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division of a rural district in more than one county. Provision is made in section 55 (3) for changing the names of councils and districts where desired.1

URBAN DISTRICT COUNCILS.

Urban Sanitary Authorities are from the appointed day to be called Urban District Councils, and their districts are to be called urban districts; but the style or title of the Corporation or Council of a Borough is not to be altered by this provision (s. 21 (1)). provision does not apply to a county borough (s. 35).

The

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In the case of urban districts the Local Government Act, 1894, establishes no new authorities, although it materially alters the constitution and mode of electing urban authorities other than Town Councils. There will consequently be no break in the continuity of the authorities, and the change of name will not affect the identity of an urban sanitary authority as a corporate body or derogate from their powers, and any enactment, whether in a public, general, or local and personal Act, referring to the members of the authority will, unless inconsistent with the Local Government Act, continue to refer to the members of the authority under its new name. A Change of name. District Council may, with the sanction of the County Council, change their name and the name of their district' (s. 55 (3)).

There is no express provision in the Act with respect to the style which Urban District Councils should assume; but, following the analogy of Rural District Councils, the name of an Urban District Council should be "The Urban District Council for the Urban District of [Penrith]."

The constitution of and mode of election and retirement of members of Urban District Councils, not being Town Councils, is practically the same as prescribed for Rural District Councils. The Act does not in any way affect the election of Town Councils.

Mode of election, &c.

The parochial electors of the parishes in the district are the Electors electors of the councillors, and, if the district is divided into wards, the electors of the councillors for each ward are such of the parochial electors as are registered in respect of qualifications within the ward (S. 23 (3)).

One man, one

vote.

Each elector may give one vote and no more for each of any number of persons not exceeding the number to be elected (s. 23 (4)). The election is to be, subject to the provisions of the Act, Conduct of conducted according to rules framed by the Local Government Board (s. 23 (5)).*

election.

No person is qualified to be elected or to be a councillor unless Qualifications he is a parochial elector of a parish within the district, or has during

1 See page 128. See pages 121 to 123. 3 See page 206. See page 221. See page 217 as to the disqualifications for the office of district councillor.

of councillors.

Councillor.

Qualification of the whole of the twelve months preceding the nomination (s. 75 (2) ) resided' in the district, and no person is to be disqualified by sex or marriage for being elected or being a councillor. So much of any enactment, whether in a public, general, or local and personal Act, as relates to the qualification of a member of an urban sanitary authority is repealed (s. 23 (2)).

Term of office.

Wards of urban district.

Wards, &c.,

Two alternative qualifications are prescribed for a councillor of an urban district other than a borough, namely, residence as above described or registration as a parochial elector. An urban district councillor who is qualified by reason of being a parochial elector only will vacate his office if he ceases to be a parochial elector.

The term of office of a councillor is three years, and one-third, as nearly as may be, of the Council, and if the district is divided into wards one-third, as nearly as may be, of the councillors for each ward, will go out of office on the 15th of April in each year, and their places will be filled by the newly elected councillors; but a County Council may on request made by a resolution of an Urban District Council, passed by two-thirds of the members voting on the resolution, direct that the members of the Council shall retire together on the 15th of April in every third year, and the order is to have full effect (s. 23 (6)).

In every part of the district there will be an election of urban councillors in each year. An urban district other than a borough may be divided into wards by an order of the County Council under section 57 of the Local Government Act, 1888. The County Council may also by an order under the same section alter the number of wards or the boundaries of any ward, or the number of members of the District Council, or the apportionment of the members under local Acts. among the wards (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, s. 57). Where any wards of an urban district have been created, or any number of members of an urban sanitary authority fixed, by or in pursuance of any local and personal Act, such wards and number of members will continue and be alterable in like manner as if they had been fixed by an order of the County Council under the Local Government Act, 1894, or any other Act (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 89), but this provision has no application to a borough.

Mode of retirement.

Retirement of first elected councillors.

Members of local boards now retire in the mode provided by subsection 6 of section 23 of the Local Government Act, 1894, but the provision in that subsection enabling a simultaneous triennial retirement of members to be directed by the County Council is entirely new.

Subject to an order directing the simultaneous retirement of councillors, one-third as nearly as may be of the urban district councillors first elected under the Act will continue in office until the 15th of April, 1896, and then retire, and one-third as nearly as may

1 See page 29 as to what constitutes residence.

2 The section is reprinted at page 363 of the Appendix.

first elected

be will continue in office until the 15th of April, 1897, and then Retirement of retire, and the remainder will continue in office until the 15th of councillors. April, 1898, and then retire (s. 79 (3)).

The urban district councillors who are respectively to retire in 1896 and 1897 are to be determined according to their place on the poll at the election, those that were lowest on the poll retiring first. If there was no poll, or if a question arises in consequence of an equality of votes between two or more councillors, the matter is to be determined by ballot conducted under the direction of the Urban District Council (s. 79 (6)). The ballot is a ballot of the District Council not of the electors.

In the case of an urban district divided into wards, these provisions with respect to the retirement of the first elected councillors are to apply separately to each ward (s. 79 (7)).

CONTINUANCE IN OFFICE Of Existing GUARDIANS AND SANITARY

AUTHORITIES.

election in 1894

Upon the day on which the first guardians and urban or rural Ordinary district councillors elected under the Act come into office, the persons not to take who are then members of Boards of Guardians, and Urban and place. Rural Sanitary Authorities, are to cease to hold office, but until that day the persons who were at the passing of the Act guardians and members of Urban Sanitary Authorities (for urban districts not being boroughs) are to continue in office notwithstanding any want of qualification, as if the term of office for which they were elected expired on that day, and, except for the purpose of filling casual vacancies or electing additional guardians, no further elections are to be held (s. 79 (8)).

The purpose of this provision is to avoid having two elections in 1894, by dispensing with the ordinary election. It continues in office, persons who were guardians and members of Sanitary Authorities at the passing of the Act, namely, 5th March, 1894, although they may cease to be qualified; and the provision appears to apply even to exofficio and nominated guardians and members of Sanitary Authorities. If a person merely ceases to be qualified, as, for example, if he is no longer rated to a sufficient amount, he will nevertheless retain office ; but if he becomes actually disqualified, as, for example, by bankruptcy, he will not retain office under the provision. The reference to the Casual filling of casual vacancies applies to Boards of Guardians only, but for the purpose both of filling casual vacancies or electing additional guardians before the appointed day, an order of the Local Government Board, under section II of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict c. 57), is necessary. A casual vacancy in a Local Board occurring before the appointed day, should be filled up by the Local Board, under Schedule 2, Part I, r. 65, of the Public Health Act, 1875, within six weeks of its occurrence.

vacancies

Provisions of
Public Health
Act, 1875.

Regulations.

Quorum.

Names of members voting.

Majority decide.

Casting vote of chairman.

Annual and monthly meetings.

Chairman.

Original vote of

chairman.

PROCEEDINGS OF GUARDIANS AND DISTRICT COUNCILS. Section 199 and Schedule I. of the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), so far as that Schedule is unrepealed, which relate to the meetings of urban authorities, and to the meetings and proceedings of Local Boards, are to apply in the case of every Urban District Council, other than a Borough Council, and of every Rural District Council and Board of Guardians, as if such District Council or Board were a Local Board, except that the chairman of the Council or Board may be elected from outside the councillors or guardians (s. 59 (1) ). The provisions of the Public Health Act, 1875, referred to, are given in full at pages 314 and 328 of the Appendix. Under them, District Councils and Boards of Guardians will be empowered to make regulations with respect to their proceedings and the transaction of their business (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, Sched. 1, Part 1, r. 1). The quorum is one-third of the full number of their members, but in no case is a larger quorum than seven members required (r. 2).1 The names of the members present, as well as those voting on each question, are to be recorded so as to show whether each vote given was for or against the question (r. 6). This rule precludes voting by ballot. Questions are to be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting (r. 7), and the chairman has a second or casting vote (r. 8).

2

An annual meeting as soon as convenient after the 15th of April in each and other meetings once at least in each month, must be year, held (s. 199 and Sched. 1, Part 1, r. 11). At the annual meeting a chairman, who may be elected from outside the councillors or guardians (Local Government Act, 1894, s. 59 (1)), is to be appointed for one year to preside at all meetings at which he is present (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, Sched. 1, Part 1, г. 3). The chairman may be a woman (s. 22). A casual vacancy in the office of chairman must be filled, and the person appointed will hold office until the period for which his predecessor was appointed expires, and no longer (r. 4). The election of a member of the District Council or Board of Guardians to be chairman will not cause any casual vacancy in the Council or Board, as the offices of member and of chairman are quite compatible.

A Rural District Council consists of a chairman and councillors (Local Government Act, 1894, S. 24 (1)), and the chairman, whether elected from among or from outside the councillors, is a member of the Rural District Council, and as such has an original as well as a second or casting vote; but there is no provision constituting a chairman of an Urban District Council who is elected from outside the councillors a member of that Council. A chairman of an Urban District Council elected from outside the councillors will not therefore have an original vote, but he will have a casting vote.

This provision supersedes the provisions of 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76, s. 38, and 5 & 6 Vict. c. 57, s. 12, under which the quorum of a Board of Guardians was three. 2 See footnote to page 18.

Any Urban District Council, other than a Borough Council, and Vice-chairman. any Rural District Council and Board of Guardians may, if they think fit, appoint a vice-chairman to hold office during the term of office of the chairman, and the vice-chairman will, in the absence, or during the inability of, the chairman, have the powers and authority of the chairman (s. 59 (2)). There seems no reason why a woman inay not be appointed vice-chairman.

chairman.

A vice-chairman-of a Board of Guardians may be appointed from outside the guardians (s. 20 (7)), but there is no authority to appoint the vice-chairman of a District Council from outside the councillors. In Temporary the absence of the chairman and vice-chairman, if any be appointed, the councillors or guardians present at a meeting are required to appoint one of their number to act as chairman at that meeting (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55, Sched. 1, Part 1, r. 5).

1894.

The first meeting of a District Council elected under the Local First meeting in Government Act, 1894, will be convened by the returning officer1 (s. 79 (9)). Any difficulty that arises with respect to the first meeting may be removed by an order of the County Council (s. 80 (1) ).

Nothing in section 59 is to affect any powers of the Local Govern- Saving for ment Board with respect to the proceedings of Guardians (Local powers of Local Government Act, 1894, s. 59 (4) ).

The general powers of the Local Government Board with respect to the proceedings of guardians are derived from section 15 of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76). Under this enactment the Poor Law Commissioners issued their general consolidated order of 24th of July, 1847, which now regulates the proceedings of guardians. So far as the Local Government Act, 1894, deals with the same matters, the provisions of the order are superseded or altered accordingly. A further order was issued to several Unions on the 22nd of March, 1877, by the Local Government Board under section 34 of the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 79) regulating the proceedings of the guardians under that Act.

Board.

The Chairman of a District Council, unless a woman or personally Chairman of the disqualified by any Act, will, by virtue of his office, be justice of the peace Council to be justice. for the county in which the District is situate, 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 (s. 22). Under this provision the mayor of a borough, not being a county borough, becomes a justice for the county in which the borough is situated. He is, under section 155 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), a justice for the borough. Section 22 of the Local Government Act, 1894, does not apply to a county borough, and therefore the mayor of a county borough will not be an ex-officio justice of the county in which the

1 See page 222.

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