View report page

1ll
the sanctioning of market tolls, the settling of boundaries, and
fixing of limits of new districts for the local councils, artisan
dwellings, and public health. The Poor Law is to be left mainly
as at present, under the control of Boards of Guardians.
Financial:—the new County Council will have power of borrowing
money for county purposes. Various license duties are transferred
to the County Council. It will be compelled to issue a yearly budget
of its receipts and expenditure, and the Local Government Board
retains its powers of audit and control. London, as defined by the
Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the City, is to be a County in
itself, with a Lord Lieutenant, a Bench of Magistrates, and a County
Council. The Metropolitan Board is to cease to exist, and it powers
and duties is to be transferred to the County Council. The police
will be managed by a joint Committee of the County Council and
Quarter Sessions Magistrates, with the exception of those of the
Metropolis and City of London. The first election of County
Councillors will take place in January next. The present Bill does
not touch Vestries and Disitrict Boards, but Mr. Ritchie stated it
was the intention of the Government to make a proposal at a future
time, "Not on the lines of creating separate municipalities for
London, but of amalgamating within certain defined areas the existing
Yestries, and Local Boards, and of constructing a County
Council, having large and important administrative functions."
The District Council is to be elected by the householders of the
district, and will generally take the place of the Local Boards now
exercising jurisdiction in the urban and rural sanitary districts.
There will be transferred to the District Council for each
district, other than a borough, the powers, duties, property, debts,
and liabilities; If the district is an urban district, of the Improvement
Commissioners or local Board, whether under any general or
local and personal Acts, or otherwise, and if it is a rural district,
of the rural sanitary authority, and such Improvement