378 MISCELLANEOUS 



conditions, but he could not hold out any hope that the Board 

 of Agriculture, or any Government Department, should become 

 public prosecutor or take in hand any prosecution which, under 

 the existing law, any person who was aggrieved was in a position 

 to undertake for himself. 



(9) It does not appear to the Committee that they can carry 

 the matter any further at present. If and when the statement of 

 the law on the subject, foreshadowed by Lord Onslow, appears, 

 it will naturally be considered by the Council, who may then see 

 fit to take further steps, either by attempting legislation or 

 otherwise, to remedy the very unsatisfactory state of affairs 

 which admittedly prevails. 



CHRIS. MIDDLETOK, 



Chairman. 



The statement of the law promised by Lord Onslow was 

 printed in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture for July 

 1905, and was as follows : 



" For mere omission a man is not, generally speaking, answer- 

 able by law ; and, accordingly, at common law the occupier of 

 land through which a watercourse runs is not, as a rule, under 

 any obligation to neighbours whose lands drain into that water- 

 course to prevent or remove any obstruction of the outfall due 

 to merely natural causes (such as silting up of the channel or 

 growth of weeds), and not caused by any action on his part ; 

 though, in exceptional cases, e.g., under an enclosure award, such 

 an obligation may sometimes exist. 



" A statutory remedy is, however, provided by the Land 

 Drainage Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Viet., c. 38), irrespective of any 

 existing legal obligation on the part of the occupier of the land ; 

 but the statutory duty imposed by this Act arises only on notice 

 given by the person injured, and the Act does not create any 

 liability in damages for the injury caused by the occupier's 

 neglect. 



" Section 14 of the Act enacts that where, by the neglect of any 

 occupier to maintain, or join in maintaining, the banks, or to 

 cleanse and scour, or join in cleansing and scouring, the channels 

 of existing drains, streams, or watercourses lying in or bounding 

 the lands of such occupier, injury is caused to any other land, the 

 proprietor or occupier of any land so injured may serve a notice 

 on the neglecting occupier, requiring him to maintain the banks 

 or cleanse or scour the channels in question. If he neglects so 

 to do, the occupier of the land injured may, after one calendar 

 month from the service of the notice, carry out the necessary 

 work. The cost of the same, or a just proportion thereof, is to 

 be paid by the neglecting occupier, and payment may be enforced 

 by an order of justices. 



" Section 15 provides that, unless the drain, stream, or water- 

 course to be cleaned bounds or immediately adjoins the land of 



