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LOCAL GOVERNMENT] in the £, 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 and.

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.

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.

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.

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 £50 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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