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24
A memorial embodying the views of the Conference
was forwarded to the Government. The Conference
was attended by representatives of 26 of the 42
Vestries and District Boards, having an area of 37,697
acres, a rateable value of £16,299,412, and a population
of 2,421,256. The Conference at Westminster (to
which District Boards were not invited) was attended
by representatives of 20 Vestries, having an area of
35)93° acres, a rateable value of £20,669,792, and a
population of 2,615,157.
The Board having been informed that the Government
were drafting a Bill for the Local Government
of London, presented a memorial praying that in such
Bill provision should be made for the incorporation of
the five parishes forming this District into one Municipality.
The Bill was brought in by Mr. A. J. Balfour,
First Lord of the Treasury, on the 23rd February.
The following report upon it was made by the Clerk,
viz.:—
Clause 1 of this Bill provides for the division of the Administrative
County of London (exclusive of the City) into Metropolitan Boroughs.
Each of the areas mentioned in the first schedule to the Bill is to be
formed into a separate borough, subject to such alteration of area as
may be required to give effect to the provisions of the Act and to such
adjustment of boundaries as may appear to the Privy Council expedient
for simplification or convenience of administration. There are sixteen
areas contained in the first schedule, one being the Wandsworth District
as at present constituted.
Every other borough, unless for special reasons' to be stated in a
report to Parliament, must have either a rateable value exceeding
.£500,000 or a population of between one and four hundred thousand.
The areas of these boroughs will be settled by Commissioners and a
Committee of the Privy Council after the Bill is passed.
Clause 2 provides that the Council of a Borough shall consist of a
Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors. An order in Council is to fix the
number of Councillors and the number and boundaries of the Wards.
The number of Aldermen and Councillors is not to exceed 72. The
clause applies the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1888, with