concern the two divisions of Sussex, Suffolk, Cambridge, Sect. 46. (c.) A joint committee formed in pursuance of this section (d.) If any difference arises as to the number of members, or the mode or time of appointing a joint committee under this section, the difference shall be determined by a Secretary of State. (3.) A joint committee formed in pursuance of this section shall, in respect of the business to be transacted by them, stand in the same position as if the entire county were not divided for the purposes of county councils, and as if the committee were the county council of the entire county, and the provisions of this Act shall, so nearly as circumstances admit, apply accordingly, and all costs or sums payable by the joint committee shall be apportioned by the joint committee between the several administrative counties in such manner as is provided by law, or by the practice heretofore adopted, or in such other manner as may be from time to time agreed upon by the councils of the several administrative counties, or in default of agreement may, upon the application of any of such councils, be determined by arbitration in manner provided by this Act; and each county council shall pay the sum so apportioned to the treasurer of the joint committee, and the sum so paid shall be deemed to be paid for general county purposes. 66 (4.) The powers, duties, and liabilities of the county autho- (6.) From and after the appointed day the right of the mayor, Sect. 46. Saving for Assize Courts Acts, 1858, c. xxiv. commonalty, and citizens of the city of London to elect the sheriff of Middlesex shall cease, and it shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen to appoint a sheriff of the county of Middlesex, and the law relating to sheriffs shall apply in the case of the county of Middlesex in like manner as in the case of any other county.1 [(7.) In this section "administrative business" means such business as is by this Act transferred from quarter sessions or justices, or any committee thereof, to county councils.] [47.2 (1.) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the courts Manchester of assize at Manchester, with the lodgings for Her Majesty's judges, offices, lockups, and all other property vested in the justices of the peace of the county palatine of Lancaster by the 21 & 22 Vict. Manchester Assize Courts Act, 1858, shall be vested in the county council of the said county palatine, and shall be under the control and management of a joint committee of members of the said county council, and of the council of every county borough locally situate in the hundred of Salford; and that joint committee shall have and exercise all such powers and rights (except the power of levying, imposing, or assessing a rate or of borrowing money) as are conferred on the said justices by the said Act; and the hundred of Salford (including every borough locally situate therein) shall continue liable to contribute towards expenses incurred under the authority of the said Act. Merger of liberties in county. (2.) The number of members of a joint committee appointed for the purposes of this section shall not exceed twelve, and the quorum requisite for the transaction of business shall be three. (3.) Any disagreement as to the number of members of the committee or as to the proportions in which the several councils are to be represented thereon, shall be settled by a Secretary of State.] 48.3 (1.) For all purposes of this Act, every liberty and 1 The right to appoint the sheriff of Middlesex was granted to the citizens of London by charter of Henry I. in consideration of the payment of an annual sum of £300, and this right was confirmed by a charter of King John. The annuity was subsequently sold by the Crown, and on the 28th of July, 1888, a resolution of the House of Commons was passed providing for the future payment of the annuity out of the Consolidated Fund. See sec. 41 (8), ante, and notes thereto. 2 This clause is inapplicable to London. 3 The only liberty in the county of London to which this section applies is the liberty of the Tower of London. By this section the administrative powers and duties of the quarter sessions and justices of the liberty, and their property, debts, and liabilities are transferred to the county council. By sec. 117 (1) post, the existing justices of the liberty, and also those of the liberty and city of Westminster (which appears not to be affected by the present section) become, if resident, or occupying property in the county of London, justices for that county. franchise of a county, wholly or partly exempt from contribution Sect. 48. to the county rate, shall, save as may be otherwise provided by or in pursuance of this Act, form part of the county of which it forms part for the purposes of parliamentary elections. (2.) The provisions of this Act with respect to the transfer to the county council of the powers, duties, and liabilities of the quarter sessions and justices of a county,' and of their property, debts, and liabilities,2 whether vested in or attaching to the clerk of the peace or any justice or justices or otherwise on behalf or the county, shall apply to every such liberty and franchise as above mentioned in like manner in all respects as if they were herein re-enacted and in terms made applicable to such liberty and franchise; and the county council shall have and exercise in every such liberty and franchise the powers and duties transferred to them by this Act from the quarter sessions and justices of the county; [(3.)3 Provided that where at the passing of this Act the police force in such liberty or franchise is under the control of the quarter sessions for such liberty or franchise, there shall be one police force for the whole administrative county under the county council, and the quarter sessions of such liberty or franchise shall appoint such number of the members of the standing joint committee under this Act as may be agreed upon by the county council, the quarter sessions of the county, and the quarter sessions of the liberty or franchise, or in default of agreement may be determined by a Secretary of State. (4.) The Cinque Ports and two ancient towns and their members shall for all purposes of the county council and of the powers and duties of quarter sessions and justices out of sessions under this Act form part of the county in which they are respectively situate without prejudice nevertheless to the position of any such port, town, or member as a quarter sessions borough under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, as amended by this Act, and 45 & 46 Vict. without prejudice to the existing privileges of such ports, towns, c. 50. and members as respects matters which are not affected by this Act.]. [49.4 (1.) It shall be lawful for the Local Government Board Power to to make a Provisional Order for regulating the application of make Prothis Act to the Scilly Islands, and for providing for the exercise visional Order for Scilly and performance in those islands of the powers and duties both Islands. of county councils and also of authorities under the Acts relating to highways, and the Public Health Act, 1875, and the Acts amending the same, and for the application to the islands of any provisions of any Act touching local government, and any such Order may provide for the establishment of councils and other local authorities separate from those in the county of Corn Sect. 49. wall, and for the contribution by the Scilly Islands to the county council of Cornwall in respect of costs incurred by the county council for matters specified in the said Order as benefiting the Scilly Islands, and such Order may also provide for all matters which appear to the Local Government Board necessary or proper for carrying the Order into full effect. (2.) Any such Order shall not be in force until it is confirmed by Parliament. (3.) Subject to the provisions of a Provisional Order under this Act, the county council of Cornwall shall have no greater powers or duties in the Scilly Islands than the quarter sessions of Cornwall have hitherto in fact exercised or performed therein, and the Scilly Islands shall not be included for the purposes of this Act in any electoral division of the county of Cornwall.] Boundary of county for PART III. Boundaries. [50.-(1.) The first council elected under this Act for any administrative county shall, subject as hereinafter mentioned, first election. be elected for the county at large as bounded at the passing of this Act for the purpose of the election of members to serve in Parliament for the county: Provided always, that— (a.) This enactment shall not apply to the boundary between two administrative counties which are portions of one entire county, and in case of those administrative counties, the boundary between the portions, as existing for the purposes of county rate, shall, subject to any change made by or in pursuance of this Act, be the boundary of the administrative county for which the council is elected; and, (1.) Where any urban sanitary district is situate partly within and partly without the boundary of such county, the district shall be deemed to be within that county which contains the largest portion of the population of the district, according to the census of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one. (c.) Where any portion of an administrative county has before the passing of this Act been transferred to another administrative county for the purposes of the Acts relating to the police or Contagious Diseases (Animals) or otherwise, nothing in this Act shall affect such transfer. (d.) The wapentake of the ainsty of York (except so much as is included in the municipal borough of York as ex 1 This clause is inapplicable to London, see sub-sec. 4. tended by the York Extension and Improvement Act, Sect. 50. 1884) shall for all purposes of this Act be deemed to be 47 & 48 Vict. part of the west riding of the county of York. (2.) The county council elected under this Act shall have for the purposes of this Act authority throughout the administrative county for which it is elected, and the administrative county as bounded for the purpose of the election shall, subject to alterations made in manner hereinafter mentioned, be for all the purposes of this Act the county of such county council. (3.) If any difference arises as to the county which contains the largest portion of the population of any such district as above in this section mentioned, such difference shall be referred to the Local Government Board, whose decision shall be final. (4.) This section applies to an administrative county within the meaning of this Act, save that it shall not apply to the administrative county of London, nor to any county borough, and any place which, though forming part of any such borough for the purposes of the election of members to serve in Parliament, is not within the municipal boundary of such borough shall, notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, form, for the purposes of this section, part of the county in which such place is situate.] c. ccxxxii. [51. In the constitution of electoral divisions of a county, Directions for whether for the first election or for subsequent elections, the constitution following directions shall be observed (1.) The divisions shall be arranged with a view to the popu lation of each division being, so nearly as conveniently may be, equal, regard being had to a proper representation both of the rural and of the urban population, and to the distribution and pursuits of such population, and to area, and to the last published census for the time being, and to evidence of any considerable change of population since such census; (2.) Electoral divisions shall, so far as may be reasonably practicable, be framed so that every division shall be a county district or ward, or a combination of county districts or wards, or be comprised in one county district or ward, but where an electoral division is a portion of a county district or ward, and such portion has not a defined area for which a separate list or part of a list of voters is made under the Acts relating to the registration of electors, such portion shall, until a new register of electors is made, continue to be part of the district or ward of which it has been treated as being part in the then current register of electors; (3.) Whenever under the provisions of this section a county district is divided into two or more portions, every such 1 The electoral divisions of the metropolis are defined by sec. 40 (4). This clause is therefore inapplicable. of electoral divisions. |