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tant duties now discharged by the London County Council, under the
provisions of the London Building Act, 1894, to the Borough Councils;
also for the transfer to such Councils of the duty of registering dairymen
under the Public Health Act, 1891, and of executing the Common
Lodging Houses Acts. These duties are set out in Part I of the Second
Schedule to the Bill. It also provides for the exercise of certain other
powers (set out in Part II of the Second Schedule) by the Borough
Councils as well as by the London County Council. The most important
of these are powers to acquire land compulsorily (under the Lands
Clauses Acts, and after public inquiry and Provisional Order of Local
Government Board) and to adopt Part III of the Housing of the
Working Classes Act, 1890 (the provision of lodging houses, including
cottages).
The clause also provides that upon agreement between any Borough
Council and the London County Council any powers exercised by the
London County Council may be transferred to the Borough Council by
a Local Government Board provisional order. Where any such transfer
has been made the Local Government Board may on the application of
any Borough Council make a like transfer to that Council, and where
such transfer has been made to a majority of the Councils an order
may be made for a like transfer to all the remaining Councils.
Clause 6 is of great importance. It authorises the Privy Council
to make a provisional order determining which of the powers under the
London Building Act, 1894, or any amending Act, other than the powers
mentioned in Part I of the second schedule, are to be exercised by the
London County Council and the Borough Councils respectively. The
order may also embody such modifications of the Building Act as may
appear expedient.
Clause 7 provides that the duty of maintaining a main road shall
be transferred to the Borough Councils, and that where a highway in a
borough is repairable by the London County Council the Borough
Council shall, if required by the London County Council, undertake its
maintenance in consideration of an annual payment. The clause also
transfers to Borough Councils the power of closing a street for repairs,
the duty of enforcing bye-laws and regulations with respect to dairies,
slaughterhouses, &c. The London County Council will apparently
continue to exercise the power of licensing cowhouses and slaughterhouses.
The clause authorises the Borough Councils to alienate land, but
the Board has this power now without the restrictions proposed to be
made. It also gives power to promote and oppose Bills in Parliament.
This is, however, subject to the provisions of the Borough Funds Act,