however, necessary first to obtain an Order from a Secretary of State setting out the boundaries, which Order would of course be found among the records of the Sanitary Authority. Under the Public Health Act, 1875', which repealed the above-mentioned Acts, the Local Government Board, without any previous representation from the locality, may, by a Provisional Order, constitute, dissolve, and make any changes they may think fit in the boundaries of, a Local Government District; or the Board, acting in pursuance of a resolution of the owners and ratepayers of any place, may constitute that place a Local Government District, by an Order absolute in the first instance; and if the place is not a place with a known or defined boundary, the Local Government Board, on petition being made to them, may, as a preRural Sanitary liminary step, settle the boundaries of the place. Districts. Provisions of Local Government Act.2 The boundaries of rural sanitary districts are entirely determined by those of the unions with which they (with the exception of urban districts) are co-extensive, and by the boundaries of urban sanitary districts. Under the Local Government Act, 1888, if a prima facie case is made out for the alteration of the boundary of an urban sanitary district or its division or union with other districts, or the conversion of any sanitary district or any part thereof, from a rural sanitary district into an urban district or vice versa; the County Council, after local inquiry held after notice has been given in the locality and also to certain Government Departments, may make an Order for carrying out the proposal, which Order must be submitted to the Local Government Board for confirmation. If within three months of the first notice of the provisions of the Order, the Sanitary Authority of any district affected by the Order or any number of county electors registered in that district, not less than one-sixth of the total number of electors in the district petition the Local Government Board to disallow the Order, the Local Government Board are to hold a local inquiry and determine whether the Order is to be confirmed or not. In other cases the Local Government Board must confirm the Order, but may introduce such modifications as they consider necessary for carrying into effect the objects of the Order. 1 Secs. 270-278. 2 lb., sec. 57. The Local Government Board will prescribe regulations as to the manner in which notices are to be given, &c. County. We have explained in Chapter I. the meaning of the terms entire county and administrative county, and how the county of a County Council is, subject to certain changes, the county as at present bounded for the purposes of parliamentary elections, except in the cases in which an entire county is divided into more than one administrative county.1 It remains, therefore, to inquire what the boundaries of counties are for parliamentary purposes, and how the boundaries of administrative counties may, in the future, be altered. The boundaries of the counties for parliamentary purposes at present are the old traditional boundaries of the 52 counties of England and Wales, subject to certain recent alterations, the most important of which are as follows: Prior to 1832 many counties comprised parts isolated from the main body of the county, and in that year it was provided by the Parliamentary Boundaries Act (2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 64) that all such isolated parts described in Schedule M to that Act should, for parliamentary purposes, form parts of the counties to which they were annexed in that schedule; and further that all other isolated parts of counties should, for parliamentary purposes, be considered part of that county (not being a county corporate, i.e., a county of a city or of a town) or of that division, riding, or part, whereby such isolated part was surrounded, or if surrounded by more than one county, then as part of that county with which such detached part had the longest common boundary. It should be mentioned that by an Act of 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61.) the readjustment, thus effected for parliamentary purposes, was extended to all purposes except (i.) Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and patronage. (ii) The jurisdiction of certain Coroners already appointed at the date of that Act. (iii.) The incidence and management of the Land Tax and Assessed Taxes. No enactment hitherto has provided for any direct change in the boundary of a county, but the changes we have mentioned above in parish boundaries have in certain cases altered them, more especially the changes under the Divided Parishes Acts. 1 Ante, pp. 26, 27. Provisions of ment Act.1 Electoral The Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23), provided that alterations of county boundaries, incidental to the constitution of new parishes, or to the division or alteration of boundaries of parishes, made by, or in pursuance of, any Act of Parliament, that came into operation on or before the 25th March, 1885, should have effect for parliamentary purposes. In future the Local Government Board may, on the representation of a County Council after a local inquiry, make a Provisional Order requiring confirmation in Parliament, altering county boundaries, and dividing or uniting counties for all or any of the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1888. Before the appointed day the Local Government Board may make such an Order without any such previous representation. Between the appointed day and November 1st, 1889, the Local Government Board may only make such an Order in pursuance of a previous representation. After that date again the Local Government Board may make such a Provisional Order upon the representation of a County Council, or without such previous representation in the case of a county with regard to which the County Council have made no previous representation, but not otherwise. Electoral Divisions and Wards. The remaining question is the division of counties, boroughs, and urban sanitary districts for election purposes. We must premise that most boroughs and many other urban sanitary districts are divided into wards; so many Councillors, Improvement Commissioners, or members of the Local Board being elected for each ward. County Councillors, as we have stated, are to be elected one for each ciectoral division of the county. Electoral Divisions must be arranged with a view to the population of each division being, so nearly as conveniently may be, equal, regard being had to a proper representation both of the rural and of the urban population and to the distribution and pursuits of such population, and to area, and to the last published census for the time being, and to evidence of any considerable change of population since such census. Electoral Divisions must also, as far as may be reasonably practicable, be framed so that every division shall be a sanitary district or a ward of a sanitary district or a combination of 1 Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 54. 2 Ib., secs. 51, 54; and see ante, p. 3. sanitary districts or wards, or be comprised in one sanitary district or ward. After the first election of County Councils, the Local Government Board may, on the representation of a County Council, alter the number of Councillors for the county and the boundaries of any electoral division of the county. Borough.1 If two-thirds of a Town Council agree, a petition may be Wards of presented to the Crown by the Town Council for the division of the borough into wards, or for the alteration of an existing division; the petition will be considered in the Privy Council, and Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, provide for the division or alteration accordingly. tary District.2 If a prima facie case is made out for the division of a Wards of Sanisanitary district into wards, or for the alteration of the number of wards of a sanitary district, or of the boundaries of any ward, or of the number of members of the Sanitary Authority, the County Council, within whose county the district is situated, must hold a local inquiry, and cause notice to be given, both locally and to certain Government Departments, in such manner as the Local Government Board may prescribe, and if satisfied that the proposal is desirable, the County Council may make an absolute Order carrying it into effect. In conclusion we may mention that, under the Local Government (Boundaries) Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 61), certain persons were appointed Boundary Commissioners and were directed to make certain inquiries as to desirable alterations of local boundaries. Every report made by the Boundary Commissioners is to be laid before the Council of any administrative county or county borough affected thereby, and the Council must take such report into consideration. 3 1 Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, sec. 30. Number of Number CHAPTER V. BUSINESS OF A FULLY CONSTITUTED COUNTY COUNCIL. IN this chapter we propose to deal with the business of a fully constituted County Council. We shall first mention some matters connected with the constitution and proceedings of County Councils, and afterwards explain the business they will have to transact. In speaking of the constitution and proceedings of a County Council we shall, as the difference in the proceedings of the two bodies is but small, take occasion to mention the corresponding matters connected with a Town Council. The matters to be considered are the number of Councillors, the office of Chairman or Mayor, the rules concerning the meetings of a Council, the appointment of Committees, and the appointment of the general officers of the Council. The number of Councillors of each County Council, which is identical with the number of electoral divisions, has been, as we have seen, determined by the Local Government Board for the first election. This number may be altered from time to time by an Order of that Board made after local inquiry, on the representation of a County Council. The Order of the Local Government Board altering the number of Councillors may of course involve a corresponding alteration in the number of County Aldermen.1 The number of Town Councillors in a borough depends, in general, on the charter of the borough, or upon a local statute. Some boroughs are divided into wards for election purposes and others not. If the Town Council are desirous of having their borough divided into wards or of obtaining an alteration in a division already made, they may, if two-thirds of the members of the Council agree, petition Her Majesty for 1 Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 54; and see ante, p. 105. |