New powers of Local Government Board. Powers of CHAPTER IV. BOUNDARIES. IN this chapter it is intended to give an account of the boundaries of the various areas of importance in connection with Local Government, namely:-The parish, the union, the highway parish, the highway district, the borough, the sanitary districts, the county, the wards of boroughs and of sanitary districts, and the electoral divisions of counties. Before going into details, we may point out that under the Local Government Act, 1888, the Local Government Board have large new powers for dealing with local boundaries. In particular they may, by a Provisional Order, requiring confirmation by Parliament, alter county and borough boundaries, which it has hitherto been impossible, generally speaking, to deal with by any means short of an Act of Parliament; they may also by such an Order unite counties and county boroughs for all or any of the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1888, or divide counties. In certain cases the Board may, however, exercise their power, only in pursuance of a representation from a County or Town Council interested.1 County Councils also are given powers of dealing with local boundaries; in particular they may make Orders, requiring confirmation by the Local Government Board, dealing with parish boundaries and with the boundaries of sanitary districts, and also for converting rural sanitary districts, or parts thereof, into urban sanitary districts and vice verså.2 We now proceed to deal more in detail with each area which we have mentioned above. Parish. A parish is generally, as we have explained, either an old 1 Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 54. 2 Ib., sec. 57. ecclesiastical parish or a township, or some equivalent area.1 The boundaries of ancient parishes and of townships, &c., never were definitely determined, but were matters of tradition; and so far as the boundaries of parishes have not been definitely laid down by, or in pursuance of, recent statutes they still remain matters of tradition. Where a dispute arises as to the position of a parish boundary which has remained unaffected, the question must be decided by the Courts upon such evidence of tradition as is brought before them. The following is a brief account of the recent legislation and of the places in which records of the changes consequent upon such legislation have been kept. Until recently certain places were extra-parochial, i.e., not Extra-parochial in any parish. By an Act of 1857 (20 Vict. c. 19), such extra- places. parochial places as were entered as extra-parochial in the census returns for 1851 were made parishes. The Justices of the Peace were also empowered to make other extra-parochial places into parishes by simply appointing Overseers for them. The owners and occupiers of an extraparochial place might, with the consent of a parish, annex such a place to a parish. The annexation was effected by an Order of the Quarter Sessions of the county or borough in which the parish was situated, and such an Order might probably be found in the records of the parish or of the county. By the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1868(31 & 32 Vict.c. 122) 2 all remaining extra-parochial places were incorporated with the adjoining parish with which they had the longest common boundary, or in case of an equality of boundaries, with the parish of the lowest rateable value. of parishes. The next general Act affecting parish boundaries, dealt Detached parts with detached portions of parishes. Large numbers of parishes had formerly, and many have still, outlying portions completely detached from the main body. These cases had, before 1882, been dealt with in considerable numbers by the Local Government Board, under certain powers that we shall discuss subsequently. By the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 58), those portions of divided parishes which were wholly surrounded by another parish became part of the surrounding parish, and where two or more isolated parts of different parishes adjoining each other were wholly Tithe Commissioners and Inclosure Commissioners. Divided Parishes Acts. surrounded by another parish they in the same way became part of the surrounding parish. An opportunity was however given to the inhabitants of such a detached part of a parish, containing a population over 300, to apply to the Local Government Board to have such detached part made into a separate parish, but that provision had to be taken advantage of before the 1st December, 1882. Thus apart from awards, orders and statutes dealing with particular cases, a parish retains its traditional boundaries, but it may contain additional places that were extra-parochial in 1857 or 1868, or which were detached parts of other parishes in 1882. We now deal with the orders and awards that may have affected or defined parish boundaries. The Justices, as we have seen, had formerly power to annex extra-parochial places to parishes, and their Orders may be found among the records either of the parish or county. This power is of course obsolete. The Tithe Commissioners and the Inclosure Commissioners have power in certain cases to alter, define, and straighten parish boundaries.1 The records of these bodies in connection with parish boundaries may probably be found among the parish records of the parishes affected. These powers still exist, but are not of very general importance. Under the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 61), the Poor Law Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 54), and the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 58), the Local Government Board may deal with any parish :— (i.) which is divided so that some portions are completely detached from others; or (ii) which is divided so that part of it is divided from another part by the boundary of a municipal borough or of a county or by a river estuary or branch of the sea; or (iii) which has a part nearly detached from the rest of it or otherwise so situated as to render the administration of the relief of the poor, in such part, or its local 1 The powers of the Tithe Commissioners are contained in-6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 71, sec. 12; 1 Vict. c. 69, secs. 2, 3; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 62, secs. 34-36; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 15, sec. 28; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 73, sec. 21. The powers of the Inclosure Commissioners, in-41 Geo. III. c. 109, sec. 3; 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 115, sec. 28; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 31, secs. 2, 3; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 118, sec. 39; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 83, secs. 1, 9; 15 & 16 Vict. c. 79, sec. 28. government inconvenient in conjunction with the rest (iv.) which was before 1857 an extra-parochial place. The Local Government Board may make separate parishes of the detached parts, or annex them to existing parishes which they adjoin. Where it is proposed to deal with a parish in this way, notice must be given to the Clerk of the Peace of the county or counties in which the parts of the parish are situated, and also published in the parishes to be affected, in the same way as other parochial notices. A local inquiry is then held by the Local Government Board, and if it is decided to deal with the case the Board make an Order and send copies thereof to the Overseers of the parishes affected. The Order, however, must not take effect till the expiration of at least three months from the day on which a copy is sent to the Overseers. If one-tenth in number and rateable value of the persons appearing on the poor rate in force for the time being, give notice to the Local Government Board of their objection to the Order within three months after copies have been sent to the Overseers, the Order will be provisional only, and will require confirmation by Parliament. The actual change will take place on the 25th March next after the day on which the Order, if not objected to, takes effect, or, if objected to, next after the Act of Parliament confirming the Provisional Order. The Order of the Board may provide for an adjustment of debts and liabilities, the custody of parish records, compensation to officers deprived of employment, and decide who is to be Chairman of the vestry if a new parish is constituted. Under the Local Government Act, 1888, the County Council may, whenever they are satisfied that a primâ facie case is made out for a proposal for the alteration of a parish boundary or for the division of a parish, or for its amalgamation with any other parish or parishes, or for the transfer of part of a parish to another parish, cause an inquiry to be made in the locality, and notice thereof to be given both locally and to certain Government Departments. If satisfied that the proposal is desirable the County Council may make an Order for the same, which must be submitted to the Local Government Board for confirmation or alteration. Notice of the provisions of the Order must be given and copics thereof must be supplied. The procedure in the matter must 1 Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 57. Powers of County Council with regard to boundaries.1 parish be in accordance with rules that will be prescribed by the Local Government Board. If within three months after the first notice of the provisions of the Order is given, any number of county electors registered in any parish affected, not being less than one-sixth of the whole number, petition the Local Government Board to disallow the Order, the Local Government Board must hold a local inquiry to determine whether the Order is to be confirmed or not. If no petition is presented, or if a petition having been presented is withdrawn, the Local Government Board must confirm the Order, but may make any necessary modifications in it. The Order may provide for all incidental arrangements in the way of adjustment of property, debts, &c.1 The power of the Local Government Board under the Divided Parishes Acts is, however, unaffected by these provisions. Parish boundaries, we may point out, may cut any other boundaries save those of unions. Union. As a union is merely a combination of parishes the question of its boundaries in the strict sense depends merely on the boundaries of the constituent parishes. As to the formation, dissolution, and alteration of a union by the addition or subtraction of parishes, it is sufficient to point out that the Local Government Board have full powers to form new unions and to alter and dissolve existing unions.2 It is contemplated by the Local Government Act, 1888, that steps will be taken to deal with unions that stretch into more than one county, so as to obviate as far as possible the inconvenience of intersecting boundaries, but the County Council will have no power in the matter beyond making a representation to the Local Government Board that an alteration is desirable. The dealing with such unions is facilitated by a provision in the Act under which a union situated in more than one county may be divided by the Local Government Board into parts, one in each county, each part being for purposes of outdoor relief an independent union, while the 1 See Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 59. 2 Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76), secs. 26, 32. Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. |