4Exemption
1
For the purposes of this Act the consent of a local authority to the discharge of any trade effluent from any trade premises into a sewer of the local authority shall not be necessary, if any trade effluent of the same nature or composition as that of the trade effluent in question was lawfully discharged as aforesaid from those premises into that sewer at some time within the period of one year ending on the third day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and if and so long as—
a
the quantity of the trade effluent discharged from the premises into the sewer on any one day does not exceed the maximum quantity thereof so discharged on any one day during the said period, and
b
the rate at which the trade effluent is discharged from the premises into the sewer is not higher than the highest rate at which it was so discharged during the said period, and
c
(where the trade effluent was at any time within the said period discharged into the sewer under an agreement between the local authority and the owner or occupier of the trade premises, being an agreement which was in force at the end of the said period but has thereafter ceased to be in force) the owner or occupier of those premises makes to the local authority, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, such payments (if any) in respect of the reception of the trade effluent into the sewer as he would have been obliged to make under that agreement if it were still in force.
2
Where, in relation to any premises having a drain or sewer communicating with a public sewer or a cesspool, the local authority, acting in pursuance of section forty-two of the principal Act, have, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, closed that drain or sewer (hereinafter referred to as " the old drain or sewer ") and provided in lieu thereof another drain or sewer (hereinafter referred to as " the new drain or sewer ") communicating with a public sewer, the consent of the local authority to the discharge of any trade effluent through the new drain or sewer into the public sewer with which it communicates shall not be necessary for the purposes of this Act—
a
if, at some time during the period of one year immediately before the date on which the old drain or sewer was so closed, any trade effluent of the same nature or composition as that of the trade effluent in question was lawfully discharged through the old drain or sewer into the public sewer or the cesspool, as the case may be, with which it communicated; and
b
if and so long as—
i
the quantity of the trade effluent which, on any one day, is discharged through the new drain or sewer into the public sewer with which it communicates does not exceed the maximum quantity of the trade effluent which, on any one day during the said period, was discharged through the old drain or sewer into the public sewer or the cesspool, as the case may be, with which it communicated, or (where, immediately before it was so closed, the old drain or sewer communicated with a cesspool) does not exceed such greater quantity, if any, as may be substituted for the said maximum quantity by agreement between the local authority and the owner or occupier of the trade premises or, in default of such agreement, by order of the Minister, and
ii
the rate at which the trade effluent is discharged through the new drain or sewer into the public sewer with which it communicates is not higher than the highest rate at which the trade effluent was, during the said period, discharged through the old drain or sewer into the public sewer or the cesspool, as the case may be, with which it communicated.
3
None of the restrictions imposed by the preceding sections of this Act shall apply in relation to any discharge of trade effluent to which, by virtue of subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, the consent of the local authority is not necessary.
4
The consent of a local authority to the discharge, from any premises into a sewer of the local authority, of any liquid produced solely in the course of laundering articles on those premises shall not be necessary for the purposes of this Act.
5
Any dispute arising under this Act as to the nature or composition of any trade effluent discharged from any trade premises into a sewer of a local authority during such a period as is mentioned in subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, or as to the quantity of trade effluent so discharged on any one day during such a period, or as to the rate at which trade effluent was so discharged during such a period, shall, unless the parties otherwise agree, be referred to the Minister for determination; and upon any such reference the Minister may make such order in the matter as he thinks just, and the order shall be final:
Provided that at any stage of the proceedings on such a reference the Minister may, and, if so directed by the High Court, shall, state in the form of a special case for the opinion of the High Court any question of law arising in those proceedings.