I am directed by the Local Government Board to draw the attention of the Highway Board to certain provisions of the Local Government Act, 1894. District councils will under the Act be elected for rural districts, and will take the place of the present rural sanitary authorities. Section 25 of the Act provides that there shall be transferred to the district council of every rural district all the powers, duties, and liabilities of any highway authority in the district, that highway boards shall cease to exist, and that rural district councils shall be the successors of the highway authority. It is, however, enacted that the council of any county may by order postpone within their county, or any part thereof, the operation of this section, so far as it relates to highways, for a term not exceeding three years, or such further period as may, on the application of the county council, be allowed by the Board. The effect of this provision will be that the Highway Board will cease to exist on the day on which the first rural district councillors come into office, and the rural district council will thereupon become the highway authority, unless the county council postpone the operation of the section within their county or the part thereof comprising the district of the Highway Board. Section 84 provides that the first elections of district councillors under the Act shall be held on the 8th November next, or on such later date or dates in the present year as the Board may fix, and that the persons elected shall come into office on the second Thursday after their election, or such other day not more than seven days earlier or later, as may be fixed by or in pursuance of the rules made by the Board under the Act in relation to the election of those councillors. By section 79, persons who, at the passing of the Act, are members of highway boards are continued in office until the day on which the first rural district councillors elected under the Act come into office, as if the term of office for which they were elected expired on that day, and consequently the usual annual election of waywardens will not take place in the present year. Án order under section 25 is, by section 84, to make such provision as may be necessary for holding elections of highway boards in the interval during which the operation of section 25 is postponed. This provision will enable the county council to give directions in their order for the election of waywardens in place of those who will cease to hold office as mentioned above, when the rural district councillors come into office, and also to order for what period such waywardens shall be elected, having regard to the period of postponement. As regards the position of the officers of highway boards that will cease to exist under the Act, the Board direct me to state that section 81 provides that where the powers and duties of any authority other than justices are transferred by the Act to any district council, the officers of that authority shall become the officers of that council, and that every such officer shall hold his office by the same tenure, and upon the same terms and conditions as heretofore, and while performing the same duties shall receive not less salary or remuneration than heretofore. The section also provides that section 120 of the Local Government Act, 1888, which relates to compensation to existing officers, shall apply in the case of existing officers affected by the new Act, as if references in the section to the county council were references to the authority whose officer the person affected is when the claim for compensation arises. At the same time, the Board may draw the attention of the Highway Board to sub-section (2) of section 86 of the Act, under which it will be the duty of every authority whose powers, duties, and liabilities are transferred by the Act to liquidate so far as practicable before the day on which the transfer takes effect, all current debts and liabilities incurred by the authority; and to sub-section (2) of section 85, under which the accounts of the Highway Board before that day will be audited in the same manner as if the Act had not passed, and for the purpose of the audit the Highway Board and their accounting officers will, until the audit is completed, be deemed to continue in office and be bound to perform the same duties and render the same accounts, and be subject to the same liabilities as before the transfer. Circular. 9 Mar., 94. I am directed by the Local Government Board to draw the attention of the Highway Board to certain provisions of the Local Government Act, 1894. District councils will under the Act be elected for rural districts, and will take the place of the present rural sanitary authorities. Section 25 of the Act provides that there shall be transferred to the district council of every rural district all the powers, duties, and liabilities of any highway authority in the district, that highway boards shall cease to exist, and that rural district councils shall be the successors of the highway authority. It is, however, enacted that the council of any county may by order pospone within their county, or any part thereof, the operation of this section, so far as it relates to highways, for a term not exceeding three years, or such further period as may, on the application of the county council, be allowed by the Board. The effect of this provision will be that the Highway Board will cease to exist on the day on which the first rural district councillors come into office, and the rural district council will thereupon become the highway authority, unless the county council postpone the operation of the section within their county or the part thereof comprising the district of the Highway Board. Section 84 provides that the first elections of district councillors under the Act shall be held on the 8th November next, or on such later date or dates in the present year as the Board may fix, and that the persons elected shall come into office on the second Thursday after their election, or such other day not more than seven days earlier or later, as may be fixed by or in pursuance of the rules made by the Board under the Act in relation to the election of those councillors. By section 79, persons who, at the passing of the Act, are members of boards of guardians and of highway boards are continued in office until the day on which the first rural district councillors elected under the Act come into office, as if the term of office for which they were elected expired on that day, and consequently the usual annual election of guardians will not take place in the present year. The effect of this enactment will be to continue in office the existing members of highway boards in South Wales until the day referred to. As regards the position of the officers of highway boards that will cease to exist Circular. 12 Mar., 94. under the Act, the Board direct me to state that section 81 provides that where the powers and duties of any authority other than justices are transferred by the Act to any district council, the officers of that authority shall become the officers of that council, and that every such officer shall hold his office by the same tenure, and upon the same terms and conditions as heretofore, and while performing the same duties shall receive not less salary or remuneration than heretofore. The section also provides that section 120 of the Local Government Act, 1888, which relates to compensation to existing officers, shall apply in the case of existing officers affected by the new Act, as if references in the section to the county council were references to the authority whose officer the person affected is when the claim for compensa tion arises. At the same time, the Board may draw the attention of the Highway Board to sub-section (2) of section 86 of the Act, under which it will be the duty of every authority whose powers, duties, and liabilities are transferred by the Act to liquidate so far as practicable before the day on which the transfer takes effect, all current debts and liabilities incurred by the authority; and to sub-section (2) of section 85, under which the accounts of the Highway Board before that day will be audited in the same manner as if the Act had not passed, and for the purpose of the audit the Highway Board and their accounting officers will, until the audit is completed, be deemed to continue in office and be bound to perform the same duties and render the same accounts, and be subject to the same liabilities as before the transfer. I am, Sir, Local Government Act, 1894. 19th March, 1894. SIR, Section 31 directs that the provisions of the Act with respect to the qualification of the electors of urban district councillors, and of the persons to be elected, and with respect to the mode of conducting the election, shall apply as if members of the local board of Woolwich, and the vestries elected under the Metropolis Management Acts, 1855 to 1890, or any Act amending those Acts, and the auditors for parishes elected under those Acts were urban district councillors. So far as respects the qualification of persons to be elected, the provisions referred to are also to apply as if members of the district boards under those Acts were urban district councillors; but in other respects the election of members of district boards will be conducted as heretofore. Under the operation of section 31 of the new Act the electors of the members of the local board of Woolwich, of the vestries under the Metropolis Management Acts, and of the auditors elected under section II of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, will be respectively the parochial electors of the parish of Woolwich and of the parishes for which vestries are elected. Where the area under the jurisdiction of any of the authorities mentioned is divided into wards, the electors for each ward will be such of the parochial electors as are registered in respect of qualifications within the ward. (Section 23 (3)). The expression parochial elector when used with reference to a parish in the county of London is defined by section 75 to mean any person who would be a parochial elector of the parish if it were a rural parish, and the parochial electors in a rural parish will under section 2 be 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. Section 44 of the Act provides for the manner in which the register of the parochial electors of a parish is to be formed. With respect to the persons to be elected as urban district councillors, it is provided by sub-section (2) of section 23 that a person shall not be qualified to be elected or to be a councillor unless he is a parochial elector of some parish within the district, or has during the whole of the twelve months preceding the election resided in the district, and no person shall be disqualified by sex or marriage for being elected or being a councillor. This provision is made applicable to members of the local board and the vestries and district boards, and to the auditors for parishes, by section 31 of the Act. In connection with the qualification of persons to be elected, reference should be made to the provisions relating to the disqualification of a person for being elected or being a member of a district council, contained in section 46 of the Act, which by sub-section (9) is made applicable in the case of any authority whose members are elected in accordance with the Act, in like manner as if that authority were a district council, and in the case of London auditors as if they were members of a district council. An election under the Act will be conducted according to rules to be framed by the Local Government Board. (Section 23 (5) and section 48). If there is a poll it will have to be taken by ballot. Copies of the rules for regulating the elections will be forwarded to you when they are issued. The expenses of any election under the Act are not to exceed the scale fixed by the county council, but if at the beginning of one month before the first election the county council have not framed a scale, the Board may do so, and the scale thus framed will apply to the first election and will have effect as if it had been made by the county council. (Section 48 (7)). The Elections (Hours of Poll) Act, 1885, will apply to elections of members of vestries under the Metropolis Management Acts. (Section 31 (1)). Sub-section (5) of section 48 provides that if any difficulty arises as respects the election of any individual member of the local board, or vestry, or auditor, and there is no provision for holding another election, the county council may order a new election to be held and give such directions as may be necessary for the purpose of holding the election, The Act also provides that if any difficulty arises with respect to the holding of the first election of members of the local board or any vestry, or of auditors, or to the first meeting of the local board or vestry, or if, from no election being held or an election being defective or otherwise, the first local board or vestry has not been properly constituted or there are no auditors under the Metropolis Management Acts, 1855 to 1890, or an insufficient number, properly elected, the county council may by order make any appointment or do anything which appears to them necessary or expedient for the proper holding of any such first election and properly constituting the local board, or vestry or auditors, and may, if it appears to them necessary, direct the holding of a meeting or election, and fix the dates for any such meeting or election. Any such order may modify the provisions of the Act, and the enactments applied by, or rules framed under it, so far as may appear to the county council necessary or expedient for carrying the order into effect. (Section 80 (1)). Circular. 19 Mar., 94. Circular. 19 Mar., 94. Section 84 provides that the first elections under the Act shall be held on the 8th of November next, or such later date or dates in the present year as the Board may fix, and that the persons elected shall come into office on the second Thursday next after their election, or such other day not more than seven days earlier or later as may be fixed by or in pursuance of the rules made by the Board under the Act in relation to their election. By Section 79 persons who, at the passing of the Act, are members of the local board and of any vestry under the Metropolis Management Acts, or are auditors under those Acts, are continued in office until the day on which the first members and auditors elected under the Act come into office, as if the term of office for which they were elected expired on that day, and consequently the usual annual election of such members and auditors respectively will not take place until the day appointed for the first elections under the Act. Under sub-sections (3) and (10) of the section, the first annual retirement of members of the local board and vestries first elected under the Act will take place at the date of the annual election in the year 1896; and sub-section (6) provides how the members who are to retire in 1896 and 1897, respectively, are to be determined. Except as regards the present year, the dates for the annual elections will not be altered by the Act; but, as indicated above, there will be no annual election in 1895. The existing local board and the existing vestries are required to take the necessary measures for the conduct of the first elections under the Act of members of the local board and of the vestries respectively, including any appointment of returning officers required by rules made by the Board under the Act. (Section 79 (1) and (10)). After the vestrymen first elected under the Act come into office, no person is ex-officio to be chairman of any of the vestries under the Metropolis Management Acts (section 31 (1)), but each of the vestries, except those electing district boards, and each of the district boards and the local board of Woolwich must, at their first meeting after the annual election of members, elect a chairman for the year, and the chairman so elected will, unless a woman or personally disqualified by any Act, be by virtue of his office a justice of the peace for the county of London, but before acting as such justice he must, if he has not already done so, take the oaths required by law to be taken by a justice of the peace, other than the oath respecting the qualification by estate. (Sections 22 and 31 (2)). The provisions of section 41 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, enabling a district board to elect a chairman of the meeting, will apply only in the case of the absence of the chairman of the district board elected under the new Act. (Section 31 (2)). Nothing in any local and personal Act is to prevent any vestry in the county of London from holding its meeting at such time as may be directed by the vestry. (Section 31 (3)). Certain provisions of the Metropolis Management Acts which are inconsistent with or are superseded by the provisions above referred to, are repealed by section 89 and the Second Schedule to the new Act. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, HUGH OWEN, The Clerk to the Vestry or District Board |