Chapter VI: Act 1879: ; (vi.) the provision, enlargement, maintenance and management

and visitation of, and other dealing with, asylums for pauper
lunatics; (vii.) the establishment and maintenance of, and the
contribution to, reformatory and industrial schools; (viii.) bridges
and roads repairable with bridges, and any powers vested by the
Highways and Locomotives Amendment Act 1878 in the county authority.
It may be observed that bridges have always been at common law
repairable by the county, although, with regard to bridges erected
since the year 1805, these are not to be deemed to be county bridges
repairable by the county unless they have been erected under the
direction or to the satisfaction of the county surveyor. The
common-law liability to repair a bridge extends also to the road or
approaches for a distance of 300 ft. on each side of the bridge. Of
the powers vested in the county authority under the Highway Act 1878,
the most important are those relating to main roads, which are
specially noticed hereafter; (ix.) the tables of fees to be taken by
and the costs to be allowed to any inspector, analyst or person
holding any office in the county other than the clerk of the peace and
the clerks of the justices; (x.) the appointment, removal and
determination of salaries of the county treasurer, the county
surveyor, the public analysts, any officer under the Explosives Act
1875, and any officers whose remuneration is paid out of the county
rate, other than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the
justices; (xi.) the salary of any coroner whose salary is payable out
of the county rate, the fees, allowances and disbursements allowed to
be paid by any such coroner, and the division of the county into
coroners' districts and the assignments of such districts; (xii.) the
division of the county into polling districts for the purposes of
parliamentary elections, the appointment of the places of election,
the places of holding courts for the revision of the lists of voters,
and the costs of, and other matters to be done for the registration of
parliamentary voters; (xiii.) the execution as local authority of the
acts relating to contagious diseases of animals, to destructive
insects, to fish conservancy, to wild birds, to weights and measures,
and to gas meters, and of the Local Stamp Act 1869; (xiv.) any matters
arising under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886. Under this act compensation
is payable out of the police rate to any person whose property has
been injured, stolen or destroyed by rioters; (xv.) the registration
of rules of scientific societies, the registration of charitable
gifts, the certifying and recording of places of religious worship,
the confirmation and record of the rules of loan societies. These
duties are imposed under various statutes.

In addition to the business of quarter sessions thus transferred,
there was also transferred to the county council certain business of
the justices of the county out of session, that is to say, in petty or
special sessions. This business consists of the licensing of houses or
places for the public performance of stage plays, and the execution,
as local authority, of the Explosives Act 1875. Power was given by the
act to the Local Government Board to provide, by means of a
provisional order, for transferring to county councils any of the
powers and duties of the various central authorities which have been
already referred to; but although such an order was at one time
prepared, it has never been confirmed, and nothing has been done in
that direction.

Police.

Apart from the business thus transferred to county councils, the act
itself has conferred further powers or imposed further duties with
reference to a variety of other matters, some of which must be
noticed. But before passing to them it is necessary here to call
attention to one important subject of county government which has not
been wholly transferred to the county council, namely, the police. It
was matter of considerable discussion before the passing of the act
whether the police should remain under the control of the justices, or
be transferred wholly to the control of the county council. Eventually
a middle course was taken. The powers, duties and liabilities of the
quarter sessions and justices out of session with respect to the
county police were vested in the quarter sessions and the county
council jointly, and are now exercised through the standing
joint-committee of the two bodies. That committee consists of an equal
number of members of the county council and of justices appointed by
the quarter sessions, the number being arranged between the two bodies
or fixed by the secretary of state. The committee are also charged
with the duties of appointing or removing the clerk of the peace, and
they have jurisdiction in matters relating to justices' clerks, the
provision of accommodation for quarter sessions or justices out of
session, and the like, and their expenses are paid by the county
council out of the county fund. The standing joint-committee have
power to divide their county into police districts, and, when required
by order in council, are obliged to do so. In such a case, while the
general expenditure in respect of the entire police force is defrayed
by the county at large, the local expenditure, i.e. the cost of pay,
clothing and such other expenses as the joint-committee may direct, is
defrayed at the cost of the particular district for which it is
incurred (see also POLICE).

County coroners.

Among the powers and duties given to county councils by the Local
Government Act 1888, the first to be mentioned, following the order in
the act itself, is that of the appointment of county coroners. The
duties of a coroner are limited to the holding of inquiries into cases
of death from causes suspected to be other than natural, and to a few
miscellaneous duties of comparatively rare occurrence, such as the
holding of inquiries relating to treasure trove, and acting instead of
the sheriff on inquiries under the Lands Clauses Act, &c., when that
officer is interested and thereby disabled from holding such
inquiries. (For the history of the office of coroner, which is a very
ancient one, see that title.) The county council may appoint any fit
person, not being a county alderman or county councillor, to fill the
office, and in the case of a county divided into coroners' districts,
may assign him a district. It has been decided, however, that the
power hereby conferred does not extend to the appointment of a coroner
for a liberty or other franchise who would not under the old law have
been appointed by the freeholders. It may be mentioned that though a
coroner may have a district assigned to him, he is nevertheless a
coroner for the entire county throughout which he has jurisdiction.

Main roads.

It was provided by the Highway Act 1878 that every road which was
disturnpiked after the 31st of December 1870 should be deemed to be a
main road, the expenses of the repair and maintenance of which were to
be contributed as to one-half thereof by the justices in quarter
sessions, then the county authority. By another section of the same
act it was provided that where any highway in a county was a medium of
communication between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railway
station, or otherwise such that it ought to be declared a main road,
the county authority might declare it to be a main road, and thereupon
one-half the expense of its maintenance would fall upon the county at
large. Once a road became a main road it could only cease to be such
by order of the Local Government Board. As already stated, the powers
of the quarter sessions under the act of 1878 were transferred to the
county council under the Local Government Act of 1888, and that body
alone has now power to declare a road to be a main road. But the act
of 1888 made some important changes in the law relating to the
maintenance of main roads. It declared that thereafter not only the
half but the whole cost of maintenance should be borne by the county.
Provision is made for the control of main roads in urban districts
being retained by the urban district council. In urban districts where
such control has not been claimed, and in rural districts, the county
council may either maintain the main roads themselves or allow or
require the district councils to do so. The county council must in any
case make a payment towards the costs incurred by the district
council, and if any difference arises as to the amount of it, it has
to be settled by the Local Government Board. In Lancashire the cost of
main roads falls upon the hundred, as distinguished from the county at
large, special provision being made to that effect. Special provision
has also been made for the highways in the Isle of Wight and in South
Wales, where the roads were formerly regulated by special acts, and
not by the ordinary Highway Acts.

Rivers pollution prevention.

The county council have the same power as a sanitary authority to
enforce the provisions of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts in
relation to so much of any stream as passes through or by any part of
their county. Under these acts a sanitary authority is authorized to
take proceedings to restrain interference with the due flow of a
stream or the pollution of its waters by throwing into it the solid
refuse of any manufactory or quarry, or any rubbish or cinders, or any
other waste or any putrid solid matter. They may also take proceedings
in respect of the pollution of a stream by any solid or liquid sewage
matter. They have the same powers with respect to manufacturing and
mining pollutions, subject to certain restrictions, one of which is
that proceedings are not to be taken without the consent of the Local
Government Board. The county council may not only themselves institute
proceedings under the acts, but they may contribute to the costs of
any prosecution under the acts instituted by any other county or
district council. The Local Government Board is further empowered by
provisional order to constitute a joint-committee representing all the
administrative counties through or by which a river passes, and confer
on such committee all or any of the powers of a sanitary authority
under the acts.

Parliamentary and legal costs.

A county council has the same power of opposing bills in parliament
and of prosecuting or defending any legal proceedings necessary for
the promotion or protection of the interests of the inhabitants of a
county as are conferred on the council of a municipal borough by the
Borough Funds Act 1872, with this difference, that in order to enable
them to oppose a bill in parliament at the cost of the county rate, it
is not necessary to obtain the consent of the owners and ratepayers
within the county. The power thus conferred is limited to opposing
bills. The council are not authorized to promote any bill, and
although they frequently do so, they incur the risk that if the bill
should not pass the members of the council will be surcharged
personally with the costs incurred if they attempt to charge them to
the county rate. Of course if the bill passes, it usually contains a
clause enabling the costs of promotion to be paid out of the county
rate. It must not be supposed, however, that the county council have
no power to institute or defend legal proceedings or oppose bills save
such as is expressly conferred upon them by the Local Government Act.
In this respect they are in the same position as all other local
authorities, with respect to whom it has been laid down that they may
without any express power in that behalf use the funds at their
disposal for protecting themselves against any attack made upon their
existence as a corporate body or upon any of their powers or
privileges.

By-laws.

The county council have also the same powers as a borough council of
making by-laws for the good government of the county and for the
suppression of nuisances not already punishable under the general law.
This power has been largely acted upon throughout England, and the
courts of law have on several occasions decided that such by-laws
should be benevolently interpreted, and that in matters which directly
arise and concern the people of the county, who have the right to
choose those whom they think best fitted to represent them, such
representatives may be trusted to understand their own requirements.
Such by-laws will therefore be upheld, unless it is clear that they
are uncertain, repugnant to the general law of the land, or manifestly
unreasonable. It may be mentioned that, while by-laws relating to the
good government of the county have to be confirmed by the secretary of
state, those which relate to the suppression of nuisances have to be
confirmed by the Local Government Board. Such confirmation, however,
though necessary to enable the council to enforce them, does not
itself confer upon them any validity in point of law.

Medical officers.

The county council have power to appoint and pay one or more medical
officers of health, who are not to hold any other appointment or
engage in private practice without the express written consent of the
council. The council may make arrangements whereby any district
council or councils may have the services of the county medical
officer on payment of a contribution towards his salary, and while
such arrangement is in force the duty of the district council to
appoint a medical officer is to be deemed to have been satisfied.
Every medical officer, whether of a county or district, must now be
legally qualified for the practice of medicine, surgery and midwifery.
Besides this, in the case of a county, or of any district or
combination of districts of which the population exceeds 50,000, the
medical officer must also have a diploma in public health, unless he
has during the three consecutive years before 1892 been medical
officer of a district or combination having a population of more than
20,000, or has before the passing of the act been for three years a
medical officer or inspector of the Local Government Board.

Alterations of local areas.

The only other powers and duties of a county council arising under the
Local Government Act itself which it is necessary to notice are those
relating to alterations of local areas. It may be convenient here to
state that certain alterations of areas can only be effected through
the medium of the Local Government Board after local inquiry. These
cases include the alteration of the boundary of any county or borough,
the union of a county borough with a county, the union of any counties
or boroughs or the division of any county, the making of a borough
into a county borough. In these cases the order of the Local
Government Board is provisional only, and must be confirmed by
parliament. The powers of a county council to make orders for the
alteration of local areas are as follows: When a county council is
satisfied that a prima facie case is made out as respects any county
district not a borough, or as respects any parish, for a proposal for
all or any of the things hereafter mentioned, they may hold a local
inquiry after giving such notice in the locality and to such public
departments as may be prescribed from time to time by the orders of
the Local Government Board. The things referred to include the
alteration of the boundary of the district or parish; the division or
union thereof with any other district or districts, parish or
parishes; the conversion of a rural district or part thereof into an
urban district or vice versa. In these cases, after the local inquiry
above referred to has been held, the county council, being satisfied
that the proposal is desirable, may make an order for the same
accordingly. The order has to be submitted to the Local Government
Board, and that board must hold a local inquiry in order to determine
whether the order should be confirmed or not, if the council of any
district affected by it, or one-sixth of the total number of electors
in the district or parish to which it relates, petition against it.
The Local Government Board have power to modify the terms of the order
whether it is petitioned against or not, but if there is no petition,
they are bound to confirm, subject only to such modifications. Very
large powers are conferred upon county councils for the purpose of
giving full effect to orders made by them under these provisions. A
considerable extension of the same powers was made by the Local
Government Act 1894, which practically required every council to take
into consideration the areas of sanitary districts and parishes within
the entire administrative county, and to see that a parish did not
extend into more than one sanitary district; to provide for the
division of a district which did extend into more than one district
into separate parishes, so that for the future the parish should not
be in more than one county district; and to provide for every parish
and rural sanitary district being within one county. An enormous
number of orders under the act of 1894 was made by county councils,
and, speaking generally, it will now be found that no parish extends
into more than one county or county district. Other powers and duties
of the county council under the act of 1894 will be noticed hereafter.

Of the statutes affecting county councils passed subsequent to 1888 mention need only be made of the chief.

Education.

Previous to the Education Act 1902, county councils had certain
optional powers under the Technical Instruction Acts to supply or aid
the supply of technical or manual instruction. Their duties in respect
to education were, however, much enlarged by the act of 1902. That act
abolished the old school boards and school attendance committees, and
substituted a single authority for all kinds of schools and for all
kinds of education. The county council or the council of a county
borough is now in every case the local education authority, except
that non-county boroughs with a population of over 10,000, and urban
districts with a population of over 20,000, may be the local education
authorities for elementary education only, but they may relinquish
their powers in favour of the county council. For higher education
county councils and county boroughs are the sole education
authorities, except that non-county boroughs and urban councils are
given a concurrent power of levying a rate for higher education not
exceeding 1d. in the L. Under the act, an education committee must be
established by all authorities. The majority of the members of the
committee are appointed by the council, usually out of their own body,
and the remainder are appointed by the council on the nomination or
recommendation of other bodies. Some of the members of the committee
must be women. All matters relating to the exercise of the powers of
the education authority (except those of rating and borrowing) must be
referred to the committee, and before exercising any of their powers
the council must (except in cases of emergency) receive and consider
the report of the education committee with respect to the matter in
question. As to higher education the local education authority must
consider the educational needs of their area and take such steps as
seem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of
Education, to supply or aid the supply of education other than
elementary, and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of
education. For this purpose they are authorized to levy a rate not
exceeding 2d. in the L, except with the consent of the Local
Government Board. They must also devote to the same purpose the sums
received by them in respect of the residue of the English share of the
local taxation (customs and excise) duties already referred to. See
further EDUCATION and TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Midwives.

Under the Midwives Act 1902, every council of a county or county
borough is the local supervising authority over midwives within its
area. The duty of the local supervising authority is to exercise
general supervision over all midwives practising within their area in
accordance with rules laid down in the act; to investigate charges of
malpractices, negligence or misconduct on the part of a midwife, and
if a prima facie case be established, to report it to the Central
Midwives Board; to suspend a midwife from practice if necessary to
prevent the spread of infection; to report to the central board the
name of any midwife convicted of an offence; once a year (in January)
to supply the central board with the names and addresses of all
midwives practising within their area and to keep a roll of the names,
accessible at all reasonable times for public inspection; to report at
once the death of any midwife or change in name and address. The local
supervising authority may delegate their powers to a committee
appointed by them, women being eligible to serve on it. A county
council may delegate its powers under the act to a district council.

Lunatics.

Part of the business transferred from quarter sessions to the council
was that which related to pauper lunatics, but the whole subject of
lunacy was consolidated by an act of the year 1890, which again has
been amended by a later act. The councils of all administrative
counties and county boroughs and the councils of a few specified
quarter sessions boroughs, which before 1890 were independent areas
for purposes of the Lunacy Acts, are local authorities for the
purposes of the Lunacy Acts, and each of them is under an obligation
to provide asylum accommodation for pauper lunatics. This
accommodation may be provided by one council or by a combination of
two or more, and such council or combination may provide one or more
asylums. The county council exercise their powers through a visiting
committee, consisting of not less than seven members, or, in the case
of a combination, of a number of members appointed by each council in
agreed proportions. In the case of a combination the expenses are
defrayed by the several councils in such proportion as they may agree
upon, and the proportion may be fixed with reference to either the
accommodation required by each council or the population of the
district. A county borough may also, instead of providing an asylum of
its own, contract with the visiting committee of any asylum to receive
the pauper lunatics from the borough. Private patients may be
accommodated in the asylums provided by a county council, and received
upon terms fixed by the visiting committee. The expenses of lunatic
asylums are defrayed in the following manner: The guardians from whose
union a lunatic is sent have to pay a fixed weekly sum, which may not
exceed 14s. a week. A larger charge is made for lunatics received from
unions outside the county, as these do not, of course, contribute
anything towards the provision or up-keep of the asylum itself. In
addition to the payments by guardians, there is a contribution of 4s.
a week from "the exchequer contribution account" already mentioned,
and the remaining expenses are defrayed out of the county rate.

Allotments.

Under the Allotments Acts 1887 to 1907, it is the duty of a county
council to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand for
allotments in the urban districts and parishes in the county, or would
be a demand if suitable land were available, and the extent to which
it is reasonably practicable, having regard to the provisions of the
acts, to satisfy any such demand, and to co-operate with authorities,
associations or persons best qualified to assist, and to take such
steps as may be necessary. The powers of the Local Government Board
under the Allotments Acts were transferred by the act of 1907 to the
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and by the same act the powers and
duties of rural district councils were transferred to parish councils.
The county council under these acts has compulsory powers of purchase
or hire if they are unable to acquire land by agreement and on
reasonable terms. If an objection is made to an order for compulsory
purchase or hire, the order will not be confirmed by the Board of
Agriculture until after a local inquiry has been held. If the Board of
Agriculture is satisfied, after holding a local inquiry, that a county
council have failed to fulfil their obligations as to allotments, the
board may transfer all and any of the powers of the county council to
the Small Holdings Commissioners.

Small holdings.

By the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1907, Small Holdings
Commissioners are appointed by the Board of Agriculture to ascertain
the extent of the demand for small holdings, and confer with county
councils as to how best to provide them. Local authorities are
required to furnish information and give assistance to the
commissioners, who report to the board. If the board, after
considering the report, consider it desirable, they require the county
council concerned to prepare a scheme for the provision of small
holdings; if the county council decline to prepare a scheme, the board
may direct the commissioners to do so. A county council may also
prepare a scheme on its own initiative. When a scheme has been
confirmed, the county council must carry out the obligations imposed
on it within a prescribed time; if they make default the board may
direct the commissioners to assume all the powers of the county
council, and the county council must repay to the board the expenses
the commissioners may incur. A county council may delegate, by
arrangement, to the council of any borough or urban district in the
county their powers in respect of the act. A small holding is defined
by the act as one which exceeds 1 acre, but must not exceed 50 acres
or L50 annual value. Every county council must establish a small
holdings and allotments committee, to which must be referred all
matters relating to the exercise and performance by the council of
their powers and duties as to small holdings and allotments.

Hospitals.

Under the Isolation Hospitals Acts 1893 and 1901, a county council may
provide for the establishment of isolation hospitals for the reception
of patients suffering from infectious diseases on the application of
any local authority within the county, or on the report of the medical
officer of the county that hospital accommodation is necessary and has
not been provided, or it may take over hospitals already provided by a
local authority. The council by their order constitute a hospital
district and form a committee for its administration. The committee
have power to purchase land, erect a hospital, provide all necessary
appliances, and generally administer a hospital for the purposes above
mentioned.

Parish councils.

The powers and duties of a county council under the Local Government