Confirmation of Byelaws. Byelaws made by a local authority under this Act shall not take effect unless and until they have been submitted to and confirmed by the Local Government Board, which board is hereby empowered to allow or disallow the same as it may think proper; nor shall any such byelaws be confirmed Unless notice of intention to apply for confirmation of the same has been given in one or more of the local newspapers circulated within the district to which such byelaws relate, one month at least before the making of such application; and ( Unless for one month at least before any such application, a copy of the proposed by laws has been kept at the office of the local authority, and has been pen during office hours thereat to the inspection of the ratepayers of the district to which such byelaws relate, without fee or reward. The clerk of the local authority shall, on the application of any such ratepayer, furnish him with a copy of such proposed byelaws or any part thereof, on payment of sixpence for every hundred words contained in such copy. A byelaw required to be confirmed by the Local Government Board shall not require confirmation, allowance, or approval by any other authority. (Sec. 184). Byelaws to be Printed, &c. All byelaws made by a local authority under this Act, or for purposes the same as or similar to those of this Act under any local Act, shall be printed and hung up in the office of such authority; and a copy thereof shall be delivered to any ratepayer of the district to which such byelaws relate, on his application for the same; a copy of any byelaws made by a rural authority shall also be transmitted to the overseers of every parish to which such byelaws relate, to be deposited with the public documents of the parish, and to be open to the inspection of any ratepayer of the parish at all reasonable hours. 185). Evidence of Byelaws. (Sec. 24. The production of a written copy of a byelaw made by the council under this Act, or under any former or present or future general or local Act of Parliament, if authenticated by the corporate seal shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of the due making and existence of the byclaw, and, if it is so stated in the copy, of the byelaw having been approved and confirmed by the authority whose approval or confirmation is required to the making or before the enforcing of the byelaw. If a person tenders in evidence a byelaw with a false or counterfeit seal or signature, knowing it to be false or counterfeit, he is liable to imprisonment with hard labour for any term not exceeding two years. ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT. The Borough Auditors. 25.-(1.) There shall be three borough auditors, two elected by the burgesses, called elective auditors, and one appointed by the mayor, called mayor's auditor.1 (2.) An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor, but may not be a member of the council, or the town clerk, or the treasurer.2 (3.) The mayor's auditor must be a member of the council. (4). The term of office of each auditor shall be one year.3 (5.) The appointment of the mayor's auditor shall be made on the ordinary day of election of the elective auditors. (6.) On a casual vacancy in his office an appointment to fill it shall be made within ten days after the occurrence of the vacancy.5 1 The auditor named by the mayor has usually been called the "mayor's auditor," but this officer was not so described in the previous Acts. 2 An elective auditor to "be qualified to be a councillor" must be qualified in the manner provided by sec. 11; see also sec. 12 as to disqualifications for being councillors. As to the time and mode of election of elective auditors, see sec. 62. 3 It has been open to question whether elective auditors were re-eligible at the expiration of the year of office, but sec. 37 now provides that an elective auditor shall be re-eligible unless disqualified to hold the office. * For provisions as to the "ordinary day of election of the elective auditors," see sec. 62 (2). 5 As to a casual vacancy in the office of elective auditor, and the time for which a person elected to fill the casual vacancy is to hold office, see sec. 40. With reference to the term "within ten days after the occurrence of the vacancy," see provision in sec. 230 as to computation of time. Half-yearly Accounts of Treasurer. 26. The treasurer shall make up his accounts half-yearly to such dates as the council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, from time to time appoint; and, subject to any such appointment, to the dates in use at the commencement of this Act. It is desirable that the 29th of September and 25th of March, should be appointed as the dates to which the half-yearly accounts shall be made up. If the half-yearly accounts are made up to other dates, the return to be sent to the Local Government Board of the receipts and expenditure of the corporation must, in accordance with the requirements of sec. 28, (2), be made for the year ending on the 25th of March, unless on the application of the town council the Local Government Board prescribe some other date. The treasurer's accounts are to be open to the inspection of the council, and a member of the council may make a copy or take an extract therefrom (see sec. 233). For penalty for obstructing the inspection, see sec. 233, (7). With reference to the audit of the accounts of the town council as an urban sanitary authority, sec. 246 of the Fublic Health Act, 1875 (39 & 40 Vict., c. 75), provides as follows: "Where an urban authority are the council of a borough the accounts of the D receipts and expenditure under this Act of such authority shall be audited and examined by the auditors of the borough, and shall be published in like manner, and at the same time as the municipal accounts, and the auditors shall proceed in the audit after like notice and in like manner, shall have like powers and authorities, and perform like duties, as in the case of auditing the municipal accounts. "Each of such auditors shall in respect of each audit be paid such reasonable remuneration, not being less than two guineas for every day in which they are employed in such audit, as such authority from time to time appoint. Any order of such authority for the payment of any money may be removed by certiorari, and like proceedings may be had thereon as under section forty-four of the Act of the first year of Her Majesty, chapter seventy-eight, with respect to orders of the council of a borough for payments out of the borough fund." Audit and Publication of Treasurer's Accounts. 27. (1.) The treasurer shall within one month from the date to which he is required to make up his accounts in each half-year, submit them, with the necessary vouchers and papers, to the borough auditors, and they shall audit them. (2.) After the audit of the accounts for the second half of each financial year the treasurer shall print a full abstract of his accounts for that year. As to the date in each half year, to which the accounts are to be made up, see sec. 26. The auditors are to "audit" the accounts, but they are not empowered, as is the case with the district auditors, who audit the accounts of local boards, boards of guardians, school boards, and highway boards, to disallow in the accounts charges which they consider illegal, and to surcharge the members of the council who authorized the illegal expenditure. The abstract of the treasurer's accounts is to be open to the inspection of all the ratepayers of the borough, and copies thereof are to be delivered to a ratepayer on payment of a reasonable price for each copy. As to obstruction of inspection or refusal to give copies, see sec. 233. Returns to Local Government Board. 28.-(1.) The town clerk shall make a return to the Local Government Board of the receipts and expenditure of the municipal corporation for each financial year.1 (2.) The return shall be made for the financial year ending on the twenty-fifth of March, or on such other day as the Local Government Board, on the application of the council, from time to time prescribe. (3.) The return shall be in such form and contain such particulars as the Local Government Board from time to time direct. (4) The return shall be sent to the Local Government Board within one month after the completion of the audit for the second half of each financial year.2 (5.) If the town clerk fails to make any return required under this section, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds to be recovered by action on behalf of the Crown in the High Court. (6.) The Local Government Board shall in each year prepare an abstract of the returns made in pursuance of this section, under general heads, and it shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament. 1 These returns are furnished to the Local Government Board for statistical purposes, and are used by them in the compilation of their "Returns of Local Taxation" under the Local Taxation Returns Acts, 1860 and 1877. Prior to the passing of the Local Taxation Returns Act, 1877, there was considerable variation in the dates up to which the returns of local authorities were made; and that Act was passed with the view of securing, as far as practicable, the returns of the several authorities being furnished in respect of the same period-the year ending on the 25th of March. 2 The treasurer is to submit his accounts to the auditor within one month from the date to which the accounts for the half year are required to be made up. REVISING ASSESSORS. Revising Assessors in non-Parliamentary Boroughs. 29.-(1.) In every borough whereof no part of the area is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, there shall be two revising assessors elected by the burgesses. (2.) Every person shall be eligible who is qualified to be a councillor and is not a member of the council or the town clerk or treasurer. (3.) The term of office of each revising assessor shall be one year. (4) Every revising assessor shall, as soon as conveniently may be after his election, and from time to time as occasion requires, appoint, by writing signed by him, a person eligible to the office of revising assessor, to be his deputy, to act for him in case of his illness or incapacity to act. (5.) The appointment shall be signified to the council, in writing signed by the assessor, and be recorded in their minutes. It will be observed that it is only in the case of a municipal borough, of which no part is co-extensive with or included in a parliamentary borough, that revising assessors are to be elected. To qualify a person to be revising assessor he must be "qualified to be a councillor," as provided by sec. II. See also sec. 12 as to disqualifications. As to time and mode of electing revising assessors, see sec. 62. A revising assessor, at the expiration of his year of office, is re-eligible, unless he is disqualified to hold the office. (Sec. 37.) With regard to a casual vacancy in the office of revising assessor, and the time for which a person elected to fill the casual vacancy is to hold office, see sec. 40. DIVISION OF BOROUGH INTO WARDS, OR ALTERATION OF WARDS. Proceedings for Division of Borough into Wards 30.-(1.) If two thirds of the council of a borough agree to petition, and the council thereupon petition, the Queen for the division of the borough into wards, or for the alteration of the number and boundaries of its wards, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by Order in Council, to fix the number of wards into which the borough shall be divided; and the borough shall be divided into that number of wards.1 (2.) Notice of the petition, and of the time when it pleases Her Majesty to order that the same be taken into consideration by Her Privy Council, shall be published in the London Gazette one month at least before the petition is so considered. (3.) Where an Order in Council has been so made, the Secretary of State shall appoint a commissioner to prepare a scheme for determining the boundaries of the wards and apportioning the councillors among them. (4.) In case of division into wards, the commissioner shall apportion all the councillors among the wards. (5.) In case of alteration of wards, he shall so apportion among the altered wards the councillors for those wards as to provide for their continuing to represent as large a number as possible of their former constituents. (6.) In either case, each councillor shall hold his office in the ward to which he is assigned for the same time that he would have held it had the borough remained undivided or the wards unaltered. (7.) In case of division into wards the returning officer at the first clection for each ward held after the division shall, notwithstanding anything in this Act, be the mayor or a person appointed by the mayor. |