As to the general aoctrine that bye-laws must be reasonable, see Slattery v. Naylor, 13 App. Cas. 446; 57 L. J. P. C. 79; 59 L. T. (N.s.) 41; 36 W. R. 897; Toronto Municipal Corporation v. Virgo, [1896] A. C. 88; 65 L. J. P. C. 4; 73 L. T. (N.S.) 449.

(c) That is, in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. See s. 219, post. The council cannot summon offenders before them to answer complaints for offences against the bye-laws. In re Wiseman, 3 T. L. R. 12 ; and see the Local Government Act, s. 78, ante, p.

(d) Section 187 of the Public Health Act, 1875, is as follows:

"Bye-laws made by the council of any borough under the provisions of 8.90 of the Act of the 6th year of King William the 4th, c. 76, for the prevention and suppression of certain nuisances, shall not be required to be sent to a Secretary of State, nor shall they be subject to the disallowance in that section mentioned; but all the provisions of this Act relating to byelaws shall apply to the bye-laws so made as if they were made under this Act." The meaning of this provision, read with the text, is that while bye-laws relating to the good government of a borough are confirmed by a Secretary of State, and may be disallowed by the Queen in Council as provided by sub-s. (4), supra, bye-laws for the prevention and suppression of the nuisances mentioned in sub-s. (1) must be made in manner provided by the Public Health Act, 1875, and must be confirmed by the Local Government Board under s. 184 of that Act. The Local Government Act, s. 16, ante, p. 42, which enables a county council to make bye-laws under the above section, provides that s. 187 of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply to such bye-laws. Consequently, any bye-laws made by a county council for the suppression and prevention of nuisances within the county must be made and confirmed in manner provided by the Public Health Act. But bye-laws for the good government of the county other than those relating to nuisances do not require the confirmation of the Local Government Board; the approval of a Secretary of State is sufficient. See the note, ante, pp. 42-43.

Sect. 23.

NOTE.

24. The production of a written copy of a bye-law made by Evidence of the council under this Act, or under any former or present or bye-laws.

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 bye-law, and, if it is so stated in the copy, of the bye-law having been approved and confirmed by the authority whose approval or confirmation is required to the making or before the enforcing of the bye-law.

In the case of bye-laws for the prevention of nuisances, a copy certified by the clerk under s. 186 of the Public Health Act, 1875, will be sufficient evidence; see ante, pp. 42—44. But having regard to the provisions in the text it seems desirable that a copy of any bye-laws to be tendered as evidence should be authenticated by the seal of the county council.

The word "written" includes "printed." See s. 20 of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63).

Accounts and Audit.

25.-(1.) There shall be three borough auditors, two elected by The borough the burgesses, called elective auditors, and one appointed by the auditors. mayor, called mayor's auditor(a).

Sect. 25 (2).

Half-yearly accounts of treasurer.

Audit and publication

of treasurer's accounts.

(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.

(3.) The mayor's auditor must be a member of the council. (4.) The term of office of each auditor shall be one year. (5.) The appointment of the mayor's auditor shall be made on the ordinary day of election of the elective auditors (b).

(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 (c).

(a) The above section will have no application to a county council, for by the Local Government Act, s. 71, ante, p. 136, the accounts of county councils are to be audited by the district auditors appointed by the Local Government Board. But in county boroughs the above section will still apply, for by the Local Government Act, s. 34, ante, p. 75, Part IV. of that Act relating to finance is not to apply to county boroughs.

There is no provision in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, relating to the remuneration of the borough auditors. But by the Public Health Act, 1885, s. 246, the borough auditors may be paid at a rate not exceeding three guineas a day for auditing the accounts of the borough as urban sanitary authority.

(b) The ordinary day for the election of borough auditors is March 1st, or such other day as the council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, from time to time appoint. See s. 62, post.

(c) As to the filling of casual vacancies, see ss. 40 and 66, post.

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.

The Local Government Act, s. 71, ante, p. 136, provides that the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, with respect to the accounts of the treasurer of a borough shall apply to the accounts of a county council.

The same section provides that the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of county councils shall be made up to the end of each local financial year as defined by that Act, and shall be in the form for the time being prescribed by the Local Government Board. The local financial year is defined by s. 73, ante, p. 140. It will be observed that the accounts of county councils are to be made out yearly, not half-yearly.

The above section will, however, continue to apply to county boroughs without alteration.

By s. 233, post, the treasurer's accounts may be inspected by any member of the council.

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 Sect. 27 (2). financial year the treasurer shall print a full abstract of his accounts for that year.

This section will apply to county boroughs without alteration. With regard to other county councils, the accounts are to be made out to the end of each financial year, and are to be audited by the district auditors. Save to this extent the section will apply to county councils, for by the Local Government Act, s. 71, ante, p. 136, the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, with respect to the accounts of the treasurer of a borough and the abstract thereof, are to apply to the accounts of the county council.

By s. 233, post, all the ratepayers are entitled to inspect the abstract and to obtain a copy on payment of a reasonable sum.

Local

28.—(1.) The town clerk shall make a return to the Local Returns to Government Board of the receipts and expenditure of the Government municipal corporation for each financial year.

(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.

(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.

The section will also apply to county councils with certain modifications. See s. 71 (2) of the Local Government Act, ante, p. 136. The clerk of the council must perform the duties of the town clerk; see s. 75 (5) of that Act, ante, p. 142. The financial year ends on the 31st, not March 25th, ib. s. 73, ante, p. 140.

Revising Assessors.

Board.

non-parlia

29.—(1.) In every borough whereof no part of the area is Revising co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary assessors in borough, there shall be two revising assessors elected by the mentary 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.

boroughs.

Sect. 29 (3).

Proceedings for division of

wards, or alteration of wards.

(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.

This section is practically repealed. The function of the revising assessors was to assist the mayor in revising the burgess lists in boroughs to which the 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, did not apply. But by the County Electors Act, 1888 (51 Vict. c. 10), the 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, is now applied to every municipal borough, and by s. 4, it is provided that revising assessors for such borough shall not be elected.

Division of Borough into Wards, or alteration of Wards.

30.—(1.) If two-thirds of the council of a borough agree to borough into 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.

(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 election for each ward held after the division shall, notwithstanding anything in this Act, be the mayor or a person appointed by the mayor.

(8.) If by reason of any division or alteration under this section Sect. 30 (8). any doubt arises as to which councillor should go out of office, the doubt may be determined by the council.

(9.) The division of a borough into a greater number of wards shall not affect the qualification of aldermen or councillors.

(10.) The number of councillors assigned to each ward shall be a number divisible by three; and in fixing their number the commissioner shall, as far as he deems it practicable, have regard as well to the number of persons rated in the ward as to the aggregate rating of the ward.

(11.) The commissioner shall make the scheme in duplicate, and shall deliver one of the duplicates to the town clerk, and shall send the other to the Secretary of State, to be submitted by him to Her Majesty in Council for approval.

(12.) The scheme shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall come into operation at the date of that publication, and thenceforth the boundaries of wards and apportionment of councillors determined and made by the scheme shall be observed and be in force.

(13.) If Her Majesty in Council does not approve the scheme as originally prepared by the commissioner, it shall nevertheless be published in the London Gazette, and shall be in force for the purposes of any municipal election until Her Majesty in Council, on further information and report from the commissioner, definitively approves a scheme in that behalf.

(14.) The commissioner may administer oaths, and may require any person having the custody of any book containing a poor rate made for a parish to produce the book for his inspection; and every person required by the commissioner to answer any question put to him for the purposes of this section shall answer it.

(15.) The commissioner shall have remuneration as appearing by the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.

A petition under this section may be presented upon a resolution passed by a majority of the whole council, and may pray for the alteration of the boundaries of the wards of a borough without any alteration of their number; and where any such petition prays for the alteration of boundaries only, the provisions of the said section shall apply so far as applicable. Where the powers conferred by this section have been exercised in pursuance of a petition by the council of any borough, a further petition from the council of the same borough shall not be presented before the expiration of seven years from the date of the previous Order in Council under this section, 56 Vict. c. 9, ss. 2, 3.

It is provided by the Local Government Act, s. 2, ante, p. 3, that the divisions of the county for the purpose of the election of county councillors shall be called electoral divisions, and not wards, and one county councillor only shall be elected for each electoral division. The same section further