Town Council. into Highway Districts," in which the highways are maintained by "Highway Boards" composed of representatives from the constituent parishes and places called Waywardens. In this case the expenses are defrayed out of a common fund raised by rates levied equally in each constituent parish or place, according to its rateable value. In urban sanitary districts the highways are maintained by the Urban Sanitary Authority.1 The name Highway Parish" has been applied to those parishes and places that maintain their own highways under the Highway Act, 1835, and also to the constituent parishes and places of highway districts. Although highways in highway districts and urban sanitary districts are maintained by the Highway Board or Urban Sanitary Authority, the liability of the parish is not completely extinguished, but still exists to a certain extent. The Local Government Act, 1888, makes extensive changes in highway law, which are dealt with in Chapter II. In the meantime it will be sufficient to mention that certain important highways called "Main Roads," in respect of which the highway parishes and districts have received grants both from the Treasury and from the Quarter Sessions of the county, will be entirely handed over to the management of the County Councils, and these grants will cease. Municipal Borough. The next local area we have to consider is the "Municipal Borough." In early times it became customary to grant charters of incorporation to important towns, whereby rights of selfgovernment were conferred on their inhabitants. In consequence of the great abuses which had arisen in the government of these towns, the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 76), was passed dealing with the greater number of them, and providing a uniform system for their government. This Act, with various amending Acts, has since been repealed by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), under which these towns are now governed. All corporate towns to which that Act applies are called "Municipal Boroughs," and are governed by a Town Council, which consists of Councillors, the number of whom depends either upon the charter of the borough or upon a local statute. 1 See post, p. 17 et seq. Aldermen, the number of whom is one-third of the number of elected Councillors. The Mayor, who is the Chairman of the Council. The Councillors are elected by the burgesses of the borough, or if the borough is a city, the citizens of the city. Town Councillors are elected either for the whole borough, or if the borough is divided into wards, so many for each ward. The Aldermen and the Mayor are chosen by the whole Council, including the Aldermen in office. Town Councillors hold office for three years, and one-third of their number retire annually; Borough Aldermen hold office for six years, and one-half of their number retire triennially. The Mayor holds office for one year. Should, however, a casual vacancy occur in any of these offices, the person elected to fill the vacancy will go out of office at the same time as the person whose place he takes would have gone out of office. A Town Council is not itself a corporate body, but the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses, or Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens, as the case may be, form a Corporation, and as this Corporation invariably acts through the Council it comes to very much the same thing as if the Town Council itself were a corporate body. The Corporation of the borough has a common seal and perpetual succession; it can hold property (including land), enter into contracts, borrow money, and raise money by means of rates. The powers and duties of Town Councils differ greatly in different boroughs; in boroughs which have a separate Court of Quarter Sessions (known as "Quarter Sessions Boroughs") they are much more extensive than in others. Some Acts of Parliament have conferred powers on the Councils of those boroughs alone that choose to adopt the Acts, and other differences exist in consequence of local Acts, &c. In almost all cases the Town Council of the borough act as the Sanitary Authority1 for the borough, and where this is so there are many matters in which the Town Council may act either in their capacity of Municipal Authority or in their capacity of Sanitary Authority. In which capacity the Town Council should act in any instance must be determined according to the particular circumstances of the case. This distinction is of importance, because property is differently rated in respect of expenses incurred by the Town Council, according to the capacity in which they act. 1 See post, p. 17 et seq. Changes under the Local We have mentioned that some boroughs have a separate Court of Quarter Sessions; others have a separate Commission of the Peace, but not a Court of Quarter Sessions, and others have neither a separate Court of Quarter Sessions nor a separate Commission of the Peace. In either of the first two cases certain non-judicial duties are, or may be, transacted by the Justices of the borough. The Local Government Act, 1888, makes important changes Government Act. in the powers and duties of Town Councils. Firstly. All the boroughs which are made county boroughs are almost entirely exempted from the government of the County Council. The Town Councils of these boroughs will continue to transact much the same business as at present ; but such business as, in the case of a county, is transferred from the Justices to the County Council, will, if not already transacted by the Town Council, be, in most cases, transferred to them, whether such business is at present transacted by the Justices of the borough or of the county in which the borough is situated.1 This provision will have the effect of largely increasing the business of the Town Council of a county borough without a separate Court of Quarter Sessions, but will not materially increase the business of the Town Council of a Quarter Sessions Borough. Secondly. Almost all the business at present transacted in their capacity of Municipal Authority by the Town Council of a borough, the population of which, according to the census of 1881, was under 10,000, is transferred to the County Council. Whether such a borough has a separate Court of Quarter Sessions or not, the following business will be transferred to the County Council, namely: Analysts, appointment of. Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, and Destructive Insects Weights and Measures, superintendence of. In the case of a Quarter Sessions Borough, the population of which, according to the census of 1881 was under 10,000, 1 Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 34. 2 Ib. secs. 38, 39. 3 The county police force will be managed by a Standing Joint Committee of the Quarter Sessions and the County Council, so that the transfer in this case is not strictly to the County Council. the following additional business will be transferred to the County Council: Coroners, appointment of. Fisheries Acts, powers under. Locomotives, making bye-laws as to. Lunatic Asylums, maintenance of. Reformatory and Industrial Schools, maintenance of and contribution to. Thirdly. If the Justices of a borough (other than a county borough) transact any business that, in the case of a county is transferred to the County Council, such business will be transferred from the Justices of the borough to the County Council. But where the Justices of a borough, the population of which, according to the census of 1881, exceeded 10,000, maintain a lunatic asylum, the maintenance of the asylum is transferred to the Town Council. Borough We must now consider the financial position of a borough Finance. and the changes made by the Local Government Act in that position. The expenses of a Town Council, in its capacity of Municipal Authority, are defrayed out of the "Borough Fund." The income of the borough which is paid into the borough fund consists Of sums derived from the corporate property of the borough. rule, levied by the Overseers of each parish as part of Of sums derived from other rates in certain cases. Of sums received from the Treasury, inluding grants in aid of (i.) Police. (ii.) Criminal prosecutions. (iii) The maintenance of lunatics chargeable to the Other "grants in aid," which are usually payable to the Town Council in its capacity of Sanitary Authority, may in particular cases be payable in relief of the borough fund. The changes made by the Local Government Act, 1888, in the income of the borough are as follows : (1.) In county boroughs the Town Council will receive Changes under a share of the income derived from certain imperial taxes,1 1 Local Governand the above-mentioned grants will be discontinued. 1 See post, Chapter III. and p. 234. ment Act. Financial Relation of Counties and Boroughs. (2.) In those small boroughs from which business is transferred to the County Council there will, of course, be a corresponding lightening of the borough rate. The county rate may, however, be increased. (3.) In boroughs other than the county_boroughs "grants in aid" will no longer be paid by the Treasury, but the Town Council will receive similar grants from the County Council of the county in which the borough is situated. The Town Council of such a borough, if it has a separate Court of Quarter Sessions or a separate police force, will, in addition to these grants, further receive a share of the surplus (if any) of the proceeds of imperial taxes paid over to the county.1 The financial relations between boroughs and the counties in which they are situated remain to be discussed. The present position is as follows:-Boroughs without a separate Court of Quarter Sessions are treated as part of the county, and the county rate is levied in them exactly as in other parts of the county. But arrangements are made whereby their inhabitants are relieved from contributing to the county expenses in respect of the following matters: The execution of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts when the Town Council execute these Acts themselves. The maintenance of the county police when the borough maintains its own police. Quarter Sessions Boroughs are in most cases liable to contribute to the county expenses to a certain extent. Instead, however, of the county rates being levied within them the sum they are liable to contribute to county expenses is paid over by the Town Council to the Quarter Sessions of the county. All Quarter Sessions Boroughs are liable to contribute their share of the expenses of the county in which they are situated in respect of costs arising out of the prosecution, maintenance, conveyance, transport or punishment of all offenders committed for trial from the borough to the assizes in the county. Those Quarter Sessions Boroughs which were before the 11th July, 1832, exempt from contributions to the county rate still remain exempt therefrom, except in the case of the expenses above mentioned, but if the boundaries of a Quarter Sessions Borough thus exempt have been enlarged since the 1 See post, Chapter III. |