proposal and of the prescribed local inquiry and for publication of the 17th May-Last day for holding the local inquiry and for making any order. 19th May to 1st June. -Deposit for 14 days of copies of order for inspection. 30th June.—Last day for confirmation of the order by the Local Government Board. NEW URBAN DISTRICTS. Times for proceedings in 1894. be made. In the future formation of new urban districts or the extension of Provisions to existing urban districts, or the subtraction from the area of an urban district of any part of the district, certain provisions are required to be made by section 54 of the Local Government Act, 1894. These provisions, which apply where a new borough is created or any other new urban district is constituted, or the area of an urban district is extended and, with the necessary modifications, where the area of an urban district is diminished, are as follows: (a) as respects any rural parish or part of a rural parish which will be comprised in the borough or urban district, provision must be made, either by the constitution of a new parish, or by the annexation of the parish or parts thereof to another parish or parishes, or otherwise, for the appointment of overseers and for placing the parish or part in the same position as other parishes in the borough or district. overseers, &c. In urban districts the appointment of overseers will continue to be made by the Appointment of justices, unless an order of the Local Government Board is made under section 33 (1) of the Local Government Act, 1894, conferring on the urban District Council or some other representative body the power and duty of appointing the overseers. The provision in paragraph (a) will in effect enable the Local Government Board or the County Council, who make an order extending the boundaries of an urban district, to extend to the added area any provisions as to the appointment of overseers or other matters which may be in force in the urban district by virtue of an order of the Local Government Board under section 33 (1) of the Act of 1894. (b) as respects any parish or part which remains rural, provision Parish Council, must be made for the constitution of a new Parish Council, or for the annexation of the parish or part to some other parish or rural. parishes, or otherwise for the government of the parish or part. 1 See pages 189 and 195. &c., where parish remains New Urban Adjustment of property, &c. New borough. Other new urban districts. Extension of urban district. Expenses of Local Government Board. Powers of Board and inspectors. (c) provision must also where necessary be made for the adjust- These several matters are respectively to be provided for :- A scheme under the enactment referred to, which is printed at page 337 of the Appendix, is made by the Privy Council on the creation of a new borough for the transfer of the powers, duties, liabilities, and property of the superseded local authorities. (b) Where any other new urban district is constituted, by an order of the County Council under section 57 of the Local Government Act, 1888; (c) Where the area of an urban district is extended, by an order of the Local Government Board under section 54, or of the County Council under section 57, as the case may be, of the Local Government Act, 1888. An extension of a borough would have to be provided for by an order of the Local Government Board under section 54 of the Act of 1888; see page 362. The County Council would deal with the extension of any other urban district under section 57 of that Act. The procedure under section 57, as amended by the Local Government Act, 1894, has been explained previously in this chapter. COPIES OF ORDERS UNDER LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1894. A copy of every order made by a County Council or joint committee in pursuance of the Local Government Act, 1894, is to be sent to the Local Government Board, and, if it alters any local area or name,1 also to the Board of Agriculture (s. 71). LOCAL INQUIRIES. The ex The expenses incurred by the Local Government Board in respect of inquiries or other proceedings under the Local Government Act, 1894, are to be paid by such authorities and persons and out of such funds and rates as the Board may by order direct, and the Board may certify the amount of the expenses so incurred, and any sum so certified and directed by the Board to be paid by any authority or person is to be a debt from that authority or person to the Crown. penses may include the salary of any inspector or officer of the Board engaged in the inquiry or proceeding, not exceeding three guineas a day. For the purposes of an inquiry under the Act the Local Government Board and their inspectors are given the same powers as they respectively have for the purpose of an inquiry under the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55)[Local Government Act, 1894, S. 72 (1) (2) (3) ]. 1 See also page 198. Those powers which are conferred by sections 293 to 296 of the Act of 1875 have been explained on page 111, in connection with local inquiries relating to the compulsory acquisition of land. The power of the Local Government Board under section 294, to make orders as to the costs of inquiries is superseded for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1894, by the provision in section 72 of the latter Act on the same subject. Local Inquiries, A County Council or any committee or person authorised by them to hold a local Powers of inquiry have, except for the purposes of a public inquiry under sections 9 and 10 of County Council. the new Act (see page 111), no such special powers as are conferred on the Local Government Board and their officers. Where a County Council hold a local inquiry under the Local Expenses of County Council. Government Act, 1894, or under the Local Government Act, 1888, on the application of the Council of a parish or district, or of any inhabitants of a parish or district, the expenses incurred by the County Council in relation to the inquiry (including the expenses of any committee or person authorised by the County Council) are to be paid by the Council of that parish or district, or, in the case of a parish which has not a Parish Council, by the Parish Meeting. In other instances the expenses of the County Council incurred in the case of inquiries under the Local Government Act, 1894, are to be paid out of the county fund (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 72 (4)). This provision does not apparently authorise a County Council to include in the expenses of an inquiry the proportions of the salary of any of their officers, for the Act confers on them no such express authority to do so as it confers on the Local Government Board in connection with inquiries or proceedings of that Board. It seems doubtful whether the provision as to charging the expenses of an inquiry to the local authority, applies where the inquiry is held, not expressly on the application of the Council or any inhabitants of the parish or district, but incidentally on an application for a certain act to be done, as, for example, for the constitution of a new urban district. As to this see the observations on page 113. COUNTY COUNCILS TO BRING ACT INTO OPERATION. to exercise their powers, It is expressly made the duty of every County Council to exercise County Councils all such of their powers as may be requisite for bringing the Local Government Act, 1894, into full operation within their county as soon as may be after its passing, and a County Council are authorised to Delegation to delegate their powers under the Act to a committee (s. 83). committee, "Parochial electors." Who are "parochial electors." London and urban districts. Local government register. Parliamentary register. Married women. CHAPTER XII. Registration and Elections Register of Parochial REGISTER OF PAROCHIAL ELECTORS. THE "parochial electors" under the Local Government Act, 1894, constitute in rural parishes the Parish Meeting, and in every parish or other area are the electors of the Parish and District Councils other than Town Councils, and of the Boards of Guardians. In London they are the electors not only of the Guardians but also of the members of the Vestry, and of the auditors of the accounts of the Vestries and District Boards. Being a parochial elector is also one of the qualifications for members of these various bodies. In connection with the constitution of Parish Meetings it has been shown that the parochial electors of a rural parish are the persons registered in such portion, either of the local government register of electors, or of the parliamentary register of electors as relates to the parish (s. 2 (1)). When the expression "parochial elector," is used with reference to a parish in an urban district, or in the county of London or any county borough, it means any person who would be a parochial elector of the parish if it were a rural parish (s. 75 (2)). The local government register for a parish in an administrative county is the county register of electors, and for a parish in a county borough or other municipal borough is the burgess roll. The parliamentary register is the register of persons entitled to vote at any parliamentary election. Women may be placed on the burgess roll of a borough and on the county register, but married women have been held to be disqualified by reason of coverture from being on the burgess roll, and consequently on the county register. This disqualification will not apply to elections under the Local Government Act, 1894, and, for the purposes of that Act, a woman is not to be disqualified by marriage for being on any local government register of electors, or for being an elector of any local authority; but a husband and wife are not both to be qualified in respect of the same property (s. 43). Married women are not enfranchised by this provision for municipal and County Council elections, as these elections are not purposes of the Local Government Act, 1894. The County Electors Act, 1888 (51 Vict. c. 10), extended the "burgess qualification" for the electors in a municipal borough, conferred by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, to the rest of the county, and made the parliamentary "10 occupation qualification a qualification for registration as a county elector. 66 In the following observations on the local government franchises as applicable to parochial electors, it must be understood that women, both married and single, if they possess the requisite qualifications, are entitled to be registered as well as men. Peers may be placed on the local government register, but not on the parliamentary register. County electors. Local Govern ment franchises as applicable to parochial electors. Certain general qualifications apply to all the franchises, namely: General A person entitled to be registered must be of full age, and not subject qualifications. to any legal incapacity, and must not at any time during the twelve months immediately preceding the 15th day of July have received any parochial relief; but where a person has received for himself or for any member of his family any medical or surgical assistance, or any medicine, at the expense of any poor rate, he is not thereby deprived of his right to be registered, and medical or surgical assistance includes all medical and surgical attendance, and all matters and things supplied by or on the recommendation of the medical officer of the union or parish at the expense of any poor rate. [Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 46)]. Among "legal incapacities" for the local government and parliamentary franchises are being an alien 2 and conviction for corrupt and illegal practices at elections. A person entitled to be registered as a County Elector or a Qualifications of Burgess must have fulfilled the following conditions :— county electors and burgesses. I. He must on the 15th July be, and for the whole of the preceding twelve months, have been, in occupation in the county or borough of property of a nature to entitle him to be registered. Such property is called "qualifying property." It must be either(i.) A house, warehouse, counting-house, shop or other building, Old burgess in which case the occupation may be joint or several. (ii.) Part of a house separately occupied for the purpose of any trade, business, or profession, or as a dwelling. A person occupying part of a house separately will not be disqualified by reason of being entitled to the joint use of some other part. Qualification. burgess (iii.) Land or a tenement of a clear yearly value of not less than £10 occupation 1 See observations concerning relief on pages 217 and 218. |