Treasurer to

To give security.

CHAMBERLAIN AND TREASURER.

159.-Every City Council shall appoint (o) a Chamberbe appointed lain, and every other Council shall appoint a Treasurer (p); and every Chamberlain and Treasurer, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall give such security as the Council directs, for the faithful performance of his duties, and especially for duly accounting for and paying over all moneys which may come into his hands. (q)

To receive and take

care of and disburse moneys, &c.

To make a return

Provincial

Board of
Audit.

160.-Every Treasurer and Chamberlain respectively shall receive and safely keep all moneys belonging to the Corporation (r), and shall pay out the same to such persons and in such manner as the laws of the Province and the lawful by-laws or resolutions of the Council direct. (s)

161.-The Treasurer or Chamberlain of every municiyearly to the pality for which any sum of money has been raised on the credit of the Consolidated Municipal Loan Fund (1), shall, so long as any part of such sum, or of the interest thereon, remains unpaid by such Municipality, transmit to the Board of Audit, on or before the fifteenth day of January in every year, a return, certified on the oath of the Treasurer or Chamberlain before some Justice of the Peace, containing the amount of taxable property in the Municipality, according to the then last assessment roll or rolls, a true account of all the debts and liabilities of the Municipality for every purpose, for the then last year, and such further information and particulars with regard to the liabilities and resources of the Munici

(0) See note a to sec. 150.

(p) The offices of Chamberlain and Treasurer, and member of the Council, are incompatible. (The Queen v. Smith, 4 U.C.Q.B. 322 & s. 162.) If by any disregard of the law, accidental or otherwise, a person has been placed in the office who cannot by law hold it, things must take their course-the illegality must be ascertained and pronounced upon in a proper proceeding, instituted to try the question. (Ib.)

(2) The Chamberlain or Treasurer is, first, to give security; secondly, the security is to be given before he enters upon the duties of his office; and, thirdly, it is to be for the faithful performance of his duties, and especially for duly accounting for and paying over all moneys which may come into his hands.

(r) As it is the duty of the Clerk to keep all books and records (see 150), so it is of the Treasurer, &c., to keep all moneys belonging to the Corporation. (Sec. 160.)

(s) This refers the Treasurer, &c., to the Provincial statutes-such as the Assessment Act and the School Acts-as well as to by-laws of the municipality that relate to the subject, though not expressly mentioned.

(t) See 16 Vic. caps. 22 & 123.

pality, as the Governor in Council may from time to time require (u), under a penalty, in case of neglect or refusal to transmit the return, account, information or particulars, of one hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs as a debt due to the Crown, according to the fifteenth section of the statute, eighteenth Victoria, chapter seventy-eight, to secure the more efficient Auditing of the Public Accounts. (v)

ASSESSORS AND COLLECTORS.

tors, appoint

qualification

162.-The Council of every Municipality except a County Assessors (w) shall as soon as may be convenient after the general elec- and Collection (x), appoint as many Assessors and Collectors for the ment and Municipality as the Assessment Laws from time to time au- of thorize or require, and shall fill up any vacancy that occurs in the said offices as soon as may be convenient after the same occurs (y); but the Council shall not appoint as Assessor or Collector a member of the Council (z), or a person who has not the same property qualification as that required for a Councillor or Councilman of the Municipality. (a) The same person may, in a city, town, or township, be appointed Assessor or Collector for more than one ward. (b)

(u) It is, by 20 Vic. cap. 20, sec. 1, made the duty of the Treasurer of any Municipality in arrear for any sum of money borrowed under 16 Vic. cap. 22, to certify to the Provincial Secretary, within one month after the time when the sum of money is payable, the total value of the assessed property, and the rate in the pound in such Municipality, for the year preceding the default. (Sec. 1.)

(v) In any action for the recovery of such a penalty, it is sufficient to prove by any one witness or other evidence, that such return, &c., ought to have been transmitted by the defendant as alleged on the part of the Crown; and the onus of proving that the same was so transmitted is to rest upon the defendant. (Latter part of sec. 15 of 18 Vic. cap. 78.)

(w) County rates are levied through the instrumentality of the different municipalities within the County, and for this reason, county municipalities do not require either assessors or collectors of their own (see secs. 31 to 34, 39 and 49, 16 Vic. cap. 182, and secs. 165 and 221 of the act here annotated)

(x) See sec. 82 et seq.

(y) See Statute 16 Vic. cap. 182, secs. 15 et seq and 29 et seq.

(2) A member of a Council to become eligible to be appointed assessor or collector would have to resign under sec. 148 or 149, before accepting the appointment.

(a) See sec. 70.

(b) See 16 Vic. cap. 182, secs. 15 et seq. and 39 et seq.

163.-The Assessors shall state in their assessment rolls whether the persons named therein are freeholders or householders, or both, and shall, in separate columns for this purpose, use the initial letter F and H to signify the same respectively. (c)

164.-Every occupant of a separate portion of a house, such portion having a distinct communication with a public road or street by an outer door, shall be deemed a householder within this act. (d)

165.-The Collectors of the several townships in a junior county of a Union of counties shall ex officio be Collectors in such townships for the Provisional Council, and the Collectors shall pay over to the Provisional Treasurer the money they collect under any by-law of the Provisional Council. (e)

166.-The money so collected shall be deemed the money of the Union, so far as necessary to make the Collectors and their sureties responsible to the Union therefor; and in case the Corporation of the Union receives the same, such Corporation shall immediately pay the amount to the Provisional Treasurer, retaining the expenses of collection. (ƒ)

AUDITORS.

167.-Every Council shall, at the first meeting thereof in every year after being duly organized, appoint two Auditors, one of whom shall be such person as the head of the Council nominates (g); but no one who, at such time, or during the

(c) Greac responsibilities rest upon Assessors. Their work is not only the basis of municipal but of parliamentary elections. It is from the assessment roll, as revised and finally passed, that the list of parliamentary voters is made. (22 Vic. cap. 82, sec. 4.)

(d) A party is not the less a householder, or the less an occupant, because he lets a portion of his house to lodgers. The retention of any portion of the house as his own dwelling, gives him the legal occupation of the whole. The occupation of a lodger is considered in law that of the landlord. (See Phillip's case, Alcock's Registration cases, 20; Diugenan's case, Ib. 114; see also Saunders' Law and Practice of Municipal Registration, 1.) No lodger, though occupying the principal part of the house, is ever rated; but the owner, how small soever the part reserved to himself, is in the eye of the law the occupier of the whole. (The King v. Eyles, Cald. 8. C 414.)

(e) As to debts of the Union, see sec. 46.

(f) See sec. 46 et seq.

(9) The Council is to appoint two Auditors annually, but one of them is to be a person nominated by the head of the Council. Hence it will be seen that a nomi ation, though not an appointment, is, under this section, in effect the same.

tion for

preceding year, is or was a member, or is or was Clerk or DisqualificaTreasurer of the Council (h), or who has or during such pre- office of ceding year had, directly or indirectly, alone or in conjunction with any other person, a share or interest in any contract or employment with or on behalf of the Corporation (i), except as Auditor, shall be appointed an Auditor. (j)

168.-The Auditors shall examine and report upon all Duties of accounts affecting the Corporation, or relating to any matter under its control or within its jurisdiction, for the year ending on the thirty-first day of December preceding their appointment. (k)

detailed

receipts and

169.—The Auditors shall prepare an abstract of the To prepare receipts, expenditures and liabilities of the Corporation, and abstract and also a detailed statement of the said particulars in such form statement of as the Council directs, and report in duplicate on all the expendi accounts audited by them, and shall file the same in the office tures, &c. of the Clerk of the Council within one month after their appointment (); and thereafter any inhabitant or rate-payer of the municipality may inspect one of such duplicate reports at all seasonable hours, and may by himself or his agent at his own expense take a copy thereof or extracts therefrom. (m)

(h) All persons who have been members of the Council, or held office under the Council, are not disqualified, but only such as held office "during the preceding year;" that is, the year preceding the appointment.

(i) As to being a contractor, or having an interest in a contract, see note m to sec. 73.

() This is to enable the same individual to be reappointed to the office of Auditor. As to the declaration to be taken by an Auditor before entering on the duties of his office, see sec. 178.

(k) The Auditors, when appointed, have a duty to perform, and that duty is to examine and report upon all accounts affecting the Corporation, or relating to any matter under its control or within its jurisdiction, &c. Further duties are prescribed by the next following section (169).

(2) The duties of Auditors, under this section, may be thus classed:
1. To prepare an abstract of the receipts, expenditures and
liabilities of the Corporation.

2. To prepare a detailed statement of the said particulars,
in such form as the Council may direct.

3. To report in duplicate on all accounts audited by them.
4. To file the reports in the office of the Clerk of the Coun-
cil within one month after appointment.

(m) The right to inspect the auditors' reports is extended to "any inhabitant or rate-payer." The difference between an inhabitant and a rate-payer is, that inhabitant" means a resident, whether a ratepayer or not, and that a "rate-payer" is a person who pays taxes,

The Council

to audit

170.-The Council shall, upon the report of the Auditors, finally, &c. finally audit and allow the accounts of the Treasurer or Chamberlain and Collectors, and all accounts chargeable against the Corporation (n); and in case of charges not regulated by law, the Council shall allow what is reasonable. (0)

Clerk to publish abstracts and statements.

Audit of

171.-The Clerk shall print and publish the Auditors' abstract, and shall also publish the detailed statement in such form as the Council directs. (p)

172.-Every County Council shall have the regulation moneys paid and auditing of all moneys to be paid out of funds in the hands of the County Treasurer. (9)

by Treasurer.

Salaries of officers.

SALARIES AND CONTINUANCE IN OFFICE.

173. In case the remuneration of any of the officers of the municipality has not been settled by act of the Legislature, the Council shall settle the same, and the Council shall provide for the payment of all municipal officers, whether the remuneration is settled by statute or by by-law of the Council. (r)

whether a resident or not. (See Rex v. Inhabitants of North Curry, 4 B. & C. 961.) Mere colorable residence is insufficient to constitute a person an inhabitant. (The King v. Sargent, 5 T. R. 466; The King v. The Duke of Richmond, 6 T. R. 560; Bruce v. Bruce, 2 B. & P. 229, n; The King v. Mitchell, 10 East, 511; Whithorn v. Thomas, 7 M. & G. 1.)

(n) It is the duty of the Auditors, within one month after appointment, to file their report (sec. 170). It then becomes the duty of the Council to finally audit and allow the accounts of the Treasurer, &c., and all accounts chargeable against the Corporation. Some discretion is involved in this duty. It would even appear that the Council, in the performance of their duty, have power to overrule the Auditors (s.172). (0) That is, a quantum meruit or reasonable compensation for the services performed.

(p) The "abstract" is one thing, and the "detailed statement" another, each of which is described in sec. 169. The first is to be printed and published by the Clerk, the second is to be published under the direction of the Council.

(4) The power of the County Council is to regulate and audit all moneys to be paid, &c. The word "regulate" appears to refer to an order prior to payment, as does the word "audit" refer to an act done after payment. The Council have, under sec. 170, a general power to finally audit and allow all the accounts of the Treasurer, &c., and all accounts chargeable against the Corporation.

(r) Under a power to remunerate all "township officers," it was held that municipal councillors had no authority to remunerate themselves. (In re Wright and the Municipal Council of the Township of Cornwall, 9 U. C. Q. B. 442; Daniels v. The Municipal Council of the