and suffi (f) The General Board remarked (Sept. 17, 1851), in answer to a case submitted to them, "As a general rule the Board are of opinion that there can be no sufficient drainage without water to carry off the accumulated house sewage." In the case of proposed public waterworks, the source from whence that supply is to be procured, is almost the first consideration which presents itself. This question divides itself into two great questions,-first, the copiousness and quality of the water,-and secondly, the public right to the use of that water. These are commonly either, 1. from gathering grounds draining into a reservoir; 2. from streams of water; 3. from wells. The selection of one of these will be dependant upon many circumstances. There is, I apprehend, a common law right possessed by all persons to take water for the domestic use of their families from any stream flowing through their land. The claim of a mill-owner or the proprietor of a water mead situated lower down the cient for the purposes of this Act, and for private use to the extent required by this Act; And for those purposes, or any of them, the said local board may from time to time, with stream, can only, I take it, extend to the river water, which Of the right of the inhabitants of any district to dig a well and supply their houses with water from it, there appears to be as little or perhaps less doubt. Tindal, C. J., remarked, in substance (Acton v. Blundell, 12 M. & W. 349), "There is a marked and substantial difference between the law governing running streams, and that of springs beneath the surface. In case of streams running in their natural course, the right enjoyed is public and notorious, long-continued, uninterrupted. In case of a well, however, the water does not flow openly in right of adjoining proprietors (see Cooper v. Barber, 3 Taunton, 99), but through hidden veins of the earth; no man can tell what changes these underground sources have undergone in the progress of time: it may well be that it is only of yesterday's date that they first took the course and direction which enabled them to supply the well. Again, no proprietor knows what portion of water is taken from beneath his own soil, how much he gives originally, or how much he receives; on the contrary, until the well is sunk and the water collected by draining into it, there cannot properly be said with reference to the well to be any flow of water at all. There 11 & 12 VICT. c. 63. PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1848. the approval of the general board of health, contract with any person whomsoever, or purchase, take upon lease, hire, construct, lay down, maintain such waterworks, and do and execute can therefore be no implied agreement or concert between the owners of the several lands beneath which the underground springs may exist." It is scarcely necessary to say," concluded C. J. Tindal, " that we intimate no opinion whatever as to what might be the rule of law, if there had been an uninterrupted use of the right for more than the last twenty years; but confining ourselves strictly to the facts stated in the bill of exceptions, we think the present case, for the reasons given, is not to be governed by the law which applies to rivers and flowing streams, but that it rather falls within that principle which gives to the owner of the soil all that lies beneath his surface; that the land immediately below is his property, whether it is solid rock or forms ground, or venous earth, or part soil, part water; that the person who owns the surface may dig therein, and apply all that is there found to his own purposes at his free will and pleasure; and that if, in the exercise of such right, he intercepts or drains off the water collected from underground springs in his neighbour's well, this inconvenience to his neighbour falls within the description of damnum absque injuria, which cannot become the ground of an action." T. Wicksted. (1st report of Health of Towns Com., p. 13.) For Water Rates and Water, see Appendix, No. II., post, p. 237. The height that a 2-inch jet of water will rise from a 6-inch main at the Preston water works: At a pressure of 100 feet in day, 57 feet 78 galls. per minute. at night, 64 feet 90 galls. per min. c. 63. all such works, matters and things as shall be 11 & 12 VICT. necessary and proper; And any waterworks company may contract with the local board of health to supply water for the purposes of this Act in any manner whatsoever, or may sell and dispose of or lease their waterworks to any local board of health willing to take the same; In waterworks laid constructed by local Act board, the the water may be ly under pres kept constant And the said local board may provide and case of keep in any waterworks constructed or down by them under the powers of this a supply of pure and wholesome water, and water so supplied may be constantly laid on at such pressure as will carry the same to the top story of the highest dwelling-house within the district supplied : sure. not to con works, &c. works company within their district willing to Provided always, that before constructing or Local board laying down any waterworks under the powers struct waterof this Act within any limits within, for, or in if any waterrespect of which waterworks any shall company have been established for supplying water, the be able and said local board shall give notice in writing to supply water every waterworks company within whose limits the said local board may be desirous of laying on or supplying water, stating the purposes for and (as far as may be practicable) the extent to which water is required by the said local board; -and it shall not be lawful for the said local board to construct or lay down any waterworks within such limits, if and so long as any such company shall be able and willing to lay on water proper and sufficient for all reasonable upon terms. HEALTH ACT, 1848. PUBLIC purposes for which it is required by the said local board, and upon such terms as shall be certified to be reasonable by the general board of health, after inquiry and report by a superintending inspector in this behalf,—or (in case such company shall be dissatisfied with such certificate) upon such terms as shall be settled by arbitration in the manner provided by this Act; Local board may require that houses be supplied with water, &c. in certain cases. And in case any difference shall arise as to whether the water which any such company is able and willing to supply or lay on is proper and sufficient for the purposes for which it is required by the said local board, or whether the purposes for which it is required are reasonable, the same shall be settled by arbitration in the manner provided by this Act. 76. LXXVI. And be it enacted, that if upon the report of the surveyor it appear to the local board of health that any house is without a -and that such a proper supply of water, supply of water can be furnished thereto at a rate not exceeding twopence per week,—the said local board shall give notice in writing to the occupier, requiring him, within a time to be specified therein, to obtain such supply, and to do all such works as may be necessary for that purpose; And if such notice be not complied with the said local board may, if they shall think fit, do such works and obtain such supply accordingly, |