Chapter VII: Act 1894: are numerous and varied, and the chief of them are mentioned

hereafter in connexion with parish councils. The county council may
establish a parish council in a parish which has a population of less
than 300, and may group small parishes under a common parish council;
in every case they fix the number of members of the parish council.
They may authorize the borrowing of money by a parish council, and
they may lend money to a parish council. They may hear complaints by a
parish council that a district council has failed to provide
sufficient sewerage or water-supply, or has failed to enforce the
provisions of the Public Health Acts in their district, and on such
complaint they may transfer to themselves and exercise the powers of
the defaulting council, or they may appoint a person to perform those
duties. They may make orders for the custody and preservation of
public books, writings, papers and documents belonging to a parish.
They may divide a parish into wards for purposes of elections or of
parish meetings. They may authorize district councils to aid persons
in maintaining rights of common. They may, on the petition of a
district council, transfer to themselves the powers of a district
council who have refused or failed to take the necessary proceedings
to assert public rights of way or protect roadside wastes. They may
dispense with the disqualification of a parish or district councillor
arising only by reason of his being a shareholder in a water company
or similar company contracting with the council, and, as has above
been stated, they have large powers of altering the boundaries of
parishes.

Diseases of animals.

Among the powers and duties of quarter sessions transferred to county
councils were those arising under the acts relating to contagious
diseases of animals. These acts were consolidated and amended by a
statute of 1894, and the county council remain the local authority for
the execution of that act in counties.

Light railways.

Under the Light Railways Act 1896 a county council may be authorized
by order of the light railway commissioners to construct and work or
contract for the construction or working of a light railway, lend
money to a light railway company, or join any other council in these
matters.

Miscellaneous.

Among other statutes conferring powers or imposing duties upon county
councils, mention may be made of such acts as those relating to sea
fisheries regulation, open spaces, police superannuation, railway and
canal traffic, shop hours, weights and measures, fertilizing and
feeding stuffs, wild birds' protection, land transfer, locomotives on
highways and the acquisition of small dwellings. Sufficient has been
said to indicate that the legislature from time to time recognizes the
important position of the county council as an administrative body,
and is continually extending its functions.

The municipal borough and the borough council.

_The Urban District._--A municipal borough is a place which has been incorporated by royal charter. In the year 1835 the Municipal Corporations Act was passed, which made provision for the constitution and government of certain boroughs which were enumerated in a schedule. That act was from time to time amended, until in 1882 by an act of that year the whole of the earlier acts were repealed and consolidated. A few ancient corporations which were not enumerated in the schedule to the act of 1835 continued to exist after that year, but by an act of 1883 all of these, save such as should obtain charters before 1886, were abolished, the result being that all boroughs are now subject to the act of 1882. A place is still created a borough by royal charter on the petition of the inhabitants, and when that is done the provisions of the act of 1882 are applied to it by the charter itself. The charter also fixes the number of councillors, the boundaries of the wards (if any), and assigns the number of councillors to each ward, and provides generally for the time and manner in which the act of 1882 is first to come into operation. The charter is supplemented by a scheme which makes provision for the transfer to the new borough council of the powers and duties of existing authorities, and generally for the bringing into operation of the act of 1882. If the scheme is opposed by the prescribed proportion (one-twentieth) of the owners and ratepayers of the proposed new borough, it has to be confirmed by parliament. The governing body in a borough is the council elected by the burgesses.

Officers.

The qualification of a burgess has been incidentally mentioned in
connexion with that of a county elector, and need not be further
noticed. A borough councillor must be qualified in the same manner as
a county councillor, and he is disqualified in the same way, with this
addition, that a peer or ownership voter is not qualified as such, and
that a person is disqualified for being a borough councillor if he is
in holy orders or is the regular minister of a Dissenting
congregation. Women, other than married women, are eligible. Borough
councillors are elected for a term of three years, one-third of the
whole number going out of office in each year, and if the borough is
divided into wards, these are so arranged that the number of
councillors for each ward shall be three or a multiple of three. The
ordinary day of election is the 1st of November. At an election for
the whole borough the returning officer is the mayor; at a ward
election he is an alderman assigned for that purpose by the council.
The nomination and election of candidates and the procedure at the
election are the same as have already been described in the case of
the election of county councillors. The law as to corrupt and illegal
practices at the election is also similar, and the election may be
questioned by petition in exactly the same way. A borough councillor
must, within five days after notice of his election, make a
declaration of acceptance of office under a penalty, in the case of an
alderman or councillor of L50, and in the case of a mayor of L100, or
such other sums as the council may by by-law determine. A councillor
may be disqualified in the same way as a county councillor, by
bankruptcy or composition with creditors, or continuous absence from
the borough (except in case of illness). In short it may be said that
as the provisions relating to the election of borough councillors were
merely extended to county councillors by the Local Government Act of
1888 with a few modifications, these provisions, as already stated
when dealing with county councils, apply generally to the election of
borough councillors. After the annual election on the 1st of November
the first quarterly meeting of the council is held on the 9th, and at
that meeting the mayor and aldermen are elected. The election of the
mayor and aldermen is again the same as has already been described in
connexion with the election of the chairman and aldermen of a county
council. The officers of a borough council are the town clerk and the
treasurer, but the council have power to appoint such other officers
as they think necessary. All these officers receive such remuneration
as the council from time to time think fit, and hold office during
pleasure. The provisions with respect to the transaction of the
business of the council are also the same in the case of a borough as
in that of a county council.

Finance audit.

The entire income of the borough council is paid into the borough
fund, and that fund is charged with certain payments, which are
specifically set out in the 5th schedule to the act of 1882. These
include the remuneration of the mayor, recorder and officers of the
borough, overseers' expenses, the expenses of the administration of
justice in the borough, the payment of the borough coroner, police
expenses and the like. An order of the council for the payment of
money out of the borough fund must be signed by three members of the
council and countersigned by the town clerk, and any such order may be
removed into the king's bench division of the High Court of Justice by
writ of _certiorari_ and may be wholly or partly disallowed or
confirmed on the hearing. This is really the only way in which the
validity of a payment by a borough council can be questioned, for, as
will be seen hereafter, the audit in the borough is not an effective
one. The borough fund is derived, in the first instance, from the
property of the corporation. If the income from such property is
insufficient for the purposes to which it is applicable, as usually is
the case, it has to be supplemented by a borough rate, which may be a
separate rate made by the council or may be levied through the
overseers as part of the poor rate by means of a precept addressed to
them. In the event of the borough fund being more than sufficient to
meet the demands upon it without recourse to a borough rate, any
surplus may be applied in payment of any expenses of the council as a
sanitary authority or in improving the borough or any part thereof by
drainage, enlargement of streets or otherwise. The borough treasurer
is required to make up his accounts half-yearly, and to submit them,
with the necessary vouchers and papers, to the borough auditors. These
auditors are three in number--two of them elected annually by the
burgesses. An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor,
but may not be a member of the council. The third auditor is appointed
by the mayor and is called the mayor's auditor. The auditors so
appointed are charged with the duty of auditing the accounts of the
treasurer, but they have no power of disallowance or surcharge, and
their audit is therefore quite ineffective.

Jurisdiction of justices; quarter sessions.

Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions, but has
a separate commission of the peace, the justices of the county in
which the borough is situate have a concurrent jurisdiction with the
borough justices in all matters arising within the borough. Where,
however, the borough has a court of quarter sessions, the county
justices have no jurisdiction within the borough. In all cases,
whether the borough has quarter sessions or a separate commission or
not, the mayor, by virtue of his office, is a justice for the borough,
and continues to be such justice during the year next after he ceases
to be mayor. He takes precedence over all justices in and for the
borough, and is entitled to take the chair at all meetings at which he
is present by virtue of his office of mayor. A separate commission of
the peace may be granted to a borough on the petition of the council.
A borough justice is required to take the oaths of allegiance and the
judicial oaths before acting; he must while acting reside in or within
7 m. of the borough, or occupy a house, warehouse or other property in
the borough; but he need not be a burgess nor have the qualification
by estate required of a county justice. Where the borough has a
separate commission, the borough justices have power to appoint a
clerk, who is now paid by salary, the fees and costs pertaining to his
office being paid into the borough fund, out of which his salary is
paid. The council may by petition obtain the appointment of a
stipendiary magistrate for the borough. The crown may also on petition
of the council grant a separate court of quarter sessions for the
borough, and in that event a recorder has to be appointed by the
crown. He must be a barrister of not less than five years' standing,
and he holds office during good behaviour; he receives a yearly
salary. The recorder sits as sole judge of the court of quarter
sessions of the borough. He has all the powers of a court of quarter
sessions in a county, including the power to hear appeals from the
borough justices; but to this there are a few exceptions, notably the
power to grant licences for the sale of intoxicating liquor. The grant
of a separate court of quarter sessions also involves the appointment
by the council of a clerk of the peace for the borough. It should be
added that the grant of a court of quarter sessions to any borough
other than a county borough after the passing of the Local Government