(1.) To inspect all new drains that are constructed in connection with existing buildings within his district.
(2.) To inspect all drains of new buildings that are constructed within his district.
(3.) To inspect all defective drains within his district, serve the necessary notices in respect thereof, and inspect the works he has required to be executed whilst they are in progress.
(1.) With reference to the first of these duties the following is the clause of the Public Health Act 1875 which bears upon the point:
“The owner or occupier of any premises within the district of a local authority shall be entitled to cause his drains to empty into the sewers of that authority on condition of his giving such notice as may be required by that authority of his intention so to do, and of complying with the regulations of that authority in respect of the mode in which the communications between such drains and sewers are to be made, and subject to the control of any person who may be appointed by that authority to superintend the making of such communications. Any person causing a drain to empty into a sewer of a local authority without complying with the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and the local authority may close any communication between a drain and sewer made in contravention of this section . . . .” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 21).
The first thing therefore that a local authority has to do is to frame the necessary regulations and appoint a “person to superintend the making of such communications.”
The following is given as a specimen form of the manner in which these regulations may be compiled:[208]
Regulations made and ordained by the Urban Sanitary Authority for , as to the giving of notice before any drains are made to communicate with the sewers of the said Urban Sanitary Authority; regulating the mode in which such communications are to be made; and appointing the person under whose superintendence and control the work is to be executed.
1.—No communication shall be made with any sewer belonging to the said Urban Sanitary Authority, nor any drain made to empty therein, unless notice of an intention so to do, signed by the owner or occupier of the premises to which such drains belong, be left at the office of the borough surveyor two days previously; and such notice must specify the point at which it is desired that communication shall be made, and the time at which it is proposed the work shall be commenced, and any person not complying with these regulations will be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.
2.—Work required to be done in connecting any house drain or drains with the main or public sewer, shall be executed in the following manner: