VOLUME IX SLICE IV England to English Finance (continued 3)

The councillors who have been elected come into office on the 8th March in the year of election. The first quarterly meeting of the newly-elected council is held on the 16th or on such other day within ten days after the 8th as the county Chairman, &c. council may fix. The first business at that meeting is the election of the chairman, whose office corresponds to that of the mayor in a borough. He is elected for the ensuing year, and holds office until his successor has accepted office. The chairman must be a fit person, elected by the council from their own body or from persons qualified to be councillors. He may receive such remuneration as the council think reasonable. He is by virtue of his office a justice of the peace for the county. Having elected the chairman, the meeting proceeds to the election of aldermen, whose number is one-third of the number of councillors, except in London, where the number is one-sixth. An alderman must be a councillor or a person qualified to be a councillor. If a councillor is elected he vacates his office of councillor, and thus creates a casual vacancy in the council. In every third year one-half of the whole number of aldermen go out of office, and their places are filled by election, which is conducted by means of voting papers. It will be observed, therefore, that while a county councillor holds office for three years, a county alderman holds office for six. The council may also appoint a vice-chairman who holds office during the term of office of the chairman; in London the council have power to appoint a paid deputy chairman.

It may be convenient at this point to refer to the officers of the county council. Of these, the chief are the clerk, the treasurer, and the surveyor. Before 1888 the clerk of the peace was appointed in a county by the custos rotulorum. Officers. He held office for life during good conduct, and had power to act by a sufficient deputy. Under the act of 1888 existing clerks of the peace became clerks of the councils of their counties, holding office by the same tenure as formerly, except in the county of London, where the offices were separated. Thereafter a new appointment to the offices of clerk of the peace and clerk of the county council was to be made by the standing joint-committee, at whose pleasure he is to hold office. The same committee appoint the deputy-clerk, and fix the salaries of both officers. The clerk of the peace was formerly paid by fees which were fixed by quarter sessions, but he is now generally, if not in every case, paid by salary, the fees received by him being paid into the county fund. The county council may also employ such other officers and servants as they may think necessary.

Subject to a few special provisions in the Local Government Act of 1888, the business of the county council is regulated by the provisions laid down in the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, with regard to borough councils. There are four Business. quarterly meetings in every year, the dates of which may be fixed by the council, with the exception of that which must be held on the 16th March or some day within ten days after the 8th of March as already noticed when treating of elections. Meetings are convened by notices sent to members stating the time and place of the meeting and the business to be transacted. The chairman, or in his absence the vice-chairman, or in the absence of both an alderman or councillor appointed by the meeting, presides. All questions are determined by the votes of the majority of those present and voting, and in case of equality of votes the chairman has a casting vote. Minutes of the proceedings are taken, and if signed by the chairman at the same or the next meeting of the council are evidence of the proceedings. In all other respects the business of the council is regulated by standing orders which the council are authorized to make. Very full power is given to appoint committees, which may be either general or special, and to them may be delegated, with or without restrictions or conditions, any of their powers or duties except that of raising money by rate or loan. Power is also given to appoint joint-committees with other county councils in matters in which the two councils are jointly interested, but a joint-committee so appointed must not be confounded with the standing joint-committee of the county council and the quarter sessions, which is a distinct statutory body and is elsewhere referred to. The finance committee is also a body with distinct duties.

In order to appreciate some of the points relating to the finance of a county council, it is necessary to indicate the relations between an administrative county and the boroughs which are locally situated within it. The act of 1888 Relation of county to boroughs. created a new division of boroughs into three classes; of these the first is the county borough. A certain number of boroughs which either had a population of not less than 50,000, or were counties of themselves, were made counties independent of the county council and free from the payment of county rate. In such boroughs the borough council have, in addition to their powers under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, all the powers of a county council under the Local Government Act. They are independent of the county council, and their only relation is that in some instances they pay a contribution to the county, e.g. for the cost of assizes where there is no separate assize for the borough. The boroughs thus constituted county boroughs enumerated in the schedule to the Local Government Act 1888 numbered sixty-one, but additional ones are created from time to time.

The larger quarter sessions boroughs, i.e. those which had, according to the census of 1881, a population exceeding 10,000, form part of the county, and are subject to the control of the county council, but only for certain special purposes. The reason for this is that while in counties the powers and duties under various acts were entrusted to the county authority, in boroughs they were exercised by the borough councils. In the class of boroughs now under consideration these powers and duties are retained by the borough council; the county council exercise no jurisdiction within the borough in respect of them, and the borough is not rated in respect of them to the county rate. The acts referred to include those relating to the diseases of animals, destructive insects, explosives, fish conservancy, gas meters, margarine, police, reformatory and industrial schools, riot (damages), sale of food and drugs, weights and measures. But for certain purposes these boroughs are part of the county and rateable to county rate, e.g. main roads, cost of assizes and sessions, and in certain cases pauper lunatics. The county councillors elected for one of these boroughs may not vote on any matter involving expenditure on account of which the borough is not assessed to county rate.

The third class of boroughs comprises those which have a separate court of quarter sessions, but had according to the census of 1881 a population of less than 10,000. All such boroughs form part of the county for the purposes of pauper lunatics, analysts, reformatory and industrial schools, fish conservancy, explosives, and, of course, the purposes for which the larger quarter sessions boroughs also form part of the county, such as main roads, and are assessed to county rate accordingly. And in a borough, whether a quarter sessions borough or not, which had in 1881 a population of less than 10,000, all the powers which the borough council formerly possessed as to police, analysts, diseases of animals, gas meters, and weights and measures cease and are transferred to the county council, the boroughs becoming in fact part of the area of the county for these purposes.

It will be seen, therefore, that for some purposes, called in the act general county purposes, the entire county, including all boroughs other than county boroughs, is assessed to the county rate; while for others, called special county purposes, certain boroughs are now assessed. This explanation is necessary in order to appreciate what has now to be said about county finance. But before leaving the consideration of the area of the county it may be added that all liberties and franchises are now merged in the county and subject to the jurisdiction of the county council.

The county council is a body corporate with power to hold lands. Its revenues are derived from various sources which will presently be mentioned, but all receipts have to be carried to the county fund, either to the general Finance. county account if applicable to general county purposes, or to the special county account if applicable to special county purposes. The county council may, with the consent of the Local Government Board, borrow money on the security of the county fund or any of its revenues, for consolidating the debts of the county; purchasing land or buildings; any permanent work or other thing, the cost of which ought to be spread over a term of years; making advances in aid of the emigration or colonization of inhabitants of the county; and any purpose for which quarter sessions or the county council are authorized by any act to borrow. If, however, the total debt of the council will, with the amount proposed to be borrowed, exceed one-tenth of the annual rateable value of the property in the county, the money cannot be borrowed unless under a provisional order made by the Local Government Board and confirmed by parliament. The period for which a loan is made is fixed by the county council with the consent of the Local Government Board, but may not exceed thirty years, and the mode of repayment may be by equal yearly or half-yearly instalments of principal or of principal and interest combined, or by means of a sinking fund invested and applied in accordance with the Local Government Acts. The loans authorized may be raised by debentures or annuity certificates under these acts, or by the issue of county stock, and in some cases by mortgage.

The county council must appoint a finance committee for regulating and controlling the finance of the county, and the council cannot make any order for the payment of money out of the county fund save on the recommendation of that committee. Moreover, the order for payment of any sum must be made in pursuance of an order of the council signed by three members of the finance committee present at the meeting of the council, and countersigned by the clerk. The order is directed to the county treasurer, by whom authorized payments are then made.

The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the county council are made up for the twelve months ending the 31st March in each year, and are audited by a district auditor. The form in which the accounts must be made up is prescribed by the Local Government Board. The auditor is a district auditor appointed by the Local Government Board under the District Auditors Act 1879, and in respect of the audit the council is charged with a stamp duty, the amount of which depends on the total of the expenditure comprised in the financial statement. Before each audit the auditor gives notice of the time and place appointed, and the council publish the appointment by advertisement. A copy of the accounts has to be deposited for public inspection for seven days before the audit. The auditor has the fullest powers of investigation; he may require the production of any books or papers, and he may require the attendance before him of any person accountable. Any owner of property or ratepayer may attend the audit and object to the accounts, and either on such objection or on his own motion the auditor may disallow any payment and surcharge the amount on the persons who made or authorized it. Against any allowance or surcharge appeal lies to the High Court if the question involved is one of law, or to the Local Government Board, who have jurisdiction to remit a surcharge if, in the circumstances, it appears to them to be fair and equitable to do so. It will be seen that this is really an effective audit.

The sources of revenue of the council are the exchequer contribution, income from property and fees, and rates. Before 1888 large grants of money had been made annually to local authorities in aid of local taxation. Such grants represented Revenue of county council. a contribution out of taxation for the most part arising out of property other than real property, while local taxation fell on real property alone. By the act of 1888 it was provided that for the future such annual grants should cease, and that other payments should be made instead thereof. The commissioners of Inland Revenue pay into the Bank of England, to an account called “the local taxation account,” the sums ascertained to be the proceeds of the duties collected by them in each county on what are called local taxation licences, which include licences for the sale of intoxicating liquor, licences on dogs, guns, establishment licences, &c. The amount so ascertained to have been collected in each county is paid under direction of the Local Government Board to the council of that county. The commissioners of Inland Revenue also pay into the same account a sum equal to 1½% on the net value of personal property in respect of which estate duty is paid. Under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act 1890, certain duties imposed on spirits and beer (often referred to as “whisky money”) are also to be paid to “the local taxation account.” The sums so paid in respect of the duties last above mentioned, and in respect of the estate duty and spirits and beer additional duties, are distributed among the several counties in proportion to the share which the Local Government Board certify to have been received by each county during the financial year ending the 31st March 1888, out of the grants theretofore made out of the exchequer in aid of local rates. The payments so made out of “the local taxation account” to a county council are paid to the county fund, and carried to a separate account called “the Exchequer contribution account.” The money standing to the credit of this account is applied: (i.) in paying any costs incurred in respect thereof or otherwise chargeable thereon; (ii.) in payment of the sums required by the Local Government Act 1888 to be paid in substitution for local grants; (iii.) in payment of the new grant to be made by the county council in respect of the costs of union officers; and (iv.) in repaying to “the general county account” of the county fund the costs on account of general county purposes for which the whole area of the county (including boroughs other than county boroughs) is liable to be assessed to county contribution. Elaborate provision is made for the distribution of the surplus (if any), with a view to securing a due share being paid to the quarter sessions boroughs.

The payments which the county council have to make in substitution for the local grants formerly made out of Imperial funds include payments for or towards the remuneration of the teachers in poor-law schools and public vaccinators; school fees paid for children sent from a workhouse to a public elementary school; half of the salaries of the medical officer of health and the inspector of nuisances of district councils; the remuneration of registrars for births and deaths; the maintenance of pauper lunatics; half of the cost of the pay and clothing of the police of the county, and of each borough maintaining a separate police force. In addition to the grants above mentioned, the county council is required to grant to the guardians of every poor-law union wholly or partly in their county an annual sum for the costs of the officers of the union and of district schools to which the union contributes. Another source is the income of any property belonging to the council, but the amount of this is usually small. The third source of revenue consists of the fees received by the different officers of the county councils or of the joint-committee. For example, fees received by the clerk of the peace, inspectors of weights and measures, and the like. These fees are paid into the county fund, and carried either to “the general county account” or, if they have been received in respect of some matter for which part only of the county is assessed, then to the special account to which the rates levied for that purpose are carried. The remaining source of income of a county council is the county rate, the manner of levying which is hereafter stated.

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Of the powers and duties of county councils, it may be convenient to treat of these first, in so far as they are transferred to or conferred on them by the Local Government Act 1888, under which they were created, and afterwards Powers transferred from quarter sessions. in so far as they have been conferred by subsequent legislation. Before the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, the only form of county government in England was that of the justices in quarter sessions (q.v.). Quarter sessions were originally a judicial body, but being the only body having jurisdiction over the county as a whole, certain powers were conferred and certain duties imposed upon them with reference to various matters of county government from time to time. The principal object of the act of 1888 was to transfer these powers and duties from the quarter sessions to the new representative body—the county council; and it may be said that substantially the whole of the administrative business of quarter sessions was thus transferred.

The subjects of such transfer include (i.) the making, assessing and levying of county, police, hundred and all rates, and the application and expenditure thereof, and the making of orders for the payment of sums payable out of any such rate, or out of the county stock or county fund, and the preparation and revision of the basis or standard for the county rate. With regard to the county rate, a few words of description may be sufficient here. The council appoint a committee called a county rate committee, who from time to time prepare a basis or standard for county rate, that is to say, they fix the amount at which each parish in the county shall contribute its quota to the county rate. As a general rule the poor-law valuations are followed, but this is not universally the case, some county councils adopting the assessment to income tax, schedule A, and others forming an independent valuation of their own. The overseers of any parish aggrieved by the basis may appeal against it to quarter sessions, and it is to be noticed that this appeal is not interfered with, the transfer of the duties of justices relating only to administrative and not to judicial business. When a contribution is required from county rate, the county council assess the amount payable by each parish according to the basis previously made, and send their precept to the guardians of the unions comprising the several parishes in the county, the guardians in their turn requiring the overseers of each parish to provide the necessary quota of that parish out of the poor rate, and the sum thus raised goes into the county fund. The police rate is made for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the county police. It is made on the same basis as the county rate, and is levied with it. The hundred rate is seldom made, though in some counties it may be made for purposes of main roads and bridges chargeable to the hundred as distinguished from the county at large; (ii.) the borrowing of money; (iii.) the passing of the accounts of, and the discharge of the county treasurer; (iv.) shire halls, county halls, assize courts, the judges’ lodgings, lock-up houses, court houses, justices’ rooms, police stations and county buildings, works and property; (v.) the licensing under any general act of houses and other places for music or for dancing, and the granting of licences under the Racecourses Licensing Act 1879; (vi.) the provision, enlargement, maintenance and management and visitation of, and other dealing with, asylums for pauper lunatics; (vii.) the establishment and maintenance of, and the contribution to, reformatory and industrial schools; (viii.) bridges and roads repairable with bridges, and any powers vested by the Highways and Locomotives Amendment Act 1878 in the county authority. It may be observed that bridges have always been at common law repairable by the county, although, with regard to bridges erected since the year 1805, these are not to be deemed to be county bridges repairable by the county unless they have been erected under the direction or to the satisfaction of the county surveyor. The common-law liability to repair a bridge extends also to the road or approaches for a distance of 300 ft. on each side of the bridge. Of the powers vested in the county authority under the Highway Act 1878, the most important are those relating to main roads, which are specially noticed hereafter; (ix.) the tables of fees to be taken by and the costs to be allowed to any inspector, analyst or person holding any office in the county other than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the justices; (x.) the appointment, removal and determination of salaries of the county treasurer, the county surveyor, the public analysts, any officer under the Explosives Act 1875, and any officers whose remuneration is paid out of the county rate, other than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the justices; (xi.) the salary of any coroner whose salary is payable out of the county rate, the fees, allowances and disbursements allowed to be paid by any such coroner, and the division of the county into coroners’ districts and the assignments of such districts; (xii.) the division of the county into polling districts for the purposes of parliamentary elections, the appointment of the places of election, the places of holding courts for the revision of the lists of voters, and the costs of, and other matters to be done for the registration of parliamentary voters; (xiii.) the execution as local authority of the acts relating to contagious diseases of animals, to destructive insects, to fish conservancy, to wild birds, to weights and measures, and to gas meters, and of the Local Stamp Act 1869; (xiv.) any matters arising under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886. Under this act compensation is payable out of the police rate to any person whose property has been injured, stolen or destroyed by rioters; (xv.) the registration of rules of scientific societies, the registration of charitable gifts, the certifying and recording of places of religious worship, the confirmation and record of the rules of loan societies. These duties are imposed under various statutes.

In addition to the business of quarter sessions thus transferred, there was also transferred to the county council certain business of the justices of the county out of session, that is to say, in petty or special sessions. This business consists of the licensing of houses or places for the public performance of stage plays, and the execution, as local authority, of the Explosives Act 1875. Power was given by the act to the Local Government Board to provide, by means of a provisional order, for transferring to county councils any of the powers and duties of the various central authorities which have been already referred to; but although such an order was at one time prepared, it has never been confirmed, and nothing has been done in that direction.

Apart from the business thus transferred to county councils, the act itself has conferred further powers or imposed further duties with reference to a variety of other matters, some of which must be noticed. But before passing to them Police. it is necessary here to call attention to one important subject of county government which has not been wholly transferred to the county council, namely, the police. It was matter of considerable discussion before the passing of the act whether the police should remain under the control of the justices, or be transferred wholly to the control of the county council. Eventually a middle course was taken. The powers, duties and liabilities of the quarter sessions and justices out of session with respect to the county police were vested in the quarter sessions and the county council jointly, and are now exercised through the standing joint-committee of the two bodies. That committee consists of an equal number of members of the county council and of justices appointed by the quarter sessions, the number being arranged between the two bodies or fixed by the secretary of state. The committee are also charged with the duties of appointing or removing the clerk of the peace, and they have jurisdiction in matters relating to justices’ clerks, the provision of accommodation for quarter sessions or justices out of session, and the like, and their expenses are paid by the county council out of the county fund. The standing joint-committee have power to divide their county into police districts, and, when required by order in council, are obliged to do so. In such a case, while the general expenditure in respect of the entire police force is defrayed by the county at large, the local expenditure, i.e. the cost of pay, clothing and such other expenses as the joint-committee may direct, is defrayed at the cost of the particular district for which it is incurred (see also Police).

Among the powers and duties given to county councils by the Local Government Act 1888, the first to be mentioned, following the order in the act itself, is that of the appointment of county coroners. The duties of a coroner are limited County coroners. to the holding of inquiries into cases of death from causes suspected to be other than natural, and to a few miscellaneous duties of comparatively rare occurrence, such as the holding of inquiries relating to treasure trove, and acting instead of the sheriff on inquiries under the Lands Clauses Act, &c., when that officer is interested and thereby disabled from holding such inquiries. (For the history of the office of coroner, which is a very ancient one, see that title.) The county council may appoint any fit person, not being a county alderman or county councillor, to fill the office, and in the case of a county divided into coroners’ districts, may assign him a district. It has been decided, however, that the power hereby conferred does not extend to the appointment of a coroner for a liberty or other franchise who would not under the old law have been appointed by the freeholders. It may be mentioned that though a coroner may have a district assigned to him, he is nevertheless a coroner for the entire county throughout which he has jurisdiction.

It was provided by the Highway Act 1878 that every road which was disturnpiked after the 31st of December 1870 should be deemed to be a main road, the expenses of the repair and maintenance of which were to be contributed as to one-half Main roads. thereof by the justices in quarter sessions, then the county authority. By another section of the same act it was provided that where any highway in a county was a medium of communication between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railway station, or otherwise such that it ought to be declared a main road, the county authority might declare it to be a main road, and thereupon one-half the expense of its maintenance would fall upon the county at large. Once a road became a main road it could only cease to be such by order of the Local Government Board. As already stated, the powers of the quarter sessions under the act of 1878 were transferred to the county council under the Local Government Act of 1888, and that body alone has now power to declare a road to be a main road. But the act of 1888 made some important changes in the law relating to the maintenance of main roads. It declared that thereafter not only the half but the whole cost of maintenance should be borne by the county. Provision is made for the control of main roads in urban districts being retained by the urban district council. In urban districts where such control has not been claimed, and in rural districts, the county council may either maintain the main roads themselves or allow or require the district councils to do so. The county council must in any case make a payment towards the costs incurred by the district council, and if any difference arises as to the amount of it, it has to be settled by the Local Government Board. In Lancashire the cost of main roads falls upon the hundred, as distinguished from the county at large, special provision being made to that effect. Special provision has also been made for the highways in the Isle of Wight and in South Wales, where the roads were formerly regulated by special acts, and not by the ordinary Highway Acts.

The county council have the same power as a sanitary authority to enforce the provisions of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts in relation to so much of any stream as passes through or by any part of their county. Under these acts a Rivers pollution prevention. sanitary authority is authorized to take proceedings to restrain interference with the due flow of a stream or the pollution of its waters by throwing into it the solid refuse of any manufactory or quarry, or any rubbish or cinders, or any other waste or any putrid solid matter. They may also take proceedings in respect of the pollution of a stream by any solid or liquid sewage matter. They have the same powers with respect to manufacturing and mining pollutions, subject to certain restrictions, one of which is that proceedings are not to be taken without the consent of the Local Government Board. The county council may not only themselves institute proceedings under the acts, but they may contribute to the costs of any prosecution under the acts instituted by any other county or district council. The Local Government Board is further empowered by provisional order to constitute a joint-committee representing all the administrative counties through or by which a river passes, and confer on such committee all or any of the powers of a sanitary authority under the acts.

A county council has the same power of opposing bills in parliament and of prosecuting or defending any legal proceedings necessary for the promotion or protection of the interests of the inhabitants of a county as are conferred on the council Parliamentary and legal costs. of a municipal borough by the Borough Funds Act 1872, with this difference, that in order to enable them to oppose a bill in parliament at the cost of the county rate, it is not necessary to obtain the consent of the owners and ratepayers within the county. The power thus conferred is limited to opposing bills. The council are not authorized to promote any bill, and although they frequently do so, they incur the risk that if the bill should not pass the members of the council will be surcharged personally with the costs incurred if they attempt to charge them to the county rate. Of course if the bill passes, it usually contains a clause enabling the costs of promotion to be paid out of the county rate. It must not be supposed, however, that the county council have no power to institute or defend legal proceedings or oppose bills save such as is expressly conferred upon them by the Local Government Act. In this respect they are in the same position as all other local authorities, with respect to whom it has been laid down that they may without any express power in that behalf use the funds at their disposal for protecting themselves against any attack made upon their existence as a corporate body or upon any of their powers or privileges.

The county council have also the same powers as a borough council of making by-laws for the good government of the county and for the suppression of nuisances not already punishable under the general law. This power has been largely By-laws. acted upon throughout England, and the courts of law have on several occasions decided that such by-laws should be benevolently interpreted, and that in matters which directly arise and concern the people of the county, who have the right to choose those whom they think best fitted to represent them, such representatives may be trusted to understand their own requirements. Such by-laws will therefore be upheld, unless it is clear that they are uncertain, repugnant to the general law of the land, or manifestly unreasonable. It may be mentioned that, while by-laws relating to the good government of the county have to be confirmed by the secretary of state, those which relate to the suppression of nuisances have to be confirmed by the Local Government Board. Such confirmation, however, though necessary to enable the council to enforce them, does not itself confer upon them any validity in point of law.

The county council have power to appoint and pay one or more medical officers of health, who are not to hold any other appointment or engage in private practice without the express written consent of the council. The council may make Medical officers. arrangements whereby any district council or councils may have the services of the county medical officer on payment of a contribution towards his salary, and while such arrangement is in force the duty of the district council to appoint a medical officer is to be deemed to have been satisfied. Every medical officer, whether of a county or district, must now be legally qualified for the practice of medicine, surgery and midwifery. Besides this, in the case of a county, or of any district or combination of districts of which the population exceeds 50,000, the medical officer must also have a diploma in public health, unless he has during the three consecutive years before 1892 been medical officer of a district or combination having a population of more than 20,000, or has before the passing of the act been for three years a medical officer or inspector of the Local Government Board.

The only other powers and duties of a county council arising under the Local Government Act itself which it is necessary to notice are those relating to alterations of local areas. It may be convenient here to state that certain alterations Alterations of local areas. of areas can only be effected through the medium of the Local Government Board after local inquiry. These cases include the alteration of the boundary of any county or borough, the union of a county borough with a county, the union of any counties or boroughs or the division of any county, the making of a borough into a county borough. In these cases the order of the Local Government Board is provisional only, and must be confirmed by parliament. The powers of a county council to make orders for the alteration of local areas are as follows: When a county council is satisfied that a prima facie case is made out as respects any county district not a borough, or as respects any parish, for a proposal for all or any of the things hereafter mentioned, they may hold a local inquiry after giving such notice in the locality and to such public departments as may be prescribed from time to time by the orders of the Local Government Board. The things referred to include the alteration of the boundary of the district or parish; the division or union thereof with any other district or districts, parish or parishes; the conversion of a rural district or part thereof into an urban district or vice versa. In these cases, after the local inquiry above referred to has been held, the county council, being satisfied that the proposal is desirable, may make an order for the same accordingly. The order has to be submitted to the Local Government Board, and that board must hold a local inquiry in order to determine whether the order should be confirmed or not, if the council of any district affected by it, or one-sixth of the total number of electors in the district or parish to which it relates, petition against it. The Local Government Board have power to modify the terms of the order whether it is petitioned against or not, but if there is no petition, they are bound to confirm, subject only to such modifications. Very large powers are conferred upon county councils for the purpose of giving full effect to orders made by them under these provisions. A considerable extension of the same powers was made by the Local Government Act 1894, which practically required every council to take into consideration the areas of sanitary districts and parishes within the entire administrative county, and to see that a parish did not extend into more than one sanitary district; to provide for the division of a district which did extend into more than one district into separate parishes, so that for the future the parish should not be in more than one county district; and to provide for every parish and rural sanitary district being within one county. An enormous number of orders under the act of 1894 was made by county councils, and, speaking generally, it will now be found that no parish extends into more than one county or county district. Other powers and duties of the county council under the act of 1894 will be noticed hereafter.

Of the statutes affecting county councils passed subsequent to 1888 mention need only be made of the chief.

Previous to the Education Act 1902, county councils had certain optional powers under the Technical Instruction Acts to supply or aid the supply of technical or manual instruction. Their duties in respect to education were, however, much Education. enlarged by the act of 1902. That act abolished the old school boards and school attendance committees, and substituted a single authority for all kinds of schools and for all kinds of education. The county council or the council of a county borough is now in every case the local education authority, except that non-county boroughs with a population of over 10,000, and urban districts with a population of over 20,000, may be the local education authorities for elementary education only, but they may relinquish their powers in favour of the county council. For higher education county councils and county boroughs are the sole education authorities, except that non-county boroughs and urban councils are given a concurrent power of levying a rate for higher education not exceeding 1d. in the £. Under the act, an education committee must be established by all authorities. The majority of the members of the committee are appointed by the council, usually out of their own body, and the remainder are appointed by the council on the nomination or recommendation of other bodies. Some of the members of the committee must be women. All matters relating to the exercise of the powers of the education authority (except those of rating and borrowing) must be referred to the committee, and before exercising any of their powers the council must (except in cases of emergency) receive and consider the report of the education committee with respect to the matter in question. As to higher education the local education authority must consider the educational needs of their area and take such steps as seem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of Education, to supply or aid the supply of education other than elementary, and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education. For this purpose they are authorized to levy a rate not exceeding 2d. in the £, except with the consent of the Local Government Board. They must also devote to the same purpose the sums received by them in respect of the residue of the English share of the local taxation (customs and excise) duties already referred to. See further Education and Technical Education.

Under the Midwives Act 1902, every council of a county or county borough is the local supervising authority over midwives within its area. The duty of the local supervising authority is to exercise general supervision over all midwives practising Midwives. within their area in accordance with rules laid down in the act; to investigate charges of malpractices, negligence or misconduct on the part of a midwife, and if a prima facie case be established, to report it to the Central Midwives Board; to suspend a midwife from practice if necessary to prevent the spread of infection; to report to the central board the name of any midwife convicted of an offence; once a year (in January) to supply the central board with the names and addresses of all midwives practising within their area and to keep a roll of the names, accessible at all reasonable times for public inspection; to report at once the death of any midwife or change in name and address. The local supervising authority may delegate their powers to a committee appointed by them, women being eligible to serve on it. A county council may delegate its powers under the act to a district council.

Part of the business transferred from quarter sessions to the council was that which related to pauper lunatics, but the whole subject of lunacy was consolidated by an act of the year 1890, which again has been amended by a later act. The Lunatics. councils of all administrative counties and county boroughs and the councils of a few specified quarter sessions boroughs, which before 1890 were independent areas for purposes of the Lunacy Acts, are local authorities for the purposes of the Lunacy Acts, and each of them is under an obligation to provide asylum accommodation for pauper lunatics. This accommodation may be provided by one council or by a combination of two or more, and such council or combination may provide one or more asylums. The county council exercise their powers through a visiting committee, consisting of not less than seven members, or, in the case of a combination, of a number of members appointed by each council in agreed proportions. In the case of a combination the expenses are defrayed by the several councils in such proportion as they may agree upon, and the proportion may be fixed with reference to either the accommodation required by each council or the population of the district. A county borough may also, instead of providing an asylum of its own, contract with the visiting committee of any asylum to receive the pauper lunatics from the borough. Private patients may be accommodated in the asylums provided by a county council, and received upon terms fixed by the visiting committee. The expenses of lunatic asylums are defrayed in the following manner: The guardians from whose union a lunatic is sent have to pay a fixed weekly sum, which may not exceed 14s. a week. A larger charge is made for lunatics received from unions outside the county, as these do not, of course, contribute anything towards the provision or up-keep of the asylum itself. In addition to the payments by guardians, there is a contribution of 4s. a week from “the exchequer contribution account” already mentioned, and the remaining expenses are defrayed out of the county rate.

Under the Allotments Acts 1887 to 1907, it is the duty of a county council to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand for allotments in the urban districts and parishes in the county, or would be a demand if suitable land were available, and Allotments. the extent to which it is reasonably practicable, having regard to the provisions of the acts, to satisfy any such demand, and to co-operate with authorities, associations or persons best qualified to assist, and to take such steps as may be necessary. The powers of the Local Government Board under the Allotments Acts were transferred by the act of 1907 to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and by the same act the powers and duties of rural district councils were transferred to parish councils. The county council under these acts has compulsory powers of purchase or hire if they are unable to acquire land by agreement and on reasonable terms. If an objection is made to an order for compulsory purchase or hire, the order will not be confirmed by the Board of Agriculture until after a local inquiry has been held. If the Board of Agriculture is satisfied, after holding a local inquiry, that a county council have failed to fulfil their obligations as to allotments, the board may transfer all and any of the powers of the county council to the Small Holdings Commissioners.

By the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1907, Small Holdings Commissioners are appointed by the Board of Agriculture to ascertain the extent of the demand for small holdings, and confer with county councils as to how best to provide them. Small holdings. Local authorities are required to furnish information and give assistance to the commissioners, who report to the board. If the board, after considering the report, consider it desirable, they require the county council concerned to prepare a scheme for the provision of small holdings; if the county council decline to prepare a scheme, the board may direct the commissioners to do so. A county council may also prepare a scheme on its own initiative. When a scheme has been confirmed, the county council must carry out the obligations imposed on it within a prescribed time; if they make default the board may direct the commissioners to assume all the powers of the county council, and the county council must repay to the board the expenses the commissioners may incur. A county council may delegate, by arrangement, to the council of any borough or urban district in the county their powers in respect of the act. A small holding is defined by the act as one which exceeds 1 acre, but must not exceed 50 acres or £50 annual value. Every county council must establish a small holdings and allotments committee, to which must be referred all matters relating to the exercise and performance by the council of their powers and duties as to small holdings and allotments.

Under the Isolation Hospitals Acts 1893 and 1901, a county council may provide for the establishment of isolation hospitals for the reception of patients suffering from infectious diseases on the application of any local authority within the county, Hospitals. or on the report of the medical officer of the county that hospital accommodation is necessary and has not been provided, or it may take over hospitals already provided by a local authority. The council by their order constitute a hospital district and form a committee for its administration. The committee have power to purchase land, erect a hospital, provide all necessary appliances, and generally administer a hospital for the purposes above mentioned.

The powers and duties of a county council under the Local Government Act 1894 are numerous and varied, and the chief of them are mentioned hereafter in connexion with parish councils. The county council may establish a parish council in a Parish councils. parish which has a population of less than 300, and may group small parishes under a common parish council; in every case they fix the number of members of the parish council. They may authorize the borrowing of money by a parish council, and they may lend money to a parish council. They may hear complaints by a parish council that a district council has failed to provide sufficient sewerage or water-supply, or has failed to enforce the provisions of the Public Health Acts in their district, and on such complaint they may transfer to themselves and exercise the powers of the defaulting council, or they may appoint a person to perform those duties. They may make orders for the custody and preservation of public books, writings, papers and documents belonging to a parish. They may divide a parish into wards for purposes of elections or of parish meetings. They may authorize district councils to aid persons in maintaining rights of common. They may, on the petition of a district council, transfer to themselves the powers of a district council who have refused or failed to take the necessary proceedings to assert public rights of way or protect roadside wastes. They may dispense with the disqualification of a parish or district councillor arising only by reason of his being a shareholder in a water company or similar company contracting with the council, and, as has above been stated, they have large powers of altering the boundaries of parishes.

Among the powers and duties of quarter sessions transferred to county councils were those arising under the acts relating Diseases of animals. to contagious diseases of animals. These acts were consolidated and amended by a statute of 1894, and the county council remain the local authority for the execution of that act in counties.

Under the Light Railways Act 1896 a county council may be authorized by order of the light railway commissioners to Light railways. construct and work or contract for the construction or working of a light railway, lend money to a light railway company, or join any other council in these matters.

Among other statutes conferring powers or imposing duties upon county councils, mention may be made of such acts as those relating to sea fisheries regulation, open spaces, police superannuation, railway and canal traffic, shop hours, Miscellaneous. weights and measures, fertilizing and feeding stuffs, wild birds’ protection, land transfer, locomotives on highways and the acquisition of small dwellings. Sufficient has been said to indicate that the legislature from time to time recognizes the important position of the county council as an administrative body, and is continually extending its functions.

The Urban District.—A municipal borough is a place which has been incorporated by royal charter. In the year 1835 the Municipal Corporations Act was passed, which made provision for the constitution and government of The municipal borough and the borough council. certain boroughs which were enumerated in a schedule. That act was from time to time amended, until in 1882 by an act of that year the whole of the earlier acts were repealed and consolidated. A few ancient corporations which were not enumerated in the schedule to the act of 1835 continued to exist after that year, but by an act of 1883 all of these, save such as should obtain charters before 1886, were abolished, the result being that all boroughs are now subject to the act of 1882. A place is still created a borough by royal charter on the petition of the inhabitants, and when that is done the provisions of the act of 1882 are applied to it by the charter itself. The charter also fixes the number of councillors, the boundaries of the wards (if any), and assigns the number of councillors to each ward, and provides generally for the time and manner in which the act of 1882 is first to come into operation. The charter is supplemented by a scheme which makes provision for the transfer to the new borough council of the powers and duties of existing authorities, and generally for the bringing into operation of the act of 1882. If the scheme is opposed by the prescribed proportion (one-twentieth) of the owners and ratepayers of the proposed new borough, it has to be confirmed by parliament. The governing body in a borough is the council elected by the burgesses.

The qualification of a burgess has been incidentally mentioned in connexion with that of a county elector, and need not be further noticed. A borough councillor must be qualified in the same manner as a county councillor, and he is disqualified in the same way, with this addition, that a peer or ownership voter is not qualified as such, and that a person is disqualified for being a borough councillor if he is in holy orders or is the regular minister of a Dissenting congregation. Women, other than married women, are eligible. Borough councillors are elected for a term of three years, one-third of the whole number going out of office in each year, and if the borough is divided into wards, these are so arranged that the number of councillors for each ward shall be three or a multiple of three. The ordinary day of election is the 1st of November. At an election for the whole borough the returning officer is the mayor; at a ward election he is an alderman assigned for that purpose by the council. The nomination and election of candidates and the procedure at the election are the same as have already been described in the case of the election of county councillors. The law as to corrupt and illegal practices at the election is also similar, and the election may be questioned by petition in exactly the same way. A borough councillor must, within five days after notice of his election, make a declaration of acceptance of office under a penalty, in the case of an alderman or councillor of £50, and in the case of a mayor of £100, or such other sums as the council may by by-law determine. A councillor may be disqualified in the same way as a county councillor, by bankruptcy or composition with creditors, or continuous absence from the borough (except in case of illness). In short it may be said that as the provisions relating to the election of borough councillors were merely extended to county councillors by the Local Government Act of 1888 with a few modifications, these provisions, as already stated when dealing with county councils, apply generally to the election of borough councillors. After the annual election on the 1st of November the first quarterly meeting of the council is held on the 9th, and at that meeting the mayor and aldermen are elected. The election of the mayor and aldermen is again the same as has already been described in connexion with the election of the chairman Officers. and aldermen of a county council. The officers of a borough council are the town clerk and the treasurer, but the council have power to appoint such other officers as they think necessary. All these officers receive such remuneration as the council from time to time think fit, and hold office during pleasure. The provisions with respect to the transaction of the business of the council are also the same in the case of a borough as in that of a county council.

The entire income of the borough council is paid into the borough fund, and that fund is charged with certain payments, which are specifically set out in the 5th schedule to the act of 1882. These include the remuneration of the mayor, recorder Finance audit. and officers of the borough, overseers’ expenses, the expenses of the administration of justice in the borough, the payment of the borough coroner, police expenses and the like. An order of the council for the payment of money out of the borough fund must be signed by three members of the council and countersigned by the town clerk, and any such order may be removed into the king’s bench division of the High Court of Justice by writ of certiorari and may be wholly or partly disallowed or confirmed on the hearing. This is really the only way in which the validity of a payment by a borough council can be questioned, for, as will be seen hereafter, the audit in the borough is not an effective one. The borough fund is derived, in the first instance, from the property of the corporation. If the income from such property is insufficient for the purposes to which it is applicable, as usually is the case, it has to be supplemented by a borough rate, which may be a separate rate made by the council or may be levied through the overseers as part of the poor rate by means of a precept addressed to them. In the event of the borough fund being more than sufficient to meet the demands upon it without recourse to a borough rate, any surplus may be applied in payment of any expenses of the council as a sanitary authority or in improving the borough or any part thereof by drainage, enlargement of streets or otherwise. The borough treasurer is required to make up his accounts half-yearly, and to submit them, with the necessary vouchers and papers, to the borough auditors. These auditors are three in number—two of them elected annually by the burgesses. An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor, but may not be a member of the council. The third auditor is appointed by the mayor and is called the mayor’s auditor. The auditors so appointed are charged with the duty of auditing the accounts of the treasurer, but they have no power of disallowance or surcharge, and their audit is therefore quite ineffective.

Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions, but has a separate commission of the peace, the justices of the county in which the borough is situate have a concurrent jurisdiction with the borough justices in all matters arising Jurisdiction of justices; quarter sessions. within the borough. Where, however, the borough has a court of quarter sessions, the county justices have no jurisdiction within the borough. In all cases, whether the borough has quarter sessions or a separate commission or not, the mayor, by virtue of his office, is a justice for the borough, and continues to be such justice during the year next after he ceases to be mayor. He takes precedence over all justices in and for the borough, and is entitled to take the chair at all meetings at which he is present by virtue of his office of mayor. A separate commission of the peace may be granted to a borough on the petition of the council. A borough justice is required to take the oaths of allegiance and the judicial oaths before acting; he must while acting reside in or within 7 m. of the borough, or occupy a house, warehouse or other property in the borough; but he need not be a burgess nor have the qualification by estate required of a county justice. Where the borough has a separate commission, the borough justices have power to appoint a clerk, who is now paid by salary, the fees and costs pertaining to his office being paid into the borough fund, out of which his salary is paid. The council may by petition obtain the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate for the borough. The crown may also on petition of the council grant a separate court of quarter sessions for the borough, and in that event a recorder has to be appointed by the crown. He must be a barrister of not less than five years’ standing, and he holds office during good behaviour; he receives a yearly salary. The recorder sits as sole judge of the court of quarter sessions of the borough. He has all the powers of a court of quarter sessions in a county, including the power to hear appeals from the borough justices; but to this there are a few exceptions, notably the power to grant licences for the sale of intoxicating liquor. The grant of a separate court of quarter sessions also involves the appointment by the council of a clerk of the peace for the borough. It should be added that the grant of a court of quarter sessions to any borough other than a county borough after the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, does not affect the powers, duties or liabilities of the county council as regards that borough, nor exempt the parishes in the borough from being assessed to county rate for any purposes to which such parishes were previously liable to be assessed.

When a borough is a county of itself the council appoint a sheriff on the 9th of November in every year. And where the borough has a separate court of quarter sessions the council appoint Sheriff, coroner. a fit and proper person, not an alderman or councillor, to be the borough coroner, who holds office during good behaviour. If the borough has a civil court the recorder, if there is one, is judge of it. If there is no recorder, the judge of the court is an officer of the borough appointed under the charter.

The provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 relate chiefly to the constitution of the municipal corporation. It does not itself confer many powers or impose many duties upon the council as a body. It does, however, enable a Power to acquire land. municipal corporation to acquire corporate land and buildings, the buildings including a town hall, council house, justices’ room, police stations and cells, sessions house, judges’ lodgings, polling stations and the like. The council may borrow money for the erection of such buildings; they may acquire and hold land in mortmain by virtue of their charter, or with the consent of the Local Government Board. Corporate land cannot be alienated without the consent of the same board. The council may convert corporate land, with the approval of the Local Government Board, into sites for workmen’s dwellings.

Another duty imposed upon a borough council by the act of 1882 is the maintenance of bridges within the borough which are not repairable by the county in which the borough is Borough bridges. locally situate. It may here be mentioned that a city or borough which is a county of itself is liable at common law to repair all public bridges within its limits. In a borough which is not a county of itself the inhabitants are only liable to repair bridges within the borough by immemorial usage or custom.

Of the other powers possessed by the council of a borough under the act of 1882, one of the most important is the power to make by-laws for the good rule and government of the borough, and for the prevention and suppression of nuisances not By-laws. already punishable in summary manner by virtue of an act in force throughout the borough. It will be observed that these by-laws are of two classes. The former do not come into force until the expiration of forty days after a copy of them has been sent to the secretary of state, during which forty days the sovereign in council may disallow any by-law or part thereof. The latter require to be confirmed by the Local Government Board.

Under the act of 1882 every municipal borough might have its own separate police force. As has already been stated when dealing with county councils, boroughs having a population of less than 10,000 according to the census of 1881 can no longer have a separate police force. But for some time before that year it had become the rule not to grant to any new borough with a population Police. of less than 20,000 a separate police force. The subject of police is separately treated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and it is not necessary to supplement what is there stated. Under an act of 1893 the borough police may, in addition to their ordinary duties, be employed to discharge the duties of a fire brigade.

The powers and duties of a borough council in the Municipal Corporations Act do not arise or exist to any great extent under that act. In a few cases, those namely of county boroughs, the councils have the powers of county The district and the district council. councils. In the quarter sessions boroughs other than county boroughs they have some only of these powers. But in every case the council of the borough have the powers and duties of an urban district council, and, except where they derive their authority from local acts, it may be said that their principal powers and duties consist of those which they exercise or perform as an urban council. These will now be considered.

Before the year 1848 there was not outside the municipal boroughs any system of district government in England. It is true that in some populous places which were not corporate boroughs local acts of parliament had been passed appointing improvement commissioners for the government of these places. In many boroughs similar acts had been obtained conferring various powers relating to sanitary matters, streets and highways and the like. But there was no general system, nor was there, save by special legislation, any means by which sanitary districts could be constituted. In the year 1848 the first Public Health Act was passed. It provided for the formation of local boards in boroughs and populous places, such places outside boroughs being termed local government districts. In boroughs the town council were generally appointed the local board for purposes of the act. It was not, however, until 1872 that a general system of sanitary districts was adopted. By the Public Health Act of that year the whole country was mapped out into urban and rural sanitary districts, and that system has been maintained until the present time, with some important changes introduced by the Public Health Acts 1875 to 1907, and the Local Government Act 1894.

The whole of England and Wales is divided into districts, which are either urban or rural. Urban districts include boroughs and places which were formerly under the jurisdiction of local boards or improvement commissioners. The power to Constitution of district councils. constitute new urban districts is now conferred upon county councils, as already stated. There is a concurrent power in the Local Government Board under the Public Health Act 1875, but that power is now rarely exercised, and new urban districts are in practice created only by orders of county councils made under the Local Government Act 1888, section 57. Rural districts were first created in 1872. Before that time there was practically no sanitary authority outside the urban district, for although the vestry of a parish had in some cases power to make sewers and had also some other sanitary powers, there was no authority for such a district as now corresponds to a rural district. There were, indeed, highway boards and burial boards which had powers for special purposes, but district authority in the sense in which it is now understood there was none. Before the year 1894 the rural district consisted of the area of the poor-law union, exclusive of any urban district which might be within it, and the guardians of the poor were the rural sanitary authority. Since 1894 this has been changed. By the Local Government Act of that year the guardians ceased to be the rural sanitary authority. The union was preserved as the rural sanitary district, with this qualification, that if it extended into more than one county it was divided so that no rural district should extend into more than one county. Rural district councillors are elected for each parish in the rural district, and they become by virtue of their office guardians of the poor for the union comprising the district, so that there is now no election of guardians in a rural district. Guardians are still elected as such for urban districts, but the rural district council have ceased to be the same body as the guardians and are now wholly distinct. A district councillor, whether urban or rural, holds office for a term of three years. One-third of the whole council retire in each year, the annual elections being held in March, but there may be a simultaneous retirement of the whole council in every third year if the county council at the instance of the district council so order. The qualification and disqualification of district councillors, whether urban or rural, now depend upon the Local Government Act 1894. Property qualification is abolished. Any person may be elected who is either a parochial elector of some parish within the district or has during the whole of the twelve months preceding his election resided in the district, and no person is disqualified by sex or marriage. The electors both in urban and rural districts are the body called the parochial electors. These are practically the persons whose names appear in the parliamentary register or in the local government register as being entitled to vote at elections for members of parliament or county or parish councillors as the case may be. The election takes place subject to rules made by the Local Government Board, these rules being largely founded upon adaptations of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. The election is by ballot on the same lines as those prescribed for a municipal election, and the Corrupt Practices Act, the provisions of which have been referred to when dealing with county councils, applies to the elections of district councils. The provisions with reference to election petitions, the grounds upon which they may be presented and the procedure upon them, are the same in every respect as have already been mentioned when dealing with county councils. It may be convenient here to state that the Local United districts. Government Board has power to unite any number of districts or parts of districts into what is called a united district for certain special purposes such as water-supply, sewerage or the like. This is done by means of a provisional order made by the board and confirmed by parliament. In such a united district the governing body is a joint board constituted in manner provided by the order, and it has under the order such of the powers of a district council as are necessary for the purposes for which the united district is created. Thus a joint sewerage board would generally be invested by the order with all the powers of a district council relating to the provision and control of sewers and the disposal of sewage. It may also be convenient here to mention Port sanitary authority. another special kind of district authority, that is, a port sanitary authority. It is also constituted by order of the Local Government Board, and it may include one or more sanitary districts or parts of districts abutting upon a port. In this case also the authority consists of such members and is elected in such manner as the order determines, and it has such of the powers of an ordinary district council as the order may confer upon it. These relate for the most part to nuisances and infectious disease, having special reference to ships. It has been thought convenient to deal here with district councils, whether urban or rural, together, but the powers of the former Powers of urban and rural councils compared. are much more extensive than those of the latter, and as the consideration of the subject proceeds it will be necessary to indicate what powers and duties are conferred or imposed upon urban district councils only. It must be pointed out, however, that when the necessity arises for conferring upon a rural district council any of the powers exercisable only by an urban district council, that can be done by means of an order of the Local Government Board. The necessity for this provision arises because it sometimes happens that in a district otherwise rural there are some centres of population, hardly large enough to be constituted urban districts, which nevertheless require the same control as an urban district.

A district council may from time to time make regulations with respect to summoning, notice, place, management and adjournment of their meetings, and generally with respect to the transaction and management of their business. Three Business and offices. members must be present to constitute a quorum. At the annual meeting, which is held as soon as convenient after the 15th April in each year, a chairman for the succeeding year has to be appointed. He presides at all meetings, and in his absence another member appointed by the meeting takes his place. Questions are determined by the majority present and voting, the chairman having the casting vote. Minutes are taken and, if signed at the meeting or the next ensuing meeting, are made evidence. The officers of the council consist of a clerk, a medical officer, a surveyor, one or more inspectors of nuisances and a treasurer. Of these all but the medical officer of health and inspectors of nuisances hold office at pleasure and receive such remuneration as the council may determine. If the urban district is a borough, the town clerk and borough treasurer fulfil the same office for purposes of the Public Health Acts. The salaries of the medical officer of health and inspectors of nuisances are, as to one moiety thereof, paid out of “the exchequer contribution account” by the county council, if they are appointed in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Board as to qualification, appointment, duties, salary and tenure of office. The orders of the Local Government Board as to these matters are set out in the Statutory Rules and Orders. District councils may also employ such other officers and servants as may be necessary and proper for the fulfilment of their duties. Officers and servants are prohibited from being concerned or interested in any bargain or contract made with their council, and from receiving under cover of their office or employment any fee or reward whatsoever other than their proper salaries, wages and allowances, under penalty of being rendered incapable of holding office under any district council, and of a pecuniary penalty of £50. There are some exceptions to this provision somewhat similar to those already mentioned with respect to the disqualification of members of the council. It may be mentioned here that by an act, called the Public Bodies’ Corrupt Practices Act 1889, severe penalties are imposed alike upon members and officers of public bodies for corruption in office.

A district council may appoint committees consisting wholly or partly of members of their own body for the exercise of any powers which in their opinion can properly be exercised by such committees. Such committees do not, however, Committees. hold office beyond the next annual meeting of the council, and their acts must be submitted to the council for their approval. If they are appointed for any purposes of the Public Health or Highway Acts, the council may authorize them to institute any proceedings or do any act which the council might have instituted or done, other than the raising of any loan or the making of any rate or contract. A rural district council may delegate their entire powers in any parish to a parochial committee. Such committee may consist wholly of members of their own body or of members of the parish council, or partly of members of both. Such a committee may be subject to any regulations and restrictions imposed upon it by the rural district council.

In dealing with the powers and duties of district councils it will be convenient to treat of these first as they arise under the Public Health Acts, and afterwards as they arise under other statutes. In so far as such powers and duties are common Public Health Acts. to urban and rural district councils alike they will be referred to as appertaining to district councils. When reference is made to any power or duty of an urban council it is to be understood that the rural council have no such power or duty unless conferred or imposed upon them by order of the Local Government Board. And it must be borne in mind that in a borough the borough council is the urban district council.

The district council are required to cause to be made such sewers as may be necessary for effectually draining their district. This duty may be enforced by the Local Government Board on complaint made to them that the council have failed in Sewerage and drainage. performing it, and in the case of a rural district by the county council on complaint of the parish council. All sewers, whether made by the council, by their predecessors, or by private persons, vest in the district council, that is to say, become their property, with some exceptions, of which the principal is sewers made by a person for his own profit. The owner or occupier of any premises is entitled as of right to cause his drain to be connected with any sewer, on condition only of his giving notice and complying with the regulations of the council as to the mode in which the communication is to be made, and subject to the control of any person appointed by the council to superintend the work. Moreover, the owner or occupier of premises without the district has the same right, subject only to such terms and conditions as may be agreed or, in ease of dispute, settled by justices or by arbitration. If a house does not possess a sufficient drain, the occupier may be required to provide one, and to cause it to discharge into a sewer if there is one within 100 ft. of the house, otherwise into a cesspool, as the council may direct. In the case of new houses, these may not be built or occupied in an urban district without their being first provided with sufficient drains as the council may require; and in an urban district it is forbidden to cause any building to be newly erected over a sewer without the consent of the council. For the purpose of sewage disposal a district council may construct any works and contract for the use or purchase or lease of any land, buildings, engines, materials or apparatus, and contract to supply for a period not exceeding twenty-five years any person with sewage. It may be pointed out here that these expressions are defined by the act, the effect of the definitions being shortly that a drain is a conduit for the drainage of one building or of several within the same curtilage, while a sewer comprises every kind of drain except that which is covered by the definition of a drain as above stated. The result has been that district councils frequently find themselves in the position of being responsible for the repair and condition of drains which, by reason of having been laid for more than one house, are sewers vested in and repairable by them. An attempt was made to remedy this state of things by the Public Health Amendment Act 1890, section 19, but the remedy so provided was very partial, and may be said to be confined to the case where two or more houses belonging to different owners are drained into a common drain laid under private land, and ultimately discharging into a sewer in a road or street.

The district council are charged with the duty of enforcing the provision of proper sanitary accommodation (water-closets, privies, ashpits, &c.) for all dwelling-houses, new or old, and for factories, and the maintenance of such conveniences Sanitary accommodation for houses. in proper condition. The urban council have power to provide and maintain and make provision for the regulation of urinals, water-closets, earth-closets, privies, ashpits and other similar conveniences for public accommodation. In the event of a complaint being made to a district council that any drain, closet, privy, ashpit or cesspool is a nuisance or injurious to health, the council may empower their surveyor to enter and examine the premises, and, if the complaint is well founded, they may require the owner to do the necessary works. The district council are not Removal of refuse. bound to undertake the removal of house refuse from premises, or the cleansing of closets, privies, ashpits and cesspools. They may, however, undertake these duties, and, if the Local Government Board require, they must do so. An urban council and a rural council, if invested with the requisite power by the Local Government Board, may, and when required by order of that board must, provide for the proper cleansing of streets, and may also provide for the proper watering of streets. When they have undertaken, or are required to perform these duties, a penalty is imposed upon them for neglect. If they do not undertake these duties, they may make by-laws imposing on the occupiers of premises the duty of cleansing footways and pavements, the removal of house refuse, and the cleansing of earth-closets, privies, ashpits and cesspools; and an urban council may also make by-laws for the prevention of nuisances arising from snow, filth, dust, ashes and rubbish, and for the prevention of the keeping of animals on any premises so as to be injurious to health. The keeping of swine in a dwelling-house, or so as to be a nuisance, is made an offence punishable by a penalty in an urban district, as also is the suffering of any waste or stagnant water to remain in any cellar, or within any dwelling-house after notice, and the allowing of the contents of any closet, privy or cesspool to overflow or soak therefrom. Provision is also made for enforcing the removal of accumulations of manure, dung, soil or filth from any premises in an urban district, and for the periodical removal of manure or other refuse from mews, stables or other premises.

With regard to water-supply, district councils have extensive powers. They may provide their district or any part of it with a supply of water proper and sufficient for public and private purposes, and for this purpose they may construct Water-supply. and maintain waterworks, dig wells, take on lease or hire any waterworks, purchase waterworks or water, or right to take or convey water either within or without their district, and any rights, powers and privileges of any water company, and contract with any person for the supply of water. They may not, however, commence to construct waterworks within the limits of supply of any water company empowered by act of parliament or provisional order to supply water without giving notice to the company, and not even then so long as the company are able and willing to supply the necessary water. Any dispute as to whether the company are able and willing has to be settled by arbitration. Where the council do supply water, they have the same powers of carrying mains under streets or through private lands as they have with respect to the laying of sewers, as already mentioned. They can charge water rents which depend upon agreements with consumers, or they may charge water rates assessed on the net annual value of the premises supplied. It is to be observed that they are not bound to charge for a supply of water at all, unless they are required to do so in an urban district by at least ten persons, rated to the poor rate, or in a parish in a rural district by at least five persons so rated in the parish. Even then the amount of the rate is left to the council, any deficiency in the cost of the water, in so far as it is not defrayed out of water rates or rents, being borne in an urban district by the general district rate, and in a rural district by the separate sanitary rates made for the parish or contributory place supplied. For the purpose of enabling them to supply water, most of the provisions of the Waterworks Clauses Acts are incorporated with the Public Health Act, and are made available for the district council. They are empowered to supply water by measure if they think fit, and may charge a rent for water-meters. The power of the district council to supply water is strictly limited to their own district, but they may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, supply water to the council of an adjoining district on such terms as may be agreed upon, or as, in case of dispute, may be settled by arbitration. If any house is without a sufficient supply, and it appears that a supply can be furnished at a reasonable cost, as defined in the Public Health Act and the Public Health Water Act 1878, the owner may be required to provide the supply, and, if he fails, the council may themselves provide the supply and charge the owner with the cost. All public sources of water-supply such as streams, pumps, wells, reservoirs, conduits, aqueducts and works used for the gratuitous supply of water to the inhabitants of the district are vested in the council, who may cause all such works to be maintained and plentifully supplied with pure and wholesome water for the gratuitous use of the inhabitants, but not for sale by them. The council may supply water to public baths or wash-houses, or for trade or manufacturing purposes. In the case of the former the supply may be gratuitous. In the latter case it is to be on terms agreed between the parties. The urban council are required to cause fire-plugs, and all necessary works, machinery and assistance for securing a supply of water in case of fire, to be provided and maintained, and for this purpose they may enter into an agreement with any water company or person. Provision is made for preventing the pollution of water by gas refuse and enabling a district council, with the sanction of the attorney-general, to take any proceedings they may think fit for preventing the pollution of any stream in their district by sewage. The district council are also empowered to obtain an order of justices directing the closing of any well, tank or cistern, public or private, or any public pump the water from which is likely to be used for drinking or domestic purposes, or for manufacturing drinks for the use of man, if such water is found to be so polluted as to be injurious to health.

Power is given to prohibit the use as dwellings of any cellars, vaults or underground rooms built or occupied after 1875, and with regard to such cellars as were occupied as dwellings before 1875, the continued occupation of these is also forbidden unless they Cellar dwellings. comply with certain stringent requirements as to the height of the rooms, height of the ceilings above the surface of the street, open areas in front, effectual drainage, sanitary conveniences appurtenant to the cellars, and the provision of fireplaces.

District councils are required to keep a register of the common lodging-houses in their district. No person is allowed to keep a common lodging-house unless he is registered, and a house may not be registered until it has been inspected Common lodging-houses. and approved for the purpose by an officer of the council. Further, the council may refuse to register a keeper unless they are satisfied of his character and of his fitness for the position. The council are empowered to make by-laws for fixing the number of lodgers and separating the sexes therein, promoting cleanliness and ventilation, giving of notices and taking precautions in case of any infectious disease, and generally for the well-ordering of such houses. The keepers of common lodging-houses are required to limewash their walls and ceilings in the months of April and October in every year, and if paupers or vagrants are received to lodge, they may be required to report as to the persons who have resorted thereto. They must give notice of any infectious disease to the medical officer of health and to the poor-law relieving officer, and they must give free access for inspection. There is no definition of the expression “common lodging-house” in the Public Health Acts, and at one time the courts decided that shelters for the destitute kept by charitable persons were not common lodging-houses. That idea is now exploded, and the acts apply to charitable institutions which receive persons of the class ordinarily received into common lodging-houses.

By-laws may also be made relating to houses let in lodgings which are not common lodging-houses. These by-laws Houses let in lodgings. are in practice limited to those inhabited by the poorer classes, although the act imposes no such restriction.

The Public Health Acts 1875 to 1907 contain elaborate provisions for dealing with nuisances. Those which are dealt with summarily are thus enumerated:—(1) any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; (2) any pool, Nuisances. ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain or ashpit so foul or in such a state as to be injurious to health; (3) any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; (4) any accumulation or deposit which is a nuisance or injurious to health; (5) any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the inmates, whether or not members of the same family; (6) any factory, workshop or workplace not already under the operation of any general act for the regulation of factories or bakehouses not kept in a cleanly state or not ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless as far as practicable any gases, vapours, dust or other impurities generated in the course of the work carried on therein that are a nuisance or injurious to health, or so overcrowded while work is carried on as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of those employed therein; (7) any fireplace or furnace which does not as far as practicable consume the smoke arising from the combustible used therein, and which is used for working engines by steam or in any mill, factory, dye-house, brewery, bakehouse or gas work, or in any manufacturing or trade process whatsoever; and (8) any chimney not being the chimney of a private dwelling-house sending forth black smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance. The nuisances above enumerated are said to be nuisances liable to be dealt with summarily. It is the duty of every district council to inspect their district with a view to the discovery of any such nuisances. In the event of such discovery by them or of information given to them of the existence of any such nuisance, the district council are required to serve a notice requiring the abatement of the nuisance on the person by whose act, default or sufferance it arises or continues, or if such person cannot be found, on the owner or occupier of the premises at which the nuisance arises. The notice must require the abatement of the nuisance within a specified time, and must prescribe the works which in the opinion of the council are necessary to be done. If the nuisance arises from the absence or defective construction of any structural convenience, or if there is no occupier of the premises, the notice must be served upon the owner. If the person who causes the nuisance cannot be found, and it is clear that the nuisance does not arise or continue by the act, default or sufferance of the owner or occupier of the premises, the local authority may themselves abate the nuisance without further order. If the person on whom the notice is served objects to give effect to it, he may be summoned before justices, and the justices may make an order upon him to abate the nuisance, or prohibiting the recurrence of the nuisance if this is likely, and directing the execution of the necessary works. If the nuisance is such as to render a dwelling-house unfit for human habitation, the justices may close it until it is rendered fit for that purpose. Disobedience under the order of justices involves a penalty and a daily penalty for every day during which default continues. Private persons may complain to justices in respect of nuisances by which they are personally aggrieved, and if the district council make default in doing their duty, the Local Government Board may authorize any officer of police to institute any necessary proceedings at the cost of the defaulting council. The district council may, if in their opinion proceedings before justices afford an inadequate remedy, take proceedings in the high court, but in that case, if the nuisance is of a public nature, they must proceed by action in the name of the attorney-general. The provisions as to nuisances are extended to ships by an act of 1885.

It is forbidden to establish within an urban district without the consent of the council any offensive trade, business or manufacture. With regard to any offensive trade which has been established or may be consented to in any urban district, if it is verified by the medical officer or any two legally qualified medical practitioners, or by any ten inhabitants of the district, to be a nuisance or injurious to health, the urban district council are required to take proceedings before magistrates with a view to the abatement of the nuisance complained of.

Any medical officer or inspector of nuisances may inspect any meat, &c., exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale or of preparation for sale and intended for the food of man. This power of inspection is, in districts Unsound meat. where the Public Health Act 1890 has been adopted, extended to all articles intended for the food of man. If upon such inspection the meat, &c., appears to be diseased, unsound or unwholesome, it may be taken before a justice for the purpose of being condemned, and the person to whom the meat, &c., belongs or in whose possession it was found is liable to a penalty or, in the discretion of the justices, to imprisonment for three months without the option of a fine.

The Public Health Acts contain important provisions relating to infectious disease. Any person who knows he is suffering from an infectious disease must not carry on any trade or business unless he can do so without risk of spreading the disease. Infectious diseases. Local authorities may require premises to be cleansed and disinfected; they may order the destruction of bedding, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to infection; they may provide proper places for the disinfection of infected articles free of charge; they may provide ambulances, &c. In the case of a person found suffering from infectious disease who has not proper lodging or accommodation, or is lodging in a room occupied by more than one family, or is on board any ship or vessel, such person may by means of a justice’s order be removed to a hospital; a local authority may pay the expenses of a person in a hospital or, if necessary, provide nursing attendance; any person exposing himself or any other in his charge while suffering from infectious disease, or exposing infected bedding, clothing or the like, is made liable to a penalty. Owners and drivers of public conveyances must not knowingly convey any person suffering from infectious disease, and if any person suffering from such a disease is conveyed in any public vehicle the owner or driver as soon as it comes to his knowledge must give notice to the medical officer. It is also forbidden to let houses or rooms in which infected persons have been lodging, or to make false statements to persons negotiating for the hire of such rooms. An act was passed in the year 1890, called the Infectious Diseases Prevention Act. When adopted it enabled an urban or district council to obtain the inspection of dairies where these were suspected to be the cause of infectious disease, with a view to prohibiting the supply of milk from such dairies if the fact were established. The act of 1907 extended the provisions of the act of 1890. It enables a local authority to require dairymen to furnish a complete list of sources of supply if the medical officer certifies that any person is suffering from infectious disease which he has reason to suspect is attributable to milk supplied within his district. It also compels dairymen to notify infectious diseases existing among their servants. The act of 1890 also forbids the keeping for more than forty-eight hours of the body of a person who has died of infectious disease in a room used at the time as a dwelling-place, sleeping-place or workshop. It provides for the bodies of persons dying of infectious diseases in a hospital being removed only for burial, and gives power to justices in certain cases to order bodies to be buried. The diseases to which the act applies are smallpox, cholera, membranous croup, erysipelas, scarlatina or scarlet fever, typhus, typhoid, enteric, relapsing, continued or puerperal fever, and any other infectious disease to which the act has been applied by the local authority of the district in the prescribed manner. The most important provision, however, relating to infectious disease is that contained in the Infectious Disease Notification Act 1889. That was originally an adoptive act, but it is now extended to all districts in England and Wales. It requires the notification to the medical officer of health of the district of every case in which a person is suffering from one of the diseases above mentioned. The duty of notification is imposed upon the head of the family, and also upon the medical practitioner who may be in attendance on the patient. The medical attendant is entitled to receive in respect of each notification a fee of 2s. 6d. if the case occurs in his private practice, and of 1s. if the case occurs in his practice as medical officer of any public body or institution. These fees are paid by the urban or rural district council as the case may be. The provisions as to notification are applied to every ship, vessel, boat, tent, van, shed or similar structure used for human habitation in like manner as nearly as may be as if it were a building. Exception is made, however, in the case of a ship, vessel or boat belonging to a foreign government. It is not too much to say that this act has been one of the most effectual means of preventing the spread of infectious disease in modern times.