Directions as to printing Voting Paper. Nothing is to be printed on the voting paper except in accordance with the Borough Funds Acts (Polls) Order, 1903. The space in the voting paper as to the resolution or resolutions must be filled up according to circumstances-for example : 1. If a single resolution in favour of the Bill has been put to the meeting and 2. If separate resolutions have been put to the meeting, one in favour of the 3. If resolutions have been put to the meeting as in the last example and the first resolution in favour of the whole Bill (except Part III. and Clauses 82 and 83) has been carried and no poll has been demanded upon it, while a poll has been demanded on the second and third resolutions, the latter resolutions only would be inserted, e.g.- Borough Funds and so on. FORM NO. 2. Form of Directions for the Guidance of the Voter in Voting. The voter will go into one of the compartments, and, with the pencil provided in the compartment, place a cross thus X in the column of the voting paper headed "For," or in that headed "Against," according as he wishes to vote in favour of or against the resolution opposite to which he places the cross. The voter may vote in the manner above described on each resolution referred to in the voting paper where more than one resolution is there mentioned. When the voter has voted, he must fold up the voting paper so as to show the official mark on the back, and leaving the compartment will, without showing the front of the paper to any person, show the official mark on the back to the presiding officer, and then, in the presence of the presiding officer, put the paper into the box provided for its reception, and forthwith quit the polling station. If the voter inadvertently spoils a voting paper, he can return it to the officer, who will, if satisfied of such inadvertence, give him another paper. the above declaration, having been first read to the above-named A.B., was signed by him in my presence with his mark. Signed, C.D., polling station for the day of , 19. Given under the seal of office of the Local Government Board, this thirty-first day of October, in the year one thousand nine hundred and three. [L.S.] S. B. PROVIS, Secretary. WALTER H. LONG, President. Power to county C. 41. COUNTY COUNCILS (BILLS IN PARLIAMENT) ACT, 1903. [3 EDW. 7, CH. 9.] An Act to empower County Councils to promote Bills in Parliament. [21st July, 1903.] BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Notes. An extract from a circular of the Local Government Board, explaining the provisions of this Act is printed to follow the Act. This Act came into operation 1st October, 1903 (s. 3 (2) ). Sect. 1.-(1) The powers conferred by section fifteen of the Local Government Act, 1888, on the council of a county 3 Edw. 7. C 0. Power to county promote Bills to oppose Bills in Parliament shall be extended so as to authorise them to promote Bills as well as to oppose them. Notes. The text of section 15 of the Act of 1888 follows. Proviso (b) of section council to 15, printed in italics, is repealed by subsection (5) of the present section post. "Sect. 15. The county council of an administrative county shall have the same powers 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 the county, as are conferred on the council of a municipal borough by the [Borough Funds Act, 1872], and subject as hereinafter provided the provisions of that Act shall extend to a county council as if such council were included in the expression 'governing body,' and the administrative county were the district in the said Act mentioned. Provided that (a.) No consent of owners and ratepayers shall be required for any proceedings under this section; (b.) This section shall not empower a county council to promote any Bill in Parliament, or to incur or charge any expense in relation thereto." For the Borough Funds Act, 1872, and the amending statute, the Borough Funds Act, 1903, sections 8 and 10 of which amend provisions of the former Act which apply to a county council, see ante. Sections 2 to 7 of the Act of 1872 are referred to in Notes on pages 9 and 10 ante. power to oppose Bills in Parliament. 35 & 36 Vict. c. 91. 51 & 52 Vict. C. 41. (2.) The county council may determine that any expenses incurred in pursuance of section fifteen of the Local Government Act, 1888, as amended by this Act, are to be regarded as " incurred for special county purposes, but any such determination shall be forthwith notified to the overseers of any parish liable to be assessed in pursuance of such determination, and shall be subject to appeal, within twenty-one days, at the instance of the overseers of any parish so liable, to the Local Government Board, whose decision shall be final. Notes.-Expenses incurred for special county purposes are defrayed by county contributions levied on the parishes liable to be assessed for those purposes [Local Government Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) s. 68 (5) (6) ]. "Forthwith means within a reasonable time-Thomas v. Nokes (1868) 6 Eq. 521; Thomas v. Western Trawling Company (1894) (58 J.P. 672), The period of "twenty-one days" is exclusive of the day on which the overseers are notified-Radcliffe v. Bartholomew ([1892] 1 Q.B. 161; 61 L.J.M.C. 63; 65 L.T. 677; 40 W. R. 63; 56 J. P. 262); Goldsmiths' Co. v. West Metropolitan Railway Co. ([1904] 1 K. B. 1); 52 W. R. 21; 68 J. P. 41. (3.) For the purpose of deciding any such appeal, subsections (1) and (5) of section eighty-seven of the Local Government Act, 1888 (which relate to local inquiries), shall apply. Notes.-The applied subsections are as follows : "Sect. 87.-(1.) Where the Local Government Board are authorised by this Act to make any inquiry, to determine any difference, to make or confirm any order, to frame any scheme, or to give any consent, sanction, or approval to any matter, or otherwise to act under this Act, they may cause to be made a local inquiry, and in that case, and also in a case where they are required by this Act to cause to be Application of provisions of 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, as to local inquiries and provisional orders. made a local inquiry, sections two hundred and ninety-three to two hundred and ninety-six, both inclusive, of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply as if they were herein re-enacted, and in terms made applicable to this Act. * (5.) Where the Board cause any local inquiry to be held under this Act, the costs incurred in relation to such inquiry, including the salary of any inspector or officer of the Board engaged in such inquiry, not exceeding three guineas a day, shall be paid by the councils and other authorities concerned in such inquiry, or by such of them and in such proportions as the Board may direct, and the Board may certify the amount of the costs incurred, and any sum so certified and directed by the Board to be paid by any council or authority shall be a debt to the Crown from such council or authority." The sections of the Public Health Act, 1875, applied by section 87 (1) aboveare as follows: 66 Sect. 293. The Local Government Board may from time to time cause to be made such inquiries as are directed by this Act, and such inquiries as they see fit in relation to any matters concerning the public health in any place, or any matters. with respect to which their sanction approval or consent is required by this Act. "Sect. 294. The Local Government Board may make orders as to the costs of inquiries or proceedings instituted by, or of appeals to the said Board under this Act, and as to the parties by whom or the rates out of which such costs shall be borne; and every such order may be made a rule of one of the superior courts of law on the application of any person named therein. "Sect. 295. All orders made by the Local Government Board in pursuance of this Act shall be binding and conclusive in respect of the matters to which they refer, and shall be published in such manner as that Board may direct. "Sect. 296. Inspectors of the Local Government Board shall, for the purposes. of any inquiry directed by the Board, have in relation to witnesses and their examination, the production of papers and accounts, and the inspection of places and matters required to be inspected, similar powers to those which poor law inspectors have under the Acts relating to the relief of the poor for the purposes of those Acts." (4.) The powers conferred by this section shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any power possessed by the London County Council. (5.) Proviso (b) to section fifteen of the Local Government Act, 1888, which relates to the promotion of Bills in Parliament by a county council, is hereby repealed. Note. For the text of the repealed proviso, see Note to subsection (1) ante. Sect. 3.-(1) This Act may be cited as the County Councils. (Bills in Parliament) Act, 1903. (2.) It shall come into operation on the first day of October nineteen hundred and three. EXTRACT FROM A CIRCULAR ADDRESSED TO COUNTY COUNCILS, 18TH SEPTEMBER, 1903, BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD. 1. The County Councils (Bills in Parliament) Act, 1903This Act invests county councils with the power of promoting Bills in Parlia ment. Section 15 of the Local Government Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41), granted to county councils the same powers of opposing Bills in Parliament as are conferred upon the councils of municipal boroughs by the Borough Funds Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 91), subject to a proviso to the effect that the consent of owners and ratepayers, which it was necessary to obtain under that statute, should not be required. A further proviso, however, expressly enacted that the section should not empower a county council to promote any Bill in Parliament or to incur or charge any expense in relation thereto. The latter proviso is repealed by the new Act (section 1 (5)), and section I (1) directs that the powers conferred by section 15 of the Act of 1888 on a county council to oppose Bills in Parliament shall be extended so as to authorise these councils to promote Bills as well as to oppose them. The new Act comes into operation on the 1st of October, 1903, and the effect of its provisions is that county councils will be empowered as from that date not only to oppose, but also to promote Bills in Parliament. Though ordinarily no doubt the costs whether of promoting or opposing a Bill in Parliament would be properly chargeable upon the whole area of the county, cases may sometimes arise where expenses may be incurred by a county council in relation to the promotion or opposition to a Bill which affects only a portion of the area under their jurisdiction. In order to meet such cases, subsection (2) of section I of the new Act empowers the council to determine that the expenses shall be regarded as incurred for special county purposes, so that they will be charged upon the parishes comprised in that portion of the county which is specially affected, instead of over the whole area. Where this course is pursued, at is provided that the determination of the county council shall be forthwith notified to the overseers of any parish liable to be assessed in pursuance of the determination, and the determination is to be subject to appeal, within 21 days, at the instance of the overseers of any parish so liable. Any such appeal is to be made to the Board, whose decision will be final. Subsection (3) of section I further provides that for the purpose of deciding any appeal that may thus be made subsections (1) and (5) of section 87 of the Local Government Act, 1888, are to apply. These subsections enable the Board to hold local inquiries, and contain certain provisions in regard to the costs incurred in relation to the inquiries so held. No expense in relation to promoting or opposing any Bill or Bills in Parliament is to be charged under the Borough Funds Act, 1872, upon the public funds or rates under the control of the council unless incurred in pursuance of a resolution of the council passed and published in accordance with certain formalities prescribed by section 4 of that Act. Amongst other requirements, it has hitherto been necessary that any resolution under the section should receive, in respect of matters within the jurisdiction of the Local Government Board, the approval of that Board, and in respect of other matters, the approval of one of His Majesty's Secretaries of State. The effect, however, of sections 8 and 10 of the Borough Funds Act, 1903 (3 Edw. 7, c. 14), is that, on the 1st October next, all the powers conferred upon the Secretary of State by the Act of 1872, or any extension or application of that Act will be transferred to and exercisable by the Board. Consequently it will be necessary, for the future, to obtain the approval of the Board in every case to any resolution under section 4 of the Act of 1872, and no approval on the part of the Secretary of State will be needed. L G. B. Circular 18th Sept., 1903 |