ACT OF PARLIAMENT TO Establish a Local Government Board for Scotland, and make further provision for Local Government in Scotland, and for other purposes.-[57 and 58 Vict., cap. 58.-25th August 1894.] Be it enacted by the Queen'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: 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, and this Act, and the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (hereinafter called the principal Act), shall, except as otherwise provided by this Act, be construed as one Act, and may be cited together as the Local Government (Scotland) Acts. 2. Extent of Act.-This Act shall extend to Scotland only. PART I-CONSTITUTION OF A LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD FOR SCOTLAND. 3. Establishment of Local Government Board for Scotland.-A Board shall be established, to be called the Local Government Board for Scotland (in this Act referred to as the Board), and from and after the establishment of such Board, the Board of Supervision, established by the Poor Law (Scotland) Act, 1845, shall cease to exist, and all the powers and duties vested in or imposed on the Board of Supervision by any Act of Parliament in force at the commencement of this Act, shall be vested in, transferred to, and imposed on the Board, and, except as otherwise provided by this Act, shall be exercised and performed by the Board in like manner and subject to the same conditions, liabilities, and incidents respectively, as such powers and duties might before the commencement of this Act have been exercised and performed by the Board of Supervision, or as near thereto as circumstances admit. 4. Constitution of Board.-(1.) The Board shall consist of a President, being the Secretary for Scotland, the Solicitor-General for Scotland, and the Under Secretary for Scotland, together with three appointed members, of whom one shall also be appointed Vice-President and Chairman of the Board in the absence of the President, the second shall be a member of the Faculty of Advocates of not less than seven years' standing, and the third shall be a registered medical practitioner, who is also registered on the Medical Register as the holder of a diploma in sanitary science, public health, or State Medicine, under section twenty-one of the Medical Act, 1886, or has been for a period of not less than five years medical officer of a county or burgh. Such third appointed member shall not hold any other appointment or engage in private practice or employment. (2.) The appointed members shall be appointed by Her Majesty, on the recommendation of the Secretary for Scotland, at any time after the passing of this Act, and from time to time as vacancies occur, and shall receive out of moneys pro vided by Parliament such salaries as the Treasury may assign. They shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure. (3.) The Board shall be deemed to be established from and after the date of the first appointment of a Vice-President under this Act. 5. Seal, style, acts, orders, and rules of Board.-(1.) The Board shall adopt an official seal, and describe themselves generally by the style and title of the Local Government Board for Scotland, and any act to be done, or deed to be signed, or instrument to be executed, by or on behalf of the Board, may be done or signed or executed in the name of the Board by the President, or by any member of the Board, or by the secretary if such secretary is authorised to do, sign, or execute the same by any general or special order of the Board. (2.) A rule, order, or regulation made by the Board shall be valid if made under the seal of the Board, and signed by the President or Vice-President or one of the ex officio members of the Board, and countersigned by the secretary; and a copy of such rule, order, or regulation, signed and certified by the secretary of the Board, shall be evidence thereof in any court of law or justice. (3.) It shall be lawful for the Board from time to time to make rules for conducting the business of the Board, and for exercising the powers and authorities thereof. 6. Transfer of officers.-(1.) The secretary and all officers, inspectors, clerks, and other persons employed at the passing of this Act in or about the execution of the powers and duties of the Board of Supervision, shall, from and after the establishment of the Board, be attached to and be under the control of the Board, and shall in other respects hold their offices and places upon the same terms and conditions, and have the same powers, privileges, and immunities with respect to the performance of their duties, as if this Act had not passed. (2.) The Board may, by order, distribute the business to be performed under the Board amongst the several officers and persons transferred to the Board by this Act, in such manner as the Board may think expedient. (3.) The Board may, with a view to the proper performance of the duties imposed upon them by this Act, appoint in writing, such medical officers, inspectors, clerks, and other officers, with such salaries to be paid out of moneys to be provided by Parliament, as the Board may, with the sanction of the Treasury, determine. (4.) All expenses incurred by the Board in the execution of their duties, to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament. 7. Construction of Acts and deeds, &c.—In the construction and for the purposes of any Act of Parliament, contract, or other deed, passed, entered into, or executed, or of any action or proceeding raised, before the establishment of the Board, the name of the Board shall be deemed to be substituted for the Board of Supervision, and any act or thing which might, if this Act had not passed, have been done by the Board of Supervision, may be done by the Board. After the establishment of the Board, all property belonging to or vested in, or held in trust for, the Board of Supervision shall pass to, and vest in, and be held in trust for, the Board, subject to all debts and liabilities affecting the same, and shall be held by the Board for the purposes for which it is now held, or would have been held if this Act had not passed. PART II.-CONSTITUTION AND ELECTION OF PARISH COUNCILS. 8. Establishment of parish councils.-A council, in this Act referred to as a parish council, shall be established in every parish. 9. Number of parish councillors for each parish.—(1.) The parish council shall consist of a chairman and councillors, and the number of councillors, including the chairman, shall be such (and in the case of a parish partly landward and partly burghal in such proportion for the landward and the burghal parts respectively) as may from time to time, with the approval of the Board, be fixed : (a.) In the case of landward parishes, not including any part of the area of a police burgh, by the county council; (b.) In the case of burghal parishes, by the town council; (c.) In the case of parishes wholly within a police burgh, by the burgh commissioners; and (d.) In the case of parishes partly landward and partly burghal, or including the area or part of the area of a police burgh or burghs, by the county council and town council or councils or burgh commissioners jointly. In such case, failing agreement, the number shall be such and in such proportion as may be fixed by the Board. (2.) In fixing the number of parish councillors, and the proportion for the landward and burghal parts respectively in parishes partly landward and partly burghal, regard shall be had to the powers and duties of the parish council under this Act, and to the population, and special wants and circumstances, of the parish, and to the division of the parish into parish wards, if it is so divided. (3.) The number of parish councillors for any parish shall be not fewer than five nor more than thirty-one. 10. Electing body.-(1.) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a parish council shall be elected by the following persons, in this Act referred to as the parish electors, namely, the persons registered on the parish council register; provided that exemption from or failure to make payment of the special rate authorised by this Act, where such rate is due and payable by persons so registered, shall be a disqualification from voting at an election of a parish council, unless such rate is paid during the period of one year subsequent to service of the demand note requiring payment of the same. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the parish council, one week before the time fixed for the nomination of candidates for any election of parish councillors in the parish, to prepare a list of parish electors who have failed to make payment of the special rate within such period of one year, and to transmit a copy of such list forthwith to the returning officer; and any votes tendered by any elector named in such list shall at any such election be disallowed, unless the elector verifies, prior to the close of the poll, his right to vote by the production of a receipt duly signed and dated within such period. (2.) Each parish elector may at any poll for the election of a parish council give one vote, and no more, for each of any number of candidates not exceeding the number to be elected. (3.) A poll for the election of a parish council shall be taken by ballot. 11. Married women not disqualified.-A woman otherwise possessing the qualification for being registered on any county council [or municipal] register of electors shall not be disqualified by marriage from being registered on a county council, [municipal,] or parish council register, provided that a husband and wife shall not both be registered in respect of the same property.* 12. Registration of parish electors.-With respect to the registration of parish electors, the following provisions shall have effect: (1.) Á county council register, exclusive of such portions thereof as relate to police burghs, shall be so framed and printed as that, in addition to the other requirements of the law, the county electors may be distinguished * § 11 amended by Town Councils Act, 1900. Words in brackets repealed. |