REGULATIONS made by the Local Government Board under the Act of 1877. CANAL BOATS: REGISTRATION AUTHORITIES. To the several urban and rural sanitary authorities named in the schedule hereunto annexed: To the vestry of the parish of Paddington, in the county of Middlesex:- And to all others whom it may concern. WHEREAS by sect. 7 and sect. 9 of the Canal Boats Act, 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 60), it is enacted as follows: Sect. 7. "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." Sect. 9. "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." Now we, the local government board, in pursuance of the powers given by the statute in that behalf, hereby order that on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, the following regulations shall come into force, and shall thenceforth continue in force until revoked. Registration Authorities. I. For the purpose of the registration of canal boats under the Canal Boats Act, 1877, the registration authority in respect of each of the canals specified in the first column of the schedule to this order, against the name of which the name of not more than one sanitary authority is entered in the second column of the said schedule, shall be the sanitary authority whose name is so entered; and the registration authorities in respect of each of the canals specified in the said first column, against the name of which the names of two or more sanitary authorities are entered in the said second column, shall be the sanitary authorities whose names are so entered. II. Where any boat is accustomed or intended to ply on a canal on which two or more districts abut, or on two or more canals, it shall not be necessary that such boat should be registered with more than one registration authority. Interpretation of Terms. III. In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, words have the same meaning as in the Canal Boats Act, 1877. 1. CANALS. 2. REGISTRATION AUTHORITIES. Birmingham and Warwick Junc- The Birmingham Urban Sanitary Authority. tion Canal Bradford Canal........... The Warwick Urban Sanitary Authority. Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal The Brecknock Urban Sanitary Authority. { { Leicester Navigation ..... Macclesfield Canal..... The Runcorn Urban Sanitary Authority. The Great Driffield Urban Sanitary Authority. The Merthyr Tydfil Urban Sanitary Authority. The Vestry of the parish of Paddington. The Reading Urban Sanitary Authority. 1. CANALS. Medway Lower Navigation Medway Upper Navigation .... .... Mersey and Irwell Navigation Neath Canal Nene River Nottingham Canal Nutbrooke Canal 2. REGISTRATION AUTHORITIES. The Maidstone Urban Sanitary Authority, Norwich and Lowestoft Navigation The Lowestoft Urban Sanitary Authority. The Nottingham Urban Sanitary Authority. The Stroud Urban Sanitary Authority. The Beccles Urban Sanitary Authority. The Spalding Urban Sanitary Authority. The Calne Urban Sanitary Authority. The Chippenham Urban Sanitary Authority. 1. CANALS. Wisbech Canal Witham Navigation.... 2. REGISTRATION AUTHORITIES. The Wisbech Urban Sanitary Authority. Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The Birmingham Urban Sanitary Authority. Yare River...... The Great Yarmouth Urban Sanitary Authority. Given under the Seal of Office of the Local Government Board, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. THOS. SALT, Secretary. G. SOLATER-BOOTH, President. Circular Letter of the Local Government Board with reference to the Canal Boats Act, 1877, and the Regulations made thereunder. Local Government Board, SIB, I AM directed by the local government board to forward herewith a copy of their order of the 17th of May, 1878, prescribing the registration authorities for the purposes of the Canal Boats Act, 1877, and also a copy of their order of the 20th of March, 1878, comprising regulations under sect. 2 of that act. The regulations comprised in the orders came into force on the 30th day of June, 1878: and, as a consequence of the provision in sect. 1 of the act, a canal boat may not, after the expiration of six months from that date, be used as a dwelling until it has been registered in accordance with the act. The board trust that the following observations may aid the registration authority in their consideration of the details of the act and of the regulations. Registration. The boat owners have the choice of several authorities with whom to register, and the board consider that registration of each boat with some one authority will be a sufficient compliance with the requirements of the act, whether the boat for which registration is sought be accustomed or intended to ply on one or more canals. Where the boat passes from the canal on which the district of the authority with whom it has been registered abuts, its original registry will be recognized as operative on other canals whereon it may ply. Places to which Boats should be registered as belonging. It will be observed that sect. 3 of the act requires that every canal boat, when registered, shall be lettered, marked, and numbered in some conspicuous manner (as directed by the regulations made under the act), and that "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.'" as As regards the name of the place to which is to be included in the lettering, marking, and numbering of the boat, the terms of the above-cited enactment have to be considered in connection with a provision in sect. 7. It is there enacted that, with the 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, ". and is situate wholly which is either a school district or is part of a school district, which it is registered." or partly within the jurisdiction of the registration authority with In some cases it may happen that the designation of the school district or part of a school district is not identical with that of the registration authority. 0.8. VOL. II. 4 I The omission from sect. 3 of the words "for the purpose of the Elementary Education Acts, 1870, 1873, and 1876," which are found in sect. 7, shows that the name of the place required by sect. 3 to be painted on the boat is that of the district of the registration authority and not that of the school district or part of a school district. In every case, however, the place to which the boat is registered as belonging for the purposes specified in sects. 6 and 7 of the act should appear in the certificate of registration; and for this requirement it will be seen that the board have made provision in their Form (C.) of certificate in the schedule to the order of the 20th of March, 1878. REGULATIONS OF THE 20TH MARCH, 1878. (a) Application for Registry. Part I. of the Order of the 20th March last comprises regulations for the registration of canal boats under the act, including certificates of registration, and the fees in connection with such registration. The first step in the process of registration will be taken by the owner. He should have the opportunity, when making his application to the registration authority, of specifying the time and place for the examination of the boat. If the time or place so specified be inconvenient to the registration authority, they will, doubtless, inform the owner to that effect, and some other time or place will be fixed by mutual consent. Under Art. 1 the owner, besides informing the registration authority of a time and place at which the boat may be examined, is to furnish such other information as the authority may require in relation thereto. The board have not included a form of application in their order, since they have assumed that the particulars will vary with local circumstances. But they think that delay in the preliminary arrangements, will frequently be obviated if the authority to whom an owner may apply for registration are in a position to furnish him with a printed statement of the points upon which they may desire information before proceeding with the examination of the boat. (b) The Examining Officer and his Report. Art. 2 provides for the appointment or employment, remuneration and duties of the person whom the registration authority may select to examine and report upon canal boats, the owners whereof have applied for registration. The report of this officer is to be in the Form A. in the schedule to the order, and is to be submitted to the registration authority at their next ordinary meeting or at a special meeting to be called for the purpose. Before adverting to the details of the form of report, the board have to draw attention to a provision in the act that renders the information which the report will supply of special importance. By sect. 2 it is enacted that the registration authority shall register every canal boat which conforms to the conditions of registration provided by the regulations of the board for the number of persons allowed by those regulations to dwell therein. The statute thus recognizes the act of registration as a function of the authorities themselves, and one which they cannot delegate to their officers. It also imposes upon the authorities an obligation to register in every case where the boat conforms to the conditions of registration. Hence it is obvious that the registration authority, when required to decide as to whether they will register or refuse to register a boat, must have before them complete information with regard to all the details which are comprised in the prescribed conditions of registration. This information the examining officer's report (Form A.) is intended to supply. It will be noticed that the form of report requires the examining officer to state the name, or if there be no name, the number of the boat. This information is rendered necessary by the terms of sect. 3 of the act, in accordance with which the two certificates of registration should identify the owner and the boat; and, as the board learn that in some instances the boats bear numbers and are unnamed, the number, which will be that assigned by the owner, and will be distinct from the number assigned by the registration authority, will be a suitable mode of identification. In describing the nature of the traffic in which the boat is accustomed or intended to be employed, the examining officer should be careful to ascertain whether the boat is intended to carry any foul or offensive cargo. For a boat so used, the special pre |