All questions referable to arbitration under this Act may, when the amount in dispute is less than twenty pounds, be determined at the option of either party before a court of summary jurisdiction, but the court may, if it thinks fit, require that any work in respect of which the claim of the local authority is made and the particulars of the claim be reported on to them by any competent surveyor, not being the surveyor of the local authority ; and the court may determine the amount of costs incurred in that behalf, and by whom such costs or any part of them shall be paid.