82 
ALKALI WORKS BILL. 
and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in 
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— 
1. Preliminary. —This Act may be cited as the “ Alkali Act, 1863.” 
2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-four. 
3. The term “ alkali work,” as hereinafter used, shall mean every work for the manu¬ 
facture of alkali, sulphate of soda, and sulphate of potash, in which muriatic acid gas is 
evolved : the term “ owner,” as hereinafter used, shall mean the lessee or occupier or any 
other person carrying on any alkali work: the term “ the inspector ” shall mean the 
inspector to be appointed under this Act. 
4. Alkali Works. —Every alkali work shall be carried on in such manner as to secure 
the condensation to the satisfaction of the inspector, derived from his own examination 
or from that of a sub-inspector, of not less than ninety-five per centum of the muriatic 
acid gas evolved therein : Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall entitle 
the inspector to direct any alteration to be made in the process of manufacture or the 
apparatus used therein. If any alkali work is carried on in contravention of this section, 
the owner of that work shall, on its being made to appear to the Court before which 
any proceedings for recovery of a penalty may be instituted that ninety-five per centum 
at least of the muriatic acid gas evolved in such work in any one period of four hours has 
not been condensed, be deemed to be guilty of an offence against this Act, and be sub¬ 
ject in respect of the first conviction to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, and in re¬ 
spect of every offence after a previous conviction to a penalty not exceeding one hundred 
pounds : Provided always, that no such owner shall be convicted of more than one such 
offence in respect of any one day : Provided also, that no such penalty shall be inflicted 
unless the.inspector shall produce before the Court having cognizance of the matter a 
statement in writing of the facts on which he founds his opinion that ninety-five per 
centum of the muriatic acid gas evolved in the alkali work is not condensed therein, and 
serve a copy thereof with the process commencing the proceedings. 
5. The owner of any alkali work in which any offence against this Act has been 
proved to have been committed, and for which a pecuniary penalty may be imposed, 
shall in every case (save as hereinafter provided) be deemed, in the first instance, to have 
committed the offence, and shall be liable to pay the penalty ; but any owner who shall 
have been proceeded against shall be entitled to have any agent, servant, or workman 
whom he shall charge as the actual offender brought by due process of law before the 
Court at the time appointed for hearing the case made against such owner; and if after 
the commission of the offence has been proved the owner shall prove to the satisfaction 
of the Court that he had used due diligence to comply with and to enforce the execution 
of the Act, and that the said agent, servant, or workman had committed the offence 
in question without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, the said agent, servant, or 
workman, if he has been brought by summons before the Court as aforesaid, may be 
convicted of such offence, and shall pay the penalty instead of the owner, and the pay¬ 
ment of such penalty and costs shall be enforced against the agent, servant, or workman 
in like manner as penalties are made recoverable by this Act: Provided, that when it 
shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the inspector at the time of discovering the 
offence that the owner had used all due diligence to comply with and to enforce the exe¬ 
cution of this Act, and also by what person such offence had been committed, and also 
that it had been committed without the personal consent, connivance, or knowledge of 
the owner, and in contravention of his orders, then the inspector shall proceed against 
the person whom he shall believe to be the actual offender in the first instance without 
first proceeding against the owner. 
6. No alkali work shall at any time after the expiration of three months after the ap¬ 
pointment of the inspector be carried on or prosecuted until such work has been regis¬ 
tered by the owner with the inspector. In every register hereby required to be made 
there shall be inserted the name in full of the owner, and of the parish or township in which 
the work is situate, and within one month after change of ownership in any such work 
the register of such work shall be amended by inserting the name of the new owner, and 
if any alkali work is carried on in contravention of this section, the owner thereof shall, 
on conviction, be deemed to be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be subject 
to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every day during which such work shall have 
been so carried on. 
