councillors in such burgh (or in a ward thereof where the burgh is divided into wards, and the notice applies to such ward) below the number necessary to supply the vacancies to be filled up in the burgh or ward, as the case may be, at that election. up throughout the burgh or by insertion | then ensuing annual election of town at least once during the said period in some newspaper or newspapers published within the burgh, if any be, or otherwise in some newspaper or newspapers circulating in the burgh, intimate (1) the names of the councillors falling to retire on the ensuing first Tuesday of November; (2) the wards by which their places fall to be supplied in the case of a burgh divided into wards; (3) the date and place for lodging and withdrawing nomination papers; (4) the date of election in the event of there being a poll; and (5) the polling places. The said notice shall be in, or as nearly as may be in, the forms respectively applicable contained in Schedule III. annexed to this Act. XLIII. Nomination of candidates.-It shall not be competent to elect any person to the office of councillor unless the name of such person shall have been intimated to the town clerk in the manner hereinafter provided, before four of the clock afternoon of the Tuesday immediately preceding the first Tuesday of November by delivery to him, or at his office, of a nomination paper in, or as nearly as may be in, the form of Schedule IV. hereunto annexed. XLIV. Signatures to nomination paper. The said nomination paper shall be subscribed by two electors, and the form of assent appended thereto shall be signed by at least five other electors, and in the case of a burgh divided into wards the proposers and assenters shall all be electors of the ward to which the nomination paper applies. The form of consent to be nominated on the nomination paper shall be subscribed by the candidate or a law agent duly authorised by him. XLV. Withdrawal of nomination.Any nomination may be withdrawn by notice of withdrawal given to the town clerk before four of the clock afternoon of the Thursday immediately preceding the said first Tuesday of November, and such notice of withdrawal shall be signed by the person nominated or a law agent duly authorised by him, and by his two proposers, and shall be in, or as nearly as may be in, the form of Schedule V. of this Act, provided that no such withdrawal shall be competent where its effect would be to reduce the total number of persons nominated for the XLVI. Notice of candidates nominated. The town clerk shall, not later than the Friday immediately preceding the election, cause public notice to be given of the names of all persons so intimated to him and not withdrawn as aforesaid, and such notice shall be in, or as nearly as may be in, the form of Schedule VI. hereunto annexed, and shall be affixed and published in manner directed by section forty-two hereof. In case the number of nominations in any burgh or ward does not exceed the number of vacancies, the town clerk shall, in his notice, intimate the fact, and state that there will be no poll in such burgh or ward. XLVII. Nomination of disqualified person.-In the event of any disqualified person being nominated, the town clerk shall, if the names of such person and his proposers and his assenters appear in the municipal register, receive the nomination paper and deal with it in the same manner as the nomination papers of qualified candidates, but if the name of such persons, or any of them, do not appear in the municipal register, he shall reject the nomination paper, and the same shall be null and void.* XLVIII. Number of candidates not exceeding vacancies.-In the event of the number of persons nominated and not subsequently withdrawn not exceeding the number of vacancies in any burgh or ward of a burgh, the persons nominated shall be held to be duly elected as councillors. XLIX. Poll in contested elections.-In the event of the number of persons nominated and not subsequently withdrawn for election as councillors of any burgh or ward of a burgh exceeding the number of vacancies, the election shall be carried out by a poll which shall be taken on the first Tuesday of November, under and in conformity with the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. cap. 33), the Elections Hours of Poll Act, * See section 5 of Town Councils Act, 1903. 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. cap. 34), and any Acts | to accept the office of councillor, and if extending and amending the same. L. Returning officer.-The returning officer at the said election shall be the provost of the burgh, but the acting chief magistrate shall act as returning officer in the event (1.) of the office of provost being at the time vacant; (2.) of the provost being among the number of councillors falling to retire at the election, or of his term as provost expiring, or his resigning office as at the date of the election; (3.) of the provost being incapacitated from acting by illness, absence, or any other cause; or (4.) of the provost declining or failing to perform his duties. LI. Town clerk to be returning officer in certain cases. -In the event of the provost and all the bailies being amongst the number to retire, or being prevented from acting or failing to act as returning officer for any of the reasons aforesaid, the town clerk, or any person appointed by him, shall act as returning officer. LII. Declaration of election. The returning officer shall cause the result of the election, whether contested or uncontested, to be declared within the town hall, council chambers, or other public hall or place in the burgh, not later than four of the clock afternoon of the day after the election, and shall cause a written or printed statement thereof, signed by him, to be immediately thereafter fixed to the outside wall of the town hall, or of any premises in which the meetings of the town council are usually held. LIII. Notice to councillors of their election. The town clerk shall, immediately after the declaration of the election, and at latest before the expiry of the day after the election, give notice in writing to the several persons elected of their election, and require them severally to appear in the town hall, council chambers, or other public room aforesaid, on the second lawful day after such election and at such hour between ten o'clock forenoon and eight o'clock afternoon as may be fixed by said notice, when they shall severally declare, in presence of the returning officer or of the town clerk, whether they accept or decline any such person shall be found to have been elected by more than one ward in a burgh, he shall thereupon declare for which ward he intends to serve. In the event of any person elected failing to attend such meeting and declare his acceptance of office, or to intimate his acceptance of office in writing subscribed by himself or a law agent duly authorised by him, addressed to the town clerk and delivered to him or at his office before the hour of such meeting, the person so elected shall be held to have declined office, and his place shall be held to be vacant. LIV. Returning officer to have casting vote.-In the event of two or more candidates who cannot all be elected receiving an equal number of votes, the returning officer shall have and exercise a casting vote. LV. Application to county and parish council elections. - This Act shall be deemed to be an enactment regulating the election of town councillors referred to in the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. cap. 50), and the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. cap. 58), and to be an enactment by the said Acts applied to the elections referred to in section sixteen of the last cited Act. Provided that a county council, or the returning officer at an election of county councillors, may refer to the Secretary for Scotland any question that may arise in consequence of the passing of this Act in regard to the procedure at such an election, and the determination of the Secretary for Scotland as signified by order thereon shall be final. Election of Magistrates, &c. LVI. Election of provost and bailies.The magistrates shall be elected by the town council from among their own number. The provost shall hold office from the date of his election as such until the expiry of three years from the first Tuesday of November immediately preceding his election, and during that period he shall (provided he continues to hold the office of provost) continue to hold office as a councillor, and be held at each of the elections occurring during his term of office to have been the shortest time in office of the councillors for the burgh or for the ward which he represents. LVII. Bailie to hold office till expiry of term as a councillor.-The magistrates other than the provost shall be called bailies, and each bailie shall hold office from the date of his election to the date at which he falls in ordinary course to retire as a councillor. LVIII. Meeting for electing magistrates.-The town council shall meet at twelve of the clock noon (or at any other hour that may have been fixed by standing order) on the Friday immediately succeeding the day of each annual election, and at such meeting or any adjournment thereof fill up by election all vacancies that may then exist in the offices of provost and bailie. The returning officer, or in case of his absence one of the bailies, in order of seniority, or failing any bailie, one of the councillors to be appointed by the meeting, shall preside at the said meeting, and shall have a casting vote in case of equality. Where more than one bailie is elected at the same time the council shall determine the order of seniority. LIX. Failing to hold meeting on statutory day.-In the event of the council failing to meet on the said day or to fill up any of the said vacancies at said meeting, or any adjournment thereof, it shall be lawful to them to fill up the said vacancies at any subsequent meeting to be duly called, but in the event of their failing to hold such meeting and make such election within the month of November in any year, it shall be lawful for the sheriff to appoint, and he shall on the application of any four electors of the burgh appoint, councillors to fill any vacancies in the said offices, or in the event of none of the councillors being willing to accept office, appoint such person thereto from among the electors as he shall deem proper, and the persons so appointed from the electors shall be councillors of the burgh, but their term of office shall terminate at the next annual election, and they shall not be reckoned as part of the number to retire at such election, nor shall their appointment in any way interfere with the ordinary rotation of retiral of the other councillors. LX. First meeting in new burghs.-In the case of burghs formed after the commencement of this Act, the council first elected shall hold their first meeting at twelve of the clock noon on the first Friday after the first election, and the sheriff, or any person appointed by him, shall preside at the said meeting, and have a casting vote in case of equality, and the magistrates shall be elected at such meeting. in LXI. Acting chief magistrate absence of provost.-In the event of the provost being prevented at any time from fulfilling, or failing to fulfil, any of the duties of his office under this Act or the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, on account of illness, absence from home, or from attendance at any meeting or any other cause, such duty may be performed by the senior bailie, or in the event of his being prevented from fulfilling it from any such cause by the next senior bailie, and so on through the whole number of bailies. LXII. Appointment of councillors to act as judges of police.-The town council may at any time appoint any of their number who have held the office of provost, bailie, or magistrate to sit as magistrates in the police courts of the burgh for such time as they continue to be members of the town council without re-election; and during such time any person so appointed and sitting may lawfully exercise all jurisdictions, powers, and authorities competent to or exerciseable by any other magistrate of the burgh sitting in such court. LXIII. Resignation of magistrate.Any magistrate may resign office at any time on giving three weeks' notice, in writing, of his resignation to the town clerk, and his resignation shall take effect on the expiry of the said three weeks. Any magistrate resigning his office as a councillor, or ceasing for any reason to hold the office of councillor, shall be ipso facto held to vacate his office of magistrate at the same date as his office of councillor, but the resignation of office as a magistrate shall not infer resignation as a councillor. For the purposes of this section and the following section the word "magistrate" shall include any councillor appointed to the office of honorary treasurer. LXIV. Casual vacancies among magis trates.-In the event of any vacancy in the office of magistrate occurring from any other cause than retirement in ordinary rotation, the vacancy so occurring shall be filled up by the town council at a meeting of which notices stating that the matter is to be then dealt with shall be sent out by the town clerk within three weeks of the occurrence of such vacancy, and which shall be held not sooner than five days and not later than ten days from the date of such notice, or at any adjournment of said meeting, and the person elected shall hold office for the same period and subject to the same conditions as if he had been elected in terms of section fifty-eight hereof; provided that it shall not be competent for the council to elect to the said office any councillor elected ad interim under section thirty-six hereof, during the period of his interim appointment, and further that in the event of such a vacancy occurring in the office of provost or honorary treasurer it shall be competent to make an interim appointment to endure only until the first Tuesday of November thereafter. or and by the provisions of this Act relating to the conduct of elections; provided that, where a municipal register exists in such burgh, the same shall come in place of the list of householders referred to in the first-cited section, and the electors shall be those specified in section twentythree hereof; and, where no municipal register exists, the right of voting at said election shall be in the householders whose names are in the said list; and provided further, that the number of magistrates and council to be elected in such burgh shall be in accordance with the provisions of section ten hereof. LXVII. Expense of making up municipal register, &c.-The whole expense of making up and printing the municipal register and in connexion with the election of councillors and magistrates shall be defrayed either from the common good of the burgh, the assessment imposed or levied in the burgh under the provisions of the Registration Acts, or any assessments levied under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, or any local Act, all as the council may determine, and the said expenses may be divided and apportioned among the said common good and assessments as the council think proper. Minutes and Proceedings of Council. LXV. Irregularity or nullity not to affect election of other councillors magistrates.-No irregularity or nullity in the election of any councillor or magistrate shall in any case annul or affect the election of any other councillor or magistrate, and all proceedings of the town council or magistrates shall be valid, notwithstanding any vacancy in their number or the vote or presence of any councillor or magistrate against whose election or qualification any objec-ings of the council shall be held at such tion may exist; and the actings of a times and at such places as may be fixed councillor or magistrate prior to his by them from time to time, and as may election being set aside or found null, or be fixed by this or any other Act. his disqualification determined or office the councillors shall be cited to attend declared vacant, shall be equally valid all meetings, such citation being given and effectual as if such councillor or personally, or at their dwelling-houses or magistrate had been duly elected and not places of business, by notice issued by been disqualified. the town clerk and posted or delivered at least twenty-four hours before the time of meeting, which notice shall specify, or be accompanied by a paper of agenda specifying, so far as known to the town clerk, the business to be considered at the meeting. LXVI. Election where burgh has no legal council.-Where any burgh shall from any cause be at any time without a legal council, any seven electors of such burgh, or any seven persons possessing the qualifications entitling them to be placed on the municipal register, may present a petition to the sheriff requesting him to conduct an election of a council, and thereupon the sheriff shall proceed with an election in the manner, or as nearly as may be in the manner, provided by sections twenty-five and twenty-six of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, All LXIX. Special meetings.-The town clerk shall issue, without further authority, the notices for all meetings appointed to be held by statute or by the standing orders of the council. The town clerk shall, when required in writing by the provost or acting chief magistrate, or on requisition being made to him stating in writing the object of the intended meeting, and signed by not less than one-fifth of the whole members of the council, cause special meetings to be called, the notices for which shall be issued within twentyfour hours, and which shall be held within four days after receipt of such requisition. LXX. Special urgency.-In any case which appears to the provost or acting chief magistrate to demand special urgency, he may require the town clerk to call, and the town clerk shall thereupon call, a special meeting, to be held at a time less than twenty-four hours from the issue of the notices, provided that the resolutions of such meeting shall not be valid and binding on the council, unless either a majority of the whole council is present, or they are confirmed by a subsequent meeting called in manner provided by section sixty-eight hereof. LXXI. Quorum. One-third of the town council shall constitute a quorum at any meeting thereof. LXXIV. Committees. The council shall have power to form committees of their number, either with directions to report to the council, or for carrying out the matters remitted to them, and to delegate to such committees, in whole or in part, the powers, not being powers to raise money by rate or loan, or powers the delegation whereof is expressly prohibited by any statute, competent to the council with regard to the subject which may be remitted, to name the convener and sub-convener, and to fix the numbers of such committees which shall form a quorum, and, if they see fit, to allow any committee to appoint sub-committees with powers; and the convener or subconvener, or in his absence a member to be elected by the committee for the time, shall preside at all meetings of a committee, and shall be entitled to both a deliberative and, in case of equality, a casting vote. All meetings of committees shall be convened by the town clerk in manner aforesaid, on the instructions of the convener, or in such manner and on such instructions as the council may appoint. LXXV. Omission to send notice not to invalidate proceedings.-No act or proceeding of a town council or committee shall be invalidated in consequence of the omission to send the notice of the meeting to any councillor or of the informality of such notice, and in any case the proceedings of any informally convened meeting shall be validated by confirmstion at a subsequent meeting duly called. LXXVI. Minute books.-Minute books shall be kept by the town clerk, containing a record of the proceedings and orders of the council and their committees. Where not otherwise provided by local Act or standing order of the council, all minutes of meetings of council, when prepared by the clerk, shall be submitted to the next ensuing meeting, and after being read and approved, shall be signed by the chairman of the latter meeting. All minutes of meetings of committees may be signed by the chairman of such meeting, or by the chairman of any subsequent meeting of the same committee to which the same may be submitted for approval. LXXVII. Standing orders.-The council may from time to time enact such standing orders as they may consider necessary or expedient for the regulation of their business, and repeal, alter, and amend the same. The council may, by standing order, provide for the closure of debate, and for the suspension by resolution of the council for the remainder of the sitting of any councillor disregarding the authority of the chairman of any meeting, or being guilty of obstructive or offensive conduct at any meeting. Officers of Council. LXXVIII. Appointment and duties of town clerk.-The council shall from time to time appoint a fit person to be the town clerk of the burgh. In the case of any burgh where the office of town clerk |