By Sec. 379 the Town Council may borrow money from the Public Works Loan Commissioners on the security of the rates, repayable within a period not exceeding thirty years by such instalments and at such times as may be agreed upon. By Sec. 142 of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, the sanitary works, in respect of which the loan is required may either be already executed or about to be so. By Sec. 374,

as amended by Sec. 104, Sub-sec. (2) (v.) of the 1903 Act, no sum of money shall be borrowed by the Town Council until an estimate has been laid before them, or until the expiration of three weeks after the Council have given public notice, as provided above, of their intention to borrow.

In connection with our subject, the Burgh Sewerage, Drainage, and Water Supply (Scotland) Act, 1901, Part I., relates to the amendment of the law as regards the sewer assessments in any burgh, or in any special or separate drainage district therein, and the security for the payment of interest and the repayment of capital borrowed for sewerage and drainage works.*

Service of Notices.

By Section 336 notices may be in print or in writing, or partly print and partly in writing, and may be authenticated by the name of the clerk or other proper officer being similarly affixed thereto. If addressed "to the owner" "or occupier of the premises (naming them) to which a notice. relates, it may be served either personally or through the Post Office, addressed to him at his usual or last known place of abode or business, or by delivery to some inmate thereof, or in case of an occupier it may be delivered to an inmate of the building to which the document relates; or if unoccupied, and the place of abode of the person in question cannot after due inquiry be found, it may be served by affixing the notice, or a copy, upon some conspicuous part of such building. If the person is employed on any ship or vessel, it may be served by leaving it in the hands of some person on board and connected therewith.

If any owner resides outside the jurisdiction of the burgh magistrates, he may be cited by delivering the citation to his factor, or agent, or any person drawing the rents (if known); or, in default, the occupier of the premises, or any of them may be cited and shall take burden for the owner or owners, and have right of relief against such.

*See Sections 1 and 2 of the Act, p. 289.

As to service of notices on the Town Council under Sec. 338, they may be delivered to the Clerk of the burgh, or sent by registered letter directed to him, in which latter case service shall be deemed to be effected on the day on which such letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.

By Section 337 the person sending such notice may cancel or vary it; save that, if the notice is under the Land Clauses Acts, it may not be withdrawn or cancelled, except so far as allowed by such acts.

Private Improvement Expenses and Special Rates.

Under Sec. 365 provision is made for cases where the local authority carry out any work on behalf of an owner or occupier through his or their default, or where expenses are incurred by the Town Council in respect of any premises in order to carry out the provisions of the Act, empowering them to charge such persons with the expenses incurred by them. They shall be called "private improvement expenses," and are recoverable in the same manner as any assessment under this Act. In the event of different portions of the premises in question belonging to two or more separate owners, the said expenses are recoverable from them in proportion to the rental or valuation of their respective interests as set out in the valuation roll. The Council may charge as part of such expenses a reasonable sum in respect of superintending the work, etc. (Burgh Police Act, 1903, Schedule, and Sec. 104 (2) (u)).

With regard to sewer assessments, the Burgh Sewerage, Drainage, and Water Supply (Scotland) Act, 1901, repeals nearly all the provisions relative to this matter in burghs to which it applies, i.e., burghs to which the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, applies, but not where a local Act was in force at the passing of the 1901 Act (including an Act confirming a Provisional Order) with respect to sewerage and drainage. In either of such cases, however, the Town Council may pass a resolution to adopt Part I. of the 1901 Act, which deals with the amendment of the law relating to the sewer assessment, becoming security both for the payment of interest and the repayment of the money borrowed for purposes of sewerage and drainage.*

* See p. 289.

Appeal.

By Sec. 339 of the 1892 Act, as amended by that of 1903, Sec. 104 (2) (5), any person liable to pay or contribute towards the expense of any work ordered by the Town Council under the 1892 Act, and any person who thinks himself aggrieved or affected by any order, or resolution, or act of the Town Council under such Act, may appeal either to the Sheriff or to the Court of Sessions, as provided by these sections.

Provisional Orders.

If the Town Council consider they require additional powers as to drainage or sewers, or the utilisation of sewage, in addition to the powers conferred by the Public Health Acts, or for the repeal or amendment of any local Acts relating thereto, etc., they may apply to the Secretary for Scotland for a Provisional Order under Secs. 45-49 of the 1892 Act.

APPENDIX F.

The Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897.

SOME DEFINITIONS.

For the purpose of these notes, the following definitions, set out in Sec. 3 of this Act, may be found useful :

:

"Burgh " includes not only royal or parliamentary burgh, and burgh incorporated by Act of Parliament, but also any police burgh within the meaning of the Burgh Police Act, 1892, Sec. 4 (25).*

"Parish" means a parish quoad civilia, exclusive of any burgh partly or wholly situated therein, and is taken to mean landward part of the parish.

"County means a county exclusive of any burgh, but does not include a county of a city. The Interpretation Act, 1889, Sec. 7, has a definition which includes stewartry.

"District " means the district of any local authority under this Act, and infers both burghal and landward areas. By Sec. 12, the authority for administering the Act is the Burgh Commissioners, or Town Council (under the Town Council (Scotland) Act, 1900) in burghs to which the Burgh Police Acts, 1892 and 1903, apply. In Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Greenock, to which those Acts do not apply, the authority is the Town Council.

"District Committee refers to the committee of each of the districts, into which all Scotch counties (except eight) are divided for public health purposes under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, as amended by the 1894 Act. It includes the County Councils of Caithness, Clackmannan, Elgin, Kinross, Nairn, Peebles, Selkirk, and Sutherland, which, as mentioned above, are not divided into public health districts. As regards the acquisition of lands, district committees are not empowered to purchase, therefore in landward areas such powers must be exercised by the County Council.

* See p. 259.

T

"Premises" includes lands, buildings, vehicles, tents, vans, structures of any kind, streams, lakes, seashore, drains, ditches, or places open, covered or inclosed, whether built on or not, public or private, natural or artificial, and whether maintained under statutory authority or not.

"Land," both in this Act and in the Acts incorporated therein, includes water, and any right or servitude to or over land or water. (Where the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts are incorporated in this Act, it should be noted that under Sec. 4 the definition of "land" does not expressly include water.)

By Sec. 3 of the Interpretation Act, 1889, "land," unless otherwise stated, includes messuages, tenements, and hereditaments, houses, and buildings of any tenure.

"Street" includes any highway, and any public bridge, and any road, lane, footway, square, court, or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, and whether or not there are houses in such street.

"House 99 means a dwelling-house, and includes schools, also factories and other buildings in which persons are employed.

66

Factory" includes workshop and workplace. By the Factory and Workshop Act, 1909 (which applies to the United Kingdom), these expressions are given very wide meanings. "Factory refers to textile and non-textile factory. The former deals with any premises wherein mechanical power is used in connection with cotton, wool, flax, hemp, jute, silk, etc., print-works, lucifer-match works, iron or copper mills, foundries, paper mills, tobacco factories, printing or bookbinding works, electrical works, in which electricity is generated or transformed for supply by way of trade, or for the lighting of any street, public place, or building, or of any hotel, railway, mine, etc. "Non-textile factory" refers to hat works, rope works, bake-houses, lace making, dry cleaning, carpet beating, and bottle washing works; also shipbuilding yards, quarries, pitbanks, etc. The expression tenement factory "' is also used.

66

Workshop" means any premises or places as mentioned above under non-textile factory; also any premises, room, or place whereon any manual labour is exercised for purposes of gain; for making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, or finishing any article or part thereof, or the adapting for sale of any article.