2G2 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



■water. If a mill derive increased wa'er-pawcr, it n:ny bi 

 rated accordingly. They may " make, erect, or put down 

 main cuts or drains, embankments, roads, walls, dams, 

 engines, catchwater and other drains, aqueducts, tunnels, 

 sluices, culverts, training jetties, gates, fences, and also 

 stop up or divert any road or remove sny bridge, and 

 make any new road or bridge, and also from time to time 

 repair, alter, or remove any sluice, floodgate, hatch, tunnel, 

 road, or other works now made or to be made, and divert, 

 deepen, widen, cleanse, and scour any ditch, drain, water- 

 course, or side-cut now existing or to be made, and «lso do 

 all such things, and erect and maintain such steam and 

 other engines and machinery, and execute all such works 

 as may be necessary or convenient for the purposes of this 

 Act." Aiid they may construct works through lands not 

 proposed to be drained, by making compensation. They 

 may make reservoirs and embankments, diverting surplus 

 waters into them, for the better application and extension 

 of water-power. For supplying water to mills ami works 

 on any stream, with the conscut of the proprietors of three- 

 fourths of the value of the water-power, the Commissioners 

 may authorize and direct the proprietors to elect trustees 

 for making and maintaining reservoirs and embankments, 

 to be charged upon all the mills, etc., along the river 

 that may be benefited. Works may be made within 

 the jurisdiction of other boards of trustees or the 

 Commissioners of Sewers, subject to an appeal to 

 the JJuar I of Trade. The trustees may purchase 

 hnd for their works, but not more thaa three acres of auy 

 person, unless by agreement, without an Act of Parliament ; 

 and thp claims of proprietors, when land is required, is to be 

 refered to arbitratiou, or to a jury, under the " Lands Clauses 

 Consolidation Act." The Commissioners are to make a final 

 award upou the completion of the works; and the trtistees 

 are to keep and maintain the works in repair, and also at the 

 expense of the district austain any outfall or embankment 

 which may be necessary, but lying without the district. Or- 

 namental waters, or the water-supply of towns, or the limits of 

 parks, are not to be trenched upon without consent of the 

 owners. There is a clause savinjf Local Drainage Acts, Com- 

 Tcissioners of Sewers, &c. ; and then, one provision which 

 /eaves a difficulty — no work is to he made if " injurious to tl:e 

 navigation of any navigable river or caual." The act empowers 

 any mdividiial owner or any number of owners to .obtain a 

 ri^ht of executing works through the land? of other proprie- 

 tors, viihout the intervention of any board of trustees, by 

 appealing to the Inclosure Commissioners. This meets a 

 want which is felt iu innumerable cases of deep subsoil- 

 drainsge on estates which have to drain through the shallow 

 and circu tous water-coursea of less intelligent cultivators. 

 Tlie Act of 1S47, carried by Lord Lincoln, (the latest legisla- 

 tion on the subject,) gives us a similar remedy in such cases, 

 where it would be worth oar while to make the works, and pay 

 cotnpeusation out of our unassisted pockets. But there is no 

 law at present by which an opposing minority can be made 

 contributory to the expenses, ho a ever much they may be be- 

 nefited by th"? works; and our Laud Drainage Companies, 

 while possessing very great powers and fncilities, arc unable to 

 levy rates upon dissentient proprietors. I,e3t the proposed 

 general act should be viewed with jealousy, as placing too 

 much power and arbitrary authority in the h>>iid3 of t!ie In- 

 closure Coramiseioi.ers or other department, anything like 

 Bureinicracy, as exercised in France, being as repugnant to 

 the feelings of Englisumen as to the spirit of their laws, I 

 with to explain briefly the working of the Inclosure-ofl^ce, and 

 to show that it nosse'^ses facilitating rather than centralizing 

 powers. And for the following particulars, which further il- 

 lustrate the great advantage ot a general statute, I am in- 

 debted to John Wrn. Tottie, Esq., of that office. ]. Inclosures 

 may proceed on the assent of persons representing two-thirds 

 of the entire interest in the land to be effected. 2. Th.; 

 valuer, who is the officer empowered to carry out the inclosure, 

 is appointed by the majority of persons interested, attending 

 a meeting specially called for the purpose, the Commissioners 

 having no power to appoint, except iu cases where the majoritj 

 in number and value cannot agree. The same provision as 

 No. ] is contained in the Drainage and Embankment of Lands 

 Bill, whereby three-fourths of the interests may hind the en- 

 tirety — a most valuable provision, as one individual will 

 aometimes prevent the improvement of an entire district. 

 The Commissioners' Report, before alluded to, shows the ex- 



tent nf t':eir op.:r,-.li-).-.r, ccmpri:-i:ig To7 f^pplicatloQs fo' inclo- 

 sure, 681 of which have been completed, or are in progress, 

 for the improvement of 488,428 acres of land. A large num- 

 ber of applications are for exchanges, under powers that cannot 

 be too generally brought under the notice of landed proprie- 

 tors, for their value in laying land together for convenience of 

 occupation, and also for laying together lands held under the 

 same title and subject to the same charge, because the lands 

 taken in exchange under these powers enure to the same 

 uses and are subject to the same charges es the lands 

 given in exchajiL;e : the official charges for these 

 exchanges seldom exceed £3 to £5. In addition to the 

 before-mentioned dutie.', considerable powers have been 

 exercised under the various drainage acts, as shown m the 

 subjoined table; and these powers luve likewise been 

 exercised in all case-j, as far as possible, through local agency ; 

 the parties applying for loans being rcquireil to submit their 

 plans of drainage through local mspectora acquainted with the 

 respective districts, rather than through the medium of oflicers 

 sent down into the country from town. 



Title of Act. 



lAmouDt ap- Number of 

 plied for. Applicants. 



Public Money Drainage Act | 4,000,000 



Laud Improvement Company's Act; 1,262,890 



General Land Drainage Company's 

 Act 



Private Money Drainage Act 



Scottish Draina^'c Act 



West of England Drainage Com- 

 pany's Act 



} 399,119 



122,045 

 37,350 



\ 166,462 



£5,987,866 



3,179 

 348 



106 



133 

 16 



3,802 



I have hardly touched upon the minor drains and ditches con- 

 veying the water of one farm through another, or dividing 

 different properties, and subject only to such maintenance as 

 the drainage-ideas or good-nature of occupiers may choose to 

 bestow — improvement not possible to be enforced, and only 

 positive injury to the farms fnrth.er bick, rendering occu- 

 piers liable to a suit for damages, or to being taken before 

 two Justices of the Peace, as ordained in the Act just men- 

 tioned. A far larger extent of land is damaged, or denied the 

 first improvement of deep-draiuage, by these nn-riad drains 

 and water-courses, than by all the brooks and larger rivers ; 

 and they are already made such matters of endless squabble 

 between occupiers, that some stronger interpoaition of the 

 legislature is required than the mere appeal to the magistracy 

 wtiich this l:\w provides. Instead of passing one statute to 

 let us ''scour and cleanse" outlets thronsjh intervening pro- 

 perties (like the Act referred to), and, finding that useless, 

 pass another " for widening and deepening, " and then 

 another (that would be needful), giving power to 

 " .-straighten," and so oi — a fresh Act (or every new difficulty 

 a drainer may meet with as the work extends— would it not 

 he a better plan to relieve neighbours of such irritating duties 

 as binding oue another <!own to the strict letter of piece-meal 

 legislation, by the bolder course of establishing an authorita- 

 tive supervision over all the drains together? It would be a 

 great simiditication of matters if all these smaller drains, as 

 well as the larger arteries now spoiling good laud, «ere in- 

 cluded, as I have before said, iu the drainage districts, and 

 placed under the supervision and control of the local board 

 and its officers. Complaints could be easily made; and the 

 responsibility of taking action would rest on broader shoiil lers 

 than those of a poor teuant. Lord Carlisle's Bill expres'^ly 

 provided that the trustees of a district might enforce the 

 cleansing and scouring of drains and sewers of all kinds by 

 the parties liable. Where there are no trustees, it authorizes 

 similar proceedings to those of the present law, namely, doing 

 the work for a defmlter (of course with a warrant, if upou 

 his land, and not a mere boundary drain), and recovering the 

 outlay ; but it goes a step further, and grants the " deepen- 

 ing" of such water-courses, subject to an appeal to the 

 (iuarter Sessions. Of course, with a general Act, dividing 

 the kingdom into districts, a direct supervision and manage- 

 ment might be established. I do not admire a centralized 

 governmcut : preferring, as far as is expedient, to administer 

 my own afiairs. Yet I do think that some such measure as I 



