84 
ALKALI WORKS BILL. 
offence, and for the purposes of such action the penalty shall be deemed to he a debt due 
to such inspector. The plaintiff in any action for a penalty under this Act shall 
he presumed to he the inspector appointed under this Act, until the contrary is 
proved by the defendant. The Court may, upon the application of either party, 
appoint a person to take down in writing the evidence of the witnesses, and may 
award to that person such compensation as the Court thinks just. The amount of com¬ 
pensation awarded by the judge shall be deemed to be costs in the cause. If either 
party in any action for a penalty under this Act feels aggrieved by the decision of the 
Court in point of law, or on the merits, or in respect of the admission or rejection of 
any evidence, he may appeal from that decision to any of the superior courts of common 
law at Westminster. The appeal shall be in the form of a special case to be agreed 
upon by both parties or their attorneys, and if they cannot agree, to be settled by 
the judge of the county court upon the application of the parties or their attorneys. 
The court of appeal may draw any inferences from the facts stated in the case that a 
jury might draw from facts stated by witnesses. Subject to the provisions of this sec¬ 
tion, all the enactments, rules, and orders relating to proceedings in actions in county 
courts, and to enforcing judgments in county courts, and appeals from decisions of the 
county court judges, and to the conditions of such appeals, and to the power of the 
superior courts on such appeals, shall apply to an action for a penalty under this Act, 
and to an appeal from such action, in the same manner as if such action and appeal re¬ 
lated to a matter within the ordinary jurisdiction of the Court. Within the City of Lon¬ 
don and the liberties thereof the Sheriffs Court, established by a local Act passed in the 
eleventh year of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-one, intituled “ an 
Act for the more easy recovery of small debts and demands within the City of London 
and the liberties thereof,” shall be deemed to be the county court having jurisdiction in 
the case. 
15. In Scotland any offence under this Act, with the exception of offences against a 
special rule, shall be prosecuted at the instance of the inspector, with the sanction of the 
Board of Trade, before the sheriff or sheriff substitute of the county in which the 
offence has been committed, and the sheriff or sheriff substitute having cognizance of 
such offence may award costs to either party, and may sentence the offender to imprison¬ 
ment for any period not exceeding six months, unless the penalty and costs be previously 
paid ; and any decision or sentence of such sheriff or sheriff substitute shall be subject to 
review and appeal according to law. 
16. In Ireland all penalties incurred under this Act, with the exception of penalties 
against a special rule, may be recovered by civil bill at the instance of the inspector, 
with the sanction of the Board of Trade, in the manner and with the appeal directed by 
an Act passed in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her Majesty, chapter fifty-seven, 
or any Act or Acts amending the law relating to civil bills. 
17. All penalties recovered under this Act, except in respect of offences against a 
special rule, shall be paid into the receipt of Her Majesty’s Exchequer in such manner as 
the commissioners of the Treasury may determine. 
18. All penalties incurred under this Act in respect of any offence against a special 
rule may be recovered summarily in England and Ireland before two or more justices ; 
as to England, in manner directed by an Act passed in the session holden in the eleventh 
and twelfth years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, chapter forty-three, inti¬ 
tuled “ an Act to facilitate the performance of the duties of justices of the peace out 
of sessions within England and Wales with respect to summary convictions and orders,” 
or any Act amending the same ; as to Ireland, in manner directed by the Act passed in 
the session holden in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of the reign of Her Majesty 
Queen Victoria, chapter ninety-three, intituled “ an Act to consolidate and amend the 
Acts regulating the proceedings of petty sessions, and the duties of justices of the 
peace out of quarter sessions, in Ireland,” or any Act amending the same ; and in Scot¬ 
land, before the sheriff or two justices in manner directed by “ the Railways Clauses Con¬ 
solidation, Scotland, Act, 1845,” with respect to penalties imposed by that Act the reco¬ 
very of which is not otherwise provided for. 
19. This Act shall continue in force to the first day of July, one thousand eight hun¬ 
dred and sixty-eight, and no longer. 
[Note .—The Commons’ amendments to this Bill, on its return to the Upper House, 
were agreed to, with the exception of that imposing penalties upon the workmen for 
