Burial Acts. Expenses.

the poor rates, and the expenses to be so incurred for or on account of any parish in providing and laying out a burial-ground and building the necessary chapel or chapels thereon are not to exceed such sum as the Parish Meeting shall authorise (15 & 16 Vict. c. 85, s. 19); but if the Parish Meeting refuse or neglect to authorise the expenditure of necessary sums, the Parish Council or Burial Board may make a repreAppeal to Home sentation to the Home Secretary, who may after inquiry authorise Secretary. them without further authority, sanction, or approval of or by the Parish Meeting to incur the necessary expenditure (18 & 19 Vict. c. 128, s. 6). Any surplus receipts from the rates and from income arising from the burial ground, after providing a balance sufficient to meet the probable liabilities for the next year, are to be paid to the overseers in aid of the poor rate (15 & 16 Vict. c. 85, s. 22).

Adoption for part of civil parish.

Joint Burial
Board.

Public Improve. ments Act.

Adoption by
Parish Council

Recreation ground, &c.

A burial ground may be provided for any parish, new parish, township, or other district not separately maintaining its own poor (18 & 19 Vict. c. 128, s. 2; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 81, s. 5), and in that case the overseers of the civil parish must levy the contribution for the purposes of the burial ground by an addition to the poor rate levied in that part of the civil parish which comprises the burial ground district, or by a separate rate levied in that part of the civil parish only (18 & 19 Vict. c. 128, s. 13).

Section 23 of the Act of 1852 contains provisions enabling two or more parishes which have respectively resolved to provide burial grounds to concur in providing one burial ground, under the management of a Joint Burial Board, incorporated as "The Burial Board for the Parishes of — and in the County of ——” (15 & 16 Vict. c. 85, s. 24). A Joint Burial Board may at any time before a burial ground has been provided be dissolved by the constituent parishes (20 & 21 Vict. c. 81, s. 2).

The Public Improvements Act, 1860

(23 & 24 Vict. c. 30),

The Act may be adopted for any parish having a population of 500 or upwards, according to the last account from time to time taken by authority of Parliament (23 & 24 Vict. c. 35, s. 2). A parish with a population of less than 500 according to the last published census, cannot adopt the Act, and the Act will, when adopted, be invariably executed by the Parish Council. The Act is, by section 2, to be adopted in the same manner as the Baths and Washhouses Act, 1846. There must, therefore, be a two-thirds majority of the Parish Meeting, and the approval of the Local Government Board is necessary.

Under this Act the Parish Council may purchase or lease lands and accept gifts or grants of land, for the purpose of forming any public walk, exercise or playground, and may levy rates for maintaining the

same, and for removal of any nuisance or obstruction to the free use and enjoyment thereof, and for improving any open walk or footpath, or placing convenient seats, or shelters from rain and for other purposes of a similar nature (s. 1).

Public Improve

ments Act.

Expenses are raised out of the poor rate (s. 3); but a rate for Expenses. the purposes of the Act must not exceed 6d. in the £ (s. 7), and it must be agreed to by a majority of at least two-thirds of the Parish Meeting (s. 4). It is no longer required that the majority should be two-thirds in value of the assembled ratepayers (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 89 and sched. 2). Before the rate can be imposed a

sum, in amount not less than one-half of the estimated cost of the proposed improvement, must be raised, given or collected by private subscription or donation (23 & 24 Vict. c. 30, s. 6).

Generally the Parish Council will have for the purposes of the Act Powers for executing Act. similar powers to those conferred by the Baths and Washhouses Act, 1846 (s. 3).

No borrowing powers are conferred by the Public Improvements Borrowing. Act, 1860; but, notwithstanding that the Act confers no such powers, a Parish Council could borrow under the Local Government Act, 1894, for the purpose of purchasing lands for a public walk, exercise or playground, or for any other purposes of the Act of 1860 that came within the general purposes for which the Local Government Act gives a Parish Council borrowing powers.1

The Public Libraries Act, 1892

(55 & 56 Vict. c. 53).

Public Libraries

Act.

conditions.

This Act may be adopted for any rural parish subject to a condition Adoption: that the maximum rate or addition to a rate to be levied for the purposes of the Act in the parish, or in any defined portion of the parish, in any one financial year shall not exceed one halfpenny or shall not exceed three farthings in the £, but such limitation if fixed at one halfpenny may subsequently be raised to three farthings, or altogether removed, or where it is for the time being fixed at three farthings may be removed; but no rate or addition to a rate is to be levied for any one financial year to an amount exceeding one penny in the £ (55 & 56 Vict. c. 53, s. 2).

County electors were the voters under the Act, and any ten or more Mode of voters might address a requisition in writing to the overseers requiring adoption. them to ascertain the opinion of the voters in the parish with respect to the question or questions stated in the requisition. On the receipt of such a requisition the overseers were to proceed to ascertain by means of voting papers the opinion of the voters with respect to the question or questions; but the opinion of the voters was not to be ascertained on any question with respect to the limitation of the rate

1 See page 68.

Act.

Public Libraries unless it was required by the requisition, or with respect to any limitation of the rate other than the limitations specified in the Act (s. 3). Any question with respect to—

Mode of adoption.

Poll.

Commissioners where no

Parish Council.

(a) the adoption of the Act; and

(b) the fixing, raising, and removing of any limitation on the maximum rate; and

(c) the ascertaining of the opinion of the voters with respect to any matter for which their consent is required;

will now have to be submitted to the parochial electors, and their opinion ascertained by a poll taken in manner provided by the Local Government Act, 1894 (s. 7 (2)). The manner of taking the poll will be provided for by Rules framed by the Local Government Board (s. 48 (8)). It is not competent for the Parish Meeting to adopt the Public Libraries Act without a poll, but the procedure for the convening of the Parish Meeting supersedes for the purpose of ascertaining the opinion of the voters, the preliminary machinery of the Act to which reference has been made. The chairman of the Parish Council, or any two parish councillors, or the chairman of the Parish Meeting, or any six parochial electors may at any time convene a parish meeting (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 45 (3)), and it would be for the chairman of the Parish Council or any other convener or conveners to give not less than fourteen days' public notice of the intended meeting, and the business to be transacted at the meeting, and to sign such notice (Sched. 1, Part 1, Rules (2) and (3)). If the notice with respect to the adoption of the Public Libraries Act does not raise any question as to the limitation of the rate, the opinion of the voters will not be taken on that question, and the maximum rate of one penny in the pound will be leviable. Where the opinion of the parochial electors is taken upon the question as to the adoption of the Act, or upon a question as to the limitation of the rate, no further proceeding can be taken for ascertaining the opinion of the electors until the expiration of one year at least from the day of the poll. Questions submitted to the parochial electors are to be decided by a majority of answers recorded on the valid voting papers (55 & 56 Vict. c. 53, s. 3).

Where the Act is adopted for a rural parish without a Parish Council, the Parish Meeting must forthwith appoint not less than three nor more than nine voters in the parish to be Commissioners for carrying the Act into execution (s. 5 (1)). One-third of the Commissioners retire each year, and their place is filled by an annual appointment. Casual vacancies in the office of Commissioner are as soon as may be to be filled up by the Parish Meeting (s. 6). The Commissioners are required to meet at least once a month; two Commissioners constitute a quorum (s. 7).

They are a body corporate by the name of "the Commissioners for Public Libraries and Museums for the Parish of in the

Act.

County of ," and can acquire and hold lands for the Public Libraries purposes of the Acts without any licence in mortmain (s. 5 (2)).

districts.

Several provisions which have not hitherto been much acted upon, Combination of authorise the combination of neighbouring Library Districts for the purpose of the Act.

Where the Act is adopted for any two or more neighbouring parishes, the respective Parish Councils, or Parish Meetings in parishes without a Parish Council, may by agreement combine for any period in carrying the Act into execution, and the expenses are to be defrayed by the parishes in such proportions as may be agreed on (s. 9 (1)). In the case of two or more Parish Councils a joint committee of the Councils concerned would execute the Act (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 57); and in the case of two or more parishes without a Parish Council not more than six Commissioners would have to be appointed by the Parish Meeting of each parish to form one body of Commissioners for the purposes of the Act (55 & 56 Vict. c. 53, S. 9 (2)). But where all the combining parishes were not parishes with Parish Councils, or were not parishes without Parish Councils, there would be some difficulty in constituting a governing body, but the difficulty might be got over by an application of the Parish Meeting to the County Council to confer on that Meeting the power of a Parish Council to appoint members of a Joint Committee (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 57). Section 10 of the Public Libraries Act, 1892, contains a further provision enabling a parish adjoining or near any Library District, for which either the Act has been adopted or its adoption is contemplated, to be annexed to that district, subject to the consent of the library authority. The consent of the voters of the parish is necessary to the parish being annexed to the adjoining district, and this consent must be ascertained by a poll of the parochial electors on the subject. The library authorities for any two or more parishes for which the Act has been adopted may also with the consent of the voters (ascertained by a poll of the parochial electors) in each parish agree to share for any period the cost of the purchase, erection, repair, and maintenance of any library, building, museum, school for science, art gallery, or school for art, situate in one of the parishes, and also the cost of the purchase of books and newspapers and other expenses. With the like consent of the voters, and the consent of the Charity Commissioners, a library authority may make a similar agreement with the governing body of any library established or maintained out of funds subject to the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners, and situate in or near the parish, and, in case of inability, objection, or failure on the part of the governing body to enter into such agreement, the Charity Commissioners may, if they think fit, become party to the agreement on behalf of the governing body (s. 16).

The library authority (i.e., the Parish Council or the Commissioners

Act.

Provision of libraries, museums, &c.

Public Libraries for Public Libraries and Museums, as the case may be) may provide all or any of the following institutions, namely, public libraries, public museums, schools for science, art galleries, and schools for art, and for that purpose may purchase and hire land, and erect, take down, rebuild, alter, repair and extend buildings, and fit up, furnish, and supply the same with all requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences. No charge is to be made for admission to a library or museum, or for the use of a lending library by the inhabitants of the parish; but the library authority, if they think fit, may grant the use of a lending library to other persons, either gratuitously or for payment (s. 11). Books, newspapers, maps, and specimens of art and science may be provided and repaired when necessary.

A library authority may appoint salaried officers and servants, and make regulations' for the safety and use of every library, museum, gallery, and school under their control, and for the admission of the public thereto (s. 15). They may accept a parliamentary grant upon conditions prescribed by the Department of Science and Art towards the purchase of the site, or the erection, enlargement, or repair, of any school for science and art, or school for science, or school for art, or of the residence of a teacher in any such school, or towards the furnishing of any such school (s. 17).

For the purpose of the purchase of land under the Act by a library authority the Lands Clauses Acts, with the exception of the provisions relating to the purchase of land otherwise than by agreement, are incorporated with the Public Libraries Act, 1892 (s. 12 (1)), and that Act confers no power of compulsory purchase. Where therefore the library authority are Commissioners appointed by the Parish Meeting, land for the purposes of the Act may be purchased only by agreement, but where the authority are the Parish Council that Council may acquire land compulsorily under section 9 of the Local Government Act, 1894, for the purpose of public libraries and museums.

But in other ways the grant of land for the purpose of the Public Libraries Act, 1892, has been specially favoured by the Legislature. Any person holding land for ecclesiastical, parochial, or charitable purposes may grant, or convey, by way of gift, sale, or exchange, for any of the purposes of the Act any quantity, not exceeding in any one case one acre of such land; but the grant or conveyance of ecclesiastical property requires the consent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and of parochial property (which must be granted or conveyed by the Board of Guardians of the poor law union comprising the parish to which the property belongs), the consent of the Local

2

See page 181 as to regulations being continued in force on transfer of powers taking place.

2 No such action on the part of the guardians would be required for the sale or exchange of parochial property vested in a Parish Council (see page 55). If that Council, being the library authority, wished to appropriate any parochial property for the purpose of the Public Libraries Act, they could apparently do so without the intervention of the guardians.