COMMISSIONERS OF LEVELS
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isolated fragments of the foreshore. Corporations and Urban District Councils also exercise a limited control over considerable frontages, but, eliminating the areas of local and restricted authority, there still remain great stretches of tidal and coastal façades which are left under no effective supervision. The poorer agricultural and town districts are the most neglected. The effect of this sporadic system of control is an unscientific frontier, defended in patches merely, alternating with unguarded stretches of coast-line. Thus while a township or particular estate may be carefully fended against attack, it is frequently liable to outflanking by the erosion of contiguous properties to leeward of it. It is admitted on all hands that present methods of administration need overhauling. In England and Wales, in addition to the Commissioners of Sewers appointed under the Crown, there are elective Drainage Boards constituted under the Land Drainage Act of 1861, and under private Acts of Parliament other similar bodies of Commissioners have been nominated or elected.
   Harbour authorities in many cases exercise jurisdiction, as well as county and borough councils, and urban, district, and rural councils. The present necessity is for an organization which will link up all these various disjointed authorities and give them co-ordinate and collective control. The powers of Commissioners of Sewers mostly date back to 23 Henry VIII. That Act has been varied by five subsequent Acts. Under the Land Drainage Act of 1861 powers are provided for the maintenance and improvement of existing works and the construction of new works. A tract of uncontrolled frontage can, however, only be brought “ under commission ” by the consent of two-thirds of the landowners affected. The procedure of Commissions of Sewers varies in different localities. Their general borrowing powers fall under the sanction of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. In some cases orders to ensure current repair are made on the respective landowners concerned, who are directed to carry out the works specified under penalty for default. On works of small cost the penalty is usually double the estimate; for works exceeding £20, 50 per cent in excess of such estimate. The Commissioners meet periodically; in most