AND ADJUSTMENTS) ACT, 1903. 153 The limitation with respect to parishes at a distance of 15 miles is removed when the major part of the guardians of the several unions and parishes not in union proposed to be combined previously consent in writing to the combination [Poor Law (Schools) Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 82) s. 1]. * * Section I of the Metropolitan Poor Amendment Act, 1869, is as follows:“Sect. I. The Poor Law Board, as and when they shall see fit, may dissolve any asylum or school district contained wholly or partly in the metropolis, and upon such dissolution shall [adjust the rights and liabilities of parishes and unions comprised therein respectively, and] provide for the compensation of the officers and other persons employed therein, in like manner as when a union is dissolved under the authority of the thirty-second section of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 ; and prior to issuing any order dissolving such district, the said Board may by their order empower the managers of such district to sell and dispose of any land, buildings, or other property belonging to them, and to apply the produce thereof in discharge of the debts and liabilities then outstanding against such managers, and to distribute any surplus which may remain among the parishes or unions comprised therein according to their original proportions, and if the said district shall be dissolved before the same shall be sold, the said Board may by their order empower the persons who were the managers of the district at the time of its dissolution, or the major part of them, to make such sale, and to convey the land to the purchaser thereof, and to apply and distribute the produce accordingly." The words in brackets are expressly repealed by section 3 and schedule 2, as powers with respect to adjustments are now conferred upon guardians and other authorities by section 2 post. The Local Government Board have succeeded to the jurisdiction of the Poor Law Commissioners and the Poor Law Board under the above enactments [Local Government Board Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 70) ss. 2, 7]. Further provisions for the proceedings of boards of management upon the dissolution of districts are contained in the Dissolved Boards of Management and Guardians Act, 1870. For section I of that Act, see Note to section 2 (2) post. Adjustments on areas or alteration of authorities. Sect. 2. (1.) Agreements may be made by any boards of guardians or other authorities affected by the alteration under this Act, or under any Act relating to the relief of the poor, of any areas or authorities, for the adjustment of any property, income, debts, liabilities, and expenses, so far as they are affected by the alteration, and section sixty-two of the Local Government Act, 1888, shall apply with respect to any such 51 & 52 Vict. adjustment with the modifications specified in the first schedule to this Act. Notes. It will be observed that this section applies where any alteration of area is made under any Act relating to the relief of the poor. Section 3 and schedule 2 post repeal several enactments that provided otherwise for an adjustment of property, liabilities, &c., when such an alteration of area was made. “Board of guardians" includes a board of guardians or other body of persons performing under any local Act the like functions to a board of guardians under the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) [Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63) s. 16 (1)]. Section 62 of the Act of 1881, with the modifications specified in schedule 1 of this Act is as follows: "Sect. 62.-(1.) Any councils and other authorities affected by this Act or by any scheme, order, or other thing made or done in pursuance of this Act, may C. 41. 3 Edw. 7, C. 19, s. 2 (1). Adjustments on alterations of areas or authorities, Adjustment of property and liabilities. 3&o Vict. c. 18 154 AND ADJUSTMENTS) ACT, 1903. from time to time make agreements for the purpose of adjusting any propertyincome, debts, liabilities, and expenses, so far as affected by this Act or such scheme. order, or thing, of the parties to the agreement, and the agreement and any other agreement authorised by this Act to be made for the purpose of the adjustment of any property, debts, liabilities, or financial relations, may provide for the transfer or retention of any property, debts, and liabilities, with or without any conditions, and for the joint use of any property, and for the transfer of any duties, and for payments by either party to the agreement in respect of property, debts, duties, and liabilities so transferred or retained, or of such joint user, and in respect of the salary, remuneration, or compensation payable to any officer or person, and that either by way of a capital sum, or of a terminable annuity for a period not exceeding that allowed by the commissioners under this Act or the Local Government Board. Where any guardians or managers are interested, any agreement for the joint use of any property shall be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. (2.) In default of an agreement as to any matter requiring adjustment for the purpose of this Act, or any matter which, in case of difference, is to be referred to arbitration, then, if no other mode of making such adjustment or determining such difference is provided by this Act, such adjustment or difference may be made or determined by an arbitrator appointed by the parties, or in case of difference as to the appointment, appointed by the Local Government Board. (3.) An arbitrator appointed under this Act shall be deemed to be an arbitrator within the meaning of the Land Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, and the Acts amending the same, and the provisions of those Acts with respect to an arbitration shall apply accordingly; and, further, the arbitrator may state a special case. and notwithstanding anything in the said Acts, shall determine the amount of the costs, and shall have power to disallow as costs in the arbitration the costs of any witness whom he considers to have been called unnecessarily, and any other costs which he considers to have been incurred unnecessarily. (4.) Any award or order made by the commissioners or any arbitrator under this Act may provide for any matter for which an agreement might have provided. (5.) Any sum required to be paid for the purpose of adjustment, or of any award or order made by the commissioners, or an arbitrator under this Act, may be paid out of any fund which in pursuance of the Acts relating to the relief of the poor r would be or might be made available for defraying the like expenditure, or out of such other special fund as the council, with the approval of the commissioners under this Act or of the Local Government Board, may direct. [(6) The payment of any capital sum required to be paid for the purposes of the adjustment or of an agreement under this Act, or of any award or order made upon any arbitration under this Act, shall be a purpose for which a council may borrow under this Act, or in the case of a borough council, under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, or any local Act, and such sum may be borrowed on the security of all or any of the funds, rates, and revenues of the councils and either by the creation of stock or in any other manner in which they are for the time being authorised to borrow, and such sum may be borrowed without the consent of the Treasury or any other authority, so that it be repaid within such period as the Local Government Board may sanction, by such method as is mentioned in Part IV. of this Act for paying off a loan, or, if the sum is raised by stock under a local Act, by such method as is directed by that Act.]" The following provision is to be substituted for subsection (6) so far as respects guardians or managers :— "(6.) Where any guardians or managers are interested, the payment of any capital sum by those guardians or managers shall be a purpose for which they may borrow under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor, and any such sum may be borrowed without the consent of any authority, so that it be repaid within such period as the Local Government Board sanction.` “(7.) Any capital sum paid to any council, guardians, managers, or other AND ADJUSTMENTS) ACT, 1903. 155 authority, for the purpose of any adjustment, or in pursuance of any order or award of an arbitrator under this Act, shall be treated as capital, and applied, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, either in the repayment of debt or for any other purpose for which capital money may be applied. The following provisions are added by schedule 1 (4) post : -- "(8.) If it is necessary for the purpose of giving effect to any agreement or award for an adjustment under this Act that a separate rate should be levied in part of a parish only, the agreement or award may authorise the making of such a separate rate as if it were a poor rate, and as if the part of the parish on which it is to be levied were a whole parish. (9.) Any councils or other authorities shall have power to dispose of any property in the manner provided for by any agreement or award under this Act, without any authority or direction from the Local Government Board, except as expressly provided in this schedule. (10.) For the purpose of giving effect to any adjustment, the Local Government Board may alter any certificate given by them under the Local Government Act, 1888, as respects the sums payable by county or county borough councils to guardians." As to claims for loss of rateable value under section 62 of the Act of 1888, see the cases of Re Buckinghamshire County Council and Hertfordshire County Council ([1899] 1 Q.B. 515; 68 L.J.Q.B. 417; 80 L.T. 85; 63 J.P. 356; 15 T.L.R. 138); and Re Godstone Rural District Council and Caterham Urban District Council ([1903] 1 K.B. 554; 72 L.J.K.B. 279; 88 L.T. 414; 51 W.R. 353 67 J.P. 116; 1 L.G.R. 311; 19 T.L.R. 290); and under the somewhat similar provisions of section 68 of the Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), see Re Rochdale Guardians and Haslingden Guardians ([1899] 1 Q.B. 540; 68 L.J.Q.B. 531; 80 L.T. 146; 47 W.K. 322; 15 T.L.R. 223) and Re St. Thomas Rural District Council and Heavitree Urban District Council (1902) (86 L.T. 153; 66 J.P. 597). With respect to the borrowing powers of guardians and managers, see the (2.) The making of any agreements and the carrying out of any agreements or awards made in pursuance of this section shall be a purpose for which persons shall continue in office under section one of the Dissolved Boards of Management and Guardians Act, 1870. Note. guardians after dissolution of district. The section is as follows;"Sect. I. When the [Local Government] Board shall have dissolved or shall Powers of acting. dissolve any district the component parts whereof shall not have been formed into one union, or shall have dissolved or shall dissolve any union, or shall have added or shall add any parish in which the relief to the poor shall be or shall have been administered by a board of guardians to a union or to another parish, the persons who were acting as managers or guardians at the time of the dissolution or addition, and the survivors of them, shall continue in office for the purpose of paying and discharging the debts and liabilities of such district, union, or parish, and of receiving and recovering moneys or other property due to the said district, union, or parish, as the case may be, in like manner as the board of management or board of guardians could have done if no dissolution or addition had taken place; and the said managers or guardians shall be empowerd to make all necessary orders for contribution upon the unions and parishes comprised within the district or union so dissolved, or upon the proper authorities of the parish so added, as the case may require, and to enforce the same as the board of management or board of guardians could have done previous to the dissolution or 156 AND ADJUSTMENTS) ACT, 1903. addition respectively provided that the limitation of time for the payment of debts imposed by the Poor Law (Payment of Debts) Act, 1859, shall not apply to the cases of districts or unions dissolved or of parishes added to a union before the passing of this Act, where such limitation had not taken effect previous to the dissolution or addition thereof as aforesaid; and provided that no such managers or guardians shall be empowered to act in the manner aforesaid for a longer period than twelve months from the date of the dissolution or addition, unless the [Local Government] Board by their order shall authorise them to continue to act for some special purpose.” Sect. 3. The enactments specified in the second schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of that schedule. Note. The enactments repealed relate to adjustments, &c., which can now be dealt with under section 2 of this Act. Sect. 4. This Act may be cited as the Poor Law (Dissolution of School Districts and Adjustments) Act, 1903. MODIFICATIONS OF SECTION 62 OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT 1. Subsection one shall have effect as if the following provision were added thereto : "Where any guardians or managers are interested, any agreement for the joint use of any property shall be subject to the approval of the Local Government Board." 2. Subsection five shall be construed as if the words "any fund which in pursuance of the Acts relating to the relief of the poor would be or might be made available for defraying the like expenditure" were substituted for the words "the county or borough fund." 3. The following provision shall be substituted for subsection six, so far as respects guardians or managers :— 46 "(6.) Where any guardians or managers are interested, the payment "of any capital sum by those guardians or managers shall be a purpose for which they may borrow under the Acts relating to the "relief of the poor, and any such sum may be borrowed without the "consent of any authority, so that it be repaid within such period as "the Local Government Board sanction," and subsection seven shall have effect as if the word "council" included any guardians, managers, or other authority. 4. The section shall have effect as if the following provisions were added thereto :- "(8.) If it is necessary for the purpose of giving effect to any AND ADJUSTMENTS) ACT, 1903. agreement or award for an adjustment under this Act that a separate rate should be levied in part of a parish only, the agreement or award may authorise the making of such a separate rate as if it were a poor rate, and as if the part of the parish on which it is to be levied were a whole parish. Notes.--Separate accounts should be kept for separate rates. 3 Edw. 7. c. 19, Sched, 1, Separate accounts. Collectors of rate levied in The last words of the added subsection (8) render it doubtful whether the following enactment would apply to any such separate rate :"Where a rate is levied by the overseers over part of the parish only, the officers part of parish. ordinarily employed in the collection of the poor rate shall, if required by the overseers, collect such first-mentioned rate, and shall receive out of the same such remuneration for the additional duty as the overseers, with the consent of the [parish council, parish meeting] vestry [or other body with the powers of a vestry as the case may be] may determine" [Poor Law Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 54), It is only the s. 17; Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), ss. 6 (1)(a), 19 (4), 33) ]. This provision does not apply to the "making" of the rate. "collection which the officers can be required to undertake. Audit and Section 37 of the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 61), made subject to the audit of the district auditor all rates and accounts. assessments not previously audited by district auditors, or by auditors under the Metropolis Management Act, and empowered the Local Government Board to make orders to regulate the keeping of accounts for such rates. An order under the section was made by the Local Government Board 20th March, 1879. It would seem that the section and Order (Art. 2) would apply to a separate rate under paragraph (8) above. Where a rate to which the Order applies is made on the same day as a poor rate, and is made over an area no part of which is outside the area over which the poor rate is made, the two rates may be included in the same book (Act 3). "(9.) Any councils or other authorities shall have power to dispose of any property in the manner provided for by any agreement or award under this Act, without any authority or direction from the Local Government Board, except as expressly provided in this schedule. "(10.) For the purpose of giving effect to any adjustment, the Local Government Board may alter any certificate given by them under the Local Government Act, 1888, as respects the sums payable by county or county borough councils to guardians." Note.-The Local Government Board were empowered to certify sums due from county and county borough councils, in substitution for the local grants, towards the remuneration of teachers in poor law schools, and for payments to public vaccinators under section 5 of the Vaccination Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 84) [Local Government Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41), ss. 24 (2) (a), 31], and an annual sum to be paid by the same councils (outside London) for the costs of the officers of the union and of district schools to which the union contributes based on the expenditure on account of such officers in the year ended 25th March, 1888 (ss. 26, 31). That Board were also empowered to certify as regards the London County Council, the sums due from the council in substitution for the local grants towards the remuneration of poor law medical officers (s. 43 (1) (a) ). Inclusion in same book with poor rate |