Rural Sanitary districts. Constitution of Sanitary Business of Sanitary vided that where a borough was at the passing of that Act wholly included in a local government district, or in an improvement act district, it should be absorbed for the purposes of that Act in the larger district, and that the Local Board or Improvement Commissioners, as the case might be, should be the Sanitary Authority, so that in a few cases the Town Council of a borough does not act as Sanitary Authority for the borough.1 Every union Board of Guardians, or parish under a less so much as is comprised in urban sanitary districts, is a "Rural Sanitary District." The Rural Sanitary Authority is the Board of Guardians, but ex-officio Guardians resident in, and elected Guardians elected for, parishes in urban districts, have no vote on matters connected with the business of the Board in its capacity of Sanitary Authority. The Local Government Board have very full powers of dividing and altering the boundaries of local government districts and of constituting new local government districts. In some cases they can only exercise their powers by Provisional Order, requiring confirmation by Parliament, and in certain other cases they may exercise their power by an Order absolute in the first instance.2 With regard to the constitution of the different Sanitary Authorities— Ist. We have already briefly explained the constitution of a Town Council.3 2nd. Improvement Commissioners are of course appointed or elected in accordance with the local Act. 3rd. Members of a Local Board are elected by the ratepayers and owners of the district voting in proportion to the rateable value of their property and on the same scale as ratepayers and owners in parish vote in the election of Guardians of the poor.4 4th. The constitution of a board of Guardians which we have already explained.5 The business with which a Sanitary Authority have to deal comprises the following matters under the Public Health Act, 1875, and amending Acts : Sewerage and Drainage. Scavenging and Cleansing. 1 The boroughs in which this is the case are, besides those mentioned above, Banbury, Chippenham, Faversham, Launceston, Lyme Regis, Lymington, and Morpeth. 2 See the Public Health Act, 1875, Part VIII. 3 See ante, p. 10. 4 See ante, p. 8. 5 See ante, p. 7. The Labouring Classes Lodging-houses Acts. The Public Libraries Acts. The Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. The expenses of Urban Sanitary Authorities are met— (1.) By the income of their property and undertakings. Improvement Rates." General district rates are rates levied to meet the ordinary expenditure of the Sanitary Authority which is not otherwise provided for. They are assessed by the Sanitary Authority on all property in their district rateable to the poor rate, according to its rateable value, but arable land and some other descriptions of property are assessed at only one-quarter of the rateable value of the property for the purposes of the poor rate. Highway rates are levied in certain cases only; the repairs of highways being generally defrayed out of general district rates; if levied they are made, assessed, and levied by the Sanitary Authority in the same way as a rate made by the Surveyor of a highway parish, and the above-mentioned exemption does not apply. Private improvement rates are levied to defray expenses which, under the Public Health Act, 1875, are, or may be declared, private improvement expenses. These are expenses incurred by the Sanitary Authority for the benefit of particular property or persons, as, for example, in paving Expenses of Expenses of Changes under the Local Governinent Act.1 a private street. They are payable only by the occupiers of the property affected. (3.) By grants in aid made by the Treasury. These grants in aid are in respect of main roads, and salaries (2.) By rates chiefly of three kinds, namely, a rate levied to meet "General Expenses," rates levied to meet "Special Expenses," and "Private Improvement Rates." General expenses are the establishment charges, &c., and other expenses not otherwise provided for, and the rate to meet general expenses is made and assessed by the Sanitary Authority on the parishes and other contributory places in their district according to their rateable value, and levied by the Overseers as part of the poor rate. Special Expenses are the expenses declared by the Public Health Act, 1875, or otherwise, to be special expenses. Rates to meet special expenses may be levied over the whole district or over particular parishes and contributory places only. They are assessed according to the rateable value of the property, but arable land and certain other kinds of property are assessed at one-quarter of their value only. They are levied by the Overseers as a separate rate; but, where the sum required from any parish or contributory place to meet special expenses is less than £10, or so small as to require a rate less than one penny in the pound, it is levied as part of the poor rate. Private improvement rates are made and levied by a Rural Sanitary Authority in the same way as by an Urban Sanitary Authority. (3.) By "grants in aid" made by the Treasury. These grants are the same as those made to Urban Sanitary Authorities, except that, as a rule, a Rural Sanitary Authority does not maintain main roads, and accordingly receives no grant in aid in respect of main roads. The following are the principal changes made by the Local Government Act, 1888, with regard to sanitary districts and Sanitary Authorities. Firstly. Wherever the Town Council of a borough is not the Urban Sanitary Authority for their borough, the Local Government Board are to deal with the case by Pro 1 Local Government Act, 1888, secs. 24, 52. visional Order, so that in future the Town Council shall be the Sanitary Authority for their borough. The Order may involve alterations of boundaries. Secondly. The "grants in aid" will cease to be paid by the Treasury, but the Sanitary Authority will receive equivalent grants, except for main roads, from the County Council of the county in which the sanitary district is situated. Thirdly. A Sanitary Authority other than the Town Council of a borough with a separate Court of Quarter Sessions or a separate police force, may share in the ultimate surplus of the proceeds of the imperial taxes paid over to the county; but it is probable that these sums will be entirely absorbed in payments which must be made before any surplus is divisible between the Sanitary Authorities. County. We have already explained briefly the nature of the County County. Council that is to be established in each county. It remains to give a sketch of the existing arrangements for local government in counties. The word county is a term of which it is impossible to give any satisfactory definition. England and Wales comprises fifty-two counties in the ordinary sense of the word. These counties have existed from very early times, and their boundaries are for the most part matters of tradition. Now in addition to these counties certain cities and towns have been by charter or statute made counties of themselves. These cities and towns are, besides the City of London in the Metropolis, the cities of Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Exeter, Gloucester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich, Worcester, and York, and the towns of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Kingston upon Hull, Nottingham, Poole, and Southampton. But these counties of cities and towns, which are also called counties corporate, are for some purposes considered as being part of the counties, ordinarily so called, in which they are situated. And this is the case universally for the purposes of parliamentary representation, for which purpose, therefore, the whole country is mapped out into thesc fifty-two counties. The local government of each county is at present in Quarter Sessions. the hands of the Justices of the Peace, appointed by a Commission of the Peace for the county, in accordance with a practice that can be traced back to the fourteenth century. The Commission of the Peace gives the Justices power, in general terms, to keep the peace in the county, &c., and secondly, gives any two or more Justices authority To inquire by jury of all offences within the bounds of the Commission; To inspect all indictments; To grant out process against offenders; To hear and try all such offences when the offenders are before them; To give judgment and inflict penalties. The jurisdiction of the Justices of the Peace for a county is exercised partly out of Sessions, or in Petty Sessions, and partly in Quarter Sessions, which are public sessions of the Justices held quarterly. The jurisdiction conferred on the Justices by their Commission is as we see entirely criminal; but it very early became usual in statutes to confer jurisdiction on the Justices of a civil nature, partly judicial and partly administrative; the administrative jurisdiction being generally given to the Justices in Quarter Sessions assembled. Thus the jurisdiction of the Quarter Sessions is of three kinds. (i.) Criminal jurisdiction conferred on them, by their Commission, which is beyond our province. (ii.) Original civil and administrative jurisdiction, which comprises many matters, all of which have been conferred on them by various statutes, there being no mention of civil matters in the Commission. (iii.) Appellate jurisdiction, which is also entirely conferred on them by statutes. It now becomes necessary to inquire into the local extent of the jurisdiction of the Quarter Sessions of each county. We must first point out that Yorkshire is divided into three ridings and Lincolnshire into three divisions, namely, the "parts" of Kesteven, Lindsey, and Holland, into each of which ridings and divisions a separate Commission of the Peace issues. Each of these ridings and divisions is thus, for the purposes of local government, very much in the position of an independent county, and we may, using a phrase which has been somewhat vaguely employed, call each of the remaining fifty counties, and each of these ridings and divisions, a "County at Large." By the Commission of the Peace issuing into each county at large, Justices are appointed for the whole county; it has, however, always been a prerogative of the Crown to grant |