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103
Clerk, were appointed delegates to represent the Vestry at a
conference held on the 31st January 1896 at Spring Gardens on the
subject of the powers exercised respectively by the London County
Council and the Vestries and District Boards of the metropolis.
The following resolution was agreed to by the Vestry on the
26th June 1895 :—
That the Vestry concur in the letter from the Vestry of Kensington in
favour of an amended rule being framed and issued by the Local
Government Board for providing that all casual vacancies in the office
of vestrymen occasioned by death, resignation or disqualification,
shall be filled at the annual election next held for filling the vacancies
created by the retirement of one-third of the body through effluxion
of time; and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Local
Government Board.
Vestrymen serving on Juries.—The Vestry on the 12th June 1895
disagreed with a suggestion made by the Vestry of St. Luke's in
favour of promoting legislation to exempt members of Vestries and
District Boards from liability to serve on juries in consideration of
the onerous and responsible nature of their municipal duties.
London Equalisation of Rates Act, 1894.—At the suggestion of the
Governors and Directors of Bermondsey the Vestry on the 27th
November 1895 resolved to address the Local Government Board,
pointing out the unfair method of computing the number of
dwellinghouses for the purposes of the Act by counting each block
of model dwellings as one house only. The reply of the Board,
with letter from the Registrar-General upon the subject, stood
referred to the General Purposes Committee at the close of this
Report.
The total sum payable to the parish for the year out of the
Equalisation Fund was £10,853 3s. 0d.
Shops (Early Closing J Bill.—Upon the consideration of this Bill,
which was intended to provide for the closing of shops at certain
hours on one specified day of the week upon two-thirds of the shopkeepers
in the district applying in writing to the local authority
(which in London would be the London County Council), the Vestry
resolved on the 18th March 1896 : —
That the Vestry express their concurrence in the object of the Shops
(Early Closing) Bill introduced into Parliament by Sir John Lubbock,
and that the borough members be asked to support the same.