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3 1945

ARTERIAL DRAINAGE ACT, 1945

PART II.

Drainage Schemes.

Preparation of drainage schemes.

4. —(1) Whenever the Commissioners are of opinion that the execution of arterial drainage works is expedient in respect of any catchment area for the purpose of preventing or substantially reducing the periodical flooding of lands in that area or of improving by drainage lands in the said area, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners to prepare a scheme (in this Act referred to as a drainage scheme) for the execution of such works and for that purpose to make such engineering and valuation surveys of the said area as shall appear to them to be necessary or expedient.

(2) Every drainage scheme prepared by the Commissioners in pursuance of this section shall show, either in the body of the scheme or by means of appropriate maps, drawings, plans, sections, and schedules annexed thereto, the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the waters and watercourses proposed to be dealt with,

(b) the lands which will be drained or otherwise improved by the carrying out of the scheme,

(c) the drainage works proposed to be executed in pursuance of the scheme,

(d) where the benefited lands are all situate in one county, the aggregate annual value (at the time of the preparation of the scheme) of those lands and the total increase in the annual value thereof which will probably arise in consequence of the execution of the scheme or, where the benefited lands are situate in two or more counties, the respective aggregate annual values (at the time aforesaid) of the portions of those lands situate in each such county and the several total increases in the annual values of those portions respectively which will probably arise in consequence of the execution of the scheme,

(e) the lands proposed to be compulsorily acquired or substantially interfered with, the easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights proposed to be compulsorily acquired, restricted, terminated, or otherwise interfered with, and the roads and bridges (whether public or private) proposed to be diverted, removed, or otherwise interfered with,

(f) the reputed proprietors, owners, and rated or other occupiers of the several lands proposed to be compulsorily acquired or substantially interfered with and of the several easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights, and private roads and bridges proposed to be compulsorily acquired, restricted, terminated or otherwise interfered with,

(g) the area proposed to be constituted a separate drainage district on the completion of the carrying out of the scheme.

(3) It shall be lawful for the Commissioners and their officers, agents, and servants to enter on any lands and there do all such things as may appear to them to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the preparation of a drainage scheme and the making of any such surveys in relation thereto as are mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section.

(4) Every mention or reference contained in this Act of or to a drainage scheme shall be construed as including every map, drawing, plan, section, and schedule annexed to such drainage scheme.

Sending of copies of schemes to councils.

5. —(1) When the Commissioners have prepared a drainage scheme they shall—

(a) send a copy of such scheme to the council of every county in which the area or any part of the area proposed by such scheme to be constituted a separate drainage district is situate, and

(b) publish in the Iris Oifigiúil and such one or more newspapers circulating in the said area as they shall consider appropriate a notice stating that such scheme has been prepared by them and the electoral divisions to which or to a part of which it relates and also stating the place or places at which and the period, not being less than one month, during which a copy of such scheme will be available for inspection in pursuance of the next following sub-section of this section.

(2) Every council of a county to which a copy of a drainage scheme is sent by the Commissioners in pursuance of this section—

(a) shall cause such copy to be exhibited in their principal offices or other convenient place during the period specified in that behalf in the notice relating to such scheme published in pursuance of the next preceding sub-section of this section and shall permit such copy to be inspected during office hours by any person claiming to be interested therein, and

(b) shall examine and consider the drainage scheme of which such copy is a copy, and

(c) may, at any time within three months after the date of the publication in the Iris Oifigiúil in pursuance of the next preceding sub-section of this section of the notice relating to such scheme, send to the Commissioners all such observations in regard to such scheme as such council shall think proper.

(3) The duty imposed on the council of a county by paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) of this section and the power conferred on the council of a county by paragraph (c) of the said sub-section (2) shall each be a reserved function.

Notices to reputed proprietors, occupiers, etc.

6. —(1) Simultaneously with or as soon as may be after sending a copy of a drainage scheme to councils of counties in pursuance of the next preceding section, the Commissioners shall—

(a) serve on every person named in such drainage scheme as a reputed proprietor, owner, or rated or other occupier of any land proposed to be compulsorily acquired or substantially interfered with or of any easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right or of any private road or bridge proposed to be compulsorily acquired, restricted, terminated or otherwise interfered with a notice stating that such scheme has been prepared, specifying the place or places at which and the period during which a copy of such scheme will be available for inspection in pursuance of this Act and informing him that such scheme proposes the compulsory acquisition of or interference with some land, right, or other property (which land, right, or property and the proposed interference (if any) shall be fully described in the notice) reputed to be owned or occupied by him, and

(b) serve on every person who is the local authority (not being a council to which a copy of such scheme has been sent in pursuance of the next preceding section) charged with the maintenance of any public road or bridge proposed in such scheme to be diverted, removed, or otherwise interfered with a notice informing such local authority of the preparation of such scheme and of the diversion, removal, or interference proposed in such scheme to be made in respect of such road or bridge.

(2) Every notice served on any person in pursuance of the foregoing sub-section of this section shall contain a statement informing such person that he may, within one month after the service of such notice on him, send to the Commissioners all such observations (if any) as he shall think proper in regard to (as the case may be) the acquisition, restriction, termination, or interference or the diversion, removal, or interference mentioned in such notice.

(3) Every person on whom a notice is served in pursuance of this section may, at any time within one month after the service of such notice on him, send to the Commissioners all such (if any) observations in regard to the acquisition, restriction, termination, or interference or the diversion, removal, or interference (as the case may be) mentioned therein as he shall think proper.

(4) A notice required by this section to be served on any person may be served by post and, where the address of such person is not known, the letter containing such notice may be addressed to him at the lands or the place of situation of the right or property to which the notice relates.

Confirmation of drainage scheme by the Minister.

7. —(1) When all the times limited by the foregoing provisions of this Act for the sending to the Commissioners of observations by councils of counties in regard to a drainage scheme and for the sending to the Commissioners of observations by persons on whom a notice has been served in pursuance of the next preceding section have expired, the Commissioners shall do the following things, that is to say:—

(a) consider every such observation sent to them within the time appropriate thereto, and

(b) after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce, the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, and such other (if any) Minister of State as they shall think proper, make such, if any, alterations (whether by addition, omission, or variation) in the drainage scheme as they shall think proper, and

(c) submit the drainage scheme as so altered (if at all) to the Minister.

(2) When a drainage scheme has been submitted to the Minister in pursuance of this section, the Minister shall do whichever of the following things shall appear to him to be proper, that is to say, make an order confirming such scheme, or refuse to confirm such scheme, or refer such scheme back to the Commissioners for revision in specified respects and subsequent re-submission to the Minister under this section.

Inclusion of existing drainage works in a drainage scheme.

8. —(1) A drainage scheme may provide for the inclusion of the whole or a specified part of existing drainage works in the works proposed by such scheme to be executed and may provide for such inclusion either with or without the reconstruction or repair of such existing works.

(2) Where a drainage scheme as confirmed by the Minister provides for the inclusion of the whole or a specified part of existing drainage works in the works thereby proposed to be executed, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) as soon as the Commissioners have entered on the said existing drainage works for the purpose of carrying out the said drainage scheme, the Commissioners shall make an order declaring the date on which they first so entered on the said existing drainage works and thereupon such order shall become and be conclusive evidence for all purposes of the date on which the Commissioners first so entered on the said existing drainage works;

(b) as on and from the date on which the Commissioners first enter on the said existing drainage works for the purpose of carrying out the said drainage scheme, the drainage district containing the said existing drainage works shall cease to exist;

(c) nothing in this section shall operate to relieve the council of a county from liability (if any) for any payments to the Commissioners in repayment of any advance made under any Act by the Commissioners for the said existing drainage works.

The carrying out of a drainage scheme.

9. —When the Minister has made an order confirming a drainage scheme, the Commissioners shall proceed to carry out the scheme, and for that purpose the said order shall operate to confer on the Commissioners power—

(a) to construct, execute, and complete the drainage works specified in the scheme with such additions, omissions, variations, and deviations as shall be found necessary in the course of the work, and

(b) to enter on any land and there do all such acts and things as shall be necessary for or incidental to the construction, execution, or completion of the said drainage works with such additions, omissions, variations, and deviations as aforesaid, and

(c) to acquire compulsorily the several lands, easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights proposed in the scheme to be so acquired, and, if the Commissioners think fit so to do, to enter on any such lands or exercise any of such easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights before the conveyance or ascertainment of price of such lands, easements, fisheries, or rights, and

(d) to interfere substantially with any land proposed in the scheme to be so interfered with and, if the Commissioners so think fit, to enter on and so interfere with such land before any ascertainment of compensation in respect thereof, and

(e) to restrict, terminate, or otherwise interfere with any easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, or other rights proposed in the scheme to be compulsorily restricted, terminated, or interfered with, and to divert, remove, or otherwise interfere with any roads or bridges proposed in the scheme to be diverted, removed, or interfered with, and, if the Commissioners so think fit, to do any of the things aforesaid before any ascertainment of compensation in respect thereof, and

(f) for the purpose of the due carrying out of the scheme to do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(i) take from any land all sods and other material required for the said purpose,

(ii) deposit on any land all spoil or other material produced in the course of such carrying out,

(iii) utilise for the said purpose all or any spoil, gravel, stone, rock, or other matter removed in the course of such carrying out, and

(g) to do all such other acts and things as shall, in the opinion of the Commissioners, be necessary or proper for or incidental to the due carrying out of the scheme and are not specifically provided for by this Act.

Protection of fisheries.

10. —(1) It shall not be obligatory on the Commissioners, when constructing drainage works in pursuance of a drainage scheme, to comply with the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1944.

(2) Notwithstanding the exemption conferred by the foregoing sub-section of this section, the Commissioners shall, when constructing drainage works in pursuance of a drainage scheme, take such precautions and make such provisions as the Minister for Agriculture may consider adequate for the protection of and avoidance of injury to fisheries during or in consequence of the construction of such drainage works, provided that the said Minister shall, in consultation with the Commissioners, satisfy himself that taking such precautions and making such provisions will not cause substantial detriment to such drainage works or substantial hindrance to their construction.

Duties of the Commissioners in regard to public roads and bridges.

11. —(1) Where a drainage scheme provides for the diversion, removal, or other interference of or with a public road or bridge the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) where the carrying out of the scheme involves the closing of such road or bridge to traffic, the Commissioners shall either, as they shall think proper, construct and (while such road or bridge is so closed to traffic) maintain a temporary road or bridge sufficient to carry traffic of such quantity and character as normally uses such road or bridge, or by order made with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health prescribe an alternative route to be used while such road or bridge is so closed to traffic;

(b) the Commissioners shall, before the completion of the carrying out of the scheme, do whichever of the following things they shall think proper, that is to say:—

(i) restore the said road or bridge to its former condition, or

(ii) after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, construct a new permanent road or bridge sufficient to carry the like amount (in quantity and character) of traffic as the said original road or bridge was able to carry and not substantially less convenient in gradient and curve than such original road or bridge, or

(iii) with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, so improve (by reconstruction, strengthening, widening, or otherwise) an existing alternative road or bridge that it will be sufficient to carry the traffic which will be likely to use it and will not be substantially less convenient than the said original road or bridge;

(c) where the Commissioners construct a permanent new road or bridge or improve an existing alternative road or bridge and such road or bridge confers substantially greater advantages on the public of any county or urban district than the original road or bridge, whether by affording an improved means of communication or otherwise, the Commissioners shall certify the cost of such new road or bridge or of such improvement (as the case may be) and the Minister for Local Government and Public Health shall certify what part of such cost in his opinion ought reasonably to be borne by the council of such county or urban district, and thereupon a sum equal to the part so certified of such cost shall be raised by such council as part of the expenses of the maintenance by such council of county or urban roads (as the case may be) and shall be paid by such council to the Commissioners;

(d) if any doubt, dispute, or question shall arise as to whether the Commissioners, in the construction or maintenance of any temporary road or bridge or the restoration of an existing road or bridge or the improvement of an existing alternative road or bridge (as the case may be) pursuant to this section, have complied with the relevant provisions of this section, or as to whether a permanent new road or bridge constructed by the Commissioners or an existing alternative road or bridge improved by the Commissioners (as the the case may be) confers substantially greater advantages on the public of any county or urban district than the original road or bridge, such doubt, dispute, or question shall be decided by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whose decision shall be final and conclusive.

(2) The Commissioners may agree with the appropriate local authority for the doing by such local authority of anything which the Commissioners are required or authorised by the next preceding sub-section of this section to do and may further agree to make to such local authority payment for or towards the cost of the doing of such thing by such local authority.

(3) Nothing in this section shall operate to impose on the Commissioners any duty or responsibility in respect of the maintenance of any new permanent road or bridge constructed by them in pursuance of this section or any road or bridge similarly restored or improved by them.

Amendment of drainage schemes.

12. —Whenever in the course of the carrying out of a drainage scheme it becomes necessary, in the opinion of the Commissioners, to acquire compulsorily or interfere substantially with any lands not mentioned in that behalf in the drainage scheme or to acquire, restrict, terminate, or otherwise interfere with compulsorily any easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right similarly not mentioned or to divert, remove or otherwise interfere with any road or bridge (whether public or private) similarly not mentioned, the following provisions shall apply and have effect, that is to say:—

(a) it shall be lawful for the Commissioners, with the sanction of the Minister, so to amend provisionally the said drainage scheme as to include therein the compulsory acquisition, restriction, termination, diversion, removal, or interference so found necessary;

(b) the provisions of this Act in relation to sending copies of a drainage scheme to councils of counties, serving notice on reputed proprietors, owners, occupiers and local authorities, enabling such councils, proprietors, owners, occupiers, and local authorities to send observations to the Commissioners, and requiring the Commissioners to consider such observations shall apply and have effect in relation to every such provisional amendment of the said drainage scheme in like manner as they applied to the scheme itself, subject to the modification that the time within which observations may be sent to the Commissioners shall in every case be twenty-one days;

(c) the Commissioners shall consider every such observation sent to them within the time appropriate thereto and shall, when all such times have expired, confirm such amendment either (as they shall think proper) without alteration or with such alterations as they shall think proper;

(d) when such amendment has been so confirmed, the said drainage scheme shall have effect and be deemed always to have had effect with and subject to such amendment, and accordingly references in this Act to a drainage scheme shall, in relation to the said drainage scheme, be construed and have effect (wherever the context so permits) as referring to the said drainage scheme as so amended;

(e) while any such amendment is a provisional amendment it shall be lawful for the Commissioners to act on such amendment as if it had been confirmed, subject to the Commissioners making such restitution or restoration (if any) or paying such compensation (if any) as may be just and equitable in consequence of such amendment being confirmed with alterations;

(f) every dispute as to the need for any such restitution, restoration, or compensation or as to the nature, extent, or amount thereof shall be decided by an arbitrator nominated by the Reference Committee from the Panel of Drainage Arbitrators whose decision thereon shall be final and conclusive.

Certificate of total or partial completion.

13. —(1) When the Minister is satisfied on the representation of the Commissioners that a portion of the drainage works specified in a drainage scheme has been completed in accordance with that scheme (with such additions, omissions, variations, and deviations as may have been found necessary in the course of the work) and that the said portion of the said drainage works can conveniently be regarded as a separate work for the purposes of so much of this Act as relates to matters subsequent to the completion of a drainage scheme, the Minister shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, cause to be issued a certificate (in this Act referred to as a certificate of partial completion) sealed with his official seal certifying that the said portion of the said drainage works has been completed as aforesaid.

(2) When the Minister is satisfied on the representations of the Commissioners that the whole of the drainage works specified in a drainage scheme have been completed in accordance with that scheme (with such additions, omissions, variations, and deviations as may have been found necessary in the course of the work), the Minister shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, cause to be issued a certificate (in this Act referred to as a certificate of total completion) sealed with his official seal certifying that the whole of the said drainage works have been completed as aforesaid.

(3) In this Act the expression “certificate of completion” includes both a certificate of total completion and a certificate of partial completion.

(4) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the issue under this section of a certificate of completion, that is to say:—

(a) the Minister shall cause to be published in the Iris Oifigi[html]il and in such one or more newspapers circulating in the area to which the drainage scheme relates as he shall think proper a notice stating that the Minister proposes to issue the said certificate and that any person may, within two months after the date of the publication of such notice in the Iris Oifigi[html]il, send to the Minister an objection to the issue of the said certificate;

(b) simultaneously with or as soon as may be after the publication of the said notice in the Iris Oifigi[html]il, the Minister shall send to the council of every county in which the area or part of the area to which such scheme relates is situate a copy of the said notice;

(c) the council of a county to whom a copy of the said notice has been so sent or any other person may, within two months after the date of the publication of the said notice in the Iris Oifigi[html]il, send to the Minister an objection in writing stating that such council or such person objects to the issue of the said certificate and the grounds of such objection;

(d) the Minister shall consider every (if any) objection sent to him under the next preceding paragraph of this section and shall take such steps in regard thereto as he shall think proper;

(e) the said certificate shall not be issued less than two months after the date of the publication of the said notice in the Iris Oifigi[html]il.

(5) The power conferred on the council of a county by paragraph (c) of sub-section (4) of this section shall be a reserved function.

(6) A certificate of partial completion shall be conclusive evidence that the portion specified in such certificate of the drainage works specified in the drainage scheme to which such certificate relates has been completed in accordance with that scheme.

(7) A certificate of total completion shall be conclusive evidence that the whole of the drainage works specified in the drainage scheme to which such certificate relates have been completed in accordance with that scheme.

(8) Where a certificate of partial completion or two or more such certificates have been issued in relation to any drainage works, the certificate of total completion in relation to those drainage works shall include and apply to the portions of those drainage works covered by such certificate or certificates of partial completion and thereupon such certificate or certificates of partial completion shall cease to have effect.

Acquisition of and compensation for lands, rights, etc.

14. —(1) As soon as may be after the date of the order of the Minister confirming a drainage scheme, the Commissioners shall proceed to acquire the several lands, easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights proposed in such drainage scheme to be compulsorily acquired save that it shall not be obligatory on the Commissioners to acquire compulsorily any land, easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right proposed in such drainage scheme to be so acquired in respect of which it appears to the Commissioners, in the course of carrying out such drainage scheme, that the acquisition of such land, easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right is not necessary for the purpose of such carrying out.

(2) The compensation to be paid by the Commissioners for lands, easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights compulsorily acquired in pursuance of the foregoing sub-section of this section to the several persons entitled thereto or having estates or interests therein or entitled to or having estates or interests in the lands over or in respect of which the rights so to be acquired are exercisable shall, in default of agreement, be fixed under and in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, with and subject to the modification that the arbitrator at the arbitration under that Act shall be such person as shall be nominated for the purpose by the Reference Committee from the Panel of Drainage Arbitrators.

(3) It shall not be obligatory on the Commissioners to make any interference with any land, easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right or any road or bridge proposed in a drainage scheme to be compulsorily made in respect of which it appears to the Commissioners, in the course of carrying out such drainage scheme, that such interference is not necessary for the purpose of such carrying out.

(4) The amount of compensation payable to any person on account of the compulsory substantial interference with any land or the compulsory restriction, termination, or other interference of or with any easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right or the diversion, removal, or other interference of or with any private road or bridge under or in pursuance of a drainage scheme, shall, in default of agreement, be fixed under and in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, in like manner as if such compensation were the price of land compulsorily acquired, but with and subject to the modification that the arbitrator at the arbitration under that Act shall be such person as shall be nominated for the purpose by the Reference Committee from the Panel of Drainage Arbitrators.

(5) Sections 69 to 83 of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, shall apply to the compensation payable by the Commissioners under this section and for the purposes of such application the Commissioners shall be deemed to be the promoters of the scheme.

(6) No action shall lie at law or in equity against the Minister or the Commissioners or any officer, agent, or servant of the Minister or the Commissioners in respect of any act, matter, or thing in respect of which compensation is payable by virtue of this section or either of the two next following sections.

Compensation for certain interferences with land, etc.

15. —(1) Any person who suffers any loss or damage by reason of any interference (other than a compulsory acquisition or interference under this Act) by the Commissioners during the construction of any drainage works under this Act with any land owned or occupied by him or any easement, fishery, water-right, navigation-right, or other right belonging to him shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to be paid by the Commissioners compensation in respect of such loss or damage.

(2) Every claim for compensation under this section—

(a) shall be made in writing to the Commissioners within one year after the interference to which the claim relates is begun, and

(b) shall, in default of agreement, be heard and determined by an arbitrator nominated by the Reference Committee from the Panel of Drainage Arbitrators whose decision, both as to the right to and the amount of such compensation, shall be final and conclusive.

Compensation for injury to canals, fisheries, etc.

16. —(1) Any person who, after the issue of a certificate of completion, suffers any loss or damage by reason of an injury (other than a compulsory acquisition, restriction, termination, or interference under this Act) to any canal or other navigable waterway or to any water-power or other water right or to any fishery or fishing right shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to be paid by the Commissioners compensation for such injury where, but only where, such injury is caused by the operation generally of the drainage works to which such certificate of completion relates or by any particular mode or course of operation of such works.

(2) Every claim for compensation under this section shall be made in writing to the Commissioners and shall be made, in the case of an injury to a fishery or fishing right, within ten years or, in any other case, within three years after the date of the certificate of completion of the drainage works in relation to which the claim arises.

(3) Every claim duly made for compensation under this section shall, in default of agreement, be heard and determined by an arbitrator nominated by the Reference Committee from the Panel of Drainage Arbitrators whose decision, both as to the right to and the amount of such compensation, shall be final and conclusive.

Matters to be regarded in assessment of compensation.

17. —When assessing compensation in pursuance of any of the three next preceding sections, the arbitrator shall in every case have regard to any benefit to any property (whether such property is or is not the property in respect of which such compensation is claimed) of the person claiming such compensation which is occasioned by or may reasonably be expected to arise from the carrying out of the drainage scheme in relation to which the compensation is claimed and, in particular, the arbitrator—

(a) shall, in the case of a claim in respect of a canal or other navigable waterway, have regard to any permanent benefit to the navigation of such waterway occasioned by or which may reasonably be expected to arise from the execution of the said drainage scheme, and

(b) shall, in the case of a claim in respect of water-rights, have regard to any alternative water supply provided by the Commissioners, and

(c) shall, in the case of a claim in respect of interference with water or a watercourse providing power for a mill or other industrial concern, have regard to the extent to which the power so provided was used for an industrial purpose during the ten years next preceding the date of the confirmation of the said drainage scheme by the Minister, and shall also have regard to any alternative source of power provided by the Commissioners.

Amendment of valuation of benefited lands.

18. —(1) It shall be lawful for the Commissioners, at the time and in the circumstances mentioned in the next following sub-section of this section, to amend in such manner as they think proper the statement in a drainage scheme of the aggregate annual value or the total increase in the annual value of the benefited lands or of the portion of the benefited lands (as the case may be) situate in a particular county.

(2) An amendment under the next preceding sub-section of this section may be made by the Commissioners—

(a) where the amendment is made in consequence of an objection made by the council of the county in which the lands affected are situate to the issue of a certificate of completion—at or immediately after the issue of such certificate, or

(b) where the amendment is made in consequence of an application in that behalf by the council of the county in which the lands are situate—at any time after the making of such application, or

(c) where the amendment is made by the Commissioners on their own motion for any reason which appears to them to be sufficient—at any time which appears to the Commissioners to be suitable.

(3) Whenever the Commissioners amend under this section the statement contained in a drainage scheme of the aggregate annual value or the total increase in the annual value of lands, the Commissioners shall inform in writing the council of the county in which such lands are situate of the making of such amendment.

(4) Any officer, agent or servant of the Commissioners shall be entitled to enter, with such assistants as he shall think necessary, any land at all reasonable times and there do all such things as he shall consider necessary for the purpose of making such valuation of such land as the Commissioners may consider to be requisite for the purpose of considering and (if thought fit) making an amendment under this section of a statement of aggregate annual value or of total increase in annual value.

The Award.

19. —(1) When a certificate of completion has been issued and the provisions (so far as they are applicable) of the preceding sections have been complied with, the Commissioners shall make an Award and shall state therein the following matters and things, that is to say:—

(a) the issue of the certificate of total completion or of partial completion (as the case may be) and the date thereof;

(b) in general terms, the drainage works stated in the certificate of completion to have been completed;

(c) the lands drained or otherwise improved by the execution of the said drainage works and the county or counties in which those lands are situate and, where the said lands are situate in two or more counties, the portion of the said lands situate in each such county;

(d) where the benefited lands are all situate in one county, the aggregate annual value (at the time of the preparation of the relevant drainage scheme) of those lands and the total increase in the annual value thereof in consequence of the execution of the said drainage works or, where the benefited lands are situate in two or more counties, the respective aggregate annual values (at the time aforesaid) of the portions of those lands situate in each such county and the several total increases in the annual values of those portions respectively in consequence of the execution of the said drainage works;

(e) the area which is constituted by the Award to be a separate drainage district;

(f) such other matters as the Commissioners shall think proper to state in the Award.

(2) The Commissioners shall cause to be made a true copy of every Award made under this section and shall cause to be endorsed thereon a certificate certifying such copy to be a true copy, and shall then enroll the Award in the Central Office of the High Court.

(3) The copy made and certified in pursuance of the next preceding sub-section of this section of an Award shall be retained by the Commissioners.

(4) The Commissioners shall send a copy of every Award made under this section to the council of every county in which the area or any part of the area constituted by the Award to be a separate drainage district is situate.

(5) An Award made under this section in consequence of the issue of a certificate of total completion shall supersede and replace every (if any) Award previously made under this section in consequence of the issue of a certificate of partial completion in relation to drainage works included in the said certificate of total completion.

(6) Subject to the provisions of the next preceding sub-section of this section, every Award made under this section shall, when duly enrolled pursuant to this section, be conclusive and binding on all parties, and a copy thereof issued and certified by the Master of the High Court shall be conclusive evidence that such Award was duly made and shall also be conclusive evidence of the contents of such Award.

Disposal of surplus lands etc.

20. —(1) As soon as conveniently may be after the issue of a certificate of completion the Commissioners shall inquire and determine whether any, and if so what lands, easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights acquired by them under this Act for the purposes of the relevant drainage scheme are unnecessary and not required for the proper working and maintenance of the drainage works to which such certificate relates.

(2) All (if any) lands, easements, fisheries, water-rights, navigation-rights, and other rights determined by the Commissioners in pursuance of the foregoing sub-section of this section to be unnecessary and not required as mentioned in that sub-section shall be sold or otherwise disposed of by the Commissioners for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister shall direct.