NOTE. Sect. 14 (1). liquids proceeding from the processes of such manufactures, are reasonably prac ticable and available under all the circumstances of the case, and that no material injury will be inflicted by such proceedings on the interests of such industry. Any person against whom proceedings are proposed to be taken under Part III. of the Act, notwithstanding any consent of the Local Government Board, may object before the sanitary authority to such proceedings being taken, and the authority must, if required in writing by such person, afford him an opportunity of being heard against such proceedings being taken, so far as the same relate to his works or manufacturing processes. The authority must thereupon allow such person to be heard by himself, agents, and witnesses, and after inquiry such authority must determine, having regard to all the considerations to which the Local Government Board are by the section directed to have regard, whether such proceedings shall be taken or not. When any authority has taken proceedings under the Act, no other sanitary authority may take proceedings under this Act, until the party against whom the proceedings are intended has failed in reasonable time to carry out the order of any competent court under the Act. By s. 8, every sanitary authority, subject to the restrictions in the Act, have power to enforce the provisions of the Act in relation to any stream being within or passing through or by any part of their district, and for that purpose to institute proceedings in respect of any offence against the Act which causes interference with the due flow within their district of any stream, or the pollution within their district of any stream, against any other sanitary authority or person, whether such offence is committed within or without the district of the first-named sanitary authority. Proceedings under the Act may be taken in the county court (s. 10). By s. 13, two months' notice of proceedings under the Act must be given. The provision in the text enables a county council to institute proceedings under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, in all cases in which that could be done by a sanitary authority, and, of course they will be able to institute proceedings against any sanitary authority in respect of sewage pollution. Proceedings against a sanitary authority are facilitated by the 56 & 57 Vict. c. 31 (1893), which provides that where any sewage matter falls or flows or is carried into any stream after passing through or along a channel which is vested in a sanitary authority, the sanitary authority shall for the purposes of s. 3 of the Act of 1876, be deemed to knowingly permit the sewage matter so to fall, flow, or be carried. This Act may be said to embody the decisions in Yorkshire West Riding County Council v. Holmfirth Urban Sanitary Authority, [1894] 2 Q. B. 842 ; 63 L. J. Q. B. 485; 71 L. T. (N.s.) 217; 59 J. P. 213. See also s. 17 of the Public Health Act, 1875, and the notes thereto in Lumley's Public Health. The Acts of 1876 and 1893 are set out in the last mentioned work pp. 1058, 1336. (2.) Any county council shall have power to contribute towards the costs of any prosecution under the said Act instituted by any other county council or by any urban or rural authority. The prosecution here referred to is a proceeding in the county court under the Act. (3.) The Local Government Board, by Provisional Order made on the application of the council of any of the counties concerned, may constitute a joint committee or other body representing all the administrative counties through or by which a river, or any specified portion of a river, or any tributary thereof, passes, and may confer on such committee or body all of the powers of a Sect. 14 (3). sanitary authority under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, or such of them as may be specified in the Order; and the Order may contain such provisions respecting the constitution and proceedings of the said committee or body as may seem proper, and may provide for the payment of the expenses of such committee or body by the administrative counties represented by it, and for the audit of the accounts of such committee or body, and their officers. As to the making of a Provisional Order, see s. 87, post. As to the definition of an "administrative county," see s. 100, post. The joint committee may be invested under this sub-section with all necessary powers to prevent the pollution of a stream at any point of its Under sub-s. (1) the control of a county council is limited to so much of the stream as is within or adjoins the county. course. have power Parliament. 15. The county council of an administrative county shall have Council to the same powers of opposing Bills in Parliament, and of prosecuting to oppose or defending any legal proceedings necessary for the promotion or Bills in protection of the interests of the inhabitants of the county, as are conferred on the council of a municipal borough by the Act of the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth years of Victoria, chapter ninety-one; and subject as hereinafter provided the provisions of that Act shall extend to a county council as if such council were included in the expression "governing body," and the administrative county were the district in the said Act mentioned. Provided that (a.) No consent of owners and ratepayers shall be required (b.) This section shall not empower a county council to The Municipal Corporations (Borough Funds) Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 91), s. 2, enables a governing body to promote or oppose any local and personal Bill in Parliament, or to prosecute or defend any legal proceedings necessary for the promotion or protection of the interest of the inhabitants of the district, and to apply the public funds or rates under their control to the payment of the costs and expenses attending the same. This power is now extended to county councils, except that they have no power to promote a Bill in Parliament. The Act further provides that no parliamentary costs shall be incurred except in pursuance of a resolution of an absolute majority of the whole number of the governing body, after ten clear days' notice by public advertisement of such meeting and of the purpose thereof in some local newspaper published or circulating in the district, such notice to be in addition to the ordinary notices required for summoning such meeting. Further, the resolution must be published twice in a local newspaper, and must receive the approval of the Local Government Board in respect of matters within the jurisdiction of that Board, and in respect of other matters of a Secretary of State. The text dispenses with the consent of the owners and ratepayers of the district, which must be given in the case of other governing bodies. It does not follow, however, from the Borough Funds Act as applied by the text, that the county council will have no power to institute or defend legal proceedings, or to oppose Bills in Parliament, except pursuant to the provisions of that Act. A body like a county council may have power independently of any statute to devote the funds in their hands for the protection of the rates or of their powers and privileges. See on this subject Bright v. North, 2 Ph. 216; Att.-Gen. v. Wigan (Corporation of), Kay, 268; 5 D. M. & G. 52; R. v. Sheffield (Mayor, etc., of), L. R. 6 Q. B. 652; R. v. Kingsbridge Highway Board, 32 J. P. 562; Att.-Gen. v. Brecon (Mayor, etc. of), 10 Ch. D. 204; R. v. White, 14 Q. B. D. 358; 54 L. J. M. C. 23; 52 L. T. (N.s.) 116; 23 W. R. 248; 49 L. P. 294; Cleverton v. St. Germains Rural Sanitary Authority, 56 L. J. Q. B. 83. The 54 Vict. c. 12 provides that a county council shall be entitled to be a petitioner and to appear and oppose any Bill to confirm a Provisional Order made under s. 24 of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, and to provide or contribute towards providing the expenses of the appearance or opposition of a petitioner out of the funds or rates under their control, as if the Bill was a local or personal Bill within the meaning of s. 2 of the Borough Funds Act, and the provisions of that Act are to apply to any such appearance or opposition, and to any expenses incurred or to be incurred in relation thereto. It is further provided that no consent of owners or ratepayers shall be required. 16.-(1.) A county council shall have the same power of making bye-laws in relation to their county, or to any specified part or parts thereof, as the council of a borough have of making bye-laws in relation to their borough under section twenty-three of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and section one hundred and eighty-seven of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply to such bye-laws : (2.) Provided that bye-laws made under the powers of this section shall not be of any force or effect within any borough. The provisions of s. 23 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, are set out, post. See the notes to that section, where the cases are collected. Section 187 of the Public Health Act, 1875, is as follows: "Bye-laws made by the council of any borough under the provisions of section ninety of the Act of the sixth year of King William the Fourth chapter seventy-six, for the prevention and suppression of certain nuisances, shall not be required to be sent to a Secretary of State, nor shall they be subject to the disallowance in that section mentioned; but all the provisions of this Act relating to bye-laws shall apply to the bye-laws so made as if they were made under this Act." It would appear at first sight that all bye-laws made by a county council under the provisions in the text (whether for good rule and government, or for the prevention and suppression of nuisances), require to be confirmed by the Local Government Board under ss. 187 and 184 of the Public Health Act, 1875. But reading s. 23 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (which is incorporated by s. 75, post), with the present section, the true view seems to be that in the case of a county council, as well as of a borough council, byelaws for good rule and government come into force on the expiration of forty days after a copy has been sent to the Secretary of State, if not disallowed in NOTE. the interval, and do not require confirmation by the Local Government Board Sect. 16 (2). under the Public Health Act. This view has been acted on by that Board, and was upheld by LINDLEY and KAY, L.JJ. (sitting as a Divisional Court), in Strickland v. Hayes, 65 L. J. M. C. 55; 74 L. T. (N.S.) 137; 44 W. R. 398 ; 60 J. P. 164; the decision on this point is omitted from the report of the same case, [1896] 1 Q. B. 290. And in Mantle v. Jordan, [1897] 1 Q. B. 248 ; 66 L. J. Q. B. 224; 75 L. T. (N.S.) 552; 61 J. P. 119, although the point was not argued, a bye-law of a county council for good rule and government, approved only by the Secretary of State, was held to be valid by WILLS and WRIGHT, JJ. Bye-laws for the prevention and suppression of nuisances must be made and confirmed pursuant to ss. 182-186 of the Public Health Act, which are as follows: "182. All bye-laws made by a local authority under and for the purposes of this Act shall be under their common seal; and any such bye-law may be altered or repealed by a subsequent bye-law made pursuant to the provisions of this Act: Provided that no bye-law made under this Act by a local authority shall be of any effect if repugnant to the laws of England or to the provisions of this Act. "183. Any local authority may, by any bye-laws made by them under this Act, impose on offenders against the same such reasonable penalties as they think fit, not exceeding the sum of five pounds for each offence, and in the case of continuing offence a further penalty not exceeding forty shillings for each day after written notice of the offence from the local authority: but all such bye-laws imposing any penalty shall be so framed as to allow of the recovery of any sum less than the full amount of the penalty. "Nothing in the provisions of any Act incorporated herewith shall authorize the imposition or recovery under any bye-laws made in pursuance of such provisions of any greater penalty than the penalties in this section specified. "184. Bye-laws made by a local authority under this Act shall not take effect unless and until they have been submitted to and confirmed by the Local Government Board, which Board is hereby empowered to allow or disallow the same as it may think proper; nor shall any such bye-laws be confirmed "Unless notice of intention to apply for confirmation of the same has been given in one or more of the local newspapers circulated within the district to which such bye-laws relate, one month at least before the making of such application; and "Unless for one month at least before any such application a copy of the proposed bye-laws has been kept at the office of the local authority, and has been open during office hours thereat to the inspection of the ratepayers of the district to which such bye-laws relate, without fee or reward. "The clerk of the local authority shall, on the application of any such ratepayer, furnish him with a copy of such proposed bye-laws or any part thereof, on payment of sixpence for every hundred words contained in such copy. "A bye-law required to be confirmed by the Local Government Board shall not require confirmation, allowance, or approval by any other authority. "185. All bye-laws made by a local authority under this Act, or for purposes the same as or similar to those of this Act under any local Act, shall be printed and hung up in the office of such authority; and a copy thereof shall be delivered to any ratepayer of the district to which such bye-laws relate, on his application for the same; a copy of any bye-laws made by a rural authority shall also be transmitted to the overseers of every parish to which NOTE. Sect. 16 (2). such bye-laws relate, to be deposited with the public documents of the parish, and to be open to the inspection of any ratepayer of the parish at all reasonable hours. "186. A copy of any bye-law made under this Act by a local authority (not being the council of a borough), signed and certified by the clerk of such authority to be a true copy and to have been duly confirmed, shall be evidence until the contrary is proved in all legal proceedings of the due making, confirmation and existence of such bye-laws without further or other proof." The provisions of the last of the above-quoted sections should be noticed, as they supersede apparently s. 24 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, so far as regards bye-laws made by a county council for the suppression of nuisances. Power of county councils to appoint medical officer of health. Qualification of medical officers of health. 17.-(1.) The council of any county may, if they see fit, appoint and pay a medical officer of health, or medical officers of health, who shall not hold any other appointment or engage in private practice without express written consent of the council. For the qualification of these medical officers of health, see the next section. (2.) The county council and any district council may from time to time make and carry into effect arrangements for rendering the services of such officer or officers regularly available in the district of the district council, on such terms as to the contribution by the district council to the salary of the medical officer, or otherwise, as may be agreed, and the medical officer shall have within such district all the powers and duties of a medical officer appointed by à district council. The powers and duties of a medical officer of health appointed by a district council (i.e., by a sanitary authority; see s. 100, post) are contained in the Public Health Act, 1875, but are too numerous to be stated here in detail. (3.) So long as such an arrangement is in force, the obligation of the district council under the Public Health Act, 1875, to appoint a medical officer of health shall be deemed to be satisfied without the appointment of a separate medical officer. The obligation of a district council here referred to is that arising under ss. 189, 190, of the Public Health Act, 1875. If the district council enter into an arrangement with the county council under sub-s. (2), they need not appoint a medical officer for their own district. 18. Except where the Local Government Board, for reasons brought to their notice, may see fit in particular cases specially to allow, no person shall hereafter be appointed the medical officer of health of any county or county district, or combination of county districts, or the deputy of any such officer, unless he be legally qualified for the practice of medicine, surgery, and midwifery. For definition of "county district," see s. 100, post. A county district is an urban or rural district. See s. 100, post, and s. 21 (3) of the Local Government Act, 1894, post. The Public Health Act, 1875, s. 191, simply required that a medical officer of health should be a legally qualified medical practitioner, i.e., simply a |