Metropolis Water Act 1902
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1902 c. 41 |
| Year | 1902 |
Metropolis Water Act, 1902
(2 Edw. 7.) CHAPTER 41.
An Act for establishing a Water Board to manage the supply of Water within London and certain adjoining Districts, for transferring to the Water Board the undertakings of the Metropolitan Water Companies, and for other purposes connected therewith.
[18th December 1902]
B E it enacted by the King'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, is follows:
Establishment of Water Board.
1 Establishment of Water Board.
(1) A board, to be called the Metropolitan Water Board, and in this Act referred to as ‘the Water Board,’ shall be established for the purpose of acquiring, by purchase and of managing and carrying on the undertakings of the companies mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred to as ‘metropolitan water companies’), and generally for the purpose of supplying water within the area described in the Second Schedule to this Act, subject to such alterations therein as may be made by or under this Act (which area is in this Act referred to as ‘the limits of supply’).
(2) The Water Board shall be a body corporate with a common seal, having power to acquire and hold land for the purposes of this Act without licence in mortmain.
(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Water Board shall consist of a chairman, a vice-chairman and other members; the chairman and vice-chairman shall be appointed by the Water Board, and the other members shall be appointed as follows:—
Fourteen by the London County Council.
Two by the common council of the City.
Two by the council of the city of Westminster.
One by the council of each of the other metropolitan boroughs.
One by the county council of Essex.
Two by the council of the borough of West Ham.
One by the council of the urban district of East Ham.
One by the council of the urban district of Leyton.
One by the council of the urban district of Walthamstow.
One by the councils of the urban districts of Buckhurst Hill, Chingford, Loughton, Waltham Holy Cross, Wanstead and Woodford.
One by the county council of Kent.
One by the councils of the urban districts of Beckenham, Bromley, Chislehurst, Penge, Bexley, Dartford, Erith and Footscray.
One by the county council of Middlesex.
One by the council of the urban district of Tottenham.
One by the council of the urban district of Willesden.
One by the council of the borough of Ealing and the councils of the urban districts of Acton and Chiswick.
One by the councils of the urban districts of Brentford, Hampton, Hampton Wick, Hanwell, Heston and Isleworth, Sunbury, Teddington and Twickenham.
One by the councils of the urban districts of Edmonton, Enfield and Southgate.
One by the councils of the urban districts of Hornsey and Wood Green.
One by the county council of Surrey.
One by the council of the borough of Kingston and the councils of the urban districts of East and West Molesey, Esher and the Dittons, Ham, Surbiton, Barnes, the Maldens and Coombe and Wimbledon.
One by the county council of Hertfordshire.
One by the Conservators of the River Thames.
One by the Lee Conservancy Board.
(4) The Water Board may pay to the chairman and vice-chairman or either of them such salary or salaries as the Board may determine.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this section, the provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act, with respect to the constitution and proceedings of the Water Board, shall have effect.
Transfer to Water Board of Undertakings of Companies.
2 Transfer of undertakings of water companies to Board.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, as from the appointed day the undertaking of each of the metropolitan water companies shall be transferred to, and shall vest in, the Water Board, and there shall also be transferred from each company to the Water Board all liabilities with respect to any debenture stock or mortgage debt of such company, and all other debts, liabilities and obligations of such company then existing.
(2) The Water Board shall pay to each company, as compensation for the transfer of their undertaking, such sum as may be agreed on between the Board and the company, or, in default of agreement, as may be determined by arbitration under this Act, but the sum so payable may, if the Water Board and the company so agree, be discharged, wholly or partly in water stock.
(3) An agreement for the purposes of this section shall not be made except in pursuance of a resolution of an absolute majority of the whole number of the Water Board, after ten clear days' notice in writing of the meeting and of the intention to propose the resolution has been given to every member of the Board, and any such notice shall state the amount of the sum to be paid, or of the water stock to be issued, under the proposed agreement. Any such agreement shall be valid only if, and so far as, it is confirmed by the Court of Arbitration constituted by this Act, and that Court may confirm the agreement either with or without modifications.
3 Effect of transfer.
3. Subject to the provisions of this Act, as from the appointed day, the Water Board shall hold the undertaking of each metropolitan water company and may exercise all the rights, powers, authorities and privileges of the company, and shall (to the exclusion of tie company) be subject to all the duties, obligations and liabilities of the company, under the Acts, whether local or general, and the charters, orders and other provisions relating to the company, in like manner mutatis mutandis as if they were the company; and, where the company are, immediately before the appointed day, supplying water otherwise than in bulk in any parish in which they are not, by the Acts relating to the company, authorised to supply water, those Acts and all public general Acts applying to the metropolitan water companies shall, as from that date, extend and apply to that parish and the works of the company comprised therein, as if the parish had been a parish in which the company were authorised to supply water:
Provided that so much of any Act as authorises or requires any such company to supply water otherwise than in bulk in any place which, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, ceases to be within the limits of supply, shall not, so long as that place continues to be without the limits of supply, apply to the Water Board.
4 Security for mortgage and other debts transferred to Board.
4. As from the appointed day any debts, debenture stock or rentcharges or other annual payments, secured on the undertaking or income of any of the metropolitan water companies, or any part thereof, shall be, by virtue of this enactment, secured in like manner on the water fund established by this Act, and any debts, debenture stock or rentcharges or other annual payments charged on any specific property of any such company shall remain charged on that property; and the mortgagee or other person secured shall have the same rights and remedies, as nearly as may be, against the Water Board and the water fund or any specific property charged, as he would have had against the company and the undertaking or income or the specific property charged, if this Act had not been passed.
5 Discharge, application and distribution of compensation.
(1) The money or stock to which a metropolitan water company become entitled under this Act, in consideration for the transfer of their undertaking, shall be paid or issued to the company by the Water Board within six months after the appointed day or after the ascertainment of the amount thereof, whichever date is the later.
(2) The money or stock so paid or issued shall be applied and distributed in the manner provided with respect to the company in the Fourth Schedule to this Act. This subsection shall not apply to the New River Company.
6 Application of sinking funds.
(1) As soon as the compensation to which any metropolitan water company are entitled has been applied and distributed in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Chamberlain of the City of London shall transfer to the Water Board all money or other property received by him in respect of the stock or shares of the company held by him and applicable as a sinking fund towards the purchase of the undertaking of the company under the special Acts of the company, and shall at the same time transfer to the Water Board any debenture stock or money held by him and applicable towards the same purpose.
(2) Any water stock or debenture stock transferred to the Water Board under this section shall be forthwith cancelled and extinguished.
(3) So much of any local Act as requires any such company to make periodical payments to any such fund as aforesaid shall not apply to the Water Board.
7 Substitution of water stock for irredeemable debenture stock.
(1) Within two years from the appointed day all irredeemable debenture stock shall be extinguished, and the Water Board shall issue to the holders thereof, in substitution therefor, the amount of water stock to which they are severally entitled under this section.
(2) The amount of water stock to be so issued to a holder of debenture stock shall be such an amount as is sufficient to produce the...
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