Exchequer, or to the receiver for the metropolitan police district, Sect. 27. as the case requires.1 (2.) The account of the receipts and expenditure of the Local Taxation Account shall be audited as a public account by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in accordance with such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time make. (3.) If at any time in any financial year the money standing to the Local Taxation Account are insufficient to meet such sums as the Local Government Board consider proper for the time being to pay thereout, the Local Government Board may borrow temporarily on the security of the said account and of moneys becoming payable thereto such sums as they require for the purpose of meeting such deficiency, and the Bank of England may lend such sums, but all sums so borrowed shall be repaid with the interest thereon during the same financial year out of moneys payable to the said account. General Provisions as to Transfer. transferred 28. (1.) The county council shall, as respects the business General proby this Act transferred to them from quarter sessions or the visions as to justices out of sessions, be subject to the provisions and limita- powers tions in this Act specified, but, save as aforesaid, shall have to county and be subject to all the powers, duties, and liabilities, which council. the quarter sessions, or any committee thereof, or any justice or justices had or were subject to in respect of the business so transferred. (2.) The county council shall, with the exceptions herein-after 1 The effect of this clause will be to give the Government a first charge upon the moneys standing in the Bank of England to the Local Taxation Account. The payments that will be made under sec. 24 (2) (c) are not likely ever to be considerable in London, but the estimated payment on police account amounted to £454,923 for the year 1887-8, and will probably be larger in subsequent years. 2 As to summary proceeding for determination of questions as to transfer of powers, see sec. 29, post. 3 The provisions of this and the following section are to apply to the administrative county of London in like manner so nearly as circumstances admit, as if the quarter sessions and justices of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent had been, so far as regards the metropolis, the quarter sessions and justices for the administrative county of London, see sec. 40 (6), post. They will also apply to the transfer to the county council of the powers of the quarter sessions and justices of the city of London under sec. 41 (1) (b), and of the Liberty of the Tower Hamlets under sec. 48; and to the transfer to the corporation of the city of London of the powers, duties and liabilities of the quarter sessions and justices of the city under sec. 41 (1)(a) (see sec. 41 (2), post). As to construction of Acts referring to business transferred, see sec. 78, post; see, also, sec. 8, ante. 4 For definition of "powers, duties and liabilities," see sec. 100, post. 1 Sect. 28. mentioned, have power to delegate, with or without any restrictions or conditions as they may think fit, any powers or duties transferred to them by or in pursuance of this Act,3 either to any committee of the county council appointed in pursuance of this Act, [or to any district council in this Act mentioned]; " the county council may also, without prejudice to any other power whether to appoint committees or otherwise, delegate to the justices of the county sitting in petty sessions any power or duty transferred by this Act to the county council in respect of the licensing of houses or places for the public performance of stage plays, and in respect of the execution as local authority of 38 & 39 Vict. the Explosives Act, 1875, or of the Act relating to contagious diseases of animals." c. 17. Summary proceeding for deter mination of questions as to transfer of powers. Standing joint committee of quarter sessions and county council for the purpose of police, clerk of the peace, officers, &c. (3.) Provided that the county council shall not under this section delegate any power of raising money by rate or loan. 29. If any question arises, or is about to arise, as to whether any business, power, duty, or liability is or is not transferred to any county council or joint committee under this Act, that question, without prejudice to any other mode of trying it, may, on the application of a chairman of quarter sessions, or of the county council, committee, or other local authority concerned, be submitted for decision to the High Court of Justice in such summary manner as subject to any rules of court may be directed by the court, and the court, after hearing such parties and taking such evidence (if any) as it thinks just, shall decide the question. 30.-(1.) For the purpose of [the police, and] the clerk of 1 See secs. 3 and 7, ante, and 40 (6 and 8), post. 2 See secs. 4 and 10, ante. 3 This section only enables the county council to delegate transferred powers and duties. It is presumed it would not enable the council to delegate any new powers, e.g., the declaration of main roads under sec. 15 of the Highways Act, 1878. * See M. C. Act, 1882, s. 22 (2), post, as to appointment of committees, &c. The limitation contained in that sub-section requiring committees to submit their Acts for the approval of the council may be dispensed with by the London Council, but all committees are required to report to the council: see sec. 82 (2), post. 5 The expression "district council does not include the Commissioners of Sewers of the city of London, or the vestries or district boards in the metropolis (see sec. 100, post). The powers of justices in respect of the licensing of houses and places for the performance of stage plays, are transferred to the county council by sec. 7, ante, and see note to that section. The powers of the Metropolitan Board of Works under the Explosives Act, 1875, and the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, are transferred to the county council by sec. 40 (8), post, and it would appear that the execution of these Acts may now be delegated to the justices. 8 The metropolitan police will remain, as heretofore, under the control of the Home Office, and the standing joint committee will have no powers in respect of it, see sec. 93, post. 2 the peace,1 and of clerks of the justices, and joint officers, and Sect. 30. of matters required to be determined jointly by the quarter sessions and the council of a county, there shall be a standing joint committee of the quarter sessions and the county council, consisting of such equal number of justices appointed by the quarter sessions and of members of the county council appointed by that council as may from time to time be arranged between the quarter sessions and the council, and in default of arrangement such number taken equally from the quarter sessions and the council as may be directed by a Secretary of State.5 (2.) The joint committee shall elect a chairman, and, in the case of an equality of votes for two or more persons as chairman, one of those persons shall be elected by lot. (3.) Any matter arising under this Act with respect to [the police, or to] the clerk of the peace, or to clerks of the justices, or to officers who serve both the quarter sessions or justices and the county council, or to the provision of accommodation for the quarter sessions or justices out of session or to the use by them [or the police] or the said clerks of any buildings, rooms, 6 or premises or to the application of the Local Stamp Act, 32 & 33 Vict. 1869, to any sums received by clerks to justices, or with respect c. 49. to anything incidental to the above-mentioned matters, and any other matter requiring to be determined jointly by the quarter sessions and county council, shall be referred to and determined 1 The appointment and removal of the clerk of the peace, and the recommendation of his salary and fees, are entrusted to the standing joint committee by sec. 83 (2) and (5), post. 2 The recommendation of the salaries and fees of the salaried clerks of petty sessional divisions is entrusted to the standing joint committee by sec. 84 (2), post. 3 As to joint officers, see sec. 118 (13), post. As to what matters are required to be determined by the joint committee, see sub-sec. (3) of this section. As to the appointment, duration of office, costs, and accounts of the standing joint committee, see sec. 81, post. And as to its proceedings, see sec. 82, post. By sec. 64 (3), post, the county council is required to provide such accommodation and rooms, and such furniture, books, and other things as may from time to time be determined by the standing joint committee of quarter sessions and the county council to be necessary or proper for the due transaction of the business and convenient keeping of the records and documents of the quarter sessions and justices out of sessions, or of any committee of such quarter sessions or justices. The powers of quarter sessions under the Local Stamp Act, 1869, are transferred to the county council by sec. 3 (xiii.), ante, and see note thereto. 8 By sec. 66, post, the amounts to be paid out of the county fund in respect of costs incurred by the quarter sessions or justices out of sessions, or in respect of costs incurred by any justice in defending any legal proceedings taken against him in respect of acts done in the execution of his duty, are to be determined by the standing joint committee Sect. 30. by the joint committee under this section; and all such expenditure as the said joint committee determine to be required for the purposes of the matters above in this section mentioned, shall be paid out of the county fund,' and the council of the county shall provide for such payment accordingly. Certain large boroughs named in the schedule PART II. APPLICATION OF ACT TO BOROUGHS, THE METROPOLIS, AND Application of Act to Boroughs. [31.2 Each of the boroughs named in the Third Schedule to this Act being a borough which on the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, either had a populato be county tion of not less than fifty thousand, or was a county of itself shall, boroughs. from and after the appointed day, be for the purposes of this Act an administrative county of itself, and is in this Act referred to as a county borough. Adjustment of financial relations between Counties and County boroughs. Provided that for all other purposes a county borough shall continue to be part of the county (if any) in which it is situate at the passing of this Act, and if a separate commission of assize, oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery is not directed to be executed within the borough, the borough shall, for the purposes of any such commission, and of the service of jurors, and the making of jury lists, be part of the county in which it is specified in the said schedule to be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate.] [32.3 (1.) An equitable adjustment respecting the distribution of the proceeds of the local taxation licences, and probate duty grant, and respecting all other financial relations, if any, between each county, and each county borough specified in the said schedule as being deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate in that county, shall be made by agreement, within twelve months after the appointed day, between the councils of each county and each borough, and in default of any such agreement, by the Commissioners appointed under this Act; and such adjustment shall provide, in the case of any expenses which may in future be incurred by the county wholly or partly on behalf of the borough for the liability of such borough to contribute, and save as provided by this Act, any existing liability to contribute or to incur expense shall, after the appointed day, cease, and an 1 See sec. 80, sub-sec. (3), post. 2 This section is inapplicable to London. The city of London is not within the definition of a borough, see sec. 100, post. It remains a county of a city. This section is inapplicable to London. equitable provision for such cessation shall be made in the Sect. 32. adjustment. (2.) Where a county borough is specified in the said schedule as being deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate in more than one county, the necessary adjustment shall be made between the counties. (3.) In such adjustment regard shall be had to the existing property, debts, and liabilities (if any) connected with the financial relations of the county and borough, and to the consideration that the county is not to be placed in any worse financial position by reason of the boroughs therein being constituted county boroughs, and that a county borough is not to be placed in a worse financial position than it would have been in if it had remained part of the county and had shared in the division of the sums received by a county in respect of the licence duties and the probate duty grant as provided by this Act, and to the amount of benefit and value of the services which the borough receives in return for existing contributions, if any, and to all the circumstances of each case which it appears equitable to consider, subject nevertheless to the following provisions: (a.) Where separate commissions of assize, oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery are not directed to be executed in a county borough, the borough council shall contribute a share of the costs of and incidental to the assizes of the county: proper (b.) If the borough is not at the passing of this Act a quarter |