A.D. 1875. P.H., ss. 18, 19. is divided into wards, one third of the number elected for each ward (being those who have been longest in office) shall go out of office on the fifteenth of April in each year. 60. The order in which the persons elected at the first election of a local board for a district constituted after the passing of this Act shall go out of office shall be regulated by the local board, and if the number of persons to be elected is not divisible by three, the proportion to go out of office in each year shall be regulated by the local board so that as nearly as may be one third shall go out of office in each year. 61. No person elected shall in any case continuously remain in office (without re-election) for more than three years: Provided that if the number of persons to be elected for any ward is less than three, the persons elected shall go out of office on the fifteenth of April in such year or years as the local board may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, determine. 62. Before the fifteenth of April in each year a number of persons, equal to the number of retiring members, shall be elected in manner provided by this schedule, and so many others as may be necessary to complete the full number of the local board in respect of which the election is held. 63. Any person who has ceased be a member is re-eligible (if qualified). Disqualification of Members. 64. Any member who ceases to hold his qualification, or becomes bankrupt, or submits his affairs to liquidation by arrangement, or compounds with his creditors, or is absent from meetings of the local board for more than six months consecutively (unless in case of illness), or accepts or holds any office or place of profit under the local board of which he is member, or in any manner is concerned in any bargain or contract entered into by such board, or participates in the profit thereof, or of any work done under the authority of this Act in or for the district, shall, except in the cases hereinafter provided, cease to be such member, and his office as such shall thereupon become vacant : Provided that no member shall vacate his office— By reason of his being interested in the sale or lease of any lands or in any loan of money to the local board; or By reason of his being interested in any contract with the local board as a shareholder in any joint stock company, but he shall not vote at any meeting of the local board on any question in which such company are interested, save that in the case of a water company, or other company established for the carrying on of works of a like public nature, this prohibition may be dispensed with by the Local Government Board. Interest in Contract.-In an action for penalties against a Town Commissioner under a local Act which incorporated the Commissioners Clauses Act, 1847, 10 & 11 Vict. c. 16, for acting as a Commissioner after having become disqualified, a bill was produced made out by the defendant, and addressed to the Commissioners, for lime purporting to have been supplied at four different times, and receipted by the defendant; it was held that there was evidence to go to a jury that the defendant was "concerned in or participated in a contract" within the 9th section of the 10 & 11 Vict. c. 16, and that he thereby became "disqualified" within section 15 of the same Act. Nicholson v. Fields, 31 L. J. Exch. 233; 7 H. & N. 810. In Woolley v. Kay, 25 L. J. Exch. 351, however, the Court seemed to be of opinion that a mere casual dealing, such as going to a shop for an article and paying for it over the counter, would not be contracting for the supply of articles so as to make a person liable to a penalty if he afterwards continued to act as a Commissioner under a local Act. See also Le Feuvre v. Lankester, 3 E. & B. 530; 23 L. J. Q. B. 254; 18 Jur. (N.s.) 894, on the same point. Where one of the trustees of a turnpike road let horses to a contractor to perform certain works on the turnpike road, and the horses were used in the execution of the works, the trustee was held liable to the penalty imposed by 3 Geo. IV. c. 126, s. 65. Towsly v. White, 5 B. & C. 125. Casual Vacancies. A.D. 1875. 65. Any casual vacancy occurring by death resignation L.G., s. 24 (7). disqualification failure duly to elect members or otherwise in a local board shall be filled up by the local board out of qualified persons within six weeks or within such further period as the Local Government Board may by order allow; but the member so chosen shall retain his office so long only as the vacating member would have retained the same if no vacancy had occurred. In the event of a casual vacancy, or of an ordinary vacancy which ought to have been filled up at a previous election, being filled up at an annual election, if there is a poll, the member who has been elected by the fewest votes shall be deemed elected to fill such vacancy; if there is no poll, the member to be deemed to be elected to fill such vacancy shall be determined by lot. See the Introduction, ante, pp. 1xx, lxxi. General Provisions. 66. Whenever the day appointed for the performance of P.H., s. 23. any act in relation to any election is a Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, a Bank holiday, or any day appointed for public fast or thanksgiving, such act shall be performed on the day next following, unless it is one of the days excluded as aforesaid; and in that case on the day following such excluded day. Observe that Bank holidays are added to the days hitherto excluded. 67. The necessary expenses attendant on any election, and P.H., s. 30. such reasonable remuneration to the returning officer and other persons for services performed or expenses incurred by them in relation thereto as may be allowed by the local board, shall be paid out of the general district rates levied under this Act. A.D. 1875. P.H., s. 28. L.G., s. 13 (5). P.H., s. 19. The Court will not order a Local Board to pay a reasonable compensation to the person conducting the first election of the Board upon a suggestion that an inadequate sum has been allowed; as the Board have a discretion as to what sum they think reasonable to allow, and the exercise of their discretion in this respect is not subject to review. Ex parte Metcalfe, 6 E. & B. 278; 2 Jur. (N.s.) 1245. 68. If the returning officer refuses or neglects to comply with any of the provisions of this schedule relating to elections, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds; and any person employed for the purposes of any such election by or under the returning officer who is guilty of any such neglect or refusal shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. In Somerhill v. Coley, 32 J. P. 324, the Court were clear that the penal provision in 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 28, only applied to neglect or disregard of clear and undoubted directions, not mere mistakes upon doubtful points. Proceedings for the recovery of the penalty will be taken before justices under sect. 251, ante. A chairman of a Local Board of Health was charged, under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 28, with neglect to deliver the voting-papers to the Local Board at their meeting, pursuant to sect. 27 of the Act. The prosecutor, a member of the Board, had not been a candidate at the election, and the persons returned at the election were properly elected; but as the prosecutor had not obtained the consent of the Attorney-General or Local Board, under sect. 133, to prosecute, he was held not to be a party aggrieved, and the justices had therefore no jurisdiction to convict. Reg v. Blanshard, 30 J. P. 280. 69. Any person who Fabricates in whole or in part or alters defaces destroys abstracts or purloins any voting paper, or Personates any person entitled to vote at any election, or Falsely assumes to act in the name or on the behalf of any person so entitled to vote, or Interferes with the delivery or collection of any voting papers, or Delivers any voting paper under a false pretence of being lawfully authorised so to do, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or, in the discretion of the court, to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not exceeding three months. The court had formerly no option of imposing a penalty. The wife of a voter, in the absence of her husband, promised his vote, and not being able to write, placed a mark on the voting-paper, which was attested by a witness who was canvassing for the candidate to whom the promised vote was given. He did this, and placed the voter's initials against the name of the candidate, believing that the wife was authorized to fill up the voting-paper, and that he was not acting contrary to the Act. On an information for fabricating a voting-paper, it was held that he had not fabricated a voting-paper within the meaning of the Act. Aberdare v. Hammett, 44 L. J. M. C. 49; 32 L. J. (N.s.) 20; 39 J. P. 598. 70. Any person who, not being duly qualified to act as member of the local board, or not having made and subscribed the declaration required of him by this Act, or being disabled from acting by any provision of this Act, acts as such member, shall be liable to a penalty of fifty pounds, which may be recovered by any person, with full costs of suit, by action of debt; in such action it shall be sufficient for the plaintiff to prove in the first instance that the defendant at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed acted as such member; and the burden of proving qualification, an the making and subscription of the declaration, or of negativing disqualification by reason of non-residence or not being seised or possessed of the requisite real or personal estate, or both, shall be on the defendant. But all acts and proceedings of any person disqualified disabled or not duly qualified, or who has not made and subscribed the declaration required by this Act, shall, if done previously to the recovery of the penalty mentioned in this Act, be valid and effectual to all intents and purposes. As to Local Boards established before the passing of the Local 71. Where the district of a local board established under the Public Health Act, 1848, before the passing of the Local Government Act, 1858, comprises the whole or any part of a borough or boroughs, and also parts not within the boundaries of any such borough, the following provisions shall have effect, (namely,) (a.) Each person selected by the council of any such (d.) The meeting of any council at which any selection as (e.) If any person is both selected and elected to be a member of any such local board, he shall, within three days after notice thereof from the clerk, choose, or, in default of such choice, the local board of which Y A.D. 1875 A.D. 1875. L. G., s. 10. L.G. 1863, s. 5. he is so selected and elected to be member shall determine, the title in respect of which he shall serve; and immediately on such choice or determination the person so selected and elected shall be deemed to be member only in respect of the title so chosen or determined, and his office as member in respect of any other title shall thereupon become vacant. 72. Elective members of any local board established under the Public Health Act, 1848, before the passing of the Local Government Act, 1858, shall be elected by such owners of property and ratepayers and in such manner as in this schedule mentioned; and the provisions of this schedule (with the exception of the provisions relating to the number and qualification of members) shall apply accordingly. Temporary Provisions. 73. All members of local boards existing at the time of the passing of this Act shall, notwithstanding any provision of any Act or order confirmed by Parliament, continue to hold office till the fifteenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six; and the next election of members of such local boards shall be held in accordance with the provisions of this schedule. 74. The provisions of section twenty-six of the Sanitary Law Amendment Act, 1874, shall be deemed not to have been compulsory in the case of the first election of members of any local board elected after the passing of that Act, and before the passing of this Act; and all elections held or purporting to have been held in accordance with such provisions before the passing of this Act, shall be deemed to have been duly held, and to be valid for all purposes. Oxford. 75. Nothing in the rules of this schedule shall apply to the local government district of Oxford. (II.) PROCEEDINGS IN CASE OF LAPSE OF LOCAL BOard. 1. Where any local board lapses through its members ceasing to hold office, and failure to elect new members in manner by this Act provided, any mortgagee or other person entitled to any principal or interest on any mortgage of rates made by such local board may, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, apply for the appointment of a receiver to a court of summary jurisdiction. The said court may, by writing under their hands, appoint a person to make levy and collect the whole or a competent part of the rates liable to the payment of the principal and interest in respect of which the application is made, and to recover all arrears of such rates until such principal and interest, together with the costs of the application and of collection, are paid; and on |