A.D. 1875. Local Government Board may by pro solve any special drainage district constituted either before or after the passing of this Act in which a loan for the execution of works has not been raised, and merge it in the parish or parishes in which it is situated, and the Local Government Board may by provisional order dissolve any such district in which a loan has been raised for the execution of works, and merge it in the parish or parishes in which it is situated. With regard to sub-sect. (1), see the Introduction, pp. lxiv, lxxxiii. 271. The Local Government Board may, by provisional order, declare any rural district, or any portion of any visional order rural district or districts, to be a local government district; and from and after the commencement of the order, the district or portion of the district or districts therein rement district. ferred to shall become a local government district, and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of a local board, to be elected in manner provided by Schedule II. to this Act. constitute local govern P.H. 1872, s. 24. P.H. 1874, s. 15. Local Government Board constitute local suance of The Local Government Board may, by any order constituting a local government district under this section, divide such district into wards for the election of members of the local board. 272. The owners and ratepayers of any place situated in any rural district or districts, and having a known and may by order, defined boundary, may, by a resolution passed in manner government provided by Schedule III. to this Act, declare that it is district in pur- expedient that such place should be constituted a local government district; and the Local Government Board may, if it thinks fit, by order made not less than six weeks after the receipt of a copy of such resolution by the said Board, declare such place to be a local government 2. district, and from and after the commencement of such order such place shall become a local government district, and be subject to the jurisdiction of a local board to be elected in manner provided by Schedule II. to this Act. resolution of owners and ratepayers. See L.G., ss. 12-18. L.G. 1863, s. A petition may be presented to the Local Government Board from any place so situated as aforesaid, and not having a known and defined boundary, to settle its boundary for the purposes of this Act; the petition shall state the proposed boundaries of the place, shall be signed by one-tenth of the persons rated to the relief of the poor and resident within such boundaries, and shall be supported by such evidence as the Local Government Board may require. The Local Government Board may, after local inquiry as to the genuineness of the petition, and as to the propriety of the proposed boundaries, either dismiss the petition altogether or make order as to the boundaries of the place, and may also make order as to the costs of the proceedings in relation thereto, and the persons by whom such costs are to be borne. Any place the boundaries of which have been settled in pursuance of the foregoing provisions shall thenceforth, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a place with a known and defined boundary. See the Introduction, ante, p. lxxxiii. with regard to this, and the two following sections. District comprising a seaport.—With reference to what may be included within the limits of a district comprising a sea "port," it has been held that the following description of the limits within which the powers of an Act of Parliament passed for the supply of water to a town are to operate, namely, "to extend to and comprise the whole of the town and port of Cardiff and the parishes or places within and adjoining to such town in the county of Glamorgan," did not include anything "beyond the parishes or places within and adjoining the town of Cardiff," and that the word 'port" was limited by the general context of the Act. Cardiff (Mayor, &c.) v. Cardiff Waterworks Company, 33 L. T. 104; 5 Jur. (N. s.) 953. 66 District bounded by a river.--With regard to a district any portion of which is bounded by a river, McCannan v. Sinclair, 33 L. T. 221, may be referred to. In that case in beating the boundary of the plaintiff's parish it had been customary to walk along the shore of the river, but in beating the boundary of the adjoining parish they went along the middle of the river in boats. The parish officers of plaintiff's parish were not aware that any parochial rights had been claimed beyond the margin of the river, and on a special case being stated for the opinion of the Court, it was held that the plaintiff's parish extended to the middle of the river, and that a steamboat-pier built on the bed of the river between high and low watermark was therefore held rateable to the relief of the poor. A district for spiritual purposes, formed under the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 37, s. 9, is entitled to pass a resolution of its owners and ratepayers (without reference to the proceedings of townships out of which it is formed), as being a place with "a known or defined boundary." Reg. v. Northowram and Clayton, 35 L. J. Q. B. 90; L. R. 1 Q. B. 110; 7 B. & S. 110. A parish is a place "having a known and defined boundary" within the meaning of the section: but a parliamentary borough is not such a place. So again a parish which includes within it a corporate borough, was a "greater place" including within its limits a "less place" within the meaning of sect. 14 of 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98; and therefore the borough could not adopt the Act unless the parish had refused to do so, although the parish were itself included within the limits of a parliamentary borough. An order of the Secretary of State that the Act should be in force within the limits of such a parish was therefore valid. Reg. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department; in re Lymington, 19 L. T. (N. s.) 352; S. C. Reg. v. Hardy, W. N. 1868, p. 284; 38 L. J. Q. B. 9; 9 B. & S. 926. To entitle a district to adopt the Local Government Act, 1858, as being "a place having a known or defined boundary" within the meaning of sect. 12 of that Act, it was not necessary that it should be a legal district having a legal boundary of the whole enclosed area; it was sufficient if the place had an actual known and defined boundary, or one that was physical, visible, and notorious, so that there might be no mistake as to the limits within which the Act was to apply. Where, therefore, certain small portions of the township of R. lay within, and were surrounded on all sides by, the adjoining township of G., it was held that the township of G., together with these small enclosed portions of the township of R., was a "place having a known or defined boundary." Reg. v. The Local Government Board, L. R. 8 Q. B. 227; S. C. Reg. v. Grasmere, 42 L. J. Q. B. 131. A.D. 1875. A.D. 1875. Objection to resolution. L.G., s. 17. With reference to the meaning of the word "place," as used in the Beer House Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 61, s. 15, in Smith v. Redding, L. R. 1 Q. B. 492, Blackburn, J., observed: "It may well be that if a collection of houses has acquired a distinct name it may be a place within the meaning of the statute, and yet it would be within a parish;" and per Lush, J.: “It may be a place of many thousand inhabitants, popularly called a town, made up of several parishes or parts of parishes." Where there is such an amount of continuous occupancy of the ground by houses that persons may be said to be living, as it were, in the same town or place continuously, there, for the purpose of the railway acts, and according to the popular sense of the word, and not the legal sense of the word, which would not give at all a sensible definition, the place may be said to be a town. Per Hatherley, C., in London and South Western Railway Co. v. Blackmore, L. R. 4 H. L. 615; 39 L. J. Ch. 713. Under a Turnpike Act prohibiting the erection of a toll-house in any "town," the word "town" was rightly defined as an inhabited place where the dwelling-houses are contiguous, not necessarily touching each other, but so reasonably near that the inhabitants may be said to be living together. Reg. v. Cottle, 5 Cox, C. C. 157; 16 Q. B. 412. See also Milton v. Faversham, 10 B. & S. 552. The word "town" in 8 Vict. c. 20, s. 11, means a collection of houses so near to each other that they may reasonably be said to be continuous, and the term will include a space of ground surrounded by continuous houses. Elliott v. South Devon Railway Co., 2 Exch. 725. See also Falkner v. Somerset and Dorset Railway Co., 42 L. J. Ch. 851, with reference to s. 93 of 28 Vict. c. 20. Adoption of Act by parish in a highway district.-Any parish or part of a parish included in a highway district, under 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, might adopt the Local Government Act (and may therefore now be constituted a local government district under the above provisions), in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, in and under which it might have adopted the same if it had not been included in such district; and upon such adoption being made, such parish or part of a parish shall cease to form part of such district, subject nevertheless to the payment of any contribution that may at the time of such adoption be due from such parish or part of a parish to the highway board. 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 41. 273. Where not less than one twentieth of the owners and ratepayers of any place (such twentieth to be one L.G. 1863, s. 3. twentieth in number of the owners and ratepayers of the place taken together, or the owners and ratepayers in respect of one twentieth of the rateable property in the place,) in which a resolution has been passed declaring that it is expedient that such place should be constituted a local government district, are desirous that such district. should not be constituted, or that any part of such place should be excluded therefrom, they may present a petition to the Local Government Board objecting to such resolution, and specifying the grounds of their objection. Such petition shall be subscribed by the owners and ratepayers presenting the same, and shall be presented within six weeks from the date of the passing of the resolution objected to, and shall, where the exclusion of part of the place is prayed for, state the part of the place proposed to be excluded, accompanied with an explanatory plan. The Local Government Board may after local inquiry make order with respect to the matter in question, and such order shall be binding on the place in respect of A.D. 1875. which it is made. It would seem that a ratepayer or owner who has concurred in the resolution cannot afterwards be a party to an appeal against it. See Harrop v. Bayley, 6 E. & B. 218; 25 L. J. M. C. 107. 274. Any owner or ratepayer who disputes the validity Appeal to Local of the vote for the adoption of the resolution may appeal, Government within six weeks from the declaration of the decision of of alleged inthe meeting, to the Local Government Board, setting validity of forth the grounds on which he disputes the validity of the vote. vote; and the Local Government Board may, on such appeal, after local inquiry, make such order as to the said Board seems fit as to the validity or invalidity of the vote, and any other questions arising on the appeal. But no objection shall be made, at any trial or in any legal proceeding, to the validity of the vote for the adoption of the resolution, or to any order made in pursuance thereof, or to any proceedings on which such order was founded, unless the objector gives fourteen days notice to the other parties interested in such trial or proceeding of his intention to make the same, specifying fully the nature of the objection to be made; and no objection whatever in respect of the matters mentioned in this section shall be admissible at any trial or in any legal proceeding after the expiration of six months from the date of the constitution of the district. By 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 81, the decision of the Secretary of State was to be final, and therefore the Court would not interfere, but refused a mandamus to hold another meeting for the adoption of the Act when his decision was in favour of a motion already carried and appealed against for its adoption. Ex parte Bird, post, p. 270. L.G., ss. 18, 21. visions as to orders. 275. Every order made by the Local Government General proBoard under this part of this Act shall specify a day on which such order shall come into operation (in this Act referred to as the commencement of the order); and from and after the commencement of the order all the powers rights duties capacities liabilities obligations and property which under this Act are exerciseable by or attaching to or vested in the local authority having, under this Act, jurisdiction in any district or part of a district which is by such order included in some other district, shall (so far as the same relate to the district or part of a district so included) pass to and vest in the local authority of such other district: Provided that in the case of the constitution of a new local government district, all the powers rights duties capacities liabilities obligations and property which under this Act are exerciseable by, or attaching to, or vested in any local authority or authorities having, A.D. 1875. Local Government Board may invest rural authority with powers of urban authority. P.H. 1872, s. 23. Power of rural authority to under this Act, jurisdiction in the area so constituted a local government district, shall continue to be exerciseable by attached to and vested in such authority or authorities, until the day of the first meeting of the local board for the district so constituted. Any order made in pursuance of this part of this Act may, if necessary, provide for the settlement of any differences, or the adjustment of any accounts or apportionment of any liabilities arising between districts parishes or other places in consequence of the exercise of any powers conferred by this part of this Act, and may direct the persons by whom and to whom any moneys found to be due are to be paid, and the mode of raising such moneys; and where any local government district is diminished or increased in extent under this part of this Act, the order shall prescribe the number of members to be elected for the district when altered. The Local Government Board may include in the same order provisions for the dissolution of one district, and for the inclusion of the whole or any part of such district in any other district or districts. See the Introduction, ante, p. lxxxiii. 276. The Local Government Board may, on the application of the authority of any rural district, or of persons rated to the relief of the poor, the assessment of whose hereditaments amounts at the least to one tenth of the net rateable value of such district, or of any contributory place therein, by order to be published in the London Gazette or in such other manner as the Local Government Board may direct, declare any provisions of this Act in force in urban districts to be in force in such rural district or contributory place, and may invest such authority with all or any of the powers rights duties capacities liabilities and obligations of an urban authority under this Act, and such investment may be made either unconditionally or subject to any conditions to be specified by the Board as to the time, portion of the district, or manner during at and in which such powers rights duties liabilities capacities and obligations are to be exercised and attach: Provided that an order of the Local Government Board made on the application of one tenth of the persons rated to the relief of the poor in any contributory place shall not invest the rural authority with any new powers beyond the limits of such contributory place. See the Introduction, ante, p. lxxxiii. 277. It shall be lawful for a rural authority, by resolu |