and complying with the regulations of the council as to the mode in
which the communication is to be made, and subject to the control of
any person appointed by the council to superintend the work. Moreover,
the owner or occupier of premises without the district has the same
right, subject only to such terms and conditions as may be agreed or,
in ease of dispute, settled by justices or by arbitration. If a house
does not possess a sufficient drain, the occupier may be required to
provide one, and to cause it to discharge into a sewer if there is one
within 100 ft. of the house, otherwise into a cesspool, as the council
may direct. In the case of new houses, these may not be built or
occupied in an urban district without their being first provided with
sufficient drains as the council may require; and in an urban district
it is forbidden to cause any building to be newly erected over a sewer
without the consent of the council. For the purpose of sewage disposal
a district council may construct any works and contract for the use or
purchase or lease of any land, buildings, engines, materials or
apparatus, and contract to supply for a period not exceeding
twenty-five years any person with sewage. It may be pointed out here
that these expressions are defined by the act, the effect of the
definitions being shortly that a drain is a conduit for the drainage
of one building or of several within the same curtilage, while a sewer
comprises every kind of drain except that which is covered by the
definition of a drain as above stated. The result has been that
district councils frequently find themselves in the position of being
responsible for the repair and condition of drains which, by reason of
having been laid for more than one house, are sewers vested in and
repairable by them. An attempt was made to remedy this state of things
by the Public Health Amendment Act 1890, section 19, but the remedy so
provided was very partial, and may be said to be confined to the case
where two or more houses belonging to different owners are drained
into a common drain laid under private land, and ultimately
discharging into a sewer in a road or street.

Sanitary accommodation for houses.

Removal of refuse.

The district council are charged with the duty of enforcing the
provision of proper sanitary accommodation (water-closets, privies,
ashpits, &c.) for all dwel