THE COUNTIES ACT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 195, 5 December 1876, Page 2

THE COUNTIES ACT.

The following is a brief and useful synopsis of the Act, extracted from the Lyttelton Times: —• With this Act, which is divided into - eleven parts, are incorporated the Rating Act, 1876 ; th~ Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876 ; and the Public Works Act, 1876. By part 11. the districts described in the schedule are created counties. Boroughs are not included in counties,, and any place becoming a borough will therefore cease to form part of a county. The Governor may divide any county into; nine or less ridings. The governing body of every county is to consist of a chairman! man and council, and the inhabitants of every county will form a body corporate. Any council may within three months after its first meeting determine by resolution that the portions of the Act named in the third schedule shall not come into force in the county, and thereafter the council will only be able to hold meetings for the purposes of rescindirg such resolution, of petitioning for an alteration of . boundaries, of electing a chairman, and of distributing the county funds amongst road districts. On the petition of threefifths of the electors of any district containing not less than a hundred thousand acres, nor less than a hundred electors, the Governor may constitute such district a new county, provided that no resolution to the contrary is passed by both Houses of the Assembly at its next session. Tha Governor may also, on petition of onethird of the electors in each of two or more counties, unite such counties into one, provided the proclamation purporting to effect this union is not negatived by resolution of both Houses of the Assembly. The Governor is also empowered to alter the boundaries of counties on petition from the councils of the counties affected by such alteration.. Councils may alter the number and boundaries of ridings, and may, on petition of a proportion of the property-holders in a road district.declare such district merged in the county and its board dissolved. Every person .those name appears on the valuation roll of a road district within a riding, or on the list of electors of an outlying district, -or on the list of persons to whom miners' rights have been issued, within the riding, is a county elector. Property valued at less than £-50 will confer one vote ; at from £SO to £IOO, two votes ; at from £IOO to £l5O, three votes ; at from £l5O to £350, four votes ; and at more than £330, five votes. A miner's right entitles the holder to one vote only. A roll of electors is to be prepared before April 15 in each year, the valuation being . made in the manner provided by " Th.e Rating Act, 1876," and the new roo will come into force on July 1. Each . council, at its first meeting, and subsequently at the annual meeting to be held on the fourth Wednesday in November, is to elect its chairman from the members of the council. The chairman will hold office until the election of Ha successor, and may receive such salary as the Council thinks fit to give him» The Governor-in-Council is to determine the number of councillors to be elected by each riding, but so that the council shall consist of not less than six, nor more than nine members, exolusive of the chairman, and that there shall be at least one councillor for each riding. The councils have, however, power to alter the number of councillors for each riding. Any person, holding any office or place of profit in the gift of the council, or being concerned in any partnership (except. as a shareholder in any partnership of more than twenty persons), in any contract with or works done for the council, is incapacitated from becoming a member. After the first elections there is to be a general election of councillors on the second Wednesday in November of every year. The councils are to arrange their own times of meeting —half of the whole number of couaqaUp lß being a sufficient" quorum. The county fund consists of rates, tells, grants, by the Assembly, moneys payable under "The Financial Arrangements Act, 1876," rents from property, vested in the corporation, fees and fines recovered under the bye-laws, moneys received by way of loan and voluntary donations. The council may levy a general to the amount in any one year of one shilling in the pound on the rateable value of property. It may also levy a separate rate to the same amount upon any particular portion of the county, upon petition of half the ratepayers therein, for the purpose of executing works for the special benefit of that portion. Further, the council may make special rates for the purpose of providing interest and sinking fund on any loan. Clauses 116 to 138 provide for the proper keeping and audit iag of the accounts. The following clauserelate to loans. Special loans to the extent of four times tue general rates in any one year may be raised for special public works in a county. For this purpose a meeting of the ratepayers is to be called in each riding, and a poll, in the form of a ballot, to be taken respecting the proposal. The number of the votes given for the'proposal within the several ridings taken together exceeds the number given against it by one-fifth, the proposal is to be deemed carried, but not otherwise. The council is also empowered to anticipate its revenue by an overdraft at the bank to the extent of the receipts of the county fund during j?rj3t year ending on March 31 Moneys illegally borrowed are t<gr~ deemed to be a debt jointly and severi . due to the county from each a^ A " *

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