Page images
PDF
EPUB

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.

[blocks in formation]

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

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.

Act.

Government Board, and of other charitable property, the consent of Public Libraries the Charity Commissioners (s. 13).

A library authority may borrow for the purposes of the Act, but the Borrowing. sanction or consent of the Parish Meeting is necessary (s. 19). A Parish Council executing the Public Libraries Act, would borrow under the provisions of the Local Government Act.'

The expenses of executing the Act in a parish are defrayed out of Expenses. a rate raised with and as part of the poor rate, subject to the qualification, that every person assessed to the poor rate in respect of lands used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, or as woodlands or market gardens, or nursery grounds, is entitled to an allowance of two-thirds of the sum assessed upon him in respect of those lands (s. 18 (1)).

In a parish not combined with any other parish the amount to be raised out of the rate requires the sanction of the Parish Meeting. The amount proposed to be raised must be expressed in the notice convening the meeting, and where the Act is executed by Commissioners the amount is to be paid according to the order of the Parish Meeting to the person appointed by the Commissioners to receive it. In the notices requiring the payment of the rate the proportion which the amount to be raised for the purposes of the Act bears to the total amount of the rate must be stated (s. 18 (2)).

No sanction of the Parish Meeting is required for raising the sums due from a parish annexed to any library district for meeting the expenses chargeable to the parish (s. 18 (3)).

Accounts.

The district auditor audits the accounts of the receipts and expen- Audit of diture under the Act whether the library authority are Commissioners or a Parish Council (55 & 56 Vict. c. 53, s. 20 (2); Local Government Act, 1894, s. 51).

1 See page 67.

By agreement.

Lands Clauses Acts.

CHAPTER VI.

Acquisition by Parish Council of Land by Agreement—
Compulsory Acquisition by Parish Council and,
for purpose of Allotments, by District Council-
Hiring for Allotments by Parish Council.

ACQUISITION OF LAND.

FOR the purpose of the acquisition of land by a Parish Council the Lands Clauses Acts are incorporated with the Local Government Act, 1894, except the provisions of those Acts with respect to the purchase and taking of land otherwise than by agreement, and section 178 of the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), is to apply as if the Parish Council were referred to therein (s. 9 (1)).

Under this provision the Parish Council will be able to acquire by agreement land for such purposes as they are authorised to acquire land. In connection with the powers and duties of the Parish Council under the Local Government Act, 1894, the Adoptive Acts and other statutes, mention has been made of the various purposes for which land may be acquired by them. They may, for instance, acquire land for building public offices and for recreation grounds (s. 8 (1) (a)), and for the purposes of a supply of water or of a right of way (Local Government Act, 1894, ss. 8 (1) (e) (g), 9 (15)).

The Lands Clauses Acts, which comprise the following statutes:— THE LANDS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACT, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 18);

THE LANDS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACTS AMENDMEnt Act,
1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. 106);

THE LANDS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACT, 1869 (32 & 33
Vict. c. 18); and

THE LANDS CLAUSES (UMPIRE) ACT, 1883 (46 & 47 Vict.
c. 15); and

Any Acts for the time being in force amending the same, contain provisions which are usually made applicable to the acquisition of lands for undertakings of a public nature. It is beyond the scope of the present work to set out those provisions at length, and it must suffice to say that the provisions of those Acts relating to the purchase of land by agreement are so framed as to meet every kind of difficulty likely to arise in any case where all parties concerned are willing to treat. Ample powers to sell and convey are conferred in the case of infants, lunatics, and other parties under disabilities, and provision is

« EelmineJätka »