liberty to petition the Local Government Board against the confirmation of the order (s. 36 (7)). provisions of When an order has been made by a County Council under Notices of section 57 (1) of the Local Government Act, 1888, certain subsidiary order. provisions of that section have to be complied with. Notice of the provisions of the order must be given, and copies supplied in the manner prescribed by the Local Government Board, and otherwise as the County Council think fit (Local Government Act, 1888, s. 57 (2)). Certain orders of the County Council mentioned below do not require submission to or confirmation by the Local Government Board, but come into operation upon being finally approved by the County Council (subject in the case of No. 7 to the approval of the Charity Commissioners being given), namely- (1.) An order under section 57 of the Local Government Act, 1888, relating to the division of a district into wards, or the alteration of the number of wards or of the boundaries of a ward, or of the number of the members of a District Council, or of the apportionment of the members among the wards; and the following orders under the Local Government Act, 1894; (2.) A grouping order (see page 36); (3.) An order establishing a Parish Council (see pages 28 and 37); or (4.) Dissolving a Parish Council (see page 38); or (5.) Dissolving a group of parishes (see page 36); (6.) An order relating to the custody of parish documents (see pages 72 and 73); or (7.) Requiring the approval of the Charity Commissioners (see pages 11, 75 and 76); and (8.) An order requiring the consent of the Parish Meeting for any part of the parish to any act or class of acts of the Parish Council (see page 20). Orders not requiring confirmation. In any other case the order is required by subsections 3 to 6 of Orders requiring section 57 (3) of the Act of 1888 to be submitted to the Local confirmation. Government Board; and if within [six weeks'] after such notice Petitions against of the provisions of the order as the Local Government Board orders of determine to be the first notice, the Council of any district affected County Council. by the order, or any number of county electors registered in that district or in any ward of that district, not being less than one-sixth of the total number of electors in that district or ward, or if the order relates only to a parish, any number of county electors registered in that parish, not being less than one-sixth of the total number of electors in that parish [or any Board of Guardians affected by an order under Part III. of the Local Government Act, 1894 2], petition the 1 See Local Government Act, 1894, s. 41. 2 Id. s. 36 (10). See page 191 as to orders under Part III. of the Act. N Confirmation by Local Government Board. Order may be modified. "Prescribed" notices, &c. Special provisions for 1894. Validity of confirmed orders Local Government Board to disallow the order, that Board are to hold a local inquiry, and determine whether the order is to be confirmed or not. If any such petition is not presented, or being presented is withdrawn, the Local Government Board must confirm the order. A petition of county electors could only be withdrawn with the concurrence of all the petitioners; but of course, if the period of six weeks had not expired, there is no reason why a new petition should not be presented by the requisite number of petitioners within that period. A petition may be withdrawn before or after the expiration of the period of six weeks, so long as the withdrawal takes place before the holding of the local inquiry by the Local Government Board. The Local Government Board, on confirming an order, may make such modifications therein as they consider necessary for carrying into effect the objects of the order. An order, when confirmed by the Local Government Board, must be forthwith laid upon the table of both Houses of Parliament, if Parliament be then sitting, and, if not, forthwith after the then next meeting of Parliament. On the 14th September, 1889, the Local Government Board issued an order prescribing the notices and other procedure to be followed by County Councils under section 57 of the Act of 1888. This Order, which is printed at page 374 of the Appendix, is generally in force, and applies to the proceedings of County Councils in making such orders under the Local Government Act, 1894, as are deemed to be orders under section 57 of the former Act (see page 191); but for 1894 a special procedure is to be observed. The Local Government Board are directed to make regulations for expediting and simplifying the procedure under section 57 of the Local Government Act, 1888, in all cases in the year 1894, for the purpose of bringing the Local Government Act, 1894, into immediate operation, and those regulations may dispense with the final approval of an order by the County Council in cases where the prescribed notice of the proposed order has been given before it is made by the County Council (s. 80 (2)). Under this provision, regulations addressed to County Councils were issued on the 22nd March, 1894, and regulations addressed to Town Councils of County Boroughs were issued on the 27th April, 1894. The Regulations which are printed at pages 383 and 408 of the Appendix govern the proceedings of Committees and Joint Committees as well as the proceedings of the Councils to whom they are addressed. An order under section 57 of the Local Government Act, 1888, confirmed by the Local Government Board, is at the expiration of six months from confirmation to be presumed to have been duly made, and to be within the powers of that section, and no objection to the legality of the order is to be entertained in any legal proceeding what- Validity of ever. This provision will apply to orders made under section 57 of the Act of 1888, and also to orders under the new Act deemed to be orders under that section; but only such orders as require confirmation and are confirmed by the Local Government Board will be within its scope. If it is desired to call in question the legality of a confirmed order proceedings must be taken before the expiration of six months from the date of confirmation. confirmed orders. provisions of Where an alteration of any area is made by the Local Government Supplementary Act, 1894, an order for any of the matters mentioned in section 59 of order. the Local Government Act, 1888, may, if it appears to the County Council desirable, be made by the County Council, or, in the case of an area situate in more than one county, by a joint committee of County Councils, but nothing in this provision is to empower a County Council or joint committee to alter the boundaries of a county (s. 69). Section 59 of the Act of 1888, which is printed at page 364 of the Appendix, authorises a scheme or order under that Act to make administrative, judicial, financial, and other arrangements, incidental to or consequential on any alteration of boundaries, and the effect of its application to an alteration of area under the Local Government Act, 1894, is to enable the County Council to provide for every possible contingency. The section will apply whether the alteration is effected by the Act, as in the case of a parish in more than one Sanitary District, or in the case of a Rural Sanitary District in more than one county, or whether the alteration is effected by an order of the County Council made under the Act. 2 3 county or If the County Council find that an alteration of the boundary of Alteration of any county or borough seems expedient for any of the purposes borough mentioned in section 36 of the new Act, application is required to be boundaries. made to the Local Government Board for an order under section 54 of the Local Government Act, 1888 (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 36 (5)). Upon such an application the Local Government Board may after local inquiry make a Provisional Order altering the boundary of the county or borough. If the order alters the boundary of a borough it may alter the number and boundaries of the wards, and the number of councillors and aldermen. The order has no effect unless confirmed by Parliament (Local Government Act, 1888, s. 54*). II. APPLICATION OF THE POWERS OF COUNTY COUNCILS AS TO AREAS AND BOUNDARIES TO THE CASES MENTIONED IN SECTION 36 (1) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1894. Powers of more than one county, a joint committee of the Councils interested, County Council under Section 36. are required to take into consideration are dealt with here in the order in which they occur in section 36 (1) of the Local Government Act, 1894, and in each case a statement of how the case may be dealt with under the provisions which have been previously mentioned is given. Parishes in more than one county. Rural sanitary than one county (a) Every parish' and rural sanitary district which at the passing of the Act is situate partly within and partly without an administrative county. The cases mentioned in this paragraph must be dealt with by a joint committee of the Councils interested. Where the county boundary in the case of a parish situated partly in and partly outside an administrative county coincides with the boundary of an urban district the parish would also come within the next sub-division (b) of the subject'; but if it is contemplated to include any portion of the excluded part of the parish (that is the rural part of the parish) in the urban district, the county boundary must also be altered, as it would be inconsistent with section 50 (1) (b) of the Local Government Act, 1888, for an urban district to be situated in more than one county. An alteration of the county boundary will require an order of the Local Government Board, and so would any alteration of the boundary of a borough. Where the parish overlapping the county boundary is an ordinary rural parish, it will be necessary for the joint committee to make some order, as although a rural sanitary district in more than one county is in the absence of other directions to be divided, no such automatic division of a parish in more than one county will take place. The joint committee may divide the parish without altering the county boundary, or decide that the county boundary should be altered so as to include the whole parish in one county, or they may think it desirable in exceptional cases to both divide the parish and alter the county boundary. Any alteration of the county boundary can only be made by an order of the Local Government Board. The divided parts of the parish, or any of them, may either be constituted new parishes, in which case they must be added to some union, or they may be united to other parishes. For the latter purpose the divided areas may be still further sub-divided. In uniting any part to another parish provision should be made where necessary for the alteration of the county district, and it should be remembered that a parish must not be partly in and partly outside a rural district, but a parish may under exceptional circumstances be partly in two or more urban districts. As a rule, however, a parish must be in one county district only. For A rural sanitary district in more than one administrative county is divided districts in more automatically by section 24 (5) of the Act, so that the part in each county becomes a separate rural district, unless the joint committee provide otherwise. special reasons they may direct that the district should remain in the counties in which it was situated at the passing of the Act. The division of a rural sanitary district by the Act does not affect the boundary of any parish within the district which 1 In their circular letter of the 30th April, 1894, to the Town Councils of County Boroughs (see page 402 of the Appendix), the Local Government Board stated that "A parish partly within and partly without a county borough would, the Board believe, be in every case a parish partly within and partly without an administrative county, as defined by the Act of 1888. It would in any case be a parish partly within and partly without a sanitary district. Consequently it will be necessary that joint committees of the councils of the county and county boroughs should be appointed to act under section 36, with respect to every parish which is now partly within and partly without a county borough." Powers of County Council under Section 36. is in more than one county, and so far as such a parish may be concerned, the effect of the division of the rural district would be to divide the parish for purposes of the Rural District Council only. So far for what would happen if no order were made by the joint committee; but an order could treat the rural Rural sanitary sanitary district in much the same way as a parish, which is divided by the county districts in more boundary, can be treated. The county boundary might be altered, or the district than one county. might be wholly or partly amalgamated with neighbouring districts, and where necessary be converted wholly or partly into an urban district. If desirable the order might provide for the alteration of the poor law unions, but under the Act a rural district may be in more than one poor law union. Parishes in more (b) Every parish which at the passing of the Act is situate partly than one sanitary within and partly without a sanitary district. Unless These cases have been previously alluded to on pages 10 to 12. other arrangements are made a parish so situated becomes divided by virtue of the Act, and the part in each Sanitary District becomes a new parish. No order of the County Council is required to effect the division of such a parish; but instead of permitting a parish to be divided, and new parishes formed by operation of the Act, the County Council might by order provide for the union of the parts which would otherwise form separate parishes with some neighbouring parish or parishes, or for the inclusion of the whole parish in one of the county districts in which it is partly situate. Where a parish is situated partly in an urban district and partly in a rural district, it will generally be found more convenient to include the whole parish in the urban rather than in the rural district. A joint committee of the County Council and of the Council of the county borough will deal with parishes partly in an administrative county, and partly in a county borough. An alteration of the boundary of a borough can be made by an order of the Local Government Board only. (c) Every rural parish which has a population of less than 200. This case covers not only small parishes now existing, but small parishes which may be formed by the division by the Act of parishes which, at the passing of the Act, are in more than one sanitary district. The County Council will have to consider whether the parish may be conveniently grouped with any other parish or parishes under a common Parish Council, or whether it should have a separate Parish Council. They must provide for the establishment of a Parish Council if, in the case of a parish with a population of not less than 100, the Parish Meeting so resolve. Nothing can be done with respect to grouping or establishing Parish Councils until the appointed day, as the consent of a Parish Meeting is necessary (s. I (1)). The limit of 200, in the case of paragraph (c), was fixed with reference to the same limit of population which was adopted by the House of Commons in section 1 for the purpose of the compulsory establishment of a Parish Council; but the limit in that section was raised by the House of Lords to 300, without any consequential amendments having been made in subsequent sections. The provision requiring rural parishes with a population according to the census of 1891 to be taken into consideration had more practical significance in connection with the first proposals of the Government that every rural parish with a population below the prescribed limit should be compulsorily grouped with some neighbouring parish or parishes under a common County Council. A small parish might be united for all purposes with some neighbouring parish, so as to form a new parish, or might be divided, and the respective parts added to neighbouring parishes. Where a new parish is formed by an order of the County Council it should be placed in a poor law union. district. Small rural parishes. |