each district whose names shall be in the said list or roll of such electors shall, at some place or places to be appointed for each such ward or district, of which intimation shall be made by notice affixed on the church doors of the several parishes of such burgh ten days at least previous to such election, proceed to elect, from and among the persons contained in the list or roll of the whole electors for such burgh, as many councillors for such burgh, being either resident or personally carrying on business as hereinbefore provided, as shall, by the report of the commissioners aforesaid, and the proclamation thereof aforesaid, have been fixed and ascertained as the number of councillors to be elected in each such ward, by open poll, to be taken in the presence of the provost or chief or senior magistrate of such burgh, or of a legal substitute or substitutes to be appointed by him to officiate and preside at the polling place or polling places in each such ward or district, from among the persons of the law described and qualified as aforesaid in relation to the assessor to be appointed by any chief magistrate, to judge of the claims of enrolment to be made as aforesaid ; and the town clerks of such burghs, or the persons who may be appointed by the provost or chief magistrate thereof to officiate as poll clerks in the several wards thereof, which persons such provost or chief magistrate is hereby authorized to appoint, shall each have with him a certified copy of that part of the foresaid list or roll which contains the names of the voters qualified in respect of property situate in each such district, according to which the votes shall be taken; and it shall not be competent at such poll to inquire into any other facts but the identity of the party tendering a vote and the person mentioned in the list or roll, his still holding the qualification there mentioned, and his not having previously voted at the same election; all which facts it shall only be competent to prove by the oath of the party so tendering his vote, if required by any other voter on the list or roll; and no other oath shall be put at such election except only an oath against bribery, which, if required by any voter on the roll, shall also be put by the magistrate or substitute at each polling place; which two oaths shall be put in the form of schedules D and E; and each poll clerk shall enter each vote for each person proposed in a poll book, and the provost or chief magistrate or substitute presiding at such election, and the clerk or person taking the poll, shall subscribe their names to each page of such book before any entry shall be made in the succeeding page.

IX. No poll by this act authorized shall be kept open for more than one day, and that only between the hours of eight in the morning and four in the afternoon, it being competent to the town clerk to appoint as many polling places in each ward, and as many booths or divisions at each polling place, as may be necessary for completing the said elections within the said period.

X. At all such elections of councillors for the burghs contained in the said schedule C the poll books for the several wards or districts of the said burghs shall, at the close of the poll, be sealed up by the persons who shall have presided at the elections of the several wards and taken the polls thereat, and shall be transmitted to the provost or chief or senior magistrate, who, on the next lawful day after the receipt of the same, between the hours of twelve and two, and within the town house or other public building of such burgh, shall openly break the seals, and with the assistance of the town clerk, and such other persons as he may think fit to employ, shall cast up the votes given, and shall declare upon whom the election has fallen by the majority of votes (making a double return in any case where the votes shall be equal), and shall forthwith give, or cause to be given, notice in writing to the several persons elected of such their election, and require them severally to appear in the town hall, or other public room aforesaid, on the second lawful day after such election, when they shall severally declare whether they accept or decline accepting the office of councillor; and if any such person shall be found to have been elected by more than one of the said wards or districts, he shall thereupon declare for which ward he intends to serve; and wherever this shall occur, or where there shall be a double return for any ward, or where any person elected shall decline accepting, then and in all such cases the presiding magistrate shall immediately appoint a new election of a councillor or councillors in place of him or them so chosen elsewhere and so declining, at the distance of not more than four nor less than two days, and affix notices of the day so appointed on the church doors of the burgh; and such election shall be proceeded in, in all respects in the same manner in which the first election in the said wards or districts, and the taking the poll, casting up the votes, and declaring the

result, is hereinbefore directed to proceed, until the council of such burgh shall be com pleted.

XI. Upon the said first Tuesday of November next, the qualified electors of all the said royal burghs, not contained in the said schedules C or F, shall assemble in the town hall or other public room of such burgh, and choose from among their own number such and the like number of councillors, being resident or personally carrying on business, as hereinbefore provided, as by the set or usage of such burghs respectively at present constitutes the common council of such burgh, or, where this is variable, the smallest number constituting a full council, and shall declare their votes by a list containing the names of the persons for whom each elector respectively intends to vote, which several lists shall be signed by each such elector respectively, and shall be openly given in by each elector to the town clerk of such burgh on the day of election; and such town clerk, together with the provost or chief or senior attending magistrate of the burgh, who shall preside at such election, no other inquiry being permitted, or other oath allowed to be tendered than as hereinafter provided as to the burghs in schedule C, shall publicly cast up the number of votes, and shall declare upon whom the election has fallen by the majority of votes; and the provost or chief or senior magistrate shall forthwith give or cause to be given notice in writing to the several councillors elected of such their election, and call upon them severally to appear in the town hall or other public room aforesaid on the second lawful day after such election, when they shall severally declare whether they accept or decline accepting the office of councillor; and if any such person so elected shall decline to accept, or in case there shall be an equality of votes in favour of two or more persons the whole of whom cannot be received as councillors, a new election shall immediately thereafter take place for the vacant place or places of the councillor or councillors so declining to accept, or elected by equal numbers, to be intimated as herein before provided as to the burghs in schedule C, and to proceed in the same manner in all respects in which the election for councillors is hereinbefore directed to proceed, until the council of such burgh shall be completed.

XII. Nothing in this act contained shall be held to affect or apply to the several burghs contained in schedule F to this act annexed; but the election of councillors and magistrates in all the burghs contained in the said schedule F shall proceed and be conducted in the way and manner hitherto practised in such burghs, and as if this act had not been passed.

XIII. In all the cases of election hereinbefore directed, if any person elected as councillor shall fail to attend on the day appointed for declaring his acceptance, he shall be held to have declined accepting the said office, unless he then transmit to the meeting a sufficient written explanation, signed by himself or his agent, of the cause of his absence, and intimating his acceptance.

XIV. No person shall be entitled to be received and inducted as councillor who shall not, previous to such induction, be entered a burgess of the burgh for which he is so elected, wherever there is any body of burgesses in any such burgh; and each such person so elected shall produce, when he declares his acceptance, the evidence of his being such burgess; and his omission so to do shall be held to vacate his election in the same manner as if he had declined to accept provided always, that no merely honorary burgess shall be entitled to be so inducted, and that any person so elected shall be forthwith entitled to be entered as a burgess on payment of the ordinary fees.

XV. Upon the first Tuesday of November one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and in every succeeding year, the electors in such burghs shall in like manner, videlicet, the burghs contained in the said schedule C in their several wards or districts, and the other burghs at their general meetings, assemble and elect, in manner hereinbefore prescribed in relation to the first election under this act, one third part, or as nearly as may be one third part, of the council of such burghs, in the place of the third thereof who shall, as hereinafter directed, go annually out of office, the wards or districts into which the burghs contained in the said schedule C are divided then electing such number of councillors as by the said royal commission such wards or districts shall be directed to elect at such annual elections subsequent to the first election.

XVI. Upon the said first Tuesday of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and in every succeeding year, one third, or a number as near as may

be to one third, of the whole council of each such burgh, shall go out of office; and in the said year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four the third who shall go out shall consist of the councillors who had the smallest number of votes at the election of councillors in this present year; and in the succeeding year, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, the third of the councillors first elected under this act who shall go out shall consist of the councillors who at such first election under this act had the next smallest number of votes, (the majority of the council always determining, where the votes for any such persons shall have been equal, who shall be the persons to retire,) and thereafter the third of the councillors so annually going out of office shall always consist of the councillors who have been longest in office provided always, that any councillors so going out of office shall be capa. ble of being immediately re-elected.

XVII. The councillors of all such burghs not contained in schedule F to this act annexed respectively so elected and accepting shall, upon the third lawful day after the election of the whole number of such councillors in the present year, assemble in the town hall or other usual public place of meeting within such burgh, and shall there by a plurality of voices (the councillor who had the greatest number of votes at the election of councillors having a casting or double vote in case of equality), elect from among their own number a provost or chief magistrate, the number of baillies fixed by the set or usage of such burgh, a treasurer, and other usual and ordinary office bearers now existing in the council by the set or usage of each such burgh, and shall also elect the managers of any charitable or other public institution existing in or connected with such burgh, the appointment of the managers to which is at present vested in the magistrates and town council of such burgh.

XVIII. With and under the exception hereinafter enacted, upon the completion of the first election of councillors, magistrates, and office bearers to be made in all the royal burghs in Scotland under the provisions of this act, and not sooner, the provost, magistrates, office bearers, and other councillors now in office in such burghs respectively shall go out, and their whole powers, duties, and functions shall cease and determine, except only where any of the said persons shall have been again elected under the provisions of this act.

XIX. Except as hereinafter excepted, the offices and titles of deacon, and of convener and dean of guild, and of old provost and old baillie, as official and constituent members of any town council, shall, after the completion of the first elections under the provisions of this act, cease and determine, and no distinction shall afterwards be kept up or recognized between trades baillies and merchant baillies, or trades councillors and merchant councillors, in any such council: provided always, that (except as hereinafter excepted) the duties and functions heretofore performed by the dean of guild in such council, or in any dean of guild court of such burgh, shall, in all the burghs where there now is such an officer, be performed by a member of the council to be elected, in manner hereinbefore provided, by the majority of councillors.

XX. Where any trust, management, or direction is by the terms of any public or local act, or of any charter or deed of foundation, or other deed, conferred on any members of the council under the denomination of old provost, old baillie, or old dean of guild, or of merchant or trades baillies or merchant or trades councillors, respectively, the town councils to be named and elected in terms of this act shall, immediately after their own acceptance and induction into office, nominate and elect from their own body such a number of persons to be such trustees, managers, or directors as are by such acts, charters, or deeds appointed to those offices under the said denominations; and the whole powers and functions now belonging to the said offices of trustees, managers, or directors shall belong to and be as fully vested in the persons so elected as if they had possessed the denominations used in the said acts, charters, or deeds.

XXI. Nothing herein contained shall be held or construed to impair the right of any craft, trade, convenery of trades, or guildry, or merchants house or trades house, or other such corporation, severally to elect their own deacons or deacon convener, or dean of guild or directors, or other lawful officers, for the management of the affairs of such crafts, trades, conveneries of trades, or guildries, merchants or trades houses, or other such corporations; but that, on the contrary, the said several bodies shall, from and after the passing of this act, be in all cases entitled to the free election in such form as shall be regulated by them of the

said several office bearers, and other necessary officers for the management of their affairs, without any interference or control whatsoever on the part of the town council or any member thereof.

XXII. From and after the time when this act comes into operation the persons elected (or to be elected) as hereinbefore provided to the offices of dean of guild and deacon con vener, or convener of trades, by the convenery and guild brethren respectively in the city of Edinburgh, and to the offices of dean of guild and deacon convener by the merchants house and trades house respectively in the city of Glasgow, shall, in virtue of their said elections by the said guild brethren, convenery, merchants house, and trades house respectively, be constituent members of the town councils of the said cities, and shall enjoy all the powers, and perform all the functions now enjoyed or performed by such office bearers in these cities; and in like manner the persons elected (or to be elected) to the offices of deans of guild by the several guildries of the city of Aberdeen and the towns of Dundee and Perth shall, in virtue of such their elections, be constituent members of the town councils of the said city and burghs respectively, and shall as such enjoy all the powers and perform all the functions now exercised or enjoyed by the existing deans of guild in the said city and burghs respectively; and the registered electors, qualified as hereinbefore provided, in the said cities and burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Perth shall, in November in the present year and in all future years, elect only such a number of councillors as, with the addition of the said deans of guild and conveners to be so elected as aforesaid, make up the number of councillors now existing in the said several cities and burghs; and the councillors so elected in the said cities and burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Perth shall not, at the subsequent election of magistrates and office bearers, elect any other persons to fill the offices or perform the functions of deans of guild or conveners, but these offices shall be held and exercised, in the said councils and otherwise, by the persons so elected as aforesaid in the said cities and burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Perth respectively, and by no other persons.

XXIII. Where any trust, management, or direction of any charitable or other institutions is vested in any number of deacons, or in a deacon convener, or convener of trades, or in any dean of guild, or other office bearers elected or hereafter to be elected by the several crafts, trades, guildries, or merchants, or trades houses, then and in all such cases the persons so elected as such deacons, conveners, deans of guild, or other officers shall always be and continue trustees and managers of such charities or institutions, whether such persons shall hereafter be members of council or not; and the town councils shall in no such case have power to elect from their own body any other trustees or managers in place of such deacons, conveners, deans of guild, or other officers: provided always, that in any burgh in which trades councillors or merchant councillors are or may be ex officio trustees or directors of any such institutions or charities, the convenery or trades house and the guildry or merchants house in such burghs shall elect an equal number from their own bodies respectively to be such trustees or directors, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

XXIV. When any magistrate or office bearer (other than the provost or chief magistrate and treasurer) shall be in the third of the council going out of office, the place of such magistrate or office bearer shall be supplied by election by the council as soon as the full number thereof shall have been completed by the annual election of the third then hereby directed to take place, the said election to be made by plurality of voices, and the chief or senior attending magistrate to have a double or casting voice in case of equality: provided always, that the provost or chief magistrate and the treasurer shall always remain in office for the period of three years, and that they, as well as all the other magistrates or office bearers, shall at all times be capable of being re-elected.

XXV. If any vacancy shall in the course of the year occur in the council or magistracy or office bearers of any such burgh by death, disability, or resignation, the same shall be filled up ad interim by the remaining members of the council, by election, as herein before provided, at a meeting to be called on five days' notice by the town clerk, by intimation in writing to each of such remaining members of the council; but any councillor, magistrate, or office bearer so elected ad interim shall go out of office on the first Tuesday of November

next ensuing his election, and the vacancy thereby occurring shall be supplied at the next annual election of councillors and magistrates or office bearers in such burgh; provided that if the vacancy shall have occurred in any burgh contained in the said schedule C, such vacancy shall at such annual election be supplied by the ward of such burgh by which the councillor who had died or resigned, or been disabled, had been elected, and which shall in this case elect an additional councillor, unless the party so dying or disabled would then have gone out of office as one of the third hereby directed to retire.

XXVI. Any person elected and accepting the office of councillor, magistrate, or other office bearer in any town council, under the provisions of this act, may resign his said office at any time, upon giving not less than three weeks' notice of such his intention by a written intimation to the town clerk or chief or senior magistrate; and in the event of such. resignation being intimated as to be made at the period of the annual retirement of one-third of the council, such additional number of councillors shall then be elected as may be necessary to complete the council: provided always, that no fine or other penalty shall be exigible from any person either declining to accept after his election or subsequently resigning his office.

XXVII. Where any royal burgh shall, in consequence of the decision of a court of law or otherwise, be without any legal council or magistracy at the time when this act comes into operation, or at any future time, all the functions directed by this act to be performed by the existing magistrates or councils shall be performed by one or more of the managers, who may, by any lawful appointment, be then in the actual administration of the affairs of any such burgh.

XXVIII. No councillor, nor the partner in business of any councillor, shall be capable of holding the office of town clerk in any such burgh; and no town clerk shall, during the period he shall hold that office, interfere directly or indirectly in the election of the magistrates or town council of any such burgh.

XXIX. All the notices or intimations hereby directed or required to be given or made in any such burgh of any meetings or proceedings to be held or had in the matter of the elections of or respecting such burgh, shall, where not directed to be otherwise given, be given or made by the respective town clerks thereof.

XXX. The several persons officiating at elections as substitutes for the provosts or chief magistrates in the several wards or districts into which the burghs contained in the said schedule C shall be divided (not being the town clerks of such burghs), shall be entitled to receive a sum not exceeding three pounds three shillings for each day they shall respectively be so employed, the poll clerks officiating at such elections being each entitled to the sum of one pound one shilling for each day, and the several persons who shall be appointed to assist the provost or chief magistrate of any of the royal burghs as assessors in disposing of claims and objections as aforesaid (not being the town clerks of such burghs) shall be paid a like sum, not exceeding three pounds three shillings, each day such persons shall be so employed; which sum, together with all the other expenses attending such elections, or the making up of the lists or rolls of electors, giving notices at the church doors, and providing copies of the said rolls, or parts thereof, for the purposes of election, shall be defrayed from the common good or other means or revenues of such burghs respectively.

XXXI. The magistrates and council and office bearers to be elected under the provisions of this act, shall, in all respects, stand in relation to the administration of the affairs and property of such burghs, or of property under the care and management of such burghs, in the same situation in which the magistrates and council and office bearers of such burghs did stand previous to the passing of this act; and the magistrates and council and office bearers to be elected under the provisions of this act, shall have such and the like jurisdiction, and the same rights and powers of administration of the property and affairs of the burgh, and of making all usual and necessary appointments, as heretofore lawfully belonged to and was exercised by their predecessors in office; any thing in the set, usage, or custom of any such burgh to the contrary notwithstanding.

XXXII. The existing magistrates and council in all royal burghs shall, on or before the fifteenth day of October in the present and in all future years, make up a distinct state of their affairs, subscribed by the chief or senior magistrate, town clerk, and treasurer,