The result of this uncertainty has been that a great many towns have inserted in their private improvement Acts, clauses making it compulsory upon all persons to give them from 3 to 7 days’ notice of their intention to break up the streets, specifying the manner in which the work shall be done, and also compelling them to deposit a sum of money in order to secure that the repairs of the street are properly executed.[130] A better method than this is to insert in any private improvement Act a clause giving powers to the urban authority to execute all drain-work themselves and charge it upon the owners of the property, thus ensuring that any interference with the surface of the street shall be done in a proper manner by men accustomed to the work, and also that the drain itself shall be of perfect workmanship.
Where the town surveyor has no private improvement Act dealing with this question, it is well to frame some regulations as to the manner in which the notice of intention to break up the surface of the street shall be given to him by the person intending to do the work, and if possible to obtain a deposit of a few shillings as a guarantee that the surface of the street shall be kept in something like decent repair. Although this may not be strictly legal, it is a very universal practice amongst town surveyors.
The following forms of notices are given as specimens of the description of notice now in use, and are copied verbatim from those which are now enforced in a very large borough in this country:
Borough of .
To the Borough Surveyor,
I hereby apply for permission to break up the footway or roadway, and make excavations in for the purpose of , and I hereby undertake to light, watch and fence the place during the progress of the works, to temporarily make good the surface of the footway or roadway, to remove all rubbish, and to execute and complete the work to the satisfaction of the borough surveyor. I also deposit the sum of five shillings for the repair of the surface, and agree to pay the balance if it should cost more than that sum.
(Signature)
(Address)
Witness and receiver .
Received by accountant 188.
Surface repaired 188.