Provisions in schedule to be incorporated in Electric Lighting Orders. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 56. ELECTRIC LIGHTING (CLAUSES) ACT, 1899. (62 & 63 VICT. CAP. 19.) An Act for incorporating in one Act certain provisions usually BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. The provisions contained in the schedule to this Act shall be incorporated with and form part of every Provisional Order made by the Board of Trade after the commencement of this Act under the Electric Lighting Acts, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted by the Order, and shall, subject to any such variations or exceptions, apply, so far as applicable to the undertaking authorised by the Order. The said provisions shall also, with the necessary modifications, and in particular with the substitution of the words "special Act" for "special Order," be incorporated with any special Act, save so far as they are expressly varied or excepted thereby. The expression "Electric Lighting Acts" means in this Act the Electric Lighting Acts, 1882 and 1888, and, so far as respects Scotland, the Electric Lighting Acts, 1882 and 1888, and the 53 & 54 Vict. Electric Lighting (Scotland) Act, 1890. 51 & 52 Vict. c. 12. c. 13. Short title, extent, and commencement. The expression "special Act" means in this Act any Act passed after the commencement of this Act authorising the supply of electricity for any public or private purposes within any area. 2.-(1.) This Act may be cited as the Electric Lighting (Clauses) Act, 1899. * For arrangement of sections see ante, p. 85. (2.) Except so far as any of the provisions contained in the Sect. 2 (2). schedule to this Act are incorporated with any Provisional Order made by the Board of Trade under the Electric Lighting Acts extending to the county of London, or with any special Act so extending, this Act shall not apply to the county of London. See the Chapter dealing with COUNTY OF LONDON, post, p. 303. (3.) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine. SCHEDULE. 1. The provisions of this Schedule are to be read and construed Interpresubject in all respects to the provisions of the Electric Lighting Acts, tation. and of any other Acts or parts of Acts incorporated therewith, and those Acts and parts of Acts are in this Schedule collectively referred to as "the principal Act"; and the several words, terms, and expressions to which by the principal Act meanings are assigned, shall have in this Schedule the same respective meanings, provided that in this schedule The expression "the Special Order" means any Provisional Order made by the Board of Trade under the principal Act with which the provisions of this Schedule are incorporated and includes those provisions as so incorporated: The expression "energy" means electrical energy, and for the purposes of applying the provisions of the principal Act to the Special Order electrical energy shall be deemed to be an agency within the meaning of electricity as defined in the Electric Lighting Act, 1882 : The definition of "electricity" in the Act of 1882, s. 32, is “ electricity, electric current, or any like agency." The expression "power means electrical power or the rate per unit of time at which energy is supplied : The expression "main" means any electric line which may be laid down by the Undertakers in any street or public place, and through which energy may be supplied or intended to be supplied by the Undertakers for the purposes of general supply: The expression "service line" means any electric line through which energy may be supplied or intended to be supplied by the Undertakers to a consumer, either from any main or directly from the premises of the Undertakers : The expression "distributing main" means the portion of any main Schedule. 41 & 42 Vict. c. 76. which is used for the purpose of giving origin to service lines for The expression "general supply" means the general supply of energy The expression "county council" means the county council of the The expression "consumer" means any body or person supplied or entitled to be supplied with energy by the Undertakers : The expression "consumer's terminals" means the ends of the electric lines situate upon any consumer's premises and belonging to him, at which the supply of energy is delivered from the service lines: The expression "telegraphic line," when used with respect to any telegraphic line of the Postmaster-General, has the same meaning as in the Telegraph Act, 1878, and any such telegraphic line shall be deemed to be injuriously affected where telegraphic communication by means of that line is, whether through induction or otherwise, in any manner affected: For definition of " telegraphic line" in the Telegraph Act, 1878, see p. 125. The expression "railway" includes any tram road, that is to say, The expression "daily penalty" means a penalty for each day on The expression "Board of Trade regulations" means any regulations or conditions affecting the undertaking made by the Board of Trade under the principal Act or the Special Order, for securing the safety of the public, or for insuring a proper and sufficient supply of energy: The expression "deposited map" means the map of the area of supply deposited at the Board of Trade by the Undertakers together with the Special Order, and signed by an assistant secretary to the Board of Trade : The expression "plan" means a plan drawn to a horizontal scale of at least one inch to eighty-eight feet, and where possible a section drawn to the same horizontal scale as the plan, and to a vertical scale of at least one inch to eleven feet, or to such other scale as the Board of Trade may approve of for both plan and section, together with such detail plan and sections as may be necessary. Schedule. Sect. 1. PROVISIONS AS TO UNDERTAKERS. 2.-(1.) The Undertakers shall be the authority, company, or other Description person named for that purpose in the Special Order. (2.) If, in a case where the Undertakers are not the local authority, the undertaking or any part thereof is at any time purchased by the local authority in accordance with the Special Order or the principal Act the local authority shall from the date on which the purchase takes effect be the Undertakers in relation to the undertaking or part thereof for the purposes of the Special Order in lieu of the persons mentioned therein as Undertakers. Special provisions on the above subject are made in each of the Power Acts. of undertakers. chase other 3.-(1.) The Undertakers shall not purchase or acquire the under- Undertakers taking of or associate themselves with any company or person supplying not to pur energy under any licence, Provisional Order, or Special Act, unless the undertakings. Undertakers are authorised by Parliament to do so. (2.) If in contravention of this section the Undertakers purchase or acquire any such undertaking, or associate themselves with any such other company or person, the Board of Trade may, if they think fit, revoke the Special Order upon such terms as they think just. This section is not incorporated with the Power Acts, which contain express provisions making it lawful for them to supply electrical energy in bulk to authorised distributors. Section 11 of the Act of 1882, which authorises any local authority who have obtained a licence, order, or special Act for the supply of electricity to, inter alia, contract "for the supply of electricity," proceeds, "but no local authority, company, or person shall by any contract or assignment transfer to any other company or person or divest themselves of any legal powers given to them, or any legal liabilities imposed on them by this Act, or by any licence, order, or special Act, without the consent of the Board of Trade." See s. 11 and the notes thereto, ante, p. 105. As to purchase by a local authority from a company, see Act of 1888, s. 2, ante, p. 145; and as to the question of transfer from a local authority to a company, see ante, p. 35, and ante, p. 105. Schedule. Area of supply and prohibition of supply beyond area. AREA OF SUPPLY. 4.—(1.) The area of supply shall be the area named for that purpose in the Special Order. Some of the Power Acts make special provisions on the subject of this section. (2.) The Undertakers shall not at any time after the commencement of the Special Order supply energy or (except for the purposes of that Order) erect or lay down any electric lines or works beyond the area of supply (a) otherwise than under the authority of Parliament, or under a licence (b) granted by the Board of Trade under the principal Act. (3.) If the Undertakers supply energy or erect or lay down electric lines or works in contravention of this section, the Board of Trade may, if they think fit, revoke the Special Order on such terms as they think just. (a) Formerly it was not the practice of the Board of Trade to insert this prohibition in orders in favour of provincial local authorities. It must not, from this circumstance, be assumed that such local authorities are at liberty to supply energy beyond their authorised area of supply. The insertion of the prohibition was probably considered unnecessary as no money could be borrowed for the purpose without the consent of the Local Government Board. The prohibition is inserted in County of London Orders. The effect of the words "except for the purposes of that Order" is not to authorise the laying of lines outside the area of supply, but to prevent the power of revocation from operating in such a case. On the subject generally, see the evidence of the late Sir Courtenay Boyle, K.C.B., of the Board of Trade, before Lord Cross's Committee (Questions 43 et seq.), and the report of that Committee (ante, p. 55). Of late years it has become a common practice to include in special Acts of local authorities a section authorising them to supply electricity in bulk to adjoining districts. In the case of the Wolverhampton Corporation Act, 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. ch. cclix.), s. 63, power is given to supply electricity for tramway purposes or light railways within or beyond the borough. To the same effect is s. 48 of the Mansfield Corporation Act, 1901 (1 Edw. 7, ch. xcvii.); and s. 58 of the Lowestoft Corporation Act, 1901 (1 Edw. 7, ch. ccxlv.); s. 64 of the Southport Extension and Tramways Act, 1900 (63 & 64 Vict. ch. lxvi.). There are many other instances. See ante, pp. 71–72. By the Metropolis Gas Act, 1860, s. 6, the limits of each gas company then supplying the metropolis were defined, and in the result, each company enjoyed a practical monopoly in its own district. One of these companies, at the request of a railway company, placed a meter on a part of a railway station lying within the company's limits, and through it supplied gas to other parts of the premises situated outside the company's limits, and within the limits of another company. The Court of Appeal held this to be lawful, on the ground that the sale and delivery of the gas took place at the meter; but the House of Lords reversed this decision, holding that the gas was supplied where it was consumed, and therefore, that the company were |