sell, ex Sect. 4. 4. All the provisions of the Post Office Lands Act, 1863, Power to with respect to the sale, exchange, leasing, or surrender of change, or any lands vested in the Postmaster-General shall apply to any land purchased by the Postmaster-General under the powers of this Act. lease land purchased. 26 & 27 Vict. c. 43. Exemption of PostmasterGeneral from stamp duty. Power of deputy of PostmasterGeneral to give notice, or make claim, distress, &c. Execution of Instruments. 5. Every deed, instrument, receipt, or document made or executed for the purpose of the post office by, to, or with Her Majesty or any officer of the post office, shall be exempt from any stamp duty imposed by any Act, past or future, except where such duty is declared by the deed, instrument, receipt, or document, or by some memorandum endorsed thereon, to be payable by some person other than the PostmasterGeneral, and except so far as any future Act specifically charges the same. The second paragraph has been repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1894. 6. Any person having authority in that behalf, either general or special, under the seal of the Postmaster-General, may, on behalf of the Postmaster-General, give any notice and make any claim, demand, entry, or distress which the Postmaster-General in his corporate capacity or otherwise might give or make, and every such notice, claim, demand, entry, and distress, shall be deemed to have been given and made by the Postmaster-General on behalf of Her Majesty. Section 7, which dealt with the execution of instruments, was repealed by the Post Office (Protection) Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 76), s. 51, and instead it was enacted by section 15 of that Act as follows:15. Any instrument requiring to be executed by the PostmasterGeneral, or to which he is a party, may be executed by any of the secretaries of the post office in the name of the Postmaster-General, and if so executed, shall be deemed to have been executed by the Postmaster-General, and shall have effect accordingly. Any instrument purporting to be executed by any of the secretaries of the post office in the name of the Postmaster-General, shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been so executed without proof of the official character of the person appearing to have executed the same Supplemental. Sect. 8. tions. 8. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,The expression" the purpose of the post office" means any Definipurpose of any of the Post Office Acts or of any Acts for the time being in force relating to post office money orders, post office telegraphs, or post office savings banks, and includes any purpose relating to or in connexion with the execution of the duties for the time being undertaken by the Postmaster-General or any of his officers. c. 36. Other expressions shall have the same meaning as in the 1 Vict. Post Office (Offences) Act, 1837. As to telegraphs, see the Telegraph Act, 1892, post, and notes thereto. Sections 9 and 10 deal with the application of the Act to Scotland and Ireland respectively. THE METROPOLITAN OPEN SPACES ACT, 1881. 44 & 45 VICT. CAP. 34. An Act to amend the Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1877. [11th August, 1881.] The principal provisions of this Act and of the Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1877, as amended by this Act, are by the Open Spaces Act, 1887, extended to every urban sanitary district, and to any rural sanitary district in respect of which the sanitary authority shall have been invested by an order of the Local Government Board, with the powers of the Open Spaces Acts. The Act of 1877 thus extended enables such focal authorities to purchase land voluntarily for the exercise and recreation of the public. The Act of 1881 enables trustees holding land under a private or local Act of Parlia ment, for the purposes of a garden or open space, to convey the same to the local authority to be held as an open space, with the consent of two-thirds of the owners and occupiers of any houses fronting upon or the owners or occupiers of which are liable to be rated for the maintenance of such open space, and who are present at a meeting to be held for the purpose. It may be conveyed for valuable or nominal consideration, or as a free gift. Section 2. The owner of any open space, subject to rights of user for exercise and recreation, may, with the consent of two-thirds of the persons interested and present at a meeting held for the purpose, convey to or grant an easement to or enter into an agreement with the local authority in respect thereof, so that it may be used as a public open space. Section 3. Disused burial grounds may also be transferred to the focal authority for a similar purpose, who may lay them out and manage them. In such a case such management and control must be previously authorised by a faculty of the bishop of the diocese. Sections 4 and 5. The Open Spaces Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 15), further enables trustees holding land in trust for the purposes of public recreation, other than under an Act of Parliament, or for any charitable with purpose, certain consents and upon certain conditions, to transfer the same to the local authority. These local authorities are now district councils under the Local Government Act, 1894. An open space means any land either within or without or partly within or without the district of a local authority, of which not more than a twentieth part is covered with buildings, and which is laid out as a garden or is used for purposes of recreation, or lies waste and unoccupied. As regards compensation for any interests taken away under these Acts it is provided by this Act as follows: for com 9. No estate, interest, or right of a profitable or beneficial Sect. 9. nature, in, over, or affecting an open space, churchyard, Provision cemetery, or burial ground shall, except with the consent of pensation. the body or person entitled thereto be taken away or injuriously affected by anything done under this Act without compensation being made for the same; and such compensation shall be paid by the metropolitan board, (a) vestry, or district board by which such estate, interest or right is taken away or injuriously affected, and shall in case of difference, be ascertained and provided in the same manner as if the same compensation were for the compulsory purchase and taking or the injurious affecting of lands under the provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, and any Acts 8 & 9 Vict. amending the same. (a) By the Open Spaces Act, 1887, s. 5, as regards sanitary authorities. outside London having powers under these Acts, the powers of the Metropolitan Local Board are to be enjoyed by such sanitary authorities, and the words "Metropolitan Board" shall be used in such case as if they meant the sanitary authority of the district. c. 18. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 79. 17 & 18 THE COMMONABLE RIGHTS COMPENSATION 45 & 46 VICT. CAP. 15. An Act to provide for the better application of moneys paid by WHEREAS under the provisions of the Lands Clauses Consoli- moners: And by the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845,(a) and by the Inclosure Act, 1852, (b) and the Inclosure Act, 1854,(c) certain powers of apportioning and otherwise dealing with Vict. c. 97. such money are conferred upon any such committee and upon the Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales (hereinafter called the Commissioners), but such powers are found in practice to be insufficient, and money paid by way of compensation as aforesaid is often in consequence useless to the persons interested therein : And whereas it is expedient to give such powers of dealing with such compensation money as are hereinafter specified, but such powers cannot be conferred without the sanction of Parliament: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : (a) Ante, p. 251. |