The horoughs which will fall under the operation of the

bill are Ifei in number. In each of these is to be a distinct body corporate, under the title of Mayor and Burgesses.

The qualification of a burgess consists in the occupation of, and pay- ment of rates, for any tenement within the limits of a borough, or within seven miles of it, for three years; but the rates must not remain unpaid for more than six months previously to the revision of the burgess-roll; nor must the burgess have received parochial relief or aid from the charitable Niels of the borough, within the twelve months preceding the revision of the roll ; as in these eases his rights are placed in abey- ance. U.ith regard to occupation and rating, it is provided, that a mere change of premises in the same borough will 114A affect the rights of a burgess. It is only necessary that he should have resided somewhere in the borough for three years, and paid rates for not less than two years and six months. Any person struck off the roll for non. compliance with these conditions, may, however, Ito restored to it, if within two years he

shall again become a rated inhabitant. After the passing of the act, the old modes of electing burgesses will be abolished ; mid no one will be enrolled as a member of the body corporate, except by virtue of occue parley and payment of rates, as above stated.

All the exclusive privileges heretofore and at present enjoyed by the members of corporate bodies,—such as use of common lands, and the funds of charities, the right of working at certain trades, and exercising certain callings,—are to be abolished,aftar the death of the persons now possessing them, and of their widows ; and in future the revenues of all common lands and corporate property are to be applit d to the benefit of the public generally; and every person, without molestation from guilds or companies, may make and sell any thing not in itself unlawful, within the limits of any borough.

The 1:urgess-ro1l is to be made out by the Overseers of each parish, on the last day of August in each year. The Town-Clerk (the mode of whose appointment will be mentioned) must keep a copy of the roll, for inspection without fee. Persons claiming to be enrolled, whose names have been omitted by the Overseers, must hand in a prescribed form of notice of claim to the Town-Clerk, before the 15th of Sep- tember. Objections to the names on the roll must also be notified be- fore the same day. The roll is to be revised by the Mayor between the 1st and 15th of October. The burgess-roll being thus completed, the persons on it are to pro- ceed on the anth day of October to elect out of their own body members for a Town- Council. The members of the Town-Council are to be chosen for three years ; but in the first instance there is a peculiarity. At the end of one year, one third of them, consisti ig of those who stood lowest on the poll, are to retire, and the burgesses are to be called upon to elect successors to them—the persons retiring being reeligible. At the close of the second year, another third, being those next lowest on the poll of the first elected, are to retire ; and at the close of the third year, the remaining third division must give way. Where there is a doubt as to who the retiring parties should be, arising from two or more persons having the same number of votes, the majority of the Council is to name them.

The proposed mode of electing Town-Councillors is as follows. Fah voter is to deliver to the Mayor a paper containing th2 names and residence of the parties he supports, signed with his mime, and a brief description of the property in virtue of which he claims the right of suffrage. No questions, except as to his identity, and whether he had

previously voted, are to be asked at the polling-booth. his name on the roll is to be taken as proof of his right to vote. The Mayor is to act as returning officer. Up to the close of the first election (to take place on the 25th of October next), the Mayors chosen under the present system will act as return it officers ; len on that day, the Mayors, Aldermen, Conomm Conneilmen, and all the officers of the existing Corporations, will go out of °thee; except Justices of the Peace, who will remain till May Ist, 13:;;;. The Town. Councilselected by the people will assume their fenctions; and their first duty will be to elect a Mayor, to act as their presiding officer, nod perform the duties of a Justice of the Peace fin- tile county as well as borough. There is to be nu property qualification for a Town-Councillor, or for the Mayor. Thus far the same provisions of the bill apply to all the 183

boroughs. We have now to point out some distinctions in its mode of operation. The number of members of which the Town. Council is to consist, varies according to the size of the borough : in sonic in- stances the boundaries of the Municipal Boroughs are the same as those fixed by ths Parliamentary Boundary Act ; in others, they remain to be settled by Ce;mmissiimers to be named by the Crown. As regards the admillistrati.•ii of jestire, there is a considerable difference in the man. ster in which the hill will operate in different boroughs : some are to have Quarter-sessions and a Recorder ; in others, only Justices of the Peace, acting separately. There are other points of difference, which will ap twee is we proceed in our analysis of the measure.

Our first list contains boroughs which are to have separate Commis- slops of the Peace. The Town-Councils arc to select a certain num- ber of persons residing within five miles of the borough, and recom- arsend them to tha King for the office of Magistrates as the Lord -Lieutenant of a county proposes those persons whom he wishes to

place in the Commission. There are to be no Quarter-sessions, how- ever, held in these boroughs unless the Town- Councils require them ; in which case, the King will appoint Recorders, whose salaries are to be paid out of the borough revenues. In these boroughs, also, the elections are to be conducted in wards. The Mayor is to appoint n deputy or Alderman of the Ward to act for him as returning officer. In other respects, the election is to be conducted as in the boroughs

-not districted into wards. The boundaries of these boroughs are the same as those fixed by the Piudiamentary Boundary Act ; and the number of Councillors which each is to elect is also stated. We give the list.

Contwillom

CouneillOrS.

Bath is to have 48 Norwich 54 Bristol 66 Nottingham 54 Exeter 42 Portsmouth 4$ Hull 48 Preston 42 Leeds 72 Stockport 4a Leicester 45 Sunderland 45 Liverpool 99 Worcester 36 Macclesfield 39 Yarmouth 16 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 51 York 06

In the next list are boroughs in which the elections are not to he by wards; but the Parliamentary boundaries are to be the Municipal ones; and in other respects their local constitution will not vary from that of Liverpool, Leeds, and the boroughs in the foregoing category.

Councillors. Councillors.

Aberystwith is to have..... 18 Lichfield 21 Abingdon 21 Lincoln 27 Andover IS Ludlow 21 13anbury 21 Maidstone '30 Barnstaple 21 Alunmouth 21 Bedford Beverley- 21 24 Neath Newark 18 24 Brecon 21 Neweastle-under-Lyne 24 Bridgewater 21 Newport (Ile of Wight) ... 21 Bridpott 21

Newport (Monmouth)

2 Bury St. Edmund's 27

Northampton

ao Cambridge

33

Oxfind '33 Canterbury '30 Pembroke 21 . Cardiff 21 Penance 21 Carlisle 1:3 Pontefract 24 Carmartheli 24 Poole 21 Carnarvon 21 Reading '30 Chester +Chichester 33 21 Richmond Ripon Is 21 Colchester 30 Rochester 27 Dartmouth 18 St. Alban'. 21 Derby 26

Sarum, New

27 Devises Dorchester I)ovor

1:G01:title: :.ie'llesel ki 'ear

(. iiildford I Latvia.% liavei fordwest Ilea-fold

Wells ...

Ipswich Is Kendal Kidderminster ••7

'ir) 11‘1:1;gyantriontli i's. A el combellegi, 24

•.7 'Winchester Kim as I.)'s y an . 'Windsor 24 Lancaster 30 21 The following boroughs are those whose boundaries are not yet

fixed, but are to be settled by the King in COMICi I. 1 it other respects their constitution will be similar to that of the boroughs last mentioned.

Alnw id: i, to have Hem ick- upon-Twectl

Bideford .

liiiston P. id ,:enor tit ( lithe:

o .

1;i:111Th:ton

I /oeaster n t irantliam l'almouth Gravesend GI inisby 1 lasting, Ilertford Xurgston-upon-Thanies Of the other boroughs whose boundaries are not fixed, there remain

Coventry, which is to have 36 Councillors.

Plymouth 'V — But in these two places the election is to be carried on in wards. We now come to the boroughs which are not to have a Commission of the Peace, unless on the application of the Town-Council to the Crown. The Parliamentai y boundaries are to be those of the four un- dermentioned boroughs.

Cardigan, which is to have 18 Councillors.

Denbigh 18 ---

Maldun 118 IS _____ — Eveshm a The King in Council is to fix the boundaties of the following; none of which are to have a Commission of the Peace, uoless on application to the Crown. onetors. conneinors. cna 21 18 $0 24 30 27 IS 18 21 "7 Scatborough Shrewsbury Southampton statford Stamford..

Swansea Tewkesbury 'fiverton .

11

1"rituri%%.° iek

24 80 '13 21 21 • -.10 21 21 24 24 Cl.::rd ... 15 Chestei field... 21

Chir)efiliant 18 Chippieg Norton ... 15

1 /aventry 18 Di oil wich 14

e 15

Fa. versliant Folkestone ..- Clint

aisteatelry ... 15

18 /04IIIIZIncliester ... 15

Ilelston ............I" leriley-upou-Thames ... 15 1 Itintingdon 21 1 lythe

Llanidloes ...IS

Launceston... ... la Lyme Regis ... 15 Front the foregoing lists, the reader will ascertain the boroughg whose boundaries are fixed ; the number of Town-Councillors appor- tioned to each ; those in which the election is to be carried on by wards: and it will also be seen where it is determined to establish Coin. missions of the Peace, and where that privilege can only be had by an especial application to the King. In till boroughs which have not separate commissions, Justices of the l'eace for the County are em- powered to act. Borough Magistrates in Sessions assembled are not to have jurisdiction in capital cases; but they are to be limited to the trial of such offences as the County Magistrates can now take cori. voice of in Quarter-sessions. Stipendiary Magistrates will be ap.. pointed, on application to the King; their salaries to be paid out of the borough rate. A proportion of the county rate is to be paid by the boroughs, the account to be made out and delivered to the Town- Council by the Treasurer of the County ; and any difference which may arise between the parties is to be settled by the Privy Council. This is intended to guarantee the county from the loss which must Licerne from the abolition of the county-rate in the boroughs, which will be now withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the County Magistrate's. These are the principal points as regards the administration of justice. We. now turn to the powers vested in the 'f0nrn-Cmincil for the govern. moot of the boroughs. They are very extensive ; as will appear from the followitig summary.

Tile Councillors are to appoint, not from among their OWII body, a Town- Clerk,- Treasurer, and Collector ; also a Coroner in every

borough where a separate Commission of the Peeve is established- Compensation is to be granted to all displaced officers, who can make good their claim to it ; the Lords of the Treasury to settle any (las. putes that may arise between the Council and the claimants. The Arundel is to have ... ... IS Basingstoke IS Belumaris 15 Beecles

.11,•Wtiliny 21

:oil mi 21 1'4nd:high:tin 14

Lynrington Madly idled%

Malmesbut Marlboreug"ii Alorpeth Peru hyn Radnor, New Retford, East Ruthin ••• ••• ..•

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

15

••• • ..

... 18

IS

IS•••••

Kind wich

Shaftesbury Southwohl

South •Multon Stockton Stratford-on-Avon Sutton Coldfield Tainworth Tenby Tenterden Thetford ... Torrington ... 'fotness foi d Wycombe, Chipping

• . • • • • • • •

• • - ...

• • • • • •

• • • ...

• • • ...

• • •

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... ... 18 ... 18 18 15 ... 15 18 18 18 15 18 18 IS

IS

15

14

Cnnil oelors

IS

27

IS

27 21 21 21 21 07 21

°4

2 t 18 24

21

21 Leominster Liskeard Llavelly

Nbenintalitie a.

o swei,trv Honifirt ri Romsey Sr. I%-es ■■..iffron Waldel t Stulbut v

NIAI"..111,IIIIII:ool

Wenloeli Ills Iva m iaaeillors•

IS

18 1-7.

21 21 21 2/ 21 21 21 21 30' Is 27 21

Council is to appoint trustees for the management of charitable funds ; and to have the absolute control of all the "rents and profits of all bereditaments, all monies and valuable securities," now belonging to Corporations. Should the revenue derivable from these sources be Insufficient for the expense of governing the borough, a rate may be imposed by the Council to make good the deficiency. The licensing of alehouses is to be taken from the Magistrates, and int7usted to the Council. A Committee of that body is to have the management of the police, and is to be termed the Watch Committee. Where boroughs are not sufficiently well lighted, owing to the want of sonic local act, the Council may interfere and remedy the evil, and levy a rate for that purpose. In order to invest the Council with these powers, portions of 194 local acts, a schedule of which is appended to the bill, are to be repealed.

All accounts are to be regularly and publicly audited by two persons elected by the Burgesses ; the auditors not to be members of the Town-Council. The Treasurer is not to pay money except on the written authority of the Town-Council ; but his accounts, as well as those of the trustees of charitable funds, are to be annually published, and audited by the persons chosen by the burgesses. . . _