Local Government Act 1888

PART ICounty Councils.

Constitution of County Council.

1Establishment of county council.

A council shall be established in every administrative county as defined by this Act, and be entrusted with the management of the administrative and financial business of that county, and shall consist of the chairman, aldermen, and councillors.

2Composition and election of council and position of chairman.

(1)The council of a county and the members thereof shall be constituted and elected and conduct their proceedings in like manner, and be in the like position in all respects, as the council of a borough divided into wards, subject nevertheless to the provisions of this Act, and in particular to the following provisions, that is to say :—

(2)As respects the aldermen or councillors—

(a)clerks in holy orders and other ministers of religion shall not be disqualified for being elected and being aldermen or councillors;

(b)a person shall be qualified to be an alderman or councillor who, though not qualified in manner provided by the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.] Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, as applied by this Act, is a peer owning property in the county, or is registered as a parliamentary voter in respect of the ownership of property of whatsoever tenure situate in the county ;

(c)the aldermen shall be called county aldermen, and the councillors shall be called county councillors; and a county alderman shall not, as such, vote in the election of a county alderman ;

(d)the county councillors shall be elected for a term of three years, and shall then retire together, and their places shall be filled by a new election; and

(e)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 :

(3)As respects the number of the county councillors, and the boundaries of the electoral divisions in every county—

(a)the number of the county councillors, and their apportionment between each of the boroughs which have sufficient population to return one councillor and the rest of the county, shall be such as the Local Government Board may determine ; and

(b)any borough returning one councillor only shall be an electoral division; and

(c)in the rest of the county the electoral divisions shall be such as in the case" of a borough returning more than one councillor the council of the borough, and in the rest of the county the quarter sessions for the county, may determine, subject in either case to the directions enacted by this Act ; and in the case of elections after the first, to any alterations made, in accordance with the said directions, in manner in this Act mentioned:

(4)As respects the electors of the county councillors—

• the persons entitled to vote at their election shall be, in a borough, the burgesses enrolled in pursuance of the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.] Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and the Acts amending the same, and elsewhere the persons registered as county electors under the [51 & 52 Vict. c. 10.] County Electors Act, 1888 :

(5)As respects the chairman of the county council—

(a.)he shall be called chairman instead of mayor; and

(b)he shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice of the peace for the county; but before acting as such justice he shall, 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.

(6)The county council may from time to time appoint a member of the council to be vice-chairman, to hold office during the term of office of the chairman, and, subject to any rules made from time to time by the county council, anything authorised or required to be done by, to, or before the chairman may be done by, to, or before such vice-chairman.

Powers of County Council.

3Transfer to county council of administrative business of quarter sessions.

There shall be transferred to the council of each county on and after the appointed day, the administrative business of the justices of the county in quarter sessions assembled, that is to say, all business done by the quarter sessions or any committee appointed by the quarter sessions, in respect of the several matters following, namely,—

(i)The making, assessing, and levying of county, police, hundred, and all rates, and the application and expenditure thereof, and the making of orders for the payment of sums payable out of any such rate or out of the county stock or county fund, and the preparation and revision of the basis or standard for the county rate;

(ii)The borrowing of money;

(iii)The passing of the accounts of and the discharge of the county treasurer;

(iv)Shire halls, county halls, assize courts, judges lodgings, lockup houses, court houses, justices rooms, police stations, and county buildings, works, and property, subject as to the use of buildings by the quarter sessions and the justices to the provisions of this Act respecting the joint committee of quarter sessions and the county council;

(v)The licensing under any general Act of houses and other places for music or for dancing, and the granting of licences under the [42 & 43 Vict. c. 18.] Racecourses Licensing Act, 1879 ;

(vi)The provision, enlargement, maintenance, 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 [41 & 42 Vict. c. 77.] Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, in the county authority;

(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 [38 & 39 Vict. c. 17.] 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 assignment of such districts ;

(xii)The division of the county into polling districts for the purposes of parliamentary elections, the appointment of 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 [32 & 33 Vict. c. 49.] Local Stamp Act, 1869 ;

(xiv)Any matters arising under the [49 & 50 Vict. c. 38.] Riot (Damages) Act, 1886 ;

(xv)The registration of rules of scientific societies under the Act of the session of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter thirty-six; the registration of charitable gifts under the Act of the session of the fifty-second year of the reign of George the Third, chapter one hundred and two; the certifying and recording of places of religious worship under the Act of the session of the fifty-second year of the reign of George the Third, chapter one hundred and fifty-five; the confirmation and record of the rules of loan societies under the Act of the session of the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and ten; and

(xvi)Any other business transferred by this Act.

4Transfer of certain powers under local Acts.

Where it appears to the Local Government Board that any powers, duties, or liabilities of any quarter sessions or justices, or any committee thereof, under any local Act are similar in character to the powers, duties, and liabilities transferred to county councils by this Act, or relate to property transferred to a county council by this Act, the Board may, if they think fit, make a Provisional Order for transferring such powers, duties, and liabilities to the county council.

5Appointment of coroners by county council.

(1)After the appointed day a coroner for a county shall not be elected by the freeholders of the county, and on any vacancy occurring in the office of a coroner for a county, who is elected to that office in pursuance of a writ de coronatore eligendo, a like writ for the election of a successor shall be directed to the county council of the county instead of to the sheriff, and the county council shall thereupon appoint a fit person, not being a county alderman or county councillor, to fill such office, and in the case of a county divided into coroners districts shall assign him a district; and any person so appointed shall have like powers and duties, and be entitled to like remuneration, as if he had been elected coroner for the county by the freeholders thereof.

(2)Where the district of any such coroner is situate wholly within any administrative county, the council of that county shall, subject as herein-after mentioned, appoint the coroner.

(3)Where the district of any such coroner is situate partly in one and partly in another administrative county forming part of an entire county, the joint committee for the entire county may arrange for the alteration in manner provided by law of the district, so that, on the next avoidance of the office of coroner of that district, or at any earlier time fixed by the joint committee when the alteration is made, the coroner's district shall not be situate in more than one administrative county.

(4)Until such arrangement is made, the joint committee for the entire county shall appoint the coroner for the said district, and the amount payable in respect of the salary, fees, and expenses of such coroner shall be defrayed in like manner as costs of the joint committee are directed by this Act to be defrayed.

(5)Nothing in this Act respecting the appointment of a coroner shall alter the jurisdiction of a coroner for the entire county, or any power of removing such coroner, whether by writ de coronatore exonerando or otherwise, and all writs for the election or removal of a coroner shall be altered so as to give effect to this section.

(6)Sections eleven and fourteen and the First Schedule of the [50 & 51 Vict. c. 71.] Coroners Act, 1887, and any other enactment relating to the election of a coroner for a county by the freeholders of such county or any district thereof, are hereby repealed 'as from the appointed day, without prejudice to anything done or suffered, or any legal proceeding commenced or penalty incurred before such repeal takes effect.

(7)A person who holds the office of coroner shall not be qualified to be elected as a county alderman or county councillor for the county for which he is a coroner.

6Power of council as to bridges.

The county council shall have power to purchase, or take over on terms to be agreed on, existing bridges not being at present county bridges, and to erect new bridges, and to maintain, repair, and improve any bridges so purchased, taken over, or erected.

7Transfer to county council of certain powers of justices out of session.

There shall be transferred to the county council on and after the appointed day the business of the justices of the county out of session—

(a)in respect of the licensing of houses or places for the public performance of stage plays, and

(b)in respect of the execution as local authority of the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 17.] Explosives Act, 1875.

8Reservation of business to quarter sessions.

(1)Nothing in this Act shall transfer to a county council any business of the quarter sessions or justices in relation to appeals by any overseers or persons against the basis or standard for the county rate or against that or any other rate.

(2)All business of the quarter sessions or any committee thereof not transferred by or in pursuance of this Act to the county council shall be reserved to and transacted by the quarter sessions or committee thereof in the same manner, as far as circumstances admit, as if this Act had not passed.

9Powers as to police.

(1)The powers, duties, and liabilities of quarter sessions and of justices out of session with respect to the county police shall, on and after the appointed day, vest in and attach to the quarter sessions and the county council jointly, and be exercised and discharged through the standing joint committee of the quarter sessions and county council appointed as herein-after mentioned:

(2)Provided that the powers conferred by section seven of the [19 & 20 Vict. c. 69.] County and Borough Police Act, 1856, which requires constables to perform, in addition to their ordinary duties, such duties connected with the police as the quarter sessions may direct or require, shall continue to be exercised by the quarter sessions as well as by the said standing joint committee, and may also be exercised by the county council; and the said section shall be construed as if the county council and the said standing joint committee were therein mentioned as well as the quarter sessions.

(3)Nothing in this Act shall affect, the powers, duties, and liabilities of justices of the peace as conservators of the peace, or the obligation of the chief constable or other constables to obey their lawful orders given in that behalf.

10Transfer to county council of powers of certain Government departments and other authorities.

(1)After the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for the Local Government Board to make from time to time a Provisional Order for transferring to county councils—

(a)any such powers, duties, and liabilities of Her Majesty's Privy Council, a Secretary of State, the Board of Trade, the Local Government Board, or the Education Department, or any other Government department, as are conferred by or in pursuance of any statute and appear to relate to matters arising within the county, and to be of an administrative character: also

(b)any such powers, duties, and liabilities arising within, the county, of any commissioners of sewers, conservators, or other public body, corporate or unincorporate (not being the corporation of a municipal borough or an urban or rural authority, or a school board, and not being a board of guardians) as are conferred by or in pursuance of any statute ;

and such Order shall make such exceptions and modifications as appear to be expedient, and also such provisions as appear necessary or proper for carrying into effect such transfer, and for that purpose may transfer any power vested in Her Majesty in Council:

(2)Provided that before any such Order is made, the draft thereof shall be approved, if it relates to the powers, duties, or liabilities of a Secretary of State, or the Board of Trade, or any other Government department, by such Secretary of State, Board, or department, and approved, if it affects the powers, duties, or liabilities of any commissioners, conservators, or body, corporate or unincorporate, by such commissioners, conservators, or body ; and every such Provisional Order shall be of no effect until it is confirmed by Parliament.

(3)If any such powers, duties, or liabilities as are referred to in any Provisional Order under this section arise within two or more counties, they may be transferred to the county councils of such two or more counties jointly, and may be exercised and discharged by a joint committee of such councils.

(4)The Act of Parliament confirming any provisional order made under this section shall be a public general Act.

11Entire maintenance of main roads by county council.

(1)Every road in a county, which is for the time being a main road within the meaning of the [41 & 42 Vict. c. 77.] Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, inclusive of every bridge carrying such road if repairable by the highway authority, shall, after the appointed day, be wholly maintained and repaired by the council of the county in which the road is situate, and such council, for the purpose of the maintenance, repair, improvement, and enlargement of, and other dealing with such road, shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties as a highway board, and may further exercise any powers vested in the council for the purpose of the maintenauce and repair of bridges, and the enactments relating to highways and bridges shall apply accordingly; and the county council shall have the same powers as a highway board for preventing and removing obstructions, and for asserting the right of the public to the use and enjoyment of the roadside wastes; and the execution of this section shall be a general county purpose, and the costs thereof shall be charged to the general county account.

(2)Provided that any urban authority may, within twelve months after the appointed day, or in case of a road in the district of such authority becoming a main road at any subsequent date then within twelve months after that date, claim to retain the powers and duties of maintaining and repairing a main road within the district of such authority, and thereupon they shall be entitled to retain the same, and, for the purpose of the maintenance, repair, improvement, and enlargement of, and other dealing with such road, shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties as if such road were an ordinary road vested in them, and the council shall make to such authority an annual payment towards the costs of the maintenance and repair, and reasonable improvement connected with the maintenance and repair of such road.

(3)The amount of such payment shall be such annual sum as may be from time to time agreed on, or in the absence of agreement may be determined by arbitration of the Local Government Board.

(4)The county council and any district council may from time to time contract for the undertaking by the district council of the maintenance, repair, improvement, and enlargement of, and other dealing with any main road, and, if the county council so require, the district council shall undertake the same, and such undertaking shall be in consideration of such annual payment by the county council for the costs of the undertaking as may from time to time be agreed upon, or, in case of difference, be determined by arbitration of the Local Government Board ; and for the purposes of such undertaking the district council shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties and liabilities as if the road were an ordinary road vested in them.

(5)Provided that in no case shall a county council make any payment to a district council towards the costs of such undertaking as respects any road, or towards the costs of the maintenance, repair, or improvement of any road by an urban authority, until the county council are satisfied by the report of their surveyor, or such other person as the county council may appoint for the purpose, that the road has been properly maintained and repaired, or that the improvement or enlargement of or other dealing with the road, as the case may be, has been properly executed.

(6)A main road and the materials thereof, and all drains belonging thereto, shall, except where the urban authority retain the powers and duties of maintaining and repairing such road, vest in the county council, and where any sewer or other drain is used for any purpose in connexion with the drainage of any main road, the county council shall continue to have the right of using such sewer or drain for such purpose, and if any difference arises between a county council and any highway or sanitary authority as respects the authority in whom the drain is vested, or as to the use of any sewer or other drain, the council or the highway or sanitary authority may require such difference to be referred to arbitration, and the same shall be referred to arbitration in manner provided by this Act.

(7)Where a county council declare a road to be a main road, such declaration shall not take effect until the road has been placed in proper repair and condition to the satisfaction of the county council.

(8)If at any time the county council are satisfied, on the report of their surveyor or other person appointed by them for the purpose, that any portion of a main road, the maintenance and repair of which are undertaken by any district council, is not in proper repair and condition, the county council may cause notice to be given to such district council, requiring them to place the road in proper repair and condition; and, if such notice is not complied with within a reasonable time, the county council may do everything that seems to them necessary to place the road in proper repair and condition, and the expenses of so doing shall be a debt of the said district council to the county council.

(9)If any difference arises under this section between a county council and a district council as to the refusal of the county council to make a payment under this section to the district council in respect of any undertaking or road, or as to a road having been placed in proper repair and condition previously to its becoming a main road, or as to any notice given to the district council by the county council to place a road in proper repair and condition, such difference shall, if either council so require, be referred to the arbitration of the Local Government Board.

(10)The county council may, if they think fit, contribute towards the costs of the maintenance, repair, enlargement, and improvement of any highway or public footpath in the county, although the same is not a main road.

(11)Every authority having any power or duty to light the roads in their district shall have the same power and duty to light any main road in their district.

(12)Anything authorised or required by law to be done by or to a highway or road authority shall, as respects a main road maintained by a county council, be authorised or required to be done by or to that council; and every authority having any power to break up any road in their district for the purpose of sewerage or otherwise shall have the like power of breaking up any main road in their district, but if the road is broken up the authority shall repair it to the satisfaction of the county council maintaining such road, and if it is not repaired to the satisfaction of the county council, that council may cause the necessary repairs to be done and may charge the costs against the authority, and the same shall be a debt due from the authority to the council.

(13)Section twenty of the [41 & 42 Vict. c. 77.] Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, shall apply as if it were herein re-enacted and in terms made applicable to this section.

12Roads and tolls in Isle of Wight.

(1)After the appointed day, tolls shall cease to be, taken on any road maintained and repaired by the Isle of Wight Highway Commissioners, under the Isle of Wight Highway Acts, 1813 and 1883, and after such day the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, as amended by this Act, shall apply to the Isle of Wight, and to every such road above mentioned, in like manner as if it were ceasing within the meaning of the said Act to be a turnpike road, and the [44 & 45 Vict. c. 72.] Act of the session of the forty-fourth and forty-fifth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-two, shall be repealed.

(2)Until provision is otherwise made by Parliament, or by a Provisional Order confirmed by Parliament, the repair and maintenance of the said roads shall continue to be undertaken by the said commissioners, and the . county council for the county of Southampton shall pay such commissioners, in respect of the said repairs and maintenance, and of the expenses of the commissioners, such sums as may be agreed upon, or, in case of difference, be settled by arbitration under this Act, and the provisions of this Act with respect to main roads shall apply as if the commissioners were a district council who had undertaken the maintenance and repair of such road.

13Adaptation of Act to South Wales roads.

(1)After the appointed day no county road rate shall be levied, and tolls shall cease to be taken on any road maintained and repaired by a county roads board in South Wales, in pursuance of the [7 & 8 Vict. c. 91.] South Wales Turnpike Trusts Act, 1844, and the Acts amending the same, and after such day the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, as amended by this Act shall apply to every county in South Wales as if the highway districts in that county had been constituted under the [25 & 26 Vict. c. 61.] Highway Act, 1862, and the [27 & 28 Vict. c. 101.] Highway Act, 1864, or one of those Acts, and shall apply to every such road as above-mentioned, in like manner as if it were ceasing, within the meaning of the said Act, to be a turnpike road.

(2)On the appointed day every county roads board and district roads board in each county shall cease to exist, and the property, debts, and liabilities of any such board shall be transferred to the county council, and that council shall be the successors of the county and district roads boards, and the provisions of this Act, with respect to the transfer of the property, debts, and liabilities of quarter sessions to county councils, and with respect to the officers and servants of quarter sessions, shall apply as if they were herein re-enacted and made applicable to the property, debts, liabilities, and officers of the said county and district roads boards.

(3)For the following purposes (that is to say):

(a)For giving effect to the said transfer of the property, debts, and liabilities, and for controlling the officers and servants transferred by this section to the county council, and otherwise winding up the affairs of the county and district roads boards; and

(b)For the purpose of the appointment of the surveyor of a highway board, the alteration of a highway district, and other purposes relating to highway boards;

the county council of every county in South Wales shall have all the powers of a county roads board in a county under the South Wales Turnpike Trusts Act, 1844, and the Acts amending the same, so, however, that nothing shall confer on the county council any power to levy any toll or county road rate.

14Power to county council to enforce provisions of 39 & 40 Vict c.75.

(1)On and after the appointed day a county council shall have power, in addition to any other authority, to enforce the provisions of the [39 & 40 Vict. c. 75.] Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876 (subject to the restrictions in that Act contained), in relation to so much of any stream as is situate within, or passes through or by, any part of their county, and for that purpose they shall have the same powers and duties as if they were a sanitary authority within the meaning of that Act, or any other authority having power to enforce the provisions of that Act, and the county were their district.

(2)Any county council shall have power to contribute towards the costs of any prosecution under the said Act instituted by any other county council or by any urban or rural authority.

(3)The Local Government Board, by Provisional Order made on the application of the council of any of the counties concerned, may constitute a joint committee or other body representing all the administrative counties through or by which a river, or any specified portion of a river, or any tributary thereof, passes, and may confer on such committee or body all of the powers of a sanitary authority under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, or such of them as may be specified in the Order ; and the Order may contain such provisions respecting the constitution and proceedings of the said committee or body as may seem proper, and may provide for the payment of the expenses of such committee or body by the administrative counties represented by it, and for the audit of the accounts of such committee or body, and their officers.

15Council to have power to oppose Bills in Parliament.

The county council of an administrative county shall have the same powers 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 the county, as are conferred on the council of a municipal borough by the Act of the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth years of Victoria, chapter ninety-one ; and subject as herein-after provided the provisions of that Act shall extend to a county council as if such council were included in the expression " governing body," and the administrative county were the district in the said Act mentioned.

Provided that—

(a)No consent of owners and ratepayers shall be required for any proceedings under this section;

(b)This section shall not empower a county council to promote any Bill in Parliament, or to iucur or charge any expense in relation thereto.

16Power of county council to make byelaws.

(1)A county council shall have the same power of making byelaws in relation to their county, or to any specified part or parts thereof, as the council of a borough have of making byelaws in relation to their borough under section twenty-three of the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.] Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and section one hundred and eighty-seven of the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 55.] Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply to such byelaws:

(2)Provided that byelaws made under the powers of this section shall not be of any force c effect within any borough.

17Power of county councils to appoint medical officer of health.

(1)The council of any county may, if they see fit, appoint aud pay a medical officer of health, or medical officers of health, who shall not hold any other appointment or engage in private practice without express written consent of the council.

(2)The county council and any district council may from time to time make and carry into effect arrangements for rendering the services of such officer or officers regularly available in the district of the district council, on such terms as to the contribution by the district council to the salary of the medical officer, or otherwise, as may be agreed, and the medical officer shall have within such district all the powers and duties of a medical officer appointed by a district council.

(3)So long as such an arrangement is in force, the obligation of the district council under the Public Health Act, 1875, to appoint a medical officer of health shall be deemed to be satisfied without the appointment of a separate medical officer.

18Qualification of medical officers of health.

Except where the Local Government Board, for reasons brought to their notice, may see fit in particular cases specially to allow, no person shall hereafter be appointed the medical officer of health of any county or county district, or combination of county districts, or the deputy of any such officer, unless he be legally qualified for the practice of medicine, surgery, and midwifery.

(2)No person shall after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two be appointed the medical officer of health of any county or of any such district or combination of districts, as contained, according to the last published census for the time being, a population of fifty thousand or more inhabitants, unless he is qualified as above mentioned, and also either is registered in the medical register as the holder of a diploma in sanitary science, public health, or State medicine under section twenty-one of the [49 & 50 Vict. c. 48.] Medical Act, 1886, or has been during three consecutive years preceding the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two a medical officer of a district or combination of districts, with a population according to the last published census of not less than twenty thousand, or has before the passing of this Act been for not less than three years a medical officer or inspector of the Local Government Board

19Power of county council as to report of medical officer of health.

(1)Every medical officer of health for a district in any county shall send to the county council a copy of every periodical report of which a copy is for the time being required by the regulations of the Local Government Board to be sent to the Board, and if a medical officer fails to send such copy the county council may refuse to pay any contribution, which otherwise the council would in pursuance of this Act pay, towards the salary of such medical officer

(2)If it appears to the county council from any such report that the Public Health Act, 1875, has not been properly put in force within the district to which the report relates, or that any other matter affecting the public health of the district requires to be remedied, the council may cause a representation to be made to the Local Government Board on the matter.

Financial Relations between Exchequer and County, and Contributions by County for Costs of Union Officers.

20Payment to county council of proceeds of duties on local taxation licences.

(1)After the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall from time to time, in such manner and under such regulations as the Treasury from time to time prescribe, pay into the Bank of England to such account (in this Act referred to as the Local Taxation Account) as maybe fixed by the regulations, such sums as maybe ascertained in manner provided by the regulations to be the proceeds of the duties collected by those Commissioners in each administrative county in England and Wales on the licences (in this Act referred to as local taxation licences) specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and for the purposes of this section all penalties and forfeitures recovered in respect of the said duties shall be considered as part of the proceeds of the duties.

(2)The amount ascertained as aforesaid to have been collected in each county in respect of duties on local taxation licences shall, from time to time, be certified by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and paid under the direction of the Local Government Board out of the Local Taxation Account to the council of such county. The Commissioners may, if they think fit, vary such certificate, but unless so varied, their certificate shall be conclusive.

(3)It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen from time to time by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Treasury to transfer to county councils as from the date specified in the Order the power to levy the duties on all or any of the local taxation licences, and after such date every county council and their officers shall (subject nevertheless to any exceptions and modifications contained in the Order) have within their county, for the purpose of levying the duties transferred, the same powers, duties, and liabilities as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and their officers have with respect to the duties transferred, and to the issue and cancellation of licences on which the duties are imposed, and other matters under the Acts relating to those duties and licences, and all enactments relating to those duties and licences, and to punishments and penalties connected therewith, shall apply accordingly.

(4)Provided as follows:—

(i)All penalties and forfeitures recovered by a county council in pursuance of this section shall, instead of being paid to the Exchequer, he paid to the county fund, and carried to the same account as the duties.

(ii)The county council shall have, as respects the said duties and licences, the power given by the said Acts to the Treasury for the restoration of any forfeiture, and the mitigation or remission of any penalty or any part thereof.

(iii)Nothing in this section shall confer on the county council any special privileges of the Crown as respects legal proceedings.

(5)On a transfer under this section of the power to levy the duties on any licence—

(a)the county council shall provide for issuing, in different parts of their county, their licence for the same purpose, so as to enable persons to obtain it near their residences ; and

(b)if such licence has operation in any place in the United Kingdom outside the county in which it is issued, the licence of a county council for the same purpose shall continue to have the like operation outside the county in such place.

21Grant to county council of portion of probate duty.

After the financial year ending the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall, from time to time, in such manner and under such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time prescribe, pay into the Bank of England to the Local Taxation Account, such sums as may be ascertained in manner provided by the regulations to be four fifth parts of one half of the proceeds of the sums collected by them in respect of the probate duties, and for the purpose of this section "probate duties" means the stamp duties charged on the affidavit required from persons applying for probate or letters of administration in England, Wales, or Ireland, and on the inventory exhibited and recorded in Scotland, and also the stamp duties charged on such accounts of personal and movable property as are specified in section thirty-eight of the [44 & 45 Vict. c. 12.] Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, and also includes the proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures recovered in relation to such stamp duties.

22Distribution of probate duty grant.

(1)The sums paid in pursuance of this Act to the Local Taxation Account, in respect of the proceeds of the probate duties (in this Act referred to as the "probate duty grant"), shall, until Parliament otherwise determine, be distributed among the several counties in England and Wales in proportion to the share which the Local Government Board certify to have been received by each county during the financial year ending the thirty-first day of March next before the passing of this Act out of the grants heretofore made out of the Exchequer in aid of local rates, which will cease to be granted after the passing of this Act, and the share to be so certified shall be estimated in such manner as the Local Government Board direct,

(2)In the case of the six counties of South Wales and the Isle of Wight there shall be added to the amount actually received out of such grants as aforesaid such additional sum as the Local Government Board certify to be the amount which each of the said counties and the Isle of Wight would have received, if the roads maintained by the county roads boards or the highway commissioners had been main roads.

(3)The proportion to be paid to each county shall from time to time be paid under the direction of the Local Government Board to the county council out of the Local Taxation Account. The Board may, if they think proper, vary their certificate, but unless it is so varied, their certificate shall be conclusive.

23Application of duties on local taxation licences, and probate duty grant.

(1)All sums from time to time received by a county council in respect of—

(a)the duties on the local taxation licences, whether collected by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or by the county council; and

(b)the probate duty grant,

shall be paid to the county fund and carried to a separate account, in this Act referred to as the Exchequer Contribution Account.

(2)All sums for the time being standing to the Exchequer Contribution Account shall be applied—

(i)in paying the costs incurred in respect thereof, or otherwise chargeable thereon; and

(ii)in payment of the sums required by this Act to be paid by the county council in substitution for local grants ; and

(iii)in payment of the grant required by this Act to be made by the county council in respect of costs of union officers ; and

(iv)in repaying to the general county account of the county fund the costs on account of general county purposes for which the whole of the area of the county is liable to be assessed to county contributions;

and shall be so applied in the order above mentioned.

(3)If any surplus remains after paying the above costs and sums, such proportion of the surplus, as the total rateable value of the area of each quarter sessions borough exempt from contributing to any special county purpose, bears to the rateable value of the whole county, shall be paid to the council of that borough, and the remainder shall be applied as follows :

(4)It shall first be applied towards repaying to the proper special accounts of the county fund, the costs on account of which the area of the county, exclusive of such quarter sessions boroughs, is liable to be assessed to county contributions:

(5)Provided that where any of the said quarter sessions boroughs to which a payment of a proportion of the surplus is made as aforesaid is liable to be assessed to county contributions for any of such last-mentioned costs, there shall be deducted from the amount payable to the council of that borough in respect of the said surplus, such sum as would have been raised within the area of the borough if the amount of such costs had been raised by county contributions.

(6)If there remains any sum after repaying the said costs to the said accounts of the county fund, such residue shall be divided as follows, that is to say, such proportion thereof, as the total rateable value of the area of each borough maintaining a separate police force under the County and Borough Police Acts, and not being a quarter sessions borough above-mentioned, bears to the rateable value of the whole county, after deduction of the rateable value of every quarter sessions borough above-mentioned, shall be paid to the council of the borough, and the rest shall be applied towards repaying to the proper special accounts of the county fund the costs of the police, and other costs on account of which the area of the county, exclusive of all the said boroughs, is liable to be assessed to county contributions. Where a town, not being a borough, maintains its own police and receives any payment from the county council in pursuance of this Act towards the pay and clothing of such police, this enactment shall apply to such town as if it were a borough, and as if the sanitary authority therein were the council of the borough.

(7)If any balance remains after all the above payments are .made, and is in excess of what the county council consider necessary to carry forward to the next account, such excess shall be divided among the district councils other than the councils of quarter sessions or other boroughs to whom portions of the surplus have been paid under the foregoing provisions of this section, and shall be so divided in proportion to the rateable value of the area of each district.

(8)Where any part of a county is situate within the Metropolitan Police district, this section shall apply as if that part were the area of a borough maintaining a separate police force, save that the sum which would be payable to such borough shall be paid to the district councils of the county districts wholly or partly situate in such part, and shall be divided among such district councils in proportion to the rateable value of the area of each district, or of so much thereof as is within the Metropolitan Police district.

(9)All sums paid in pursuance of this section shall be carried, if paid to the council of a borough, to the borough fund, and if paid to a district council other than the council of a borough, to the district fund, and shall be applied to purposes for which the whole of the borough or district is liable to be rated.

(10)The rateable value for the purpose of this section, shall be determined according to the standard or basis for county contributions for the time being.

24Payments by county council in substitution for annual local grants out of Exchequer in aid of local rates.

Whereas certain grants heretofore made- out of the Exchequer in aid of local rates (in this Act referred to as local grants) will by reason of the duties on the local taxation licences land the probate duty grant being by this Act made payable to local authorities, cease, it is therefore hereby enacted as follows:—

(1)So much of any enactment as requires or authorises payment out of the Exchequer of any local grant in substitution for which the county council is required by this Act to make any payment is hereby repealed as from the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act without prejudice to any right accrued before that day.

(2)In substitution for local grants, the council of each county shall from time to time as from the said day pay out of. the county fund and charge to the Exchequer Contribution Account the following sums, that is to say—

(a)they shall pay to the guardians for every poor law union or officer for any other area wholly or partly in the county (as the case may be) such sums as the Local Government. Board from time to time certify to be due from the said council in substitution for the local grants towards the remuneration of teachers in poor law schools, and for payments to public vaccinators under section five of the [30 & 31 Vict. c. 84.] Vaccination Act, 1867; and

(b)they shall pay to the guardians of every poor law union the school fees paid for pauper children sent from a workhouse to a public elementary school outside the workhouse; and

(c)they shall pay to every local authority, for any area wholly or partly in the county, by whom a medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances is paid, one half of the salary of such officer, where his qualification, appointment, salary, and tenure of office are in accordance with the regulations made by order under the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 55.] Public Health Act, 1875, or any Act repealed by that Act, but if the Local Government Board certify to the council that such medical officer has failed to send to the Local Government Board such report and returns as are for the time being required by the regulations respecting the duties of such officer made by order of the Board under any of the said Acts, a sum equal to such half of the salary shall be forfeited to the Crown, and the council shall pay the same into Her Majesty's Exchequer and not to the said local authority; and

(d)they shall pay to the guardians paying the registrars of births and deaths for any district wholly or partly in the county a sum equal to the amount paid out of local grants towards the remuneration of the registrars paid by those guardians during the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act; and

(e)they shall transfer to that account of the county fund to which the maintenance of any pauper lunatic chargeable to the county is charged, a sum equal to four shillings a week for each such pauper lunatic, for whom the net charge upon the county council, after deducting any amount received by the county council for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout, the period of maintenance for which the sum is so transferred ; and

(f)they shall pay to the guardians of every poor law union wholly or partly in the county a sum equal to four shillings a week for each pauper lunatic chargeable to that union, and maintained in an asylum, registered hospital, or licensed house, for whom the net charge upon the guardians, after deducting any amount received by them for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout the period of maintenance for which the sum is so paid ; and

(g)they shall pay to the council of each borough to which the maintenance of any pauper lunatic is chargeable, a sum equal to four shillings a week for each such pauper lunatic for whom the net charge upon the council of the borough, after deducting any amount received by them for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout the period of maintenance for which the sum is so paid; and

(h)they shall transfer to that account of the county fund to which the compensation payable to the clerk of the peace of a county, or any other officer of quarter sessions for the county, under section eighteen of the Act of the session of the eighteenth and nineteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and twenty-six is charged, the amount of such compensation ; and

(i)they shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, transfer to the police account of the county fund a sum equal to one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of the county during the preceding year; and

(j)they shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, pay to the council of each borough maintaining a, separate police force under the County and Borough Police Acts, one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of that borough during the preceding year; and

(k)they shall, if within their county sums are raised by rates for the purpose of the metropolitan police, pay to the receiver for the metropolitan police district in. each year, a sum bearing such proportion to the sum actually raised in the same year by rates from the parishes in that county for the said purpose as a Secretary of State certifies to be the proportion which would have been contributed out of the Exchequer under the arrangement in force during the financial year next before the passing of this Act.

(3)A reference in sections One hundred and- eighty-nine and one hundred and ninety-one of the Public Health Act, 1875, to officers any portion of whose salary is paid out of moneys provided by Parliament shall be construed to refer to those officers in respect of whose salaries payment is wade by a county council in pursuance of this section.

(4)Where any payment towards the pay and clothing of the police of any town has been made in pursuance of section eighteen of the [19 & 20 Vict. c. 69.] County and Borough Police Act, 1856, which authorises such payment to be made until the discontinuance of the police, the like payment shall, notwithstanding anything in this section, be made by the county council to the authority of such town until such discontinuance.

(5)Where a sum is payable under this section to the guardians, authority, or officer of a union or other area, and such union or area is situate in more administrative counties than one, a proportionate part only of the sum otherwise payable shall be paid by the council of each of such counties to the guardians, authority, or officer, and the Local Government Board shall certify the proportionate part due from the council of each such county.

(6)The guardians, authority, or officer to whom a sum is payable under this section on the certificate of the Local Government Board, shall submit to the Board their claim to the payment in such manner, and produce such evidence and comply with such rules as the Board from time to time require or make, and the Board shall fix the amount due on the like principles, and may impose the like conditions for the payment thereof as before the passing of this Act.

(7)The Local Government Board may, if they think fit, vary a certificate granted for the purposes of this section, but, unless so varied, it shall be conclusive.

25As to Secretary of State's power respecting efficiency of police.

(1)If a Secretary of State withholds as respects the police of any county, his certificate under the County and Borough Police Act, 1856, that the police of the county has been maintained in a state of efficiency in point of numbers and discipline during the year ending on the twenty-ninth day of September then last past, the council of that county, in lieu of transferring any sum under the foregoing provisions of this Act to the police account of the county fund, shall forfeit to the Crown and shall pay into Her Majesty's Exchequer out of the county fund, and shall charge to the Exchequer Contribution Account of that fund, such sum a3 the Secretary of State certifies to be in his opinion equivalent to one half of the cost of the pay and clothing of the police of the county during the said year.

(2)If a Secretary of State withholds, as respects the police of any borough, his certificate under the [19 & 20 Vict. c. 69.] County and Borough Police Act, 1856, that the police of the borough has been maintained in a state of efficiency in point of numbers and discipline for the year ending on the twenty-ninth day of September then last past, no payment shall be made by the county council to the council of the borough in respect of one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of that borough during the said year, and such amount as a Secretary of State certifies to be In his opinion the equivalent of such one half shall be transferred by the county council from the Exchequer Contribution Account to the general County account and applied to the general purposes of the county.

26Grant by county council towards costs of officers of union.

(1)After the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, every county council, other than the London county council, shall grant to the guardians of every poor law union wholly or partly in their county, an annual sum for the costs of the officers of the union and of district schools to which the union contributes; and, until Parliament otherwise determine, the said annual sum shall be such sum as the Local Government Board certify to have been expended by the guardians of each poor law union during the financial year ending the twenty-fifth day of March next before the passing of this Act, on the salaries, remuneration, and superannuation allowances of the said officers (other than teachers in poor law schools), and on drugs and medical appliances.

(2)Where a poor law union is situate in more counties than one, the payment under this section to the guardians of the union shall be borne by the counties in which each portion of such union is situate, in proportion to the rateable value of that portion, ascertained on such day as the Local Government Board may fix.

27Supplemental provisions as to local taxation account and Exchequer contribution account.

(1)When a county council are required under the provisions of this or any other Act to pay any sum into Her Majesty's Exchequer, or to the Treasury, or to the receiver for the metropolitan police district, such sum shall be deducted from the amount payable under the provisions of this Act out of the Local Taxation Account to such county council, and instead of being paid to the county council, shall be paid into Her Majesty's Exchequer, or to the receiver for the metropolitan police district, as the case requires.

(2)The account of the receipts and expenditure of the Local Taxation Account shall be audited as a public account by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in accordance with such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time make.

(3)If at any time in any financial year the moneys standing to the Local Taxation Account are insufficient to meet such sums as the Local Government Board consider proper for the time being to pay thereout, the Local Government Board may borrow temporarily on the security of the said account and of moneys becoming payable thereto such sums as they require for the purpose of meeting such deficiency, and the Bank of England may lend such sums, but all sums so borrowed shall be repaid with the interest thereon during the same financial year out of moneys payable to the said account.

General Provisions as to Transfer.

28General provisions as to powers transferred to county council.

(1)The county council shall, as respects the business by this Act transferred to them from quarter sessions or the justices out of sessions, be subject to the provisions and limitations in this Act specified, but, save as aforesaid, shall have and be subject to all the powers, duties, and liabilities, which the quarter sessions, or any committee thereof, or any justice or justices had or were subject to in respect of the business so transferred.

(2)The county council shall, with the exceptions herein-after mentioned, have power to delegate, with or without any restrictions or conditions as they may think fit, any powers or duties transferred to them by or in pursuance of this Act, either to any committee Of the county council appointed in pursuance of this Act/Or to any district council in this Act mentioned; the county council may also, without prejudice to any other power whether to appoint committees or otherwise, delegate to the justices of the county sitting in petty sessions any power or duty transferred by this Act to the county council in respect of the licensing of houses or places for the public performance of stage plays, and in respect of the execution as local authority of the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 17.] Explosives Act, 1875, or of the Act relating to contagious diseases of animals.

(3)Provided that the county council shall not under this section delegate any power of raising, money by rate or loan.

29Summary proceeding for determination of questions as to transfer of powers.

If any question arises, or is about to arise, as to whether any business, power, duty, or liability is or is not transferred to any county council or joint committee under this Act, that question, without prejudice to any other mode of trying it, may, on the application of a chairman of quarter sessions, or of the county council, committee, or other local authority concerned, be submitted for decision to the High Court of Justice in such summary manner as subject to any rules of court may be directed by the court; and the court, after hearing such parties and taking such evidence (if any") as it thinks just, shall decide the question.

30Standing joint committee of quarter sessions and county council for the purpose of police, clerk of the peace, officers, &c.

(1)For the purpose of the police, and the clerk of the peace, and of clerks of the justices, and joint officers, and of matters required to be determined jointly by the quarter sessions and the council of a county, there shall be a standing joint committee of the quarter sessions and the county council, consisting of such equal number of justices appointed by the quarter sessions and of members of the county council appointed by that council as may from time to time be arranged between the quarter sessions and the council, and in default of arrangement such number taken equally from the quarter sessions and the council as may be directed by a Secretary of State.

(2)The joint committee shall elect a chairman, and, in the case of an equality of votes for two or more persons as chairman, one of those persons shall be elected by lot.

(3)Any matter arising under this Act with respect to the police, Or to the. clerk of the peace, or to clerks of the justices, or to officers who serve both the quarter sessions or justices and the county council, or to the provision of accommodation for the quarter sessions or justices out of session or to the use by them or the police or the said clerks of any buildings, rooms, or premises or to the application of the [32 & 33 Vict. c. 49.] Local Stamp Act, 1869, to any sums received by clerks to justices, or with respect to anything incidental to the above-mentioned matters, and any other matter requiring to be determined jointly by the quarter sessions and county council, shall be referred to and determined by the joint committee under this section; and all such expenditure as the said joint committee determine to be required for the purposes of the matters above in this section mentioned, shall be paid out of the county fund, and the council of the county shall provide for such payment accordingly.