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1.—In the construction of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the Acts
amending the same, the word "drain" shall be deemed to apply to and include the
subject matters specified in the interpretation of the word "drain" contained in
the 250th Section of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and in the 112th
Section of the Metropolis Management Act, 1862, and also any drain the construction
of which as a sewer has not been sanctioned by a Local Authority, or
which has not been approved as a Sewer by the Metropolitan or other Commissioners
of Sewers, or by the Metropolitan Board of Works, or the London County Council
Provided that the London County Council may at any time hereafter approve as
a sewer any drain for draining a group or block of houses, where, in the opinion
of the Local Authority of the District, it is desirable that such drains should be
cleansed, repaired, and maintained at the expense of such Local Authority, and
such drain shall thereupon become a sewer, and be vested in such Local Authority.
2.—Any Local Authority may recover any expenses incurred by them after the
passing of this Act in cleansing, repairing, or replacing any drain for draining any
group or block of houses from the owner or owners of any premises for the drainage
of which such drain is or may be used in such proportions, if there be more than
one such owner, as may be determined by the Surveyor of the Local Authority, or
in case of dispute by the London County Council.
Any such expenses may be recovered from the present or any future owner of
the premises, either by action in the High Court or before a Court of Summary
Jurisdiction.
3.—The expression "Local Authority," as used in this Act, means any Yestry or
District Board of Works under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the
Acts amending the same, or in the Parish of Woolwich the Woolwich Local Board
of Health.
4.—This Act may be cited as the Metropolis Management Amendment Act,
1896, and shall be construed as one with the Metropolis Management Act, 1855,
and the Acts amending the same.
A most important point that is constantly overlooked, but must be persistently
urged, is the fact that under the past and existing law, every time the land of
premises has been sub-divided for sub letting or selling, or part of the buildings
on premises have been separated for sub-letting or to change hands, the drains
have become sewers, unless the private transaction has come within the knowledge
of the Authority, and has been recorded, which is a rare event.
The present state of the law is also no preventive, but a direct incentive to
diverting an odd pipe or two and converting drains into sewers without the knowledge
of Sanitary Authorities—in most cases an extremely simple operation
readily performed, whether unwittingly or knowingly. In fact, the law at present
rewards owners who escape the vigilance of Sanitary Authorities by relieving such
owners of their responsibilities and casting the expense upon the ratepayers.