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XXX.

Trade.

Chapter any time after the confirmation of the Order, at the in- Board of stance of any railway company or of any person giving twenty-one days' notice to the railway company, the Board has the power of making amendments in it, and these amendments take effect after publication in the Gazette.

Provisional

VII. In addition to the Provisional Orders, already Railways. mentioned, the Board of Trade is empowered to grant Certifi Provisional Certificates for matters relating to railways, in cates. pursuance of several statutes presently to be mentioned. A Provisional Certificate is similar to a Provisional Order, its purpose being to facilitate and simplify legislation in matters otherwise the subject of a private bill. If it be unopposed, it does not require to be submitted in a Bill for the purposes of confirmation by Parliament. But if there be opposition from a railway or canal company affected by the Certificate, notice of such must be lodged at the Office of the Board of Trade, within the period prescribed by an Act of 1870,1 and the Certificate, scheduled to a public bill, is submitted to Parliament for confirmation, and thereafter treated in the same manner as an opposed Provisional Order. These Certificates may be granted by the Board:

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(1) Under the Railway Companies Powers Act, 1864; for enabling railway companies (a) to enter into working agreements inter se, (b) to extend the time for the sale of their superfluous lands, or (c) to raise additional capital; and-by the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868 "--for making other provision as to the management of a railway company.

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(2) Under the Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864; (a) for the construction of railways, the purchase of the land being first contracted for, and all landowners and other parties beneficially interested consenting; (b) for the deviation of existing railways, or railways in course of construction; (c) for the execution of new works

133 & 34 Vict. c. 19.
2 27 & 28 Vict. c. 120.

31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, s. 38. * 27 & 28 Vict. c. 121.

XXX.

Board of connected with existing railways; and (d) for the incor- Chapter poration of a company for the purposes of the Act.

Trade.

(Electrical

Power).

Railways VIII. Under the Railways (Electrical Power) Act, 1903,1 the Board of Trade, upon the application of a railway company, may make an Order authorizing the introduction and use, by the company, of electrical power. This order takes effect without confirmation by Parliament, unless it contains power to acquire land otherwise than by agreement, in which case it requires confirmation by

The Board

of Agri

a bill.

By an Act of 1889,2 the Board of Agriculture-or as it culture and has been more lately styled, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Fisheries-was constituted.

Inclosures,

commons,

&c.

Under this Act the Board was invested with the powers and duties of The Inclosure Commissioners (who had more lately been entitled, by the Settled Land Act, 1882, "The Land Commissioners for England"); and it is consequently the authority by whom the Provisional Orders and schemes are now made under the following Acts :

I. Under the Commons Act, 1876: 5 (1) for the regulaation of a common; (2) for the inclosure of a common

13 Edw. VII. c. 30.
252 & 53 Vict. c. 30.

33 Edw. VII. c. 31.

The earliest attempt to provide, by a general law, for the objects usually sought by the promoters of private bills, was that of "The Inclosure Act, 1801." By that Act several provisions which had been usually inserted in each Act of inclosure were consolidated, and the necessary proofs before Parliament were facilitated when such Acts were applied for: but the necessity of applying for separate Acts of inclosure was not superseded. In 1836, a general law, "The Inclosure Act, 1836," was passed to facilitate the inclosure of open and arable land; and in 1845, "The Inclosure Commissioners were constituted, to whom many of the powers previously exercised by Parliament were

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entrusted under this and numerous
other Acts usually cited together as
the Inclosure Acts; of these the
most important is the Commons
Act, 1876 (vide text), the Acts of
1801 and 1836 being repealed in
1899 by the 62 & 63 Vict. c. 30, s. 23
and sched.

539 & 40 Vict. c. 56.

The term "regulation" includes "adjustment of rights" and "improvement of a common," and these terms again are particularly explained by the Act. The Act also contains elaborate provisions for the protection of public and private interests, including rules for the guidance both of the persons making the application and of the department in making the Provisional Order, notably in the latter case for holding a public inquiry on the spot by an assistant commissioner.

XXX.

Board of culture. Agri

Chapter or parts of a common. The application for the Order is to be made by persons, interested in any common, representing at least one-third in value of the interests proposed to be affected. If on consideration of the application it be deemed expedient to proceed with the case, a report, certifying the expediency of the Provisional Order, is made to Parliament by the Department and is referred (Select Committee, to a committee specially appointed by the House of H. C., on Commons to consider, and to report upon, every such report "before a bill is brought in to confirm such Order."1 This select committee on "commons" require the Board to give notice, in the locality affected, of the meeting of the committee, in order that persons objecting to the Order may appear and be heard. The reference of the Order to this committee does not dispense with its subsequent consideration by the committee to whom the bill for its confirmation may be referred by the committee of selection.2

II. Under the Metropolitan Commons Acts, 1866 to 1898 for making a scheme for the local management and improvement of a metropolitan common, on the presentation of a memorial by the lord of the manor, by any commoners, by certain local authorities, or by twelve or more ratepayers of the parish in which the common is situated. After certain preliminaries required by the Act of 1866, the scheme may be approved and certified by the Board, who make an annual report to Parliament in which is set forth in full every scheme certified during the past year and all the proceedings held in connection with it; and the confirming bill, if a petition be presented against the scheme, is treated as an opposed private bill. By the Act of 1866, no application for the inclosure of a metropolitan common can be entertained by the department.

1134 C. J. 29. 170; 153 ib., 79; &c.

2 153 C. J. 126. 134. 183; ib. 213. 214. 268; &c.

329 & 30 Vict. c. 122; 32 & 33 Vict. c. 107; 41 & 42 Vict. c. 71; 61 & 62 Vict. c. 43.

66

com

mons.")

Agri

XXX.

Board of III. Under the Land Drainage Act, 1861:1 (1) for Chapter culture. putting in force the powers of the Lands Clauses Acts Drainage.

Oyster Fisheries, &c.

Salmon
Fisheries.

for the compulsory purchase of lands required for “the
construction of new works" defined in the Act,2 on the
application of commissioners of sewers and drainage
boards; and (2)3 for constituting elective drainage boards
for separate drainage districts, on the application of the
owners of one-tenth part of an area of land requiring a
system of combined drainage. And-

IV. Under the Thames Valley Drainage Act, 1871:4
for enabling the commissioners thereby appointed, either
at the instance of a district board or at their own
desire, to put in force, for the purpose of carrying out
any of the works authorized by the Act, the compulsory
powers of the Lands Clauses Acts for the purchase of
land.

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V. Under the Sea Fisheries Acts, 1868 and 18845 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, exercising powers formerly possessed by the Board of Trade, may make a Provisional Order (on the application of "any person desirous of obtaining such an Order ") for the establishment or improvement, and for the maintenance and regulation, of an oyster and mussel fishery, or cockle fishery, on the seashore in England and Wales—including, if desirable, the constitution of a board or body corporate for the purpose of the Order; and the Board may also by a Provisional Order amend any such Order already granted and confirmed. In certain circumstances, however, these Orders do not require confirmation by Parliament. For Scotland these powers are vested in the Secretary for Scotland.8 And

VI. Under the Salmon Fishery Act, 1873,9 the Board,

1 24 & 25 Vict. c. 133, s. 21, et seq.
2 Ib. s. 16 (3).
3 Ib. Part II.

34 & 35 Vict. (Local and Per-
sonal) c. clviii.

31 & 32 Vict. c. 45, Part III.; 47 & 48 Vict. c. 27.

This transfer of powers was effected by the Act of 3 Edw. VII. c. 31.

40 & 41 Vict. c. 42, s. 7.

8 48 & 49 Vict. c. 70, s. 11; and 50

& 51 Vict. c. 52, s. 2 (3).

936 & 37 Vict. c. 71, ss. 49 & 50.

Chapter exercising powers formerly vested successively in the
XXX. Home Office and the Board of Trade, may grant a

Provisional Order (1) empowering any board of conser-
vators of a salmon river in England or Wales (who apply
to them for the purpose) to put in force the compulsory
powers of the Lands Clauses Acts for the purchase of
any weir or other artificial obstruction hindering the
passage of fish, excepting a weir constructed under Act
of Parliament for the purposes of navigation or for supply-
ing a town with water; and (2) empowering the proprietor
of a fishery or a board of conservators to purchase land
for a fish pass.

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Municipal

Under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882,2 as The Privy amended in certain details by the School Boards Act Council. 1885: where a petition for a charter of incorporation is Corporareferred to a Committee of Council, and it is proposed to tions. extend the Municipal Corporation Acts to the borough to be created, the Committee of Council may settle a scheme for the adjustment of the powers, property, &c., of the existing Local Authority, and this scheme, if unopposed, may be confirmed by an Order in Council. But if, within a month after its publication by the Department, it is opposed by any Local Authority whom it affects, or by a certain proportion of the owners and ratepayers, the scheme, if the Committee of Council think that it should be confirmed, is submitted to Parliament in a bill and treated in the same way as a Provisional Order. And London this procedure is also prescribed mutatis mutandis in the Governcase of certain schemes settled by the same Department 1899. under the London Government Act, 1899.5

1 For transfer of powers, see 49 & 50 Vict. c. 39, s. 3; 3 Edw. VII. c. 31.

2 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50. Part XI. and Sched. VII.

3 48 & 49 Vict. c. 38.

Cf., e.g., Municipal Corporations (Scheme Confirmation) Bills, 1886 and 1905, 141 C. J. 237. 252. 288; 160 ib. 122; &c.

562 & 63 Vict. c. 14, ss. 15, et seq.; and cf. London Government Scheme (Borough of Southwark) Confirmation Bill, 1902 (157 C. J. 192. 217. 263); and London Government Scheme (London and Middlesex) Bill, 1905, Minutes of Evidence, 4th July, before the Committee (H. C.) on Group J. 1905.

ment Act,

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