Contracts being principally a legal question, it is not my intention to say much on the matter.

In the Public Health Act 1875 will be found the following clauses:

“Any Local Authority may enter into any contracts necessary for carrying this Act into execution (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 173).

“With respect to contracts made by an Urban Authority under this Act, the following regulations shall be observed (namely):

“(1.) Every contract made by an Urban Authority whereof the value or amount exceeds fifty pounds shall be in writing, and sealed with the common seal of such authority:

“(2.) Every such contract shall specify the work, materials, matters or things to be furnished, had or done, the price to be paid, and the time or times within which the contract is to be performed, and shall specify some pecuniary penalty to be paid in case the terms of the contract are not duly performed:

“(3.) Before contracting for the execution of any works under the provisions of this Act, an Urban Authority shall obtain from their surveyor an estimate in writing, as well of the probable expense of executing the work in a substantial manner as of the annual expense of repairing the same; also a report as to the most advantageous mode of contracting, that is to say, whether by contracting only for the execution of the work, or for executing and also maintaining the same in repair during a term of years or otherwise:

“(4.) Before any contract of the value or amount of one hundred pounds or upwards is entered into by an Urban Authority ten days’ public notice at the least shall be given, expressing the nature and purpose thereof, and inviting tenders for the execution of the same; and such authority shall require and take sufficient security for the due performance of the same:

“(5.) Every contract entered into by an Urban Authority in conformity with the provisions of this section, and duly executed by the other parties thereto, shall be binding on the Authority by whom the same is executed and their successors, and on all other parties thereto and their executors, administrators, successors or assigns to all intents and purposes: Provided that an Urban Authority may compound with any contractor or other person in respect of any penalty incurred by reason of the non-performance of any contract entered into as aforesaid, whether such penalty is mentioned in any such contract, or in any bond or otherwise, for such sums of money or other recompense as to such Authority may seem proper” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 174).

In reading the numerous foot-notes that follow the above clauses in Glen’s ‘Law of Public Health and Local Government,’ it will be seen that contracts with corporations have been held to be very different from ordinary ones between individuals or companies. All contracts should be by deed under the seal of the corporation, or “there is no safety or security for anyone dealing with such a body on any other footing,” and this applies also in “respect of any variation or alteration in a contract which has been made.”

“A committee of the corporation has no power to enter into any contract” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 200).

A member of a corporation may not be “concerned in any bargain or contract” entered into by the corporation, although this would not vitiate the contract (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, sch. 11, clause 64), neither may an officer of the corporation be “concerned or interested in any bargain or contract” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 193).

It is, of course, necessary before any contract can be entered into, that the town surveyor should prepare the specification, schedule of prices and drawings where necessary; this entails a considerable amount of work.

In addition to ordinary specifications for works, the town surveyor has often to prepare specifications and schedules for the supply of the following goods:

and a host of other things too numerous to mention.

A well-written, clear, and comprehensive specification is a most difficult thing to write, but it should be “common sense” from beginning to end, any legal phraseology being left to the town clerk to introduce in his “deed” as required by the Act.

For sewer and drain work lump sum contracts are often undesirable: it is better to work according to a schedule of prices, and periodical measurements.

It must not be forgotten that in all contracts the contractor seeks to make a profit out of the work; if there is no intermediate contractor this profit goes to the ratepayers. In most sanitary works also the men employed by the local authority are more skilled in that particular class of work than the chance men employed by a contractor, and for this and many other reasons, administration by the local authority is in most cases preferable to contracts.[252]

Where tenders have been invited by advertisement or otherwise, the successful person should be written to, apprising him of the fact, and requesting him to call, sign the necessary specification, deeds, and drawings; an intimation should also be made to the unsuccessful competitors that their tenders have not been accepted.

In conclusion, let me thank the authors of the following books for the useful information which I have gained in perusing them for the purposes of this work, and, let me add, they can be studied with advantage by every “Town Surveyor”:

[252] Mr. Parry, C.E., Borough Surveyor of Reading, says, “My experience of such works is that town authorities can obtain both labour and materials cheaper than contractors, and with efficient supervision the work costs less money.” (Vide ‘Proceedings of the Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors,’ vol. iv. p. 89.)