Publication of notices.

Service of notices.

be incorporated with this Act, except the provisions relating to access to the special Act:

(2.) The local board, before putting in force any of the powers of the said Lands Clauses Consolidation Act

with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherrise than by agreement, shall

Publish once at the least in each of three consecutive weeks in the month of November in some newspaper circulated in the district or some part of the district within which such local board has jurisdiction (d) is situate, an advertisement describing shortly the nature of the undertaking in respect of which the land is proposed to be taken, naming a place where a plan of the proposed undertaking may be seen at all reasonable hours, and stating the quantity of land that they require; and shall further in the month of December

Serve a notice in manner herein-after mentioned on every owner or reputed owner (e), lessee or reputed lessee and occupier of such land, defining in each case the particular land intended to be taken, and requiring an answer, stating whether the person so served assents, dissents, or is neuter in respect of taking such land; such notice to be served

(d) Sic in statute.

Quære, what is omitted, or whether the words is situate should not be struck out?

(e) For one meaning of the word owner, see 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 2, ante, though it is not the only meaning to be adopted here. In the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 18, s. 3, the word owner is "understood to mean any person or corporation who under that or the special Act would be enabled to sell and convey land to the promoters of the undertaking." But quære, who is meant by a reputed owner, or reputed lessee? and will a notice upon such reputed owner or lessee be available where there is a real owner or real lessee who is not served? It seems that the notice must be served upon the owner, lessee, and occupier. But if the local board can select any person as the reputed owner or reputed lessee, there may oftentimes be a failure of due notice to the proper parties. The statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18, s. 18, does not refer to reputed owners. The notices and other proceedings correspond with those which are required previous to the introduction of a private bill into parliament.

By delivery of the same personally on the party required

to be served, or, if such party is absent abroad (f),
to his agent; or

By leaving the same at the usual or last known place of
abode (g) of such party as aforesaid; or

By forwarding the same by post in a registered letter addressed to the usual or last known place of abode of such party:

local board

secretary of

(3.) Upon compliance with the provisions herein-before con- Power o tained with respect to advertisements and notices, the to petition local board may, if they shall think fit, present a peti- state upon tion under their seal (h) to one of Her Majesty's herein stated. principal secretaries of state.

The petition shall state the land intended to be taken, and the purposes for which it is required, and the names of the owners, lessees, and occupiers of land who have assented, dissented, or are neuter in respect of the taking such land, or who have returned no answer to the notice:

It shall pray that the local board may, with reference to such land, be allowed to put in force the powers of the said Lands Clauses Consolidated Act with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement, and such prayer shall be supported by such evidence (i) as the secretary of state requires:

matters

(f) This word abroad is not a legal term, but is probably intended to signify beyond seas, or in foreign parts. In the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18, s. 19, the words used are absent from the United Kingdom.' Difficulty will be felt by the local board in determining who is the agent of the absent party. In that statute the notice in such a case is to be served upon the occupier of the land, or is to be affixed upon some conspicuous part of the land.

(g) In explanation of these words, it will be useful to refer to the decisions upon the County Court Acts, and s. 3, (the Bastardy Clause) of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 3.

(h) Nevertheless, it will be advisable that the petition should be signed by some of the members, and countersigned by the clerk.

(i) Where the Secretary of State has laid down any general regulations as to evidence to accompany these petitions, they should be attended

(4.) Upon the receipt of such petition, and upon due proof (z) of the proper advertisements having been published and notices served, the secretary of state shall take such petition into consideration, and may either dismiss the same, or direct an inquiry in the district in which the land is situate, or otherwise inquire (a) as to the propriety of assenting to the prayer of such petition;

But until such inquiry has been made in the district, after such notice as may be directed by the secretary of state, no provisional order (b) shall be made affecting any land, without the consent of the owners, lessees, and occupiers thereof:

(5.) After the completion of the inquiry as last aforesaid, the secretary of state may, by provisional order, empower the local board to put in force with reference to the land referred to in such order the powers of the said Lands Clauses Consolidation Act with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement, or any of them, and either absolutely or with such conditions and modifications as he may think fit.

And it shall be the duty of the local board (c) to serve a copy of any order so made in the manner and upon the person in which and upon whom notices in

to as a matter of course, but otherwise the evidence must be supplied afterwards, and according to the specific requisition. The consent of the owners, lessees, and occupiers should, if possible, accompany the petition. (z) Care must be taken to supply all reasonable evidence of these facts, but it is to be presumed that it will not be absolutely necessary that strict legal proof should be supplied.

(a) Hence there need not be a local inquiry as a matter of absolute necessity, although the following words require an inquiry in the district before the provisional order be made affecting any land without the consent of the owner.

(b) See the next paragraph.

(c) This duty will probably be enforced by parliament, as the bill will doubtless not be allowed to pass if it be shewn that the copy of this order shall not have been served. In practice however the bill is introduced as a public bill, and the proceedings are presumed to have been taken correctly. This is assumed upon the responsibility of the minister who introduces it.

respect of such land are herein-before required to be
served (d);

visional

until con

parliament.

be defrayed.

(6.) No provisional order so made shall be of any validity (e) No prounless the same has been confirmed by Act of parlia- order valid ment, and it shall be lawful for the secretary of state as firmed by soon as conveniently may be to obtain such confirmation, and the Act confirming such order shall be deemed to be a public general Act of parliament (ƒ): (7.) All costs, charges, and expenses incurred by said secre- Costs how to tary of state in relation to any such provisional order as last aforesaid (g) shall, to such amount as the commissioners of Her Majesty's treasury think proper to direct, become a charge upon the general district rates levied in the district to which such order relates, and be repaid to the said commissioners of Her Majesty's treasury by annual instalments not exceeding five (h), together with interest after the yearly rate of five pounds in the hundred, to be computed from the date of any such lastmentioned order, upon so much of the principal sum

(d) See ante, No. (2).

(e) A provisional order made in pursuance of this section cannot be brought into the Court of Queen's Bench by certiorari in order that it may be quashed as illegal. Frewen v. The Local Board of Hastings, 34 L. J. Q. B. 159; 6 B. & S. 401.

(f) The following appears to be the result of this enactment. If the local board desire to purchase a piece of land which the owner will not sell, they must petition the secretary of state to be allowed to put in force the provisions in the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act applicable to such a case. The secretary of state is to make inquiry as to the propriety of the proposal, and if satisfied therewith, he is empowered to make a provisional order enabling this to be done, but such order will of itself be of no avail until a public Act of parliament be obtained by the secretary of state to confirm it. This is an elaborate machinery for what is often a very trifling matter.

The proviso in No. (6) of section 77, post, will, doubtless, apply to the bill herein referred to, so that it may be petitioned against by any party interested, and be referred to a select committee.

(g) By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 61, s. 27, this enactment is directed" to extend to all provisional orders under this Act."

(h) See note on sect. 23, ante.

due in respect of the said costs, charges, and expenses as may from time to time remain unpaid (f).

LOCAL BOARD TO REPORT.

Local board

to report.

Interpreta

75, above.

LXXVI. Every local board shall make an annual report, in such form and at such time as the secretary of state may from time to time direct (g), of all works executed by them during the preceding year, and of all sums received and disbursements made, under and for the purposes of this Act, and publish the same in some newspaper circulating in the district, and shall send a copy to the secretary of state.

(f) Here it must be noticed that the 29 & 30 Vict. c. 90, s. 47, contion of sect. tains the following provision :-" The authority conferred on one of Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state by section seventy-five of the Local Government Act, 1858, to empower by provisional order a local board to put in force, with reference to the land referred to in such order, the powers of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with respect "to the purchase and taking of lands otherwise than by agreement," shall extend and apply and shall be deemed to have always extended and applied to every case in which, by the Public Health Act, 1848, and the Local Government Act, 1858, or either of them, or any Act extending. or amending those Acts, or either of them, a local board are authorized to purchase, provide, use, or take lands or premises for any of the purposes of the said Acts, or either of them, or of any such Act as aforesaid;

Local board's report.

"And sections seventy-three and eighty-four of the Public Health Act, 1848, shall be construed as if the words by agreement' therein respectively used had been expressly repealed by section seventy-five of the Local Government Act, 1858."

(g) The local board cannot carry out this beneficial direction until they receive the directions of the secretary of state, but those directions once given will avail until altered. But it must not be overlooked, that sect. 60, No. (5), ante, requires the clerk of the board to publish an abstract of the accounts of the local board after the audit in the newspaper. That will be a half-yearly publication, but the text requires a yearly one in addition.