Adoption of (3) In all other places having a known or defined bounLocal Govern- dary:-by a resolution of the owners and ratepayers: ment Act, 1858. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 12. A district for spiritual purposes, formed under the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 37, s. 9, is entitled, by resolution of its owners and ratepayers (without reference to the proceedings of townships out of which it is formed), to adopt the Local Government Act, as being a place with a known or defined boundary," according to the provisions of the Act. (1) A parish is a place "having a known or defined boundary" within the meaning of sect. 12 of 21 and 22 Vict. c. 98: but a parliamentary borough is not such a place. So again a parish which includes within it a corporate borough, is a "greater place" including within its limits a "less place" within the meaning of sect. 14 of the same Act; and therefore the borough cannot adopt the Act unless the parish has refused to do so, although the parish be itself included within the limits of a parliamentary borough. An order of the Secretary of State that the Act should be in force within the limits of such a parish is therefore valid. (2) be a With reference to the meaning of the word "place," as used in the Beer House Act, 3 & 4 Vict. c. 61, s. 15, in Smith v. Redding, (3) Blackburn, J., observed: "It may well be that if a collection of houses has acquired a distinct name it may place within the meaning of the statute, and yet it would be within a parish ;" and per Lush, J.: "It may be a place of many thousand inhabitants, popularly called a town, made up of several parishes or parts of parishes." Where there is such an amount of continuous occupancy of the ground by houses that persons may be said to be living as it were, in the same town or place continuously, there, for the purpose of the railway acts, and according to the popular sense of the word, and not the legal sense of the word, which would not give at all a sensible definition, the place may be said to be a town. (4) Under a Turnpike Act prohibiting the erection of a tollhouse in any "town," the word "town was rightly defined as an inhabited place where the dwelling-houses are contiguous, not necessarily touching each other, but so reasonably near that the inhabitants may be said to be living together. (5) The word "town" in 8 Vic. c. 20, s. 11, means a collection of houses so near to each other that they may reasonably be said to be continuous, and the term will include a space of ground surrounded by continuous houses. (6) (1) Reg. v. Northowram and Clayton, 35 L. J. Q. B. 90; L. R. 1 Q. B. 110; 7 B. & S. 110. (2) Reg. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. In re Lymington, 19 L. T. (N.S.) 352. S. C. Reg. v. Hardy, W. N. 1868, p. 284; 38 L. J. Q. B. 9; 9 B. & S. 926. (3) L. R. I. Q. B. 492. (4) Per Hatherly C. in London and South Western Railway Co. v. Blackmore, L. R. 4 App. Ca. 615; 39 L. J. Ch. 713. (5) Reg. v. Cottle, 5 Cox C. C. 157; 16 Q. B. 412. See also Milton v. Faversham, 10 B. & S. 552. (6) Elliott v. South Western Railway Co. 2 Exch. 725, Ratepayers or owners making a requisition for the sum- Costs of promoning of meetings for the purpose of deciding as to the adop- ceeding with a tion of the Local Government Act, 1858, shall, if required, give view to adoptsecurity in a bond, with two sufficient sureties, for repayment when it is not ing the Act, to the summoning officer, in the event of the Act not being adopted. adopted, of the costs incurred in relation to such meetings or 24 & 25 Vict. polls taken in pursuance of any demand made at such meetings, c. 61, s. 1. the amount of the security to be given by such sureties, and their sufficiency, and the amount of such costs, to be settled by agreement between the summoning officer and such ratepayers or owners, or, in the event of disagreement between them, by any Justice of the Peace acting in and for the place in which it is proposed that the Act shall be adopted. Meetings for the purpose of passing resolutions for the adop- Summoning tion of the Act in any of the foregoing cases are to be sum- meetings for moned on the requisition in writing of any twenty ratepayers Act. adoption of or owners: 1. In corporate boroughs :-by the mayor; 2. In other places under the jurisdiction of Improvement Commissioners:-by the chairman of the commissioners; 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 13. 3. In places having known and defined boundaries, not being corporate boroughs, or towns under the jurisdiction of Improvement Commissioners: by the churchwardens or one of them; or if there are no churchwardens-by the overseers or one of them; or if there be none of those officers, or if they in any case neglect, or are unable, or refuse to perform the duties imposed on them-by any person appointed by the 34 & 35 Vict. Local Government Board. c. 70. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 12. Previous to passing any resolution by any Council or Board Notice of of Improvement Commissioners, a month's previous notice of meeting in the meeting, and of the purpose thereof, must be given in the boroughs, etc. manner in which notices of meetings of the Council or Board of Commissioners are usually given, and two-thirds of the members present must concur in the resolution; and the chairman of the meeting, with the consent of a majority of the members present, may adjourn it from day to day. within limits In cases where any place authorized to adopt the Act includes Lesser place within its limits any less place which, if it were not so included, included would of itself be authorized to adopt the Act, such less place of a greater is not to be entitled to adopt the Act unless the greater place place. within the limits of which it is included has refused to do so, or Ib. s. 14. unless it has been determined by the Local Government Board 34 & 35 Vict. that it ought, as respects the adoption of the Act, to be excluded C. 70. from the limits of the greater place. In places having known or defined boundaries, and not Notice of being corporate boroughs, or towns under Improvement Com- meeting in missioners, the summoning officer, upon requisition, is to fix a places having time and place for holding the meeting, and is forthwith to give boundaries. notice thereof defined 21 & 22 Vict, By advertisement in some one or more of the newspapers c. 98, s. 13. circulated in the place; 'By causing a notice to be affixed to the principal doors of every church and chapel in the place to which notices are usually affixed: i. e. of every church and chapel of the Established Church within the district. (1) The meeting, on assembling, shall choose one of its number as chairman, who may, with the consent of a majority of the persons present, adjourn the meeting from day to day. The meeting being duly constituted, the chairman shall propose the resolution for the adoption of the Act, and the meeting shall decide for or against such adoption: if, however, any owner or ratepayer shall demand that the question be decided by a poll of the owners and ratepayers, a poll is to be taken by voting papers in accordance with the form in the schedule to the Act, and in the same way, and with the same conditions as to notice of voting, delivery, filling up, collection, examination, declaration of the result, custody of voting-papers, penalty for neglect or refusal to comply with the provisions of the Act, scale of votes, and in all other respects as is provided in the Public Health Act, 1848, in respect of the election of Local Boards of Health, as to which, see page 39. Where a meeting of ratepayers and owners of a place having a known and defined boundary is called for the purpose of adopting the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1858, the chairman is the person to take the sense of the meeting, unless a poll be demanded. If a poll be demanded, the functions of the chairman will thereupon cease, and the poll should be taken, and all things connected with it carried out by the summoning officer. (2) The following is the form of voting paper : At a meeting held on the day of in the county of at the it was agreed that the following Resolution should be proposed to the owners and ratepayers : "That the Local Government Act, 1858, be adopted in the of Do you vote in the adoption of this (1) Ormerod v. Chadwick, 16 M. & W. 367; and Ex parte Warblington, 18 Jur. 494. (2) Ex parte Littleborough Local Board District, 22 L. T. (N.S.) 437; 35 J. P. 118. c. 98. N.B.-The ratepayer will put his initials under the heading Form of "in favour of" or "against," according as he votes for or against Voting-Paper. the resolution. He is also required to subscribe his name and 21 & 22 Vict. address at full length. If a voter cannot write, he must make his Sch. Form (a). mark instead of initials; but such mark must be attested by a witness, and such witness must write the initials of the voter against his mark. If a proxy vote, he must add after his signature the words, as proxy for," with the name of corporation or company for which he is proxy. This paper will be collected on the day of between the hours Take Notice.-"If any person wilfully commits any of the acts fellowing, that is to say, fabricates, in whole or in part, alters, defaces, destroys, abstracts, or purloins any voting paper, or personates any person entitled to vote in pursuance of the Public Health Act, 1848, or this Act, or falsely assumes to act in the name or on the behalf of any person so entitled to vote, or interrupts the distribution of any voting-papers, or distributes the same under a false pretence of being lawfully authorized so to do, he shall for every such offence be liable, on conviction before two Justices, to be imprisoned in the common gaol or house of correction for any period not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour." (Local Government Act, 1858.) [Signed by the summoning officer.] If no poll be demanded, or if the demand for a poll be with- How, if there drawn, a declaration by the chairman is to be sufficient evidence be no poll. of the decision of the meeting. 21 & 22 Vict. When a poll is demanded the summoning officer (1) should c. 98, s. 13. give public notice of the days on which the voting-papers will be delivered and collected, and the time and place when he will attend to cast up the votes. See 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 23, and 21, & 22 Vict, c. 98, s. 13. The number of votes each person is to give is regulated by the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 20, post, p. 42, and the question must be decided by an actual majority of the votes. places. The adoption of the Local Government Act, 1858, by any Restriction as place where that Act was not in force on the first of March, to the adop1863, and where the population, according to the then last tion of the Act census, is less than three thousand, shall not be of any validity by certain unless it is approved by the Local Government Board, on 26 Vict. proof being given to their satisfaction that, by reason of special c. 17, s. 2. circumstances, it is expedient that such place should be allowed 34 & 35 Vict. to adopt the Act. Before signifying their approval or disap- c. 70. proval, the Local Government Board may cause an inquiry to be made in the place as to the circumstances alleged in support of the expediency of the adoption of the Act, of the time and place of which inquiry fourteen days' public notice (1 See Ex parte Littleborough Local Board District, ante, p. 14. 1 Local Government Act. shall be given, and on the determination of such inquiry shall give or withhold, as they think just, their approval of the adoption of the Act. The approval or disapproval of the Local Government Board shall be published in the Gazette, and such publication shall be evidence of the fact of that approval or disapproval having been given. Restriction as The reason for the above limitation on the adoption of the to adoption of Local Government Act was thus explained by Sir George Grey, on the second reading of the Bill, on the twenty-fifth of March, 1863. He said that although the Local Government Act was intended only for populous towns, a great many very small places had availed themselves of it. It had been adopted, for instance, in 22 districts which had less than 100 inhabitants, and in 130 with between 100 and 500. Indeed, places with only 17, 18, 23, 25, and 37 inhabitants respectively had passed resolutions for adopting it. The reason of this excessive fondness for the Act was, that those places where it was in force were exempted from the operation of the Highway Act. It was, therefore, adopted in many cases simply to evade the latter statute, and without any intention of carrying out its provisions. The object of the Bill was to put a check on such proceedings, and it had been framed in accordance with suggestions and requests from all parts of the country. Adoption of Act by parish in a highway district. 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 41. Voting at meeting convened under 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 13. Poll. Any parish or part of a parish included in a Highway District, under 25 & 26 Vict, c. 61, may adopt the Local Government Act in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, in and under which it might have adopted the same if it had not been included in such District; and upon such adoption being made, such parish or part of a parish shall cease to form part of such District, subject nevertheless to the payment of any contribution that may at the time of such adoption be due from such parish or part of a parish to the Highway Board. At a meeting convened under sect. 13 of the Local Government Act, 1858, for the purpose of deciding as to the adoption of the Act, a resolution was moved and seconded in favour of the adoption of the Act, and the chairman, on a show of hands, declared that it was carried. A demand was then made that the meeting be divided on the question, but the chairman refused to do so. The Secretary of State having been appealed to under sect. 18, he made an order that the chairman was not bound to divide the meeting, and that the vote was valid. Upon application for a mandamus to summon a meeting of ratepayers to ascertain by means of a poll whether they would adopt the Act, on the ground that the chairman was bound to divide the meeting, it was held that the decision of the Secretary of State was final, under sect. 81, by which all orders made by the Secretary of State, in pursuance of the Act, shall be binding and conclusive in respect of the matters to which they refer. But quære, whether, under sect. 13, the chairman was bound to |