§ For the purpose of the prevention of floods or other damage arising from rivers or watercourses, a County Council may, within their county—
- (a) Cleanse, repair, or otherwise keep in duo state of efficiency, any watercourse, weir, hank, dam, or defence against water, or other work of a like nature.
- (b) Construct any new work in the place of any such work as aforesaid which is out of repair or not efficient, and carry out any improvement or alteration of any such work which does not materially change the character of the work.
- (c) Remove any obstruction from time to time caused by any natural causes or by any accident, or any accumulation or deposit which interferes with the proper flow of water in any watercourse; and
- (d) Remove, by agreement with the owner and occupier thereof, any mill, weir, dam, or other obstruction in a watercourse, not being an obstruction above in this section mentioned.
§
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN moved to omit the word "and" at the end of Sub-section (c), and to insert the following new Sub-section (d):—
Proceed at law against any person or persons who shall illegally raise any weir or dam, or otherwise illegally obstruct the flow of water in any watercourse; and,
One of the main causes of floods, at all events, on small streams, was, he said, that persons having small mills did not clear out their mill beds, and when the water ceased to flow they merely raised the weir 2 or 3 inches. The object of the Amendment was to avoid this in future.
§ LORD THRINGthought the Amendment was an improvement.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 1, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
§ Clause 3,—