The whole of the above-mentioned works to be executed by you in accordance with the plan and sections hereinbefore referred to and now open for inspection at the surveyor’s office as aforesaid, and of the dimensions, widths and levels shown thereon, and to be done in a good, workmanlike and substantial manner, to the satisfaction of the said urban sanitary authority and of their surveyor.
An estimate of the probable cost of the said work, prepared under the direction of the surveyor to the said urban sanitary authority, is also lying for inspection at the office of the said surveyor, in manner required by section 150 of the Public Health Act 1875.
Dated this day of 18 .
_________________________
Town Clerk.
The clause then goes on to say “If such notice is not complied with.”
It would be a most difficult and costly proceeding for any individual owner of property to execute the work for half the width of the street opposite his length of frontage, and the result would be anything but satisfactory if the owners of the properties were to comply with the notices in this manner.
If the owners do intend to comply with the notice, and carry out the work themselves, the best method for them to adopt is to hold a meeting and decide upon having it done, then to appoint one of their number, or some other person to superintend or carry out the work, and afterwards collect the money, but this is very seldom done, and the wisest course (which is generally adopted) is not to comply with the notice, but let the urban authority execute the work themselves. This again entails considerable labour upon the town surveyor, who has to superintend the work and see that all the details contained in the statutory notices are properly carried out, but his labour does not end here. Upon the completion of the work the amount expended has to be recovered “from the owners in default according to the frontage of their respective premises, and in such proportion as is settled by the surveyor of the urban authority, or (in case of dispute) by arbitration.”
It is scarcely necessary to point out what an immense amount of responsible work this involves. First, a separate account of all the labour and materials employed on the street must be most carefully kept and totalled at the end of the work, with such additional sum for supervision, &c., as the urban authority may think necessary.[151] The exact length of each property “fronting, adjoining or abutting” on the street, must be most carefully measured. A proportionate sum has then to be calculated for each of these, and this sum is often complicated by cross roads, cul-de-sacs, narrow passages, strips of land intervening between the street and the properties, and many other perplexing intricacies, in addition to those persons who are legally exempted from any payment under the following clause of the Public Health Act 1875:
“The incumbent or minister of any church, chapel, or place appropriated to public religious worship, which is now by law exempt from rates for the relief of the poor, shall not be liable to any expenses under the last preceding section as the owner or occupier of such church, chapel, or place, or of any churchyard or burial ground attached thereto, nor shall any such expenses be deemed to be a charge on such church, chapel or other place, or on such churchyard or burial ground . . .” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 151.).
The town surveyor, having ascertained what is the amount of the sum due from each owner, shall proceed to fill in the amount upon a form a specimen of which is now given: