§ MR. A. F. JEFFREYS (Hants, Basingstoke)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether the parish council of any parish has power to clean out or enlarge the public pond in the village, in order to obtain a better supply of water for the parish, and whether the parish rates can be applied for this purpose; and, if the parish council has not the power to do this, what authority has that power?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. HENRY CHAPLIN,) Lincolnshire, SleafordA parish council has power to utilise any well, spring, or stream within the parish and to provide facilities for obtaining water there from if they do not interfere with the rights of any corporation or person, but whether this power would 1056 enable them to execute works of the kind referred to in the question must depend on the circumstances of the particular case. [Laughter.] A rural district council has full power to do any necessary acts to provide a supply of water proper and sufficient for public and private purposes, and in order to obtain a better supply of water for a parish in their district they might clean out and enlarge a public pond if they did not interfere with the rights of others. [Laughter.]