The council may purchase lands and buildings for distributing or storing the sewage of the borough. It is the duty of the council to provide that all waterclosets, privies, cesspools and ashpits be constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance. The surveyor may, by written authority of the council granted upon the written application of any person showing that a drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool or ashpit is a nuisance, and after twenty-four hours' notice in writing, or in case of emergency without notice, to the occupier of the premises, enter the premises, with or without assistants, and open the ground, and examine and lay open the drain, watercloset, privy, cesspool or ashpit. No house is to be erected without a sufficient water-closet and ashpit; earth closets may be constructed instead of water-closets. Factories are to be provided with water-closets for both sexes. Ditches and offensive ponds are to be covered or filled up; heaps of filth and manure to be removed and sold if allowed to remain after notice, and expenses not covered by the sale are to be recovered in a summary manner. If boundary ditches become offensive, a justice of the peace for the adjoining district, at the instance of the council, will summon the sanitary authority of that district and order the ditch to be cleansed. The council may undertake or contract for:- The removal of house refuse ; And the cleansing of privies, ashpits and cesspools. Houses in an unwholesome condition may be purified. HIGHWAYS. The council have the control of all highways and streets within the borough. The inhabitants of the borough are not liable, in respect of property within it, to the payment of highway rate, or other payment (not being a toll), for making or repairing roads or highways beyond the limits of the district. The council have, within the borough, the powers and discretion given to parish vestries by the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 50 (Highway Act, 1835). The council may arrange with persons and companies for the construction of roads, bridges and viaducts. The pavements provided for the purposes of the streets belong to the council, and it is their duty to flag and repair the streets, as occasion may require. Streets which are not highways, and are out of repair, are to be repaired by the owners or occupiers fronting on the same, on notice from the council requiring them to do so; plans showing the required repairs to be deposited for inspection at the town clerk's office. The council are to name streets, number houses, to regulate the erection of new buildings. The council may require new buildings, which project so as to form an obstruction, to be set back, and no work for which a notice, plan or description is required by any bye-law legally made and confirmed under any statute in that behalf to be laid before the council shall be commenced before the expiration of one month from the day on which the said notice, plan or description shall have been delivered to such authority at their office, or at the office of their surveyor, nor at all if the said authority give notice of disapproval within one month from the day of such delivery, unless the person proposing to execute the work can show that the same is in every respect conformable to every such bye-law, as well as to the general law applicable to it (m). The council may contract with any company, for a period not exceeding three years, for a sup (m) 37 & 38 Vict. c. 89, s. 41. ply of gas, or other means of lighting the streets and public places, and may provide posts and other material necessary for that purpose (n). The expenses incurred are defrayed out of the borough rate. The gas supply is regulated by 10 Vict. c. 15 and 34 & 35 Vict. c. 41, the Gasworks Clauses Acts; and 33 & 34 Vict. c. 70, the Gas and Waterworks Facilities Act. As a rule, the gas is in the hands of companies formed under a special act for the purpose of supplying a district. The council may purchase any existing gasworks, or obtain a special act and supply the borough with gas, where no company exists with power to supply gas. The council are to regulate the traffic in times of public rejoicings and during divine service, to fix the route to stage coaches, and to make provisions as to the impounding of stray cattle (o). Persons who in any street, to the obstruction, annoyance or danger of the residents or passengers, commit any of the following offences, are liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. for each offence, or, in the discretion of the convicting justices, may be committed to prison for a period not exceeding fourteen days. (n) 12 & 13 Vict. c. 94, s. 8. The offences are— Exposing for show, hire, or sale (except in a lawfully appointed market or fair), horses or other animals; exhibiting shows or public entertainments; shoeing, bleeding, or farrying horses or animals (except in cases of accident); cleaning, dressing, exercising, training, or breaking, or turning loose horses or animals; making or repairing any part of a cart or carriage (except in cases of accident where repair on the spot is necessary): Suffering unmuzzled ferocious dogs to be at large; urging dogs or other animals to attack or worry persons or animals : Suffering their dogs to go at large, when know ing or having reasonable ground for believing them to be rabid, or to have been bitten by a dog or other animal in a rabid state : Suffering dogs to be at large during the time specified in a justice's public notice direct ing dogs to be confined on suspicion of canine madness: Slaughtering or dressing cattle, except in the case of over-driven cattle which have met with an accident, and which for public safety or other reasonable cause ought to be killed on the spot : Riding on the shafts of a waggon, cart or car |