SECRETARY'S REPORT. 247 



the party applying for the same shall pay the value of the land 

 taken, and the damage assessed, to the person entitled. 



Tliese statutes we think are enacted upon the right principle, 

 as they do not involve the assertion by the legislature of the 

 broad fact that every mill is a greater public benefit than the 

 value of the land destroyed. 



So far is such an assertion from the absolute fact, that in 

 England, for tlie purposes of drainage, power has been granted 

 to remove mill dams and other obstructions to agriculture for 

 the benefit of agriculture, and the government has itself loaned 

 vast funds to aid in improvements in drainage. Since our 

 mill Acts were enacted, not only has steam become the grand 

 motive-power of the world's machinery, but the whole art of 

 drainage has come into existence, doubling the products of the 

 farmer, and demonstrating the necessity of perfect drainage, 

 the removal of standing water several feet from the surface, 

 and the admission of air to the cultivated soil. 



Inasmuch as a full drawn statute embracing the views of 

 your committee is not strictly within the province of this Board, 

 and requires the careful attention of the appropriate committee 

 of the legislature, your committee content themselves with re- 

 porting that the Board of Agriculture recommend to the legis- 

 lature to make such amendments to the mill Acts as shall here- 

 after protect the land-owner in the improvement and entire 

 control of his land, in all cases where the erection of a dam is 

 not shown to be of public utility or necessity. 



Your committee also take pleasure in quoting in full the able 

 and instructive chapter on Flowage and Drainage Acts from 

 Judge French's work on Farm Drainage. The chapter is as 

 follows : — 



Nothing more clearly shows the universal interest and confidence of 

 the people of Great Britain, in the operation of land-drainage, than the 

 acts of Parliament in relation to the subject. The conservatism of 

 England, in the view of an American, is striking. She never takes a 

 step till she is sure she is right. Justly proud of her position among the 

 nations, she deems change an unsafe experiment, and what has been, 

 much safer than what might be. Vested rights are sacred in England, 

 and especially rights in lands, which are emphatically real estate there. 



Such are the sentiments of the people, and such the sentiments of 

 their representatives and exponents, the Lords and Commons. 



