MUNICIPAL LAW.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14326, 17 October 1910, Page 3

MUNICIPAL LAW.

•_ PROPOSED A number of important amendments to the municipal law aro made j> j Municipal Corporations Act ..mean- > jn"iit Bill, which has boon cnvulaved it. , the House. rv.twuh'tandimj an?: ; tiiiiia in .section To of tho principal j Act, "live Council may pay into a ; separate bank account all moneys ac- j cniin<£ from any public umlertakniii or i work controlled by it. '1 lie Council! may from time to time borrow at a I rate of interest not exceeding G per i centum per annum moneys irom the i bank by way of overdrait. «.r irom j anv corporation or person by way 01 temporary loan. provided _ that the < amount borrowed and ou oilj: by u.ie ■ Council or any of its accounts shall not , at any time exceed the estimated revenue of that- account, for the current year ending on the 31st day or -March; nor shall it at the end or tlie month of jMarcli in any year exceed the amount of revenue accruing toi thai year and payable into that- ncC'.nnt. and then loyally recoverable. Where at the end of the month o) March iii any year there is owing ny the Council on any oi its accounts an amount in *»i thv amount. peimitted by this section. the amount: oi Mich excess shall be taken into account*during the next succeeding year, as it it bad boon borrowed during that venr. , . . ~ Anv Council that- at- the unie t.ie passing 01 this Act has not jailed a special loan under scHicn ( 'i_ 1 principal Act. or under eeoiion Lm the Municipal Corporations Act. J.K.U, i-; authorised bv special order. ano without- taking any poll, to borrow ami ; raise by way of loan a >uiu oi money sufficient- to clear oft any o\eidraft- as exb'tim.; on ihe day <>i March imn. Tho provisions of the last section «hnll not come into ioree as regards anv such Council until «..he 31st dav of March. 1011. The Council may in any year set aside out ol' iU general account, any moneys to form a fund for the re-erei-;ion. repair, or re-in^iatemeni. ol an> building's or otlicr properly ihat may bfi-ome destroyed or damaged by si»v. The Cunneil may annually transfer to the general account Irom each separate aeci ;uni kept by it Mich sum as iypreseiKs the proportionate part ol the office, clerical, legal, and ot.her like •°xpen«c*. of tb.e Council attributable to sucli separate account. On the presentation to ihe Governor of a petition praying that any area constituted a new borough, or added

to or excluded from any signed by at lee-t 10 per cent, of the ratepavers. and a<-conipan:<.d by a deposit of :Cin. the (bivertior .dndl <l:rect that a latll bo taken. Melore directing the taking of the poih 'The Govenior .shall (.hreet a. CommissioiK consisting of the Commissioner oi Crown Lands and the oificcr in charge of the valuation district Jn wliich the area is situated, to enquire and repurt to him as to the suitability for municipal control cif the area rorerred to. if' the re.-.ult of the poll is not in favour of tho proposal, then no IreMi petition shall be presented to the Governor within two years after the date of the poll. Immediately after tho close of any general election of councillors the :e----turning officer and each deputy returning" officer shall seal up all the voting papers u>ed at his booth, run! endorse .such packet, and a'.-o the copy of tho roll marked, as provided \ v tion 23 of th-e Local Elections Poll Act. 100 S. v/ith the name of the booth; and each deputy returning officer «3ndl deliver tb.e said packet and copy of tho roll to the returning <i:'!ioer.

The residential qualilicaiion of an ekctor is altered ti> mean that ho has resided for one year in Xew Zealand, and lias resided in the borough or in tho ward of a divided borough during the three month.- then last past, and is a British subject, either by birth or "bv naturalisation in New Zealand TI lis section shall not operate so as to affect any 'election of a. member of a council held before tho genera! election of members next after t.he pa—ing of this Act. For tho purposes of 1 his section a man shall be deemed to :e----*ide in the place in wliich he has his permanent home.

The clause relating to contracts and "the disounlifi f-ntion "f is

altered to ro;ul as follows: —"Any person shall l>c incurable uf holding tho offu-e of Mayor or councillor who is concerned or pariicipaiinu: (otherwiso than as a member of an incorporated company, in which there are more than twenty member?-) in anv ;n----tract-. or v.'ork to be done, or the supply of c;oods for the council, if t.he payment Tor such Trorlt. or ceiil ract. supply, exceeds £5 for any one contract. or work, or supply, or CIO altogether in anv year if there ho inure than one contract, of work, or simply." The written consent of the C.nuril shall be recjiiired to rnihlie entertainment* held on fiond Friday or Christmas Day. as well as an Suiulavs.