Commissioners themselves, they are empowered to select qualified persons resident in the district, though not Commissioners of the Land Tax, and if this source fails, they are empowered to select a sufficient number from the acting Land Tax Commissioners of any adjoining district of the same county, riding, or town, until the full number of fourteen, consisting of these two lists of seven each, is made up. In the City of London, the Mayor and Aldermen are to appoint two Commissioners, and two to supply vacancies, out of a list of eight persons (four of whom are to be Aldermen) to be selected by the Common Council. Two Commissioners, and two to supply vacancies, are to be selected by the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England, and one Commissioner, and one to supply his vacancy, by each of the following bodies: the East India Directors, the Governors and Directors of the South Sea Company, of the Royal Exchange Assurance, of the London Assurance, the Directors of the East and West India Dock Company, and of the London Dock and St. Katharine's Dock for the time being. The Magistrates and Justices of the Peace acting for the City of Norwich are to select eight Commissioners, and eight to supply vacancies, not more than four of each to be selected from their own body, and the rest from the inhabitants of the city, or, if needful, from the adjoining county; and in Bristol, Exeter, Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, King's Lynn, and Great Yarmouth, a like number are to be selected in a similar manner by the Magistrates of those cities and towns, together with the acting Justices of the county or riding in which they are

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respectively situated; the persons thus selected are to be Commissioners for the several districts in which such towns are situated, jointly with those appointed as before mentioned; and the names of all these parties who are to constitute the COMMISsioners for the general purposes oF THE Act are to be transmitted to the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes.

When any of the Commissioners for General Purposes die or decline to act, the remaining Commissioners must fill up the vacant places from the list of persons to supply vacancies, which latter list is to be filled up as occasion may require by the Commissioners of Land Tax and other authorized persons, and on their default, by the Commissioners for General Purposes within their respective districts.

The Commissioners for General Purposes are empowered to select such number of qualified persons (the qualification being one-half of that which is required for a General Commissioner) to act as ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONERS for their districts respectively, as, considering the size and population of such districts, they think requisite; they may form these Additional Commissioners into Committees, and allot to them distinct parishes, wards, or places in which such Committees shall separately act, but not more than seven nor less than two of such Additional Commissioners shall act together in the same Committee for one district or division.

If the Commissioners for General Purposes think fit, they may, instead of appointing Additional Commissioners with an inferior qualification, increase their own body by adding qualified persons to a number not exceeding seven, and then select by lot

not less than two nor more than seven from the body thus increased, to act as Additional Commissioners. If no such Additional Commissioners are appointed, the Commissioners for General Purposes must divide themselves, and appoint two at least of their own body to act as Additional Commissioners; and if the number of persons qualified to act as General Commissioners for such district is by this means reduced below two, the Act is to be carried into execution by qualified persons in the adjoining districts.

The Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury are to appoint such a number of persons as they think expedient as Assistant Commissioners, and these Assistant Commissioners, jointly with the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes for the time being, are to be the COMMISSIONERS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES.

In addition to the Commissioners thus appointed, the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England, the Governor and Directors of the Bank of Ireland, the Governors and Directors of the South Sea Company, the Directors of the East India Company, and the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National

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Debt, are to be Commissioners for the purpose of § 24, 25, executing the Act, with regard to the duties on the 26, 27, 28. annuities, interests, pensions, salaries, and other payments made by them respectively, or under their control. The Commissioners for Special Purposes are to assess or charge the duties on foreign funds. The Lord Chancellor, the Judges, and other principal officers of civil, criminal, ecclesiastical, and other courts and public departments of office under her Majesty are empowered, under certain provisions,

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§ 32.

to appoint from amongst the officers of such courts and departments of office, Commissioners for executing the Act in relation to the offices in each such court or department respectively.

Similar powers are given to the Speaker and the principal clerk of either House of Parliament, the principal or other officers in the Counties Palatine, the Duchy of Cornwall, Ecclesiastical Courts bodies. and corporations, and inferior Courts of Law and Equity, for the appointment of Commissioners with relation to the offices and places of emolument in each House of Parliament, and in the several courts and departments respectively.

In corporate cities, boroughs, and the cinque ports, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, or principal officers or members of the corporation, or any three or more, not exceeding seven of them, (a) are

(a) It is not easy to see how these seven are to be selected from the other members of the corporation, no express provision is made for their election by the members of the body generally. If "Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council" is used as a collective name for the whole corporation, some seven individuals are to be selected from amongst the members of the corporation, and of these the Mayor may possibly not be one. If (as appears to be the more grammatical construction of the sentence) the words "Mayor, Aldermen, &c." are used to designate the individuals holding those offices, then the Mayor would, at any rate, be one Commissioner, but if there are more than six Aldermen, it is difficult to say how a choice is to be made amongst them; and if there are less than six, a similar difficulty arises with the Common Council or other persons from whom the residue of the seven Commissioners would, in that case, have to be selected. Another difficulty arises from the provision of the 33rd section, that the Commissioners may continue to act from year to year, without

constituted Commissioners for executing the Act in relation to the public offices and employments of profit in such cities, corporations, or cinque ports, or in any guild or society within the same.

The 8th and 33d sections contain provisions for the execution of the Act, should the previously mentioned parties neglect to exercise the powers of appointing Commissioners, or their appointments not be duly notified to the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes.

The Paymasters of civil services, together with such other persons as the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury may appoint, are the Commissioners for executing the Act, so far as it relates to the duties imposed upon public offices and employments of profit, pensions, and stipends payable by her Majesty, or out of the public revenue.

ASSESSORS AND COLLECTORS.-The Commissioners for General Purposes are to appoint Assessors and Collectors in a similar manner to that in which such officers are appointed for assessing and collecting the assessed taxes; and, in Scotland, the same per

any new appointment, whilst the Mayor changes annually, and the Aldermen and other members of the corporation go out in rotation. No power of selection is given to the Commissioners of the Treasury by the 33rd section, except in default of such appointment, which assumes the power of selection to lie somewhere else originally.

Perhaps the safest mode of proceeding will be for the corporation to make choice of the requisite number of their own body, to notify such appointment to the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes, and to obtain a confirmation of it from the Commissioners of the Treasury.

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