CANAL BOATS.

c. 60.

By the Canal Boats Act, 1877, 40 & 41 Vict. c. 60, "An Act 40 & 41 Vict. to provide for the Registration and Regulation of Canal Boats used as Dwellings," it is enacted as follows: "1. Registration of Use of Canal Boat as Dwelling.-After the expiration of twelve months after the commencement of this act, or if the regulations of the local government board hereinafter mentioned have not at that time come into force, then after the expiration of six months from the date at which they have come into force, a canal boat shall not be used as a dwelling unless it has been registered in accordance with this act,

"The owner of a canal boat may register that boat with the registration authority hereinafter mentioned as a dwelling for such number of persons of the specified age and sex as may be allowed under the provisions of this act; and the boat shall be used as a dwelling only for the number of persons of the age and sex for which it is registered.

"If a canal boat is used as a dwelling in contravention of this act, the master of the boat, and also the owner of the boat, if he is in fault, shall each be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty shillings for each occasion on which the boat is so used.

"2. Local Government Board to make Regulations for Registration, firing Number of Persons, promoting Cleanliness and preventing Infectious Disease.-The local government board shall make regulations, and may from time to time revoke and vary such regulations-

"(1.) For the registration of canal boats under this act, including certificates of registration, and the fees in connection with such registration; and

"(2.) For the lettering, marking and numbering of such boats; and

"(3.) For fixing the number, age and sex of the persons who may be allowed to dwell in a canal boat, having regard to the cubic space, ventilation, provision for the separation of the sexes, general healthiness, and convenience of accommodation of the boat; and

"(4.) For promoting cleanliness in and providing for the habitable condition of canal boats; and

"(5.) For preventing the spread of infectious disease by canal boats.

"The registration authority shall register every canal boat which conforms to the conditions of registration provided by the said regulations for the number of persons allowed by those regulations to dwell therein.

40 & 41 Vict. c. 60.

"3. Certificate of Registry and Lettering and Numbering of Boat. -Upon the registry of a boat under this act, the registration authority shall give to the owner thereof two certificates of registry, identifying the owner and the boat, and stating the place to which the boat is registered as belonging, and the number, age and sex of the persons allowed to dwell in the boat, and such other particulars as may be provided by regulations under this act, or may seem fit to the registration authority, and the master shall have the care of one of such certificates.

"Every canal boat when registered shall be lettered, marked and numbered in some conspicuous manner (as directed by the regulations made under this act), and such lettering, marking and numbering shall include the word "registered," and the name of the place to which the boat is registered as belonging, and the registered number.

"Any boat not lettered, marked and numbered in conformity with this section, or having the letter, mark or number altered, defaced or obliterated, shall be deemed, for the purposes of this act, to be an unregistered canal boat.

"4. Power of Sanitary Authority far Prevention of Infectious Disease in Canal Boats.-Where any sanitary authority within whose district a canal or any part of a canal is situate is informed by the master of a canal boat or otherwise that a person on a canal boat is suffering from an infectious disorder, the authority shall cause such steps to be taken as may by the certificate of their medical officer of health, or of any other legally qualified practitioner, appear requisite for preventing the said disorder from spreading, and for that purpose may exercise the power of removing a person suffering as aforesaid, and all other powers in relation to provisions against infection conferred by the Public Health Act, 1875, and may also, if need be, detain the boat; but such boat shall not be detained a longer time than is necessary for cleansing and disinfecting the same.

"5. Authorised Person may enter Boat, &c.-Where any person duly authorised by a registration or sanitary authority, or by a justice of the peace, has reasonable cause to suppose, either that there is any contravention of this act on board a canal boat, or that there is on board a canal boat any person suffering from an infectious disorder, he may, on producing (if demanded) either a copy of his authorisation, purporting to be certified by the clerk or a member of the sanitary authority, or some other sufficient evidence of his being authorised as aforesaid, enter by day such canal boat and examine the same and every part thereof, in order to ascertain whether on board such boat there is any contravention of this act, or a person suffering from an infectious disorder, and may, if need be, detain the boat for the purpose, but for no longer time than is necessary.

"The master of the boat shall, if required by such person, pro- 40 & 41 Vict. duce to him the certificate of registry (if any) of the boat, and c. 60. permit him to examine and copy the same, and shall furnish him with such assistance and means as such person may require for the purpose of his entry and examination of and departure from the boat in pursuance of this section.

A refusal to comply with the requisition of such person under this section shall be deemed to be an obstruction of such person. "If such person is obstructed in the performance of his duty under this act in the case of any boat, the person so obstructing shall be liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.

"6. Education of Children dwelling on board Canal Boats.-A child in a canal boat registered in pursuance of this act, and his parent, shall for the purposes of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870, 1873 and 1876, be deemed, subject as hereinafter mentioned, to be resident in the place to which the boat is registered as belonging, and shall be subject accordingly to any bye-law in force under the said acts in that place.

"Provided that if the parent satisfies the school board or school attendance committee having authority in that place, that the child is actually attending school, or is under efficient instruction in accordance with the said acts, in some other school district, the said board or committee shall grant him without charge a certificate to that effect, and thereupon he and his child shall be deemed for the purposes aforesaid to be resident in the school district in which the child is so attending school, or under efficient instruction, and shall be subject to any bye-law in force therein.

"The said certificate may on application by the parent be rescinded or varied by the school board or school attendance committee for the place to which the boat is registered as belonging, and may be rescinded without application by any such board or committee, if they are satisfied, after due notice to the parent, that his child is not properly attending school or under efficient instruction in the school district mentioned in the certificate.

"7. Registration Authority.-For the purpose of the registration of canal boats the registration authority shall be such one or more of the sanitary authorities having districts abutting on a canal as may from time to time be prescribed by regulation of the local government board.

"A canal boat shall be registered with some registration authority having a district abutting on the canal on which such boat is accustomed or intended to ply.

“With a view of determining the place to which a canal boat belongs, for the purpose of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870, 1873 and 1876, the registration authority shall register any canal boat in respect of which an application is made for registration as

0.8. VOL. II.

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c. 60.

40 & 41 Vict. belonging to some place which is either a school district or is part of a school district, and is situate wholly or partly within the jurisdiction of the registration authority with which it is registered.

"8. Expenses of Sanitary Authority.—The expenses incurred in the execution of this act by a local authority shall be defrayed as follows:

"(1.) When they are incurred by an urban sanitary authority, a

rural sanitary authority, or a port sanitary authority, they shall be defrayed out of the fund or rate out of which the expenses of such authority, as a sanitary authority under the Public Health Act, 1875, are defrayed; provided that when they are incurred by a rural sanitary authority they shall be deemed to be general expenses; and

"(2.) When they are incurred by a vestry or district board in the metropolis they shall be defrayed as expenses incurred by such vestry or board in the execution of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the acts amending the same. "9. Regulations to be laid before Parliament.-An order of the local government board making, revoking or varying any regulation in pursuance of this act shall not come into force until it has lain in a complete form as settled and approved by the board for forty days before both houses of parliament during the session of parliament.

"The local government board shall take steps for enabling all persons interested in any regulations made by that board in pursuance of this act to obtain copies thereof at such places in the neighbourhood of canals as the local government board may prescribe, on payment of such sum not exceeding sixpence as may be prescribed by that board.

“10. Illegal detention of Certificate of Registry.—If the master of any canal boat illegally detains the certificate of registry of such boat, he may, on summary conviction before two justices, be directed by order of such justices to deliver up such certificate, and shall, in addition thereto, be liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings, and the justices may direct any part of such fine to be paid to the person injured by the detention of such certificate.

"11. Application of Fees under this Act.-All fees paid in respect of registration under this act shall be carried to the fund or rate out of which the expenses incurred in the execution of this act by the authority making such registration are by this act declared to be payable.

12. Power of Canal Company, &c. to establish Schools.—Any company or association, corporate or unincorporate, being the owners of any canal boats, or being the owners, lessees, or undertakers of any canal, may, with the assent of a special resolution of their members, and notwithstanding any act of parliament, charter, or document regulating the funds of the company or association,

appropriate any portion of their funds to the establishment and 40 & 41 Vict. maintenance, or establishment or maintenance, of a school or schools c. 60. wherein the children of the persons employed in canal boats may be lodged, maintained, and educated, or educated only; with this restriction, that the children shall not be maintained gratuitously, but the lodging or education may be wholly or partially gratuitous. "A special resolution' shall for the purposes of this act mean a resolution passed in manner provided by the fifty-first section of the Companies Act, 1862.

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"13. Recovery of Penalties.-Offences under this act may be prosecuted, and fines under this act may be recovered on summary conviction before two justices having jurisdiction, either in the place to which the boat in respect of which the offence was committed is registered as belonging, or in the place where the offence is committed, or in the place where the alleged offender for the time being is, in manner provided by the act of the eleventh and twelfth years of the reign of her present Majesty, chapter forty-three, intituled 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,' and the acts amending the same.

"14. Definitions.-In this act, unless the context otherwise requires

"The expression sanitary authority' means an urban sanitary authority, a rural sanitary authority, or a port sanitary authority; provided that in the case of the parishes mentioned in schedule A and the districts mentioned in schedule B to the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, so far as they are not within the jurisdiction of a port sanitary authority, the vestry of any such parish and the district board of any such district elected under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the acts amending the same, shall be deemed to be sanitary authorities, and where other sanitary authorities are by this act empowered to exercise powers conferred by the Public Health Act, 1875, may exercise similar powers conferred by any act of parliament extending to such parishes or districts:

"The expression 'parent' includes guardian, and every person who is liable to maintain or has the actual custody of any child:

"The expressions 'urban sanitary authority' and 'rural sanitary authority' and 'port sanitary authority' have the same meaning as in the Public Health Act, 1875:

"The expression 'canal' includes any river, inland navigation, lake, or water being within the body of a county, whether it is or not within the ebb and flow of the tide :